5 Days of Birding: Day 5, Sweetwater Wetlands

Monday, March 31st, Kathryn’s last day here at Sycamore Canyon. Surely today we would rest we told ourselves, but Monday morning dawned bright and sunny and we could not resist the opportunity to visit one more location, so off we went.

Sweetwater Wetlands is created by the recharged water from the Roger Road Waste Water Treatment facility. Several ponds are created for the birds with cattails, reeds, and trees along the banks. At various times the ponds are drained and others are filled, creating an ever changing environment. Birds of all types are drawn to this lush oasis with tall eucalyptus trees, willows and cottonwoods. The ponds being drained provide mudflats for shore birds. The full ponds provide habitat for ducks and other waterfowl. Trees are full of warblers, sparrows, kinglets, vireos and other forest dwellers. On the perimeter of the wetland you will find the typical desert birds, including thrashers, cactus wrens and roadrunners. On this small parcel of land you can see numerous kinds of birds. After all the hiking we have done over the past four days and being slightly sun burnt, being at Sweetwater allows us to go at a leisurely pace in a relatively shady environment. Along the hard-packed trails are numerous benches for sitting and bird watching. There are a few observation platforms and a wonderful covered gazebo on the west side of the ponds.

Today the ponds are raucous with whistling great-tailed grackles, the sawing, grating sound of yellow-headed blackbirds, and the trilling music of red-winged blackbirds. In the reeds red-eared sliders bask in the warm sunlight. The high winds of yesterday are still gusting today, tossing tree branches and reeds about in a wild dance. The pink feathery blossoms of a tamarisk tree, along with the tossing willows and bulrushes become a pastel blur creating an impressionistic view of the wetlands. Across the pond Northern Shovelers fill the ponds. Coots cackle from the reeds, while common moorhens peek quietly out at us. Song sparrows hop about on the pond edges, or fly to a low tree branch to serenade us. White-crowned sparrows also hop about in the shadows on the trail. The yellow-rumped warblers flit from branch to branch searching for insects on pollen covered catkins. We find one yellow warbler in the trees and one ruby-crowned kinglet. I searched the drying ponds to the east for sandpipers, but only find 2 killdeer hunting the shallow mudflats. At the south end of the ponds nearer the desert trails we spot a roadrunner searching for prey among the scrub. We ascend a spot called “The Knoll” where we find a pair of mocking birds singing in the bushes. High overhead we see three birds of prey circling. Their long tails, white at the base and tip, are diagnostic of Harris Hawks which nest in the nearby tall eucalyptus trees. Harris Hawks are very social and often hunt cooperatively. They are frequently seen in pairs or trios.

On the west side of the pond we sit in the shade of some cottonwoods and watch the ducks and song sparrows. There is one stripy bird that baffles me, so I snap off a few photos to review at home. It turns out to be a female red-winged blackbird, but the distortion of the photo angle made the beak look more finch-like. Abert’s towhees are in abundance on all sides of the ponds. We count 10 in all, but the most numerous birds are Northern shovelers (70) and yellow-headed blackbirds (65). We count 9 each of Ruddy ducks and mallards, and 2 each of cinnamon teals and blue-winged teals. One blue-winged teal floats lazily in the shade of a willow, dabbling in the shallow water near one of the islands. In the center of one of the ponds the ducks all nest on a large tree-cover island in relative safety. The whole time we have been here Gambel’s quail have been darting in and out of the scrub alongside the trail, their little top knots bobbing as they walk. Sweetwater is an active place with something happening around every corner.

