Tucson AZ – Wildlife Intrigued

Oh Crap, Another Tyrant

I am excited to announce that today marks the official 5th week out from surgery! Let me get my calculator out..tap, tap, tap, tap 6, tap tap tap, minus, tap, tap, 5, tap, tap, carry the one, tap, tap, divide by PI, tap tap invert, tap log, tap, tap….tap tap tap equals…YES the answer is 1. That’s right, only one more week left in this 6 weeks of no weight hell. I now have firsthand experience how people can go batshit crazy. That will just get me to the boot, but PT will start that day and physical pain means strength and strength is the road back to the trail! To my credit, I have been keeping busy since getting the stitches out. Maybe a bit too close to former “work”, I’ve been in front of the computer for hours on end each day getting caught up on the photo queue (almost done with Texas March 2024), tackling the heavy lifting posts (2024 Haunted Trail recap), producing the Intrigued Haunt YouTube tutorials (Haunted Tree) and doing my very best to get caught up on all my post reading – whew!

In case you are interested, here are the links to the 2024 Haunted Trail recaps:

Trail of Fears 2024 – The Clearing, the Build and then the Panic – link here
Haunted Trail 2024 – The Dark Woods – link here

I’ll put the latest tutorial video at the end of this post for those that want a behind the scenes look at how we created our 9′ by 10+’ haunted tree in tribute to the previous broken elbow “incident” – yes, the Root of all Evil!

Of course, we know the main reason you are here and that’s feather watching – we have something for that as well.

Gray Flycatcher found at Catalina State Park outside Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Today’s featured feathered friend is a fitting selection for the “hard work” theme. Hit the jump to learn a bit more about this diminutive bird.

Yes, Another Sparrow!

We are cranking through May..as we did April..March, before I know it we’ll be setting up for the haunted trail event scheduled for end of September. The haunt lab is in full swing repairing all the items that failed on us last year. Once through that we shift into our favorite part of the year – creating new animations and decorations for our guests to enjoy. Things have been busy in the rest of the Intrigued departments as well. Regular ol’ Santa’s Workshop summer edition. Brad is currently checking in with our headquarters out west while I’ve been trying to get images ready to go for future posts. In addition, trying to get caught up on all the homestead tasks. The latter has come to a halt thanks to multiple days of steady rain giving me badly needed cycles to get today’s featured feathered friend post out.

Black-Throated Sparrow found at Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather colorful member of the Sparrow family.

A Rather Drabby Towhee

Not knew to anyone that has spent any time hear on Intrigued, I am on “recovery road” trying get back on my feet after getting knocked down – a rare situation of that being metaphorically and literally. Not the first time down this road and likely not the last (some say I tend to push). This latest drive, the ankle, has proven to be one of the most debilitating injury to date. Even with the broken elbow (2 years ago), I was still able to lace up the trail shoes after a couple of weeks – this, has been a different story. Now at 8 months I am finally able to get out and get some miles in – admittedly through clinched teeth knowing every other stride is gonna come with a degree of pain. Yesterday I was listening to podcasts as I am apt to do to keep my head “out” of the run, when Mike Rowe’s podcast David Bahnsen – Poor Smart and Desperate came up next on the running playlist (link here). Next thing I know I am back at the Jeep after my longest run since the injury at 8 miles. The perfect topic at the perfect time. I won’t go into detail, but the topics of Macro happiness and producers vs consumers hit me right between the ears. It is easy to get yourself down when micro level issues don’t go as planned, but the question posed was whether I was happy at a macro level. 8 miles later (apparently) the answer was an absolutely YES. Sure, there are minutia/momentary bouts of unhappiness, the ankle, the elbow, paperwork here, malfunction there etc. but do those outweigh the good things – not even close. Family life is wonderful, great friends, recent checkup was outstanding, I’m out of the daily grind and we get to share our adventures while talking birds and haunts – Life is good. Oh, and on the producer front we now have our 3rd haunt how-to video out which I’ll share at the end if you are interested.

Few things make me happier than when I get to share a new check on the bird life list, so let me introduce you to today’s featured feathered friend.

Canyon Towhee found on Sycamore Trail, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this new check from the Sparrow family.

