Day 14 (ish)

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Today would be my last day in Arizona.  From my campground, I headed up to Incinerator Ridge on Mount Lemmon.  I wasn’t expecting to add much up here, but a few more looks at Arizona mountain birds would be nice.  I saw a few good birds here like Grace’s Warbler and loads more Yellow-Eyed Juncos, but I was able to add a Violet-Green Swallow to my list.

#400 Violet-Green Swallow

It was time to head down the mountain and leave Arizona.  I think, at this point, I’m done birding Arizona for a while.  I’ve gotten pretty much all the needed species with a few exceptions (Gilded Flicker being the biggest need).  I think birding another state will now give me better outcomes.

On to California.

Before I left, I did pick up one new mammal, the Harris Antelope Squirrel.  They were running back and forth across the highway for a good park of the trip.

First stop in California was the Salton Sea.  It’s a good birding spot – when it’s not 109 degrees outside.  Holy shit.  This sucked.  First off, the GPS, when you try to go to the Sonny Bono NWR, leads you to a field with no trespassing signs all around it.  Good job!  I finally got to the NWR after nearly an hour of wandering around and backtracking my paths.  Goal here was one stupid bird, the Yellow-Footed Gull.  It was about a half-a-mile hike to get to the gulls.  I was drenched with sweat when I got there.  My eyes were burning from the salt.  It took some looking, but I finally found them as well as a few California Gulls.

#401 Yellow-Footed Gull

#402 California Gull

Time to get out of Dodge.

From here, I headed on in to San Diego.  Good birds here.  Last year on my trip here I went to La Jolla Cove, where I promptly has a panic attack from how crowded it was.  Also, it was a punch in my humility button how unattractive I felt among the SoCal beautiful people.  This year. I went again.  No panic attack this time thankfully.  Did pick up a few birds though.

#403 – Brandt’s Cormorant

#404 – Heerman’s Gull

#405 – Western Gull

I also pick up California Sea Lion and Harbor Seal as well as California Ground Squirrel.

No panic attack here.  I’m good.  On to the campsite.

I intended to camp at San Onofre State Beach.  It’s a little farther north than I would have liked, but campsites in California are hard to come by.  Plus this site has showers.  I stunk by this point.

I got in just before the last light faded from the sky.  I was able to pick up a few more birds.

#406 – California Towhee

#407 – Wrentit

Not too bad of a day to pick up 8 bird species and four mammal species.

Day 13(ish)

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Today would be an easier day.  The previous day was a whirlwind.  There would’t be another like it.

I really had only one bird goal today.  It had been two, but one of those got taken care of the previous day (Elegant Trogon).  Today’s goal was Sulphur-Bellied Flycatcher.

Since I had slept in my car that night, I didn’t get the full effect of the dawn chorus, nor did I get any night birds.  Shame.  I really could have used a Flammulated Owl.

I was active by about 6:30 and headed down to the feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge.  I’ve birded these feeders numerous times, so I didn’t expect anything new.  I didn’t get any new birds, but i did get a new lifer mammal, a Yellow-Nosed Cotton Rat.  They were all over the bushes.

After about 30 minutes or so, I decided to head up the canyon to get my flycatchers.  I knew from my friend Steve that they would be all over the trail where the trogons were usually found.  It was another uphill hike.  I was really getting tired of these.  My calves won’t forgive me for a while.  Surprisingly, I heard Trogons barking before I found the flycatchers, but find them nonetheless I did.

#399 – Sulphur-Bellied Flycatcher (lifer #488)

It was time to leave Madera Canyon.  It was time to go the the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.  I love this place.  Granted, I don’t love the weather.  Middle of the day Sonoran Desert hot in late June = no bueno.  I pick up no new birds here, but am able to walk the grounds for about three hours drinking prickly pear iced tea and thinking about zoo design.

From here, I head to a place I had some reservations about: the International Wildlife Museum.  It’s run by the Safari Club, so it can be thought of as a shrine to big game hunting.  Only, it really isn’t.  It’s no different than the taxidermy displays at a natural history museum.  Except that these are better.  The diversity if enormous.  There are even a few mounts of extinct species (Passenger Pigeon and Pyrenees Ibex).  I’m more than a little interested in comparative ungulate taxonomy and have followed the proposed massive revision in ungulate taxonomy over the past few years with great interest.  A visit hear, to my mind, only confirms some of these splits in my mind.  For instance, wildebeest have been expanded from two species to 5 or 6.  This display shows the huge variation among populations.  If these were birds, birders would have split these years ago.

From here, I headed back in to Tucson.  I needed a rest, so I found a Starbucks.  Good thing I did too.  The monsoon season had started early.  There was a huge thunderstorm that rolled through.  For those keeping score, it has now rained on me every single day in the desert (both Chihuahuan and Sonoran).

I stay here a few hours and let the storms pass.

From here, I head up to Mount Lemmon.  Mount Lemmon is one of the tallest mountains in Arizona.  Some years, you can actually ski here.  I went up the mountain, only to realize that I was about out of gas, so I headed down the mountain.  I got gas and headed back up the mountain.  I found a camp ground, set up camp, then watched more storms roll in.  What gives Arizona?  Really?

I stayed in my car for a bit and waited for the storms to pass.  Luckily, these weren’t too bad.  I slept to the sound of Mexican Whip-poor-wills and Whiskered Screech Owls.