Fig beetle on flower

On our way to Tombstone we were very surprised how green the desert can be - this fig beetle (compare with the dead of the week 7) is obviously happy that it found such a pretty flower for itself.

Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus cerberus)

Thirteen different rattlesnake species are indigenous to Arizona. I tried very hard to detect one in the mountains, but unfortunately I didn't find any yet:(

Western Screech Owl

cougar soccer

These two mounain lions found a bag probably filled with catnip or something similar - big deal for big cats!

desert sunset

bobcat

Nach dieser zierlichen Katze sind die Uni-Sportteams benannt: Arizona Wildcats.

so much to see

Ich schwoere es, ich habe die Farben nicht nachtraeg-lich geaendert - der Himmel ist hier ganzganz echt so quietsche-rosa! Erinnert mich irgendwie an gewisse Szenen im Pony aeh Pferdefluesterer, in der der der arme Gaul den eben ganannten P.F. durch die pinke Wallachei transportieren muss. Kitschgruselwunderwerk.

inside out

Dieser Aufdruck auf einem handelsueblichen Erfrischungsgetraenk hat Mr. Barber ins Gruebeln gebracht - wie waere es, wenn die Ploerre aussen natuerlich und innen aus Plastik waere? Muesste man dann den Inhalt auskippen und die Flasche essen?

Northern cardinal

Isn't it pretty? And the best news: you can easily attract this bird if you take some food with you:)

Javelina

The collared peccary is callled "javelina" (Spanish) around here.

? tiny giants !

Maricella and Hilary seem to be very happy...
But what about Mr. Barber?

dust devils

See the two little dustdevils in the background?

Dead of the week 8 - kitten

Dreadful dead on Mountain Avenue. This kitty got killed by some car, I guess. Too bad.

spitting prohibited

Well, even if it's just fake - I liked the posters on this door:)

alles nur Fassade

Bizarre Kulissenlandschaft mitten in der Wueste. Nicht mehr und nicht weniger. Schwitztriefdroeppelpuh!

back in school

mushroom driver

Obviously my favorite bus on 4th Avenue...

salve kleiner Valentin

Also wir haben uns jetzt ueberlegt aus Protest gegen die Berliner Jogger-gemeinde einfach in Amiland zu bleiben und den Winskiez seinem Verfall zu ueberlassen. Wir hoffen, Du bist damit einverstanden. Fuer den Notfall findest Du ein paar antike Pommes im Gefrierfach. In dem Sinne: chakkah!

no parking

Pfffh - I got a ticket for locking my bike to a tree on the U of A campus. Oh, how I love this bureaucracy, grrrmpf!

do you speak German?

Found this on the blackboard at Bookman's...

this frickin' language!

Mr. Barber had a hard time reading the rock&pop-trivial pursuit questions in English. And we didn't make it easier for him:)

Dead of the week 7 - Green Fruit Beetle (Cotinus mutabilis)

Mr. Barber found this gorgeous dead of the week for me. It is a green fruit beetle (also called fig beetle) and it's native to Arizona and New Mexico, but can now be found in California (L.A.) as well. The adults feed on a wide variety of fruits, including cactus fruit (which may be its wild host), peaches, apricots, nectarines, and grapes. On its top it is velvety-olivegreen with contrasting dull brownish-orange marginal bands.
cause of death: heat shock or age

Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus)

Was hat so ein kleines Wuermchen auf dem Maennerklo verloren? Da hat Mister B. den winzigen Gecko naemlich aufgegabelt. Schnuffig, wa?

showtime

Habe Mister Barber endlich mal ein paar echte Westernhelden bieten koennen. Naja. Fast zumindest. So ein paar falsche Cowboys haben sich Schaukaempfe geliefert, sich mit unechten Pistolen beschossen und von Papphausdaechern gestuerzt. Aber das Essen und die Countrymusikk danach waren definitiv echt:)

Berlin meets Tucson

full house? nee, full Dach!

