After Covid

My first outing was to Madera Canyon where I watched two Coatis roaming around their patch for food

When you're almost dead and don't have the energy to clean, there's the aftermath of house cleaning!  Good gods!  There was laundry, bed sheets to wash, cleaning the floors, dishes and so on and so forth. And then, there's the whole covid sleep factor. 

Nova "helps" me organize a trip.  Knock on wood.  I'm hoping it happens. 

When you have covid, sleep is amazing.  I have spoken to so many dead people in my dreams in crazy fantastical places that it's not even funny.  The dreams are intense and real.  And the sleep is deep and sound.  Maybe it's because we have one foot in the grave now?  Who knows?  But it has created a terrible sleep pattern over these past 2 months!  I stay up until 4 in the morning and sleep until 11 everyday but expect myself to keep the same daily routine with less time to do so!

Cassin's Sparrow

After a month of quarantining, I am slowly getting my groove back.  I had a haircut!  And I've been hesitantly interacting with humanity. Once you get covid, you don't ever want it again. I went to the post office today to mail off some masks to a friend but noticed two "Karens" without a mask in our mask mandated city of Tucson. It made me angry.  There were so many people being careful and two jackasses didn't social distance or wear a mask.  My attitude? Get the hell out of the post office.  I don't want covid again. And it's not fair to the all the people who were standing there socially distancing with their masks on.  There's a special place in hell for people like that.  Needless to say, I reported the post office for servicing those covid spreaders. If we don't take this seriously, I will never see my students again.  My tolerance for stupidity is very low now.  And I am angry. There were a lot of wide eyes at the lady. I won't be going to the post office again. 

Blue Grosbeak

The public is exhausting. I am grateful for the friends and family who brought us groceries while we were down.  Even today after the covid, shopping can be very draining. So much careful planning has to happen for every visit to a store. I try to go when numbers are low.  And I avoid shopping on the weekends now. I think that was the hardest thing to do......grocery shop again.  The body has to build strength again and those first baby steps were hard.  I'd break out in a sweat for a minimal amount of exertion. So I had to approach my birding that same way for a week until my body could build strength.  It was a treat to see people outside exercising as if there wasn't any major pandemic going on.  It has also been very strange that there hasn't been any real quarantining happening in Arizona even after we became the hotspot.  If you're lucky to leave your covid hell, it's a real eye opener!

a juvenile Bridled Titmouse begs the parent to feed them

Escaping the endless horrible news after quarantine is a must. I get so bored, but thankfully, I enjoy writing. For several weeks, I pulled out those "emergency blog posts" while we were dealing with our sickness.  I lost the stamina to write.  Now that I'm back to "normal", I have enjoyed the writing process again. I had a few students who shared with me their stories of the covid infection.  Here is some useful information if you get the mild case of covid. There are 3 choices with this virus. You either are asymptomatic, have a mild case(what we had) OR you are in the ER/Covid Unit/ventilator due to breathing issues. If you experience "allergies or a slight cough", get tested as soon as you can. After the hellish experience with our mild case of covid, we were told by doctors that a slight cough can be expected for a few weeks after you had the virus. (which was good to hear).  It's probably similar to what smokers experience.  Hopefully it's not for life. 

Lesser Nighthawks are quite visible now at sunset.  We had one fly over the garden recently.

One night, my stubborn German side came out and said, "You're going for a walk!" Part of the resistance building came from simple walks at night or from the car.  My first attempt was a walk around Agua Caliente Park when everyone went home.  I watched Lesser Nighthawks and Purple Martins zip around me at sunset. 

Greater Roadrunner

During those first few outings, I just drove in my car and went to places away from people.  Monsoon is here now and it has been rather beautiful so I did my yearly trek during a rain event to count Cassin's Sparrows in the grasslands.  There was lightning so I stayed in my vehicle, the USS Betty White. 

A lot of the action has been also happening at home.  I've been purchasing more oranges and seed for ONE station under our oak trees in the courtyard. You can see the plants getting "excited" for the rain events.  The humidity in the air is wonderfully nasty for humans but the plants love it!  It looks like they are almost glowing green as if they were giving a sigh of relief. And after getting beat up by the sun for nearly 2 months, they immediately perk up with that glorious first nitrogen rich rain!

a view of the beautiful monsoon sunset from our side garden

Tucsonans get excited about the monsoon season.  Most people groan elsewhere but in the desert West, it's a celebration. It also makes for very comfortable birding after the rain event. I just have to be careful with the lightning. It's not a joke here. Birding is also good for the memory.  I had a moment on the trail today when I forgot the name of the blackbird with red on the wings.  Seriously! I stopped what I was doing and concentrated.....RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD! It took about 30 seconds to remember. I was a bit scared that I couldn't multi-task and remember all the birds zipping around me.  Baby steps. 

