Well I finally got to play some pickleball for a few days.  The weather was okay and I met some nice people who play about my level, some better, some not as good, but it was a lot of fun.

The birding group has been working over the past few years to create a Tubac Nature Center at the Community Center.  They had a grand opening on Wednesday, Feb. 13th.  It is still a work in progress but about a third of the exhibits are up and it looks great.They are also sponsoring walks and talks now and is a nice asset for Tubac.

On Valentines Day we went out to dinner with two other couples who we know from the birding group.  Really nice dinner with great company.  

The next day our friends Lillian and Judy wanted us to help them find the Whiskered Screech-Owl so we all went to Madera Canyon.  Got some great birds including Townsends Warbler and Townsends Solitaire and lots of Western Bluebirds. We also spent 15 to 20 minutes watching the Elegant Trogon move down the canyon and perch really close to us. 

 

The owl unfortunately had found a new perch for the day.  That evening we all went out to dinner along with Judy’s husband Don.  Another fun time.

On Saturday we went up to Tucson to meet our friends from Grand Junction who were staying there.  We started at Sweetwater Wetlands which is a water treatment facility that has become a wonderful birding spot and education center.  Our best finds for the morning were a Sora Rail

 

 and a Virginia Rail.

There were also a couple of Raccoons that walked by in front of us as well as some ducks and turtles.

  Then we had lunch and went up to Tohono Chul botanical garden.  We caught most of a tour which was very interesting.  It’s quite an extensive collection of native plants. These pictures are provided by Donna as Denny left the camera in the car.

On Monday Donna and Tom moved down to Tubac and came over for dinner.  Our casita is quite small so it was kind of like camping, fitting everyone in with a few borrowed chairs and tables but we managed. They came down from Grand Junction to get some warm weather and what we got was cold and that night it snowed!.  Since they only had a few days we endured the cold and went forward with out plans for outdoor activities.  

On Tuesday we started our Tubac bird walk at 33 degrees.  There were 13 brave souls who made it out there.  The sun was shining so it wasn’t too bad until the wind picked up at the end as we walked across a big field.Then we decided to take our picnic lunch up to Madera Canyon. Bad decision!  Since it’s at a higher elevation (4056 feet) there was snow everywhere and most of the picnic benches were wet. 

We did find one area that had a pavilion with a roof over it so the tables and benches were dry but too cold to sit on so we picnicked standing up in the sun!  The snow-covered mountains around us were beautiful.  Needless to say,we ate quickly! We then moved up to Santa Rita Lodge where we got to see lots of birds, including 13 Wild Turkeys. 

We looked for a while at the berry-filled pyracantha hoping to find the Trogon for Tom and Donna to see but didn’t. We did see lots of Hermit Thrushes though.

We did see a beautiful Painted Redstart and a Red-naped Sapsucker.  We decided to go down lower and try our luck at Proctor where we were greatly rewarded.  Folks had said they’d seen the Trogon, the White-throated Thrush and the Whiskered Screech-Owl was back at the tree where we saw it before so we went to find them all.  First we found the Screech-Owl and then had great looks at a Townsends Warbler.

That gave them two life birds.  We walked around some more looking for the other two with no luck so we started our way out to the car.  Denny had left before us and we found him again on the path with another birder looking at a bird he couldn’t quite make out.  It finally was visible enough to see that it was the White-throated Thrush! —Life bird number three for them.  Our birding done for the day we decided we deserved a treat for dinner and went to Elvira’s in Tubac.  It’s rated the best in the area and it truly was.  They have at least 5 different varieties of Mole among other things like delicious seafood all prepared with great seasonings.  

It was slightly warmer the next day and the sun was out all day so we traveled down to Patagonia Lake State Park hoping once again to find them an Elegant Trogon.  There were lots of birds around the visitor’s center where they had feeders all around.  We got to see Broad-billed and Anna’s Hummingbirds and our first-of-trip Pyrrhuloxia among a lot of other birds. 

We walked over a very steeply arched bridge looking for waterfowl and found some.

 

Then we went on the birding trail which starts out with an overlook of the Lake and some benches with feeders in front of them.  We could see lots of ducks, cormorants and Eared and Clark’s Grebes and Common Mergansers.

Then we went down to the lake on the trail and kept running into other birders who all seemed disappointed not to find the Trogon.  There were plenty of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and lots of different flycatchers including a beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers but not much of excitement. 

Then we walked back up to the feeders and found a beautiful Lazuli Bunting which was a real treat. 

We decided this time not to deal with the picnic and went into the town of Patagonia for lunch then on to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds where there were no Hummingbirds to see.  We did however see some Gambol’s Quail, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, Inca Dove and another Lazuli Bunting among the other birds.  We thought that we hadn’t seen that much that day but it turned out we had 52 species for the day—but who’s counting?

As you have probably figured out the weather has not been great lately. In fact I think it’s the coldest February we’ve ever experienced here but it seems to be the case all around the country.  Wednesday it rained most of the day and it’s predicted to either rain or snow tonight and rain all day on Thursday.  Donna and Tom left this morning after brunch and walking around Tubac with them. 

It started to rain here about an hour later and continued most of the day and evening.  But there is light and sunshine at the end of the tunnel.  After Thursday it is supposed to get warmer and by mid week will back up to the 70’s.  And although it’s been cold here it’s still warmer and less snowy than back home. 

And this morning as we were leaving to meet Donna and Tom this guy was sitting on our fence! The farm on the other side of the road raises them and they sometimes come to visit.

 

I wrote this last night and woke up to the following this morning:

I don’t think it amounted to an inch where we are but they closed schools and up above 5000 ft. they had up to 34″.  Tomorrow will be a better day weather-wise!