After arriving and getting our car, we headed to Sweatwater Wetlands for a bit of birding and walking. Great way to relax and get a bit of steps in after sitting in the car and planes. We were able to get 6 new year birds and so enjoyed our quiet walk around the wetlands. We checked into our hotel on the east side of Tucson, then walked to Texas Roadhouse for a bite to eat. We were not really too hungry so we had side salads and the rib appetizer, which was perfect way to end our day.
April 27 we got up early and headed out by 6:30 am for Madera Canyon, which is about 45 miles south of our hotel. We were able to get 28 new year birds and 8 new Life birds! Our 600 bird was a Scott's Oriole! Such great hiking and beautiful vistas.
The cactus are in bloom
the temps were very warm and the birding great. We got some Nocturnal birds, so we did not get back to the hotel until way after 9:00 pm. Very Very long day.. In between birding we did get our Friday Fish Fry in! Great catfish at a local restaurant in Green Valley.
April 28 Another early day as we wanted to head up the mountain. Mt Lemmon starts at about 3000 feet and goes up to over 9000 feet. Needless to say it was a cool morning as we began our trek up the mountain and got cooler as we kept going up. I was really bad by not taking a lot of pictures of the mountain. Two birds in particular eluded us, the Olive Warbler and the Virginia Warbler. We stopped at Agua Calinate park for a wonderful walk around the grounds. Dinner at El Charro in Downtown Tucson. Great food and service
4 more life birds including the cutest little Elf Owl! 14 year birds!
April 29 Since we got almost all of the life birds we headed back to Mt Lemmon to find a few more warblers. We did find the Olive Warbler! We went back to the Streaked Back Oriole stakeout but no bird! We tried to get the Oriole 3 different times but he would not show up when we were there. We did not feel too bad as another couple had been there 7 times without seeing him. Thats birding. Always a reason to come back.
Monday April 30 headed to Palm Springs. We arrived at about 3 pm. Went to Brother Ray's beautiful home. He has a great classical Palm Springs home with lots of floor to ceiling windows, on a golf course with 1 million dollar views of the mountains. After a nice walk around the grounds Ray grilled dinner while we caught up on whats been happening.
We ended the month of April with 608 life birds, 331 year birds and 171 month birds.
May 1: Eric and I got up early to go to Coachella Valley Preserve Where we got one new life bird, the MacGillvray"s Warbler! It was a bit cool in the morning on our walk but a wonderful place to see a lot of birds. Ray made us a nice lunch, for the evening we went to his friends home then out for dinner at Trio.
May 2: we got up early again and went to Big Morongo Canyon Preserve where we got number 610! Western Wood Pewee!
Another cool day, I borrowed some sweat pants and shirt from Ray for this mornings walk. We lucked out and joined a bird walk. The same people that were there 5 years ago were still leading the walk! We recognized everyone! How fun...
We got back to Ray's by 12:30 to go to the "Club" for lunch. it was still cool enough for a light coverup. We had hoped to eat outside but... too cool for us thin blooded people.
We relaxed and hung out at the house for the remainder of the day. So relaxing and peaceful.
Thurs May 3: our final day in Calif. Ray joined us on our walk to
it was a bit cool at the beginning of our walk.
We ran into a hiker that needed help, he was walking the PRT, beginning in Mexico. Ray volunteered to carry his pack to the ranger station.
the day warmed up very nicely.. Watch out for critters!
By the time we returned to Ray's it was Pool time!
We went to the Street Fair in Downtown PS for the evening. Having dinner at Johannes. The night was so nice we did not even need jackets! my kind of weather!
Friday May 4: time to leave the SW and head to MSP. We got back around 5:30. After checking into our hotel, we went for a bite to eat at Burgers N Brew right across from the hotel.
Saturday: Cinco de Mayo: after doing a bit of birding we headed to the May 5 celebration in St Paul. Great tacos and corn on the cob. We love looking at the tricked out cars and bicycles. Great day for a fair.
Then onto Sister Jenny's home for the Kentucky Derby Party. Needless to say I did not win again! It was fun to visit with friends and family.
Sunday: time to go home! We stopped to bird a bit at a few places, along with lunch at Portillos! Believe it or not we arrived home to NO snow! the lake is open, the grass is so green! so glad to be home.
Our trip added 15 new life birds, and 75 year birds! Of course we missed a few life and year birds but we are happy with our numbers..
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