How to fill 5 days in the Valley of the Sun

It has been and extra busy week here in the Valley of the Sun.  Dana's sister Robin and husband Robert arrived last Thursday and I don't think we have stopped moving since.  It has been terrific showing them some of the natural sites of the valley.  None of us are much for glitz, glamour or show so we skipped the usual tourist haunts and have elected to see what nature offers.  It's a different way to visit the valley but it works for us.

Of course birding has been high on the agenda.  In fact most days birding was the agenda.  There are so many great places to bird in the Valley of the Sun.  For a 5 or 6 day visit we needed to prioritize the locations.  We chose to chase rarities on some days and go for quantity on others.  We did not restricted our travel and as such have been from one end of the valley to the other.  Tomorrow we will hit Boyce Thompson Arboretum to round out the week of birding.

So Barry, how's the birding?  Well, nothing short of spectacular.  With trips to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Sunflower, Coon Bluff Recreation Area, Tres Rios Wetlands, The Thrasher Spot and Veteran's Oasis, we have put together an impressive list of rare birds as well as the ones that are common to those locations.  Here are a few of my highlights:

Ash-throated Flycatcher
Evening Grosbeak
Le Conte's Thrasher (Life Bird)
Western Meadowlark
Horned Lark (Life bird)
Townsend's Solitaire (Life bird)

Anyone hoping for photos of these birds will be as disappointed as I am.  Sorry - no photos.  I do have some good bird photos from the week and I will post several later in this post.

I should point out that adding 3 life birds in the past 5 days has been terrific.  However, Robin has added 18 life birds to her growing list.  Wow! 18 new birds.  It has been fun helping her find and identify these birds.

We took time yesterday to do a short hike.  Of all the many great hikes in the valley we chose the Hieroglyphic Trail in the Superstition Mountains.   This is short hike, about 4 miles.   The destination  is the site of Petroglyphs.  Why is it called the Hieroglyphic Trail and not the Petroglyph Trail?  Don't know.  Hieroglyphics are something that is down onto rock or some hard surface.  Petroglyphs are figures or scenes carved into rock.  These Hohokum peoples Petroglyphs date back 1,000 years or more.  That is about all I know about them.  All of this information was obtained from Cosmic Ray's book "Hiking Phoenix".  This about the best book on day hiking in the Valley of the Sun.  If you are wanting information on hiking in the valley, get this small pocket sized book.  Don't be turned off by its cartoonish look.  It is jam packed with great information on hiking in the Superstition Mountains and all of the areas in the valley.

Today we played our final Bocce Ball league match. Even though we practiced for 1 1/2 hours this morning we lost.  Again!  We played the top team in the league.  Actually, this team plays in 4 or 5 leagues.  They are the top team in all of them.  We scored the 1st point of the match then saw our opposition run off 15 points to win the match 15-1. It was over in less time than it takes to make rice.  I hate to lose worse than my sister-in-law D.  I played badly.  Dana was terrific as were Gayle and Tony.  I can't really say I am disappointed that this sorry season is finally, mercifully over.  Yes, we are signed up for the league for 2016.  It is too early to be optimistic about next year.  I think I know now how the Vancouver Canucks feel.....every damn year!  But I digress.....

Bocce Ball league isn't about winning or losing (I can't believe I actually put this in writing...).  It is about having fun with our friends Gayle and Tony.  Even though we suffered through our worst season to date, we still had fun and enjoyed our social (Happy Hour) after each match.

The weather continues to be super although today it has been unseasonably cool.  We are hoping that sunny, warmer days return soon.  No one is going to understand how 65F and few spits of rain is bad or newsworthy so I'll just move on.....

Food has been one of the stories of the week so let me tell you a little about that.  Today I cooked up a rack and a half of ribs.  4 hours at 235 degrees in the oven then finished on the grill.  A big hit!  We dined out 3 times.  We went to the Blue Adobe, The Outback Steak House and Mike and Darlene's Diner ;-)  All excellent.  M&D's was the best although I am still nursing a hangover.....

Ok.  I've got plenty of photos for the post so let's get right to them.  The first few are birds.  Alright, you knew that.  Thanks to Dana I even have a few people and places photos to post this week.  Hope you enjoy them all.  Hope you have a great week ahead.  Robin and Robert leave us this Thursday.  We will miss them but won't have time to dwell on that as our friends Bud and Joanne fly in on Thursday.  Bud and Jo are world travellers and avid birders.  We can't wait to show them the birding hot spots in the Valley of the Sun, most of which we are getting to know pretty well.....  I think you can guess what my next post will be about.  Until then, Happy Birding or whatever fuels your passion.

