Genius 7

There's a lady who drives a silver Buick with the license plate "Genius 7" on the 5 South every morning. I actually don't see her every day. But probably at least 2 or 3 times a week since September, I've driven down Beach right next to her (or behind her) and we've gotten on the 5 together. Sometimes, I meet up with her even before I get to Beach. One day, when I was waiting to turn right onto Santa Gertrudes from Adelfa, she drove right past me, and when I made the turn, I got just behind her. This morning, she stopped by the Post Office on Adelfa and as she left, she pulled out just a little in front of me. Yesterday, for the first time, I saw her on the 5 North on my way home. It made me really happy. Yay! It's Genuis 7!

If you have to commute everyday 35-50 minutes each way, it's nice to have a friend.

I don't think Genius 7 even knows I exist. Sigh.

Feathery Changes

Boy howdy, La Mirada is seeing a real rush of Spring migrants at the moment! Biola's been besieged by swarming flocks of Cliff Swallows, Barn Swallows, Vaux's Swifts and White-throated Swifts. The Vaux's Swifts actually appear to be outnumbering their cousins, though Cliff Swallows make up the biggest portion of the flocks. It's an exciting time of year to just walk outside of my office - yesterday and today there have been mixed flocks between my building and the gym. It's really something!

On my way to work this morning, I had the normal migrants - nothing too unusual - Warbling Vireos, Black-throated Gray Warblers (they seem to be outnumbering the Yellow-rumps right now), Wilson's Warblers, etc., but there are quite a few of them. There was a pair of Caspian Terns circling around La Mirada Park's lake, dipping to test the waters from time to time with a tremendous splash. One of them successfully bagged a trout bigger than its head, which it swallowed whole in flight. Caspian Terns are gull-sized, so it was something to see them fishing in a lake. I'm used to watching them over the ocean, where their size doesn't seem out of place at all.

Last night, Libby and I found two unusual birds at La Mirada Park - a Lazuli Bunting and a Gray Flycatcher. Libby says I'm truly a bird nerd, now. When we saw the Gray Flycatcher, I was really excited (they're a rare migrant here in the city) and called, "Ooh, a tail-pumping Empid!" Which means that I saw a flycatcher in the Empidonax genus that was wagging its tail - a distinctive behavior for Gray Flycatchers. I admit this made me both a little chagrined and a little proud.

Trip Itinerary

Here's a Google Map version of where we went in our trip - it's a rough outline, really, I didn't include every place we stopped, and had to use waypoints to make it a little more accurate. I'd add 50 more miles to it, at least. Anyway, here's the link: Google Map Of Arizona Trip.

Trip List

Here's the trip list, as promised:

Herons, Bitterns: Family Ardeidae (1)
Great Blue Heron
-Ardea Herodias

Ducks, Geese and Swans: Family Anatidae (2)
Mallard (Mexican form)
-Anas platyhynchos diazi
Northern Shoveler
-Anas clypeata

New World Vultures: Family Cathartidae (2)
Turkey Vulture
-Cathartes aura
Black Vulture
-Coragyps atratus

Hawks, Kites, Eagles: Family Accipitridae (7)
Sharp-shinned Hawk
-Accipiter striatus
Cooper's hawk
-Accipiter cooperii
Zone-tailed Hawk
-Buteo albonotatus
Gray Hawk
-Asturina nitida
Red-tailed Hawk
-Buteo jamaicensis
Swainson's Hawk
-Buteo swainsoni
Ferruginous Hawk
-Buteo regalis

Caracaras, Falcons: Family Falconidae (2)
American Kestrel
-Falco sparverius
Peregrine Falcon
-Falco peregrinus

New World Quail: Family Odontophoridae (1)
Gambel's Quail
-Callipepla gambelii

Rails and Coots: Family Rallidae (1)
American Coot
-Fulica americana

Pigeons and Doves: Family Columbidae (4)
Rock Pigeon
-Columba livia
White-winged Dove
-Zenaida asiatica
Mourning Dove
-Zenaida macroura
Common Ground Dove
-Columbina passerina

