Back Home

 It took 8 1/2 hours to get home from Tucson.  It was all pleasant and smooth and with my book club book to read, the 2 hour wait in Los Angeles went by quickly.  Sitting here in my usual chair, listening to the crickets (it’s warm tonight), the whole trip seems like a dream.  It was a great joy to see my sister and to get back to doing what we love, exploring beautiful natural places, looking at birds, wildflowers, butterflies and the like.  The birding trip was wonderful, but even more wonderful was doing it again after the pandemic restrictions, but we are getting back to doing what we like to do.  The couples on the trip were all very compatible.  Compared to a year ago when we were still greatly frightened, pretty much home bound and very restricted in what we could do, things are great.  I am feeling very fortunate to go on a vacation.  Now I’m wanting more.  I want to go on another birding trip next Spring with Mark. 

As I look ahead, September looks very busy for me and it’s going to be hot here and smoky here for a while.  We can finally try out our new air conditioning.  How very fortunate we are!  

  

Day 6 - Carr Canyon

 The group agreed: today was the best day yet.  We started out early, as usual, but stopped at a drive-thru coffee shop to get those of us who like good coffee something stronger than the pale brown watery stuff they pass off as coffee at the hotel.  With spirits raised, we set off up into the mountains to the south.  Today’s destination was Carr Canyon, a 6 mile road up a very bumpy dirt road along narrow switchbacks up the side of the mountain to a forest service campground way up at the top of the Huachuca Mountains above 7000 feet.  The drop-offs and shear cliffs along the road were scary but I was distracted by beautiful wildflowers along the way.  Up at the campground, the first thing we spotted wasn’t a bird, but a turquoise low-rider 62 Mercury Monterey car parked with it’s hood and trunk raised.  A hippie woman and her teen age daughter drove the car up the road from Hereford, nearby.  With the rough track, no one could imagine how she got the car up to the campground.  Unfortunately, along the way, she had broken the transmission and now couldn’t get the car into gear.  Most of the guys were drawn to the problem, like hummingbirds to nectar.  It was crazy to bring such a car up the difficult road and now no one could imagine how she could possibly get it down the mountain.  We all agreed, with admiration, she had the pioneer spirit although she had been smoking too much.

Eventually, we moved on and began to look for birds.  In the campground, there was a bird party.  The most interesting bird was Grace’s warbler.  We all got good looks at the lovely yellow fronted, gray little bird that frequents pine woods.  We watched a Rufus hummingbird chase off a black-throated gray warbler from a bush.  They compete for resources and the hummingbird wins as most aggressive.  Further along the road we spotted a family of Eastern bluebirds, the two juveniles wowing us with their bright blue feathers.  We looked for olive warblers in the pine forests along the way with no luck.  After lunch at the higher campground, most of us hiked down Comfort Spring Trail to look for Red-faced warblers.  They are a challenge to find, sulky and shy.  I was concerned that the hike might be too much for me and wondered whether I could handle it.  On the way down, I was totally distracted taking pictures of the beautiful wildflowers along the narrow rocky exposed trail.  Before we got to the spring, Mark had spotted a Red-faced warbler.  After a bit of looking, we’d all gotten great views of the vibrant little warbler.  Its head literally glowed red.  It seemed so easy compared with the struggle we’d had a couple of years ago looking for it here.  Hiking back up the trail, I kept waiting for it to get hard, but it never did.  Both Bob and I found it much easier than we remembered and are so happy to be in good shape!

Back in the van, on the way back, Mark kept stopping the van, hopping out to have a look for the olive warbler.  It seemed like a hopeless challenge, but at the third stop, he saw movement and called us to get out of the van. We asked how he knew where to look.  He said Olive Warbler like dense pine patches and up in Carr Canyon, the pines are patchy as the result of a fire many years ago.  It was at the third pine patch he found the bird.  He said, it was dumb luck, I think skill.   There was the olive warbler, not olive colored, but with an orange head and a gray body with a black mask.  It is in its own genus and family.  Truly a one of a kind bird.  Very rare and very special.   We all got great looks at this very unique bird.  It was a life bird for the most accomplished birder of our group and she did a little bird dance for us in her glee.  It was a great day, the best day for us all.  We ended with a celebratory up-scale dinner at our hotel.  Tomorrow we will do a bit of birding in the morning and end by noon.  It has been wonderful to spend a week doing what we love, being out in beautiful nature and focusing on birds, not news or politics with a compatible group of lovely people.  Once again our guide, Mark Pretti, has done a masterful job of guiding us to great birds as well as keeping us happy.  I hope it won’t be too long before we go on another one of his trips.  I think we’re still agile and spry enough to deal with whatever comes along.  