Great Egret.  This is a big bird.  Hard to get in it all in a single frame.  He cooperated by twisting himself into a pretzel.

Black-necked Stilt.   

Horned Lark.  Not a great, or even good photo but I had to post it.  This is a gorgeous bird.  They are timid and it was impossible to get close enough for a decent shot.  You take what you get. 

Pied-billed Grebe 

Snowy Egret.  A fast shutter speed was needed to freeze the water. 

Photo of the Day.  This Verdin was feeding on Fairy Duster.  These shrubs are now in full bloom and offer some terrific photo opportunities.  I'm pretty happy with the overall result of the photo.  I have been getting some good feedback from fellow photographers on Flickr, Capture My Arizona and National Geographic "Your Shot".

Barry, Robin and Robert at Gilbert Riparian Preserve

Robin and Dana at the site of the Petroglyphs

Some of the Petroglyphs we saw on our hike.

Not sure why it is the Hieroglyphic Trail??

How to find rare birds. (Take Dana with you....)

These days when we are not riding our bikes we are birding.  Actually, we are hitting it pretty hard and putting in some long days.  Yesterday, for example, we departed home at 0800 to meet up with 2 friends to go to birding locations west of Phoenix.  Marcus, Carl, Dana and I travelled for 1 hour through what was left of rush hour traffic to get to our first location of the day, Tres Rios Wetlands.  I have mentioned this location in a previous post having visited this spot several weeks ago for the first time.  Today our objective was to locate and identify a small bird called a Least Bittern.   This bird is quite a bit smaller than a Green Heron.  I would compare it to the size of a small crow.  It is more often than not found hiding in reeds and bulrushes that line streams and ponds.  It is very difficult to spot.  Lucky for us we had eagle eyes Dana with us.  The 3 guys were ready to give up after searching for the Least Bittern for over 1 hour.  We were actually headed back to the truck when Dana shouted, "Got him"!  We rushed to where Dana was and looked into the reeds and said "where"?  It took us a couple of minutes to find him.  Although not a rare find, the bird is considered uncommon.  Also, none of us had seen this species before making it a Life bird.  In other words, it was a great find for all of us.

Just to show how difficult it was to spot this bird, here is what Dana was looking at when she found it.  Can you spot the bird?  Keep in mind that I am providing a shot from my 400 mm lens.   ( I will show you a cropped version of a similar shot later on in the post.)

From Tres Rios we went through the farm fields around Buckeye, Az to our final destination of the day, The Thrasher Spot.  What exactly is the Thrasher Spot?  Have you read the book called "The Big Year"?  Perhaps you saw the movie starring Dan Ackroyd?  The Thrasher Spot is mentioned in the book and, I think, the movie too.  The Thrasher Spot in Arizona is know worldwide as a location where at this time of year a birder can observe up to 5 species of Thrasher in one visit.  To my knowledge no other location can offer this.  So if you are chasing species for lists, this is kind of a one stop shopping location like say, San Tan Mall, or 5th Ave., N.Y., N.Y., or the West Edmonton Mall, or the Annual Rock and Jem Show in Tucson, or something like that.  If you went to the Thrasher Spot you might be amazed to learn that it is open desert at the intersection of Baseline and the Salome Highway.  There are a few rows of Mesquite and Palo Verde trees as well as Thorn Bush, Brittle Bush and Creosote shrubs.  Seems that the Thrashers think it is an oasis.  

Before we got to the Thrasher Spot we observed a large flock of White-faced Ibis feeding in a recently flooded field.  I have included a couple of shots of the Ibis.  Neither photo is great as I ended up shooting into the sun.  As a bird photographer I get used to this and have accepted that not all birds will wait until you align yourself to get the perfect shot.

On to the Thrasher Spot:  2 days ago it was reported by a fellow birder that 4 species of Thrasher were observed at the Thrasher Spot.  They were; Le Conte's, Crissal, Sage and Bendire's.  2 of these would be Life birds for us and 3 would be new this year (for Barry's list).  We already have seen a Crissal but would love to see another one and hear him/her sing.  Thrashers have quite a variable song and quite the range.

