CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA 6:00 P.M. THURSDAY JULY 6th
Check my emails. What? Tufted Flycatcher in Phoenix? At the Boyce Thompson Arboretum?
"HONEY, WE'RE GOING TO PHOENIX!!!"
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA 9:00 P.M. THURSDAY JULY 6th
Welcome to Starbucks, my name is Christine, can I take your order? Lisa got a mocha and an iced tea, I already had a cappuccino that I had made at home with my espresso maker. We got on the 10, and drove all the way to Phoenix, with only one stop at an Arizona highway rest stop at midnight. The desert sky was full of stars. Tommy & Maggie woke up, stepped out of the car, and marvelled at the Milky Way. I used a flashlight to make sure that Gina, The World's Most Dangerous Basset Hound doesn't get bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake.
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Check my emails. What? Tufted Flycatcher in Phoenix? At the Boyce Thompson Arboretum?
"HONEY, WE'RE GOING TO PHOENIX!!!"
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA 9:00 P.M. THURSDAY JULY 6th
Welcome to Starbucks, my name is Christine, can I take your order? Lisa got a mocha and an iced tea, I already had a cappuccino that I had made at home with my espresso maker. We got on the 10, and drove all the way to Phoenix, with only one stop at an Arizona highway rest stop at midnight. The desert sky was full of stars. Tommy & Maggie woke up, stepped out of the car, and marvelled at the Milky Way. I used a flashlight to make sure that Gina, The World's Most Dangerous Basset Hound doesn't get bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake.
03:00 A.M. PHOENIX, ARIZONA. THURSDAY JULY 7th
Our belongings in our third floor Motel 6 room, the room's air conditioning humming, we lay down, and fall asleep.
09:30 A.M. PHOENIX, ARIZONA. THURSDAY JULY 7th
We leave the Motel 6, and I drop off Lisa & the kids at the Arizona Science Center, where they will enjoy science exhibits for children in an air conditioned building. I drive east on the 60 out of Phoenix, to look for the Tufted Flycatcher. The drive takes an hour, including my stop to stare at a Harris' Hawk resting on top of a saguaro cactus.
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| Flame Skimmer Libellula saturata |
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| Greater Earless Lizard Cophosaurus texanus |
11:00 A.M. THURSDAY JULY 7th BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM, SUPERIOR, ARIZONA
Yes, there really is a town called "Superior". The arboretum is 3 miles outside of Superior. There is a surprisingly small crowd of birders looking for the Tufted Flycatcher. One guy has flown in from Colorado. It is hot. Gina demonstrates her dislike of the heat by constantly trying to hide in the shade, making it impossible to get good photos of any of the lizards, birds, or butterflies on the arboretum's grounds. The birders are milling around, staring at the trees, and muttering under their breaths. We collectively agree to keep looking for the Tufted Flycatcher. After all, it was seen all afternoon, yesterday, until the place closes at 3:0o p.m.
I see beautiful Arizona birds: Northern Cardinals, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, a Zone-tailed Hawk, Lucy's Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Yellow Warblers, Summer Tanagers, Brown-crested Flycatchers, Bell's Vireo, Abert's Towhee, Gambel's Quail, Varied Bunting, Phainopeplas, and for me a really good bird: a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that perched out in the open.
The Tufted Flycatcher never showed up.
Hm...supposedly 2 birders saw it at 7:00 a.m. That's problematic. I experienced the same emotional response that other birders have when someone they don't personally know sees a good bird: I decided that they mis-identified a female Phainopepla as the Tufted Flycatcher. For me to even think that way--let a lone say that out loud--would make me a hypocrite. I'm still insulted about birders telling me that I didn't see a juvenile Common Black-Hawk at the Montclair flood control ponds, or the Yellow-billed Loon that Bill Myers and I found at Lake Perris. In the case of the Black Hawk, somebody went out there the next day, saw a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, and declared that to be the bird that I had seen 24 hours, earlier.
In the long run, it doesn't matter. Unlike the previous 3 Tufted Flycatchers that showed up in the U.S., this one didn't stick around, and pose for a week to ten days. This one bolted.
Thing is, though, that I saw a lot of really cool Arizona birds, so I went home, happy. Because of my employment situation, I had no intention of even going to Arizona this sumer, but now I've got Harris' Hawk on my year list.