Day 5 - Hummingbirds

 This morning was spent in Huachuca Canyon on Fort Huachuca Army Base in Sierra Vista. We bounced and swayed and rolled going up the canyon road.  My first impression getting out of the van was how wet it was.  We immediately heard sulfur bellied flycatchers as they flitted back and forth above us in the tree tops. Their squeaky calls sound just like a doggy squeaky toy.  Eventually up the trail we got some good looks at them.  My favorite birds of the morning were the pair of black throated gray warblers I saw well.  Over all there weren’t very many birds in the canyon.  It was disappointing we didn’t see any Elegant Trogans.  I overheard another bird guide tell Mark the Trogan population was down 70% this year from last year. “Perhaps,”  Mark said, “they didn’t nest this year because the weather in May and June was so very hot and dry.”  I did enjoy getting photos of several large butterflies and enjoyed the colorful rocks.

The high point of the day came in the afternoon.  We spent leisurely hours after lunch in front row seats at the Ramsey Canyon B and B watching the many bird feeders.  There was a wire with eight hummingbird feeders, plus many suet feeders and seed feeders. There were many Rivoli hummingbirds with their turquoise gorget and purple cap.  As the clouds gathered and the distant thunder moved closer, I wondered if it would rain.  There was a family of black-headed grosbeaks flying in and out.  An Arizona woodpecker made a cameo appearance.  After nearly an hour there, we drove to Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary which was nearly deserted.  Two years ago, I was sorely disappointed on a visit there not to see the Lucifer Hummingbird.  This place is a magnet for views of the rare Lucifer’s hummingbird.  This year I was not disappointed. There were many.  The first male appeared right after we got there.  I was so thrilled.  I loved its purple gorget and green back and curved bill.  At times several males came to the feeders at the same time and chased each other.  Females also appeared.  I remembered how kind MaryJo, the owner of the property was.  She chatted with us for a long time, shared her recipe for making suet and sold me a Lucifer Hummingbird pin which I wear on my hat to this day.  The storm clouds moved closer.  We heard thunder nearby and saw lightning.  Luckily we were on the edge of the storm and it only rained for 5 minutes.  I found the rumbling thunder reminded me of my rumbling tummy and I got really hungry.  Who knew thunder makes me hungry?  A sign there said that MaryJo had died in May 2019.  We were there mid-May 2019.  I am once again reminded how fleeting life is and how we never know what is going to happen.  It made me very happy to spend time watching the Lucifer’s hummingbirds and other birds at this beautiful house planted with Salvias and other hummingbird attracting plants.  It is a legacy for Mary Jo who so kindly opened her beautiful yard with so many birds to birders.  

Day 4 - Patagonia to Sierra Vista in SE Arizona

 Last night I asked Mark what his target birds were for today.  He said. Botterii sparrow, Northern beardless tyranulet and maybe the thick-billed kingbird.  So we set off after an early breakfast to drive to Lake Patagonia, a dammed up lake in the high desert.  Along the way, we stopped at exactly the spot we stopped two years ago to look for the Botterii sparrow.  As we got out of the van, there it was on the wire just above us.  “Old Faithful” Bob said.  The bird responded to the recorded call by flying back and forth in front of us.  It continued until we’d all gotten very good views.  Mark described the bird as a large plain sparrow with a receding forehead.  Not particularly flattering, I thought.  But the field markings aren’t the main way to identify it.  It’s location, location, location. The bird i s very rare with an extremely restricted range and found only in a tiny part of SE Arizona, just around where we were, in open grassland.  Check off one of our target birds.  We went on into the Lake Patagonia State Park where we walked along the bird trail by the edge of the dam, in a mixed mesquite, willow and cottonwood forest.  We were treated to “eye candy”, a red red cardinal sitting at the top of an ocotillo against the blue blue sky singing out his heart.  Soon after we got into the forest Mark heard a Northern beardless Tyranulet calling and after a bit of trying, we’d all gotten views of this tiniest flycatcher.  Check two target birds off.  We identified a mixed flock of birds that responded to the recording of a ferruginous pygmy owl.  There was a chat, a hummingbird, a Nashville warbler, a McGillivray’s warbler and a black headed grosbeak all coming together to swarm the potential predator.  We were the lucky observers.  Further along we found the thick-billed kingbird.  