Unfortunately we got to the Thrasher Spot a bit late in the morning and it was already very warm.  Most of the birds had already gone to ground.  We did observe one lone Bendire's and got to hear him/her sing for us.  (Photo included)  As a bonus, I got a nice photo of a female Black-tailed Gnatcatcher who with her partner were very busy building a new home.

I am adding a bonus photo of a Red-tailed Hawk that I observed and photographed at the Tres Rios Wetland.  The hawk flew overhead as we were intently trying to find the Least Bittern in the reeds.  Lucky shot, I guess ;-)

Enjoy the photos.  Until next time, Happy Birding.......

Bendire's Thrasher at the Thrasher Spot. 

Female Black-tailed Gnatcatcher with nest building material.

White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis ( in a flock of about 500 Ibis ) 

Least Bittern (Did you spot the bird in the other photo??)

Red-tailed Hawk, Tres Rios Wetlands 

Beer, the price of gasoline and Tillamook Ice-cream.

Well, I missed my publishers deadline for a new blog post.  The new post was due out Sunday evening.  Lets see, what excuse, rather reason should I use this week?  Hmmm....  Nope, nothing is coming to mind.  Wait!  I was tired.  That's it.  I was too tired to type.  Too tired to think.  Yes, I was too tired.  Really?  I think I need some rest from all the fun we are having.  I really tried to start my new post yesterday.  At least I thought about it.  Now that I'm writing I hope I can stick with it long enough to get this done and fill you in on all that has gone on for the past week.  I hope everyone can cut me a bit of slack for my tardiness.   After all,  life here is no bowl of cherries.  Well, actually it is.  No more delays.  Let's just get started with the post on the week that was.

Dana and I took Monday off the bikes to go to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA) and Lost Dutchman State Park (LDSP).  Birding was our goal and birds is what we found.  BTA was not as birdy as we would have liked but we did add a couple of birds to our year to date list.  It is such a wonderfully diverse park.  I think I may have said this before but if you are in this area and want a desert experience that includes birds, plants and interesting terrain, BTA would be an excellent choice.  A highlight of our visit this day was Dana's discovery of an Anna's Hummingbird building a nest.  Very cool....

After we left BTA we went to LDSP.   This would be our second visit to LDSP in as many days.  The reason we went back the second day was to get a correct identification of a pair of Gnatcatchers that we had seen the day before and reported on eBird.org as Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  The regional eBird coordinator questioned our identification which prompted us to return to the park.  We considered our second visit as our "citizen science" visit.  eBird.org is used by casual birds to record findings but it is also used by researchers and ornithologists.  It is important to ensure that data input into eBird is accurate and complete.  Thus our return visit.  After 1 hour of walking the washes in the park we found the birds in question.  We were able to correctly identify them as Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, not Blue-gray.  The big find of the visit, again by Dana, was the nest these two birds were building.  Very, very cool...

Dana and I spent Tuesday morning going to the driving range so Barry could work on his golf game.  We then went to our favourite running store in Tempe where Dana bought new runners.  In the afternoon we played our weekly Bocce Ball league match (lost...again!).  Enjoyed the social aspect and happy hour with Tony and Gail afterwards.

On Wednesday Dana, Steve and I rode to Saguaro Lake for the first time this winter.  The additional 12k's meant we logged about 67k's for the ride.  Of note for this ride is that Dana and I paced Steve up Usery Pass Hill in 16 minutes and 22 seconds, a personal best for Dana and Steve.  Our rides are starting earlier now with the warmer weather upon us.  We roll out at 0830.  Wednesday afternoon we attended the block party on our street.  It is great to have these block parties so we can socialize with our neighbours and friends from the block.  It seems that everyone is so busy that we often go weeks without talking to neighbours 5 or 6 doors up the block.

Thursday morning I golfed with the guys, our weekly 9 and dine (breakfast).  It is great fun even though my golf game seems to be quite erratic.  The company is always terrific and the setting is fantastic.  Absolutely nothing to complain about although I continue to dream of the day I shoot even par for the day.  I did say "dream" didn't I?