Rufouspalooza

Greetings everyone! May is turning out to be the same as April..well, March and February and Jan..you get the picture – BUSY! The long travels are on the backburner for now and pretty much for the next couple of months it will only be short excursions for dog shows etc. Close to half this year, so far, has been in other states so it will be nice to toil at the homestead for a while. Kudos to those full time RVers out there, if we didn’t come back to “space” I think Linda and I would drive each other crazy ha. This also means the hard work begins. Plenty of outdoor work to get done around the house and in the woods plus the annual Haunted Trail event is just around the corner (in haunt units of time), so the haunt lab is now in full production mode. On top of all that, our haunt department has finally pulled the trigger on their haunt themed YouTube channel. In the past we have used the Intrigued Mothership (lifeintrigued.com) to feature our various prop projects, but those have been getting more involved over the years and the word format was causing major finger fatigue. What I didn’t expect was the amount of time required to move to the video format – new tools to learn, more planning, more editing and most of all, being back in front of the camera. Pretty rusty since those days in the corporate grind. Fortunately, all things that go bump in the night are my passion so it is still a lot of fun! I’ll include a link to our first prop tutorial video at the bottom of this post in case you are interested.

Sticking with that theme of hard work, today’s featured feathered friend can make you want to pull your rufous feathers out in the field.

Green-Tailed Towhee found at Catalina State Park outside Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this rather elusive new check on my birding life list.

Tyrannidae Confunnidae

More greetings from the West. We are officially back in Arizona now that the Vegas stay has come to its end. Managed to pick up several birds while we were out there that puts me a mere 4 birds from last year’s total annual species count which was 327 (link here). That’s a “total count” with a ‘T’. Definitely having a good year and my 2023 record of 340 is in definite reach considering we haven’t even made it to spring migration yet. We packed a lot into our Vegas stay as those days as Ron was able to come join us for a few (definitely boosted his numbers as well) and we decided to explore Spring Mountain for the first time even adding new parts of the Lake Mead Recreational Area that took full days themselves. Add in the stops at Count’s Customs and Linda’s favorite casinos and next thing we know our time was up. Didn’t even have a chance to take John (link here) up on his generous offer for a drink – hoping he takes a rain check on that as we will definitely be back. In that theme, since we are currently “back” in Arizona on our return leg, figured I’d feature a lifer tinned during last year’s visit to this state.

Cassin's Kingbird found at Reid Park, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

How well do you know your Kingbirds? Take a guess which one this is and check your answer by hitting the jump!

What Says You Say’s

Some of the staff is heading back out into the field this week – needless to say to warmer temperatures for sure. Apparently we are in the midst of a third Polar Vortex for the year and we are feeling the effects of NOT getting our cold acclamation cycles in. IT IS COLD! At a minimum, the normal training runs would at least get my butt outside before and after our Texas migration. The ankle has put a stop to that silliness. This is officially the longest I have gone without a run since I started this hobby some 25+ years ago. A few more weeks until my next surgeon follow-up and then hopefully start rebuilding – wish Linda luck as all this pent up energy is driving her nuts (she says I’ve taken to pacing like a caged animal and constantly telling me to STOP IT – link here). Something tells me today’s featured feathered friend would have something to “Say” about it as well!

Say's Phoebe found outside Voyager RV Park in Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about this rather annoyed looking bird!

Vermilion

It’s that special day where we get extra cuddles from the one(s) we love. Based on the fact we are down in the single digit temperatures, that may be less of a personal display of affection and more about stealing heat ha. I gave it away in the previous post that I was going to go with a Valentine’s theme in recognition of the special day. Minimally one a bit more in line with the day than the nevermore Rook connotations in Brad’s recent adventure. There were some (read brother) that had speculated a bird couple story, which immediately brought to mind the always cute Inca Doves (link here) or the smooching we saw between pairs in the mass of Parrots at Oliviera Park in Brownsville, TX. Truth is, I am nowhere close to getting those Parrot pictures processed (it was less than a month ago!!) and not that clever. In my defense, Incas have a cooing that sounds like “NO HOPE” which isn’t what you want to think about on a relationship holiday. I was really just going for a bird with a Valentine’s color palette.

Hit the jump to see more shots from this brilliantly red colored bird.

