Our final day in AZ. We promised ourselves to say “NO” to the sales pitch, but we did agree to sitting in on the Bluegreen update so at 9 am we did. And gained a $75 mastercard. And learned some things. The man was very nice, and kept saying, the only thing we could improve on was to buy the “Travelers plus,” for just $59/year, but only available to purchase if we bought more points. “only $2.60/point” for minimum of 4000 points, but we held our ground. It sounded only like gaining a travelers agent, which we don’t need. We were in Gilbert at the Riparian preserve by lunch time, eating only a ton of clementines, to try to get rid of the bag we bought last week! We must have walked around for 4 hours, ... read more

Time to pack up and head north. We checked out of our very-comfy-bedded place S. of Tucson and headed for the Sweetwater Wetlands to try our luck again. Not as many birds as before, but plenty of birders! The unspotted "spotted sandpiper" was making most of them quite excited. We also saw a very healthy looking coyote. We found a lake across from there that had many ducks. Nothing new, but it’s fun to realize when we can identify them without checking the book every time. Then on a tip of one of aforementioned birders, drove about 15 mins to a bridge over the Santa Cruz river to find a barn owl nesting under the bridge in a pipe. Believe it or not, we found the bridge and the pipe and an owl, but it was ... read more

What a cold day. No hard frost, but it was overcast and damp and windy, and it was about 38 when we met Yvonne at 9 am for her guided birding. We did very well indeed – Yvonne tracks the different species and I think she said 25. TWO NEW FOR US BIRDS: the Lawrence’s goldfinch (which when Yvonne posts it, the eBird administrators question it, as it’s not supposed to be here – so when we send her David’s photo she can send it in as proof for sure), which were out in numbers, and the GRAY FLYCATCHER – not such an obvious bird as many flycatchers look the same but our #7 new bird on this trip. We also saw 2 more roadrunners, one sitting still (nesting?), which was very strange, and gorgeous vermilion ... read more

After a hard-working morning linked onto a Zoom meeting for Lutheran Marriage Encounter (yes, all you married couples SHOULD attend, what a blessing), we had cheesy scrambled eggs and ½ an English muffin (see, Rosemary, this IS our go-to fast meal), and drove 35 minutes or so to Madera Canyon, a famous birding place we had visited before. First we stopped at the entrance area, paid our fee, and walked a short way at the suggestion of a local couple to a little waterfall (about 20’). It was running freely. Then we drove the mile or 2 up the canyon to the Lodge, where people hang humming bird feeders, put out corn, seeds of all sorts, and have piles of sticks to attract birds. And they were there in profusion. And there were about 12 of ... read more

Well, here we are, out of town again. On January 16 we flew to Phoenix with Kevin and Raye Guynn, because we had planned to attend an in-person meeting for Marriage Encounter. When it was changed to a zoom meeting, we decided to vacation anyway. Can you believe we had probably the only empty middle seat on the plane! The “Fell effect”? John? The Guynns provided the rental car and we provided the rooms at the Blue Green in Peoria, just like last summer. But, unlike last summer, it was cool (60ish for a high?) with blue blue skies. Our first day we spent another 4 hours at least at the amazing Musical Instrument Museum. I’ll just include one photo – the homemade instruments made by and for school children in Paraguay. No photos can do ... read more

Yes, all good things come to an end. This morning we bid goodbye to Roxanne before she went to work and did our final birding at Spanish Lagoon. Some cactus flowers remain, but we saw only one humming bird – fleetingly and at a distance. And there were NO burrowing owls out to greet us. Did they have a late night out hunting or what. That was most disappointing, but we did see that the yellow Orioles have finished their hanging nest. Can’t see how a full-sized bird can fit in there to keep eggs warm – wish we could stay for that! We drove past Mangel Halto to say goodbye. It was slightly rougher than yesterday, judging by the line of foam going over the reef. But we were driving home and saw a fork-tailed ... read more