We took a trip to the big island of Hawaii at the end of January. We’ll share our photos and stories over a number of posts. From our last post near the end of December and this one, we were at our place in Arizona and doing mostly routine things; looking for birds, hiking and mountain-biking. If any photos stand out for us from this time, we’ll post them with our February blog.

We landed at the Kona airport around 3:30 in the afternoon. We disembarked from the plane right to the tarmac and walked over to the open air terminal and baggage claim area. A shuttle took us to the car rental, where we very efficiently picked up a jeep.

We headed south to our BnB in Kealakekua, dropped our bags and went out to the local supermarket to pick up enough food for our next three meals. We watched the sunset from our front porch before dinner.

The sushi we bought at the local grocery was made that day and it was a simple and tasty meal. Of course, we also bought some local beer.

These next photos are a tour of our little cottage. It was originally a coffee drying hut. Here’s the kitchen, showing the steps up to the main bedroom.

Here’s the sitting area and the back steps. There was a second bedroom off to the right of this photo, which had lots of shelves for our clothes.

The main bedroom had screened windows on two sides, which we kept open all the time. It was always below 20 degrees C (68 F) by the time we went to bed, so it was very comfortable for sleeping.

Here’s a view of the front of the cottage and the porch off the bedroom. The jeep is hidden from view behind the red and green ti plant and in front of the porch that accesses the back door. Another tenant lives in the building behind us, but it was vacant when we visited.

Here’s a view of the expansive lawn out the back door. The left side of the green building is the bath-house. We had a full bathroom that was only for our use. And, while is was a bit of a trek from our cottage, it was much better than tromping along a snowy path to a cold outhouse, which we’ve experienced when we’ve stayed in a mountain hut. It was a wonderful little place for our stay, but unfortunately it’s been taken off the BnB market, so we won’t be able to return here.

Our main objective of the trip was to see some interesting birds. And Hawaii has plenty of these.

Hawaii’s ecosystem has been changed through colonization; with the introduction of grazing and browsing animals as well as other mammals such as mongoose. The native birds are now only found in isolated high elevation isolated forests. (See Part 2 of this blog series).

Many urban birds have been introduced from all over the world. From the 1920’s to 1960’s, Hawaii government agencies and a private club called the Hui Manu Society, brought birds to the islands. Birds were chosen for their beauty, their birdsong and to eat insect pests. We realize that we may never travel to the parts of the world that the birds originated, so we were happy to see the “smorgasbord” of birds that now call Hawaii home.

This is a Java Sparrow, originally from Indonesia. It was first introduced in 1867, and then reintroduced in the late 1960s. They were always around our cottage, since our neighbours next door had at least forty of them hanging near their feeders.

Roosters such as this one, also wandered along the front road. They are descended from Red Junglefowl, which were brought to the islands by the Polynesians over 1000 years ago.

Common Mynas were very common in parks, parking lots and also around our place. They were introduced from India in 1865 to control insect pests.

On our first full day in Hawaii, we went to a couple of birding hotspots in the Kailua-Kona area. At the first one, Doug took this photo of a Red-billed Cardinal and a Saffron Finch. These birds are both native to South America and were easy to see in many spots around the island.

We got our first glimpses of a Warbling White-eye along the fence at the same spot. Its name has been recently changed from Japanese White-eye, although the birds are also native to China and Taiwan. We saw them throughout the island in both and dry and wet habitats.

Our next birding destination was also an opportunity to learn about Hawaii’s history at the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park. We took a smooth, then rocky trail from the Visitor Center past some petroglyphs and stone walls to the beach.

Farther along the beach there was a sand berm that closed off part of the bay to make a fishpond. Early inhabitants would use the fishponds to hold live fish that they wanted to keep for food. Narrow channels were dug from the pond to the ocean to allow water to flow in and out with the tides but not allow larger fish to get through. Wendy is standing part way up the berm. Unfortunately, we neglected to take a photo of the pond, but we saw some interesting birds, including a couple of Laughing Gulls and a Black-necked Stilt.

Coming back on the trail, we got a good view of a Zebra Dove. They were originally from Asia and are abundant in residential and rural areas. They are small doves and remind us of the Inca Doves that we see in Arizona.

We also saw the first of many Yellow-fronted Canaries along the trail. This species is native to Africa and the only bird in Hawaii with a distinctive yellow rump.

Our second day ended in a spectacular sunset. Doug walked off the front deck and across the road for his view. The best way to see the sunset was to look at your phone’s camera screen, because you couldn’t look directly at the sun.

For day three, we drove to the Mauna Kea area to check out the location that we were going to meet our birding guide few days later. It was a beautiful clear day, so we decided to drive the road right up to the top. Since Mauna Kea is the highest mountain on the island at 13,796 feet, the rangers recommend that you spend about half and hour at the Visitor Centre (9,200 feet) to acclimatize. Luckily for us, there were Chukars wandering about. Chukars were introduced to Hawaii as a game bird and are native to the Middle East. Although they are naturalized in many part of the western US, we had never seen one before. Our guide book notes that they take flight quickly when startled; so we were lucky to see some that were habituated to people.

We drove the winding four-wheel drive road to the telescope structures. It was windy and about 6 degrees C (43F). Wendy wore the puffy that she brought just for this, but since we were only out of the jeep for a few minutes, it really wasn’t necessary. We saw another Chukar just around the corner from where we took this photo. Pretty high for a bird!

We didn’t spend much time above 13,000 feet but we could feel the effects of the altitude when we stopped at the visitor centre on the way down. The ranger checked the temperature of our brakes before we drove back down to the highway. We headed west and then drove about fifteen minutes up the Saddle Road to a hunter checking station. From there, we walked into grasslands with patches of woodland. As we were checking out some singing birds, we spotted an owl in flight. The Short-eared Owl is also known as the Hawaiian Owl and is an endemic, diurnal owl.