To get to Sweetwater Wetlands is a bit of a challenge right now as I-10 is under construction in this area and you can only access this side street from the frontage rd. From the north you exit at Camino del Cerro and travel the West-side frontage road south to Sweetwater Drive near Afmuth Motors. From the south you exit at Ruthruff Rd, go left under I-10, then left onto the southbound frontage Rd and turn right on Sweetwater Drive next to Afmuth Motors. The parking lot is on the left just 0.2 miles down the street. For hours check out this Sweetwater Website or Tucson Audubon’s Sweetwater webpage. For additional photos of the wetlands and some of the insects, follow these links: Rocky Mountain Nature Photographers or The Firefly Forest

5 days of Birding: Day 4, Patagonia

It isn’t until Sunday morning, March 30th, that we decide for sure to head to Patagonia Lake State Park. Kathryn and I rush around eating breakfast and packing up. The drive to Patagonia takes us about an hour as we wind our way down Highway 83 through Davidson Canyon, past the proposed Rosemont Mine site to the Sonoita Junction. There we turned right on Highway 82 where we see a Border Patrol Checkpoint we will have to pass through on our return trip. Highway 82 proceeds through the town of Patagonia with all its little artists’ galleries, craft shops and bars. I have never stopped to check out the town and we talk about doing it on our way home.

About 7 miles south of Patagonia is the State Park. It is a world class birding destination with the Elegant Trogon being the Holy Grail of the trip. Would we see the Trogon today? My heart pounded with anticipation as we turned in the winding road to the lake. I immediately started scanning the skies for vultures because this is one place in the state where you are likely to see black vultures. I learned from one of the naturalists later on that, while black vultures have better eye sight, turkey vultures have a better sense of smell, so the black vulture will often follow the turkey vultures soaring high above them. When the turkey vultures have gotten close to carrion the black vultures will spot it from above and swoop down to join in or even pre-empt the feast. However, the only bird of prey we spotted was a southwestern version of a red-tailed hawk. Here in Arizona our red-tails are lighter colored and often lack the traditional “bellyband” that most birders look for as a field mark.

We stopped in the visitor center first to use the restroom and get some information with the intention of heading out to the north end of the lake to the well known birding trail. The visitor center desk was manned by a naturalist named Ken who informed us of a 10:00 a.m. Avian Boat Tour which still had space available. The tour lasts an hour and only coast $3 a person. We didn’t even know about this and we had no idea we were so lucky to get spots on this trip. The next day we met people from Oregon who had tried for months to get space on one of the boat tours and couldn’t. At the moment we were blissfully ignorant and signed ourselves up, though we foolishly almost didn’t!

Since it was only 9 a.m. we had about a half hour to go birding before we have to be back in time to get fitted with life jackets for the tour. We drive through the parking lots to the north end of the lake and walk a short distance down the trail. The trail winds along the edge of the lake on a high bluff but soon descends through the trees down a steep path and through a barbed-wire fence opening. The north end of the lake is part of a rangeland where cattle still graze and come to the lake to drink. Right now the trees are full of yellow-rumped warblers gleaning insects from the new spring leaves. Coots cackled and squawk down in the reeds and we spy a green-winged teal dabbling in the shallow water.

We haven’t gone far before it is time to head back to the visitor center for our boat tour. As we are fastening our life-jackets someone rushes in from the deck to inform us a gray hawk is flying overhead. Park Rangers and visitors alike crowd through the doorway and spill out onto the deck, binocs raised to catch the sight of the gray soaring above the lake. In the trees surrounding the visitor center the great-tailed grackles whistle and call. Red-winged black-birds trill, and broad-billed hummingbirds hover at the feeders suspended from the roofline.

A group of 6 passengers, including Kathryn and I head down to the dock to take our seats on the flat platform-like boat. The volunteer naturalist leading the tour is a guy named Larry from Colorado. Ken, the ranger we met earlier is driving. A group of 4 other women birders sits at the front of the boat while Kathryn and I take our place at the back near Ken. Ken and Larry have laminated pages from Sibley’s Bird Guide of the most likely species to be seen on the lake inserted into a 3 ring binder to make it easier for all of us to look up field marks. We head out of the cove past fishermen lining the banks or out on the lake in their own boats. The campground is full for the weekend with people everywhere.

