Madera Canyon: A Birder's Paradise

There are three birding meccas in North America that nearly every birder puts on their "someday I'll go there" list: the Pribilof Islands of Alaska, the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas, and the "Sky Islands" of Southeastern Arizona. This weekend Sonja and I visited one of these for a birding experience that few other places on the continent can rival. Madera Canyon is tucked away in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson, easily accessible to anyone who knows both where it is and why it's such a treasure, and for anyone interested in seeing cool birds it offers eye-candy that you can't find anywhere else north of the Mexican border. This is such an amazing place for birds that I was willing to make the 200+ mile trip down there twice in the last two weeks, just to give Sonja the opportunity to see what I saw. 64 species and many lifers later (4 for me and 13 for Sonja) both Sonja and I agreed that it was well worth it.

Remember how I had forgotten my camera battery last time I visited Madera Canyon? Well, I made no such mistake this time. The following photos depict the highlights from our morning exploring one of Arizona's most spectacular Sky Islands.

An early morning glimpse of a Magnificent Hummingbird (you really need to click on that photo to get a decent look at the bird).

A typical view of the Flame-colored Tanager that has been one of the highlights for many birders visiting Madera Canyon this spring.

This Hepatic Tanager was another lifer for Sonja. One of my goals for the day was to experience a "Four Tanager Day", something not possible anywhere else within the ABA boundaries of North America. We got three pretty quickly (these two and some Western Tanagers at our first stop), but the Summer Tanager eluded us...until we were on our way out of the canyon. I was a happy camper!

This turned into the day of the vireos for us. This Bell's Vireo was one of five species we saw today. The others we saw were Gray, Plumbeous, Hutton's and Warbling Vireos.

Mexican Jays could be found all over the place.

Same with the Acorn Woodpeckers, which were probably the most numerous species we saw today.

This was the only Arizona Woodpecker we spotted, though.

We scored four tyrant flycatchers today, too, including this Dusky-capped Flycatcher.

We almost missed the Northern Pygmy Owl that put on the show for me last time (eating a lizard and copulating in front of a crowd of onlookers). We were about to give up when someone spotted it. I didn't crop the picture to give you a better idea of the size of this tiny owl.

While we've got tons of Bridled Titmice around our place, this was the first time one of the buggers cooperated enough to get some decent photos of it.

Without a doubt, however, the highlight of the entire day was seeing Madera Canyon's most famous resident: the Elegant Trogon.




We chased this bird's dog-like bark up (go here and click on "Elegant Trogon Voice" to hear the bird) and down the canyon, spotting him several times throughout the hike. I was even able to draw him closer by mimicking a mutant saw-whet/pygmy owl hybrid. Seeing one of these obviously tropical birds in the wild is indescribable. Everything about them just screams "I don't belong here!" It's a testament to the importance of protecting Arizona's fragile Sky Islands that these birds of the tropics can still be found in the States.

We finished out the day by stopping by the Sonoran Desert Museum, a non-profit "zoo" that takes in non-releasable rehab animals, focusing on the unique species that inhabit the deserts and mountains of southern Arizona. Their bird aviaries were nothing short of spectacular:

We spotted five species of hummers in Madera Canyon this morning (including Broad-billed Hummingbirds like this one), but they proved to be much easier to photograph in the aviaries.

Another shot of the beautiful Broad-billed Hummingbird. I was disappointed that they didn't have a Magnificent Hummingbird on display. I guess I'll just have to go back to Madera Canyon to get a decent photo of one of them.

Change is Good?

Change. It's inevitable, right? Well, at least for this blog it is. I got ambitious this evening and decided to try for a new look. It took a few hours of experimenting and code-tweaking, but I think I finally found a new style that sorta works for me.

Of course, all I really ended up doing was changing the colors, the title graphic and the rearranged the stuff over on the right. But it does give the whole thing a much different feel. I'm still not convinced about the new title graphic. I sorta already miss that whole "liberal" definition thing. But I did stick in an Ed Abbey quote over to the right, so maybe that's all it needs for now. Anyway, what do you think? Of course, that question only applies if you've actually visited my blog before, so if you haven't feel free to pretend you have. Either way, I think I'm going to keep it this way for a little while at least. Not sure when I'll find the motivation to go through all that again.

