Car problems

On Saturday, my friends Jacob, Tyler and Andrew invited me to come spend the day with them in the Huachuca Mountains.  They left my house (where they had stayed on Fri and Sat, but that's a whole other post) and drove over to Carr Canyon.  I had to stay for a high school group out from Tucson that I was taking Owling that night.  

Needless to say, the Owling went well. They all thought I was amazing after I pulled 3 species of owls out of 20mph winds and rain.  It was pretty cool. I almost thought we weren't going to do it, but the owls cooperated in the end. 

Anyway, I left Portal around 10:00 and arrived (after driving up the steep, narrow, winding mountain road) at the top of Carr Canyon.  Since I had arrived so late, I slept in late while Jacob and Tyler walked off to see their year Greater Pewee and Buff-breasted Flycatcher.

When I finally woke up, we walked up the trail in a futile search for Eastern "Azure" Bluebird. 

We did end up finding a Virginia's Warbler though. Interestingly enough, this bird is not at all common in the Chiricahuas and was a new state bird for me.   

Not finding the Azure Bluebirds, Tyler, Jacob and I decided to head to Miller Canyon. Andrew stayed to record flycatcher vocalizations. 

We dropped Tyler off at the Hummingbird feeders to wait for his lifer Berylline Hummingbird and walked up the canyon.  1 young male Black Bear and some Red-faced Warblers later, Tyler had seen his Hummingbird and we headed out. Over lunch, Tyler found out about a pair of Elegant Terns at a small city park in Tucson.  Needing that bird for my state list and for the year, I followed them down to the park. The small lake is surrounded by concrete shores but does have fish in it. It's the weirdest place I've ever seen an Elegant Tern: 

After seeing the Terns, I said goodbye to Jacob and Tyler and headed home.  Just outside of Tucson, I stopped in the small town (well, not even a town) of Vail to top off my tank.  After topping off the tank, I started the engine and it immediately started making a high pitched screeching sound. I quickly pulled forward into a parking place and popped the hood.  

I killed the engine and opened the hood. As I did, there came a cracking noise and the serpentine belt snapped clean in two right in front of me.  Well, you should have heard me curse my bad luck.  2 hours and several phone calls later, a tow truck came and took me and my car to a nearby mechanic. However, this was late on a Sunday afternoon so there wasn't anyone open. I booked a room at the nearby Holiday Inn and settled in for the night.  The next morning, I called the guy and had him look at the car. Fortunately, he managed to get to work on it right away. He called me back at about 4:00pm yesterday and said that he wasn't going to be able to finish but he would pay for a hotel room for that night. I settled right back in at the nearby Holiday Inn.  This morning, one of his mechanics accidentally broke the evaporator. Fortunately for me, they replaced it free of charge.  I'm rather glad because I'm sure I would have had to have replaced it someday anyway.  It did take longer though and now, I'm waiting for them to finish some minor repairs. My car should be ready very soon and I'll be on my way back to Portal after spending 2 more days in Tucson than I had planned.

Hopefully they did everything correctly. If they did, I should be able to drive the car all the way to Brownsville and back with no problems. I took some time and filtered down all the problems and it all seems to boil down to one cause. The A/C on the car has cause all of the problems I've had so far. Since the Serpentine belt runs everything, if one thing isn't working, nothing works.  

Now, the car has a brand new A/C system so it should work forever.  

Jacob and I leave for Brownsville in two weeks. We'll probably take my car now that I've replaced almost every moving part on it. It should work great right?  At least, I hope so! 

Til next time, Happy Birding! 

Whirlwind Birding Pt 3: Nogales to Phoenix, a nine lifer weekend

California Gulch

After the Five-striped Sparrows, our next stop was nearby Sycamore Canyon. 

Sycamore Canyon also runs to the border and doesn't get birded a lot so the potential for rarities is greater.  However, the rarest bird we found was our 3rd Thick-billed Kingbird of the weekend:

Since we had dipped on Flame-colored Tanager the first time, we decided to head to Madera Canyon to find it.  Madera was only a 30 minute drive north to we arrived rather early in the morning. As we drove in, a Botteri's Sparrow flew across the road and I spotted a Rufous-winged Sparrow sitting in a bush as we drove by.  We drove up to Madera Kubo, parked and got out. Less than 30 seconds later, Jacob spotted the Mr Flame as he came down to the jelly feeder. I managed to get a shot of him a minute later: 

A minute later, this Hooded Oriole also posed for his portrait: 

Having nothing left to do in Madera, I called my friend Tyler to see what he was up to. He said that he knew where there was a Common Black-hawk nest.  Tyler lives in Tempe but we had the whole day so we drove up to pick him up.  It was then that we found out that the nest was another hour's drive away.  We drove out to Sunflower, AZ where Tyler managed to pick out the nest. The hawk was sitting on it, in plain view:  

It was my 8th lifer of the weekend. 