We heard and saw enough of the little yellow birds to identify them as Hawaii Amakihi. They were high up in the pines, that are introduced trees to Hawaii. We learned later from our guide that practically every plant in the world can be grown in Hawaii, since there is such a diversity of soil and climatic zones.

This post covered our first three days of our ten day trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. The next three posts will be ready soon.

We’ve had an amazing December for birding here in Arizona. We’ve seen four species of birds that we’ve never seen before. The birders in our community call them “lifers” or “life birds.” When we first came to Arizona, it wasn’t that hard to see a “lifer,” but the more birds we saw, the harder it was to see new species. It’s part of the fun for us; if it was easy, we don’t think it would be as interesting.

Even before we got to Tucson, we saw a pair of “lifers.” Two Streak-backed Orioles were frequenting the Gilbert Water Ranch, in the Phoenix metro area. We stopped for a couple of hours en-route to our place just outside of Tucson. We waited in their favourite spot for about half an hour before they showed up. The streaks on the male’s back are just visible on his back behind his neck in the photo below. The species is usually found in dry tropical forests from Mexico to Costa Rica.

On our first full day in Tucson, we headed off in hopes of seeing a Baltimore Oriole that had been reported in a park in the middle of a residential area. We had seen the species before, but not in the US. We met a number of our birding friends that were also interested in seeing the bird. We got glimpses of it high in a palm tree, but the photos were mostly of its underside. It flew off into the neighbourhood, likely to a yard with water features and oranges set out. Even though our view of the bird was brief, It was nice to reacquaint ourselves with people that we hadn’t seen since the spring.

Our next “target” bird was a Yellow-throated Warbler. It was frequenting Lakeside Park on the other side of the city. It took us two separate visits to locate the bird, but when it showed up, it was very cooperative for photos. Doug’s best photo was when it was bathing. For some of his photos, he had to back up because his camera lens needs to be at least two metres from the subject. This warbler is usually found in the eastern US during the summer, and normally winters along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean. It was a “life bird” for us, and we hope that it likes its new home well enough to stay the winter. If it’s still around in January, we’ll try and see it again.

On both days that we went to Lakeside Park, we stopped at Sweetwater Wetlands. There was a controlled burn in October in half of the park, which made viewing the ponds easier because the cattails were not as thick.

We saw another rare bird there: a Northern Parula. Each year, one or two parulas can be found at the wetlands, so the species is not as rare as the Yellow-throated Warbler or the Streak-backed Oriole. Still, it was a challenge to find the bird and then follow it in the tree with our binoculars until it chose to come out to the edge.

We ventured into Florida Canyon (pronounced Floor-EE-da locally), to search for a Rufous-capped Warbler. This is the same species that we spent a couple of days searching for last April, and we were really glad that a pair was spotted in this canyon in November and chose to hang around. Florida Canyon is close to Madera Canyon, so the access is not very difficult. Here’s a view of the hillside above the canyon.

On the first day that we tried to see the warbler, we stayed in one spot, in hopes that the birds would come to the water. They must not have been thirsty that day, because we waited for four hours without a warbler sighting, but we saw a number of coatis frolicking on the hillside above us.

The next time we went, we were successful. This photo of the Rufous-capped Warbler was taken from the same spot that we had waited at the first day, but this time, we caught a glimpse of it above the water and followed it down. We also saw it again farther up the trail. The day was even more special because we saw it with our friend who had first discovered the bird in November.

Later that same day, we did a short walk in Madera Canyon and were lucky enough to meet a group that was looking up at an owl. This Western Screech-owl was perched high up in a sycamore and we likely would have walked right past it. The group had found it because someone told someone, who told them the general area to look. We’ve experienced the same spirit of cooperation in other birding encounters.

Another day, we walked along one of our favourite trails in Tubac. We didn’t see anything unexpected, but we discovered another side trail that allowed us to make a loop. The leaves of the cottonwoods in December in Tubac are reminiscent of the leaves in the East Kootenays in BC in October.

That same day, we drove a short distance south to Santa Gertrudis Lane. Here’s a view of the Santa Cruz River near where the road crosses the water. (There is no bridge; vehicles drive through the water.)

Along the lane there is a non-native pyracantha bush which provides food for many bird species. We spotted this male cardinal a little farther down the lane and followed him, hoping he would land near the berries for a Christmas-y photo. And he posed beautifully.

Here’s a view of El Rio Open Space Preserve on another day. This birding hotspot is in Marana and quite close to where we live. We didn’t take any photos of birds this day.

Another day, this Fox Sparrow was hanging out in the front yard of the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia, AZ. It’s one of the red (taiga) sub-species.

That same day, we walked along Sonoita Creek in Patagonia Lake State Park. We saw the “regulars” and enjoyed the short hike.

We went to one more birding spot on our way home from Patagonia. The dog park in Nogales used to be a golf course. In 2020, the city council put in a fenced area with features and obstacles. Sections have been mowed in the open area around the ponds. We saw over twenty species of birds in about twenty minutes, so it’s a place we will probably visit again.

These Hooded Mergansers were in the long, narrow pond.

Another day, we made a regular trip to Reid Park. Doug has taken many photos of the resident Wood Duck and here’s another one. He’s such a photogenic bird!

Several times we drove out to the fields in Marana to look for hawks (found a Ferruginous) and cranes (no Sandhills visible). Whenever we’re out that way, we check the spot where we’ve seen Burrowing Owls before. One day, we were lucky to see one of the owls totally up on the mound.

A little ways down the same road, we saw this huge flock of Yellow-headed Blackbirds. The photo doesn’t show the whole flock. The murmuration was mesmerizing.