On another note, I convinced Sonja that she really wants to go to Madera Canyon with me this weekend to see all the cool birds I saw last week. We'll be leaving Saturday and returning Sunday. A quick trip, but it should be long enough for both of us to add more lifers to our lists. I'm still hoping for a Red-faced Warbler. This time, at least, you can be damn sure I'll remember the battery for the camera. Of course, I'll probably forget our binocs instead...

Wordless Wednesday: A Backyard Afternoon

"I was this close..."

"Was it over here?"

**editor's note**
I am not implying through this post that we condone letting house cats roam around outside without a leash. The events pictured here represent a very rare, well-supervised and controlled outside experience for our cat in an enclosed backyard. In fact, I believe all domestic pets should be kept leashed or under strict voice command (that they actually respond to) at all times while outside. Remember, save the birds: keep your cat inside!

Anyway...yeah, that's all I wanted to say. Carry on.

Forced to Bird

So, last Monday I was scheduled to depart for a week-long training in Denver late in the afternoon. I figured it was the perfect chance to buzz down to one of Southeast Arizona's birding hotspots to see some cool birds since I had a couple hours to kill. Wouldn't anyone get up at 3:30am, drive 300 out-of-the-way miles to spend two hours looking for one of these?

Ok, maybe not, but it was so worth it. Not only did I finally get to share a shady patch of forest with an Elegant Trogon, I was able to add an additional six species to my ABA life list. The day didn't start out very well, however, when, after having already reached Phoenix, that sinking feeling of disappointment began to overcome me. I reached over to the camera sitting beside me in the passenger seat and deftly clicked open the battery compartment. Sticking my finger into the empty compartment confirmed what I already knew. I had left my camera battery plugged into the recharger back at home.

I made a quick and desperate stop at a 24-hour Wal-Mart hoping they might carry an extra one that I could use for my birding trip, but to no avail. Oh well. I'd have to do without my camera for this trip. It was a big bummer, too, considering all the cool species I anticipated seeing. I was finally able to bum a battery off of a stranger for a few minutes, enabling me to get a couple quick shots of one of the more exciting lifers I encountered, a Northern Pygmy Owl eating a lizard:



I like this shot, even though it's a bit out of focus, because you can see the "eye patches" on the back of its head. I showed up just a few minutes too late to see the owl copulating with its mate, though. That would've been fun to watch!

Anyway, the experience taught me a good lesson, and forced me to just enjoy the experience of birding, rather than focusing on trying to capture the "perfect shot". I discovered that when I take my camera out to go birding, I spend all my time concentrating on developing my photography skills, and often forget to simply enjoy the birds I'm seeing. Not to say photography isn't enjoyable, but it's nice to be reminded why I started birding in the first place.

That said, it would have been really, really, REALLY nice to have my camera with me when the Elegant Trogon perched beautifully on a branch no more than 15 feet from me. Oh well...

Anyway, here are the other exciting lifers I saw that morning:

Northern Pygmy Owl
Chihuahuan Raven
Flame-colored Tanager
Hepatic Tanager
Plumbeous Vireo
Yellow-eyed Junco

Birdcam Antics: Hummers, Orioles and Woodpeckers

I figured it was time for me to put my Wingscapes Birdcam to good use again. And with the arrival of some of our exciting and colorful summer residents, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to see just who visits our hummingbird feeders while we're not at home.

I tried two seperate locations to play around with lighting and angles. This first movie, compiled from clips spanning from 6:18am to around 4:15pm yesterday, was at the feeders' normal location, hanging from the eaves of the house near our dining room window:



For this second movie, compiled from today's clips, I moved the most popular feeder to the clothesline in our backyard to try to take advantage of the more direct sunlight. I'd never keep the feeder out there during the height of summer, so this was my opportunity during the cooler spring to try it out. It took much longer for the birds to find it, with the first hummer not arriving until 7:08am. Eventually, everyone did find it, but considerably less activity. Yesterday the cam captured 505 10-second clips while today's location only captured 137.



I particularly liked the unexpected visitor at 0:22, and the look on the Black-chinned Hummingbird's face when he looks back at the camera at the one-minute mark. Priceless!

