Well here we are in Tubac, Arizona for 2 months.  We found a lovely rental this year that is quite spacious and within walking distance to our Tuesday morning bird walk, the library and the pickleball court.

We also are just outside the main area of Tubac, which is an historical and arts community.

One of the things that this arts community has done this year is paint about 40 Javelinas that are all around the town.  Here are a few of them:

 

After getting a bit settled we have been busy with a number of things.  I had a few possibilities for painting jobs and some places to put my notecards for sale.  Last Wednesday I painted the door of one of the houses at Voyager RV park where I’ve done other murals.  It’s a bit of a drive up there but we also got to go to a few birding sights like Saguaro East NP which is nearby.  I have another job coming up but not sure when.

We found this jackrabbit at Saguaro East NP.

Black-throated Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow were plentiful there, too.

Our first Tuesday bird walk was rained out but otherwise the weather has been pretty nice.  We had a great picnic with lots of birds at Madera Canyon.  Got good looks at Townsends Warbler, Olive Warbler, Painted Restart among many others.

Acorn Woodpecker, Arizona Woodpecker and Hepatic Tanager.

Lesser Goldfinch, Mexican Jay and Oregon Junco

Yesterday we went to the San Pedro House just outside of Sierra Vista along with Lillian and Judy.  We walked the trails and had a picnic lunch.  Saw a lot of nice birds there including the Western Screech Owl that was there last year and I painted.

We had stopped along the way at Paton’s in Patagonia and saw a Blue Grosbeak, 3 Lazuli Buntings and a Broad-billed Hummingbird among others.  After San Pedro we went to Ash Canyon.  This is a wonderful place that used to be a bed and breakfast run by Mary Jo Ballator who sadly died this past year.  She, for years, created this bird sanctuary and loved having visitors come to see her wonderful birds.  Last year we were here and saw the Montezuma Quail that are so rare.  Fortunately it has been taken over to continue being run as a bird sanctuary.  It would indeed have been an enormous loss if this hadn’t happened.  There were lots of birds there including tons of Yellow-rumped Warblers coming to the feeders.

We stopped in Patagonia on the way back and found 22 Cassin’s Kingbirds in the trees in the town center.  This was a nice surprise.

We were all pretty tired after the long day but fortunately Judy’s husband, Don, called and said he had made a large pot of chicken soup and invited us all to dinner.  It was the perfect meal to have after the long day and ride and we got to meet their adorable new puppy Celtie.

That’s all for now.  More in a few weeks.  Hope you are all well wherever you are.