Agua Caliente / Madera Canyon

January 2, 2026 to January 3, 2026

Friday

It rained again last night but is just clearing when we wake up. With a calm and fair day in store, we decide it's the right time to go back to Agua Caliente for a second look. First though I have time to fit in an errand while we wait for the day to warm up. Today is the original return date for the SUV we picked up a month ago. We need the rental extended for another two weeks, until we fly north, but they need to see the vehicle first for a once-over to check the mileage and see if it's due for an oil change.

On the way I'm stopped at a light when a colorful figure pulls up next to me, and the light holds on red just long enough for me to grab the phone for a quick snap.

The car doesn't need an oil change because we really haven't put many miles on over the last month with our short runs around town. In fact, I see it's only got just over 2,000 miles on it total. It's virtually new, something I hadn't noticed before. No wonder it drives so well. Other than the fact that it's a little wide and hard to squeeze into the garage, I really enjoy driving it nearly as much as the Raven.

It's about 10:30 when we arrive at Agua Caliente, with the same script in mind as last time. Rachael starts off on the walk toward the Gnat Tank Trail that I mapped out for her last time, and I set off on foot for a short walk through the park. It's definitely brighter out here today, but it's pretty much a bird bust again for some reason. I do pick up one new bird, a black-throated grey warbler, but only because a birding group points it out To me and then moves on. I just spot him before he leaves too and get off a shot too poor to bother posting, but at least I'm not skunked for the day.

It's much calmer out here today. The only ripples on the pond are from the ring-necked duck that just submerged.

It turns out to be a pretty disappointing day for birding, but there's this at least.

After I've completed my short round I retrieve the bike and head off outside the park for a few miles, hoping I'll spot something out in the desert. I'm close - I hear a cactus wren and a thrasher, but can't locate either one of them. That's the third thrasher I've heard but not seen, so if I never do see one before we leave town I'll give myself credit for it anyway.

Rachael's walk isn't quite the big success I'd hoped it would be for her either. As seems to happen so often, RideWithGPS has allowed me to draw a route through a private road, so when she's blocked by it she comes up with her own idea. It works out fine enough, but not so great that she bothered doing much with the camera.

Really, the best part of the day was when we came back to town and stopped in at Locale for a late lunch, which we enjoyed thoroughly dining outdoors on the comfortably warm, calm afternoon. So since we don't have many other photos to show for the day, let's look at the meal.

First beer shot of the year: a Wren House IPA, from Wren House Brewing Company of Phoenix.

We never include a shot of Rachael's favorite drink, but this is a good time for it.

Sfoglia they call it: hand made pasta ribbon, braised pork, mushroom, saba, dandelion greens, parmesan.

Pan-roasted salmon, Tuscan potatoes, broccolini

There's a bit more to say about the day though. Around 5:30 I'm just loafing around the house when I look out the window, see it's sundown, and suddenly realize I'm screwing up again. For about a week I've had an appointment on the calendar to go out tonight at sundown and take a shot of the rising moon, which will be at 100% around three in the morning. It's a Wolf Moon as well as a super moon, and I'm in luck because the sky to the east is clear.

Because I'm a bit daft though, I don't catch it when it first rises and would not only look its largest but would pick up some of the colors of the sunset. It's already several degrees above the horizon by the time I get somewhere away from the condominiums and can see the sky, but it's still worth a shot.

What would a winter sojourn in Tucson be without the Wolf Moon?

Rachael's walk. Not for the first time, she walked farther than I biked.

Heart

Comment

Link

Saturday

Today's outing is one I've been planning ever since we arrived, and I've just been waiting for the right day. With the possible exception of Sweetwater, Madera Canyon is the best birding destination within a reasonable day-ride from town. It's special because it's such a different environment from the basin - it's a mixed oak-pine forest about 1,500' above the basin, and it attracts a significantly different set of birds - ones that favor the cooler environment and ones that just make it north across the border from Mexico. Also, the place really caters to birders. There are a few lodges in the middle of the park that have a number of bird houses, so you can really just sit in one spot for a half-hour or more and see who shows up. From past experience, I know that I'm almost guaranteed to see a half-dozen new birds, ones I can't expect to see anywhere else but here this year.

