When The Heart Calls

The road into Portal.  The "V" of the mountain is where we are going.

Over the next several weeks, there will be many magical moments to share from the road.  For now, I am enjoying Arizona and celebrating its last monsoon hurrah!

The temps begin to fade.  And hummingbirds and warblers make their last push back into their wintering grounds.  While I hate to see them go, I am thankful for the much cooler temps that will follow in their wake. 

Horse Lubber

How does one properly say good-bye to these incredibly beautiful birds?  

Mexican Sulphur on Salvia

After this labor day weekend of exploration, a sleeping dragon awoke.  The birding energy begins to grow again. It's September. The year begins to wane.  And the cooler temps will be arriving soon.

At Willow Tank, AZ

I really love all my birding buds.  They are the best.  We motivate each other to do better and keep going.  Had it just been myself at this place, I would have sat down in the middle of the forest in my tent up at Rustler Park and considered hiking:) The park itself is a great place to watch birds.  No need to hike far. But with the buds, we pushed each other to keep it moving.  

Mexican Fox Squirrel

It's easy to get lost in the moment and so before we all knew it, it was time for us to go back home. But what a show!

Green Stink Bug

It had been over two years since my last visit to Portal which has been waaaaaay too long.  I don't know a person who does not love this place. There are two reactions from people when the word "Portal" is mentioned. "Where?" and "I love that place."  That's how remote this little town is. It should be a top 10 must see in the US.  The Chiricahua Mountain range is a sky island that is home to several unique species of reptiles, insects, birds and mammals in the US. No where else in the US can you find these critters. 

I would also mention that the wildlife here outnumbers the human populations.  The residents of Portal love the isolation from the rest of the world.  There is barely any WIFI in the tiny town.  In fact, in most of the places there isn't any connection at all!

Red-tailed Hawk takes flight from the canyon wall

It is easily one of my favorite places in Arizona.  There are comfy lodges and one restaurant:)  Bring a cooler full of goodies just in case:) Also make sure you have enough gas in your car because the nearest station is 19 miles away:)  If you love nature, you'll love Portal.  Until next time friends.....

Blue-throated Hummingbird

A Sip and A Thought

Mexican Jay

I took a much needed break from birding. On the road.  Off the road.  It felt good to just do laundry, clean the dishes, get a haircut, and do.......absolutely......nothing.  The rule for the weekend?  Stay within a two block radius of the house and see what there was to see.  It turned out to be a fun game.

Bald Eagle-working with some of my photography from when I was in Wisconsin

I have been in a reflective mood lately.  Sometimes I just prefer to write while other times it's all about the pics.  So I write when I feel like it and put the post off until I'm in the photography mood.

Michael Summers' painting in the middle.  The photographs were taken from a photo shoot last year on a post titled Splash!

It has been a time of art and reflection for me.  I am burned out by it all and I realize it's important to take breaks.  So instead I began to watch my garden and my plants.  Work on and enjoy my discoveries this past year. A young artist by the name of Michael Summers contacted me and asked to use my photography for a painting on a Lorikeet photo shoot I did last year.  The theme for that photo shoot was capturing color and water droplets while the bird was taking a bath.  I was excited to see what he'd do with the photos and BAM!  He created a beautiful masterpiece!  Thank you Michael Summers for inspiring me.  Art is very healing and I needed a little magic to perk me up.

Still not complete but almost finished

There is a garden outside that needs tending.  All summer long it was enjoyed from my window.  Early morning, I would feed the birds and just watch as some plants burned to death while others thrived.  I have several cacti and fun plants to finish up my little area but it requires clean up.  Our fountain is finally finished after a lot of work and thought went into plant choices.  The rule?  Only native low growing plants.  Why?  Well obviously less watering, but also to attract more of our local birds and butterflies.  The rocks around the fountain base will allow for lizards to make that area home.  The rocks on top of the fountain will allow small birds to perch and sip from the flowing water.

American Kestrel

We have officially created a bird friendly atmosphere attracting some of the most incredible birds to our space.....Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Tanager, my nesting Cardinals,  a Nashville and Yellow Warbler, nesting Anna's hummingbirds and so many other birds.

MacGillivray's Warbler on our Argentine Mesquite

Before there was nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I planted the trees and the shrubs and the cacti....and it took a couple years for it to all establish itself.....but it happened.  And now the homeowners are taking part in this community effort.  One of the homeowners, John, brought the rocks and plants to El Presidio(a big thank you!!).  I am now President so I can oversee it all come together.  And it is.  I am appreciative to the homeowners who have taken an active interest in creating one of the most beautiful living spaces in central Tucson. Next project is the parking lot and then painting....:)

Horse Lubber Grasshopper

My first posts on Las Aventuras are all about gardening and plants.  Officially, I have passed over the reigns of El Presidio landscaping to other homeowners and it feels good.  With all the travel I do now, it was time consuming....and it was time to step down after 5 years of work. I hope they find joy in the work as much as I did.

