Nature Blog Network

Meet Kathie Brown, aka “Kathiesbirds,” author of the blog Sycamore Canyon (http://coronadetucson.blogspot.com/). After moving to Arizona in 2007, Kathie started Sycamore Canyon to combine her love of birds and nature with her passion for writing, photography, and art. While Kathie’s location is not the famous Sycamore Canyon on the Mexico border, it still provides birding excitement for her at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains and is the jumping off point for birding in and around the Tucson area and across the USA.

Santa Rita Mountains

Kathie also blogs at Kathie’s Poet Tree (http://kathiespoettree.blogspot.com) and can be reached by email at Kathiesbirds1 AT msn DOT com.

Saguaro Sentinels along the trail

Kathie, why do you blog?
I blog because I want to share my birding passion with others and because I love to write. It pleases me to no end to know that others are reading what I write. I got started blogging because my youngest brother and his partner knew I liked to write. Since Tony was already a writer and a blogger he thought I would love it and he was right. He set me up with my blog in about 15 minutes one night right before my return trip to AZ. I didn’t even know what a blog was or how to use it at that point. I flew home the next day, got on my blog, and started to figure it out.

Pyrrhuloxia

What do you like best about blogging?
Connecting with others. Sharing my birding knowledge, learning, and making new friends.

Anna's Hummingbird

What’s unique or different about your blog?
I try to tell the story of my birding or nature adventures in a way that makes my readers feel as if they are right there with me. There are plenty of blogs out there with better photography and bigger bird lists than mine, I want to help people feel connected to nature and maybe even express what they feel but don’t know how to themselves. I also like to add a little bit of creativity in the form of art and poetry once in awhile.

cactus wren

Tell us about the name of your blog.
Well, like I said, when Tony set me up with my blog it was a quick 15 minutes. I had to think quick and I had no idea what I was doing, so, I named it after the neighborhood I live in, which is a unique place since it is located on the slopes of the Santa Rita Mountains in SE Arizona. Set up as a nature preserve, it is trying to show that man and nature can live in harmony. As such, though the preserve is over 1200 acres, only 250 acres are being disturbed for development. The rest is being left wild as open space for the enjoyment of the people who live here the preservation of the native habitat and wildlife. I can see the world famous Madera Canyon from the hiking trail across the street from my house. Since moving here over 2 ½ years ago I have counted 90 species of birds in Sycamore Canyon.

Desert Fruit against a Monsoon Sky

How do you promote your blog and attract readers?
I promote my blog by visiting other blogs. I’ve also printed up business cards that I pass out to people whenever I meet someone who is interested in birds and birding. Frequently I encounter people while I am out hiking or bird watching. I try to remember to carry my cards with me in a pocket to pass out. I do have a Facebook page but I hardly ever go there. I don’t have enough time to maintain all of these sites. My blog comes first after my birding adventures. I would rather be outside than doing anything else!

Lesser long-nosed bat

Any comments on being part of the nature blogger community?
Well, I like being part of the Nature Blog Network and so far I like everyone I’ve met because if it! I know it has brought new readers to my blog, so I appreciate that. It has also helped me find other nature bloggers!

Mexican Poppy

Has blogging changed how you think about nature? or how you write?
Blogging has let me know that there are other people just as passionate about nature as I am. It has also provide me a vehicle for alerting others to the threats to our environment, including the proposed copper mine and limestone mines right here in the Santa Rita Mountains. I also think that blogging has improved my writing because as the saying goes, practice makes perfect! It also helps to get that immediate personal feedback that I get from comments. I can tell when my readers really like a blog post by their comments.

Rock Wren

Any words of wisdom for new nature bloggers?
Do a good job. Be thorough and write from the heart. Be friendly and professional. Be sure to respond to your readers if they leave you a comment!

Magnificent Hummingbird

Anything else you’d like me to ask you, or that you’d like to volunteer without being asked?

While I do the writing on Sycamore Canyon, the photography is done by both myself and my husband. Any reader of my blog will soon learn that he is not an avid bird watcher or outdoor enthusiast, but he does love nature, photography, and me. He is a good sport and is very patient when I need to identify a new bird. We are both from New England-he is a Maine-iac while I am from Connecticut.

Moving here to the desert southwest was quite a change for us. It’s a whole new world out here! Three of the biggest surprises are how green it is, how humid it can be during the Monsoon, and for me, the presence of shorebirds and ducks in the desert! Believe it or not, we do have water here and the birds love it. Many of them come down here to winter at our reservoirs, rivers, and sewage treatment plants! There is so much to see and explore here in and around Sycamore Canyon that that I will be posting for a long time to come.

One other thing that people should know is that I am an avid eBirder. eBird (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/) is administered by the Cornell lab of Ornithology and I love contributing data to their site. For me, it makes me feel like my bird watching is helping the birds and will continue to help them long after I am gone.

Burrowing Owls

Here are some of Kathie’s favorite posts from Sycamore Canyon:

• My World: Birds are Everywhere
• MyWorld is Sycamore Canyon
• The Weather and the Hawk
• Wild Dogs
• My World: Sunset Hike in Sycamore Canyon
• A Craving for Nature

Desert sunset