A family came marching by.  Three kids, a mom and a drill sergeant dad.  They asked what we’d seen.  We all piped up—birds and butterflies and mushrooms and beetles and lizards and spiders and the family looked at us blankly and marched on.  Later they came by walking back the other direction.  I asked them what they had seen?  “Oh, nothing,” the kids said.”  I thought how wonderful it is to be with a group who has their eyes open and sees so much around us when we walk in the woods.  It is very important to be curious and have open eyes to see the world around us.  I was thrilled to find a Lavender Pleasing Fungal beetle.  It eats bracket fungus, lives its whole life there.  To my eyes, it is amazingly beautiful.

On the way back, after passing hillsides colored orange or purple or yellow with extreme flower displays,  we stopped by the side of the road at a place Mark knew where we might see Rose-throated becards.  I had no idea what a Rose-throated becard looked like, besides the obvious rose throat.  They are thick bodied birds with heavy beaks somewhat like the thick-billed kingbird which we had seen in the trees by the lake.  Arriving at the spot, Mark played their call and soon two birds were flying back and forth high above us.  After a while we all had a good view of the female and the year old male.  I thought the whole targeted hunt thing was rather neat, though I’m still not sure about what a becard is and where it fits in the larger scheme of things.  

After a very delicious lunch at a local cafe, we drove from Patagonia to Sierra Vista.  The landscape changed to a rolling open grassland where a pronghorn deer was spotted.   We stopped at Fort Huachuca and got our passes for tomorrow.  It was for me a bit of a challenge as I had to come up with my Social Security number which I have never memorized.  Somehow, I managed to do it so I don’t have to stay behind.  After a couple of hour rest, we went out to Gray Hawk Ranch where a crazy enthusiastic wired naturalist went on and on about snakes.  Bob loved it, me not so much.  All in all,  it was another wonderful day: good birds, good food and good companionship.  

Day 3 - Around Tubac and over Box Canyon to Patagonia

 Have I mentioned how GREEN it is, here in S. Arizona?  It’s amazing.  I’ve never seen it like this.  The mountains are green, the desert floor is bursting forth in wildflowers and the rivers have running water.   The summer monsoon (rain storms) have been intense for the last month.  At the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, the owner told us he’s measured 20” of rain in the last 3 weeks!  Today after an early breakfast, we drove South to Tubac for our morning birding adventure.  Soon after we pulled onto Highway 10, a few of us spotted a large gray bird with black and white stripes on the tail on some wires across a gully.  As we talked, Mark said it sounded like a gray hawk.  He pulled over and then did a real crazy birder thing—he backed down the highway until the shoulder disappeared, then drove across the median and went around to drive by the spot again.  The hawk was still there and we had a good look and lesson about it.   When we got to Tubac, we drove on back roads to the riparian woodland of the Santa Rita River.  Walking along the empty street with a horse farm on one side and a forest on the other, we peered into the mesquite and cottonwood trees.  We were looking for a Yellow Breasted Chat among other birds.  We saw woodpeckers (ladder-back and Gila), migratory warblers (Lucy’s, Wilson’s, Nashville, Black-chinned and lots of other birds.  We spent a long time watching a very nervous Bell’s vireo.  We learned that all vireos make nests out of spider webs and construct them like hammocks as hanging woven pouches.  Walking across the road to the actual flood plain, we walked through an amazingly beautiful Sycamore forest.  When there weren’t birds to see, we learned about the animal tracks (even though the tracks of deer and javelina look similar, you can tell them apart by their gaits—deer being bigger have a longer stride) or about the butterflies sipping minerals from the half dry mud on the trail.  Mark said if someone would pee on the mud, when we came back, there would be multitudes of butterflies there—-and there were.  