RRedbird

Apologies for being a bit out of pocket as of late. All our field staff including me are ..well..out in the field. Among them, Brad and Jan are filling up their tins abroad and Linda and I are dealing with the wet and cold weather currently ravaging south Texas. Surprisingly, the birding has been pretty impressive given the conditions. My brother Ron flew down to join in some birding for a week and just got on the plane to return to Chicago where it is snowing with a windchill of -4 – okay, I’ll stop complaining about our weather. In Ron’s short time here we were able to find him just under 150 new birds for his Average Year tally. That puts him at roughly 100 in the top 100 eBirders by species for the Texas region (note, actual positioning can fluctuate during the day based on reporting). Pretty impressive, but not to be outdone, with my extended time in Texas I am officially at 165 bird species. That puts me around 48th place for the entire Texas region. That is 52 birds ahead of last year’s pace, which you will recall, ended with a tally of 325 (see the finally updated full 2024 stats here). Shockingly, that means in the 15 days so far this year I already have 55% of the annual goal of 300. Tells you how hard it gets to find new birds as the year progresses. I do want to give a shoutout to all the wonderful birders we have met down here, including Steve and Lisa who guided us through Santa Ana NWR yesterday. Always willing to strike up a conversation and assist with any sightings. Warms my heart to know the birding community bonds continue to be strong.

I suspect there are some out there that could have predicted today’s featured feathered friend. After the last post on the Phainopepla, it just seems appropriate to go with another incredibly hard bird to spell that also has a spectacular punk-do.

Pyrrhuloxia found at Saguaro National Park outside Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to read more about this chunky member of the Cardinalidae family

Imperio

Okay, going to say firmly and for the record to our Texas friends…we are NOT responsible for the frigid temps that have made its way down here this week. Purely coincidental that we happened to have arrived around the same time of the cold snap. We are definitely not used to layering this much in the south and Linda actually had gloves on today while visiting Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. So cold the Monkeys were considering cuddling up with the Lions. Fortunately, the birding has been living up to our high expectations. Currently at 112 species fresh into the new year. I am behind my 2024 Average Year stats (link here), but did manage to get the 2025 page created and updated (link here). For the curious, I ended last year at 325 checks thanks to a late surge in December. Currently sitting 35 species ahead of that pace, but 19 behind 2023. Many birds still left to tin down here and plenty of time to get that done – sitting pretty, enjoying the pretty colors!

Apologies to those back home, we feel for you suffering through the snow and temps in the teens ..no, no, we really do! (Brad, can you make sure the maintenance crew puts extra salt on our Intrigued HQ walkways).

Enough chit chat, time to get to work and present today’s featured feathered friend.

Phainopepla found at Saguaro National National Park, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump to learn more about our “black robed” friend.

A Greater Setback

I suppose you could say it is a fitting time for getting things “wrapped” up. All the excitement of seeing the festive colored boxes with their pretty bows bringing joy to kids and adults. The catalyst for this heartwarming affair, a jolly big-waisted fellow that shimmies down the chimney (or alternative burglary entry point into your homestead). Unfortunately, my coal colored gift this holiday year reflects some bad actions earlier in the year. To be exact, October 12th, one of those days that now takes its rightful place among my other noteworthy “mishaps”. The ankle specialist wasn’t wearing festive clothes yesterday, but he did take the time to wrap my gift in a shiny shade of black coal…ho, ho, ho, you are the proud recipient of a non-displaced double fracture! Grinch said WHAT!?!?! Now, in my joint’s defense I need to apologize for all the hurtful comments hurled at it since race-day. It was not faking it for sympathy, a stunt that it has pulled many times in the past – nope, it was damaged and now I am the proud receiver of a black boot that will loudly proclaim I’m damaged goods to anyone we come upon during the next 6 weeks. No running, of course, no long birding hikes (we’ll see) and beach time is likely right out. My Texas trip just took a mighty blow thanks in large part to the first orthopedic surgeon I went to in early November telling me it was nothing, take two aspirin and find your own way out of the office. Lost 4 weeks of recovery time and I’ve been doing chiro visits and physical therapy that was likely making it worse – shocked that it didn’t displace as a result of all the yanking and twisting. While I try to move on to the acceptance phase, decided it was an appropriate time to feature the totem animal for all runners.

Greater Roadrunner found at Saguaro National Park West, Tucson, AZ in January 2024

Hit the jump for some looks at a bird that probably has more running shoes in its closet than I do..and that is saying a LOT.

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