Cuckoos, Roadrunners, Anis: Family Cuculidae (1)
Greater Roadrunner
-Geococcyx californianus

Owls: Family Strigidae (1)
Whiskered Screech-Owl
-Otus trichopsis

Nighthawks, Nightjars: Family Caprimulgidae (1)
Whip-poor-will
-Caprimulgus vociferus

Swifts: Family Apodidae (1)
White-throated Swift
-Aeronautes saxatalis

Hummingbirds: Family Trochilidae (11)
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
-Amazilia violiceps
Lucifer Hummingbird
-Calothorax lucifer
Broad-billed Hummingbird
-Cynanthus latirostris
Blue-throated Hummingbird
-Lampornis clemenciae
Magnificent Hummingbird
-Eugenes fulgens
Black-chinned Hummingbird
-Archilocus alexandri
Costa's Hummingbird
-Calypte costae
Anna's Hummingbird
-Calypte anna
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
-Selasphorus platycercus
Calliope Hummingbird
-Stellula calliope
Rufous Hummingbird
-Selasphorus rufus

Kingfishers: Family Alcedinidae (1)
Belted Kingfisher
-Ceryle alcyon

Woodpeckers: Family Picidae (7)
Acorn Woodpecker
-Melanerpes formicivorous
Gila Woodpecker
-Melanerpes uropygialis
Northern Flicker
-Colaptes auratus
Gilded Flicker
-Colaptes chrysoides
Red-naped Sapsucker
-Sphyrapicus nuchalis
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
-Picoides scalaris
Arizona Woodpecker
-Picoides Arizonae

Tyrant Flycatchers: Family Tyranidae (8)
Hammonds Flycatcher
-Empidonax hammondii
Black Phoebe
-Sayornis nigrecans
Say's Phoebe
-Sayornis saya
Vermilion Flycatcher
-Pyrocephalus rubinus
Ash-throated Flycatcher
-Myiarchus cinerascens
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
-Myiarchus tuberculifer
Cassin's Kingbird
-Tyrannus vociferans
Western Kingbird
-Tyrannus verticalis

Shrikes: Family Laniidae (1)
Loggerhead Shrike
-Lanius ludovicianus

Vireos: Family Vireonidae (3)
Bell's Vireo
-Vireo bellii arizonae
Hutton's Vireo
-Vireo huttoni
Cassin's Vireo
-Vireo cassinii

Crows, Jays: Family: Corvidae (3)
Mexican Jay
-Aphelocoma ultramarina
Chihuahuan Raven
-Corvus cryptoleucus
Common Raven
-Corvus corax

Swallows: Family Hirundinidae (3)
Violet-green Swallow
-Tachycineta thalassina
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
-Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Barn Swallow
-Hirundo rustica

Chickadees, Titmice: Family Paridae (1)
Bridled Titmouse
-Baelophus wollweberi

Verdin: Family Remizidae (1)
Verdin
-Auriparus flaviceps

Nuthatches: Family Sittidae (1)
White-breasted Nuthatch
-Sitta carolinensis

Wrens: Family Troglodytidae (4)
House Wren
-Troglodytes aedon
Bewick's Wren
-Thryomanes bewickii
Cactus Wren
-Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
Rock Wren
-Salpinctes obsoletus

Kinglets: Family Regulidae (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
-Regulus calendula

Old World Warblers, Gnatcatchers: Family Sylviidae (2)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
-Polioptila caerulea
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
- Polioptila melanura

Thrushes: Family Turdidae (3)
Townsend's Solitaire
-Myadestes townsendi
Hermit Thrush
-Catharus guttatus
American Robin
-Turdus migratorius

Mockingbirds, Thrashers: Family Mimidae (2)
Northern Mockingbird
-Mimus polyglottos
Curve-billed thrasher
-Toxostoma curvirostre

