Blogs from Tucson, Arizona, United States, North America

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

Our next stop was Tombstone Territories RV Resort located southeast of Tucson. We visited nearby Tombstone- walkiing the boardwalk streets and watching a re-enactment of the Shoot-out at the OK Corral. Mike found a new belt buckle in one of the Tombstone gift shops. Lois picked up postcards and we bought some pecans and pistachios at a farm in Benson. The next day we drove into Saguaro National Park East. The Visitor Center movie was interesting and worth sitting through. We drove the 8-mile one-way loop with great overlooks and stopped to hike part of the Mica & Cactus Forest Trails. It was like being on another planet.... read more

Today was another incredible hot bright sunny blue sky sort of day. We drove to the East half of the Saguaro National Park, again getting there before it opened. It was CROWDED with bike-riders! Guess they try to get it in before the heat of the day. We did a 1 miles hike out to a lime kiln ruin and a mile back, and saw just one black-throated sparrow and 2 small unidentified birds, possibly gray vireos. All in all we preferred the other half of the National park. We are very grateful for our senior's free pass to the parks too. The mountains nearby were pretty, and the saguaro cactus varied. We learned to recognize a few types, including the “fish hook” cactus. We shall have to research if the Native Americans used the thorns ... read more

We had had a tip from a couple yesterday to go to the Madera Canyon area, especially because there was a feeder area. It was about 50 minutes away, and we discovered some interesting things and not just birds: there was strip-mining south of Tucson – huge squared off “tubs” of water – that was copper mining. AZ is evidently the source of most of the US’s copper. And then we wondered why US Rt 19 was marking everything in KILOMETERS instead of miles???? Because the road was built right after Congress approved a bill to switch over from miles to metrics, in like 1974. When it never really “caught on,” and we kept the funny old English system, the locals loved it and fought to keep the signs. Evidently there’s a stretch of road near ... read more

We had a great final day in Mexico, ending it with one of the best meals I've ever had. We had dinner at the fishing port at Los MTZ, a family owned place with roots in Oaxaca...We had spotted sea bass, cooked on the grill, along with garlic shrimp and other delights... This morning, Bill and I went to the beach where I ran and swam in the tide pools. Walter fixed a greek omelet for us and we were on our way north again....I hated to leave Mexico, but we'll be back soon, hopefully. Puerto Penasco is known as "Arizona's beach" and the town fills up with Americans and some Mexicans every weekend. As we drove back towards the border, there was a steady stream of cars, RVs, trucks pulling dune buggies, and an occasional ... read more