A first for our patch!!!!!!  A Bullock's Oriole visits our feeder!!!!  It was so exciting!

I am so glad we secured our place with our catio screen.  Crime rates in midtown have gone up.  For TWO nights, there has been a police helicopter shining lights over my garden!  An armed felon hid on my neighbor's patio!  It was very scary.  And then the next night, two men, one without pants, lit a dumpster on fire and ran into our little forested oasis. But no worries readers:)  I have strategically placed deadly cacti, like cholla in unexpected areas where people could run or hide. It's super painful if you step on it. They are placed near lush vegetation making the person think that it's "safe" to hide.  LOL!  Besides keeping the criminals out of our oasis, I also placed cacti like cholla in our garden to encourage Cactus Wrens and Curve-billed Thrashers to nest.  They have lost habitat in midtown due to construction and so I'm trying to help them out. They do visit our gardens often for insects, etc. 

This has been a good year for our Broad-billed Hummingbirds.  We've had lots of nesting happening.  I keep putting in their orange jubilee plants and keep the feeders full.  They stick around all year on our property. 

And after being in bed for nearly a month, I got fed up looking at ugly ceilings.  So, I pulled out the supplies I had stored and mustered the little energy I had to begin Covid Project 3, the Coastal Room.  

This room surprised me with different challenges.  The vinyl material I used did not want to stay up on the ceiling unlike the other room. There were cuts in the ceiling for electric additions.  And notice that there is an area of the vertical wall that needs to be re-painted.  As I began the art of redesign, I cleared the area for a blank slate. 

I watched so many DIY projects on Youtube and did a lot of reading.  The glue did not work.  I used tacks to keep the thin planks up on the ceiling and quickly realized I was going to need a staple gun to make this project work. Plus the tack method, which worked in the other room, did NOT work in this room.  And it killed my thumbs. 

Each day I did little by little.  My body would get tired and then I knew it was time to stop.  I wasn't going anywhere so I didn't force myself.  

As the ceiling was being completed my photography began to come in.  So I started placing the work in different areas to get a feel for the coast.  

Like a jigsaw puzzle, I began to sort out all the pieces and details.  

I sat back one evening and smiled.  It all fit together.  Now there is more I have to do!  Do you see where the horizontal seams are on the ceiling between the wood planks?  Well.  A wooden beam will cover that seam adding to the coastal charm.  I need more reds and whites over the next couple months to complete this project.  So I look forward to adding those fun and simple ideas.  When I finish this, I'll post the complete pictures.  Right now, I'm happy how this turned out, but I want to finish this before work starts up again.  Until next time and thankfully there will be a next time......stay safe and free from the nasty covid.  Avoid the Karens at all cost.  You don't want this. Now that we've recovered, I'm even more careful.   

A Mental Pause

Mountain Bluebird

After the constant chases for really rare birds, it was time to take a break from all this Covid madness.  We headed up to the White Mountains to celebrate the end of our school year party.  Usually we go to Mexico, but this year, we altered the plan and chose cooler temps. Plus the border is closed:(

I went with my peeps where we drank beer, hiked and of course, watched birds, Elk, Pronghorn and so many other critters! They have eased restrictions in many places around the state and we were able to have our first beer together in public.  I didn't realize how wonderful that would feel. And there was live music! It was a well earned break.

Vesper Sparrow

It was also a working vacation so we brought our laptops and had zoom meetings.  This was the final week of school! We were at our whit's end with some of our students. And unfortunately with some parents who didn't monitor their kids better.  I hope, but I doubt it, that they can appreciate our classroom management skills now.  Things are still not normal.  Summer school was cancelled after much discussion.  Many parents refused to do online summer school (I get it) but it couldn't  be done.  Now there will be no summer school making the consequences for students who failed courses much more meaningful. 

Band-tailed Pigeon

It certainly has been a challenging time for all of us. Parents are NOT teachers.  And we are NOT parents.  A lot of students did a great job online, but for the ones who didn't do any work, it made things very stressful.  Sometimes I'd have to break quarantine and go to school and call parents.  I'm certainly not calling them on my personal phone!  From my work phone, they got an earful...in a kind and wonderful way.  But it was direct and to the point.  

We gave our seniors a proper send off.  It wasn't the same though and for many, it hit them that night as they wouldn't be able to throw tortillas into the air and say good-bye to one another. I felt their sadness on this day. I volunteered because believe it or not, I missed them. (Don't share that information with any of them though:) I felt a little bit of moisture around my eyes and rubbed it away. It must have been allergies. However, our school did a great job giving those kids....those young adults....a proper closure. The admin did a huge amount of work organizing this major operation in a safe manner for all.  My hats off to them!