Wood Duck

Now it's over.  I can sip my coffee on Saturday morning and just....be. Soon I will make another trek elsewhere, but not today.  Today it's all about watching the birds from my window, drinking the coffee, watching movies in my pajamas and of course....doing laundry.

Snow Geese fly with Canadian Geese over my parent's house in Wisconsin

Empire Ranch

Kestrel

In search of a bathroom before our trek, we explored a new spot at the Empire Ranch.  Old buildings stood near a strip of forested land.  As we got close to the buildings on the gravel road, Kathie and I noticed lots of bird activity.  What would we find flying around this area?

Kestrel

Well there were lots of birds to see, but it was amazing to find quite a bit of activity happening around this old property.

I jumped out to find a Barn Owl or two but this Northern Red Shafted Flicker(below) caught my attention with its amazing red wings while in flight.  This is one hot bird!  Look at the design.  I didn't get it in flight  but that was pretty spectacular as well.

Northern Red Shafted Flicker

Huge kingbird activity on this day.  Kathie had her notebook and wrote things down.  I had my camera and shot billions of pics.  The difference? She documents and I snap:)

Kingbird Action!

And while around the property of old buildings, we stopped at several and it was cool.  But we also kept our eyes out for snakes inside the abandoned buildings.

Imagine redoing a property like this and making home in a beautiful grassland area.  I'd love to have lots of money to do things like this.  There is a lot of work that would have to be done to restore these buildings and old ranch but it's still nice to dream:)

I don't know why I love this light fixture so much but I do.  I think it reminds me of the old glass that my grandparents used to have in their homes.  Before my Grandmother passed away, she told me that she wanted me to have her china.   It sits back home waiting for me to bring it back to Arizona.  There is a train ride in my future to collect these antiques.

So while this house was abandoned, we both explored all the little nooks and crannies around the property and took a break from the heat.

Eventually we made it outside and did more walking around watching all the bird action going on.  And there was lots to see.

The problem is that I didn't know where to point the camera.  There was action on the ground, air and on the buildings.  And not all of it birds.

Canyon Towhee

There were these brilliant flashing red grasshoppers.....the large Lubbers all about.  Really quite beautiful.

Horse Lubber Grasshopper

So there are two special shoots that happened that I felt needed their own posts coming in the next several days.  One relates to nesting Barn Swallows(pretty amazing) and the Sonoran Pronghorn.  You won't want to miss these as Kathie and I continue our journey through the incredible grasslands of Cienagas near Sonoita.  More tomorrow....

Birding with Kathie!

A blogger friend moved back to Tucson. I was nervous because we never met in person but I was excited.  A friend to bird with.....I mean....really really bird. Today I am excited to present a week long event of our journeys over a two week period into the Sonoran desert and grasslands of Southern Arizona.

Northern Mockingbird at El Presidio to start my day off:)

If you don't know Kathie from Kathie's Birds, stop over and check out her site. It was an awesome cool and windy morning.  A first after so many days of nasty hot weather.

At the entrance to Agua Caliente Park on a cloudy morning

Now going with friends or people who aren't interested in birding isn't quite the same. A little light of excitement went on when I discovered Kathie's blogs several years ago.  I have observed that most married couples bird.  I have Pat and while it's fun to travel together and share the experiences; I only get a couple hours of light birding and photography because a certain someone gets antsy after awhile:)  And I do get that.

Turkey Vulture

But then Kathie moved back to Tucson.  We were meeting for the first time and it was a first for me because you never know who's writing the blogs sometimes.  Was she a killer secretly writing about birds?  And did she think the same about me?  But we met and it was so much fun from the start.  There is a focus to her and a committment to birds that I really appreciate. The best part?  Hanging out and searching every branch, listening to every chirp, tweet and whada da la da da da! with a new friend.

Lesser Goldfinch on a windy morning

Or the fact that we could have a conversation but be okay with a sudden burst of feather activity and forget what we were talking about......most people get irritated by that "birder eye".  It's where we chat with someone and the conversation is interrupted by a bird flying over.  I have tried so hard to keep focused with non-birders but it doesn't always work.