After lunch, we drove over a dirt road that skirts the north side of the Santa Rita Mountains called Box Canyon.  The road was very much worse for wear from the recent rains.  We bumped along and we glad the road hadn’t totally washed out.  It was amazing to see hillsides painted orange by multitudes of orange desert poppies surrounded by only green hills.  Near the top of the pass, there was a lovely waterfall.  We frolicked taking every combination of people in our photos.  Once over the pass going south-east, the vegetation changed suddenly into an oak woodland with native grasses.  The landscapes were beautiful and so green.  

Checking into our hotel, the only place in town now to stay, we rested for a half hour before heading out to the Paton Hummngbird Center.  It was disappointing compared to our last visit there.  We did see four hummingbirds (Broad-billed, Anna’s, Black-chinned and Violet crested) but that is all.  They had taken down all of their other feeders because a bear ransacked the premises a couple of weeks ago.  A jovial and delicious pizza dinner at the Velvet Elvis restaurant finished off the day.  It is so great to be doing something we both love to do once again.  Tomorrow we meet for breakfast at 5:50 AM.  Ahh, birding trips.   

Day 2 - Madera Canyon

 The day started early, breakfast at 6 AM.  We were on the road by 6:30, stopping at the nearby pond to see if anything had flown in overnight.  Nothing had.  Then on to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains.  We stopped on the way up to the canyon by the roadside.  The wildflowers and insects were wonderful.  Juicy caterpillars, a tiny toad with spathe shaped feet for digging, mating longhorn beetles and butterflies galore.  The roadside poppies aren’t really poppies.  Whatever they are, they are a challenge to photograph.  As we pulled into the parking lot at the bottom of Madera Canyon, the mimosa flowers painted the landscape pink.  A shaggy red molting cardinal greeted us and led us up into the canyon.  Barrel cactus ringed with orange  flowers called out to three of us intent on photographing all the wildflowers we walked past.  Each cactus seemed more beautiful than the one before.  We lunched under the welcome shade of a pavilion where bats roost and fed (we could tell by the bat turds on the ground).  After lunch we drove up to Santa Rita B and B where they have a multitude of bird feeders and hung out probably for an hour.  As Mark said, it was great if you liked Acorn woodpeckers, Mexican jays and lesser goldfinches.  The hoped for hummingbirds didn’t appear.  We convinced him to take us up into the mountains for a short walk (the flyer in the gift shop said) to see Elegant Trogans.  Most of us headed up the trail by the burbling stream lined with sycamore trees where the Trojans have been seen most days.  The little adventure hike was the best and the views extraordinary.  Even though we didn’t see the Trogans, we did get wonderful views of a redstart, a yellow eyed junco and a sulfur bellied flycatcher.  We ended the day at the Longhorn Restaurant where cowboys ruled.  The food and drink were great helping us to relax at the end of our wonderful long day in the field.

Day 1 of SE Arizona Birding Trip

 Bob and I flew to Tucson on Tuesday.  We had a lovely stay with my sister for two nights.  We had not seen each other for more than two years, so it was very special to once again be together.  She’d moved into a very large elegant house that her oldest son bought in Ventana Canyon area.  By any standard, it’s a mansion and I didn’t know how I’d feel about it.  But I am so happy for her and for her son and his family.  They are slowly making the house their own, changing all sorts of things.  I especially enjoyed all the Arizona art he has.  I stopped counting the paintings at 17 after going through only 4 rooms.  

This morning we met the group and all piled into the van.  I ended up in the farthest back seat.  Good thing we all agree to change seats each day.  It was very good to be back on the road again with naturalist Mark Pretti. We’ve been on this trip before, in May 2019, so it is hard not to compare.  This group is much more compatible, I think.  It’s 4 couples, about our same age.  Well, Bob and I are the oldest by at least 5 years.  Walking around the Sweetwater Marsh was challenging because it was so hot.  For me, it was a challenge to not get down on myself when I didn’t see the bird the group was watching.  It’s really ok just to be present enjoying the scene and being here.  The fleeting yellow warbler, the shy slinking Abert’s towhee, the Bell’s vireo that I only heard and never saw are still memories for me.  It is quite amazing to be off on a birding trip after being home-bound for so long because of the pandemic.  We haven’t yet sorted out mask wearing in the van.  Thank goodness we don’t have to wear masks out on the trail.  After a good dinner, it’s time to turn in.  

