Missing pics and a Black Hawk

Arrggghh! I've misplaced the flash disk from my little point-n'-shoot camera. Have torn up my desk, where I put the flash disk to keep it 'safe', but cannot find the disk anywhere. Oh well. Am sure this isn't the first time this will happen, but it means no pictures of Montezuma's Castle National Monument, Montezuma's Well and worse - no photos of my first visit to Grand Canyon National Park. Yes, all quite disappointing - for me - but I can include one last video and a quick tale told in genuine false Claire Time. Here we go!

Ahem! "Yesterday" I left Tucson, and headed up to central Arizona with the goal of visiting a river or two, where I believed I might locate my next 'lifer' bird, the Common Black Hawk. As I drove along the highway I spotted a sign for Montezuma's Castle National Monument. It was the first adobe dwelling site I've ever visited and I loved it. While there I chanced to bug a ranger on where I could find a Common Black Hawk and the ranger told me he recently saw a Common Black Hawk at Montezuma's well, only one freeway exit north.

I visited Montezuma's Well where I found another ranger, a lady ranger who marched me right over to the active nest of a Common Black Hawk. HURRAH! The nest was far enough off I couldn't see the bird with my binoculars, so I had to get out my spotting scope. Below you can see the hawk in this digiscoped video I got with my iPhone.

The entire top of the nest is the hawk. If you wonder why I bother to include this video it is because, I at least, can see the hawk's head by noting the bird's yellow bill, which appears and disappears as the bird bobs its head about, just left of center. In the still shots there is no way to puzzle out what is the bird's head from its nest. 

Triple Bonus

Bonus Gilded Flicker

When I pulled into the Tucson Honda repair shop, I was loaded up with 'toys', i.e., things to do, for a boring half a day or more waiting for my car's a/c condenser to be repaired. Surprise  - shortly after I arrived, the main repair man, tossed me the keys to a shiny silver Honda Accord, saying, "Go have some fun".  That was it; no paperwork, no fuss. just "Go have some fun".  If you insist kind sir!

I headed for the northern district of Saguaro National Park, not too far away, and having the advantage I'd never visited the site before. Soon I was smiling up at a ranger in a kiosk, and driving onto an 8 mile auto loop.

Close up from topmost photo

One of the first things I noticed was a flicker, pecking at Saguaro cacti flowers. I stared at one bird through my binoculars and it occured to me - that's not a Northern Flicker... it's a Guilded Flicker - WHOOO HOOOOO - LIFER BIRD!

I had barely considered the possiblity of seeing a Guilded Flicker on this trip to Arizona so the surprise was real.







There were plenty of other birds as well. I watched a male Gambel's quail calling stubbornly & insistently from a shrub.
 

For a while I even gave chase to a small group of Pyhroloxia - a sort of cross between a Northern Cardinal and a parrot. I couldn't manage a clear shot of any of them as they stuck to hiding in the mesquite shrubs.

Tiny Verdin - a desert tit (Hey! Stop giggling.)

Later in the morning I drove slowly over a cement dip in the road, that crossed a dry river bed. As I moved I caught sight of bird, hidden in shubbery and managed to get my binoculars on it. I watched as a drab gray bird with white wing bars and white eyebrows (supercillium). The tiny mite was singing its hear out. Rats... I knew, either I was watching a Gray Flycatcher or a gray Bell's Vireo. I could have either grabbed for my camera or my iPhone, but for some reason I went for the later. I tuned into the song of Bell's Vireo - exact match! I was watching a spring Bell's Vireo singing its territorial song. HURRAH: a second unexpected Lifer bird for the day. ID cinched, I grabbed for my camera but the vireo took off. I hunted in the shrubs for a good half hour but never relocated it. Sadly, no photo, but a well cinched ID.

No Bell's Vireo photo, but I did find a Verdin's nest

Happy with two lifer birds, I drove around the rest of the eight mile drive loop. Every time I found a Saguaro Cactus stand, I stubbornly checked each and every knot hole. The holes in the Saguaro are made by the Guilded Flickers who may or may not nest in holes they make. The holes don't go to waste though as many other birds use the cavities for nesting.

