Birding in Arizona Part I

Spring is here! As I look out upon the snow, I think back to just a few months ago and the warm temperatures in Arizona: swimming in the heated outdoor pool, walking Maggie in the mornings to the sound of the singing birds, walking to restaurants instead of bundling into a cold car and driving. Oh, if only spring weren’t so rambunctious and disorderly in Pennsylvania!

But speaking of birdsong…. Our first morning in Green Valley, AZ, I took Maggie for a walk through the community that was our temporary home. Many House Finches and Cardinals flew out of the pomegranate as we strolled by, the Cactus Wrens chattered their scolding cries and the Curve-billed Thrashers hopped from branch to feeders in the condo patios. That first morning brought many familiar songs, but even more that were unfamiliar to us. At one point, Maggie stopped to sniff some strange new smells and I stood listening. There was a very soft “who cooks for you” call. I was amazed, thinking perhaps Arizona had a small version of the Barred Owl there. But try as I might, I could not locate any owls. After checking my books and my Palm One National Geographic bird program, I discovered that it wasn’t an owl at all, but a White-winged Dove. But a few nights later, I heard a very soft “who-who-who” call, and this time it was an owl—Great-horned! I learned from neighbors that a pair had been nesting in the condo neighborhood for years.

One condo had several hummingbird feeders and we were able to watch many Anna’s Hummingbirds—that prompted us to head out and buy a feeder of our own to hang. (Recipe for hummer juice: 1 part sugar to 4 parts water...and do NOT add any food coloring, which is detrimental to their health--the birds will find it without that.) We had Broad-billed, Anna’s and even Costa’s visiting, and the tiny Verdins were also attracted to the hum-juice. And we bought a cheap $5 plastic feeder for the seed-eaters: House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, Cactus Wrens, Gila Woodpeckers, to name a few.

One thing I learned in my travels is that if you want to find birds, but aren’t a very good birder (that’s me!), hook up with the local chapter of the Audubon Society and sign onto the state online birding email list. A few months before our trip, I joined the Arizona-New Mexico birding list, Birdwg05. By reading their discussions, rare bird alerts, field trip reports and locations, I had a leg up on planning our birding excursions. And we connected with the Tucson Audubon Society and attended many of their field trips. Their trip leaders are wonderful birders and all were eager to share their knowledge of the birds.

Our first field trip with TAS was at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson. A water reclamation area, this birds’ oasis in the city is a wonderful place to bird and we returned several times on our own. The trip leader, Cynthia Barstad, handed out a checklist of the birds that we might encounter there in winter which included a map of the wetlands and a resource list. We saw many Yellow-rumped Warblers at Sweetwater and most other birding areas, but during this and our other visits there, we also found a pair of nesting Harris’s Hawks, a covey of Gambel’s Quails, Abert’s Towhees, Northern Pintails, Marsh Wrens, Sora, Cinnamon Teal, Pied-billed grebes, Great-tailed Grackles, Black-crowned Night Heron, Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Plumbeous Vireo, Ruddy Ducks and so many more. What a wonderful “first time out” walk! I think we added about 25 birds to our life lists that first field trip.

Santa Rita Mountains and Elephant Head

from Madera Canyon entrance

A few days later we were on our own for our first visit to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains. Now, if you want a combination of good hiking, excellent birding, wildflowers, trees and wildlife, this is the place to go. We returned there many times: hiking the trails where we saw a bobcat up close and mountain lion tracks; sitting at the Santa Rita Lodge feeders to watch the Acorn Woodpeckers, various juncos and Wild Turkeys; standing at Madera Kubo where we found Magnificent, Anna’s, Blue-throated, Rufous and Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Hepatic Tanagers, Painted Redstart, and of course, the ubiquitous Acorn Woodpeckers; magnificent views and close-ups for photography; and the Amphitheater where we found our first Townsend’s Warblers.

The next day we headed to Agua Caliente Park for their weekly nature walk. Another gem at the edge of Tucson, this is where I saw my first Bewick’s Wrens. Notice the odd partially webbed feet of this Coot.

And we continued our nature observations later at Saguaro National Park East: Gilded Flickers were a delight to see as they flashed from one cactus to another. The "forest" of cacti was an astonishing sight.

Fishhook Barrel

Not only the saguaros, but also fishhook barrels, Opuntias, chollas and more.

Fishhook Barrel amidst Opuntis

On Thursday, January 8^th, we drove south to Kino Springs, a golf course with a catch-water pond where we found our first Vermilion Flycatchers

and Say’s Phoebes. At the pond we found another Cinnamon Teal sparkling in the morning sunlight.

And on the 9^th

we returned to Saguaro National Park East for a field trip led by park volunteers.

That leads us to Saturday, January 10^th, and the TAS field trip to Chino Canyon. The Test of the Knee Trip and Elephant Head……..to be continued.

On to the subject of Pennsylvania Wildflowers! Charlie and I went up to the Tanbark Trail in the Allegheny National Forest last week and I found trailing arbutus in bloom. Such a dainty flower it is. Delicate pink blossoms with a cotton-candy-sweet fragrance, it blooms as early as coltsfoot and hints at springtime to come.

Back from Arizona!