Out on the lake the first bird we see is an eared grebe paddling away from the boat, then diving beneath the surface. We find another near the shore with its tiny head, red eyes, and black “ears”. The birds are still in their winter plumage and have not acquired the gold ear feathers of their breeding plumage as of yet. Ahead of us at the north end of the lake a group of 25 or more Neotropic Cormorants are roosting on some willow snags in the water. Larry and Ken set about telling us that Neotropic cormorants are the most likely species to be seen here, however, they are not easy to distinguish from double crested cormorants. They proceeded to tell us that Neotropic cormorants have longer tails, are slightly smaller, and the bare skin patch at the backs of their bills is pointed instead of curved. There are a couple of larger birds that we wonder if they were Double-crested Cormorants, but in the end the consensus is that all were Neotropic. I have no complaints about this as I have seen Double -crested Cormorants from New England to Utah, but these are a new species and a life bird for me.

The boat slowly churns about the lake along the shore line. Patagonia Lake is really a manmade reservoir created by damming Sonoita creek. The lake is long and narrow with many hidden coves and arms. Along the western border we spot some black-crowned night herons roosting in the trees, but they are so far in and the boat so shaky that I don’t attempt a photo. The winds really start to pick up while we were on the water. Someone exclaims, “An osprey!” and all binoculars point skyward. We can hardly believe it when the hour is up and we have to return to the shore, but after a quick lunch purchased from the little convenience store in the park, Kathryn and I are really to go at it again and we head back to the north end bird trail.

This time we meander down the path through the mesquite and willows. Green-winged teals, dabble in the shallow water near the reeds. Yellow-rumped warblers bustle about the tree tops. Vermillion flycatchers are in profusion with a new one around each corner. We count 11 in all, including a mating pair. In the tangled vines atop a small tree we find a nesting pair of Lesser Goldfinches. Then, as we rounded a corner we come upon some bridled titmice bustling among the treetops covered in yellow pollen.

At the west side of the north end of the lake we have a clear view of the water again where ruddy ducks and northern shovelers share the water with the cormorants we saw from the boat. While we are watching the cormorants we hear a sound of flapping wings and look up to see a great-blue heron flying up from the reeds. It's slow heavy wing beats soon carry it above the lake to some other hidden feeding ground among the reeds.

Where Sonoita creek tumbles into the lake a Green Heron flies up and off into the woods. We try to follow it for a better view as Kathryn has never seen one before, but it circles around just ahead of us to land back at the creek mouth again. By now the winds are gusting and we decided to head back to our car. As we head back on the trail we spot a yellow warbler high in the willows, our first for this trip. I keep searching for a black phoebe for Kathryn for some other birders we met had seen one, and this is prime habitat for them. We are almost back when we finally spot one near the water's edge. On our way back along the trail a golden heifer crosses our path to drink from the shallow lake end.

Nearby a cinnamon teal floats unconcerned with the heifer's presence.

As we ascended the trail up the bluff we pause to photograph two white-tailed does walking along the ridge above us. While we never saw the Elegant Trogon, we did record 52 species of birds today.

It is late afternoon as we head back towards Sonoita and home, but on the way we pull off Main Street in Patagonia to check out Paton's Bird Haven, a spot every birder and park naturalist told us about today. Apparently the Patons feed the birds in the back yard of their modest home near Sonoita Creek Preserve, a Nature Conservancy Property. We find their home on a dirt road just past a wash on the left, as we were told it would be. At first we were timid about entering someone else’s backyard, but then we see other birders in the backyard looking through binoculars and scopes, so, we park the car, grab our gear, and walk across the front yard to the back.

In the backyard are park benches set up under a crude awning. When I see the set-up, I can't help but think that the bird watchers are being watched! Meanwhile, people walk about quietly or sit on the benches with binocs and scopes. As we enter through the gate we see a white-breasted nuthatch making its way down a tree to a nearby feeder, but we are quickly distracted by the humming birds buzzing around the numerous nectar feeders suspended along the roof line and from trees.