Friday was a birding day and what a great day it was.  Dana and I teamed with friends Dale and Ellen to bird on Mt. Ord.  Mt Ord is north of the Valley of the Sun on the Beeline Highway, towards Payson, Az.  Access to Mt. Ord is by a US Forrest Service Road.  It is a narrow, rough and winding road.  The elevation at the turnoff to Mt. Ord is about 4,500 feet.  The elevation at the top of the mountain is 7,000 feet.  Birding was slow this day owing to high winds.  From Mt Ord we travelled to Sunflower in search of a few species that we could add to our year to date list.  We did not observe a high number of species this day but of the 24 species we observed, a stunning 12 were new this year, and 3 were life birds for both Dana and I.  Here is a list of these birds:

Cassin's Finch (Life Bird)
Cedar Waxwing
Band-tailed Pigeon (Life Bird)
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Olive Warbler (Life Bird)
Acorn Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Bewick's Wren
Chipping Sparrow
Western Scrub-jay
Red Crossbill

We missed the Evening Grosbeak at Sunflower.  We will go back soon to get them.

We rode our bikes Saturday morning with friend Steve.  Social pace this time.  I think everyone enjoyed the pace ;-)

Sunday morning I golfed my regular 9 holes at Sunland Village.  Stunningly beautiful weather.  No other way of describing it.  Some even complained that it was a bit too warm.

On Sunday afternoon Dana and I went to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve to take in "Family Day".  This event was run by the City of Gilbert.  Although we normally avoid the busy events, we wanted to visit the Desert Rivers Audubon exhibit.  While at the Preserve we ran into our friend and fellow birder Marcus and his wife Diane.  We spotted them the Liberty Wildlife booth.  Liberty Wildlife is a non-profit located in Scottsdale, Az.  Among other things they care for injured wildlife.  This day they had 3 birds on hand, a Great Horned Owl, a Peregrine Falcon and a Red-tailed Hawk.  While I normally only take photos of birds in the wild I could not restrain myself.  I took several shots of the Great Horned Owl.  I hope you like the photos as much as I do.

Well, that wraps the week.  Oh wait.  The beer is cold, the gasoline is still cheap at around $2.00/US gallon and the Tillamook ice-cream is delicious.

In closing, I should tell you that we have been told by our landlord that this is definitely our last winter at 1402 here in the resort.  However, as luck would have it we have found another rental for January, February and March 2016.  This one is at 1413.  This is like 99% a sure thing.  Are we happy?  You betcha we're happy!

Here are few photos from the week and a bonus photo too....

Great Horned Owl - Rescued and cared for by Liberty Wildlife. 

Same Owl as above.  If you have ever wondered how the catch their prey, just look at the size of her feet/claws! 

Anna's Hummingbird at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.  I call this photo "Anna, Jewel of Gilbert" 

Dana on our ride this morning (February 16).  Note her big smile, her tan and the race wheels on her bike.... 

I took this photo in September.  Dana, Erica and I were hiking the Ptarmigan Trail in the Mt. Baker area.

This is winter, right? Some like it hot, some like it cold.

Had to tune into CBC today to find out if it was actually winter.  Yep, the good citizens of Terrace and Kitimat, B.C. are digging out from over 6 feet (2 Metres Canadian) of snow.  This has resulted in spontaneous trivia debates as to whether or not this is a record snowfall.  Of course trivia debates in Kitimat and Terrace often take place in hotel bars where Molson and Labatts are more than just the names of their first born male.  Rest assured not being able leave the bar, or pub as it is known in Victoria, B.C. and London, England, because the snow is so deep that even your Ford F250 with the Skyjacker lift kit cannot make it out of the parking lot will mean that next weeks paycheque from the mill will be split 50/50 between the bar, your last month's child support payment and your Truck Lease payment.  Hmmm...somebody's gonna be short this month....   Okay, that does seem a bit insensitive.  My apologies to the bar owners in our northern communities.

Let's go north for look at the weather in a city we once called home, Whitehorse, Yukon.  Two days ago it was -35F.  It is warming up to -26F tomorrow and will be a balmy 21F by Thursday.  Of course the "heat wave" will be over by Saturday with the temperature normalizing to 12F.  Brrrr....

This brings me to the current weather in the Valley of the Sun.  Hard to describe really.  Let me try.  Wow!  Yep.  That pretty much describes the current weather and the forecast for the next 7 days.  As Rod Stewart said it "Every Picture Tells a Story", which by the way is a rocking song.  I include a snapshot of the weather forecast taken from one of our local television stations.   '8' seems to be the number of the day.