I was near the end of the auto loop, when as I raised my binoculars to view yet another knot hole,  I muttered audibly to myself "Why can't I, just for once, look up at an effing hole and see a..."

And there it was!

Look who's home!

 Siting on its little doorstep, was a tiny Elf Owl - a Lifer bird I have looked for over many years and until now never have found.

Close up of cranky looking Elf Owl

What a thrill - the minute Owl really caught me by surprise. I quickly shot several pix of the bird. Then, as I finally watched it again, through my binoculars, the bird took a step backwards, then dropped out of sight, much as if it'd hit the down button on an elevator.

Three lifer birds, and here I thought I was going to be sitting & being bored in a tiny repair shop customer waiting room. No wonder I always say I'm the luckiest birder on the planet.  Oh - and my car's air conditioning? Blowing billows and billows of wonderfully cool air once again, thankyouverymuch Prudence Car Care Honda. I owe you three lifers and a boatload of thanks.   

Buckshot Birding

Lazuli Buntings at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon

Buckshot birding means I scattering my birding hither and yon this weekend in southeastern Arizona. Before I tell what I saw, let me mention one slight little hiccup to my trip - shortly after my visit to Patagonia Sonoita Preserve, my car's air conditioning died. It blew refreshing cool air, then Poof! It blew deflating hot air.
R.I. P. little A/C.
My immediate thought was to head home for some quality pouting. Then I mulled over things over  deciding to just get the damned thing fixed & not cut my trip short. So, read a ton of on line reviews, choosing a repair shop in Tucson.

The repair guy told me the cost would be a whopping 2K. YIKES! Shocking, except back in 2004 when the a/c went out in my old Honda Accord, the Honda dealer gave me a repair price of $3K - with NO guarantee the fix would work. I opted to instead buy my current SUV.  In comparison, the 2K with an assurance the a/c would work after repairs was fine by me. The work will be done tomorrow, Monday morning.



Back to my weekend - on Friday I started off with a visit to Madera Canyon. I quickly toured the area - uh... without hiking... and ended up at Santa Rita Lodge where bird feeders attract things for happy birders to stare at. It seemed a miracle to see both Lazuli & an Indigo Buntings at the same place at the same time.

The birders were, as usual, quite friendly and I enjoyed a lively birding oriented chat. I ended the twilight hour sitting under a telephone pole where I was told a little Elf Owl - a species I've not seen before - popped to entertain the spectators the previous night. Sadly, the little guy didn't pop out to entertain me.

Surprise MacGillvray's Warbler

Saturday I visited the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. I did a bit of birding around the Refuge HQ.  I was stoked when I happened on a Macgillivray's Warbler and managed to get one shot of the little bird with it's smokey gray head and white crescent marked eyes.












There were many tiny Lucy's Warblers with their rusty rumps. I managed a better-than-a-sharp-stick-in-the-eye photo of one.









After checking out the birds by the Refuge HQ, I took a short drive on the refuges' Pronghorn auto drive.  There I found a Raven and I spent a good long while parked, keeping a close eye on the large bird.

Common Raven or not?

When I got what I wanted when the breeze blew and I not only got a look at the underfeathers on the bird's neck, but I got a photo of the white underfeathers too.

Not! A lovely Chihuahuan Raven

Why did I care? The white neck feathers mean the Raven was no Common Raven, but a Chihuahuan Raven, which is a Mexican species. Cool, eh?







Sunday I drove south towards Nogales, and then on into the boondocks. I took lots of wrong turns but eventually found the famous road that leads down to California Gulch. The gulch is famous for it's Mexican bird species that illegally cross the border & chirp, "We don need no stinking birdseed!"
Unfortunately, though I saw none of my targeted species, but there were some nice birds down there and even a few butterflies. 

Arizona Sister

It was a nice weekend, but tomorrow I take the Honda in for a new condenser for the a/c. You know, so I don't boil in my car on my way back to California next week.

Here is a teeny bit of a Nighthawk I found on the streets of Green Valley, Arizona, just west of Madera Canyon Road. Have finally puzzled out that it is a Lesser Nighthawk, not a Common Nighthawk. Love the bird's moth-like flight.