After seeing the hawk, Tyler also mentioned that he knew where to find some Gray Vireos. Gray Vireo was a lifer for me so I readily agreed. 

We drove out to the vireo spot and stood listening.  We heard many Black-chinned Sparrows singing. I managed to get a few decent photos: 

The Sparrows were great, but our real target was the vireo. After listening and pinpointing one down the slope, we were able to get him to come in: 

Lifer #9 for the weekend! 

There aren't many places that I can get 9 lifers in one weekend. Southeast Arizona (until now) was one of them. 

We drove back to Phoenix and dropped off Tyler at his house. Then, Jacob and I continued on to Tucson where he had left his truck.  

As we drove along the road to the house, I spotted two hawks sitting on the wire. They didn't look quite right for Red-tailed though. I did a U-turn and went back. Sure enough, there were two Harris's Hawks sitting on the wire. While not a lifer for either of us, it was a decent year bird: 

I dropped off Jacob and drove home to Portal. I arrived home shortly after midnight, exhausted, but exhilarated after an amazing weekend of birding in Southeastern Arizona. 

It was quite possibly the best birding weekend I've ever had.  Jacob and I managed to actually see every rare or uncommon Mexican species known to exist in Southeast Arizona at the time! 

I never expect to have luck like that again any time soon. 

Anyway, til next time, Happy Birding! 

Whirlwind birding Pt 2: The rarest of the rare, section 2: tracking down the rarest nightjar in the country

After leaving Paton's house, we hopped it down to the Huachuca Mountains. 

The Huachucas have some of the best birding in Southern Arizona. They also had 3 birds that we were looking for.  Our first stop was at Beatty's guest ranch where we sat at the hummingbird feeders. Our target bird? Berylline Hummingbird.  The only one known to exist in the USA at the time.  We sat at the feeders for half an hour with no luck. Then, Tom Beatty Jr told us about a Flame-colored Tanager that had been reported farther up the canyon. We walked down the hill, across the canyon and up to the gate. We were just about to enter, when Tom yelled "Berylline's up!"  We ran back across the canyon and up the hill to the feeders. 5 minutes later, the bird came in again. It was a life bird for both of us! 

While we were sitting at the feeders, the bird that makes Beatty's famous also came in: 

This is one of 4 known White-eared Hummingbirds currently present in the USA. The population estimate is under 10 individuals throughout the USA. 

After seeing the Berylline, we hiked up Miller canyon looking for the Tanager.  This was the only Tanager we saw: 

A very beautiful male Hepatic Tanager.  Jacob and I figured out that if you crossed Summer Tanager and Hepatic Tanager, the only logical mixed name would be "Satanic Tanager."   

We figured on Satanic because if you cross "u" and "e", you get an "a" sound and Satatic Tanager doesn't sound good. Therefore it has to be Satanic Tanager. Cool eh? 

Our next stop was for one species Mary Jo's feeders at Ash canyon where were in and out in less than 2 minutes. We walked in and sat down and a female Lucifer Hummingbird flew in for a minute and then left. Being on a tight schedule, we also got up and left.  I don't normally like "twitching" birds but that one was necessary since it was only a year bird and nothing more. 

Having a little extra time, we headed to the San Pedro house where we picked up Say's Phoebe and Tropical Kingbird.  A check for the resident Barn Owl revealed that it wasn't home, and we couldn't stay and wait for it.  Having nothing else to look for in the Huachucas, we hopped on the road, headed to the famous California Gulch. Home of our both rarest sparrow and our rarest nightjar.  

After dinner in Nogales (The city that is home to the only US interstate highway that has mileages written in Kilometers instead of Miles) We arrived at California Gulch shortly after 7:30pm.  