Signs of Summer

Although my relatives in Minnesota would never know it (they're expecting another 8-10" of snow tonight), summer is just around the corner. And with his arrival at our hummingbird feeder this morning, this Hooded Oriole is a herald of the hot days to come. While I'm certainly not looking forward to four months of 95-110 degree weather, the presence of birds like this in our backyard sort of make it bearable. Almost.

Sunday Morning Birding

For the first time in a long while I got up early to do some birding this morning. I hadn't done much birding at all over the last couple months. I guess I was just getting a little tired of seeing the same winter residents every time I went out. But with spring in full bloom, the new migrants are adding splashes of brilliant color to the vibrant greens of the new leaves.

Probably the most vivid of all our summer birds is the Vermilion Flycatcher. Even though we've got a pair who nest only 100 yards from our front door it still took Sonja half the summer last year to finally see one of these. As brilliant as they sometimes are, sometimes even the most conspicuous of birds can be rather inconspicuous.

Another recent arrival is the Bullock's Oriole. We actually have three oriole species that nest in the park, but I have yet to see the other two this season (Scott's and Hooded Orioles).

I spent the better part of two hours in the picnic area just down the road from our house. There was definitely plenty of activity there to keep me busy the whole time. Once I got home I was still so jazzed that I convinced Sonja to drive to the Page Springs Fish Hatchery to try to find a Zone-tailed Hawk that was spotted there yesterday.

No luck on the zone-tail, but this Common Blackhawk made an appearance.

And then promptly disappeared, again.

Even though Yellow-rumped Warblers stick around for most of the winter, they're still a fun bird to watch.

One of the highlights was seeing our first copulating pinacate beetles of the season. In the next couple of weeks pairs of these large black beetles will be piggy-backing all over the roads and sidewalks.

And the whiptails have finally emerged from their hibernation, too. The tree lizards have been out for a few weeks, but today marks the first time we've spotted the whiptails in any numbers.

So, I've had requests to post more pictures from the Renslow's trip down here, as well as some of the special evening program we had at Montezuma Castle. I'll get to that eventually.

Look What I Can Do!

Do you ever come to my blog only to find some lame political rant, or a bunch of pictures of birds, when all you really wanted to do was watch "Weekend at Bernie's"? Well, guess what? Now you can do both!



Thanks to my new favorite site (www.hulu.com) I can embed tv shows and feature length movies on my blog. You can certain that I will be scattering episodes of "The Tick" into my blog posts from now on!

Spring Break Highlights

It's amazing how quiet our house is when we don't have five additional people in here. I must say that at least two of our pets are rather relieved to have the house to themselves once more. Although I have a feeling Harvey is a little sad. He misses all the attention he got due to the standoffishness (good word, huh?) of the other two around the little ones. He is looking even more bored than normal.

So, here are some of the highlights from the Renslow's recent visit, in no particular order.

Aside from the snow on Sunday, we did have some pretty spectacular weather. And I think all seven of us got sunburned at least once. The mildest day was probably at the Grand Canyon, where it was a pleasant 60 degrees. After enjoying some yummy hot chocolate at the El Tovar hotel, we all went outside to enjoy the view.

On our way out of the park we stopped by one of our favorite overlooks along the Little Colorado River Gorge, just east of the Grand Canyon. I was surprised that Becca was brave enough to stand so close to the edge, considering it's a sheer drop of well over 800 feet.

Her dad was also brave, for about three seconds. You can see how white his knuckles are from the death grip he's got on that railing. I don't think Sarah came within 50 feet of this spot.

The Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix was also a highlight. Everyone got to see some really cool cacti and the best lizard encounters of the whole week.

The kids even tried their handing at grinding some mesquite beans on a metate.

Hannah was particularly delighted by the butterfly pavilion.

On Tuesday we convinced Curt and Janine to drive their truck up a high-clearance road outside of Sedona to one of our favorite red rock hikes. Curt was giggling like a little girl as he rocked and rolled the truck over the rocks on the road. I think he had fun. We took a short trail out to the Cowpies, several large and flat red rock formations perfect for kids to explore.

Curt, Sarah and I tried to make the trek out to Mitten Ridge Saddle, but the trail was a little too much for both of them to handle, so we turned around early. At least Sarah will have a good story to tell her friends.

Sarah also got a hold of my camera one evening and started taking close-ups of everyone around. Becca was a more than willing photo subject.