Starlings: Family Sturnidae (1)
European Starling
-Sturnus vulgaris

Silky Flycatchers: Family Ptilogonatidae (1)
Phainopepla
-Phainopepla nitens

Wood-Warblers: Family Parulidae (10)
Nashville Warbler
-Vermivora ruficapilla
Lucy's Warbler
-Vermivora luciae
Yellow-rumped Warbler
-Dendroica coronata
Black-throated Gray Warbler
-Dendroica nigrescens
Townsend's Warbler
-Dendroica townsendi
Yellow Warbler
-Dendroica petechia
MacGillivray's Warbler
-Oporornis tolmiei
Wilson's Warbler
-Wilsonia pusilla
Common Yellowthroat
-Geothlypis trichas
Painted Redstart
-Myioborus pictus

Tanagers: Family Thraupidae (2)
Summer Tanager
-Piranga rubra
Flame-colored Tanager
-Piranga bidentata

New World Sparrows: Family Emberizidae (9)
Green-tailed Towhee
-Pipilo chlorurus
Canyon Towhee
-Pipilo fuscus
Abert's Towhee
-Pipilo aberti
Chipping Sparrow
-Spizella passerina
Brewer's Sparrow
-Spizella breweri
Lark Sparrow
-Chondestes grammacus
Black-throated Sparrow
-Amphispiza bilineata
Song Sparrow (southwestern form)
-Melospiza melodian saltonis
White-crowned Sparrow
-Zonotrichia leucophrys

Cardinals: Family Cardinalidae (4)
Black-headed Grosbeak
-Pheucticus melanocephalus
Northern Cardinal
-Cardinalis cardinalis
Pyrrhuloxia
-Cardinalis sinuatus
Lazuli Bunting
-Passerina amoena

Blackbirds and Orioles: Family Icteridae (6)
Red-winged Blackbird
-Agelaius phoeniceus
Great-tailed Grackle
-Quiscalus mexicanus
Brewer's Blackbird
-Euphagus cyanocephalus
Hooded Oriole
-Icterus cucullatus
Bullock's Oriole
-Icterus bullockii
Scott's Oriole
-Icterus parisorum

Finches: Family Fringillidae (4)
House Finch
-Carpodacus mexicanus
Pine Siskin
-Carduelis pinus
American Goldfinch
-Carduelis tristis
Lesser Goldfinch
-Carduelis psaltria

Old World Sparrows: Family Passeridae (1)
House Sparrow
-Passer domesticus

So, the total is 114. As Libby said before, about 37 new, which is 36 each lifers. Cool beans folks. Until next time, peace out.

Home Sweet Home

Libby and I finally made it home. It was a long drive (9 hours) from Sierra Vista, Arizona to La Mirada, California, but it's good to be back.

Looking back, the real highlight of the trip was the Flame-colored Tanager. It was both strikingly beautiful and rare, which if you ask a gold miner, denotes value. This individual bird has been coming back to Madera Canyon for the last four years, and he'll probably not be around too much longer. He doesn't have a female consort, either, so when he's gone, who knows when the next Flame-colored Tanager will find Madera Canyon (or the United States at all, for that matter)? It probably won't be too long, but there is usually only one or so a year north of Mexico in any event.

Our pictures all turned out fuzzy, so here's a link to a really good one someone else took: Flame-colored Tanager picture. This fellow took a bunch of pictures, too: Flame-colored Tanager page. These are all of the same bird we saw - he's got to be one of the most photographed and admired birds in the United States. That's the other thing about Southeast Arizona, there are birders everywhere. There were birders in our hotels, birders on the trails, birders from all over the country, all of them walking around with binoculars around their necks and field guides in their hands. It will only get more crowded in Arizona with birders as the season progresses - late April and early May bring in the rest of the Arizona specialties. We were early for a lot of neat birds, but that's ok, we'll go back some day to see them. In the meantime, we were really happy with experiencing such a neat place.

