On March 18, my brother-in-law, Ben Freburg, and my wife Carrie and I rose before dawn to leave icy Illinois for arid Arizona. Not long after we hit the highway, we were passing cars that had run off the road and sitting on the edge of our seats as my thin tires hydroplaned on ice. Would we make it, or end up on the side of the road condemned to spend our vacation in the cold dark of central Illinois. Carrie did and excellent job of driving. Progress was slow, but thank the Lord, we made it to Midway, parked in the $14/a day garage, and got through all the rigmarole in time to board our plane.
We thought we were out of danger until the pilot said the plane was coming in too high for the landing in Tuscon, AZ and thus circled around to repeat the descent. That was a first for me. I guess starting over is much better than plowing through Saguaros and desert scrub. The other interesting thing about that plane ride was that it seemed like everyone on the plane had to go the bathroom about 4-5 times during the flight. We sat on the ground waiting for another plane to be de-iced before we took off so everyone was strapped in unable to visit the lavatory for 30 minutes to an hour before take off. Then after take off, they kept telling us to stay in our seats because of turbulence or something or other. We must not get up until the seatbelt light was off, but when you've gotta go . . . I began to notice people getting up. Carrie reminded me that the seatbelt light was still on as I stood up, but I was going anyway until . . . "Please remain in your seats . . . !" But no one seemed to notice. At first it was the men, walking right by the flight attendants without any fear whatsoever. Eventually the women on board abandoned propriety as well. When I saw my brother-in-law stand up and boldly approach the front of the plane, I decided to follow suit and ignore the regulations. After all, you can't stop a flood. Eventually people began forming lines, disregarding the signs posted by the bathrooms. I don't think I've ever witnessed so much usage of an aircraft lavatory in my life, and every time the toilet was flushed, it sounded like the pilot was launching a heat-seeking sidewinder. Which leads me to the question, "What happens when you flush a toilet on an airplane?" Check out this humorous article if you are interested.
http://gizmodo.com/5953877/what-happens-when-you-flush-a-toilet-on-an-airplane
Any complications to our journey were overshadowed when we stepped out of the Tuscon airport and felt the desert warmth wrap around our Vitamin D malnourished bodies. Carrie was further excited when she discovered that the rent-a-car, which was assigned to us, was a red Chrysler 200. It was certainly a smooth ride to Tuscon; although, it seemed rather strange to turn on the air-conditioning on what had started out as an icy day. We arrived at the home of Carrie's parents, Dave and Laura Freburg in time to unload and see a few birds on the Green Valley Country Club golf course before eating an early dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. The golf course is right behind their house, and is surrounded by some decent habitat. After a Say's Phoebe and a Vermilion Flycatcher landed on the bush behind the house, I decided to take a quick walk and few shots. I saw both male and female Vermilion Flycatchers and a Gila Woodpecker.
After dinner, we stopped at Beall's Outlet Store to do a little shopping, but I decided to wander around outside, while everyone else was shopping. I managed to find a nice little area of desert scrub and photograph the Phainopepla shown at the top of this post. I also quickly noticed Gambel's Quail, Cactus Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, and Verdin, and a few sparrows, which I was unable to identify before I realized I needed to get back fast before I was abandoned in the desert without water. I returned to Beall's parking lot just in time to catch a ride back to Dave and Laura's house. On the way home they stopped by a couple of spots to show us the neighborhood hawks. The nesting Red-tails were absent, but the Cooper's Hawks were in the usual tree. By the time I got back to the house and got a fresh battery for my camera, there was only one of the two remaining in the tree.
Laura showed me her little hummingbird feeder, which hosted a little female Anna's Hummingbird.
I wanted to check the golf course pond before dark. There weren't many waterfowl on the pond, but I did flush this Abert's Towhee, which was skulking around by the pond.
It was a busy day, and Carrie and I planned to start our Tuesday with some intense birding. So after a game of Phase 10 with the family, we turned in. Stay tuned for more of our Southeast Arizona vacation and more birds.
This post was written and published on March 29, 2013.
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