And Justice for All

Over two million people have watched this inspiring speech. There's a reason for that. As my brothers Steve and Chris have both stated much more eloquently than I could, it's because this is the time when we can begin to seek a more perfect union. And this is the person who can begin to help us as a nation become everything that is in our power to be.

Remember those often hollow words many of us recited by heart every single morning in elementary school? Remember those words driven into our memories with rarely an explanation or discussion of their meanings or implications? Words like "indivisible", "liberty" and "justice". Words that, to a ten year old, are nothing more than words. Well, for years now, those words have seemed antithesis to what my own observations were of what this nation had become. I saw a divided nation, made up of red states and blue states, with little to no common ground between them. I fumed while I watched as our liberties, those very freedoms that inspired a handful of brave souls 221 years ago to forge a new nation, were chipped away due to the politics of fear and hatred. And I despaired that justice for all was nothing but a fantasy, something I would never, could never see achieved in my lifetime.

Well, as Dylan sang so eloquently during the height of the last great American revolution, the times they are a changin'. What I see in this man, what I see in this candidate for the President of the United States, is the will, desire and ability to inspire an entire nation to realize its full potential. I see the potential for the greatest political and cultural revolution of modern American history. I see the possibility that we are not doomed to become the most despised and mistrusted nation on the planet. For the first time in my life, I can begin to accept that perhaps, with this man's help, we might just be able to achieve liberty and justice for all. And I am beginning to have hope that someday I may actually be able to honestly and truthfully proclaim that I am proud to be an American.

Who knows, I might even feel good enough to remove the Canadian flag from my backpack.

Scorpion!

Figures that not only would we get our first snow of the winter the day after the Renslows arrive, but Sonja and I encounter our first live scorpion while on a walk with Sarah, Becca and Hannah out behind our house!

Now, considering the company we were with at the time, you might have expected a fair bit of drama...ie, screaming, running, dancing around like a crazy person. But surprisingly enough, while most of them stayed well back, they were more intrigued by it than anything else. In fact, Hannah was so fascinated by it we had to actually keep her from getting too close. When we first saw it I had neglected to bring my camera with me, so I had to go back to get it. Hannah was the only one brave enough to join me on the return trip. Figures that the five-year old is the bravest of the bunch.

In case you're wondering, this is a stripe-tail scorpion. Their venom isn't necessarily that strong, and probably wouldn't feel much worse than getting stung by a wasp. They're also the most common scorpions in Arizona. Much more so than the infamous bark scorpion, which is the most venomous species in North America. So there it is. Our first scorpion. I guess they actually do exist.

Snow and Cactuses

When Minnesotans leave Minnesota to visit the desert, you'd think they'd be able to expect warmth and sunshine. Well, that's what the Renslows were expecting when they planned their spring break trip out here. Of course, things don't always work out according to plan.

Case in point. We hadn't gotten so much as a flake of snow here at the Well all winter long. Then, Janine and family arrive from Minnesota and the very next day what happens? Snow. In March. In Arizona. Since we didn't get much exploring in due to the cold wind and snow, we decided to head south today, hoping that the Phoenix sun would pan out and give us a nice sunny and warm day. Becca sure was excited about that prospect.

Or should we say possessed by that idea? Anyway, it did pan out well after all. The day was gorgeous. Not too hot, not too windy.

We arrived at the Desert Botanical Garden and spent the afternoon checking out all the cool cacti and bird life of the Sonoran Desert.

Here's one of the dozens of Verdins hopping around in the mesquite and palo verde trees.

Here's one of the butterflies from the butterfly pavilion. But since it's not a bird, I have no idea what kind it is. I think it's an orange one.

Hannah was disappointed that none of them landed on her, but she got to be a butterfly once we got outside.

Some of the exhibits demonstrated how people use the desert plants for their survival, too. This Hohokam hut was fun to explore.

But the excitement couldn't last forever. And eventually even Becca's energy began to wane. They were all troopers, though. And at dinner everyone commented on how cool the plants were and about all the fun they had.

I think this picture says it all.

Spring Has Sprung

As evidenced by the sunny 78 degree weather we experienced today. So, I decided it's about time I got rid of a rotting eyesore and beautified the front yard today.

The New Arrivals: (L to R) Spanish Bayonet, Autumn Sage (Salvia greggiai), Thompson Yucca, Arizona Firecracker (behind the yucca).