A real highlight for me was seeing all of the hummingbirds throughout the week, though especially Friday. There are so many hummingbirds in Arizona. The big feeder collections we posted pictures of would draw dozens of hummingbirds at a time - and of so many different species - that you couldn't watch all of them. The air would be full of their whirring, and each bird's wings make a different kind of hum. Broad-tailed Hummingbirds' wings hum really loudly, and so you always knew when one was around. They would chirp and chase each other around, and then all feed at the same feeder. You'd have four birds at one feeder, which is something that would never happen in our backyard. It was also a real treat to see Magnificent Hummingbirds and Blue-throated Hummingbirds. They were so big! Imagine the sparrows you see hopping about as hummingbirds, whirring around on giant wings. That's about what it was like - they dwarfed the other hummingbirds at the feeders with them. Perhaps some day I'll get to go somewhere where you can see 50 hummingbird species in a day.

Libby counted up our life birds for the trip, and we had 37. That's a lot of new birds! We haven't figured out the trip total for birds, but we'll post that after we figure it out. All in all, this was a rewarding and relaxing vacation.

*Note from Libby: Birders sometimes calculate the "cost per bird" of a trip like this. Since we saw 37 lifers, and the trip cost approx. $710 (with lodging, food, gas, and fees), our cost per bird was about $19.19. Of course, we got more than birds for our money. We got some great experiences and memories...and a nice change of scenery before going back to work.

Day 5, Hummingbirds!

Today was our last day of birding in Southeastern Arizona. The plan this morning was to bird Garden Canyon in Fort Huachuca here, but it snowed last night. We persevered with our plans, but when we got to the first picnic area it was still spitting snow. We saw at the picnic area:

1. Say's Pheobe
2. Red-tailed Hawk
3. American Kestrel
4. Turkey Vulture

It was freezing, bitter cold, and so we went into the lowlands and the San Pedro River, which you can see below. On the way we saw a lifer - the Swainson's Hawk is beautiful.

5. Swainson's Hawk*
6. Northern Mockingbird
7. Mourning Dove


The San Pedro River flows North, from Mexico into the United States. That's pretty unusual. It's a valuable riparian corridor for migrants. It was quite birdy today, but it was also full of caterpillars. There were millions of caterpillars, about 20 per square foot (no exageration - millions), on every surface. These were fuzzy caterpillars, and so we had to be careful not to touch them (the fuzz may be a defense mechanism that is very irritating to the skin). They were dropping from the trees above us, so that was pretty tricky. We used twigs to wipe them off our clothes every few minutes. It was a real once in a lifetime kind of bizarre experience.

Anyway, there were a lot of birds (not eating the caterpillars). Here's the list of birds we first saw there (asterisks denote lifers):

8. Vermillion Flycatcher
9. Hammond's Flycatcher
10. Western Kingbird
11. Cassin's Kingbird
12. Yellow Warbler* (for Libby, I've seen one at Biola)
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler
14. Wilson's Warbler
15. Common Yellowthroat
16. Song Sparrow
17. Abert's Towhee
18. Summer Tanager* (a female, however)
19. Great Blue Heron
20. Mallard (Mexican form - the males don't have green heads)
21. Barn Swallow
22. Violet-green Swallow
23. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
24. Chihuahuan Raven
25. Loggerhead Strike
26. Northern Flicker
27. Gila Woodpecker
28. Gambel's Quail
29. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
30. White-winged Dove

At about 11:00, we packed up and headed for the hills. The sun had come out, and it was warming up, so we felt comfortable going up in elevation. It was still nippy when we got there, but the sun was warm. Here's a sign you see in Southern Arizona:

