A Preview of Coming Attractions

Mexican Spotted Owls, Miller Canyon 3-23-13

Well, I’ve finally made it through my 500 photos and deleted over 100 of them. sometimes it’s because they are blurry, and sometimes it’s because I have taken numerous photos to help me identify a bird, and once I have, I delete the rest if they aren’t very good. But I must confess, I took well over 100 photos of the Mexican spotted owls Chris Rohrer and I saw in Millar Canyon and I only deleted a couple, even though the rest look pretty much the same! I could not wait to share this picture of a bird that was a Life Bird for me, but I hope to do a better post in the future.

On the same day that we saw the Spotted Owls, I photographed this gray squirrel eating new buds off a tree in Ramsey Canyon. Chris and I went here first, then hit Ash Canyon and Miller Canyons before calling it a day. While I had been to Ramsey Canyon when I lived here before, I had never been to Ash Canyon or Miller Canyon. Ash Canyon is an easy place to visit. A woman named Mary Jo has a bed and breakfast there and she allows other birders to come and sit at her feeders for a meager $5 donation. Miller Canyon is a bit rougher to get to. first, the dirt road up to it is dirt and has several washouts. Then, once you park and hike the short distance up the canyon it gets even steeper with more washouts. We ended our day there and, though it was rough, it was well worth the trip to see the owls.

Pronghorns at Las Cienegas 3-25-13

On March 25 I took my friend Celeste to Las Cienegas just southeast of Tucson. She had never been here before and since she was a guide in Africa for many years I thought she would enjoy the feel of a Savannah once again. Beside all the birds we saw, we were thrilled to see these desert Pronghorns along the roadside on the drive in!

Notes From My Nest: It was a gorgeous sunny day here in Tucson with birds in the yard and in the air. A Cooper’s Hawk swooped in around noon and briefly scared everyone off. Earlier in the morning the Pyrrhuloxia was back, but once again he did not stay for long. The foolish doves have laid two eggs on the narrow ledge once again and are now trying to construct a nest around the eggs. We will see how this goes. I think Darwin’s principle is coming into play here and I am starting to think it is probably good that none of the offspring from this apparently senseless birds survives! I have got to find a way to keep them from building here again!

I have spent all evening working on publishing a post of my Stirling Street Bog Bird List from the 2 years that I lived there. Back in February I learned that my data was being used for a book about the Birds of Den Rock Park by a woman I met when I lived there named Susan Hegarty. I plan to removed the Stirling Street Bog Bird List from my sidebar and post a link to it instead. I am trying to tidy things up around here!

I am going birding with yet another birder and blogger tomorrow, so it may be a couple of days before I get another post up. Gordon Karre is from Mesa and has a blog called Birding Adventures. Make sure you check it out, as well as Celeste’s Blogs. And of course, poetry is still happening on Kathie’s Poet Tree. So far I have only missed one day of writing 30 Poems in 30 Days, but we will see if I can make it up! It’s not to late to join the fun if you are so inclined! Links to all the blogs and information are listed below.

• Kathie’s Poet Tree
• Celestial Ramblings
• My Backyard 
• Birding Adventures
• NaPoWriMo 2013 
• Las Aventuras 
• Ash Canyon B & B
• Stirling Street Bog Bird List
• Stirling Street Bog (all posts with this label)
• Birds of Den Rock Park