We Saw It!

Nearly 4 years ago, we spent a few days parked at Patagonia Lake State Park in southern Arizona. When we went for a hike, we encountered people who asked "Have you seen it?" and said "We know where you're going. The word is out." We never saw "it" that spring. But yesterday we returned to Patagonia to go birding and we did see "it." It is an elegant trogon, a tropical bird that visits Patagonia during mating season.



In 2010, I wrote a blog post about birding and described it as "boring" and said we wouldn't be doing it often. Since then, we spent 3 months volunteering at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas and have developed a greater interest in birds and birding. That is why we traveled to Rio Rico this week.

We saw quite a few birds as we walked through the wooded area next to Patagonia Lake. There was a vermillion flycatcher.



a gray flycatcher



a great egret--always beautiful



This may be a hermit thrush.



I don't know what this little bird is.



I thought this bird was a northern mockingbird, but they are gray, not brown. So, unless the color came out wrong in the photo, I don't know what this is.



We also saw northern shovelers, green-winged teals and mallard ducks.

Tuesday, on our way south, we stopped at Madera Canyon just south of Green Valley. It is supposed to be an excellent birding area. We probably came at the wrong time of day (after lunch) so the only birds we saw were western scrub jays. We also saw some mule deer. There were four of them browsing in the canyon forest.



All in all, we had a fun time birding this week. It isn't boring, especially when you see new birds.

Hiking Sonoita Creek

Saturday we went hiking in the Sonoita Creek Natural Area next to Patagonia Lake. That required stopping at the state park's entrance station for a permit to go into the natural area. There is no charge for that permit.

We hike a loop of the Sonoita Creek Trail, Cottonwood Trail and Blackhawk Canyon Trail, about 2.75 miles total. We have never seen as many Ocotilla as we found growing near Patagonia Lake. It is almost a forest of the pretty cacti.



In places there were lots of pink flowers at the base of the Ocotilla.



We were glad to see quite a few poppies blooming, as well as mountains in the background.



As we hiked down to Sonoita Creek, we came to a forest of large trees. In places they were very dense.



We came on some of the biggest cottonwood trees we had ever seen. This isn't the largest, but I was able to get far enough away to be able to see the top of it.



We crossed Spillway Creek, which only had a little bit of flowing water. Patagonia Lake is full, but they aren't releasing water right now. The water flows over solid rock.



There is an area where they indicate a waterfall, but, with so little water, it was hard to tell.

At the top, we crossed the spillway. Here is John tiptoeing around the puddles.



We left Patagonia Lake on Sunday to spend two nights in Willcox.

Birding on Patagonia Lake

When you live full-time in about 350 square feet, having the outdoors as part of your home is important. The weather in Arizona is usually good enough to enjoy being outdoors. But what we have been missing in both Mesa and Casa Grande Ruins was being in touch with nature. On Tuesday we came to Patagonia Lake State Park in southeast Arizona and here we can really enjoy God’s creation.

We both enjoy seeing and listening to birds. But we are learning what it means to be birders. We knew that bird watching was a major activity here. Someone has spent a lot of time nailing quarter and half oranges to the trees. Here is a house finch enjoying that fruit.



Tuesday afternoon we walked the campground and I was carrying my camera. One woman said, “We know where you’re going. The word is out.” Our thought was “what word?” But we smiled and walked on. Wednesday we were walking toward the birding trail when a birder left the trail. On his way by he said, “The Trogon is right next to the trail.” We stopped him and asked for an explanation. It seems the Trogon is a colorful semi-tropical bird that occasionally visits this park during mating season. When we asked him to describe the bird, he did, then said if you see it and aren’t a serious birders, we are really lucky.

We walked slowly and quietly down the trail, passing others going both ways, doing the same thing. Everyone had binoculars and most people had cameras. This is a serious bird photographer.



This is John looking for birds in the marsh. We have decided this activity (or is it inactivity?) isn’t something we will do very often. Might I say b o r i n g?



We didn’t see the Trogon, but we did see and hear lots of birds, including the American Goldfinch, which we saw frequently last year in Montana. I got a picture of the Vermillion Flycatcher. This was a new sighting for us. Isn’t it beautiful?



Tuesday evening we had walked to the marina and saw lots of Turkey Vultures. Look at the red head.



Starlings are everywhere. Look at all of them lined up on the electric wires.



The park also has deer.



And cows.