PATAGONIA

On the birding sight Bob watches, there has been lots of postings about a rare sighting of a Blue-footed Booby at Patagonia State Park.  So early Sunday morning we headed off to see if we could get a glimpse.

I can't even describe how green the area is from all the Monsoon rains and the picture below doesn't do it justice.

We parked at the visitors center and walked down to the lake.  We weren't there more than two minutes and here it came.  It was a life bird for both of us!

Just to show how green the area is

I don't have a camera that can get up really close, but I did get a couple of okay pictures even though he/she was moving rather fast!

Bob watching the Booby, just before a dive

The picture below is a Great White Egret with a family of Turkey Vultures.

Bob waiting for the Booby to reappear.

On our way to Patton's where we were hoping to see a male Painted Bunting that had been seen there, I had Bob stop so I could take a picture of some flowers.  As I got out of the car I saw a bird I didn't recognize so I motioned for Bob and he got out and looked up - he became very excited as it was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  Another lifer for both of us.  (No picture unfortunately).

The Hummingbirds are migrating so there were dozens at the feeders at Patton's.  The Violet-crowned Hummingbird below was the highlight.  What a beautiful little guy! (sorry for the slightly fuzzy picture).

Below are other birds we saw - well ones I could get a picture of anyway.

Acorn Woodpecker

Zone-tailed Hawk

Cassins Kingbird

On the road to Patagonia, I spotted this old abandoned place with old abandoned vehicles - thought it made an interesting picture.

We had a great day with two life birds.  We didn't see the Painted Bunting, but now we have something to look forward to for another day.

SUNDAY EVENING - ANOTHER GET TOGETHER!

Scott and Yvonne had us all over for taco night last Sunday! 

We were suppose to get some monsoon storms that day, but as you can see the sky was a beautiful blue!

Scott checking out Bob's funny t-shirt!

We did what we normally do at our get-togethers - sit around and chat!

By the end of the evening, the clouds were building and made for a beautiful sunset.  But luckily no rain.

We had a great time and Scott makes the best shrimp-lime tacos! Muy bueno!

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE SILLS

A fun get together at Ron and Patsy's with good food; good friends; and exceptionally good weather (it is Monsoon season)!

As you can see from the pictures below, the sky was a bit cloudy, but very pleasant for an August night.

Towards the end of the evening the mountains turned pink. Elephant head in the background and the beautiful Red Mexican Bird of Paradise bush in the foreground.

We had an unexpected visitor while we were having cocktails, and Yvonne sort of freaked.  Having never been here in the summer she and Scott had never seen the Scarab Beetle - so I threw this picture in to show them there could have been a lot more than just that one.  I took this picture a few years ago and as you can see there were quite a few eating the cactus fruit.

We had a lovely evening; and Ron promised not to put everything we talked about in his blog!