We saw a lot of evidence of illegal immigration in riparian areas. There were water jugs spread around under piles of grass, etc. It's kind of unnerving, really. The place we headed was Beatty's Guest Ranch in the Huachuca Mountains for hummingbirds! This place has had the highest number of hummingbirds seen in one day in the United States. We saw eight species there, and three of those were new for us. Here's the feeder set-up:

31. Anna's Hummingbird
32. Rufous Hummingbird
33. Black-chinned Hummingbird
34. Broadbilled Hummingbird
35. Magnificent Hummingbird
36. Calliope Hummingbird* (our smallest hummingbird)
37. Broadtailed Hummingbird*
38. Bluethroated Hummingbird* (our largest hummingbird - as long as the Magnificent (5") but heavier)

We also saw some other birds we hadn't seen yet that day:

39. Mexican Jay
40. Black-headed Grosbeak
41. Painted Redstart
42. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
43. Hutton's Vireo (in the same tree as the Kinglet!)


After Miller Canyon, we headed off to Ash Canyon, where there is another collection of feeders that is currently featuring a Lucifer's Hummingbird. We headed over to see that, too. We saw it as soon as we came in the gate! The other highlight was a Whiskered Screech Owl, which was in a nest box there:

44. Lucifer's Hummingbird*
45. Scott's Oriole
46. Whiskered Screech Owl*
47. Bridled Titmouse
48. Acorn Woodpecker
49. Lesser Goldfinch
50. Lazuli Bunting
51. Chipping Sparrow

After that, we headed back to the San Pedro River to watch some Hummingbird banding, which seemed appropriate after our nine species Hummingbird day.

First we checked out the river, and we found a few new species for the day:

52. Black Pheobe
53. McGillivray's Warbler
54. Belted Kingfisher
55. Sharp-shinned Hawk
56. White-crowned Sparrow


Here's how they caught the hummingbirds - they dropped a net on them while they were feeding. It was pretty cool to watch.

Anyway, now we're heading home tomorrow.

Arizona Trip, Day 4!

This morning was an even earlier one than yesterday. We were up and checked out of our hotel by 5:30am. Our first stop was Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge: Aricava Cienega. This picture shows morning's first light hitting the parking lot.Here are the birds we saw there:
1. White-crowned Sparrow
2. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
3. Vermillion Flycatcher
4. Lark Sparrow *
5. Turkey Vulture
6. Common Raven
7. Wilson's Warbler
8. Lucy's Warbler
9. Common Yellowthroat
10. Yellow-rumped Warbler
11. Red-winged Blackbird
12. Cassin's Kingbird
13. Northern Cardinal
14. Gila Woodpecker
15. Common Ground Dove
16. Mourning Dove
17. Song Sparrow
18. Gray Hawk* (We saw this perched on the roadside just as we left. We immediately pulled over and watched it for a few minutes before it flew away.



Second on the list of stops was Aricava Creek, just a few miles West. We didn't see a ton of birds here, but a few.
I'll continue the "Day List," adding only the ones that we didn't already see at an earlier stop:
19. House Finch
20. Hammond's Flycatcher*
21. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
22. Green-tailed Towhee
23. Lesser Goldfinch
24. Red-tailed Hawk
25. Greater Roadrunner* (Lifer for me; Jonathan has seen these before. We were actually driving away from the Creek when Jonathan spotted this one on the side of the road, stopped and backed up so that I could see it.)


Third, we came to this Roadside Rest. There have been many rare birds that have been seen here during migration. So we stopped here, walked around and had some lunch. The cliffs in this picture had a pair of Peregrine Falcons nesting in them. Jonathan and I have seen this species before, but never like this. We got a perfect look at one while he sat on the edge of the cliff and stayed put for a few minutes.
26. Rock Wren
27. Broad-billed Hummingbird
28. Black Vulture
29. Peregrine Falcon



