PERSERVERANCE PAYS OFF!!

PATAGONIA LAKE STATE PARK

Another day of birding to see the Trogon, but this time we headed to Patagonia Lake State Park. The birding hotline said a Trogan had been seen there so we had to go, right? And we are so happy we did. We got the best look at him that we have ever gotten of a Trogon. You could see him with the naked eye and with binoculars it was fantastic. The pictures we took didn't turn out very well as he was in the shade and far enough away that our little camera couldn't get a good picture. The first two pictures below we took and then the third one is a picture out of a book so you can see what he is really suppose to look like. Isn't he beautiful!

We had a great day birding. We also saw a number of bulls and cows meandering through the scrub. We had to be careful where we stepped!

Bob is looking at Common Mergansers, Gadwalls and some Ringneck Ducks.

Other birds of interest we saw were: a Lazuli Bunting, Aberts Towhee, Violet Crowned Hummingbird, Rufus Hummingbird (he was beautiful), a Pine Siskin, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Common Moorhen, Ruddy Duck, Roadrunner, and an Eared Grebe just to name a few. All in all we saw 47 different species. What a day! Even Bob was ready to go home by early afternoon.

BIRDWATCHERS OR IDIOTS?

I have decided that birdwatchers are witless idiots. This includes Bob and myself! Case in point: Bob had read on a bird alert site that the Elegant Trogon had been seen at Kubo cabins in Madera Canyon. Soooo somehow he talked me into getting up at 5:30 a.m. today and taking a ride up there to see if we could see the Trogon. We stood around in the chill of the morning waiting for the Trogon to appear.

We weren't alone. As you can see quite a number of other witless people were there too.

The Trogon had been seen in the area near the above Paracantha bush. So we all stood for at least two hours watching this area. We did hear it call, but never did see it. It wasn't a total loss however, as we did see a Painted Redstart, a number of woodpeckers, a Whitebreasted Nuthatch, and a pair of Robins; plus we saw this flock of wild Turkeys. All in all we saw about 20 different birds, but alas no Trogon. But, being the witless idiot birdwatchers that we are, we are going back up this afternoon to see if we can see him. I'll keep you posted!

THE BIRDS

Since one of the things we love about Arizona is all the different birds, I thought I would show you some of the different birds we have seen lately.

A Brewer's Sparrow:

A couple of Acorn Woodpeckers:

A Cactus Wren investigating a peanut:

A Cactus Wren perched on a Saguaro Cactus:

Curved-billed Thrasher:

These were two Common Ravens that were sitting together on a rock. They look like they are just shadows:

A House Finch at our bird feeder:

A Gilded Flicker, which is different from the Northern Flicker we have in Idaho:

A Mexican Jay:

Lesser Goldfinches:

A Lark Sparrow:

Northern Mockingbird:

A Say's Phoebe which is part of the Flycatcher family: One of my favorites, a Phainopepla.

A Red-winged Blackbird:

And one of my very favorites, a Pyrrhuloxia (sometimes known as the Mexican Cardinal):