Had our service, which took waaaaaay longer than they said.  Poor kitties, who sat quietly in their carriers in the waiting room for 6 hours with no bathroom, food or water breaks!  They’re pretty disorganized in this place – we think the management has gone downhill quite a bit since we bought our unit here.  We were able to go back to our spot (RV park located right next door) around 5, but the guy had to come over to our spot at the RV park the next day to see to our thermostat problem.  The other issues were very minor and fixed.  The main problem had been thermostat, but he couldn’t figure it out.  So we washed the trailer and truck (by hand) which took all morning.  Bart came over about 1 and climbed on the roof.  H:e did not fix the problem, but DID find out what it was – so it’s registered in the Airstream database.  We’ll have to find another place to get it fixed later on – no biggie.

Mar. 12:  Planned to go to Tubac to try for the Sinaloa Wren, but we now have a “breaker” problem, which started happening when the people next door plugged in to their power outlet and it shorted out ours plus 2 others.  Then they did it again, trying to get it to work and did it AGAIN!  We were not happy.  So we stayed around another day to sort that out.

Mar. 13:  (Lucky Friday the 13th!)  Off to Madera Canyon first, to check for a Red-breasted Sapsucker.

First we turned off on Florida Canyon Rd, since the road we were on was too busy to stop and bird very easily.  We were happy to see our first Black-throated Sparrow!  We think he is one of the prettiest sparrows in NA.

We also found a pair of Phainopeplas – first the female, then the male (just a record shot).

All we found was a female Red-naped Sapsucker – not the Red-breasted and we already have this one from earlier – oh well.  We still like her!

At the feeder station, we were very pleased to spy the Hapatic Tanager, which only put in one appearance over the half hour we spent here.

We were entertained by the multi-level feeder with Pine Siskins and Lesser Goldfinches.

One doesn’t ovten see the belly of a woodpecker, but this Acorn perched upright for us, showing his lovely speckled breast and white belly.

We walked up the road to the other feeders and spied a group of Wild Turkeys.

The wild flowers are in bloom everywhere – here is a morning glory (I think).

Arizona poppies in bright yellow, pink and white.

A single yellow with its bright orange centre – beautiful!

The ocotillo are in bloom, which are a big draw for returning hummingbirds.   This year, with all the rainfall, even in AZ, the desert is carpeted in green and the ocotillo have leaves!  Sometimes the stems stay bare and only the flowers are in blossom.

We saw lots of the black swallowtail butterflies we saw in Patagonia and luckily Bill was able to capture one, showing both its top irredescent blue and lovely orange and white spotted underside!  Unfortunately we’d just had a few minutes of rain and it wasn’t sunny yet, so the colors aren’t as nice as they could be.

For the second time in his life (and mine also), we saw a pocket gopher (the 1st just a week ago in Patagonia!).  Bill had thought since he was a boy that they were naked, blind rodents!  But they can see and are furry – with big yellow teeth.

We found this Broad-billed Hummingbird, posing with its bill upright displaying its “boadness”.

We did not find the Sinaloa Wren, but as we left the river pathway, we saw a male Kestrel.  Almost at the same spot we’d seen one a couple of years ago – maybe the same one.

We now leave Tucson, starting our journey north, with stops along the way for a little birding.