I woke up all excited to go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum today. We had been there for the first time about a year ago, and had a great time. Now we're returning before our annual membership expires. Had my normal breakfast. The sun started to hit our solar-electric panels around 7:58. We left at 8:35 in the Jeep.

We left about 15 minutes later than initially planned, but it worked out just fine.

We reached the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum at 8:55. (They're open from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm this time of year.) The term "museum" is a bit of a misnomer because it's more like a zoo and botanical garden — almost everything's outside instead of being in a traditional enclosed museum.

As we were going to the entrance gate, a docent carried out a western screech-owl, and we stopped to photograph it (left). The docent kept bobbing the owl around and getting her free hand in the way, and it was frustrating. We stopped photographing the western screech-owl and went through the entrance gate. As we had been getting our gear out of the Jeep when we arrived, I saw another docent carry a kestrel across the entry area and into the museum grounds, and I was interested in photographing it. I stopped to ask a friendly-looking docent sitting at a table just inside the entrance gate, and she didn't know anything about the kestrel. Then she started asking me all sorts of questions so she could finish her homework assignment. She was charged with finding out where every guest was from and then marking it on a map. I was annoyed and walked off. I walked down to check out the mountain lions. They were out in a decent setting, but they were just lying around so I didn't photograph them. The black bear next door was out but in some harsh light so I didn't photograph it. The Mexican wolves in the next enclosure were in complete shade, so I didn't even slow down — not even when another "friendly" docent started to tell me that they were highly endangered. She was rather surprised that I didn't want to hear her spiel. Then I checked out the enclosures for the ocelot, bobcat, and gray fox. Those enclosures aren't very good for photography, but the bobcats were up on the wall almost at eye level, so I stopped to evaluate the photographic possibilities. As I was watching, a free-range striped skunk climbed along rocks at the top of the bobcat enclosure! I wasn't able to photograph it because it disappeared shortly after I saw it. Then I checked out the river otter encosure (no otters were out) and coati enclosure (no coati were out). The desert bighorns were out in their enclosure, but they were way at the bottom in full shade, so I kept going.

I made my way back to the Jeep to switch camera gear from the 1Ds Mk III and 500 to the 1D Mk III and 100-400 to get ready for the Raptor Free Flight Demonstration. J came back to the Jeep too, so we were able to catch up on our mornings.
We went to the Raptor Free Flight Demonstration which began at 10:30. The morning demonstration usually features several species, and the afternoon program usually features a group of Haris's hawks. The setting is remarkable. The spectators are confined to a dead-end path that runs through the desert, and handlers are stationed along both sides to place treats to attract the birds to specific natural perches as they fly back and forth. This morning, they flew two Chihuahuan ravens, a great horned owl, a gray hawk, and a ferruginous hawk. I got some decent images of the birds when they landed on perches on the right side of the light, but no good in-flight shots today.

After the Raptor Free Flight Demonstration, we went through the reptile building, and several of the snakes were in a perfect position to photograph them. So, I went to the Jeep and got out my zoo macro setup: Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III, 90 TS with extension tubes and a rubber lens hood, two Wimberley F-2 macro flash brackets (M-1 and M-4 modules), and Canon Speedlight 580EX II (master on an off-camera cord) and 550EX (slaved). This was the first time I've used this setup since getting the 1Ds Mk III, and I was disappointed that the lower bevel of the Kirk L-bracket is slightly narrower than on the L-bracket for the 1Ds Mk II. I attach one of the Wimberley M-1 brackets to the bottom bevel, and I had to file down some of the ridges on the knob so that it would tighten on the 1Ds Mk II L-bracket. Now that the L-bracket is narrower, I need about another half turn of the knob to tighten it, and the ridges I didn't file down get in the way. Fortunately, the bracket stayed more or less in place with just the friction, so I was able to use it.

I had a blast photographing the Arizona black rattlesnake, hypomelanistic diamond-backed rattlesnake, northern Mojave rattlesnake (left), and speckled rattlesnake. We left at 12:10.
We stopped at a small Post Office on the way back to the RV to mail a package and pick up some shipping boxes.

We returned to the RV at 12:35. I downloaded the images I took this morning and had lunch of Clif Bars because we were out of lunch meat. Then I did a quick downselect in iView. I showered, then J showered, to get ready for an afternoon of running errands. We'll go back to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum at least two more days before we leave. I worked on a blog entry. We left at 2:10 in the Jeep and ...

Went to the Mission Branch of the Pima County Library at 2:30 to borrow their free Wi-Fi network. I wanted to upload the 200 JPEG images for my stock submission without using up any of my 5GB monthly limit on my Verizon stick. The net connection was fast — faster than any we've had in a long time. Unfortunately, J couldn't connect to the internet (she could join the Wi-Fi network though), and she had to go online through her Verizon stick. She wasn't a happy camper. I also downloaded some software updates and an episode of Car Talk with the nice internet connection. I finished the blog entry too. We left around 4:00.

We got the Jeep washed, and it looked much better after all of the dust from parking at Elephant Butte Lake State Park had been washed off.

We stopped at a bank so I could get some cash from the ATM.

We went to Outback Steakhouse at 4:57 to take advantage of their early-bird special menu. J also had a coupon for a free Blooming Onion, so we started with that then we each had the Simply Grilled Tilapia. "Simply grilled" was an understatement — it was heavily seasoned and/or lightly blackened. J likes "blackened" dishes, and I don't, but the spices on the tilapia were subtle at first. The flavor was cumulative though, and became too intense for me after a while. We left at 5:50.

We went to a PetSmart so J could go in and get some cracked corn, and I walked to the nearby Home Depot to get some things. We left at 6:22.

We stopped at the nearby Costco to load up the Jeep with gas ($2.339/gal).

We went to the Plaza Liquor Beer & Wine store at 6:48 to get some supplies.

Finally, we went to Fry's at 7:10. No, not Fry's Electronics, but Fry's the grocery store. The store was crowded, so the shopping experience wasn't the best. We finished the smallish haul at 7:48.

We returned to the RV at 8:05. I downselected the images from today in Capture One (C1), then had some Asbach Uralt while processing two images for the blog.