Too Much Birding #firstworldproblems

A mi bandada de codornices,

Four months in, with 310 checklists submitted to Ebird and birds reported from 13 states, we are starting to hit a wall.

We break through the wall on the first day in a new area, where the excitement of racking up 10-20 new species helps us power through. But days that follow are starting to drag a bit, and our patience wears thinner.

Noise from passing Harleys, gnats flying into one's eyes and ears, and beginning birders blocking a trail while they study their books are always somewhat annoying; the past couple days have turned those irritants downright homicide-inducing. Not really. Well, mostly not really.

We do find energy in little scenes that happen around us. Some of the more fun moments from the past few days have included:

• While standing in Sunny Flat Campground in Cave Creek at dusk, waiting for owls, an ornithology class of college students from the local research station showed up. With them, we watched Blue-throated and Magnificent Hummingbirds chase each other, and also chase two of the women wearing red. Later, we saw an Elf Owl peek her head out of her nest hole, and walked away from the noisy chatter to hear our first Whiskered Screech-Owl.
• In the truck on the way to Tucson, I read out loud the description of the Greater Pewee's call: "Song a clear whistled Jo-se Ma-ria" No way, we said, it couldn't sound like that! The next day, walking a trail on the slopes of Mt. Lemmon above Tucson, we heard this (scroll down and click the Play button; I couldn't figure out auto-play)
• At our campsite in Tucson, baby antelope squirrels scampered about outside our trailer (not our video, but gives you an idea of the Cute Factor):

Monday is time to dig deep, as we start a new phase of the journey. We're taking a week to fly to Florida, to revisit the Keys for their spring arrivals. A boat trip out to the Dry Tortugas is also in the offing, although a series of thunderstorms (what is up with thunderstorms this year???) is threatening to rename the island.

Then, back to AZ to continue the road trip part of our journey! Phew!!

Until Florida,
Me