The Culprit: a rotting cow-tongue prickly pear that had been run over by a truck several times and been frozen quite solid from some pretty heavy frosts. It was now oozing a nasty orange liquid. It was time for it to go. So I dug it out and chucked it.

This is where that prickly pear used to live. It's right on the corner of our yard, so it's the first thing anyone who visits us sees when they arrive. It took me a couple hours of hauling rocks, moving dirt in a wheel barrow with a flat tire, removing prickly pear spines from my fingers, and digging holes...but I got it done.

Voilà! Didn't turn out too bad, if I do say so myself. I even worked up a good sweat, something that I am sorely in need of doing more often. I was able to salvage a few paddles from the rotting prickly pear. Hopefully they'll take root and we'll have a nice cactus growing there now.

Here's a more artistic view of our little cactus garden. Quite satisfactory.

A Geek's Salute

Sad news for geeks around the world today. One of the creators of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, passed away. For anyone who struggled to fit in during high school, D&D was often one of the only safe refuges you could find. I mean, who would dare slam a half-orc fighter-mage with a strength of 18 and a +5 Sword of Ultimate Cleaving into a locker? Or knock their books out of their hand in the hallway? That's right! No one would! Um, not that any of those things ever happened to me, of course.

Anyway, while all the "cool kids" would be out drinking beer and partying on Friday nights, us geeks would gather in someone's basement, multi-faceted dice in our custom-designed dice bags, to slay umber hulks and bugbears. It was high adventure, I tell you. I still vividly remember some of the campaigns my friends and I went on. I even uncovered some old character drawings of mine. Delhanha and Elias were two of my favorite characters. Although if I remember right, Elias was met an untimely death at the hand of Vecna, the Arch-Lich. That was a particularly nasty bit of business. If anyone ever asks if you'd like to infiltrate your way into the Fortress of Drakmoor, destroy the Spider Throne and recover the Sword of Kas...as tempting as it may sound, say no.

Somewhere along the way I lost my original handbooks, but recently repurchased a 2nd Edition Players Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Greyhawk Adventures Manual, all on the off-chance I ever encounter a motley band of ex-geeks (or not-so-ex geeks) who want to dust off their Helms of Insight and scrape the rust from their Swords of Wounding and give it another go. Haven't found such a group yet, but I haven't given up my search.

For those of you still unfamiliar with what Dungeons and Dragons is really all about, watch this hilarious sketch called "Summoner Geeks". This short cartoon captures the essence of nearly every late-night campaign I ever played. I would usually alternate between being the dungeon master and the guy arguing about having previously cast a spell.


And, here's a great clip from Reno: 911 that demonstrates what can happen if you take your D&D playing a bit too far. Which I never did, of course. Well, except for that time some friends and I decided to build a forge and make our own swords. Yeah, that didn't work out quite like we were expecting. At least we put out the flames before they reached the house.

A Fair Day

There's nothing like a bit of jousting to make a Sunday afternoon feel complete. Sonja and I spent the day near Phoenix enjoying the beautiful weather at the Renaissance Festival. As always, the jousting was the melodramatic highlight of the festival.

I must admit I kind of spaced out a bit during the show and sort of lost interest in everything but playing with my camera. This was really the first time I really tried to see what it could do on subjects that weren't feathered. The results were pretty darn impressive, considering how far away we were sitting from the action.

I think this is the knight who actually won. And, if I remember right, this guy won last year's joust, too. Not that I really care, but you'd think they'd let someone else win once in a while. Although, I suppose letting Sting get his way is probably for the best.

We also spent a little time birding at the Gilbert Water Ranch on the way to the festival. We weren't really sure what to expect with this place, but were both very surprised with how cool it was. The birds were everywhere, and both of us came away with some lifers. The highlight of the water ranch were definitely the Black-necked Stilts pictured below.



But the American Avocets were also very cool. Both of these were lifers for Sonja (only the stilt was for me).

The Anna's Hummingbirds were also numerous and cooperative.

This Black-throated Sparrow was actually from Montezuma Well the day before. But I liked how it turned out so I decided to post it, too. It's nice to see these beautiful little sparrows returning to the Well.

Makes it feel like spring is finally here (if the 75 degree temps and my sunburned face weren't enough).