Moving on, this week has been fantastic.  Okay, I'm boring.  That's all I seem to say.  I'm really going to have to find some other way of describing our time here in the Valley of the Sun.  Since my last post we had our latest Bocce Ball League match (we lost, again....); Dana and I rode 3 times this week for a total of 155kms; I golfed twice; we went out for dinner with friends Keith and Nancy to a new to us Mexican restaurant called Tia Rosa; we birded at several locations; hosted Mike, Darlene, Heather and Glenn for a bbq, then bocce ball under the lights; picked up brother Kelly at Sky Harbour Airport - he just returned from Canada; had bacon for breakfast - wait, ya, that was a highlight too.....

On another note, Dana and I are mulling over our future plans.  We actually had a look at a Park Model that is for sale just up the street from our rental.  The owners, Canadians, are selling and returning home to Canada, not to return.  This happens a lot here.  It is not because Canadians, and for that matter Americans, no longer like it here, it is because a lot of people eventually have health issues that result in astronomical health insurance costs.  The Park Model that we looked at was very nice and the price was very reasonable.  The big issue for us is that for the foreseeable future we will only be coming here for 3 months.  The annual lot rent is considerably more than what we pay for rent.  Therefore except for being in our own place with our own things, the additional expense does not make it very attractive to own a Park Model in this resort.  I think that for now renting is a good option.  Really, these a terrific problems to have.

In closing, let's talk birds.  Our year to date count now stands at 120.  We added three new birds this week; Rock Wren, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher and Canyon Towhee.  I have included a couple photos of the Rock Wren and one of the Canyon Towhee.  The photos of the Gnatcatcher did not make it to print (fussy editor....)  One final birdy note, Cornell Lab of Ornithology faved another one of my bird photos from Flickr.  This is the 2nd photo in 2 weeks and the 6th since I started posting in 2013.

The week ahead looks to be fantastic.  There I go again.  Oh well.  Enjoy what you are doing, where you are.  Remember, "you are what you think" (a quote from Ray Kurzweil).

Photos from the week:

Canyon Towhee at Lost Dutchman State Park - Although the photo does not do it justice, this is a good looking bird.  Unfortunately I caught this one not looking his best.

Rock Wren singing at Goldfield Recreation Area on the Salt River 

Rock Wren (serious pose) 

Redhead Duck, and friend.  This is my latest photo to be faved by Cornell Lab or Ornithology.

Why?

Why.  It is a simple word.  Only 3 letters out of an alphabet of 24 letters.  Put a question mark after the word and you have a simple word that can result in complex answers, or none at all.  Answers.  Yes, answers.  Presidents have been impeached, countries have failed when answers to the simple question of "why" have not been answered, or the answer has failed to satisfy.  Satisfaction.  Ah, satisfaction.  What is satisfaction but simple answers to the simple question, why.   Why, why, why!

This brings me to the Seattle SeaHawks Super Bowl loss tonight.  Some will say that the SeaHawks lost the game.  Some will say that the New England Patriots won the game.  Some will say that the Patriots didn't win the game, the SeaHawks lost the game.  It is all utterly confusing.  My view is that the Patriots clearly won the game.  You would have to be an idiot to say otherwise.  Just look at the score.  No, my confusion does not lie with the  question of win or loss, my confusion lies with the play that resulted in the interception on the 1 yard line, with under 1 minute to go.  Less than one minute, ball on the 2 yard line, one time out left, the premier back in the league, "The Beast - M. Lynch", a quarterback that is as mobile as any in the league, and out of all the running plays at your disposal, with the SuperBowl title within your grasp, the game all but won - you throw the ball.  Why?  Why?  In the following days we will hear many answers to this question.  It will not change the result of Super Bowl 49.  Tom Brady wins his 4th Super Bowl ring.  Seattle fans hope that the final play of the game for the SeaHawks will not be a curse.

To all the heart broken Seattle SeaHawk fans I say, wait until next year......

I leave you on a happier note.  It is a story of a Hawk.  Not a SeaHawk.  This one is a Cooper's Hawk.   I guarantee that this hawk will bring a smile to your face.   Dana and I were out birding yesterday.  We have had 3 days of rain here in the desert.  The rain had finally stopped and we were able to bird at one of our favorite spots, Granite Reef, on the Salt River.   I was searching for a small bird, a Black-and-White Warbler when I was more or less startled to see this Cooper's Hawk perched not far up in a tree.  I proceeded to take a few photos when suddenly the hawk fanned it's tail.  I kept shooting and got this photo.  So cheer up SeaHawk fans.  There are plenty of hawks out there that will make you happy.  Simplify your life.  Go birding and forget about football, at least for the next 6 months.....  See, it really is simple after all.....