Bullock's Oriole

As we were signing off, I also had the hard realization that my Panama trip would be cancelled.  The Corona virus has taken off in Central and South American countries.  The borders into Mexico are closed. Panama has banned all commercial flights into the country.  I haven't seen my friend Gordon, who was supposed to go on this trip, in over 2 MONTHS!  In fact, I miss many of my birder friends. Watching the Seniors at graduation process their final days also forced me to realistically evaluate what would happen for the summer. It put me in a funk. 

Desert Grassland Whiptail

The silver lining? Our Tucson Audubon fundraising event was more than a success!  We raised over 53 thousand dollars for this year's birdathon fundraising drive! We were super thrilled!  There were more participants this year AND we raised more money for a great cause!

There are days when I feel like I'm moving from one endless morning into another.  Summer has officially started for teachers here with those lovely hot 100 + temps. All of us are in this uncertainty cloud. Summer is about renewal for us.  Now, there is nothing to look forward to.  There is just a lot of unknowns. It was good to hear that I'm not the only one dealing with this stuff. I still hold onto my Panama ticket with the dreams that I will be able to go even though our group will not. It's not going to happen.  The Harpy Eagle will have to wait. 

Yellow-breasted Chat

Oh I still look at our AZ birds with a great fondness.  But I'm a gypsy at heart.  My hunger to learn more is ever present.  I have put together the last of my western birds that I need for my Plan B Tufted Puffin project. Plus, it's an escape from the heat. It would be a beautiful trek into California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho states.  There are 17 life birds left in this region.  Assuming I find all these birds, there will be little need to visit the Northwest again. Over the years, I have enjoyed dipping on the Gunnison Sage-Grouse in Colorado because it just means I get to keep going back there and trying. There is the Black Swift under a waterfall in Ouray, Colorado that I need to visit.  So on and on it goes, but I see the end coming for these states.  And it's hard to imagine never going back to them again.  

Turkey Vulture

10,000 life birds is a dream.  They keep me focused like a laser pointer. In Arizona, what was once a challenge for me, is now known and memorized.  I still pick up a few things here and there about our local birds.  They are still interesting, but it's not new.  I have this drive to push the envelope. And my focus has wandered. Reptiles have captured my interest. This year alone, I have actively sought, or not, snakes!  What is happening? The things that scare me are now the things I really want to learn about! Of course, having a friend like Celeste who loves herps has made me more curious about them. 

Yellow-headed Blackbird

One night, while I walked out into my garden and filled my bird feeders, I saw the moon flowers of my night blooming cacti. The air carried the heavy fragrance of the honeysuckle vine.  It was my little moment of perfection here in Tucson. In my garden, I have created a home for wildlife. I find that I've been turning more into a local naturalist. My cats certainly approve!  They do a great job chasing the White-winged Doves off of the window feeders!

I'm glad to be able to bird with my friends who are here.  My mind is also with my friends afar.  And my thoughts wander towards those who have life circumstances that have redefined their explorations for now. Birding used to be so easy.  Our lives are like an hour glass; we only have so much time before that sand runs out. It's been a meaningful time for many of us learning that we are all social creatures. For some, this is a dream!  I used to take some of my travel for granted, in that I could always do it if I wanted. Now that everything has been turned upside down, I crave that time with other people wanting to do those treks to new worlds and cultures. 

My brother back in Wisconsin has been enjoying the massive migration of the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.  And of my family, I think he is the one who understands my love for birds the most.  Granted, a lot of my family loves the birds, but he has a bird book!  And he was able to pick out an Orchard Oriole.  Maybe one day when we are older and retired, my brother and I will go on a birding trek somewhere and do some hiking. This is certainly a time of great pause in our lives.   

The canopy of a Central American rain forest will have to wait. 

Next week, we explore the border along Southeastern Arizona. It's a rare trek for two days into some really wild country!  Until next time.....

March Madness

Hello everyone!  First I'd like to apologize to my readers for not keeping up with the comment section.  It has been a very busy month with visitors and birds.  My schedule booked up in March fast and that was when I realized that I needed to write things down on a calendar:)

Hooded Oriole

Somehow I manage a full time job while getting all this other stuff done.  And I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. 

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly

April and May are also packed with a busy schedule as we get ready for our huge fundraising event for Tucson Audubon, THE BIG DAY! The Wrenegades will once again join together and search for as many bird species as we can in one day to raise money for Southern Arizona's birds and the protection of their habitats.  Sara Pike is one of the fabulous team members and donations can be made here. 

Rivoli's Hummingbird

I'm also excited about several guests coming to visit this month and next as we find as many of their birds as we can for their life lists.  Then it'll be on to San Carlos, Mexico for some ocean birding.  Our summer trek will be a surprise. It'll be interesting to see where we end up since we haven't planned anything concrete yet:)

A Steller's Jay knows an opportunity when it see one.  But do these people know?