We saw our last significant bird of the year on Boxing Day in Patagonia, AZ. The special warbler was reported to frequent two thick juniper trees on the main road. Here’s Doug taking photos. He took over fifty.

This is a Cape May Warbler, a “lifer” for us. And it was almost too easy; we drove an hour and a half to get there, and saw the bird immediately after walking over to the tree.

When enough photos are taken, sometimes a bird is caught in flight!

The warbler also visited a nearby rose bush, that was at eye level a few metres from the side-walk. It didn’t seen concerned about people watching it, although no-one got too close.

We hope you’ve enjoyed the photos of the some of the birds and birding locations from our December forays. And now that a new year has begun, and we’re sure to have many more birding adventures.

We took the fifth-wheel down to our place just outside Tucson, AZ in early October, so we didn’t need to worry about having to deal with poor weather while we were towing. We enjoyed the rest of October and all of November at home in BC. On our drive south at the beginning of December, the roads weren’t terrible, but they weren’t great either. On the first day, we drove to Idaho Falls through light snow squalls. The snow continued on our drive the next morning. The photo below was taken at the rest area just north of Salt Lake City, around 9 am. Luckily the roads were just wet after this stop, and the HOV lane made the drive easier through the metro area.

We stayed in Page, AZ the second night, which left us with about a six hour drive to complete our trip. We decided to get up early and make a stop at the Gilbert Water Ranch, in the Phoenix metro area. The park is mainly trails between a number of ponds, but the saguaro feature garden really gives us the feel of being back in Arizona.

We got back to our place by about 3 pm which allowed us enough time to set-up and then relax outside before dinner.

And the best sunset of the month was that night! Even the dog across the road was welcoming us back.

We spent the first week back getting organized and stocking up with groceries. We also focussed on trying to see the rare birds that had been reported lately, in case they chose to leave for other parts. The details of those birding adventures will be in the December Birding blog.

On our first Saturday back, we had the pleasure of being invited to a neighbourhood party. We had met many of the folks before, but mostly very briefly as we passed them on the narrow roads. We enjoyed getting to know people better and we left the party feeling like we were part of a community.

We were happy to be back mountain biking. Our favourite trail in the Tortolita Preserve was in great shape. Here’s Wendy riding past a nice looking saguaro that she named “Mr. Majestic.” When we reach this point in our ride, we’ve ridden a little over an hour and have about ten minutes left until the trail head.

We also did a longer ride in the Honey Bee trail system in Oro Valley. The trail passes granitic outcroppings, which are interesting to look at and provide good spots to have a rest and a snack. The 28 km route took us a little over 2 1/2 hours.

We got back into hiking too. One day we hiked our regular loop at Sabino Canyon.

Perhaps we’ve posted a similar photo of Sabino Canyon before, but we don’t get tired of the view.

The next eight photos are of a hike we did that is really close to our place. The twelve kilometre loop starts at Cam-Boh Picnic Area in Saguaro National Park (west). The first section is mainly up Prophecy Wash. Panther Peak is in the middle of the background in the photo below, and the right skyline is the ridge we look at from our fire pit.

Soon the trail leaves the wash. Wasson Peak is the high point in the skyline behind Doug. From here the trail continued gradually climbing.

We love saguaros, especially unusual ones. This “armless” quintet caught our eye.

At this point in the trail, we are starting down from the height of land between Prophesy Wash and Picture Rocks Wash.

We think the top end of Picture Rocks Wash is the most interesting part of the wash because it’s narrower and has rocky sections.

We always marvel at how the ironwood trees and saguaros can live when it looks as if they are growing out of rock.

We chose to come out of the wash on the Ironwood Forest Trail. Soon we could see the built up area of Marana over the ridge.

Then we headed west on the Cam-Boh trail, back to views of Panther Peak and the ridge. On our four hour hike that Saturday, we only met one other person.

We have made several trips to look for birds in the agricultural fields of Marana just north of us. Here’s a view of the mountains to the west, with harvested cotton fields in the foreground. Cotton is a productive crop in Marana, where they grow a longer-fibre strain, known as Pima cotton. The early people in the area (Hohokam) grew cotton thousands of years ago, building canal systems to water their crops.

Here’s a view of cotton bales on a truck. We were stopped for road construction.

Here’s a side view of a bale.

One morning, we were leaving to go birding around 7:15. This was the view in the western sky from the gate.

And this was the view of the fifth-wheel and the sunrise from the gate.

We are lucky to live so close to beautiful scenery. This photo was taken on one of our hour-long walks from our place. This saguaro is probably home to a number of birds.

We experienced the heaviest rain day of 2023 on December 22. It was a record rainfall for the date as well, at 1.25 inches (25 mm) in 24 hours. Since it rained almost all day, it gave his a chance to get caught up on the blog. Wendy also did some machine appliqué. She really enjoys the new sewing centre that Doug built for her. We don’t miss the couch that used to be in that spot.

Here’s a view of some of our Christmas decorations. We love gnomes!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We’ll post our December birding blog soon.

At the end of March, we travelled to the Chiricahua Mountains near Portal, Arizona. We left early in the morning so we could stop along the way and see some birds in Willcox. Here’s a view of Cochise Lake in Willcox.

Here’s a closer view of the American Pelicans at the lake. They look huge compared to the Northern Shovelers swimming in front of them.

There were also some American Avocets.

Portal is on the east side of the Chiricahuas, and access roads are better from New Mexico. It’s possible to get to Portal over the mountains, but the road is impassable in the winter. Portal is a tiny village. The Portal Store (Cafe and Lodge) is the main building in “downtown.”

Just down the block is the post office, with the library is right beside it. That completes the tour of downtown. About 800 people live in the area.

We were staying at Cave Creek Ranch, but we were too early to check in, so we explored farther into the canyon.

