Food Chain

spring, the ocotillos bloom profusely just as hummingbirds are migrating and so our year round hummers are joined by many other varieties. While I know that all hummingbirds are very territorial about their food sources, in my interpretation, I have Anna’s, Costa’s and Rufous Hummingbirds all sharing in the abundance.”

“I remember being taught how to embroider by a friend’s grandmother when I was in 1st grade and love and use embroidery to this day. I am self-taught in many fabric related arts and have taken many classes through the years. In 1981, I earned an MFA in Weaving and Textile Design from the School for American Crafts at RIT in Rochester, NY. For many years, I wove and sold scarves, shawls and jackets.

I moved to Tucson in 1989, and though I no longer weave, I do continue to work with fabrics creating wall art, quilts, clothing and accessories.”

To view more pieces by Annie Gordon, go to https://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnieGFabricArt

plants. This photograph was taken as a sweat bee (Family: Halictidae) found nectar and nourishment grazing the florets of a cosmos flower (Cosmos sulphureus ). Green metallic bees can shine with golden pollen grains gathered along the way.”

Mark Thaler is currently a Senior Staff Photographer with UAHS BioCommunications Dept. He came to the Southwest over 40 years ago to study anthropology, also photography and received a B.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1976.

me in particular were the relationships between these cacti and the lesser long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae), who feed on the nectar, pollen, and fruit of these and other desert plants (including legumes and agaves) during migration. I was not as familiar with this species as I was with its insect-eating relatives, and found myself smitten by these charming, graceful, and athletic bats.

Lesser long-nosed bats join other species of pollinators, including hummingbirds and insects, along routes that Fleming calls ‘nectar corridors’ – seasonal routes defined by a sequence of plants that bloom along a south-to-north gradient in the spring, then reverse in the fall.

Federally listed for protection in the U.S. and Mexico, lesser long-nosed bats are crucial players in a constellation of symbiotic interconnections. These interconnections allow unique and diverse ecosystems to evolve and flourish over long distances.”

Nancy received her BFA degree from the University of Arizona with an emphasis on figure drawing. She has been making art in Tucson since 1982. Nancy has shown and sold her artwork at galleries and other venues in Tucson, Phoenix, and elsewhere. As a Drawing Studio staff member and instructor, she loves to see individuals gain enthusiasm and confidence as artists.

To learn more about Nancy Chilton and her work, go to https://thedrawingstudiotds.org/meeting-teaching-artist-board-member-nancy-chilton/

nests in this area. Roadrunners are iconic birds of the Sonoran Desert and other arid habitats in the U.S. Southwest and northern Mexico. Members of the cuckoo family (Cuculidae), roadrunners are voracious predators and include lizards, snakes (including small rattlesnakes), baby and adult birds, and small mammals in their diet. They can fly but spend most of the time on the ground; they can run up to 20 miles per hour.”

“I am a tropical ecologist with a specialty in plant-animal interactions and a long-time amateur photographer. I have been able to travel extensively in the tropics in my research, always with camera in tow. But, I feel that my photography has really blossomed in the digital age and want to share my ‘vision’ with others. I am particularly interested in ‘painterly’ images and often convert my favorite photos into digital paintings under the influence of artists such as Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Edward Hopper, and Maynard Dixon. I have rather eclectic tastes in my subjects but have done little landscape photography. Given my background as a biologist, I particularly enjoy photographing wildlife, but I also like to photograph ‘people doing interesting things.’ Living and traveling in tropical countries has fueled my interest in diverse cultures.

As an artist, I am often drawn to images that are visually complex (reflecting my lifelong interest in biological diversity) and colorful. I also seek images that are elegant in composition or in their graphic elements. One of my current techniques involves creating photomontages as a way to emphasize the place of wildlife and people in their natural environments.”