After lunch at the Roadside Rest, we headed to somebody's backyard. The Paton's, a family in Patagonia, have opened up their yard to those wishing to see cool birds. A steady stream of birders are coming and going from their house all the time. They've got 4 or 5 hummingbird feeders hanging up, as well as several seed feeders and bowls of grapes. Consequently, they attract a wide variety of avian life. Here's what part of the backyard looks like. It's nice of the Paton's to provide chairs and shade for us.
At the Paton's:
30. Lazuli Bunting
31. Black-headed Grosbeak
32. Hooded Oriole
33. Bullock's Oriole
34. Bewick's Wren
35. Abert's Towhee
36. Canyon Towhee
37. Curve-billed Thrasher
38. Chipping Sparrow
39. House Sparrow
40. Anna's Hummingbird
41. Black-chinned Hummingbird
42. Violet-crowned Hummingbird*
43. Acorn Woodpecker
44. Zone-tailed Hawk*
45. Northern Flicker
46. Gambel's Quail
47. American Goldfinch


Our last birding stop was the Patagonia Sonoita Nature Preserve. We didn't get a lot of new species for the day, but two of them were lifers, so that makes up for it!
48. Dusky-capped Flycatcher*
49. Townsend's Solitaire* (This is one that I've wanted to see for a while, because I really like its picture in my book. So that was a really nice one to get.)
50. Mallard
51. White-wing Dove


Then off to Sierra Vista for our new hotel for the next two nights. We arrived at Sierra Suites a little after 4pm. On the way we saw these birds soaring:

52. Ferruginous Hawk*

So that was cool. For dinner we drove to Tombstone. That's a fun town, but we forgot to bring our camera, so we only have the images in our minds to serve as memories. In Tombstone there was a:

53. Great-tailed Grackle


Final count of lifers for the day: 9

Arizona Trip, Day 3!

We woke up early this morning and were out of our hotel room by 6am. We drove into Madera Canyon, only about 10 miles from where we are staying. We spent the whole day there, making several stops and seeing lots of different things. Here's a picture of the ruins of White House, an adobe house built in the 1880s. Jonathan and I were pretty happy today. Madera Canyon offers much more shade than the desert we were in yesterday, so it was much less tiring.
For the first part of the morning, we didn't come across many other birders; we were mostly alone on the trails we walked. But when we came to Madera Kubo, we saw a group of several birders on the side of the road. Knowing that the Flame-colored Tanager had been seen here, we went straight to where the big group was--sure that this was what they were all looking at. Sure enough there he was. And there he stayed for several minutes, allowing all to get a satisfying look. These tanagers belong in Mexico. But this one particular bird has come back to the same spot every Spring since 2003. We wonder how many more Springs he'll be alive and able to come back here to grace the people of Arizona with his presence.
After lunch, we took a little hike on the Vault Mine Trail. This was a nice walk, offering a couple of new bird species for us (Arizona Woodpecker, and Magnificent Hummingbird) and some beautiful scenery.
We finished off the afternoon at the Santa Rita Lodge. This place has several bird feeders on its grounds. We just sat down nearby and waited for the birds to come to us--a nice, peaceful way to end the day. This was another place that attracts birders, so we weren't alone here either.
We got back to the hotel a little after 5pm, and are now enjoying a relaxing evening. Here's the list of birds that we saw today in Madera Canyon, more or less in the order that we saw them (life birds are indicated by asterisk).

1. Acorn Woodpecker
2. Northern Cardinal
3. Hermit Thrush
4. Chipping Sparrow
5. White-crowned Sparrow
6. Cassin's Vireo* (lifer for Jonathan; I actually saw this once in '05 with my Ornithology class)
7. Mexican Jay*
8. Lesser Goldfinch
9. Ladder-backed Woodpecker*
10. Wilson's Warbler
11. Broad-billed Humminbird
12. Turkey Vulture
13. Bridled Titmouse*
14. Black-throated Gray Warbler
15. White-breasted Nuthatch
16. Ash-throated Flycatcher
17. Yellow-rumped Warbler
18. Painted Redstart
19. Flame-colored Tanager** (2 asterisks cause it's just THAT cool)
20. Black Phoebe
21. Scott's Oriole*
22. Hooded Oriole
23. Hutton's Vireo*
24. Red-naped Sapsucker*
25. Mourning Dove
26. Black-chinned Hummingbird
27. Rufous Hummingbird
28. Black-headed Grosbeak
29. House Finch
30. Townsend's Warbler
31. White-throated Swift
32. American Robin
33. Pine Siskin*
34. House Wren
35. Arizona Woodpecker*
36. Magnificent Hummingbird*
37. Lazuli Bunting
38. Bewick's Wren
39. Red-tail Hawk
40. Cooper's Hawk
41. Common Raven


