THIS LAND IS OUR LAND

This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.

As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.

TICK BITE WITH LYME DISEASE

GAMBEL'S QUAIL

April 28:  Last night I noticed a lovely bullseye red mark around the site of a tick bite I had gotten somewhere in Texas over a week ago.  We both looked at it and after a bilateral "Uh oh", we knew I had gotten Lyme Disease.  So this morning, after another fruitless visit to Fort Huachuca looking for that goddam non-existent Sinaloa wren, we went to a walk-in clinic where the doc confirmed our diagnosis (we are from Connecticut, after all) and sent me to the pharmacy for antibiotics.  We then drove west to the southern part of southeast AZ and visited the well-known hummingbird haven formerly owned and maintained by the Paton family.  Unfortunately, both Mr. and Mrs. Paton have died and the Tucson Audubon Society has taken over managing the place.  I really did not like what they have done, but, of course, they did not ask me.  This used to be a simple hummingbird feeding station.  Now there are seed feeders all over the place, water features, and construction of more grandiose accommodations for birds.  Too much, in my humble opinion.  Very few hummingbirds now, amidst the hubbub of house finches, Gambel's quail, goldfinches, woodpeckers, sparrows, doves and the like, all attracted by the seed.

We stayed at a nearby RV park in Patagonia.

April 29:  Gale took me out for a delightful birthday dinner last night at a very nice restaurant in Patagonia, AZ.  Patagonia, besides being a fantastic area for birding, is sort of a funky artists' colony where you get cowboys and craftsmen living cheek to jowl.

Woke up this morning at 5:30 AM.  Early worms catch the birds, right.  Well, folks, it was so freakin' cold (34˚) that those birds, those that were actually awake, were laughing at us.  To complicate matters, after we unhooked the RV water line from the spigot (which was very low to the ground), I accidentally kicked the valve, opening it at high volume and spraying ice cold water up my pants and all over me.  Good thing the humidity here hovers around 15%.  

THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD

NORTHERN BEARDLESS TYRANNULET

Our first stop was the world famous Patagonia Rest area.  You quickly ask, "How can a picnic area be world famous?"  Because many years ago, some birders found a rare bird here, leading other birders to come and search for it, who subsequently found more rare birds and so on and so on.  Dubbed the "Patagonia Picnic Area Effect", birders still flock here and find great stuff.  As did we.  Right off the bat, just as the rising sun finally peeked its warm glow over the mountain ridge behind us, a pair of thick-billed kingbirds started chattering atop the just lit tips of the tallest sycamores.  Next came a few northern beardless-tyrannulets, a small flycatcher unique in that it is named for something it does not possess - a "beard".  Or rictal bristles, as your local ornithologist would say.  A rare violet-crowned hummingbird fed low on some orange flowering plants, possibly lobelia.  

MADERA CANYON, SOUTHEAST ARIZONA

We drove north and explored Garden Canyon, an eight-mile long washboard of a dirt road that shook everything loose in the RV as well as a few of our fillings.  Nonetheless, the glowing yellow grassland, framed by the eastern flank of the Santa Rita Mountains, was extraordinarily lovely.  Next back road was a cut-off called Box Canyon.  First through some grassland and then a steady descent throughout 15 miles of dirt road that wound its way through the canyon.  Stunning views and the canyon kept getting narrower and steeper.  The  sidewall slope was broken by many geological sills and dikes, flowering ocotillo, agave and other yuccas.  Then we ascended into Madera Canyon on the western side of the Santa Ritas, where we would spend two nights at the lovely Santa Rita Lodge.  A real bed, real shower, real kitchen and many other amenities made our suite feel just like home.  I cooked a birthday dinner of Florida shrimp (which had come with us), rice and a salsa mix.  Scrumptious!  Followed by chocolate birthday cupcakes, chocolate/fudge/caramel gelato and a screening of Tombstone, the movie.  That was a lot of fun because we had just been there and could compare the story and the movie set with what it really looked like.  Bad ass Wyatt Earp!

Just before retiring for the night, I had to go out to RV to get something and was stopped cold in my tracks when I heard elf, western screech and whiskered screech owls all calling at once!  Phenomenal!

YELLOW-EYED JUNCO

April 30:  Really dawdled this morning and made red pepper omelets with toast for breakfast before finally heading out for a hike up the Carrie Nation Trail in Madera Canyon.  Starting at 5400' elevation, parts of the trail were quite steep and rocky, so we picked out way along, pausing frequently to catch our breath.  We are from sea level Florida after all.  Not too many birds this morning, but we did see greater pewee (is that like jumbo shrimp?) and yellow-eyed junco.  The extremely white branches of the giant just leafing-out Arizona sycamores looked like bleached skeletons against the azure sky.  Wild turkeys made the most noise, gobbling from every little side canyon.  We learned that this subspecies had been extirpated from this area many years ago and have been very successfully reintroduced from Mexican stock of the same subspecies.

BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD

Back to the cabin for lunch, pay bills, write and relax.  The lodge has established a bird feeding area with hummer feeders, brush piles and water, plus very nice seating for viewing and photography.  The most colorful of the hummers is undoubtedly the broad-billed, sporting a bright red sword of a beak.  Undoubtedly, we'll spend a bit more time there this afternoon and see if we can find some of those owls tonight!