Stayed in the Tucson area for a couple of weeks. Nice to see that grass front yards are 98% gone. Many people have used creative ways to continue the desert landscape around homes and business’. Saw a lot of dead palm trees and eucalyptus trees in the area.

Above is the eastern unit of the Saguaro National Park looking towards the Catalina Mountains.

Drove the Catalina Highway to the top of Mt. Lemmon. It rises 4,000 feet in around 25 miles—it’s all uphill. Lots of bicyclists were making the grueling ride to the top. It would be a beautiful place to see a sunset or escape the summer heat at 7,000 feet elevation.

Curved billed thrashers seen in an urban area.

Birds, and critter, seen at Catalina State Park in the campground: a canyon towhee with a malformed bill, a gila woodpecker, a Cooper’s hawk, and a ground squirrel. The Cooper’s hawk flew to the ground, perhaps to catch one of the many ground squirrels. Later saw it hiding in a bush stalking birds and squirrels.

Hurricane Alex, in July 2010, damaged most, if not all, birding sites along the Rio Grande. The river went from being 300 feet wide to 2 miles wide in places. The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge’s tram and bicycle road is largely under water, along with a lot of their land. Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park has only recently reopened. It’s tram road is open, but many trails are closed. No javelina’s have been seen in the park since the hurricane and subsequent flooding, but javelina footprints have recently been spotted.

The Santa Ana Refuge will let nature take it’s course and let any water evaporate naturally. I like it with more water. There are newly created swamps that are at times full of birds. The cacophony of bird sounds in these areas must at times be like what is heard in Louisiana and Florida swamps.

Was thrilled to be able to get pictures of a green kingfisher in a new swamp area at the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. Think the background noise of all the other birds made it possible for me to get the pictures of it fishing.

On a sad note, I had planned to visit La Sal del Rey, part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Refuge system, but saw there was an advisory not to go there alone. A volunteer at the Santa Ana Refuge told me she went there with a group and heard gun shots. The Wildlife Refuge feels it’s not safe for individuals to go there alone. The Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge has a Border Patrol station connected to it. You sometimes see armed agents walking the grounds.

Saw the above large snake in the same swamp the kingfisher was in.

Have seen clay-colored thrushes at both the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge and Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park.

Curved-billed thrasher

See the bird in the above picture and how well it blends into the background? Estero Llano Grande State Park, one of the World Birding Center sites in South Texas, is the only place I’ve seen a common poorwill. One was pointed out to me when I was here a few years ago. On this visit I looked in the same area I had seen it before…and there it was. It is right next to a walking path. It doesn’t move or open it’s eyes when you walk near it. With my eyes, I will probably never see another one, unless it’s pointed out to me.

Common yellowthroat

Curved-billed thrasher

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Chachalaca

The rv park I’m staying at doesn’t do much to attract birds, but to my surprise, there are some black-bellied whistling ducks there and a loggerhead shrike perches right next to my rv. The ducks are often having disputes. Someone is putting out some birdseed and I think they are fighting over it.

Always enjoy visiting the Frontera Audubon Thicket in Weslaco, Texas. It is on 15 acres that used to be a grapefruit ranch. There are still many grapefruit trees that provide fruit for the birds. The curved pathways through the thicket provide a meditative walk. It is a small area, but you can feel like you are lost on your first visit there. There are several feeding stations, with grapefruit, birdseed, and hummingbird feeders put out for the birds and chairs for people to sit and watch them. You hear the sounds of plain chachalaca’s running through the bushes.

The two warblers above are two I’ve never seen before. They both took advantage of a small stream to bathe. The top picture is a black-throated green warbler and the bottom one is a Wilson’s warbler.

Plain chachalaca.

First picture this year that I’ve gotten of a black-crested titmouse.

Orange-crowned warbler

Curved-billed thrasher

Lots of butterflies. Didn’t see any eaten by flycatcher’s.

Returned to Choke Canyon State Park that I enjoyed so much last year. The el nino weather pattern does not appear to be present this year and the nicer weather probably accounts for more visitors here this time. There is still plenty of breathing room though.

Photos above: the oak trees in the park are full of green jays this year, much more so than last year. They are busy burying acorns and doing their part to plant more oak trees.

Great kiskadee. It’s so great hearing green jays and great kiskadees again. This is the northern edge of their habitat.

Scissor-tailed flycatcher. The only one I’ve seen so far. Also have not seen many vermiion flycatcher’s this year. Last year there was a resident one at my campsite.There are lots of raptors around: red-tailed hawks, caracara, osprey, and an amazing number of great-horned owls. There have to be 20-30 of them in the brush around the campground.

I drove the backroads through southern Texas hill country to get to the park. Started seeing creasted caracara (Mexican eagles) where the hill country and southern plains meet.

Golden-fronted woodpecker

Happened to see this curve-billed thrasher while watching green jays in an oak tree.

Armadillos are doing their part to aerate the soil. There have been groups of white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, and armadillos grazing in the area around the campground.

Black-throated sparrow. These little guys are so cute.

Cactus wren going into and out of a nest. The nest is supported on three sides by the prickly pear cactus.  There are three cactus wren nests around my site. I read online that they build two nests, one for young ones and one for roosting.

Sage thrasher

Gila Ladder-backed woodpecker (thanks Jonathan)

Some birds seen but not pictured: a pair of orioles, not sure which kind; a pair of pyrruloxia, Gambel’s quail, & sandhill cranes. A flock of sandhill cranes flew overhead one day and the next morning I heard them. There is no body of water nearby, so I was a little worried about them.