Final count of lifers for the day: 11

Arizona Trip, Day 2!

Boy oh boy was today a long day. It seems like we took every wrong turn that we could take, followed bad directions, and just generally got to see a lot more of the desert around Tucson than we planned on seeing. We were gone 13 hours from our hotel room! I will add pictures to this post later, at the moment I'm just too exhausted to sort through them.

First stop in the morning was the Sonora Desert Museum just outside of Saguaro National Park West. It opened at 7:30, and we got there around then. That was a good idea because it got really crowded later in the day. We were out of the museum by 12:30, which was good, because it was getting warm and bright. The temperatures were in the low 80s, but the constant sun was wearing. Saguaros don't cast much of a shadow. Anyway, the desert museum was really cool, and had some cool birds in aviaries (Yellow Grosbeak!) and in a live free flight show that we saw - but those don't count birding wise. Here's the list from the grounds (asterisks are lifers - I don't have energy to highlight the excitement).

1. Cactus Wrens (everywhere)
2. Curve-billed Thrasher
3. Gila Woodpecker
4. Pyrrhuloxia*
5. Mourning Doves (nesting right on the path)
6. White-crowned Sparrow
7. House Sparrow
8. White-winged Doves
9. Turkey Vulture
10. Cooper's Hawk
11. Red-tailed Hawk
12. Chihuahuan Raven*
13. Wilson's Warbler
14. Black Vulture*
15. Costa's Hummingbird
16. Canyon Towhee*
17. Lesser Goldfinch
18. Verdin
19. Gambel's Quail

After wearing ourself out at the museum, we headed off down the road to the visitor's center of Saguaro National Park West. We ate lunch in our car, and then checked out a slide show about the Native American's perspective of the Sonora. We then just lolled around on the deck there for awhile to enjoy the birds and relax in the shade. It turned out to be pretty productive, none the less.

1. Verdin
2. Nashville Warbler
3. Hooded Oriole
4. "Western" Flycatcher (didn't vocalize)
5. Gilded Flicker*
6. Gila Woodpecker
7. Cactus Wren
8. Turkey Vultures
9. Red-tailed Hawks
10. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
11. House Finch
12. Pyrrhuloxia

After resting for a bit there, drinking some fluids, and feeling generally better, we set off on a misguided and torturous trek over to the East unit of Saguaro National Park (which is actually on the opposite side of the city - there is no East-West freeway). After more than an hour, we stopped at the very Northern trail-head. A short walk there gathered a few birds, and then we ate dinner at the main area of that unit. We also took the loop over there, and in all we gathered these few birds:

1. Brewer's Sparrow
2. Black-throated Sparrow
3. Gila Woodpecker
4. Cactus Wren
5. Gambel's Quail
6. Verdin
7. Common Raven
8. White-winged Dove
9. Mourning Dove
10. Canyon Towhee
11. Curve-billed Thrasher
12. Ash-throated Flycatcher

There may have been other birds, but we don't think we forgot to put any lifers. So far, this trip isn't producing enormous day-totals of species. Tomorrow, however, is Madera Canyon!

Arizona, Here We Come!

