The riparian woodland Ms. Mesquitey and I were hiking in is at around 6,000 ft. in elevation. I think that may be the upper limits of the elf owls elevation range. Elf owls (Micrathene whitneyi) winter in southern Mexico then migrate in the spring to southern Arizona, southwest New Mexico and west Texas to an amazing bunch of biotic communities where they breed and summer over. Lucky us!
The photo is taken from Wikipedia. I thank the unknown photographer who took it in Madera Canyon of the Santa Rita Mountains and shared it. It is a beautiful photo of the elf owl perched by a hole in a sycamore tree. Thank you very much, unknown photographer.
I hope that this show sorta speaks for itself, but I will tell you I wrote this story and song in July of 2002...
Petey waxes poetic about the plants and animals found around his little homestead and finally focuses on a plant called Mentzelia pumila. Let’s listen.
I read from the book I’m in Charge of Celebrations, but I could have read from many others. If you live in Tucson or...