Slider Turtle

On this day, we took a simple trip to Agua Caliente park.  And I discovered two lifebirds thanks to Kathie. You'll see them below.  She also kept accurate accounts of the birds we saw and made "old" birds I've already seen and captured on film relevant again.  And I learned about the power of EBIRD and how we can help our birds with our data collection.

Gila Woodpecker

What I liked a lot about birding with Kathie was how we serve as a team better.  She is much more advanced a birder than I am but I am a quick study. I am a bit camera crazy and have to watch out for not being rude with "making the shot".  But if anything else, I'll be Kathie's bodyguard on the trek:)

Small Breadfruit growing wild on this former ranch

Over the next several days, we'll take you on an incredible journey throughout Southern Arizona.  I promise not to disappoint.  Some were extremely difficult to find.

We spent hours doing some really excellent observations.  We had our sun caps, bug spray, sunblock, jackets/vests(fall is here now and the mornings are wonderful!), charged batteries for our cameras, checklists, food, water, and a full gas tank to drive to the locations.

Green Tailed Towhee

And as for Towhees.  Just how many of them are there?  I spotted two by myself over the year....Aberts and the Spotted.  But with Kathy, I discovered the Green Tailed and Canyon Towhees within a matter of 2 weeks!

It just took her wisdom and knowledge to find them .

This was such a strange bird to see with its "Red Mohawk".

Below is a shot of the breadfruit in the tree.  I have seen a breadfruit tree in Panama and it is huge.  So this was a similiar type plant growing in the desert.  So I made a plant discovery first!

The second lifebird was this shadowy shot of the Bewick's Wren. 

Bewick's Wren

During the course of this write, Kathie and I have been super busy with our own lives. We've had some fun and exciting moments on the trails.  And not all of them relate to birds, but I'll let her tell those stories. Hey, birding is like Indiana Jones sometimes.....

Horse Lubber

Today I spied two birds and one new human blogger. Stay tuned for more.....

Alien Bugs

Black Witch Moth(This one is for you Ragged Robin:)

Here's a collection of interesting bugs I've found around Southern Arizona. The above was a great find.  This moth is found mostly in Mexico but it does make it's way up into Southern Arizona and what a find!!!  The name alone is fun:) It is considered a harbinger of death in Mexican and Caribbean folklore.  Glad I didn't touch it:)

And while the monsoon brings on the rain, you'll see many many beetles flying around our parts.  Some I like.  Some I don't.

Blue Mud Dauber Wasp

But this Blue Mud Dauber is something.  Here's why you don't squash this one.  The blue mud dauber is a metallic blue species of mud dauber wasp that preys primarily on black widow spiders. It does not build a nest, but uses nests abandoned by other mud dauber wasps. Like other mud daubers, it is rarely aggressive. Blue mud dauber wasps are generally considered beneficial, because they help to regulate the population of black widow spiders.

Giant Mesquite Bug

When I first met this bug, I thought, "Is that real?"  And yes.  Yes it is. They are harmless and don't bite.  And you can hold them in your hand.

Palo Verde Beetle

And this one.  This is the grand daddy of them all.  I'll tell you a short story for this GIANT bug.  This one looks like a cockroach, but it's not.  Here's one for the books.  I first discovered this alien bug while moving here in '96.  It was during monsoon and the thing flew into our apartment window.  I had thought it was a bird at first.  I opened the door and it got into our place.  I began to scream because I had never seen a beetle that big.  I would NOT put this guy in your hand at all.  They don't bite, but they do click and could pinch your skin.  But that's not my story:)  One of my friends came to visit from the Midwest during the summer.  They drove with their windows down probably listening to the Macarena.  It was evening time when these bugs like to come out and of course one flew into my friend's car.  Let's just say that a car crash almost happened from all the screaming and swirving on the road from this Giant Bug.  It was on Speedway and the monsoon storms were getting started:)  Thankfully no one was hurt and a hilarious memory still surfaces today in conversations:)  "Do you remember that time when that alien bug entered your car?" Evil laughs follow. And you should have heard her describe this beast.  It was the funniest thing ever. If you have friends in Arizona, ask them about the Palo Verde beetle and see what their reactions are:)  I've come across so many people with great stories of their first encounter because it's rather traumatic:) 

Figeater Beetle

Horse Lubber Grasshopper

This actor played Johnny Rico from the movie Starship Troopers which was a violent movie about humans fighting alien bugs. One of his lines was, "I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!" His very American accent wasn't quite convincing to play someone from Argentina so I'm not sure his words should be taken seriously:) Everything has a purpose. More tomorrow.....

Cicada-when they emerge from their exoskeleton, you'd swear there was an alien in the garden somewhere

 Carpenter Bees(above).  They seem scary, but they're not:)