Catching up

Over the last couple of days we have been around SE Arizona. Ann and I took a ride up Mt Lemmon and then the four of us took another ride to Tubac. I did manage to sneak in some birding while doing the  tourist thing.

Up Mt lemmon I found a pair of nesting House Wrens and some of the other higher elevation birds.

In Tubac I saw a pair of Cassins Kingbirds. A little here , a little there, and soon you have a list.

This morning I saw a Loggerhead Shrike on my morning walk and managed a poor picture of a Curve-billed Thrasher

You never Know

While heading toward  one of the two turnaround points on my walk today, I spotted two birds in a bush. One of them was very yellow. Getting close I determined it was an oriole, one I did not recognize, not that I am really up on Arizona Orioles. Getting back to the house I checked my book and lo and behold a lifer Hooded Oriole. You never know

Slightly cloudy this am and a little cool.

Tubac Hawkwatch

I nspent the morning with two friends from the LI hawk watch this morning. We did hawkwatching  at the Tubac Ron Morris Park hawkwatch. What a difference. The skies were clear blue making it difficult to see the birds in the distance. We did have some birds but most were distant, sometimes requiring a scope.  We did have a good mix of birds throughout the morning.

It did start to get hot later in the day, When we started in the morning it was cool. I wore my sweatshirt and it was still cold early on.

As things slowed down we were entertained by a pocket gopher as he was excavating his tunnel.

A quickie

I took a quick walk this morning, another nice day in Az. Just the usual suspects but some close looks ata a Vireo which I am calling Plumbeous. There were a pair of BT Gnatcatchers running around and the usual large flock of mixed sparrows.

Sunday at Sweetwater

I drove over to Sweetwater Wetlands this morning for my walk. It was fairly crowded, the weather was beautiful. The birds seemed missing. I added a few to my list for the year but nothing of any note. Maybe I am getting jaded? They did the annual burn of the reeds and the water was still low so maybe that's why there were not many birds around, although the numver od ducks was way down at the beginning of the month as well. Who Knows?

Getting Warmer

Another sunny day. The temps are about 58 to 60 degrees heading towards 80. The usual suspects on my morning walk. I did have some good looks at a Vermillion Flycatcher on the way down to the pits. It was right in the neighborhood about three doors down the street. Last night we met the neighbors to the left of us, a couple from Alaska. The other night we met Mike, who lives to the right of us. Kathryn and Roger have

three houses, one here, one in Anchorage and a summer cottage on an island across from homer.

Another beautiful sunny morning in Arizona

The su is shining, the temperatures are warming up and the sky is clear after two days of not so Arizona like weather. This morning;s walk was just the right temperatures, a little cool and a little warm. I saw my FOS Ash-throated Flycatcher this morning, right on time