“Rufous on C” someone calls out, and we quickly lock on it. There is a Rufous Humming bird shining like copper in the sun. Numerous broad-billed hummingbirds hover over the feeders or sit at various ports drinking nectar. The rufous soon flies off but then the most elegant hummingbird I have ever seen alights on a perch and starts to sip nectar up its broad red beak.

It is a Violet-crowned hummingbird, another lifer for me as well as for Kathryn. We watch amazed as hummers flit from feeder to feeder. I take as many shots as I can sitting quietly on the bench. Then at the far end of the yard Kathryn spies lazuli buntings on a feeder over there. I creep up to a nearby tree, using it to shield my presence, and snap off a few photos from this position. While I have seen lazuli buntings in Utah before, at Kathryn’s house as a matter of fact, this is the first time I have seen one here in Arizona.

One by one the others leave as the afternoon shadows grow longer. Soon only Kathryn and I are left and we stuff a couple of dollar bills in the “sugar fund” box before we leave. In Sonoita we pass easily through the Border patrol checkpoint, then turn north on highway 83 towards home. We are exhausted and the sun is setting as we finally turn into Sycamore Canyon, but this trip was well worth it and I can’t wait to go back again. The Elegant Trogon is just waiting for me there. I know it!

5 Days of Birding: Day 3 Sycamore Canyon Wash

On Saturday afternoon Kathryn and I had a meeting to attend, so Saturday morning we headed out to the big wash across the street. We are late getting out the door and as we walk down the driveway the air is scented with the blooming sweet acacia trees that live in my front yard. Their blossoms are bright yellow puff balls that glow against the cerulean blue sky like a thousand miniature suns. However, the real sun is already beating down on us with a vengeance, but a cool breeze riffles our hair as we access the trail at the top of the cul de sac. I want to show Kathryn Sunset Point, which is a spot high above the wash where I can see far out to the west towards Green Valley and Sahuarita. The scarred mountainside from the Coppermine is visible, but so is the beautiful Sonoran Desert. From this vantage point I can look down into the wash or across the landscape to watch the sun as it sets in the west. Here, too, are where the Saguaro Sentinels stand and I search the many holes for signs of the purple martins that nested here last year. At that time the houses had not been built this far up the road, but now the cul de sac is full and the martin homes are empty. Are they scared off by the close proximity of humans, or have the just not returned yet this year? I will keep watch over the next 2 months to see.

Some improvements have been made to the trail with some access points landscaped and inviting you in for a stroll. I haven’t been out here in awhile and I am delighted to discover that steps have been added to a steep slope washed out by last year’s Monsoon. Right by these steps someone has placed a bird feeder shaped like a cat’s head in a tree. An unknown sparrow hopped out the opening with a small seed in its beak, took a look at us unimposing women and hopped back in for more. Simultaneously I realize that I do not recognize this sparrow species, and I forgot my camera! We watch the little sparrow through our binoculars trying desperately to memorize all the field marks: un-streaked breast, dark line from the corner of the eye, rusty cap, but not solid. Darn! He flew away! Was it a chipping sparrow? It didn’t look quite right. A rufous winged? No. It only had one malar strip, not two. Could it be a rufous crowned? I wish it was, but they are really secretive and shy and I have never seen one. It’s hard to believe one would be at a bird feeder. Well, since I am not a sparrow expert yet and I didn’t get a photo, we will never know. We walk down the steps and head right back home for the camera since we are not far away.

We cross the street and head into the wash once again. Just a few days ago I discovered the new access through the barbed wire fence that was put up last fall. A”Y” shaped opening has been created allowing us to walk through, yet still restricting motorized vehicles. A great compromise! We pass through this opening into another world.

Kathryn and I headed up the wash to see if we can find any new birds. Gambel’s quail are slinking and calling down among the scrub brush. We find a Verdin and some black-throated sparrows. A tiny gray bird flits among the mesquite branches. We both try to fix our binoculars on it but it keeps the twigs between us and it. I catch a glimpse of a rusty butt, Kathryn a peek at its head. Flash! Rusty upper-tail coverts! Flash of gray, flash, Streak! Darn you bird, stay still! But that cinnamon colored rump is distinctive I find out later, a Lucy’s warbler and a life bird for us both! No photos however. That thing moved too fast and in such dense cover.

