Honestly, I barely had time to do my laundry and re-pack my suitcase last week. Connie, Lori, Tara and I are now in southeast Arizona on vacation. Of course, we are birding like crazy. We spent a few days in Tubac to be near to Madera Canyon. On our first evening, we went into the canyon to find owls and succeeded. Madera is home to 4 (or more) species of owl including this little gal - Elf Owl.
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| Elf Owl! |
She nests in a telephone pole on private property but luckily, the guy who lives there is gracious enough to invite birders into his yard each evening around 6:30 to watch for the owl to appear. She made her appearance at 7 PM and hung out in the hole for 15 minutes before taking off for the night. Wow.
We also saw a very rare bird family the next day. Black-capped Gnatcatchers only nest in this area of the US and we were fortunate to see this male.
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| Black-capped Gnatcatcher |
The bug isn't for him. It's for his baby which we also got to see up close. Cute little guy huh?
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| Baby! |
Lori made our accommodations for the trip and she did a great job. We rented a house in Tubac that had a great little yard and was close to the Anza Trail. We spent time watching some really great birds including this jet black Phainopepla.
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| Phainopepla |
And this stunningly red Vermilion Flycatcher that perched in a tree then on the wall of our yard.
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| Vermilion Flycatcher |
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| Vermilion Flycatcher |
We saw this Say's Phoebe flitting around and then sitting on a nest. They have a beautiful salmon color belly.
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| Say's Phoebe |
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| Say's Phoebe Nest |
And this Gila Woodpecker was busy feeding nestlings.
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| Gila Woodpecker Nest |
It wasn't all joy. We missed the Elegant Trogon for the 4th or 5th time. We heard it calling but despite 2 days in the canyon, never got to see the bird. We also witnessed a really bad fire that started in Box Canyon by a stupid guy shooting guns at exploding targets in the very dry desert. What was he thinking? The fire has spread across 20,000 acres and still moving across Arizona. Sheesh.