Along with lots of birds in the area, there are lots of insects. The tarantula above walked through my campsite one day. Made sure to wear my heavy hiking shoes when sitting outside after that. Sitting next to a retaining wall, your eyes are level with the ground and you see all kinds of insects.

Below, a curved-billed thrasher. The light at sunset is so incredible here.

I first visited Rockhound State Park in 2007, when I first started traveling. At that time, they were having problems with rain water damaging their roads and campsites. They have 4 or 5 full-time residents here that have worked hard building retaining walls around venerable  campsites.  Now it is hard to get a site. The best sites are reservable and the few remaining ones are taken by people that stay a long time.

Curved-bill thrashers

Cactus wren

Black-throated sparrow

A loggerhead shrike. The first one I’ve seen outside of Texas. Deming, New Mexico is, of course, close to Texas and Mexico. The plants around the campground remind me very much of the Big Bend area of Texas.

A Say’s phoebe flying above a bush to catch insects (top).

A Say’s phoebe and a rock wren (bottom)

Rock wren

Sage thrasher

Prickly pear cactus grow all the way to the top of the mountain that the campground is situated against. Only the cactus in the campground, however, still have “pears” on them. Found that some kind of rodent, think a rock squirrel, ate one next to one of my truck tires. There was a scooped out pear next to the tire with red juice sprayed on it.

Visited Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Above, two kestrals. The one in the top picture has blood on it’s feet.

Two meadowlarks. Think the second one is a young one.

Sage thrasher

Swainson’s hawk

Below: Saw some white pelicans soaring and gliding at the refuge one day. The next day a very large flock were near my campground at Storrie Lake State Park. Half of them were preening and the other half were in a very large fishing group working their way along the shoreline. Pelicans are not common in this area, so I assume this is a flock migrating south (like me).

Visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota for a week. Teddy Roosevelt came to my attention in the Ken Burns National Park series and also the book The Big Burn. He was the first president to see the need for conservation and created the first national parks and national wildlife refuges. He came to North Dakota to heal after his first wife and his mother both died on the same day (of different causes). It was here that he saw the damage people were doing to the land and the wildlife.

Above, view of the North Unit of the park. You drive through grasslands to suddenly come over a hill and see this. This unit is less crowded than the South Unit, which can be seen and accessed from the I-94. The North Unit is below the town of Williston, North Dakota. The state is in the midst of an oil boom and it is very apparent in Williston. What was probably a quiet farming community is now overrun with Mack trucks carrying supplies and equipment. You either get sprayed with dust and dirt or water (depending on the weather) every time one passes you on the two-lane road to the park.

When I first drove into the North Unit campground, buffalo were walking through it. It was warm and humid, and I later saw them on a sandbar on the Little Missouri River.

I have avoided going to North and South Dakota because of their weather. My visit confirmed my fears. The first night I was there a ranger came by and said there was a severe thunderstorm warning with possible tornadoes. A woman died in a tornado in northeast Montana, but I just saw a severe thunderstorm. The following day it was freezing with some rain, but warm, humid weather returned the next day.

A thrasher, spotted towhee, and northern flicker after the rain. The flicker was taking a bath in some water in a small pothole.

The first red-headed woodpecker that I’ve seen.

The South Unit of the park has a lot of black tailed prairie dogs. I was surprised to read in the park newsletter that it is a misconception that they destroy the landscape. “Without the prairie dogs, the prairie would change dramatically”. They aerate and fertilize the land and keep plants under control; they are a source of food for a number of carnivores; and their burrows provide protection for a number of creatures. Prairie dogs were in the west before it was settled (before us in other words). Lewis and Clark took a pair back to Washington. Guess I’m going to have to rethink my attitude towards ground squirrels and gophers.

When I moved on to the South Unit campground I had internet access and was able to see all the severe weather alerts for thunderstorms, wind, and damaging hail. Fortunately I was spared the damaging hail. Each night there were severe storms though.

There are wild horses in the South Unit. The ones above were enjoying the sun after a rainy night. The white one kept bobbing his head up and down. I’ve tried to see wild horses elsewhere, but these are the first I’ve encountered. I’m sure the park knows how much tourists love seeing them.

The day I took the above picture, the sky was cloudless most of the day and there were no weather alerts that morning. At 6 or 7 pm clouds could be seen on the horizon. At around 10:30 pm lightening started, along with buckets of rain. Looked at the weather web site and at 10:30 pm a severe weather alert had been posted. The weather people must have a hard time, trying to protect people and at the same time not scare away tourists.

Spent four days at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona. Had forgotten their Twin Peaks Campground doesn’t have hookups. Had not used my generator for a long time, probably last summer. A camp host helped me start it up. After that there was no problem. Promptly at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., all the generators in the generator section of the campground started up for the allotted two hours. It was cold at night, and my furnace draws a lot of power. Otherwise, I could go two days before needing a generator. Glad to know it works. It is good to have the option to stay places that don’t have hookups and are often free.

Also had a problem with my hitch jack, the fuse blew. I asked another Airstream camper to look at it and he was able to diagnose the problem. Really lucky he was there.

Could not get an internet connection at the park. Really missed it, to say the least. I don’t watch tv. The internet is my main connection to what is going on.

Cactus wrens

Gambel’s quail

Both the cactus wrens and the Gambel’s quail usually run from bush to bush so as to not be seen by predators, like the red-tailed hawk above.

This curve-billed thrasher really sang it’s heart out one morning.

House finch

Gila woodpecker. None of the birds seemed to have a problem standing on a cactus or other thorny plants.

Below, road to the park and the Mexican border.