iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

2 hooded hooded oriole nests on same palm frond. How cool. That makes 4 nests in this petey mesquitey sabal uresana that I have seen for this season. Internet says the orioles do not reuse nests but may take scraps for new one.

Photo shows two globular intricately woven nests hanging from the underside of a palm frond.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

sacred datura on my catalina state park bike ride this morning. we have extreme heat warning all week, jeesh. I prefer to bicycle rather than walk when it is this hot so I can "make wind", haha.

cluster of white flowers with a mountain ridge and blue sky behind

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

A "feriwiz" barrel cactus blooms yesterday. Ferocactus wislizeni is the scientific name. A common name is fishhook barrel and those spines can be vicious if you get hooked. August is when you find out what shade of yellow to red the flowers on a specific barrel will be.

A view looking down on the red flower crown of the plant.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

a sonoran monsoon backyard scene. nice to have the summer rains here.

red sky in the background aligned with a tiny bridge and various desert plants

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

desert tortoise style love...hey you are in my f-ing way..

a state of Arizona owned desert tortoise that we adopted years ago crawls across my toes. who knows what her history is so she can not be released out in the wild because there is a nose virus that was introduced by the pet trade from European tortoises. another Colombian exchange. she doesn't have it but from the state perspective not worth taking chances.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

nice 5am sunrise clouds this morning (for june) over santa catalinas

reddish clouds with a touch of blue over a mountain horizon

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

cool purple cones hanging on chiricahua crest trail yesterday

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Passion flower on our patio today, low water desert version, tasty fruit soon

Delicate blue white yellow flower on fuzzy light green leaves. Passiflora arida. According to William Little's A Sonoran desert scrapbook "despite it's delicate appearance, this plant is very hardy and tolerates dry conditions"

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Iron-cross blister beatles on golf course. This is what it looks like when you graft an ant head to a beatle body.

Red head ant like head on a golden beatle body with a black cross on its back.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

lucy heads out to go shopping

a grey lucy's warbler launches from her triangle style cedar nest box in morning sunlight

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Wahoo. Built this lucy's warbler nest box a couple of years ago and now there is a little bird stuffing it with nesting material. The plans are from the Audubon Society. This cavity box is hung 8ft high in a non-native (oops) mesquite tree. Get to watch it just outside my 'office' window.

A triangular shaped wooden nest box attached to a tree has a small grey bird looking out in morning light.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Photobomber. This great purple hairstreak picture never had a chance.

A wasp swoops in to an attempted photo of a mostly black butterfly that is sitting on a plant. Pretty blue sky in the background.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Fall colors. My chiles struggle on the patio in the summer heat. November brings relief and fruit.

Bright red chile fruit hang against bright green leaves.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 15/11/2025

queens on desert milkweed today

two orange black queen butterflies showing top and bottom on yellow desert milkweed

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

a cempasúchil in today's morning light

an orange marigold in a flowerpot glows in morning sunlight

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

bench warmer. probably a good thing i didn't go out at sunup today to my favorite bench with a cup of joe

a coiled diamondback rattlesnake sits under a bench. it is still a little cool out so maybe he is a little slow moving. i don't want to find out.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

It is October and yesterday morning this saguaro had 3 blooms. A little out of season but a local expert says that over the years he has recorded blooms in every month except January. Maybe the tequila bats enjoyed this.

All tall saguaro with 3 blooms. Blue sky in the background. 2 smaller saguaros in the foreground with no blooms.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

its tequila bat fall migration season. yaaaa

two lesser long-nosed bats on copper colored hummingbird feeders at night. they are fattening up for their migration south.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

handsome harris portrait 20 years ago in our backyard. no fear of me but no band on leg so who knows.

head shot of harris hawk with catch light in eyes and red shoulder. yellow beak.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

saguaros watching the moon, venus and jupiter this morning

two saguaro cacti at sunrise with the moon, venus, and harder to see jupiter in the sky behind them

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

tarantula's lucky day on the patio. i was walking along not paying attention this morning when something brushed my bare foot. i am so glad i did not step on it. first frame is defensive position that lasted a couple of minutes and second frame is it sauntering off to continue whatever it was doing.

2 photo frames. first is dark appearing tarantula with front legs in the air and second is same tarantula showing gold body calmly walking away from the close encounter.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

backpack with arms and legs needles district canyonlands usa 1988

woman walks with outsized backpack on sandy trail with needle like rock formations in background

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Every morning I clean up the packrat's mess on my path and every night the packrat puts it back. I wonder if the packrat is claiming territory.

Sticks are spread across a small bridge surface as if they are meant to block the walker's way.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

took a motorcycle class last year to get my license endorsement back that i had dropped decades ago. it improved my bicycling because much of the class was practicing tight turns around cones.

student sits on yamaha enduro motorcycle waving in rain. all street stuff like lights were removed because students often dump the bike during drills

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

july morning yesterday in catalina state park. few people but lots of birds, lizards, and hard working friendly ants. no water in the cdo wash.

panorama with shadows on the ground, velvet mesquites, catalinas skyline, and wispy clouds

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

sometimes during summer monsoon season the "high gradient intermittent strand" in our backyard gets rockin

brown colored water runs down a desert wash

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

bottle opener blonde in the morning light today

nude female figurine rusty metal bottle opener hangs from patio in morning light with cactus in background

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

today's catalina sunrise. note the saguaro fruit with the "knife" still on it. you can use the knife to open the fruit once picked.

orange red light over the mountain ridge line. a saguaro arm is in the foreground with a fruit that still has the "knife" attached.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

sunrise today over the catalinas. the santa cruz river is between us.

mountain and desert plants at the bottom of the shot with reddish clouds above. sun is about to break over the mountain.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

morning bike ride. time sure does fly. bought this bike new in 1988 and haven't even hiked up that peak in several years. jeesh.

blue 1988 cannondale mountain bike in foreground at trailhead with desert peak in background. the cannondale has street tires on it these days.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

agave sunrise today. a couple of years ago came home and this agave stock had fallen over and blocked the driveway. so i wired it to a fence post and the birds have loved it ever since.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

the martins are back at the trailhead in the tucson mts. this is an old picture as the saguaro these two are sitting on is no longer there.

male and female purple martins sitting on a flat topped saguaro cactus

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Skin doc sez cover up so ok

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

Wild and scenic trash can

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

It was surprising to us that a Kīlauea lava flow makes noise. A persistent popping sound as it oozed along over an older cooled flow.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

The tree seedlings at the Hermosillo ghost bike are growing amazingly fast. The caretaker has used a standard dirt tree ring and added an additional hole next to the tree. Native trees can actually be hard to establish so I think the hole is the magic. The water is carried in.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Possibly useful boat rigging trick. Bungee cord is expensive and doesn't last long in the heat. So use cheap line with just a section of cord to get some stretch.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Sleeping dogs near el Colorado sonora

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Yellow-crowned night-heron showing some yellow on his crown today at the estuary

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Interesting little insect in our southeast Arizona backyard this morning. My guess is somekinda wasp.

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

lady paddles with old dog. the dog did not care about the sea lions and went to sleep

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Zzkino @zzkino.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Ghost bike outside of Hermosillo on truck route. The trees planted below are much bigger now. Someone is not forgotten.

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