Dead of the week 6 - Gila Monster

There are only two venomous lizards in the world and the Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) is one of them. Its saliva contains a neurotoxic venom. Gila monsters ("Gila" is pronounced "Hila") can be up to 60cm long and they inhabit the southwestern parts of the US as well as northern Mexico. Their diet consists of rodents, birds, eggs and reptiles. Erynn, who took this picture, told me that Gila monsters are also known as the "Ghosts of the Desert", because they are mainly nocturnal, and therefore hard to observe. Gila monsters enjoy a mixed reputation with Native Americans. While the Tohono O'Odham and the Pima believed that the lizard possessed a spiritual power capable of causing sickness and the Apache believed that its very breath could bring death, the Seri and Yaquai believed in the healing powers of the lizard's hide.
Gila monsters are listed as threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act and are also found in Appendix II of CITES.

Gambel's Quail (Callipepla gambelii)

These funny creatures live in the desert - and in the Botanical Gardens! With that foolish feather on top of their head and the panic double quick they fall into if they feel disturbed they are the most absurd Arizonian inhabitants. But since everybody likes them, you'll find them as soft toys and as wooden carvings on garden fences, pictured on postcards and all kinds of knick-knacks.

Greater Earless Lizard III

And another example of my favorite lizard species! I like their colourful skin and the fact that they are not shy at all. In fact, most of them seam to be quite interested in what those strange humans are up to and observe us and the camera suspiciously.

cactus hug

Who would beleive THIS at home: I love the desert!

die Wueste lebt!

Immer wieder bin ich erstaunt darueber, wie schoen es in der Wueste sein kann. Trotz des extremen Klimas herrscht eine enorme Biodiversitaet und hinter jedem Busch bewegt sich etwas. Bei dem wunderbaren Anblick schmilzt selbst ein alter Kaeltefan wie ich dahin...

Hilary made it!

When we arrived at the "seven falls" there was no water in the creeks, so we spent some time with rock-climbing and posing:)But we'll definitely come back here to take a bath when the summer monsoon season has started!

dove on saguaro

What a comfortable home...

Greater earless lizards (Cophosaurus texanus)

These pretty reptiles belong to the family of Fringe-toed lizards. All of these lizards are insectivorous, though some may also eat small lizards. They breed from spring to summer laying between 1 to 15 eggs, with the fringe-toed lizard usually laying fewer eggs than the other species. Eggs take 60 to 75 days to hatch.
Females of several lizard species exhibit color changes during breeding season. The “sand”lizards, for instance, develop bright orange or red areas on the different parts of the body. In some species this indicates readiness for breeding, while in others it is a signal to males that the female has already mated and is gravid (pregnant).

Sonoran Whipsnake (Masticophis bilineatus)

What a beauty!
This gorgeous snake waited patiently until I managed to get a good shot of it. My camera was just 20cm away from its head! "Today's desert hiking guide" say the following about this species:
Sonoran whipsnakes are found in southeastern to west-central Arizona as well as northern Mexico. They live in semiarid lower mountain slopes in rocky stream courses at elevations up to 7500 feet. It is equally at home on the ground or climbing in low, shrubby vegetation and trees. When hunting, the Sonoran whipsnake may elevate its head off the ground and scan the surrounding area for possible prey such as birds, small mammals, lizards, other snakes and frogs. The female snake lays a clutch of 4-13 eggs in June and July.

Prickly Pear (Opuntia)

The pads ("Nopales") as well as the fruits ("tuna") of the Prickly Pear cactus are edible. We tried to eat some of the fruit, which turned out to be quite difficult - the prickles are extremly fragile, sting the skin very quickly and are hard to pull out again.

Greater Earless Lizard I

Lizards, lizards and more lizards wherever you go! This one is pretty much posing for me on its little rock - isn't it cute?

birthday-hike (Santa Catalina mountains)

Last Saturday my new roommate Hilary and I went on a long hike in the Santa Catalina mountains (northeast Tucson). Although we did the "seven falls hike" there was barely any water. But the landscape is absolutely amazing - we just had to make sure to take enough water with us. Physical exercise in this dry heat can very quickly lead to sunstroke and dehydration.