Hearts

 There was a heart shaped standing funeral wreath in the front of the church composed of such perfect pink roses and blue hydrangeas that I had to touch it to see if it was even real.  The altar table was decorated with momentos of meaningful items from her life, half a dozen framed photos, tea cups, playing cards, a gallon pickle jar full of home baked chocolate chip cookies.   I was asked by her family several weeks ago to lead the service because, they said, their mother loved me and talked about my ministry so much.  How could I possibly say no?  I’ve had no contact with her or her family since I left the church 13 years ago and had no idea she felt like that about me.  The current pastor was most welcoming and kind and we led the service together.  The church was packed for the memorial service of this 96 year old woman who’d been a member of the church for 59 years.  Everyone except the youngest ones wore masks.  Mostly it was her 62 member family that filled the church with about a dozen current members of the church attending.  Jean was a mother of four, a grandmother of many more and a great-grandmother of even more.  As matriarch of this very large family, she was beloved and loving.  Most moving to me was the talk her 50 year old grandson gave telling of his many deep connections with her over the years.  It was her full time job just to love this big and growing family.  I gave the “Pastoral Reflection (i.e. sermon) speaking from my heart (as they asked me to) on the topic of Love, telling a few stories of the loving ways of Jean.  Then I spoke about Love being the most important teaching of Jesus, again telling a few stories.  Standing at the door of the church after the service, I haven’t shaken so many hands for years or used hand sanitizer more often.  I was concerned about Covid and can’t really believe this service was even allowed to happen.  An outdoor lunch followed.  For a while, I sat at a table of church women and they teased me saying I was the youngest at the table.  Finally, I went with the family to the cemetery for a brief graveside service.  The heart of pink roses was behind the gravestone and the large family stood around in small groups.  As I looked at the bare brown ground, I spotted a heart shaped rock and picked it up.  One of the family saw me do that and asked what I found.  I told her about how I got the churches I served to hunt for heart rocks as reminders of God’s ever present abundant love.  Then I began and  I spoke again from my heart saying what I really believe about life after death, that it is a mystery.  NeverthelessI know love remains, that Jean is with God enfolded in God’s love.  I was asked to speak about Jean and her husband being reunited and I said their love was so strong, I believed (hoped) they would be together, reunited.  Reciting the ancient words from the Bible and the prayer from the ancient church felt right.  We stood in silence for several minutes, soaking in the profundity of the moment and listening to the rustling leaves of the nearby trees.  I ended the service and left amid many thanks.  As I was driving out, I was surprised to have a vision of Jean and her husband Francis with their arms around each other, looking very happy and blessing us all.  It shook me up it was so strong.  I can only give thanks for the gift of this mystery and hold it gently in my heart.  I am most grateful to learn that my ministerial gifts are still intact.  It is a great blessing to be able to bring God’s comfort and peace to so many people.  

Spiders

 This morning I awoke with a start at 6 AM and when I opened my sleepy eyes, I saw a huge 2 inch beige spider hanging right above me, letting itself down on a silken invisible thread.  It stopped when I looked at it and began crawling fast up the thread.  Last I saw of it, it was creeping along the line where the ceiling meets the wall.  I couldn’t sleep anymore for fear she would come back and attack from another direction.  And I’m not usually afraid of spiders.  

I read, this morning, an article in NYTimes about getting care at the end of life that filled me with dread and fear of becoming incapacitated.  I suppose it is all the baby boomers turning 65 that makes it relevant.  Talking about this with Bob this morning, he opined that it doesn’t have to be this way.  One could just go to sleep and never wake up.  There are lots of ways to get old.  I want to be realistic about my advancing age’s attacks on my body, but it inspires me to walk more, to work out more.  Keeping fit is a major life goal of mine now.  And who knows maybe the spider was just a dream image seen in sleepy eyes

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