THURSDAY JULY 7th, 7:00 p.m. PAPAGO DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
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After picking up Lisa and the kids, we take Gina to our nice, cool air conditioned Motel 6 room, where she cools off after her hard day of birding. We leave her there, panting, and head off to the Phoenix botanical garden for their moonlight nature walk. It was over 100 degrees F and all of us were tired, but I'm glad we went. Their docents have little exhibit tables et up out in the desert, at various spots along the trails. If you are a big city slicker who could care less about birds, plants, bats, or lizards, you should still find out about the nature walks held in your neighborhood. The docents who lead these walks do it for free, and you will find out about the living things in your neighborhood. Find out the name of your local squirrel. You'll be glad you did it.
11:00 A.M. THURSDAY JULY 7th BOYCE THOMPSON ARBORETUM, SUPERIOR, ARIZONA
Yes, there really is a town called "Superior". The arboretum is 3 miles outside of Superior. There is a surprisingly small crowd of birders looking for the Tufted Flycatcher. One guy has flown in from Colorado. It is hot. Gina demonstrates her dislike of the heat by constantly trying to hide in the shade, making it impossible to get good photos of any of the lizards, birds, or butterflies on the arboretum's grounds. The birders are milling around, staring at the trees, and muttering under their breaths. We collectively agree to keep looking for the Tufted Flycatcher. After all, it was seen all afternoon, yesterday, until the place closes at 3:0o p.m.
I see beautiful Arizona birds: Northern Cardinals, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, a Zone-tailed Hawk, Lucy's Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Yellow Warblers, Summer Tanagers, Brown-crested Flycatchers, Bell's Vireo, Abert's Towhee, Gambel's Quail, Varied Bunting, Phainopeplas, and for me a really good bird: a Yellow-billed Cuckoo that perched out in the open.
The Tufted Flycatcher never showed up.
Hm...supposedly 2 birders saw it at 7:00 a.m. That's problematic. I experienced the same emotional response that other birders have when someone they don't personally know sees a good bird: I decided that they mis-identified a female Phainopepla as the Tufted Flycatcher. For me to even think that way--let a lone say that out loud--would make me a hypocrite. I'm still insulted about birders telling me that I didn't see a juvenile Common Black-Hawk at the Montclair flood control ponds, or the Yellow-billed Loon that Bill Myers and I found at Lake Perris. In the case of the Black Hawk, somebody went out there the next day, saw a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, and declared that to be the bird that I had seen 24 hours, earlier.
In the long run, it doesn't matter. Unlike the previous 3 Tufted Flycatchers that showed up in the U.S., this one didn't stick around, and pose for a week to ten days. This one bolted.
Thing is, though, that I saw a lot of really cool Arizona birds, so I went home, happy. Because of my employment situation, I had no intention of even going to Arizona this sumer, but now I've got Harris' Hawk on my year list.
THURSDAY JULY 7th, 7:00 p.m. PAPAGO DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
FRIDAY JULY 8th 10:00 A.M., CABAZON, CALIFORNIA
We drove out of the Phoenix Motel 6 parking lot at 06:15 a.m., and hit the 10 Freeway. We have been in California for 2 hours, having stopped at the General Patton museum in Chiriaco Summit. These desert mountains were General Patton's desert warfare training grounds, where he preapred American troops to fight the German Afrika Korps in North Africa, during World War II.
Next stop: Cabazon, the famous dinosaurs off the 10 Freeway, west of Palm Springs. We pull into the parking lot, and walk up the Brontosaurus' rectum*, in order to be informed that the Earth isn't as old as those liberal colledge perfessers are claiming, and that men and dinosaurs coexisted in the past.
Okay.
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WHAT THE HELL IS THIS LIZARD??? (I can't i.d. it with my field guides). POST YOUR ANSWERS IN THE "COMMENTS" SECTION. * Yes, Jim, I know they're not called "Brontosaurus", any more. I could have said "Apatosaurus" but didn't feel like it. But then again, I never stopped calling western Yellow-rumped Warblers with yellow throat nd no white eyeline "Audubon's Warbler", and now it turns out that I'm right, and that they are a separate species. So there. |
3 comments:
Hi, Tom!
You are wondering why a character like yourself who spends his down time writing about nuclear terrorism and CIA sabotage, is from Hungary, and is a Birder to boot, is taking a long time to get vetted?? Best of luck!
Nick
Hi, Tom!
You are wondering why a character like yourself who spends his down time writing about nuclear terrorism and CIA sabotage, is from Hungary, and is a Birder to boot, is taking a long time to get vetted?? Best of luck!
Nick
A Collared Lizard, I believe.
--Ed
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