Charlie and I spent the last few months birding in Arizona. We left on Christmas day, stopped for 3-4 days at Charlie's sister's in North Carolina, and arrived in Green Valley, AZ, on New Year's day.

We took Maggie and Kali along. For anyone who still believes that dogs and cats don't get along, the two of them traveled together in the crate in the back seat. For most of the trip they cuddled and used each other as a cushion for their heads. Occasionally, Maggie even groomed Kali--Maggie is sometimes more catlike than doglike.

I was surprised that these two little senior citizens traveled so well. Maggie, 13, usually pants and whines when I take her on short trips in the car around home. And I had no idea how Kali, at least 14, would react to being in the car at all. She had never traveled more than the 40 miles from where I used to live to where we live now when we moved. But they both settled right in and accepted whatever fate awaited them. I learned to try to get as much food and water into Kali as possible in the mornings before we set out each day. She refused to eat, drink or even use her litter box while on the road, even when we stopped for Maggie's walks and I let Kali out on a leash to walk about. But she made up for it all overnight at our motels.

We stayed in a rented condo in Green Valley. Maggie often went along on our birding forays, she hiked a total of 23.5 miles--a lot for a tiny little Chihuahua. She was everyone's darling, petted and fawned over by all. On one of our first bird walks in Madera Canyon, Charlie spotted a bobcat resting on a rock alongside the trail and scooped Maggie up, removing any possible temptation that big kitty might have felt.


Luckily Maggie didn't spot the bobcat--she'd have wanted to challenge it, as tiny dogs are wont to do with any furry critters larger than they!

She loves to lead our hikes. On the Super Trail in Madera Canyon, she stayed as far in the lead as her leash allowed. It's just too bad that she's too small to assist me up the hills....

During our trip we mostly birded, but I did get in a bit of botanizing too. I'll get into that further in a future article. I should be able to write many about this trip. From Sweetwater Wetlands and Tohono Chul Park in downtown Tucson, to Arivaca Cienega and Patagonia Lake near the Mexican border; from the roadrunner at the Biosphere to the Blue Mockingbird at Slaughter Ranch; and from Tanque Verde Greenhouse to Saguaro National Park...we spent a very busy two months. Elegant Trogon, Rufous-capped Warbler, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Blue-chinned Hummingbird; chollas, barrel cacti, Arizona oaks, fairy dusters. So many new and wonderful things to see, so little time!

Cookies and Christmas and Snow, oh boy!

If you are looking for something different to bake for Christmas cookies this year, I'll post the recipes for my Cracker Jills and my grandmother's Spicicles. The Spicicles took my grandmother to the 15th Pillsbury Grand National Bake-Off in Los Angeles in autumn of 1963. And the Cracker Jills took me as a junior finalist to San Francisco's 17th Pillsbury Busy Lady Bake-Off in January, 1966. I was 15, so my mother came along too. What a grand time Pillsbury showed everyone, putting us up in the Fairmont Hotel and dining us all over town. We had Coq au Vin and Rhubarb Pie at the Mark Hopkins, and toured the city on buses--a wild ride up and down those hills after all those ladies had chicken with wine! My grandmother made several life-long friends at her Bake-Off, and I am still in contact with one, Edna, who is about 95 now. In fact, Edna was a finalist several other times also. They finally made a rule limiting the number of times that one person can win. Her youngest daughter and I were penpals for years, and actually relocated each other in the 90s and got together for a visit. Pat Boone was the host for the awards program, and wow, he was even better looking in person!

These two recipes are a bit more labor-intensive than those we are used to nowadays. Especially the Cracker Jills. You need a sturdy mixer for the dough, and to fold in the crackers and peanuts, use a stout wooden spoon and a lot of muscle. But the flavors are so good that they are worth the effort.

I hope you enjoy them! (Hint: you can tell the Cracker Jills are done by lifting one with a spatula to check the bottom--if it's just starting to brown, they're done. They will be very soft until they cool.)

Spicicles

(Stella Mergel, 1963 Pillsbury Bake-Off)

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cloves

¼ tsp. cardamom

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 cup raisins

¾ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup chopped dates

¼ cup finely chopped candied pineapple (or other candied fruit)

powdered sugar for rolling before baking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In large mixer bowl or food processor combine all ingredients except walnuts, raisins, dates and candied fruit. Blend well. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Using about 1 rounded tsp. of dough, shape into finger shapes, place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes (till bottoms begin to brown), cool and roll in additional powdered sugar.

Or, instead of rolling in powdered sugar, cookies may be frosted with buttercream vanilla frosting and dipped in grated coconut after baking.

Cracker Jills

(Lee Ann Reiners 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off)

1 3-oz. package cream cheese, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

½ cup butter

¼ cup molasses

½ tsp. baking soda

1 egg

1 cup salted Spanish peanuts

1-1 ½ cups coarsely crushed saltine crackers

about ½- ¾ cup sugar

Combine the 1^st seven ingredients in a food processor or mixer until well blended.

Add the peanuts & crackers and fold into dough.

Cover and chill for about 2 hours.

Place sugar in a bowl. Shape dough into small balls using a rounded teaspoonful of dough for each. Roll in sugar and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.