Round Robin: Up a Tree, Up a Creek

I had a great title lined up for my entry in response to this week's Round Robin topic. The topic itself is "Looking Up," as suggested by Robinella of the blog Robinella's. My variation was brief and elegant and clever, and went with the photos I took earlier this week. Only I can't remember that title. I've been wracking my brains for nine hours now, to no avail. Ah, well! We'll just make do with what we have.

There is a very tall, very dead tree near the rose garden in Reid Park. It is very handy for birdwatching. It's high enough above the ground to attract many species of birds, and bare enough that it utterly fails to conceal them from human eyes. All I have to do is point my camera and look up. I've previously posted photos of a hawk and a couple of vermilion flycatchers in this tree, so let's skip over those for this morning. They're not the only kinds of birds I've seen in it.

"Just like a white-winged dove..." because that's exactly what it is. Tucson has White-winged Doves, Mourning Doves, Inca Doves (which are significantly smaller), and Rock Doves, better known as pigeons. White-winged Doves are especially common around here, and have a very distinctive song - not one worth Stevie Nicks going on about, though.

I've already posted quite a few photos of Reid Park's many Black-Crowned Night Herons, and could easily post quite a few more. There's a particular tree next to one of the duck ponds that almost always has two or more of them perched in it around sunset. The rest of them hang out on the concrete shore, waiting for a chance at some fish. (More on that tomorrow night.) This is the first decent shot I've gotten of one of them up in the air.

Many of the tallest trees in Tucson are palms. They aren't native but are ubiquitous anyway. Grackles seem to like them, but not many other birds turn up in them, as far as I've seen.

So much for the "up a tree" part of this entry. What is my excuse for the phrase "up a creek?" Perhaps I should say "up the waterfall" instead. As I've mentioned in past entries, the two "urban lakes" at Reid Park are fed from a pair of manmade streams flowing down from Barnum Hill. The northbound stream reaches the lake via a small but pretty manmade waterfall. On two different days I looked up the waterfall, and captured what I saw in photos that I frankly like a lot. Here they are:

The grackles seem to be saying, "Good grief! What now?"
The woman is joyous; the dog is distracted.

Let's play Twister!

That's it for me for now! Let's go see everyone else's upward-looking photos!

Linking List

Robinella
Robinella's
http://robinellablog.wordpress.com

Carly - Posted!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Betty - Posted!
A Corgi in Southern California
http://acorgiinsoutherncalifornia.blogspot.com

Terri - Posted!
Ways I See The World
http://teelgeephotos.blogspot.com

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Peggy - Posted! (Corrected Link)
Holmespun Fun
http://holmespunfunmemesandthemes.blogspot.com

Martha - Posted!
Menagerie
http://meandering-martha.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Suzanne R - Posted!
SuzyQ421's Photo Blog
http://suzyq421sphotoblog.blogspot.com

Monica - Posted!
Shutterly Happy (formerly Frame of Mind)
http://monica-frameofmind.blogspot.com

Vicki - Posted!
Maraca
http://mymaracas.blogspot.com

Steven - Posted!
(sometimes)photoblog
http://www.sometimesphotoblog.com

Marina - Posted!
Visual Chronicle
http://one-x-day.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Linda's Window
http://www.lindaswindow.blogspot.com

Molly Mavis - Posted!
Visual Dialogues
http://visualdialogues.wordpress.com

Sherrie - Posted!
Sherrie's Stuff
http://sherrie-plummer.blogspot.com

Salina **Welcome New Member**
Mountain Blossom Photo Blog
http://www.mountainblossom.blogspot.com

Irene **Welcome New Member** - Posted!
Notes From Lion City
http://notesfromlioncity.blogspot.com

Wammy - Posted!
The Ellis Family Cincinnati
http://theellisfamilycincinnati.blogspot.com/

Mojo - Posted!
Why? What Have You Heard?
http://mojo11.blogspot.com

Sandra
A Cappuccino a day
http://acappuccinoaday.blogspot.com

Fhaye
Crown Imperial
http://photodito.com

ellen b - Posted!
The Happy Wonderer
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com

Connie - Posted!
Far Side Of Fifty Photos
http://farsideoffifty.blogspot.com

Lana G - Posted!
Above the Clouds
http://airmiles.wordpress.com

Teena - Posted!
It's all about me!
http://www.purple4mee.com/

Rita - Posted!
Cashjocky And The Old Salt
http://cashjocky.blogspot.com/2009/06/round-robin-photo-challenge-looking-up.html

Gattina - Posted!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com

Joanna**Welcome New Member** - Posted!
Up On Haliburton Hill
http://uponhaliburtonhill.blogspot.com

Margaret**Welcome New Member** - Posted!
Margaret's Maniacal Musings
http://margaretsmaniacalmusings.blogspot.com

Vicki**Welcome New Member** - Posted!
Sea Turtle Mom
http://florida-shellseeker.blogspot.com/


Also, I'd like to make a special plea. Carly and I each have another meme, both of them started years ago by John Scalzi for the now-defunct AOL blog By the Way. Mine is the Weekend Assignment, which I was posting on Thursday nights, but it's recently slipped into Friday. Carly's is the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot. We'd both appreciate it if you'd check them out, especially if you normally only stop by our blogs at Round Robin time. The Weekend Assignment is a writing prompt, not a photo challenge, but I'd really like to see some Robins give it a try anyway. Especially this week. See, this week's Assignment is to introduce us to where you live, without resorting to photography. Can you do it? Will you? I hope so!

Karen