On the Bright Side...

There's not much to celebrate this weekend.  My Wildcats lost to USC and my D-backs lost twice!  Yesterday I drove to Tubac to explore the De Anza Trail.  A Prothonotary Warbler had been reported the day before.  I knew it was a long shot, but I would see lots of other great stuff, right?  Wrong!  It was dead quiet when I arrived at 7:20 a.m.  I should have stayed asleep.  In two and a half hours the only warblers I saw were one Orange-crowned, one Lucy's, one Yellow, and three Common Yellowthroats.  A far cry from the seven warbler species I saw last weekend at Peña Blanca Lake in only 45 minutes.  Where were all the warblers?  It was like the calendar had turned and they were all gone. 

Common Yellowthroat

On the bright side, I saw a javelina and a green Painted Bunting.  But I didn't get a photo of either.  Do you see a pattern here? 

There were grasshoppers everywhere!  Every time I took a step, I parted a sea of them.

 

Also, I did get a few other decent photos, even if the birds were perched on ugly lines.

Anna's Hummingbird

Say's Phoebe

Western Kingbird

Thinking my luck had to change I headed over to Santa Gertrudis Lane.  But I gave up after a quiet 40 minutes.  The only bird of note was a late Bell's Vireo.  I figure I was paying my dues to the birding gods for last weekend's walk-up lifer Cape May Warbler.  I guess that's why we do what we do.  You never know what you're going to find next...