FAMILY6 - Views from our Tucson Backyard

For years I’ve lived in Tucson’s Catalina Foothills, atop a ridge, with great views to the west, spanning from the City of Tucson to the Catalina Mountains.  See below.

Over the years, Pat and I have taken a lot of photographs in this general direction, including sunsets, clouds, occasional snow scenes and rainbows, visiting animals, and one-of-kind special opportunities.  The purpose of this blog is to share some our best photos.

Sunsets

Tucson is a fabulous place to see sunsets!  The colors are absolutely amazing and change dramatically from sunset to sunset.   I remember a period recently when we had four spectacular sunsets in a row.  Anyway, here is a selection of our sunset photos.

Across the swimming pool.

 

A bright-eyed dove in silhouette.

From cloud to cloud above the horizon.

Split sky with paint brush strokes.

Pat and I see a sense of motion in this colorful display.  Stars Wars Millennium Falcon?

Rare flying-saucer-like clouds, lenticular clouds, in the center.

Fire-like display of color.

 

Pastel feast for the eye.

 

Red-orange clouds fill the sky over the bright line of sunset.

 

Stacked formations of yellow-orange clouds.

 

Light and darker layers of yellow-orange-brown clouds.

  

Yellow-orange sky contrasts with silhouettes of two mountain ranges.

Mushrooming explosion of color from the setting Sun.

Clouds

Second only to sunsets, Tucson is also a great place to see all kinds of clouds, with rapidly changing panoramas and fascinating shapes.

 

Light and rain bombarding the desert in background.

Follow the light rays to the setting Sun behind the cloud.

 

Another impressive show of light rays from the hidden setting Sun.

 

Unique cloud - flying saucer or dish of ice cream?

 

Rainbows

Rainbows occur infrequently and thus are photo targets of opportunity.  Double rainbows are even rarer.

Double rainbow fronts the Catalina Mountains.

 

Double rainbow piercing cloud layer.

Snow

Yes, it does snow sometimes in the Tucson, roughly every few years I’d guess.  Our house is at about 2,800 feet elevation, so sometimes we get snow on our property, plus we can look down into the Valley and over to the Catalina Mountains to see the desert winter wonderland.

 

Snow-capped Catalina Mountains meet sky filled with clouds.

Snow from our house to the Catalinas.

Red-lit mountains in foreground offer fascinating contrast.

 

Snow on plants in our backyard in foreground with mountain-piercing cloud layer in distance.

Animals

We see an amazing number of different animals from our house.  We seem to be located on some sort of wildlife corridor - and they keep coming by.  Talk about photo targets of opportunity!  Besides the animals in the photos below, we get regular visits from coyotes, javelinas, Gila monsters, rabbits, and one turtle.

 

One of many bobcats we see; this one posing on backyard wall.

Mule deer pauses on trek by our house to note photographer.

 

We’ve been watching airborne circling hawks for years.  This red-tailed hawk was the first to stop by to cool his feathers.

Usually, we see roadrunners crossing the street in front of our house.  This one found some food in our backyard.

 

Woke up one morning to find this swarm of bees clumped in a tree in our yard.

 

Found this rattlesnake on the edge of our pool deck.

Special

Besides the subjects above, we’ve had special viewing opportunities, including moonsets, fireworks, and fires in the Catalina Mountains.

 

Setting full Moon.

July 4^th fireworks burst.

 

Bighorn Fire in Catalina Mountains in June 2020.

 

Photography is a love affair with life.

Burke Uzzie