Tag: Arizona 2025

An Arizona Specialty

Continued greetings from the road! We are in the second half of our western jaunt and I have to say it has been a bit tiring. The long drives, the continual up and downs from one mountain range to another and the temperature fluctuations … well that is probably the real story right now. After spending so much time at altitude and fairly pleasant temps (if not cold) weather conditions at elevation, we are now in the hot desert, more accurately, the torturous hot box. I have a history of heat “issues” and it takes the gradual temp changes back home to get the internal thermostats calibrated. This process has been short circuited to a 2 day cycle – one day 70sF followed by a steady 105-109F. Probably should have thought the plan through a bit more, but we are really in wait mode now until we make our sprint into California for a wedding and then point the RV east(ward). Early morning birding only at this point. Still managing to get some good checks and even broke through the 300 mark as I now sit at #268 in the top US birder rankings thanks to the now 92 birds added this trip (only 8 more to hit the Average Year goal of 400!!)

Thought I would introduce you to one of my favorite feathered friend finds from last year’s trip to Arizona while I try to get the internal body temperature down.

Arizona Woodpecker found at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Arizona in March 2025

Your eyes are fine, that really is a brown Woodpecker. Hit the jump to read more about this very regionally limited bird!

Continue reading An Arizona Specialty

Grab Your Dictionary

By the time you are reading this we should be well on our way to the Pacific Northwest. Ruger (and Linda) qualified for the Canine Performance Event (CPE) Agility Nationals which are being held outside Seattle, Washington. This is our first time to that region outside of work – there is a certain software giant near there that I may or may not have been responsible for managing our corporate partnership and thus may or may not of had reason to travel there. From there we head south eventually making a quick run into San Diego for a family wedding before heading back through southeastern Arizona. All in providing 6 never before birded states and the chance to visit some of our favorite “staples” as we say to fill up the tins and push to hopefully a new Average Year record (link here). In case you are keeping score at home, I am now sitting at 302 species for the year including 3 provisionals. Last year I hit the 400 threshold (link here) and with the new states sitting in a good position to reach new heights. Meanwhile, absolutely chaos here trying to Tetris everything in place we need to haul out there. I promise to get caught up on the comments and responding to all your posts once on the road and have time to think ha. Note, I will likely be sparse(r) on my posts, but just received a whole batch of new adventures from Brad so you will be in excellent hands while I am traveling. Oh, and happy birthday Brad!

Okay, let’s get to the next edition of “May I have another chance”. This particular entry is not entirely my fault as our featured feathered friend here has mastered the ability to keep some annoying obstacle between my glass and its body. By the time it ran out of interference my arms were so tired the shots were softened – ugh.

Plumbeous Vireo found at Paton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, AZ in March 2025

Grab your dictionary and hit the jump as it is time to test your Latin word origins.

Continue reading Grab Your Dictionary

I Love Lucy

It has been a good week around the Intrigued HQ. To kick things off we held what I believe to be our 4th Annual Intrigued Corporate Warbler Watch and Walk in the Woods event. Jan was busy organizing her St. Jude event at the local high school, but Brad was able to make it out along with Lisa, a fellow local birder who we met up while we were down in Texas – it really is a small world. We got some really good finds and had a great day walking the back trails at a nearby state park. This time managed to come back tick free unlike the week before when one of those hell spawn blood sucking heathens broke my defenses and started draining me of vital fluids. Follow that up with another outing with Brad to tin the Prairie Warbler for the year. Talking about calling your shot, Brad said it would be at this place and audible from the parking lot. Sure enough, we make a quick loop around a nearby field where we heard then spotted it and then right when we got back to the parking lot, there was another one waving and singing its sweet notes for our listening pleasure – note, it did occur to me it was really just mocking us for walking right past it into the field. The recent bird haul put me at 302 with my 3 provisionals for the year! Then the cherry on top, came home from that successful Warbler check and popped off my first 10 mile nonstop run. Life is good.

Per my last post, this month’s theme is “May I have another [chance]” where I am featuring field encounters that didn’t … for a kind perspective…go as well as expected. Primarily this involves some degree of craptastic execution behind the glass. Not always my fault (okay, mostly my fault, well, all my fault) the shots came out soft, blown out, dark abyss or eclipsed. Normally these would be promptly slammed into the circular file with a fitting commentary, but some of these are lifers and no telling when I’ll get another chance at it…but when I do, I PROMISE to get better tins. With that said, here is today’s less than stellar featured feathered friend.

Lucy's Warbler found at CT RV Resort, Benson, AZ in March 2025

This particular species is especially painful as I did get a second chance and pretty much blew that as well. Hit the jump and I’ll show you what I was able to clean up enough to tell it is at least a bird.

Continue reading I Love Lucy

My Eyes Spy a Stripe

Welcome to May everyone! I’d say that April went by fast, but I just think my time perception needs a calibration to make the accelerated calendar page turning frequency the new norm. I’ll just note when it goes slower than expected. A couple of quick notes on the personal front. Successfully completed my first ~9.5 mile nonstop run on pavement with some serious hills in the mix. There is still pain (norm per surgeon), but it feels strong and time to start pushing it to get back into ultra shape – yay!! The other note is we’ll be heading to the northwest in a couple of weeks for the Canine Performance Events Agility Nationals competition. Not exactly excited about the drive, but, as currently planned, at least 6 brand new states to bird and a pass through my favorite birding locations in Nevada and Arizona on the trek back. Translated, a lot more fodder to share on the blog – double yay!!

With that out of the way, let’s discuss May’s theme. Last month I hit you with the Breeding Season and a few months before that the Circle of Life. Thinking I am going with “Thank you sir, May I have another [chance]” (link here). Long form, I am always thankful for the opportunity to observe a given species, but at times I’d really appreciate another chance to execute on the capture. To a person, we here at Intrigued do our very best to bring you the very best photography product we can to accompany our experiences. Our cleaning personnel can attest to the piles of rejects on the cutting room floor in the digital darkroom. The downside is a number of our +1s from the field may go uncelebrated due to technical mistakes, obstructed views or fleeting observations. Every once in a while, I’ll comb through the trash and pull out a few shots to keep just as evidence for the listing. If you have seen the Listers documentary on YouTube (and you definitely should if you are a birder – link here), you’ve witnessed the feeling when a sighting is “stolen away”. We’ll see how this goes – might end it early if the images give me too much cringe – but let’s start with this +1 featured feathered friend.

Zone-Tailed Hawk found at Holy Trinity Monastery, Saint David, AZ in March 2025

Wait, that is definitely not a +1, hit the jump to learn about what was flying nearby which was definitely a lifer!

Continue reading My Eyes Spy a Stripe