I leave home around 7:30 for the hour-long drive to the park. I've awakened to the horrifying news that we've attacked Venezuela and kidnapped Maduro and his wife overnight, but at least it means the drive goes faster because the non-stop news reporting holds my attention.

It's 8:30 when I pull in at Santa Rita Lodge, the birding epicenter of the park. It really caters to the birders, with a gallery of around a dozen chairs and benches lining a wall above the birding area. When I arrive it's still grey, with the sun just barely hitting the highest of the surrounding peaks. And it's cold, maybe not much above 40. I'm the first one there, and I'm disappointed to see that the gift shop isn't open yet where I could grab coffee and a pastry to help take the chill off.

There aren't too many birds out yet because it's still so early. Below the feeder a gang of wild turkeys wanders around, and there are a few woodpeckers and jays starting to assemble Within a couple of minutes though a woman walks out of the gift shop, announces that the coffee is on, and a few minutes later I'm settled in for the next hour, nursing my coffee and a pair of blueberry muffins while the actors gradually come out on stage.

#67: Mexican jay, hoping for a sampling of my blueberry scone.

#68: Wild turkey, one of a roving gang of at least twenty.

By the time I leave I think I'm up to eight new birds for the day, but some of the shots aren't the best because the sun still hasn't reached the ground. I can't hang around any longer though because I'm starting to get the shakes from the cold. I get back in the car and drive down to the lower parking lot where it's more open and sunnier, and after paying the day use fee I start biking west out unpaved Proctor Road, going just far enough to get some views and a sense of the road before turning back.

Looking northwest across Green Valley to the open-pit mine waste.

Looking west toward the Baboquivari Mountains. For some reason I have to look up the name of that range every year.

On Proctor Road. It's really not too bad a surface, at least the stretch I test out. I'm not seeing many birds though so I soon turn back and head back up toward the lodges again.

It's only about a mile and a half back up to Santa Rita Lodge but it's 8-13% the whole way, so there's no rush getting there. When I arrive I grab the same seat I had before and spend another half hour staring at the arena, this time lit up by the sun that finally got high enough overhead to illuminate the it.

And then, there's one final stop on my itinerary - another short climb up the road to Kubo B&B, another spot with a cluster of bird houses. It's a much more modest spot - no benches, no coffee and muffins, and only one or two others witnessing the scene with me. I see many of the same birds I saw before - jays, woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, and another Rivoli woodpecker; but there are two new ones too, both species I won't see anywhere else this year.. It's especially pleasing to get such a good look at a pair of hepatic tanagers, a colorful bird that is mostly only found south of the border.

I'd hoped for six birds at least, and come home with ten. This brings me up to 75 for the year, which is already beyond my stretch goal for Tucson. With ten days left and maybe another half dozen birds I can hope to see - hello, Gambel's quail, American kestrel, curve-billed thrasher, and even the song sparrow for gosh sake - I'm thinking odds are fair that I'll have 80 birds in the net when we fly north.

#73: a male hepatic tanager. It's odd name comes from his liver-colored highlights.

Today's ride: 10 miles (16 km)
Total: 15 miles (24 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	11
Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Kelly IniguezYou well know that I'm no good at identifying birds. But, I'm pretty sure there are Gambel's quail in-between the Paradise Falls bathrooms and Columbus Ave. I saw 8-10 yesterday on the way home. That's one of those dependable quail sighting spots where I have NOT been seeing them, except yesterday they were in attendance.

I googled Gambel's quail and it showed a bird with a rusty red top knot. So, I hope I"m correct. That's close enough to you for an easy look see.
Reply to this comment
3 weeks ago

Scott AndersonTo Kelly IniguezThose would definitely be quail, and thanks for the tip. Fortunately I found some right in our neighborhood today, just three miles from home.
Reply to this comment
3 weeks ago