We wander up through gravelly sand, then turn and head back down the other side of the wash. Three ravens fly overhead annoying a turkey vulture, but it is a lazy game. Then we hear and spot a crested flycatcher with a rusty tail. Every time we get a clear view it flies farther down the wash. I am never close enough for a clear shot with the camera. We debate about whether it is an ash-throated or a brown-crested. I had mostly seen brown-crested flycatchers here last year, but would that hold true for this year? I will have to wait and see. Thrashers, cactus wrens, and Gila woodpeckers are the most abundant birds we see today and I didn’t get a photo of one of them. So much for going back for the camera! Still, I am glad to discover I am no longer fenced out of the wash. I can just walk right in. We counted 15 birds in all but we have big plans for tomorrow!

5 Days of Birding: Day 2, Saguaro National Park East

We told ourselves we would take it easy the next day, but we were both up at sunrise and out the door by 8:30. I drove Kathryn to Saguaro National Park East where we decided to hike the Freeman Homestead Trail instead of driving the 8 mile loop road. I had seen a great horned owl nesting in a hole in the cliff when I first hiked here at this time last year and hoped to find it again. Blacked-throated sparrows tinkled a welcome as we stepped from our cars and started down the trail. In the distance a cactus wren cackled noisily from atop a cholla cactus. Ahead of us we spied some birds, all in the same general area. In the foreground a curved-billed thrasher sat atop the bare branches of a dying tree. Nearby a loggerhead shrike clung to an ocotillo in bud, while in the distance a gilded flicker perched atop a saguaro. Later on I would discover there were actually two flickers on the saguaro when I enlarged the photo I took at home. One was hiding on the backside of the saguaro with only the edge of its head showing. Perhaps a nesting pair? They do nest in holes excavated in the tall saguaros. The saguaro soon heals the wound created by this excavation forming a woody “boot” inside that lingers even after the saguaro has died. It is possible to find these “boots” on the desert floor or for sale in garden shops and at farmer’s markets by those fortunate enough to find them.

We descended the dirt trail down to the level of the wash where the former Freeman adobe cabin had stood on a little rise above the wash. A large Palo Verde now shades the empty foundation of a former life. In this tree a Gila woodpecker laughed at the morning while we walked calmly past. Here the path is hard packed caliche, but down in the wash the shifting sands slid beneath our feet. A flash of red caught my eye as I saw a cardinal fly from a bush into even thicker cover and out of sight. I scanned the walls of the sand cliff above us for the owl, but all the holes were empty, save for some busy bees that have made a hive in one hole. I wondered if they could be Africanized bees, which are quite prevalent around here. However, they were far above our heads and we had no intention of molesting them. We padded onward.

Up the dry wash we walked looking for all the birds we were hearing. A ladder-backed woodpecker flew to the Palo Verde the Gila was in. The buzzy call of a gnatcatcher caught our ears and then its form caught our eyes. I was surprised to see a blue-gray gnatcatcher as black-tailed are the more common variety around here. Along the wash we found a canyon towhee hiding in the scrub. Bell’s vireo and Hutton’s sang and hopped among the new leaves emerging from mesquite and other trees. A small flycatcher sat on a branch before us and I was at a loss to identify it. I took a photo to examine at home and decided it was a gray flycatcher due to its shape, colors, habit and habitat. So many of the flycatchers are so difficult to distinguish unless you hear them call and know their voices.