We hiked up a short trail to a viewpoint to see this panorama. The rock walls are composed of fused volcanic tuff.

This is the view from the same spot in the opposite direction.

Sunrise from the ranch grounds was magnificent.

Here’s an early morning view from the patio in front of the office. Our unit was in the left low building in the background. The wild turkeys have gathered, anticipating a handout. The Cave Creek Ranch feeders are on the “must see” list for birders. The provided guidebooks have seen plenty of use.

This is the hummingbird we came to see: the Blue-throated Mountain Gem, and it was at Cave Creek Ranch. We saw this species in a couple of other places in the canyon, but the best views were at the ranch feeders.

This male Evening Grosbeak was also really close to the patio.

On our first full day, we drove farther into the canyon and hiked to Ash Springs. From the trail to the springs we got a good view of Winn Falls. The birds seemed to congregate at the spring area. The most interesting was a Yellow-eyed Junco. We were a little early in the season for a lot of the species, so we will visit later another year. There was too much water in the creek for us to safely cross, so we returned the way we came, rather than completing a loop.

We had our lunch at the John Hands Campground. The creek has been dammed at this location. Even though the creek is not in its natural state, the waterfall is still pretty.

That afternoon, we hiked a short way along the South Fork of Cave Creek, below impressive sheer cliffs..

The next day, we birded with friends that we hadn’t seen for years. It was by chance that we both came to Cave Creek on the same weekend. This photo was taken along the nature trail between the Visitor Centre and Sunny Flats Campground.

We took a few steps off the trail to get this view of Cave Creek.

This Painted Redstart was cavorting in the creekside willows.

That afternoon, we celebrated the serendipity of both couples booking the same weekend at Cave Creek Ranch. It was great to catch up and to get to know each other better.

We left the next morning, and headed out early to Stateline Road. Our goal was to find a Cassin’s Sparrow that we knew had been sighted along the road. Since it was a quiet road, our strategy was to stop as soon as we saw some birds moving. On our first stop, we were able to get a good view of the target bird. It was definitely not a sparrow that we would ever see in BC or even any other part of Canada.

The desert scrub along the road was also a good habitat for Bendire’s Thrasher, so we kept a lookout for one. And we were fortunate to see one perched in good light. It was our third sighting for the year, but the best photo.

Recent improvements to Willow Tank, that is farther south on Stateline Road, have meant that it is a dependable place to see several species of sparrows. The term “tank” is used to describe any man-made water hole in the desert, usually made to provide water to cattle. Sometimes the water is actually in a metal tank, other times it’s a depression that has been filled with water. Willow Tank has been fenced off from livestock, and now it benefits the birds.

Willow Tank has also been improved for birders to have good viewing opportunities. Here’s a view of the tank through an opening in a bird blind. There is no cost for anyone to visit Willow Tank. The enhancements benefit the birds as well as bringing tourist dollars into the nearby communities.

In late March and early April, we made two trips to Ramanote Canyon, in hopes of seeing a Rufous-capped Warbler. We didn’t see that bird, but we did experience an amazing landscape. Here’s a view of the canyon before we walk down a steep jeep track to the stream below.

We actually did see a species we had never seen, along the trail closer to the truck than the above photo. We saw two Scott’s Orioles. The female posed for a photo; we only got partial views of the male since he landed in the middle of the tree and was obscured by branches.

This photo was taken from the stream at the bottom of the steep hill on our second attempt. It was a chilly morning.

This was the view above the dam, which was about 500 metres from the stream crossing.

There was a faint trail, mostly put in by cattle. At the beginning it was fairly open and easy going.

Farther up the canyon the trail became a bit overgrown with prickly bushes.

Here’s a close-up of the bush, locally known as the “Wait-a-minute” bush (Mimosa aculeaticarpa.) It got that name because the prickles catch your clothing and you need to back up to get the thorn out, or risk a tear.

The warbler we were searching for likes sunny brushy habitat in foothill canyons. It stays low in the dense vegetation, so we spent time looking for movement, without any success. (A positive note: the birder in the photo did see the warbler, a few weeks later in a different location.)

Our trip home was uneventful, and when we arrived at our place, the snow had mostly melted. The bird species that we saw all winter in Arizona are making their way up to BC and soon there will be a dawn chorus cacophony.

The Fifth-wheel is all unpacked and cleaned and will be ready for our annual trip to Oregon in July. We might not do a blog post about that short trip, but we’ll post again in the fall when we go back to Arizona.

This blog post is about our March birding in the Tucson, Green Valley and Tubac areas.

On our regular monthly visit to Reid Park in central Tucson, we were lucky enough to see a female Belted Kingfisher fly over the smaller pond. She landed on a perch long enough for Doug to take a photo, then she made another couple of passes over the pond and was gone.

A Lewis’s Woodpecker has been hanging around Reid Park and the neighbourhood since the fall. We have seen it several times, but sometimes we only see it on a power pole. This time, the woodpecker was checking out the pine trees near the ball park and we were able to get some good views.

We returned to Box Canyon to try again to see the Five-striped Sparrow. It’s an impressive canyon. Here’s a view of the “waterfall,” which is usually dry or seeping. We saw the special sparrow in the gully just to the left of the white rock face (waterfall).

The Five-striped Sparrow’s range is limited, from Northwest Mexico to just into Arizona. It likes to live in brushy scrub on rocky slopes and can be very skulky unless it is singing from atop bushes.

We saw this Wilson’s Warbler from the bridge in Tubac. Because we were looking down at the bird, we had a good look at the male’s black cap.

The same day, we also birded at Santa Gertrudis Lane, which is just south of Tubac. We saw some interesting birds, but the highlight was seeing this White-tailed buck.

