Seasons of Change

Wood Duck-Drake

After returning from treks like California, Mexico, Wisconsin or Colorado, I am always amazed by the Arizona landscape. 

From the airplane, an overview of the Estrella Mountains near Phoenix, AZ

On our flight to California, I snapped this shot of the Estrella Mountain range outside of Phoenix.  From above it looks completely barren of life.  And DRY!  This could easily be a photo from Mars.  Or a map of Middle Earth:)

A Cactus Wren nest in a Cholla Cactus at Saguaro National Park

But let me assure you that our deserts are green and full of life.  Granted, Arizona doesn't have the vibrant greens of other places but the color scheme does exist here:)  It's just more subtle. 

Greater Roadrunner

After California, I hiked and biked around many areas in Tucson alone. I had been craving the silence. This is the eye of my storm.  As you will see over the next several weeks, things are going to take a strange turn.  This is the year of life changes. 

 The biggest battle with our neighbor is yet to come.  Now that the community is united and we have all our ducks in a row, we are going to take this man down.  There will be no more attacks on children, men or women.  It took a lot of work and communication to come together and string all the incidents together to make one huge case against him. He now has a warrant out for his arrest.  Henry Yanez III, your days are numbered in our community.

Greater Roadrunner taking a dirt bath

Then there is the birding.  I want to say that this year has been a lot more challenging for me.  Not because of the birds but because of the time and stress to make sure that my birding DID happen.  It may seem selfish but I have found that I can't live without it.  I think it will always be a part of me now until I die.  And that's a good thing!

Reid Park at Sunset

The cooler temps have arrived and I have begun my long hikes.  What I didn't expect was how painful it would be to ride my bike again.  I started my birds and bike tour for the winter and discovered that I'm out of shape. Well I expected it to be a challenge:)  I can hike miles.  But I can barely bike 2 miles!  That will be remedied over the winter months:)

The Wood Duck was my reward for taking the bike out for a spin.  The good part about biking is that I can hear all the birds in the neighborhoods surrounding the park. In a car, you miss half of it.

The storms brought us wonderful weather and cooler temps.  Over the past several days, I have stood outside until sunset just....being.

A nice sampling of Sonoran desert vegetation.  Note the spacing between the various plants.

I don't know where I am going with this life.  It has been confusing trying to redefine who I am as a person, employee, birder, and community leader.  The birds are my escape.  I like to stand in one spot and let the world of wildlife pass me by..... 

The weather has now fully empowered my birding battery.  The heat begins to dwindle and cooler temps of winter will/have arrive(d). And finally......

Neotropic Cormorants

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Beth Marie. She followed Las Aventuras for several years. We got to know one another over that time and I always enjoyed her day to day stories back in the Midwest.  Just recently, I found out why she hadn't been answering my emails and it was like a punch to the gut.  She passed away this past spring from cancer.  You will be missed my friend. 

Taken at Sweetwater during the storm.

While I have not "met" many of you out there in this great big world, I often think about your writings and wonder what you would say or do if you were in my shoes. This virtual friendship has lead me to make incredible and REAL friendships over the past several years within the blogging community.  So, Beth Marie, you will be in my thoughts during this autumn season. I am glad you no longer suffer in pain from the cancer.  But please know that you are missed. Rest in peace my friend.

"You Just Missed It!"

Pied Bill Grebe with exuvia (dragonfly larvae)for the baby chicks.  Thanks to Ragged Robin! for the ID

"You just missed it!", exclaims an excited birder in the muggy and super moist environment.  I think to myself, "Damn you Mr. Yellow Bill Cuckoo. Damn you Green Heron."  Like every birder with a report, you run off to find those little gems hiding in the reeds, tree branches, or rocks.

Today I went to find the Green Heron, the Pied Billed Grebe, and the Yellow Bill Cuckoo.  I found one of them:)

Mourning Dove

Which isn't bad at all.  But when you consider, "You just missed it!"  Well that can make it frustrating:)  It was so muggy.  We were all wiping our brows from the moisture dripping off our faces.  I was a mess.  And it was only 7 AM!!!  No joke about our desert.  It's a hot one here.  Afternoon is off limits and the mornings are sometimes barely acceptable:)   From sun up +2 hours, you have to bird.  So that means you have to get up early in the morning.  No shower for me until I get back.

Gila Woodpecker

But I am always rewarded with unique views of birds.  I did find the cormorants.  They flew off later and I thought the below shot was nice.

Neotropic Cormorants

Yellow Billed Cuckoo?  No.  A Yellow Headed Blackbird. Still a nice find:)

Yellow Headed Blackbird(female)

Oh and this Moorhen was needing a little photo attention.  "Look at me!  Look at me!"  It's still hard to believe, for me, that this bird is related to the Purple Gallinule.

I snapped a shot of this bird last year in Panama.  There are some similarities.

And dragonflies.  No matter how much I try to resist taking their pictures, I can't help but snap one more shot.

The good news is that I did find the parent Grebe with some food for the little ones.  They were hiding in the reeds and it was fun watching the parents get the food.  And on top of that, I met another really nice birder who shared her observations on this day.  I was in a chatty mood.  Until next time...:)

Pied Billed Grebe

Oasis

Neotropic Cormorants

On a tip from several birders, I discovered that near the Sweetwater Wetlands, there is a park with a lake and an island!  And it was here that I discovered my best views of Herons, Egrets, and Neotropic Cormorants!  They had been flying into the wetlands but not sticking around......Where were they going?

Thanks to a tip off from my friend, I was able to visit this park for the first time and find the Great Blue Heron rookery located on the "island" in the middle of the lake. Granted it's not Lake Michigan big, but it was a larger lake stocked with fish and that's were I found all my larger water birds. 

It was fun to stop here.  How long have I lived in Tucson and never been to this area?  It makes me think that there are more of these little gems hidden around town.   We arrived at the park and quickly identified the island in the lake.  It was far away from humans for the herons to build their nesting area.

The Neotropic Cormorants are strange birds but they all hang together in a group.  The eye color, long neck, and slinky water movements sometimes remind me of a snake, a seal, or the lockness monster.

While the Neotropic Cormorant freaks me out a bit, the opposite can be said of the graceful Great Egret.  These birds weren't with the Cormorants or Herons but off to the side of another lake.  Absolutely gorgeous birds.....

It is always bizarre for me to see water in the desert. But stranger still are the birds that hang around these water holes....

The Christopher Columbus Park is located off of Silverbell road and is near Pima Animal Control.  It is also one of the few lakes stocked with fish in the city.

I had a lot of bird sightings which included a variety of smaller birds like the Vermillian Flycatcher, House Sparrow, etc.   There were also a lot of butterflies in the area.

During this day, I met up again with Sally and Robert and they were such a wonderful couple.  I laughed a lot because they both were very similiar to other birding couples I've met.  One is the extreme birder while the other enjoys hanging out with the other person and is the camera support.  That's my relationship with Pat as well.  We laughed a lot because they had some wonderful couple sparring going on.....and it was good for Pat to see because we have the same discussions/playful fights.  "You said you'd only be 15 minutes!!!  It's now a half hour later!":)  What is love if it wasn't for this kind of stuff?  And to be honest, I would miss that joking/serious poking at one another.  It's nice to know that we aren't the only ones who have these "discussions". 

So in the middle of this desert city, you will find an oasis here and there.  You just have to keep your eyes and ears open for them. Or ask other birders:)

And speaking of Oasis...check out El Presidio Gardens own little Oasis!!!  Two hummingbird nests!!!!  Here's Mom on her eggs:)