We’d been down on the trail for a couple of hours with the sun growing stronger by the minute. We hiked back up to the street level and drove to the Javalina Picnic Area to have a cool drink of water and eat our snacks in the shade of a covered picnic table. While we sat there chatting and discussing what birds we had seen and what to do next, a canyon towhee hopped out of the bushes and towards our picnic table totally at ease with us sitting there. Gambles quail darted across the path from one side and then back to the other. Then, a rock squirrel came creeping out of the brush and rippled across the dirt with a mouth full of something bulging its cheeks out to the max. I have seen this elusive species of squirrel twice before but was unable to snap a photo. This time I was close enough and quick enough to get a good shot of this unusual animal.

We relaxed in the shade of the covered picnic table for about twenty minutes, then decided to head for Aqua Caliente Park, where we could bird from the shade of the palm trees looking out on cool waters. When I was there in January I counted 30 species of birds. Since it was the middle of the day on a Friday, I thought it would be relatively quiet, but I was mistaken. As we drove into the parking lot I saw 4 or 5 buses parked around the lot. Several loads of school children, families and others roamed the paths and filled the picnic tables. My vision of a shady and quiet birding experience at a desert oasis was quickly shattered. We took a quick walk around the park and counted only 13 species with the highlight being Kathryn’s first Phainopepla near the parking lot and a Verdin pair going in and out of their nest in a 200 year old mesquite tree which is walled off to protect it. This particular mesquite is rumored to be the oldest living mesquite in “The Old Pueblo” as Tucson is called. Its many weighty arms are held up by steel poles and brick supports. It makes a perfect private area for nesting birds and we watched them from outside the wall without disturbing them. The Verdin make a ball shaped nest lashed between twigs with an entrance hole at the bottom. If they don't like this particular nest they will just build a new one until they have constructed one that is suitable. Verdin are a small gray bushtit with a yellow wash on their heads. Their shoulders sport tiny red epaulettes that are not always visible. Verdin eat insects, drink nectar and sometimes visit hummingbird feeders. Other than when they are nesting, they are a solitary bird and never seen in flocks like other bushtits.

We headed home for a late lunch with a total of 23 bird spotted at the Freeman Homestead Trail, 6 at the Javalina Picnic Area, and 13 at Agua Caliente Park.

5 Days of Birding: Day One, Madera Canyon

On Thursday, March 27 I picked Kathryn up from the Tucson Airport. While she drove to the Salt Lake City airport in a snow flurry, she arrived to sunshine and 80 degrees here in Tucson. We drove home through the Sonoran Desert, past cactus, mesquite, Palo Verde and acacia. Wildflowers bloomed in profusion painting the roadside a rainbow of colors. Once home she settled her stuff in her room, changed her cloths to suit the weather, and we were off to Madera Canyon.

We parked at the Madera picnic area and started our hike along the creek towards the amphitheater where Jean, my naturalist friend, had told me she had seen Montezuma Quail a couple of days before. It wasn’t long before we found some acorn woodpeckers and Kathryn was adding new species to her life list. While we never found the Montezuma quail, we did find an Arizona woodpecker on a tree near the road.

The Arizona woodpecker is our only brown woodpecker. Its range is mostly in the mountains of Mexico but it extends into the United States here in Arizona due to the fact that woodpeckers don’t observe international boundaries. Its favored habitat is mountainous oak woods. Similar to the Hairy woodpecker but with a shorter tail, we found this female clinging to the side of a live oak tree chipping away at the bark. It seemed unconcerned with our presence and went about its business of ripping off chunks of bark and examining the underside. I watched amazed at the contortions of its head as it twisted its neck to listen or peer under the bark. Then, it would hammer away at the trunk, stop, reach in with its bill and gobble something up, then start the process all over again. This was only my third time seeing the Arizona woodpecker and certainly the longest and best view I have ever had of it. We watched it work for 15 minutes or more, then finally left it to forage as we continued down the road to our car.

From there we followed the road to the top and then down to the Proctor Trailhead. I have often seen ladder-backed woodpeckers in this area as well as warblers along the creek. Before we even parked our car we saw two canyon towhees hopping about under the trash bin in front of us. We disembarked and headed down the trail through the charred remnants of a fire that happened in this area a couple of years ago. Blackened ocotillo scraped the pale blue skies, charcoal mesquite trees contorted leafless in the fields. A barrel cactus scorched by flames was a spineless ribbed ball sitting on the ground amidst dried grasses that are springing back to life.

