More Arizona pictures...

The Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon ~ South Rim

Bell Rock ~ Sedona

Hiking in Oak Creek Canyon ~ West Fork

19 new species added to my Bird Life List

Spending seven days in Arizona, last week, allowed me to add 19 new species to my Bird Life List. I spotted 48 species in total, but the nineteen new ones were: Cinnamon Teal, Avocet, Gambel's Quail, White-winged Dove, Inca Dove, Greater Roadrunner, four new hummingbirds (Broad-tailed, Rufous, Black-chinned and Costa's), two woodpeckers (Ladder-backed and Gila), Chihuahuan Raven, two jays (Scrub and Stellar's), Cactus Wren (Arizona's state bird), Phainopepla, Yellow-headed Blackbird and Pyrrohuloxia. A visit to the Tucson-Sonora Desert Museum in the Suguaro National Park West was a great spot for birdwatching. Linda and I saw many birds in the aviary there plus free-flight demonstrations by some of the captive raptor and predator birds. Below are photos of two of the museum docents (volunteer/guides) with birds. The gentleman is holding a Barn Owl and the lady is holding a Kestrel.

The Grand Canyon...no words can describe it

Linda and I had never been to the Grand Canyon, until last week. Dollar-wise and weather-wise, our timing was perfect. As for the Grand Canyon, I find myself saying to people that no words can describe it and no picture can do it justice. The Red Rock area around Sedona was breathtakingly beautiful and the Sonoran Desert area around Tucson was incredibly interesting. Linda took the picture of me, above, at the south rim of the Grand Canyon and shortly after I got the picture of the mule riders, below, finishing a half-day climb up from the bottom of the canyon. That's Linda, in the third photo, on her trusty steed, Dusty, following our wrangler/guide, Angie, on a horse-back ride in the desert outside Tucson. What a great week!