In the middle of March, we returned to the Tubac area and joined several others at the Hawk Watch at Ron Morriss Park. The park’s open space gives a good view of the sky and it’s right beside the Santa Cruz River, which has cottonwood trees that are favoured by the hawks when they rest overnight on their migration.

The Common Black Hawk was one of the hawks we had hoped to see. The first day we saw just one, but three days later, we saw twenty. Sometimes the birds are way up high, but the “Main Guy”shouts out which species he sees and a general sky location. The Common Black Hawk has very broad wings and an obvious tail band.

Here’s a photo of a Zone-tailed Hawk. It looks a lot like a Common Black Hawk, especially when perched. When it is flying, it is very similar to a Turkey Vulture, which may be an advantage when it is hunting prey. Both Common Black Hawks and Zone-tailed Hawks are rare and local, with US populations around 300 nesting pairs.

Doug’s favourite hawk is the Gray Hawk. It is rare and very local and regular at only a few locations near the Mexican border in mature trees along permanent streams. The US population is only about 100 nesting pairs. We see and hear Gray Hawks at several locations that we bird regularly. It’s always a pleasure to see one.

We saw this Great Egret on an unusual high perch at Canoa Historic Conservation Area. Its black feet are very obvious, which is one feature which distinguishes it from a Snowy Egret.

In February, we posted a photo of a group of birders on a golf course in Green Valley, all looking for a Couch’s Kingbird. We went another time in February with no success, and a couple of times in March. On our fourth attempt, we had good views of the bird for several minutes. That day, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Couch’s Kingbirds are common in some parts of Texas, but are rarely seen in Arizona.

This is a Common Merganser, which we see in Canada regularly. They winter down in Arizona, but we don’t often see them at a city park. This one was at Christopher Columbus Park in Tucson.

Some friends told us of a location where we could see a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. We drove a couple hours south on a secondary road, then turned on to a decent dirt road, which became rockier as we progressed. We walked the final section of road until we reached a wash. It was a bit like searching for a geocache, since we had some coordinates to follow. Here’s Doug in the wash, taking photos of the owl.

The owls were quite far away, so these photos have been digitally enhanced. Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls are less than 7″ tall (17cm). They are active in daylight.

We were lucky enough to see the two owls together, and we could hear a third owl tooting in the distance.

We also considered ourselves very lucky on the day that we saw this Swamp Sparrow at Sweetwater Wetlands. We knew the area that this skulky bird hung out, and we had spent a few hours over several visits hoping to catch a glimpse of this elusive bird. On the day we saw it, we decided to wander by its favourite spot, “just in case.” We rounded the corner and the sparrow was out in full view. It moved to another perch long enough for a good photo. It was another case of being in the right place at the right time.

We had tried to see a Pine Warbler several times. We searched twice at the cemetery in Tucson (see the photo in the February blog) and we didn’t see the one that was reported beside the golf course in Green Valley when we were looking for the Couch’s Kingbird. But the day we went to give it our final try, it was almost too easy. The bright yellow bird, which mostly hides in pine trees, chose to perch in a leafless mesquite and also foraged on the ground. It was the first time we had seen this species. A lifer!

Here’s a photo of Doug taking a picture of the Pine Warbler. He’s standing beside the De Anza Trail in Green Valley, beside a tall fence (as you can tell from the shadows) that is meant to keep the golf balls from landing on hikers.

We have one more blog to post from March, about our trip to Portal, Arizona and Cave Creek. The scenery was stunning and we saw some new birds. Coming soon.

This blog post is about our hiking and biking. We have also included several flower photos, since the wetter season has meant a spectacular flower bloom.

We took advantage of the good weather in early March and went hiking. The first hike was one we do every season right from our gate: Panther Peak. The beginning of the trail is pretty standard and easy to follow. The route goes up a gully and soon we were navigating boulders. Doug is standing on the “trail” in the photo below.

Here’s a view of Wendy on the descent. (We’ve included plenty of summit photos in previous blogs.) Marana and the town of Oro Valley are in the mid-ground. Snow is visible on Mt. Lemmon.

The next week we joined our friends from Cranbrook on a hike in the Tortolita Mountains. The photo below was taken at our traditional snack spot on the Alamo Springs trail. We usually sit on the bench and admire the interesting rock formations. This time there were a couple of Canyon Wrens singing and flying around. We thought maybe they were nest building.

We continued along the ridge. This photo was taken as we started our decent back to the Wild Burro wash.

We also got out on our bikes again. We rode on “The Loop” a couple of times to get in shape for mountain biking. The photo below is of a huge bird sculpture by a newly rerouted section of the trail. It’s near the Ina bridge, where the Santa Cruz River flooded in mid-January. (See the January blog post for photos.) The sculpture is titled: Big Year and the artist is Trevor O’Tool.

We finally got to Tortolita Preserve for our first mountain biking of 2023 on March 15. We were trying to beat the rain, but is started sprinkling on us shortly after we started our ride. We rode almost half-way, then turned around. Coming back, we got a photo of a recently fallen saguaro. It started pouring just as we reached the truck.

Here’s a view of a different section of the Tortolita Preserve trail on a beautiful day.

This Pipeline Swallowtail was beside the birding trail at Patagonia Lake State Park. It was near where we were hoping to see a Green Kingfisher, so it was our consolation prize.

With the rainy weather, wildflowers bloomed all over. This Notch-leaved Phacelia was on our local trail we’ve named “Panther Wash Loop.”

There were also many of these flowers. They are Blue Dicks or Purplehead in the Brodiaea family.

We watched this Desert Spiny Lizard one sunny day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

Parry Penstemon is the most common native Penstemon in the desert around Tucson. It adds a lot of colour to the cactus garden at the Desert Museum.

This hedgehog cactus was also blooming.

This year was the first time that we had seen an Organ Pipe Cactus bloom.

