Tag: Madera Canyon

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

13 Down, 2 to Go

Greetings once again from the road. I have to say, birding wise things are going quite well on our trip to the northwest. 54 species have been added to my annual count and with the 3 lifers found today that number includes a total of 13 first timers. Not too shabby and we are not even a third of the way through the excursion. We are officially at the site of the Canine Performance Events Agility Nationals (outside Seattle/Tacoma) and time for Ruger and Linda to take to the ring. The birding will take a back seat for a few days while attention shifts to the obstacle course. Once that is over we’ll be focused back on our feathered friends…speaking of which, let’s get you to today’s feature.

Hepatic Tanager found at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, AZ - March 2024

Continuing with the theme, hit the jump to read more about this southwestern specialty.

Continue reading 13 Down, 2 to Go

Zebra-Head

Greetings from the road! It has been a week out now and it has been a mixed bag of good and bad – fortunately, more of the former. The weather has started out rough, but the last couple of days has been fantastic. We brought the wrong tripod head for Linda’s planned waterfall pictures, but we were able to remedy that today with a drive into Portland, OR. Grateful they were open on a Sunday of a holiday weekend and even more surprising had the exact head we needed. Just for the record, we really have no interest in going back to that city and I’ll leave that there. So far, challenges encountered, challenges surmounted. Best of all, the birding has lived up to expectations. Even though I haven’t moved into full birding mode I’ve been able to add 42 birds to my count with 8 lifers putting me at 342+3 for the year – and #556 in the US yay! 60 more birds to beat last year’s record, I think I can do it.

Unfortunately, I am not doing very well with staying on top of the posts for this month and technically behind – big thanks to Brad for keeping me above water. Kicking back into things with another entry in the “May I have another chance” series.

Bridled Titmouse found at Patagonia State Park, Patagonia, AZ in March 2024

Prepare yourself to be underwhelmed and hit the jump to learn about this Zebra bird.

Continue reading Zebra-Head