Hi folks! Libby and I are at the hotel on the first night of our trip. We're going to try and basically live blog our trip. Every night we will post some pictures, and talk about what we did. Mostly it's for our sake (saved for posterity!), but maybe some of you will be interested, too.

We left Libby's parent's house at 6:15 in the morning, and we got to Blythe around 9:00 (we think). Here's the Colorado River as we cross it on the 10:


Here's a quick picture of the welcome to Arizona sign. They had a check-point for commercial vehicles and livestock, but we didn't have to stop.


Libby drove from Blythe to Pheonix. She did a bang-up job: the miles flowed by to the rich bass voice of our narrated Dean Koontz novel. This is both of our first Dean Koontz novel, and we're both entertained and entertained by it. Why the heck does he take so long to develop things? Why does he have to use so many bizarre metaphors?


Our first birding stop was in Tucson, at Arthur Pack Park. We don't have any pictures from that stop. We ate lunch, and then we walked around looking at the birds. We had our first Arizona lifer there, the common Gila Woodpecker (both a male and a female). The species from that stop where:

1. House Sparrow
2. European Starling
3. House Finch
4. Mourning Doves
5. Great-tailed Grackles
6. Gila Woodpecker
7. White-winged Dove
8. White-crowned Sparrow
9. Cactus Wren
10. Verdin
11. Gambel's Quail
12. Brewer's Blackbird
13. American Coot
14. Northern Shoveler
15. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
16. Yellow-Rumped Warbler
17. Red-tailed Hawk

We saw a pair of Verdin nesting. Their nest is a really neat looking, almost football sized, ball of thorns and twigs. We were surprised to see one of them disappear into it through a hole at the base of the nest.

We then drove on to Green Valley, where we checked into our hotel and took a little rest. After settling in and getting replenished, we headed off to Florida Wash (pronounced Flor-EE-duh), on the way up to Madera Canyon (where we plan to go on Wednesday). Florida Wash is famous for Buff-collared Nightjars, and Rufous-winged Sparrows. We didn't see either of those species, but we had a wonderful walk. It's really beautiful, the air was cool, and the sun was setting - casting rich light on the Santa Rita Mountains and the dry grass. Here's the stile that takes you over the barbed-wire fence:


This is the direction we walked up the wash. Those are the Santa Rita Mountains in the background. Madera Canyon is in those mountains.


The trip wasn't really birdy, but it was, again, wonderful. We did see a few birds - three new. We hadn't seen a whip-poor-will before, and we also saw our first Lucy's Warblers and a male Broadbilled Hummingbird (it was partly silhouetted against the light, and facing away, so we're still looking forward to seeing more of them).

1. Verdin
2. Northern Cardinal (this was exciting - a very pretty female)
3. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
4. Costa's Hummingbird
5. Lucy's Warbler
6. House Finch
7. Bell's Vireo
8. Common Ravens
9. Lesser Goldfinches
10. Whip-poor-will (this was seen both flying and sitting: our first good look at a resting nightjar).
11. Ash-throated Flycatcher
12. Black-throated Sparrow

After dinner, we saw a Curve-billed Thrasher right outside the door to our hotel. So that's another lifer for today - bringing our total to five.

We had a flycatcher from a distance that we couldn't identify, and a lot of movement in the bushes that we couldn't see very well. That's all for now! More pictures and text to come, tomorrow!

From 5th grade...

This past week in class my students and I were preparing for Easter. Each day, we would read the account of a different event in holy week, and discuss it. Here's part of a conversation that took place right after reading the account of the Last Supper:

Me: Question--How often does Jesus say we ought to take the Lord's Supper?
Student 1: On the 1st Sunday of every month!
Me: Actually, no.
Student 2: Every other Sunday!
Me: Nope.

This kind of thing went on for a little while with other suggestions being made, including "Every Sunday," "On the Sabbath," and "Never." Finally, a boy who must have looked back at the text said, "He never says how often to do it...just that we should."

Which is what I was getting at. But I didn't expect for it to take so long. :-)