Do You Remember These Eighties Classics?

Do you remember these Eighties classics? PEPPERPOT wheels. My father calls them 'cheese wheels'. Probably because they remind him of those blocks of Swiss cheese. The ones with the holes, like the ones often seen on cartoons. Pepperpot wheels are a notable feature on cars from the 1980s. Very much in their time like Duran Duran, fluorescent clothing and Rubix cubes. From Metros to Jaguars, there were many cars from an era that had pepperpot wheels. The Peugeot 205 GTi had them. The humble little Metro sported pepperpots. Many of them that did were earlier MG Metros. Lancia Delta HF Integrale. The earlier 8-valve models sported pepperpots. Alfa Romeo 146 Cloverleaf models (pictured above) sported pepperpot wheels, but so did standard 164s and other Alfas albeit with different designs. The Zagato styled SZ, also had pepperpots. Jaguar XJ Series III wouldn't be complete without a set of pepperpots. XJ-Ss also had them. Even though the Capri Brooklands were the first cars to have these pepperpot wheels. Out of Ford's cars, they're a better known feature on Fiesta XR2s. Ford went mad on pepperpots in the 1980s. They made another design of pepperpot wheels. Which were on the Sierra (XR4i and Ghia models) and the Orion (Ghia Injection). Into the 1990s, pepperpot wheels soon fell out of favour with car manufacturers. But into the later half of the decade, they resurfaced and made a comeback. But unlike the cars from the Eighties that had pepperpots, Nineties cars that had them were on lower or mid-range models. These pepperpots from the first generation Audi A3, have become popular with VAG enthusiasts. Alfa Romeo continued to use pepperpot wheels throughout the 1990s and onwards. There were slight variations of pepperpots on their cars. There were those on the 145 and 146 Cloverleafs.

He's almost an albino. He actually has a pink eye. The only reason he is not an albino is that he has a couple of black feathers in the tail. Leucistic pigeons seem to be fairly common. Wigeons are delightful ducks. They have a very cute little call. They also have very pretty coloring. While we cannot know for sure this is the American Wigeon (instead of the Eurasian Wigeon), the faint face pattern and the fact the other wigeons are rare, makes it a virtual certainty. I got this one at Fort Lowell Park in Tucson, Arizona. This is what wigeons usually look like. The left bird is a female, and the one in the center is a male. The bird hiding in the shadows on the right is a Cinnamon Teal. People sometimes dump domestic ducks and geese at some of the ponds in local parks, because they can no longer care for them.

Then other people come along and feed them. Sometimes they start awfully young! This is a young leucistic Black-chinned Hummingbird, Archilocus alexandri. His identity was revealed because he has one purple feather on his neck, on the left side. This one has visited occasionally at Beatty's Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon, which is in the Huachuca Mountains. If you ever want to go to a place that has lots of species of hummingbirds, and is a delightful place to stay on top of that, pay them a visit. The day I got this picture, it was almost dark, and he wasn't very close. But you can see what he looks like. There are eighteen species of hummingbirds in the United States. Of these, sixteen appear in southeastern Arizona, and I have personally photographed fifteen of them. I have a separate article on hummingbirds. This is what a Black-chinned Hummingbird normally looks like. This is a Black-chinned Hummingbird in flight. I got this photograph in the Huachuca Mountains, in southern Arizona.

There are several really good birding places for hummingbirds in the Huachuca Mountains, with another good one in Patagonia. I wrote about a rarity before, but that was before I saw THIS one. The Baikal Teal was considered by many Americans to be extinct. There had been few recent sightings in the Americas. Baikal Teals are named after a lake in Russia. They breed in Siberia and migrate to Viet Nam. Prior to this particular bird arriving in Arizona, there had been records in Washington and California. This bird took the birding world by storm. People came from all over to see him. He stayed about two weeks, and hung out in the Gilbert Water Ranch, Gilbert, Arizona, with the Pintails. I went up to see him the day after his presence was reported. Later, someone wrote and asked for directions. This person was from another state. I told him how to get to the Water Ranch, and where to go when he got there. People who were there usually could tell you where he had been seen last.

I told him when he walked along the trail, he should look for the photographers. The day I went, I stayed for at least a half hour, and got multiple pictures. He was very placid, feeding with the other ducks the whole time. Whatever was in that water was VERY tasty! Baikal Teal doesn't appear in Sibley's, although it is in the National Geographic Field Guide to North American Birds. As long as we are on the subject, I might as well show you who the Baikal Teal was hanging out with. I think this is one of the most elegant of ducks. I almost feel like he's wearing a tuxedo! It took me quite awhile even to see one, let alone get a decent photograph. Here is a side view. This is the most common type of hawk in Arizona. Experts say that if you don't know what kind of hawk it is, guess "Red-tailed" and you have a 50% chance of being right. There are so many different colorations of this bird that Sibley's devotes two pages, and somewhere around 46 illustrations, to it. I got this photo near Picacho Peak, Arizona.