Mt Lemmon AZ Images
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Visitor's Guide
    • Seasons
  • Birding Hotspots
    • Agua Caliente
    • Madera Canyon
    • Mt Lemmon
    • Portal, AZ
    • Sweetwater Wetlands
    • Texas Coast
    • White Water Draw
  • Birds
    • Acorn Woodpecker
    • American Bittern
    • American Coot
    • American Kestrel
    • American Robin
    • Arizona Woodpecker
    • Ash-throated Flycatcher
    • Black and White Warbler
    • Black-crowned Night-Heron
    • Black Phoebe
    • Black-throated Sparrow
    • Cactus Wren
    • Cedar Waxwing
    • Chihuahuan Raven
    • Common Raven
    • Cooper's Hawk
    • Crested Caracara
    • Curve-billed Thrasher
    • Elf Owl
    • Gambel's Quail
    • Gila Woodpecker
    • Great Blue Heron
    • Great Horned Owl
    • Green-tailed Towhee
    • Hooded Oriole
    • House Finch
    • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
    • Lazuli Bunting
    • Lesser Goldfinch
    • Northern Cardinal
    • Northern Flicker
    • Northern Mockingbird
    • Northern Shoveler
    • Phainopepla
    • Pied-billed Grebe
    • Plumbeous Vireo
    • Red-naped Sapsucker
    • Red-tailed Hawk
    • Rufous Hummingbird
    • Sandhill Crane
    • Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher
    • Verdin
    • Vermilion Flycatcher
    • White-crowned Sparrow
    • White-winged Dove
    • Williamson's Sapsucker
    • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • About
  • Contact
  • Parting Shots
  • Member Content

Journal
(Blog)



Catalina State Park, Tucson AZ, March and May 2017

5/3/2017

0 Comments

 
​Catalina State Park sits at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains in Oro Valley  north and west of Tucson. As the red-tailed hawk flies*, 10 miles due west of Summerhaven. The park boasts 5,500 acres of foothills, canyons and streams with equestrian, birding, hiking, and biking trails that wind through the park and into the Coronado National Forest.  Although well north and west of downtown Tucson, drive time from Swan and Ft. Lowell is 30 minutes on excellent roads.  Entry fee is $7 per vehicle, well worth it. Check their website.   

* I would say “as the crow flies” but there are no crows in SE Arizona, rather lots of ravens. Since I have not seen ravens at the park, I will assume that the Red-tail hawk can make a straight flight, if not distracted by food on the way. ​
We visited the park for early morning bird walks on March 10th, and today, May 3rd.  Many thanks to our volunteer guides, Jim in March, and Mary Ellen today. More information on walks in May here. ​

Great Horned Owl's Nest

In March Jim led us on the  Bridle Trail to the group picnic area, which is also accessible by car. We spotted a female Great Horned Owl sitting on her nest in a large mesquite tree. Below you can just see the top of her head, looking like a WW I ace sitting in an open cockpit: 
Picture

These are big birds and the nests are very deep. We went back to the same spot today, 8 weeks later, to find that she has two offspring, still fluffy, but getting very big.  The two best images are below. Finding an opening between the branches was a challenge. 
Picture

Picture

To provide a sense of scale, below is an image of an adult male that we spotted today at another location in the park. Presumably he is keeping an eye on his own nest. They are nocturnal, so he is losing sleep during the day, and needs to hunt at night to feed the nestlings.  Based on the size of the branch he is sitting on, he is probably 24 to 30 inches high. 
Picture

Mystery Flycatcher

Today we spotted the bird below hopping around in dense brush and twigs at the base of a mesquite tree. Getting clear images was difficult, and the one below is the best of the lot. The consensus was that this was a flycatcher Genus Empidonax, probably a Dusky Flycatcher.  However, I cannot really see a white eye-ring and the bill looks longer than the pictures I find in The Sibley Guide to Birds, on on Tom Grey's website. Could it be a Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Genus Myiarchus? There is a place for comments below, feel free to give us your opinion. 
Picture

Broad-Billed Hummingbird

This male posed for us on a snag, at some distance but with good lighting.
Picture

Below for reference are three images captured at Agua Caliente this past winter.
Picture

Picture

Picture

Lucy's Warbler

I am going to close with a bird that we saw today, but I was unable to capture with my camera. However, I did get images on our walk with Jim in March. Lucy's Warbler is a resident of the Sonoran Desert with a range in Southern Arizona and Mexico. It is one of two warblers that nest in holes, and prefers riparian mesquite woodlands.
Picture
Picture

These birds are described as rather plain, with chesnut rump and crown patches. Both can be seen in the images above. The second image is not that sharp, but clearly shows both crown and rump with the wings raised. 

That's all for now.  Happy trails! 

0 Comments

    Author

    Henry Johnson, photographer and author of this site. For more detail, see About

    Categories

    All
    Agua Caliente Park
    Arizona Sonora Desert Museum
    Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
    AZ
    Back Yard Birding
    Bosque Del Apache
    Canoa Ranch
    Cape May
    Catalina State Park
    Fort Lowell Park
    Ft. Huachuca
    Hereford
    Madera Canyon
    Mt Lemmon
    Oracle-state-park
    Oregon
    Panama
    Patagonia
    Portal AZ
    Ramsey Canyon
    Reid Park
    Sabino Canyon
    San Pedro River
    Santa Cruz Flats
    Sierra Vista
    Sweetwater Wetlands
    Texas Coast
    Tubac
    Tucson Audubon Festival
    Tucson Mountain Park
    White Water Draw

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    February 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Visitor's Guide
    • Seasons
  • Birding Hotspots
    • Agua Caliente
    • Madera Canyon
    • Mt Lemmon
    • Portal, AZ
    • Sweetwater Wetlands
    • Texas Coast
    • White Water Draw
  • Birds
    • Acorn Woodpecker
    • American Bittern
    • American Coot
    • American Kestrel
    • American Robin
    • Arizona Woodpecker
    • Ash-throated Flycatcher
    • Black and White Warbler
    • Black-crowned Night-Heron
    • Black Phoebe
    • Black-throated Sparrow
    • Cactus Wren
    • Cedar Waxwing
    • Chihuahuan Raven
    • Common Raven
    • Cooper's Hawk
    • Crested Caracara
    • Curve-billed Thrasher
    • Elf Owl
    • Gambel's Quail
    • Gila Woodpecker
    • Great Blue Heron
    • Great Horned Owl
    • Green-tailed Towhee
    • Hooded Oriole
    • House Finch
    • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
    • Lazuli Bunting
    • Lesser Goldfinch
    • Northern Cardinal
    • Northern Flicker
    • Northern Mockingbird
    • Northern Shoveler
    • Phainopepla
    • Pied-billed Grebe
    • Plumbeous Vireo
    • Red-naped Sapsucker
    • Red-tailed Hawk
    • Rufous Hummingbird
    • Sandhill Crane
    • Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher
    • Verdin
    • Vermilion Flycatcher
    • White-crowned Sparrow
    • White-winged Dove
    • Williamson's Sapsucker
    • Yellow-rumped Warbler
  • About
  • Contact
  • Parting Shots
  • Member Content