Down by the sycamore tree along the creek the yellow-rumped warblers merrily searched the newly sprouted leaves for insects. We searched the treetops for a black-throated gray warbler and finally found him. Then we continued across Proctor Road and up the trail to where it a canyon towhee called from a bush near the creek. I had never wandered up this far before and marveled at the white rock as the water tumbled over it. Over time the water has carved it into such interesting sculptural shapes and it gleamed like white satin in the late afternoon sun.

Farther down the trail looped through a wooded meadow and the afternoon was silent. Here the silence and shadows engulfed us in quiet and we walked peacefully along the trail, each lost in her own thoughts. It was almost like you could feel geologic time and I felt the briefness of my life and the ghosts of the past in that place.

Soon we saw motion ahead and I awakened from my reverie to see what was hopping about on the ground. A small flock of pink-sided juncos was searching for food in the undergrowth. We watched them with their dark eyes and pink bills poking among the grass and stones, and then we headed on down the trail and back to the parking lot. We were almost there when the ladder-backed woodpecker showed up. It clung to an ocotillo branch and drummed against its thorny side before flying off to another farther away from the path. It was a good first day of birding with Kathryn adding three woodpeckers, a Mexican jay, and a broad-billed hummingbird to her life list.

Driving Back to Coolidge

On the dry and dusty Saturday between Good Friday and Easter I head back to Coolidge to finish painting the baby’s mural. I know the next few weeks will be busy and the baby could come at any time. Since Gus has to work, I am suddenly struck with a painting mood. I pack my bags and drive north. Traffic is thick enough heading north but the south- east bound lanes of I-10 are virtually stopped as I drive by. Later I find out the hold-up was due to the police chasing a murder suspect from Phoenix to Tucson. Meanwhile, I concentrate on my side of the highway and watch for Picacho Peak to appear in the front windshield, which means I am getting close to getting off this gray ribbon of asphalt. At exit 111 I head north past fallow fields where cotton grew over the winter. In some fields green oceans of grass hay are blowing in the breeze today. Parallel to the road a wide irrigation ditch flows with muddy water. At various points smaller ditches break off to deliver this precious resource to farmland. In the distance I see a charcoal gray column of smoke rise at the edge of one of these smaller irrigation ditches. Along the bank I can see the tangerine colored flames licking the dirt and devouring weeds. In this way farmers control the spread of weeds into their fields of crops. In the dry dust of the flat and vacant farmland two dust devils swirl fifty feet into the air before dissipating in the empty blue sky.


As soon as I arrive at the house I unpack my paints, set up the boom box and get to work. I paint sand, birds, and grass to the songs of Norah Jones, John Denver and James Taylor. Then, to mix is up I listen to Trisha Yearwood and Colin Ray. It’s a funny thing about painting that often I think it’s all coming out wrong, then I walk away and come back to say, well, that’s not so bad after all! Every painting gets to a point where it’s just time to stop or you’ll make it worse. I stop and take a break. I thought I was done. I was going to head home but there is this one area I really don’t like, and…

Well, before I know it I am painting again. I fixed the area I wanted to, which was the grassy bank alongside the lighthouse, but then I messed with the sand a little too much for my liking. I may have to come back one more time to fix the sand and paint wildflowers on the grass, but for now the mural is done and the baby can come if it wants to! At least the parents can rearrange baby furniture now!