We drove into the gulch and parked in the small parking lot next to another car (found out later it was Stuart Healy with some clients). As we pulled in, we could hear the nightjar calling from just up the hill. We walked up the hill and stood for a second to pinpoint it. I said "it should be right about here." and turned on the spot light at the same time. The bird was sitting in a bush a few feet off the ground, in plain view. You could see the Buff-collar without binoculars. The bird stayed for only a few seconds before it flew, but we managed to get spectacular views of it.  We turned right back around and drove out before it was properly dark.  On the way out, we hit the really steep hill. The hill had a lot of gravel on it which made it slippery. We made it almost to the top before the gravel took over and the wheels started spinning. Despite some fancy maneuvering, the car would not go any farther.  Jacob put it in 1st gear to no avail. The car was stuck.  I told Jacob to go push and hopped in the drivers seat. I know a few tricks for slick slopes. I backed the car slowly downhill (in the dark mind you) until it was slightly flatter and the put the car in 1st gear. Then I gunned it all the way up, zig-zagging 
as I did so to create more friction. Even so, I just barely made it over the crest of the hill, leaving Jacob in cloud of fine rock dust.  I hopped out and called to him so he could find his way out. The dust was so fine and thick that you couldn't see in front of your nose. 

Since the gulch is full of illegals, drug smugglers and crazy white guys at night, we spent the night in the nearby town of Arivaca where we picked up Cactus Wren as our 108th species of the day. 

We awoke at 4:30 on Sunday morning and drove back into the gulch. This time a bit farther than the Nightjar spot.  At the highest point of the road, we found two Five-striped Sparrows, just 8 feet down the hill:

The birds posed only for a second and then headed downhill.  Instead of driving to the Mexican border, we turned around and drove out again. This time, I drove and I put the car in 1st gear the entire way. We made it out unscathed. 

To be continued in Pt 3 of Whirlwind birding: Nogales to Phoenix, chasing a 9 lifer weekend.

Til next time, Happy Birding! 

Time flies like the birds

Botteri's sparrow

Wow. As I sit here at my laptop, late at night, I look at all that has happened. As time passes by on it's long, steady journey, with little notice to us, we notice it with great detail. We notice every little thing that has occurred within it's frame. How we all find ourselves doing things we used to dream of. I'm still pinching myself, making sure I'm not dreaming. I watch as my friends find jobs, get married, try to live their dreams, and find myself just as well off. 

I've been here in Arizona for nearly 3 weeks and find myself wondering where the time went. It seems like just yesterday I was driving through the desert and spotted the Ryolite cliffs from afar. 

When I came over the hill and spotted the mountains in front of me, it was almost like coming home after a long absence. Letting my gaze fall over the cliffs and canyons that I had come to know last summer. While it is a beautiful place, I can never truly call it home. For now though, it is home away from home and will do while I'm out here. 

As I drive into the canyon, I can hear the birds singing. Many familiar, some unknown to me. I would learn them all in time.  

I headed directly into the small town of Portal. The Quail called from the roadside, the Thrasher sang his jumbled tune, A Wren trilled from the mesquite bush as I rolled into town. It was all so familiar, so known, yet unknown at the same time. 

The days passed. I caught up on the songs of the western birds around me. They became my friends. Always in the same place, always dependable to be there. The Vireo in his mesquite bush, the Phoebe by her pool. The Owl always at his hole, watching all that goes on with a knowing gaze. 

It seems sometimes, as if I have known the mountains forever and have found their every surprise. Yet, I have barely begun to explore these mountains and will never know them as thoroughly as they would like. What is hidden in some forgotten canyon where human feet never tread, only the creatures themselves can say. 

One could spend a lifetime in these mountains and never even come close to knowing their secrets. I will settle for just skimming the top of their ancient knowledge. There are many other places on the planet that have yet to be explored to spend much time in one location alone. 

Tomorrow, I leave for the Huachuca Mountains. A range so similar to the Chiricahuas, that when people finally arrive here, they come for only 1 bird.  

Jacob Cooper and I will be spending Friday evening, Sat and part of Sunday morning searching the Huachucas for their superficial secrets and hidden birds. 

On Monday, I take Dave to the airport and he will fly out, leaving me in charge of the house, feeders and clients for the summer. What will happen this summer, one can only guess. Will I even end up back home? eventually.  One of my favorite verses, written by J.R.R Tolkien: "Roads go ever, ever on. Under cloud and under star, but feet that wandering have gone, return at last to home afar."  

We always return home at some point. The only difference being what we call home. 

I'll leave you with that thought. It is time to enter the land of never being and fantasy. 

Til next time, may you live your dream to it's fullest. We all attempt to do so. Few actually succeed.