Flagstaff bird trip

Friday I headed up to Flagstaff to tuck in at a Motel 6 for an early-morning birding trip Saturday.  Arriving mid-afternoon (uncharacteristically early for me) and excited by the cool, sunny weather, I took a notion to walk to the nearest coffee shop, which turned out to be a Wicked AZ about two miles away, at least a mile of it steeply uphill.  Anticipating a sit-down breather before the walk back, I was disappointed to find myself seated on a curb surrounded by parking lots, as it was strictly drive-through (and, fortunately, walk-up).  Still, the coffee was very good.  By the time I got back to the motel from this impulsive 4-mile walk, my left knee was complaining, not a good omen for Saturday.  Feeling foolish, I did lots of leg-therapy exercises and hoped for the best.

The bird trip was a delight -- mostly at about 7-9,000 feet elevation, surrounded by quaking aspens and conifers, bathed in brilliant sunshine and cool breezes.  The only downside was a bit too much breeze. This seemed to make a lot of the birds hunker down more than usual, and the wildly waving aspen tops made it harder to find a bird amongst flapping leaves and branches.  The trip leader kept apologizing, but I was having a great time.  I'm almost as delighted at waving aspen tops against blue sky as at birds, frankly.  I could have simply stretched out for hours, at any one of several of our stops, and grooved happily on whatever happened to come along.  We started just below the snow bowl, on the same trail I mentioned months ago where Grumpy, dog, and I only went a little way, took pics, and I swore to return.  We ended up at a spring past the end of Hart's Prairie Rd (FS 151 off hwy 180), a little piece of heaven to which I will most definitely return, maybe tomorrow, and stay longer.

I won't mention every bird we saw, but perhaps most of them:  A brilliant western tanager (yellow & black w/ orange on the head) posed at the top of a dead snag singing it's heart out.  Williamson's sapsucker (male) flybys were plentiful enough to give me a good look at everything but its head.  Mountain bluebirds (male & female) showed off along a barbwire fence beside an open field -- possibly the most ecstatic display of blue I've ever seen.  Most intriguing and frustrating was an abundance of red-faced warbler songs (identified by our leader & replayed on his nifty iPod for confirmation) in several locations and not a single viewing by any of us.  Spectacular bird, would love to have seen it.  Also warbling vireos singing all around us, and despite innumerable repetitions I failed the song ID "quiz" toward the end.  It's just so hard for me to remember calls; too many new ones in one day.  One western bluebird, but not a very good look; sun was in wrong place to see its color very well.  Ruby- (seen, flashed red crown) and golden-crowned (heard only) kinglets, chipping sparrow, mountain chickadees, Clark's nutcracker (heard), Stellar's jays.  Saw Lewis's woodpeckers at Museum of Northern Arizona they hang out there all the time, I hear, but I didn't get a good enough look to actually see the colors & was too tired to wait around very long.  Broad-tailed hummers at the feeder.

The excursion was about five hours long, relatively easy walking with driving breaks, so I'm surprised how tired I was.  By the end, at the spring, I felt I couldn't go another half mile to save my life.  My legs were begging for time off, and a very low uphill incline on the last bit had me puffing like an invalid.  Man, I'm sick of this lousy fitness level, more determined than ever to get over it.  Upside, although I had pain behind the left knee and zinging hamstring, the pain was not exacerbated by pressure and didn't impair walking, just aggravated me.  This morning there is no pain left at all.  How could there be, as I fell immediately into bed when I got home mid-afternoon and didn't get up for about 15 hours!  Nevertheless, this will be a day of rest.

All-round delightful trip, and I'm going back as soon as I possibly can.  Grumpy has a break coming up and wants to do a road trip to Chicago.  At first, I thought, gee, I'd love to get to know Chicago a bit, and thought I'd like to go too.  But after this Flagstaff trip, all I want to do is go to beautiful places to walk and see birds.  A city trip feels wrong at this moment.  I might just stay home and take my own trips instead.

This morning, I was rubbing Grumpy's cranky shoulder and chatting about birds I'd seen.  He responded with grunts, then said he needs to get a bb gun to take out some of the pigeons around the house.  GRAWK!  What am I doing with somebody who thinks like this?  I need some meeting of minds.