Another memorable dining experience the other night – of all things PIZZA!  (Check out “Velvet Elvis Pizza” in Patagonia on Yelp!).  Also a most memorable margarita – made with hibiscus essence & lime – Yum!

We had a lovely walk Sunday at Patagonia Lake with a sighting of a Black-throated gray Warbler – which was lovely.  However, one of my hilites was watching a number of birds have a bath in the same little spot in the stream – first a Yellow-rumped Warbler – then about 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  They all took turns & sometimes flew off if they felt threatened.  It was soooo cuuuute!  (Basically I love watching any bird whatsoever have a bath!)

Monday we drove down Harshaw Rd (on which our RV park resides) since it has been reported as one of the best places to find a Montezuma Quail.  I’m still after my first sighting & Bill would love to have a better look than what he had last year (head only!).  A very quiet road & lots of bird life along the way but nothing new.  It was however, such a beautiful morning & here are some photos Bill took of the fall colours.

We stopped in at Paton’s feeders on the way back, but not much new to report.  We did however, find out that Paton’s has been sold to a group of 3 wildlife interests (Victor Emanuel, Amer. Birding Assoc. & Tucson Wildlife Assoc. I believe) – & will be taken over in February.  Luckily for all us birders, it will remain as it is & George will stay as caretaker.  Hooray!  George told us that his sighting of a Montezuma Quail was at the Harshaw graveyard.  So in the evening we drove back up the same road we’d done in the morning.  Bill got his tree photo with the sun on it this time.

In the same field we found Rapunzel’s tower – her window clearly visible, though we couldn’t see her hair dangling down.

Harshaw townsite does not exist any more, but the graveyard is active & there are lotgs of graves with artificial flowers & it looks well-tended.  However, no quails were in sight!

Next morning we drove out to Patagonia Lake & searched again for the Trogon.  No luck but another of my favourite sightings:

Can you tell what this is?  Here it is again, maybe a little more identifiable this time?

(Chipping Sparrow!)  What a hoot eh?!

We also had a LIFER – VIRGINIA RAIL!  Not only did we see it, but Bill got a photo.  Isn’t it an interesting bird?

We also had another sighting of the Black-throated Gray Warbler, but this time (as you can see) Bill was toting his camera with big lens, so here’s just a record shot of it.  If you look closely, you’ll see that he also has a little yellow dot in front of his eye.

No Trogon was sighted this trip, but it was a beautiful day for a walk.  A little cooler this morning (frost on our thermometer which is sitting on our picnic table).  Apparently we’re in for some cooler weather & rain in the next day or 2.  Boy, they could really use some rain here!

Wednesday – Mostly sunny – high 22 C.  We drove south toward the Mexico border through the San Rafiel Valley.  A fairly cloudy sky this morning with some nice formations.

It is a vast grassland area with mostly cattle ranches but sports many grassland bird species.  We found 7 new species today, but nothing we hadn’t seen before.

Our loop route took us up through a mountainous region with rough gravel roads.  Border patrol vehicles were the order of the day – must’ve seen a dozen or more, including a canine unit.  We went through Harshaw, so we stopped again at the graveyard – alas, no Montezuma Quails in sight.