YOU DO THAT HOODOO THAT YOU DO SO WELL

May Day, May Day!

SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA

Decided to get up earlier today and hike the Carrie Nation Trail, this time to its bitter conclusion.  We need to find a red-faced warbler!  Do you want the bad news first or the good news?  Too bad - I get to choose.  Sad story - no warbler.  Happy story - heard a northern pygmy-owl, chased it up the steep slope, actually got to see it and while watching, a male elegant trogon flew into the same tree! Wonderful! The greater pewee was doing its delightfully musical “jose maria” call today and we saw our first Grace’s warbler, plus hermit warbler.  We made it all the way to the end of the trail to inspect the old mine entrance (adit, for you crossword buffs) and then limped 2.2 miles back down after my “good" knee went south.  All’s well that ends well, however, and the force was with us today.

ALBIE AT CATALINA STATE PARK, TUCSON

Continued on to the Rincon Mountain Division of Saguaro National Monument and observed the many twists and turns of these many armed cacti.  Finished up at very nice Catalina SP, just north of Tucson.  This park used to be in the middle of nowhere.  Now there’s a mall right across the street from the park entrance.  Kind of makes you want to never come back.

RED-FACED WARBLER

May 2: Got an early start, but not early enough, to beat the massive Tucson traffic.  After fighting our way to the entrance, we spent a most enjoyable day on the slopes and summit of Mount Lemmon. This hill is so tall that driving up its winding road passes through 5 different life zones, which is the equivalent of driving from northern Mexico in the Sonoran Desert to the Rocky Mountains in Banff, Alberta, Canada.  We started by birding somewhere in the middle, where desert had given way to delightfully cool ponderosa pine forest.  We kept moving on up, stopping at the various camping and picnic areas.  We pulled into Rose Canyon Lake Campground and listened.  A wonderfully pure sweet song cascaded through the pine boughs, the song we had been waiting to hear.  Moments later, a red-faced warbler was flitting all around us!  We continued on to the summit at 9082’ elevation.  Near the top is a restaurant which claimed to serve the best pie ala mode anywhere.  Naturally, we had to test that claim, and after a mountainberry/rhubarb pie and an apple strudel, we fully authenticated their assertion.  It was 54˚ at the top.  We rolled back down to Tucson, where it was 90˚.

SAGUARO SUNSET

PYRRHULOXIA ON SAGUARO

On the northwest side of town, we stayed at Gilbert Ray Campground, situated in the very dry Sonoran desert. Surrounded by saguaros and numerous other spiny plants, we our experience was most pleasant as the desert cooled off.  A Bendire’s thrasher was most kind in appearing and many other desert species were present, including gilded flicker and pyrrhuloxia.  The saguaros were in bloom and many of the birds were feeding on the white blossoms.

COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD

May 3:  After an early walk around the campground, we made the short drive to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  This is probably the finest LIVING museum in the country and anyone who visits this area absolutely should make time for at least a half-day visit.  The museum features virtually all of the fauna of the region and much of its flora.  

COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD (F)

We hit the road again and drove to Tempe, AZ, just south of Phoenix and home to Arizona State University.  Our goal was to see the rosy-faced lovebirds, native to Namibia in Africa,  that had recently been added to the American Birding Association’s “countable” birds for your life list.  And there they were, right in front of “Old Main”, the first building erected on the campus in 1882.  I even got to see the lovebirds making more little lovebirds.

ROSY-FACED LOVEBIRDS

After resupplying, we were northbound.  Unfortunately, if we thought Tucson had bad traffic, Phoenix dropped the bomb.  Finally, we emerged on the other side and continued north to the Grand Canyon’s south rim for the night.

DAWN AT THE GRAND CANYON

VIRGINIA'S WARBLER

WESTERN BLUEBIRD

May 4:  As the sun rose over the eastern hills, we got up at 5:30 AM so we could witness the dramatic lighting of the Grand Canyon.  At 7500’ in elevation, it was freezing cold!  Watching the sun light the canyon with it’s many-colored hues made cold hands totally worthwhile.  I won’t even try to describe the Canyon.  It is beyond words.  

GALE SPREADS HER CONDOR WINGS

However, words can describe how cool it was to find a singing male Virginia’s warbler right on the edge of the abyss.  A male western bluebird in the parking lot was also no slouch.

VERMILION CLIFFS

We continued north through the vast Navajo Reservation, then swinging west to the Vermilion Cliffs, designated a National Monument during the first Clinton administration.  Even in mid-day, the 1000 foot tall vertical cliffs glowed red.  Our goal was to find California Condors, the largest flying bird in North America, with a wingspan of 10 feet!  After very nearly becoming extinct, all 6 of the remaining condors were captured in 1986 and brought into captivity, to breed them with the few birds that were in zoos.  Twenty years ago, captive bred condors from the very successful program began to be released into the wild on these crimson cliffs, which are perfect for their nesting requirements and part of their historical range.  Shortly after finding the viewing location, we saw our first condor in the air, being followed by a common raven, which looked like a gnat compared to its huge relative.  Then we saw an amazing eight at one time!  Hoping to get better looks and photos, we decided to spend the night at this remote location.  And that’s where I’m writing all this down, to be published once we get into internet range.  

May 5:  Feliz Cinco de Mayo!!  

First overcast day in about 3 weeks and the condors were not flying, so we pushed on.  Winding, climbing back roads ushered us through the Kaibab Plateau in Arizona, then on to southern Utah and Bryce Canyon National Monument.  

Friends, I am very sad to report the death of clean air in the American west.  From Big Bend in Texas, where just 40 years ago you could see 150 miles from the top of the Chisos Mountains, to southern Arizona, the Grand Canyon in northern AZ and now into Utah, despite clear sunny days, the air is so thick with pollution and dust that visibility is grossly reduced to about 20 miles at most.  There are no more clear and vibrantly colored panoramas as all colors are muted if more than a few hundred yards away.  I consider myself fortunate to have traveled out here 30-40 years ago, when the air was as clear as a bell.  Too many people, too much everything, of which we are a part, of course, but depressing nonetheless.

Back to the fun.  We arrived at Bryce at 10:30 in the morning and were lucky to get a campsite!  The place was/is swarming with people, despite the earliness of the season, that it will probably snow tonight and the winds are blowing at 40 mph.  There are busloads of tourists and it seems we have heard every language in the world being spoken at the Grand Canyon and here at Bryce.  Since they are the “Big Three” for bus touring, we expect more of the same at Zion National Monument, our next destination.  I can’t imagine what our most popular national parks are like in the summer, but will definitely find out when we hit Yellowstone in a couple of months.

We spent the afternoon driving the 17 mile route along the ridge that overlooks what is really a basin, not a canyon, filled with the reds, yellows, tans and whites of crowds of “hoodoos”, those spires of rock that have been created by the erosive forces of nature.  You almost can get as anthropomorphic describing the shapes of these rocks as we did with the giant saguaros of the Sonoran desert.  The sun more or less crapped out on us, but into each life some rain/snow must fall and we’ve been pretty lucky so far with the weather.

Due to the high winds, the only birds we’ve seen today are common ravens, waiting for a hot dog or other handout, and a western bluebird.  A few others were spotted, but hard to ID when they get blown by going 100!

Relaxing now at the Bryce Canyon Lodge with a cup of hot chocolate before returning to our house on wheels for the night.  Pix of Bryce Canyon to come.