Drove from Riverside to Cave Creek Regional Park above Phoenix, Arizona. When I got to Blythe it seemed to early to stop, so I continued on to the campground. It’s a very nice park with lots of birds. The weather was in the 90′s during the day, however, so I just stayed the one night.

Phainopepla

A black-throated sparrow

Blue-gray-gnatcatcher

Cactus wren

From Phoenix I went on to Cottonwood, Arizona and Dead Horse Ranch State Park. Cottonwood is around 10 degrees cooler than Phoenix. The park is very popular and people are coming and going all the time. It is not just a weekend park.

It is just the second time I’ve driven on the I-17 that connects the I-8 and I-40. It has a significant grade, but it’s worth it to get away from the heat of Southern Arizona.

Gambel’s quail

Canyon wren

A brown creeper

I’m back in California where gas is 30 cents more a gallon and state park campgrounds are $35 a night. First stopped in Eureka to visit the nearby Arcata Marsh & Wildlife Sanctuary. It is amazing how many visitors this water treatment facility gets. Students from Humboldt University study it, there are joggers and walkers with children and/or dogs, bird watchers, and a few winos.

Was pleased to see a hundred or so cedar waxwings (picture above). There are berry bushes all along the walkways, full of berries, which they appreciated. Also saw around 25 night herons. They were hidden in the brush and too far away to get a good picture of.

Red-shouldered hawk seen two days in a row.

Was pleased to see the birds pictured below in some woods outside my trailer at the Eureka Fairgrounds rv park: A downy woodpecker, a black-capped chickadee, and a brown creeper. It is the first brown creeper I’ve seen.