2015 Wrap Up

2015 was a very eventful year for me. I retired at the end of August, my Dad passed in August, and I had both lots of time to travel and tried to accumulate a Pierce County year list. Here were some of the birding highlights: Pierce County: I got to know Bruce Labar much better Read More…

Wrapping Up SE Arizona

Today was getaway day for Bruce and me from SE AZ and we made it a pleasant day of birding prior to our flight. Tucson does it right with their waste-water treatment. The Sweetwater Wetlands is a wonderful nature area associated with the STPs there. The wastewater is treated, filtered through an elaborate series of Read More…

A Rotarian at Kiwanis Park, Mesa,AZ

Today was a beautiful day in AZ. We had our 6 AM breakfast at the hotel, then off to Florida Canyon-lower to look for Black-capped gnatcatcher and Rufous-capped warbler. The BCGN are year round residents and we found them pretty easily once the sun came up and got things moving. Prior we found a pair Read More…

Day 3 AZ: No Lifers but a Great Day Afield

Today was another beautiful day, temps in the low 70’s with gusty 15 mph winds in the AM, less by PM. Our targets today were Montezuma Quail and Rufuous-capped warbler at Hunter Canyon and Plain-capped Starthroat at the Mendoza Alley stakeout in Patagonia. 0-3 on these but had a great day anyway. Hunter Canyon was Read More…

First 33 Hours in Cochise County, AZ

Bruce Labar and I are making a 5 day blitz of SE Arizona. We left SEATAC on a 5:15 AM flight to Tucson Sunday, got to Tucson in time to get a car and dash off birding. We copped a Vermillion Flycatcher from the shuttle-stop at the airport waiting for a ride to to Payless Read More…