These California Poppies were blooming beside the road through Saguaro National Park (West). We passed them almost every day, so we stopped one time for photos.

The unsettled weather meant we had some interesting sunrises. This one was on March 15, the same day we went mountain biking and got caught in the rain.

Later the same day, it cleared up, but started sprinkling again, which gave us a good view of this full rainbow.

The next day was also cloudy, but there was still enough contrast to see this Gambel’s Quail on its perch. This is one of our favourite snags along the road to our place.

Our first dinner outside was on March 28. In 2021, we ate dinner outside several times in February.

To wrap it up, here’s our favourite sunset photo of March.

March was a busy month. We’ll be posting two more March blogs; one about the birding around Tucson and another about our trip to Cochise County (Willcox, Portal and Cave Creek.)

We did some birding almost every day in February. We visited several of our regular spots, but also went to different, unfamiliar spots.

The first new spot was La Posta Quemada Ranch which is on the southeast side of Tucson and within the Colossal Cave Mountain Park. “Posta Quemada” means “burnt station” after a nearby stage station that burned in the early 1860s. In the late 1980s, Pima County acquired the ranch. Nowadays, there are riding stables and hiking trails, which allows for good birding opportunities.

A Rufous-backed Robin had been hanging out there since December, so we finally decided to try and see it too. There were American Robins there as well, so that meant examining every robin carefully. The Rufous-backed Robin is a rare visitor from Mexico. It was hanging out near an old ranch house.

We also walked along the wash. The photo below gives you an idea of the terrain.

One of the most exciting sightings in February was of the Elegant Trogon. This time we walked up and down Madera Canyon in search of the bird. Shortly after noon, we were heading back down canyon again and uphill hikers, noticing our binoculars, told us they had just seen the trogon. So we picked up the pace and soon met a group of photographers that let us know we had just missed it, but it was heading downstream. Soon we caught up to it. It stayed on this perch in the sunlight for quite a long time, so we had a really good view of his iridescent back.

He flew to a nearby branch so we had good front views too. In a little while he moved further back and preened. We had a chance to show his location to several hikers. Such a beauty!

That day in early February was one of the warmest of the whole month. It was the only time all month that Doug wore shorts, so it was significant enough for a photo. He is posed in front of the famous Pyracantha bush which was now devoid of berries.

The next day was cooler when we went to try to see a Pine Warbler. Here’s a view of Wendy in the centre with several other birders. We might have had a quick glimpse of the warbler, but it was mixed in with multiple Yellow-rumped Warblers high in the trees. We had hoped that it might come down to the ground to allow us to see it better, but that didn’t happen. One of the positives of the day was that we got to talk with other birders; some we knew well, some that we hadn’t seen since the season before, and some that we got to know better. Another good thing was learning about a new birding spot. As you can probably discern from the photo, we were in a cemetery. The tall pines in the middle of the city were a draw for many species of birds. Red-breasted Nuthatches and Red Crossbills were other rarities that we found at this site.

The next day, we explored Catalina State Park some more. A pair of Long-eared Owls are winter residents and we were lucky enough to see them.

The day after, we went to a trail along a golf course in Green Valley, hoping to see a rare kingbird (Couch’s Kingbird). Our friend had seen it the afternoon before, so we were hopeful that we could too. And there were several other birders with the same high hopes.

We did see several Cassin’s Kingbirds which are mostly in the area in the summer, so seeing one in the winter was nice.

The next spot was one we visit regularly: Reid Park. Here’s another photo of the resident Wood Duck. We can never get enough of looking at him.

Kennedy Park is another spot we visit several times. This time, our target bird was a Bronzed Cowbird. They have cool looking red eyes! But they also hide in the trees, so we didn’t get a good photo. But Doug did get a good photo of the resident female Williamson’s Sapsucker.

While we were looking for that bird, we spotted another sapsucker. This one was also as rare as the other, but unexpected. This is an immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Here’s a photo of Doug taking photos of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. You can see that this park also has tall pines. They must have planted these trees when they were building the park.

Kennedy Park is more than 162 acres and includes a ten acre lake. The lake is popular for fishing and also has plenty of waterfowl. These Muscovy Ducks must have been introduced, but that doesn’t make them any less interesting.

Here’s a Hammond’s Flycatcher that we saw another time that we visited Madera Canyon. They winter from Southern Arizona into Mexico and Central America, and are common in the summer where we live in BC.

We also saw a female Hepatic Tanager at Madera Canyon that day. They are year-round in the montane pine-oak forest of Madera Canyon. We watched her eat a large grasshopper. She’s just finishing up the end of it in the photo below.

Doug is likely taking a photo of the Hammond’s Flycatcher in the photo below, but the Hepatic Tanager was nearby in the same sort of vegetation.

Canoa Ranch Conservation Park is down in the valley near to Madera Canyon, so we often stop by before heading home. This time there was a pair of Hooded Mergansers.

We often stop by Christopher Columbus Park since it is fairly close to where we live. This time we were entertained by this Pied-billed Grebe. We thought at first that it wouldn’t be able to swallow the sunfish, but it persisted and managed to swallow the wide fish.

We ended the month with a successful “thrasher chase,” with a sighting of a LeConte’s Thrasher. We had tried to find this “life bird” three times before. This time, we left our place around 6:20 am and got to the spot just before 8 am. We walked out hopefully into the desert. Soon Wendy heard the thrasher singing so we followed the sound. It sang perched on a bush for over fifteen minutes as we gradually moved closer. This view of Doug taking a photo gives you an idea of the habitat of extremely arid and sparsely vegetated plains with saltbrush and creosote bush and lots of bare ground.

The photos that Doug took from that spot were fine for documentation purposes, but luckily for us, the thrasher ran along the ground to different bushes that happened to be closer to us. These three photos are the best out of the several that Doug took. It’s always cool to hear a bird singing and see its beak opening as it does.