On Easter morning I take a short walk in the early morning sunlight. I discover wildflowers in the desert where the kids walk their dogs. Beyond the chain link fence around the schoolyard a lavender blanket of flowers covers the ground. From the rooftops the great-tailed grackles whistle sharply, piercing the calm Sunday morning with their shrill calls. Mourning doves coo from walkways and walls, or fly past my head at warp speed. Last time I was here I did a bird count. Great-tailed crackles and mourning doves rule this old cowboy town. However, I did find a nesting Anna’s hummingbird in an aspen tree near a playground, as well as an orange –crowned warbler and a red-shafted flicker in a newly landscaped water retention basin. The flicker looked so lost as it searched for food and refuge in its greatly diminished habitat.

Off Northern Ave an old farm still stands with livestock and barnyard birds still in residence. The crowing roosters awakened me the first night I slept here, but the use of a fan soon drown out their morning calls. Beyond the farm a brand new neighborhood has sprouted like wheat from the fields. It is lined up on the eastern edge of what's left of the farmland and on the western side the older section of town stares back. I've no doubt the new homes will creep across the remaining grass until the two sides of town are nose to nose. I stand at the corner and look at fallow fields and dilapidated barns but as I turn to head back perfect landscaping greets me at the corner of the neighborhood. This agave plant is spouting an asparagus shaped bud that will soon tower over my head in bloom.


Today I point my vehicle southward and home. Once more the gray asphalt ribbon spreads before me. As I drive past the Arizona Children’s home on Rt. 87 I see large black birds in old dead trees near the road. As I pass by I suddenly realize they are vultures and I am tempted to go back and take pictures, for I do have the camera with me, but I was up until 2:30 this morning and I am anxious to beat the traffic and get home to Gus. Farther down the road I notice perfectly square bales of hay strewn across one of those green fields I saw yesterday on my drive up. With the sun slanting softly across the flat land illuminating the mountains beyond I actually did start to pull the car over, it was almost too much to resist, but at the last moment I speed up again and continue home. This photo of a green Easter sunrise lives only in my mind.

A Backyard Overhaul

My son called form Presque Isle, Maine just as I was starting to write this post to tell me he had to climb out a window to shovel all the new snow away from his front door so he could open it! This is further reinforcement of why we now live in Tucson, AZ. While they are breaking records for the winter’s snow fall up there, we are basking in 80 degree sunshine down here! This insect showed up on my stucco this morning. Apparently it is enjoying the warming temperatures also. I'm sure all his buddies aren't far behind! (What is he Doug?)

All my plans for going to Coolidge and finishing my mural went down the tubes on Wednesday when the landscapers showed up at 7 a.m. We’ve had a plan drawn up by Robert from Magic Gardens Nursery on 22nd street in Tucson. After discussing our ideas with him he tweaked our ideas and came up with what we considered the perfect plan for our backyard. Work wasn’t supposed to start until around April 1st, but another job they were working on was delayed, and thus I found myself in an unexpected frenzy.

The night before I moved most of my bird feeders and the bird bath to the side yard in anticipation of the coming chaos.

I snapped off some quick pictures of what it looks like before the transformation begins.

Sure enough, shortly after 7 a.m. on the 19th my backyard was full of 8 to 10 men using jackhammers and shovels to dig trenches for the footing for the intended sitting walls. The noise, hustle and bustle continued all day until 3 p.m. when they left for the day. However, the gas plumber came right as the masons were leaving to move our gas line for the gas grill. This needed to be done so the drain lines could be laid so the masons could finish their work the next morning.

At 7 a.m. on March 20 the chaos started once again. Further progress is made as the drain lines are laid and the footers for the raised patio are put in place. The block walls built yesterday are covered in stucco that will cure for a about 10 days before the workers return to put a texture on it and lay brick in a herringbone pattern for the patio floor. There will be plants in raised beds along the perimeter and a brick patio covering the entire area from doors to sitting walls.

In this area we will have a raise patio to put a bar height table and stools on. This will allow us to sit and look over the wall into the wash beside us as well as watch the summer sunsets. In the evenings we will be able to see the lights of Tucson in the gaps between the houses. We are doing the work in stages with the masonry going in first, and the plants later as the budget allows. Finally, when it is finished we will have a fountain where the birdfeeder pole is located right now.