Butcher Jones Trail

We went looking for birds and stuff on Butcher Jones Trail at Saguaro Lake last week. It was supposed to be birdy. As usual, it wasn’t but it was nice anyway.

Osprey

We saw more butterflies than I’ve ever seen in one place, many groups of several.

Southern Dogface (open wings) and other Sulphurs 

Empress Leilia (a first)

Queen

Clark’s Grebe (lifer)

We saw this well-known guy with one foot in exactly the same place we saw him last November.

Great Blue Heron

More of the trail:

Saguaro Detail

Mesquite Bosque

We briefly stopped at Coon Bluff Recreation Area on the Lower Salt River on the way back, hoping to see some eagles, wild horses, something, but no luck. It was a pretty view, though, and the fall colors were beginning so it was worth the stop.

And now we’re on to December…

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November in Phoenix

Western Pygmy-Blue, smallest butterfly in North America

It’s been a glorious November, weather-wise, in Phoenix, following an equally glorious October.

Anna’s Hummingbirds, males

Verdins

Svengali in the sunny catport (formerly the carport)

Google in the sun

Lesser Goldfinch, male

Orange-crowned Warbler (“Tink”)

This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever bought and I think it cost about $3.99. This is Pink Muhly Grass (Regal Mist), a non-invasive grass. It was tiny when I bought it, looked like a little tuft of grass and I had to ask our yard guy to not mow it or pull it out. I planted it in the remainder of a stump of a tree we had removed. First photo shows it now in all its pink glory, 2nd photo is of the stump, 3rd photo shows it when first planted in March 2017, 4th photo shows it in November 2017. It has grown a ton since then.

Western Pygmy-Blue in Muhly Grass

Northern Mockingbirds

Lantana Berries, delicious to all

European Starling

Fiery Skipper

House Finch

And…my 44th yard bird species…who seems to have only hung around for a couple days:

House Wren

It was a very cute, tiny, curious, loud visitor. I wish I could have gotten a better photo before it took off…

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Old Beeline Highway

When SR-87, also known as the Beeline Highway, was widened in 1996, this older segment in the riparian corridor of Sycamore Creek near Sunflower was abandoned. Thus the trees and wildlife habitats are preserved and are much quieter (Arizonensis).

It was definitely quiet there, we only saw a couple vehicles that turned around when they reached a gate but we parked and walked past the gate for over a mile along the creek. We went by an abandoned Forest Service site with dilapidated buildings and broken-down fences. It was honestly kind of eerie and it started to give me the creeps after awhile so we eventually turned back. I do wonder what they plan to do with the whole area…

I got a photo of ONE bird the whole time. This is an area that is supposed to have a ton of birds, some of which we heard but never saw.

Canyon Towhee

The lack of wildife was disappointing but we did see some autumn colors along the way, something we don’t really experience in Phoenix.

Here are a few more sights along the quiet road.

Common Buckeye

Sacred Datura

Wild Poppy

Asters

False Garlic (?)

We could have eaten if we had been lost there.

Sundog

We turned right and headed home, an interesting yet somewhat disappointing day.

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Hello, October!

Desert Cottontail

Mexican Amberwing, female

Vermilion Flycatcher, female

October is a good month for Phoenix since the mornings and nights get cooler, although the days can still get hot. Right now, we have the remnants of Hurricane Rosa bringing us rain and clouds so it’s cooler than normal, high 70s-80s. Feels great after a long, hot summer.

The above photos were taken at Scottsdale Xeriscape Garden one day last week. I love the light there. I often see warblers there during migration but not this time.

The next few photos were taken yesterday at Desert Botanical Garden on a gloomy day. I mistakenly thought the birds would be out in full force but I was wrong again. There were a ton of Queens, though.

Queen Butterfly

Cactus Wrens

Gambel’s Quail, male

Sulphur with tattered wings

Verdin, mid-snack

I just don’t know where all the migrating birds are!!! I keep looking. The following photos were taken in our yard last week. The skippers are out in full force.

Fiery Skipper in Lantana

Svengali does Elvis

It’s definitely beginning to look and feel like Fall here. Happy October!

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Mingus Mountain

We went somewhere we’d never been before!

Mingus Mountain Vista overlooking Cottonwood

The only problem is that it rained and was threatening more storms the whole time we were there…

And those impending storms prevented us from climbing the fire tower, which would have been totally cool and now is one of my goals. We did spend about an hour with the very colorful fireguard, “Johnny Mingus,” and got some Smokey the Bear memorabilia. We hope to see Johnny again (and Smokey).

Mingus Lake (or Elk Well) was more like a puddle as the rain up there has been sparse but, oddly, there were people fishing.

They leave their lures.

There were meadows and wildflowers everywhere, something we don’t always see in the mountains.

And the birding wasn’t great or at least the photographing of birds wasn’t great with the cloudy skies. Plus they kept their distance.

Acorn Woodpecker

Spotted Towhee

The warblers are now heading south! Some will be wintering in Phoenix, others will be heading further down. Hope to see some in our yard soon.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warblers

Wilson’s Warblers, male and female

Western Bluebird overlooking a meadow

Target even though no hunting or shooting allowed

Tent Caterpillars everywhere!

Dark-eyed Juncos, Red-backed subspecies

Interesting to see ocotillos amidst the pines.

A perfect pine among the others…

…is really a cell tower.

I’d love to go back sometime on a sunny day.

Edit: I made a panorama out of the first 2 shots in this post.

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