SE Arizona camp/hike trip...I are back!

[Burnham]

Hello, all.

Just a quick note to let my peeps know we survived all trials and tribulations minor and major, and had a magnificent time in the bargain. Just home yesterday evening, lots of unpacking, re-organizing, trip to the grocery, clothes washer/dryer time ahead. I'll download pictures and post some (read: too many ) soon as practical. And I have a pretty nice list of birds seen to put together for my good friend Stig.

I hope no one has had badness befall them while I was away. Butch, how are you doing currently? Stig, how about you?

Look forward to catching up when I can, but it'll take a few days I am sure. Seven weeks on the road takes a bit of time to recover from .

 

[stig]

I'll look forward to that list

Good to have you back, and that you had a fine trip.

I'll toss you a PM about how I'm doing.
Getting a bit tired of talking about it.

 

[Burnham]

Thanks, Stig. I get that...talk to you soon.

 

[Mellow]

Welcome back!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Back from walkabout!!!

 

[Jonny]

Welcome back man!
Looking forward to pics, especially any wildlife

 

[gf beranek]

I was wondering where you might have been. The usual suspect. Off on another adventure.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Welcome back B. Nice to know you are home safe and sound.

 

[Tree09]

Welcome home

 

[pantheraba]

Got to come back to the hoi polloi sometime....settle in and catch up.

 

[SeanKroll]

Welcome back!

 

[Stumpshot]

Welcome back! And next time, let me know in advance if you need a house sitter . Never been up PNW way, looking for a "good" excuse to get there... Got some friends in Raymond, maybe enough contributing factors could swing things in that direction!

 

[Bodean]

Welcome back Kotter theme song complete with Travolta accent.

 

[MasterBlaster]

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[Jonny]

And how was the food? Any good or interesting camp chow recipes?

 

[Burnham]

Thanks, all. I'll be around in a day or two to visit more, and try to catch up. 7 weeks gone makes for a lot of catching to do . A little over 5000 miles added to the venerable Subaru's odometer. Camped and hiked in both desert and mountain areas. More to follow soon, friends.

 

[Bermy]

Welcome home!

 

[biggun]

Looking forward to the pictures.

Glad you had a blast.

 

[stig]

Clear your inbox, Burnham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Burnham]

Before I get to messing with the pictures (we have about 950 images to go through ), here's a few birds we saw that might interest Stig and the rest of you bird watchers...in no particular order, these all where fun to see for me.

Sandhill cranes, on the Willcox Playa, more than one could count. In one 15 minute period in late afternoon I did count incoming flights from foraging areas to a main roosting pond...groups of 25, 50, 100, 200. More than a thousand in that time span. Joining a larger number on the ground already. They kept coming like that for another 45 minutes, before tapering off. What a racket they raised!

Nothing really rare here...vermillion flycatcher, yellow warbler, yellow rumped warbler (Audubon's), Scott's oriole, bridled titmouse, black throated grey warbler, painted redstart, phainopepla, black phoebe, cardinal, pyrrhuloxia, ruby crowned kinglet, white breasted nuthatch, Bewick's wren, cactus wren, curve billed thrasher, Gambel's quail, acorn woodpecker, Gila woodpecker, ladderbacked woodpecker, Mexican jay, road runner, grey hawk, zone tailed hawk, sharp shinned hawk, Cooper's hawk, night heron, nighthawk, green kingfisher (that one is pretty rare in AZ, more common in western TX), violet crowned hummer, magnificent hummer, broadbilled hummer, Anna's hummer, rufous hummer, Costa's hummer, black chinned hummer.

Lots more...quite a few species of waterfowl, and more common everyday birds in many categories. All together, I think we listed about 85 or 90 species. Not a huge number, but we sort of split the migration seasons to catch the end of the Sandhill cranes and the beginning of the hummingbirds and neotropical songbirds, so hit the peak of nothing .

 

[stig]

That was a nice list, thanks.
As I was reading through it slowly, I got a picture of each bird in my mind, also was able to remember where I'd seen most of them.
That was quite fine.

I might have told my Vermillion Flycatcher story before:

X-wife and I were going to Morongo canyon CA. As we arrived, we met somebody who told us there was a V.F. hanging out in some bushes and exactly where.

We managed to find the little guy, and magnificent he was.

As we were enjoying him, a busload of Audubon members showed up.
All of them old ladies.
Since we had the spotting scope set up aimed at his perch, they asked if they could look through it.
So we had a line of maybe 40 old ladies waiting for their turn at the scope.
Everybody were just so polite, and after they had looked their fill, they came over and thanked us, and conversed a bit about birds in the US and Denmark.

It was just such an enjoyable experience, we've never forgotten it.

I haven't seen the Magnificent Hummingbird

 

[Burnham]

Clear your inbox, Burnham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry...just made some room .

The Magnificent is exactly that . We only saw one male, but it was a good clear close up view. At Ramsey Canyon.

Pretty lucky to get the vermillion to stay put for all that viewing. In our experience, they are pretty busy; except maybe early morning, singing on top of a mesquite tree. We saw loads of them, and they are eye pleasing in the extreme.

 

[Mick!]

Well I’m a bit of a twitcher so looking forward to the pics.

 

[stig]

Burnham, 30 years ago, the Vermillion was extremely rare.
The sightings were mostly single birds.

Climate change has made that different, I guess.

Remember the Great white egret, posted about seeing a month ago?
A firend called me today to say he'd seen a pair of them where I saw one.

With a bit of luck it is a sexually diverse pair ( If I offended anybody with that post, it was most certainly not intended.................sorry..........sory......................sorry...............etc) So they'l breed.

Yep, Bobster, Global warming is a hoax.

 

[Burnham]

Here's a start. From near Joshua Tree NP, then over to Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, then down to Sonoita and Patagonia southeast of Tucson.

Many wildflowers in the former area, many birds in the later areas.

Lots of moisture in the southwest this winter.