We could tell that the area had had a lot of rain recently, because there were damp patches and puddles. These Desert Evening Primrose flowers were also blooming.

These photos were the highlights of our February birding trips. We’re looking forward to March when we should see more migrating birds.

We did a lot of birding in the first part of February, but we also walked our favourite loop near our place in Picture Rocks several times. Here’s one of our favourite views of Panther Peak from that trail. Most days were cool in the morning but warmed to about 20 degrees C.

We had a bit of a surprise on February 15, when we awoke to snow on the ground.

We went out into the yard before breakfast to get these photos, before the sunshine melted all the snow. The prickly pear cacti didn’t hold very much snow. The mesquite in the background is just starting to leaf out.

More snow stuck to the chain-fruit cholla.

By the third week in February, Wendy’s leg injury was finally healed enough to do a proper hike. We chose one of our favourites in Saguaro National Park (West): the Hugh Norris trail. It was a cool morning, so there was no need to get an early start. We had our snack when we reached the ridge after the steady uphill. If we’d had our binoculars we could have seen our place in the background.

Here’s Doug from that spot.

We saw a few different wildflowers along the ridge, although the wind made it difficult to get anything in focus. This glandularia was low enough and on a lee side, so it was the “wildflower of the day.”

We headed down the Esperanza trail and linked with the Dobe Wash trail. Just past the intersection, we stepped off the trail to get a better view of one of our favourite “grotesque” saguaros. This saguaro has lost an arm since we photographed it in 2020.

At our lunch spot, we noticed the nearby saguaro had the beginnings of new arms. Here’s Wendy taking a photo, so you have a sense of the scale.

Here’s the photo she took. It’s as if the saguaro has pimples bursting through its skin. We will be sure to return to see how fast it grows.

When the Dobe Wash trail reached the road, we crossed and joined the Bajada trail, which parallels the road for a short distance, then joins a wash. Mostly we walked on sand, but sometimes there was a section of grippy granitic rock. The whole hike was about eleven and a half kilometres and we did it in a leisurely four and a half hours.

On the last day of February, we stopped on our way home from birding at Picacho Peak State Park. It took us about twenty minutes to get up to the gate when we arrived around 10:30. By the time we left two hours later, there was a huge line and it seemed that every parking spot in the place was taken.

It was an amazing sight and worth the effort. We walked up from the De Anza Picnic Area, and soon we were alone on the trail.

So many California Poppies!

Of course, it’s best to get down low for a good photo.

Another view.

And to conclude, here are a couple of views around sunset at our place. This first one is ten minutes before sunset, looking west.

This photo was taken on a different day, about fifteen minutes after sunset. We don’t often see popcorn-like clouds like these.

This post includes photos from our activities on just a few days in February. Part two of this blog will be posted soon and will be all about our birding adventures.

We love looking at birds and while we sometimes wish that all birds were as predictable as the ones that come to our feeders, we realize that would take away the element of chance and therefore the excitement out of our birding.

At the beginning of January, we went out to an area of desert scrub, hoping to see a Bendire’s Thrasher. We eventually saw the thrasher, but on the way, we got a good view of a Crested Caracara, perched in the dead branches of a tree. We’ve had many sightings of a Crested Caracara in the wild, but we have not often seen them perched. The caracara was the “bonus” bird of the trip.

The next day, our target bird was a Common Grackle. We knew the area that one had been seen, and we had attempted to find it at the end of December, but we had yet to see it. In fact, we had never seen a Common Grackle. When we got to the spot and realized we were the only people there and that the one Common Grackle was among more than a hundred other birds (Great-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brewer’s Blackbirds and starlings), we were not very hopeful. There was nothing else to do but examine every grackle that we could see. We kept looking and walking along, hoping for a good view. Luckily, several perched on a wire above us. The farthest one on the right looked a bit different. And on closer inspection, it was the Common Grackle! It stayed in one place long enough for us to get the ‘scope on it and to take photos. It is usually found east of the Rocky Mountains.

On the way home, we stopped at Reid Park, which always has interesting birds. We see Cedar Waxwings often in the park, since they enjoy the fruits of the various introduced trees. This one was in a Acai palm tree.

The next day, we went to Madera Canyon, mainly to see sapsuckers (Williamson’s, Yellow-bellied and Red-naped). We spent a couple of hours looking for and at sapsuckers, and saw all three species. This good view of a male Townsend’s Warbler was the “bonus” bird.

We walked along another trail in the area and this Greater Peewee posed cooperatively.

Another day, we drove up Redington Pass where birds that we might expect at home in BC had been spotted. We saw a large flock of Evening Grosbeaks, heard and saw some Cassin’s Finches and were surprised at the large numbers of American Robins. We also saw Western Bluebirds, and Doug got a good photo of this male.

One of our goals for the season is to go birding in new locations. And so we hiked the birding loop trail at Catalina State Park. We saw this roosting Great Horned Owl,

and got quite close to this Green-tailed Towhee.

We’ve made it an annual tradition to go to Whitewater Draw, south of Benson, to witness the flocks of Sandhill Cranes. We got there before sunrise after a two hour plus drive and watched thousands take off to forage in the fields. After warming up in the truck, we wandered around to look at other birds and to wait for them to return about midday. Even though the air is warming up, Wendy is wearing just about every piece of clothing that she brought. (Next year: down jackets!) There were White-crowned Sparrows in almost every bush and we saw a large flock of Yellow-headed Blackbirds take off.

The Snow Geese were the first to return at about 10:00. There were over 300.

Mixed among the Snow Geese were some Ross’s Geese. This one was separated from the main group, so it was close enough to photograph.

We got a good view of a Wilson’s Snipe as it was foraging near the trail.