To learn more about Ted and his work, visit https://www.tedflemingphotography.com/

gardens. Unable to digest the leaves, the ants process them into food for the fungus. The fungus then feeds the entire colony.  After a monsoon rain, winged male and female ants emerge and converge in mating swarms. Each queen carries a small amount of fungus with her to start a new colony.”

shelter and create a microclimate that allows slower growing plants an opportunity to thrive. The coachwhip often uses these trees for shelter and to search for prey.”

gall wasps. These wasps lay their eggs in the leaves of the trees which respond by forming a cyst-like structure around the egg. When the larvae hatches it feeds on the gall.”

flowers. This shield bug rests among a cluster of flowers. Whether for shelter or food, this relationship demonstrates the deep connections found between plants and insects in the Sonoran Desert.”

eat pest insects and their larvae that could damage the cactus.”

yerbabuenae), who feed on the nectar, pollen, and fruit of these and other desert plants (including legumes and agaves) during migration. I was not as familiar with this species as I was with its insect-eating relatives, and found myself smitten by these charming, graceful, and athletic bats.

Lesser long-nosed bats join other species of pollinators, including hummingbirds and insects, along routes that Fleming calls ‘nectar corridors’ – seasonal routes defined by a sequence of plants that bloom along a south-to-north gradient in the spring, then reverse in the fall.

Federally listed for protection in the U.S. and Mexico, lesser long-nosed bats are crucial players in a constellation of symbiotic interconnections. These interconnections allow unique and diverse ecosystems to evolve and flourish over long distances.”

to learn more about Nancy Chilton go to: https://thedrawingstudiotds.org/faculty/nancy-chilton/

Because I represent Sky Island Alliance as a member and myself as an artist, the word corridor is synonymous with pathway to me.

We save lives of humans and animals with overpasses and underpasses for animals and cars all over the planet. Our involvement with nature benefits us in many ways.

We help animals and people achieve avoidance, safety, and continued existence by developing pathways around and through human development. Continued existence is vital to all as we work in communal ways for all corridors, especially our desert.”

to learn more about Pat Frederick go to: http://patfrederick.com/

“Meeting an antelope hare is like meeting a humble ambassador of the desert in its perfectly-to-scale creosote forest. There is something mysterious about the rabbits and hares. Not as much a sense of distrust, but an inner alert and meditative wisdom. I was thinking about this stately way of being near the bottom of the food chain, its strategy of multiple escape plans and zigzag getaway move.”

to learn more about Tom Baumgartner go to: http://patterntology.com/

categorization. After a long history of scientific debate, symbiotic relationships have generally come to be classified in one of three ways – mutualistic (both organisms benefit), communalistic (one organism benefits, the other is unharmed), and parasitic (one organism benefits, the other is harmed). Uneasy Alliance illustrates the idea that these three well-defined categories of interrelationship may tell only part of the story. In this sculptural clay piece, I’ve depicted two species in which the roles of predator and prey are interchangeable, underscoring the sense of complexity and ambiguity that I often observe in the natural world.”

on the prize until mating is completed. She then snatches the lizard and disappears into the brush. It is unlikely the lizard appreciates its importance in the reproductive behavior of Roadrunners.”

to learn more about Brian Hooker go to: https://brianhooker.zenfolio.com/

as well as humans. Bees pollinate roughly 80% of the flora in the Sonoran Desert. Without bees, many native plant species would disappear, forever changing the landscape. Bees themselves benefit from the pollen they sew. This protein rich food source nourishes bees and their larva, and the sweet nectar they consume provides them with a quick boost of energy. Much of a bee’s activity goes unnoticed. They selflessly go about their business without adulation or fanfare. In Sonoran Keystone, I imagine bees that are much more noticeable. Bees that leave a contrail of colorful pollen as they fly through our desert sky illuminating the vital work they perform to sustain our ecosystem.”

to learn more about Michael B. Mason go to: http://www.michaelbmason.com/

the saguaro blossom and the saguaro needs the bat to cross pollinate its flowers. This painting beautifully captures the action as the bat prepares to feed.”

to learn more about Kimberly Kanoa Duffek go to: http://www.artistsforconservation.org/programs/awards/monthly-conservation-artist/2015/kim-duffek

plants in an ecological circle of sustainability.

“No Species Is an Island is about the most important story on Earth: the astonishing interconnections that keep the living world alive. It reads like what it is: a beautifully illustrated detective story into the real world, in a particularly magical land of shadows where all the plants keep secrets and all the animals harbor hard-held mysteries. Dive in and savor.”—Carl Safina, author of Beyond Words

rattlesnakes), baby and adult birds, and small mammals in their diet. They can fly but spend most of the time on the ground; they can run up to 20 miles per hour.”