Friday, March 19, 2010

BwBTC Patagonia, AZ, March 13

Howdee all,

Another fun filled Birding adventure with Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp..and those who use facebook for Social networking.

We met bright and early at a local Coffee shop for some hellos and breakfast, then we were off to Patagonia Lake State park in search of the Elegant Trogon, Hepatic tanager, and Painted Redstart.

BWBTC

Cast of Characters 

Starting bottom left

Cynthia White, Linda Rockwell, Donna Simonetti, Nan Goodwin

Dawn Fine in middle

Top row.. Earl Norris, Bosque Bill, Ray Goodwin, Jeff Fine

Sorry about the washed out picture..I should have double checked after it was taken.

birding patagonia_011 We had a great group of people.

Thank goodness..because the birds were playing hide and seek.

and today they were mostly hiding.

saradnik and roberts visit_017 Except for the water birds, who were pretty reliablesaradnik and roberts visit_018

Those that showed up for us were…

Double crested and Neotropic Cormorants, Common Mergansers, Eared Grebe,Ruddy Duck, Coot, Common Morehen, Green wing Teal. Mexican Mallard etc

birding patagonia_001 The Sora was a no show…saradnik and roberts visit_031 Everyone had great looks at Vermillion Flycatchers..and lots of photos were taken with the big lens's.birding patagonia_004Spring has sprung here..flowers are blooming and the trees are starting to green. BwBTC patagonia_001It was an absolutely beautiful,warm day.

But…No Trogon, No Hepatic tanager, No Painted redstart 

an extremely slow birding day..

Here we are wondering where the heck is Mr. resident Trogon..

BwBTC patagonia_002 No..these are not Trogon

birding patagonia_010

and neither is thissaradnik and roberts visit_015 A very sad showing indeed…

We lunched at the Park..and then headed to Kino springs in hopes of seeing the Lawrence's goldfinch and Crissel thrasher that Jeff and I saw there the week before.

No go…strike two..

We did see Black-tailed gnatcatchers, Aberts towhee,Vermillion flycatchers, Vesper sparrow, Loggerhead shrike, Killdeer, American Widgeon, Great Blue Heron, Coot.

Violet green, Northern rough wing and Tree swallows.and a few others.

Earl spotted a Rattlesnake…

birding patagonia_013Onto Patons and another target bird (The Violet crowned Hummingbird) and some nice armchair birding.

Luckily we weren't disappointed

birding patagonia_014My baby camera did the best it could and capture the violet crown of the

Violet crowned Hummingbird

nature conservancy and patons_232Here is Michael Marsden's List serve acct of the day

Michael is the resident birding expert at Patons.

Subject:      SE AZ: Patons' Yard, Patagonia - 13 Feb 10


An enyoyable visit at the Patons' this afternoon by members
of the group Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp, during which
they saw a couple-of-dozen species including Anna's, Broad-tailed,
Rufous & Violet-crowned Hummingbirds. I wanted to thank whoever
it was who left the Hummers Galore feeder while I was away this morning.
I think it's the answer to our woodpecker problem! We do, of course, have a
box for cash donations towards the cost of sugar and seed, but things like
this (suet blocks, oranges or small packages of higher quality seed, for instance)
are always particularly welcome.

Michael Marsden  Patagonia, AZ

Thanks Michael for being so accommodating and such a wealth of information!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

After a day of hard birding we went to the Velvet Elvis

for great salads and pizza.

birding patagonia_016And Awesome company..birding patagonia_018

birding patagonia_017

A Great day despite the lack of birds!

Check out Ray Goodwin's  blog post of the day

Donna Simonettis photos of the weekend on facebook

3 comments:

  1. AWWWW! Sorry you saw no birdies but at least you had fun and was with friends... Plus a bonus of a great meal... Better luck next time!
    Have fun & Travel safe ☺
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good that u have so much of fun




    -travellingRants

    ReplyDelete
  3. That Violet-crowned Hummingbird is very cool! At least you got to see that. But Trogons seem to cause trouble when you look for them;I once got roped into chasing an Elegant Trogon and ended up with a broken car in the middle of nowhere and a bunch of bug bites!

    ReplyDelete

ok what do you really think?????