 But in the meantime.  I had a blast with my friend Kristen, her daughter Kayla and Kelly.  They did some fun hiking around Northern and Southern Arizona.  I wish they had more time.  Both are park rangers and LOVE to hike and see what there is to see.  

Steller's Jay

We had a beautiful visit up in Northern Arizona at Walnut Canyon National Monument. We did some great hiking around the area and found lots of excellent birds in the process. 

Montezuma's Castle is one of the many historic and beautiful national monuments of Arizona

 I was paying attention to the birds while they enjoyed the historic cliff dwellings of the ancient people.  We kept an ebird checklist and Kelly and Kristen were able to add new birds to their lifelist. 

We headed down to Montezuma's Castle near the Prescott/Sedona area and Kelly found this *almost* hidden Common Black Hawk along the riparian area.  It is nesting here.  And from the information I've gathered from ebird and the local park rangers in this area, there may be as many as TWO pairs of Black Hawks nesting along this stretch of river.  That is always encouraging news to hear.  This isn't always an easy hawk to spy in Arizona outside of migration. 

Common Black Hawk

Before their arrival, we headed to Ashurst Lake outside of Flagstaff to do a waterbird count.  Ashurst Lake is great for gulls and other shorebirds migrating through the area.  It's also a somewhat dependable area for the very nomadic Pinyon Jays. 

Ashurst Lake

During our visit, we watched a juvenile Bald Eagle go after an Osprey with food.  In fact, Bald Eagles are kind of like sky pirates:) However, this Osprey outmaneuvered the Eagle. 

Juvenile Bald Eagle goes after an Osprey

Another great hotspot near Flagstaff is the Kachina Wetlands.  Here we counted sparrows and ducks during a nice walk around the area. 

Kayla looks at frogs

The birding in Flagstaff isn't like birding Southern Arizona, but it's still fun.  There are several bird species you can add here that you can't in other areas.  During our visit, we heard the unmistakable drumming of an American Three-toed Woodpecker (which I wasn't expecting to find so early in the year nor in this area).  Thanks to Kristen, she pointed out the loud rapid drum.  The bird only did it one other time and from high up a Ponderosa Pine.

A gorgeous Savannah Sparrow

We checked other spots and it was very pleasant. One area that I'd really like to explore is Humboldt Peak which is VERY high and holds a few specialty birds.  My nemesis continues to be the Dusky Grouse. 

Then we headed down to Southern Arizona and while it was hot, it was great to be back here. Migrating birds never looked so good. 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

There are lots of Hummingbirds. 

And that "secretive" American Bittern at Sweetwater. 

Phainopepla

And lots of crested and colorful birds. 

This male Northern Cardinal below was very vocal and hopped around me as I did a count at Sweetwater Wetlands. 

Shy birds were out and about walking around reeds. 

An outed Sora

One day we had an amazingly cold morning full of rain and wind.  It was beautiful!  The birds were so active!

Abert's Towhee

Birds are wonderful.  As I approach final exams with my students, I feel the stress and anxiety that they feel.  Our walks are very relaxing. And necessary:)

Pyrrhuloxia

After the ladies left, I had some alone time and went to Agua Caliente Park after a stressful day at work to just connect with nature.  During that evening, I just listened to the bird song and followed their voices along the trail. 

Bullock's Oriole

If I ever lose my eyesight, and I hope I never do, it's my ears that will navigate my birding.  My blog will revert to audio sounds instead of photos.  I love bird song so much and it's what I use to find birds.  Without my ears, I'd be lost. 

A Gray Hawk banks to the side

If they whisper a cheep or throw me a chip note, I will find them. Rattles make it too easy:) Recently, I was with a friend in a wash where we spotted a well known and very chatty birder.  I've never seen birders scatter as much as they do when they see this individual.  It's okay to talk while you bird but NOT all the time.  How in the world will you find birds when your talking?  They'll all fly off!  Anyhow, we tried our best to dodge away from this individual.  It didn't work:(

A Common Yellowthroat stops for a moment to reflect:)

It was nice to come back to Southern Arizona. 

It's also nice to not feel the pressure of finding a new life bird.  We can wander wherever we like. And find whatever it is that wants to be found. 

Louisiana Waterthrush

Some winter birds are still hanging on while others are getting ready to leave. 

Next week, we'll take you to Mt. Lemmon for the start of warbler migration. 

As we say good-bye to our wintering birds, 

We say hello to our summer residents.  We'll also get to meet lots of great people in the process. That's the adventure of birding.  Arizona birding is some of the best birding in the United States.  

Until next time......