Near the snipe, there were two Soras. Usually they are very hard to see.

The Sandhill Cranes started arriving back around noon. We figured there were at least 10 000 cranes, but there could have been double that number. Most of the flocks landed in fields that surround the wetland, but several birds came closer.

Soon there were about twenty in a nearby section of the pond which allowed for some good photos.

Another day, we visited Agua Caliente Park. It was a former resort that the county bought and converted into a park. Last September, lightening struck palm trees near the Agua Caliente Spring. Strong winds spread the fire but the firefighters had it under control in a couple of hours. Some of the trees had to be removed because they were too damaged to flourish and hopefully the rest of them will survive. This area is fenced off while the vegetation recovers.

We saw one of the smallest Great Egrets that we’ve ever seen.

This female Hooded Merganser kept diving and surfacing quite a distance from where she disappeared which meant it was a bit of a challenge to get a photo, but Doug persisted.

We visited Sweetwater Wetlands a couple of times in January, and are disappointed by the smaller numbers of waterfowl than previous years. We see Orange-crowned Warblers every time we visit and enjoy watching them when they perch on the cattails.

These four Snow Geese have been hanging out at the Green Valley Water Reclamation Facility. The goose in front is a Greater White-fronted Goose, but it seems happy enough to join them. Greater White-fronted Geese breed in the Arctic Tundra.

This is a male Lawrence’s Goldfinch. They live year-round in California and in some winters, large numbers move east to Arizona. We’ve been lucky enough to see them for the last few years. This goldfinch is part of a flock at Canoa Ranch.

When we drove up to Phoenix to pick up our daughter and grandson at the airport, we went early enough to do some birding first. This Prairie Falcon was perched above a field on the outskirts of Chandler.

We spent most of our time at the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch. We first thought that the grebe below was a Clark’s Grebe, but experts suggest that it is a Western Grebe. It’s very difficult to tell the two species apart when they are in non-breeding plumage.

There were several Long-billed Dowitchers in the shallows. Doug caught this one taking a stretch.

These are American Avocets in non-breeding plumage.

Black-necked Stilts also like the shallow waters. Their plumage doesn’t change throughout the year.

We were lucky enough to see this Northern Mockingbird stretching its wings. When they perch, the white is hardly visible and when they fly … well, it’s usually just a flash that we see.

We spent some time down near a bridge in Box Canyon looking for a particular bird (that we missed seeing that day) but we figured it was time to head out after a group of about ten birders walked by. It was a beautiful area however, and we will return again.

We were really happy to see this Black-chinned Sparrow, since we haven’t seen one in a few years. This one is a female, and only the males show a black throat.

It was also nice to see this Rock Wren because often we hear them more times than we see them.

On the last day of January, we went to Arthur Pack Regional Park especially to see an Osprey, and we saw it as soon as we arrived. Doug took many photos and had several good ones to choose from.

We also wanted to see Eared Grebes, because we hadn’t yet seen them this year. Maybe the ones that winter in Arizona will fly north to BC where we’ll see them when their plumage makes it look like they have “ears.” Their red eye is hard to miss!

We did a lot of birding in January, going out every day except six. We’re enjoying the calm and the meditative qualities as well as the interesting people we meet when we bird.

This post is about a bit of hiking and the visit from our daughter and grandson. Also included are some surprising flood images and the expected sunrise and sunset shots.

We did a short hike in a remote corner of Saguaro National Park (West). Here’s a view of Wendy with the Tucson valley and Mt. Lemmon in the foreground.

We hiked up to a saddle. Marana is behind Doug in the photo below.

In the middle of January, we had several days of heavy rain, which also brought snow to the mountains. The Rillito River, which for most of the year is dry, was inundated with water. It flows into the Santa Cruz River, and this is what the river looked like flowing under the Ina bridge.

This is taken from the same spot when the waters had subsided substantially.

This is looking north at the bike path during the flood.

And the same spot after. A new path is currently being constructed on higher ground to avoid this section of “The Loop.”

Our youngest daughter and her 11-month son came to visit for a week. On the first day, we walked near our place to our favourite saguaro grove. Our daughter has her sleeping son in a front carrier.

We walked on a trail we had recently discovered, which gets us to this view only twenty minutes from our place.

A little farther along the trail is a thick stand of Teddy Bear cholla. Wasson Peak is in the background. This loop takes us about an hour.

Later we visited a playground and the Saguaro National Park visitor centre. We found a sheltered sunny spot because it was unusually cold that day.

Another day, we hiked at Sabino Canyon. Snowmelt made a stream in Rattlesnake Canyon, which is normally dry.

As usual, we found some blooming flowers at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. January blooms are pretty special. This yellow beauty is found on a candle bush (Senna Alata). It is native to most of the neotropics and is planted was an ornamental in Arizona.

This blue-violet flower is in the nightshade family.

If you look closely, you can see a hummingbird near the flowers of this Aloe Vera.

Facing out in the front carrier allowed the little one a good view, and his mom was careful that he only touched non-prickly things.

Packrat Playhouse at the Desert Museum was so much fun. This Gila Monster slide was a favourite.

We planned a second trip to the Desert Museum, which meant timing the morning nap with a “nap-walk.” The King’s Canyon trailhead is just by the Desert Museum entrance. We scheduled our drive so the little guy was still awake and then walked up the canyon without talking as he slept. It was another chilly day,  but he was cozy and warm.

After we visited exhibits at the Desert Museum that we had missed, we returned to the Packrat Playhouse. This time the giant rattlesnake’s mouth was intriguing.

We had several rainy and cloudy days in January which allowed for some gorgeous sunrises …

… and sunsets. There were so many good ones that it was hard to choose one!

So here is another sunset that includes our Arizona home.

We spent many days birding in January, so check out Part 2, which will be posted soon.