4th of July - fireworks

We also attended the fireworks sitting on the roof. I't quite hard to capture it, but here you can get a bit of an impression how beautiful it was.

sunset-watching II

Das Warten auf dem Dach hat sich also gelohnt! Der Himmel erglueht in allen nur erdenklichen Rot- und Gelbtoenen, bricht auf, beginnt zu rumoren und grummeln. Ploetzlich faengt der Wind wie irre an zu wehen, es riecht nach Sand und die Luft wird schwuel. Kurze Zeit spaeter entlaedt sich ein gigantisches Gewitterspektakel und endlich, endlich erreichen die ersten Regentropfen den ausgedoerrten Wuestenboden.

sunset-watching on the roof

This is one of the biggest advantages of my new home: you can climb up the roof in the evenings and watch the amazing sunsets, thunderstorms and rainfalls. This is life!

July 4th - sugarshock

Bloss keinen Schreck bekommen, Mamita! ICH ess bestimmt keine blauen Toertchen:)

Adobe style house

Just wanted to show you how traditional southwestern houses look like.

That's what Wikipedia says about Adobe:
Adobe is a natural building material mixed from sand, clay, and straw, dung, or other fibrous materials, which is shaped into bricks using frames and dried in the sun. Adobe structures are extremely durable and account for the oldest extant buildings on the planet. Adobe buildings also offer significant advantages in hot, dry climates; they remain cooler as adobe stores and releases heat very slowly. The word Adobe has come down to us over some 4000 years with astonishingly little change in either pronunciation or meaning: the word can be traced from the Middle Egyptian (c. 2000 BC) word dj-b-t "mud [i.e., sun-dried] brick."

one night the moon

One night the moon came sailing by
on a big boat right across the night sky
one night the moon came sailing by
called all the dreamers to come for a ride

One night the moon came galloping by
on a big horse right across the night sky
one night the moon came galloping by
called all the dreamers to come for a ride

(from the movie "One night the moon" by Rachel Perkins)

Smug Alert!

Hab diesen Wagen in der 4th Avenue gesehen & musste spontan an mein herzallerliebstes Bluederlein und die Folge von South Park denken, in der Kyles Vater ein Hybridauto kauft und seine Sippe ins Hippieparadies nach San Francisco schleift, um unter seinesgleichen (spich: eingebildeten Alternativen) zu weilen, waehrend Stan mittels eines selbstgeschriebenen Pro-Hybrid-Songs die Bewohner von South Park dazu bewegt, sich ebenfalls Hybridautos anzuschaffen, um Kyles Sippe zur Rueckkehr in die Heimat zu bewegen. Die Aktion fuehrt zwar zwischenzeitlich eine Umweltkatastrophe aus, doch am Ende rettet Cartman die Welt, Kyle kommt zurueck nach South Park und alle sind gluecklich mit ihren Benzienern. Chakkah.

Come on People now, People Now; People now, Come on People now.Got to drive hybrids people now, people now, people now, people nowHybrids are for people now, people now, Good for people driving people now, get a hybrid be good people now

Also: allerbeste Gruesse an Mac:)

Raja & Simba

I proudly present: my new roommates, Raja (front) and Simba (back). They are Himalayans and therefore royalty. That's at least what they seem to beleive:)

Tucson's proud

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Das Buch zur Serie!

Found this cute little book at Bookman's. It is the first field giude to roadkill I've ever seen. The descriptions of the flattened animals are slightly morbid, but very exact. The author really made an effort to copy the silhouette of every dead animal he happened to see. Isn't it a great contribution to my "dead of the week"?

Dead of the week 5 - Gila Woodpecker

This is an unlucky example of a female Gila Woodpecker (you pronounce it "Hila") which was most likely hit by a car. I saw it on my way to Reid Park. You can tell that it's a female because it is lacking the red spot on its head which is characteristic for the males. Gila Woodpeckers are indigenous to southern Arizona and the Sonoran part of Mexico. They build their nests in Saguaro (pronounced "Suaro") cacti or Mesquite trees and hence is a true desert inhabitant.
Cause of death: car accident

Old Main Building

This is the old main building of the University of Arizona. It is located on a green "island" in the middle of University Boulevard. The lawn you can see in front of the building is actually one of the greenest ones I've seen in Tucson - it is VERY expensive to keep grass green over here.

Student Union Memorial Center

Nobody I asked really knows why this building is called "memorial center", but anyway: the student unions are places where students can meet to study, eat, get books for their classes or just hang out. In this union you'll find tons of restaurants & cafes, a post office, the office for student housing and a book store that also sells Arizona Wildcats clothing as well as giant microbes and other nice, but not really necessary stuff.