Next day I made a last minute decision to go to the Patagonia Rest Stop first because I figured the Rose-throated Becard would be vocalizing first thing, and therefore easier to bag. Didn’t take long to get there, so I parked by the cliff until sunrise (in case the Five-striped Sparrow decided to show again), and had the usual suspects, along with a beeping Canyon Wren. Then I parked at the north end and just gave it some time; as I wandered across the street I noticed that the trail down into the woodland was overgrown, so maybe people just aren’t using that any more (fine by me, as I always felt creepy down there). Abert’s Towhees were singing away as were chats and Yellow Warblers, but after a while I heard the characteristic wheezy song of the becard, and there they were, right across the street! They kept flying over my head, and one finally perched right overhead; tried to get video, but I think it’ll be good only for the audio (which thankfully came out great).

           Patagonia State Park was next; the guy at the entrance booth wasn’t there when I wheeled in, so made plans to pay on my way out. The place is always good for odes, but this time almost everything I could zoom in on was a Blue Dasher, except for a couple of Blue-eyed/Arroyo Darners that wouldn’t land (naturally). A quick stop at this big parking area added a very confiding Swainson’s Hawk on a pole, and a Bewick’s Wren that had me fooled into thinking it was a Western Tanager!  The cabins were new since I was there last, and that loop landed right at the trailhead. They also had a new feeding area that was set up like a grandstand, but nothing was filled. It gave you a great view of the lake, though!

Swainson's Hawk (left), and Trail from the parking lot down to the Birding Area

      I was a little concerned about the Birding Trail, because I remember it being quite the climb down and back, but it was fine as it was all made up of good stairs. Halfway down is a bench I don’t remember (it said “RAIL” and I was wondering if it had been taken from an old railing or something, but the next bench was labeled “YELLOWTHROAT” with a picture of said bird, so I realized they were referring to the Sora picture…), which was a great place to sit and watch the lake; flushed a Black-crowned Night Heron when I arrived, and across the way was a Great Blue and a couple of Coots. Down at the bottom were all the dashers, and bird highlights included a performing Yellow-breasted Chat in the sun, hiding Phainopeplas and Bell’s Vireos, another tyrannulet, and a Song Sparrow I managed to get backlit video of. At another rest a Yellow-billed Cuckoo called and then flew over, and at one little opening a mob of Coots went by, along with several Mexican Ducks (actually, some could have been bona fide Mallards, as the males would be in eclipse plumage by now, and one looked like it had the typical Mallard rear end). On the way up took another look at the lake from the overview, and added the requisite Neotropic Cormorant (although it was a very washed-out bird).

Patagonia Lake from the bottom of the Birding Trail

Trail within the woods

Blue Dasher (female left, male right)

Yellow-breasted Chat

      I wish I could have filmed one of the grackles vocalizing, as they make that same funny duit-duit-duit sound the California birds make! As it was, I got a juvie still begging, a male dismantling a beetle, and a pretty male House Sparrow (I told Keith not to laugh at me 😊). There really wasn’t much else around except a Curve-billed Thrasher making like a Robin on the ground, and I was tired already from all the climbing, so decided to head out, only the exit dumped me way up from the entrance booth! So rather than trying to find the thing, I just headed out and bagged a Rufous-winged Sparrow singing out in the open! 😊

Lake Patagonia from the day use area

Mrs. Grackle’s baby is bigger than she is, and still begging!

While the kid says, “Aw, c’mon, Mom!”, she checks her escape route...

This male House Sparrow has a big bib; according to some authorities, that means he’s the top dog!

Headed back to Patagonia to do Harshaw Creek Road, and that was a lovely drive; early on a male Vermilion Flycatcher flew up to a wire. No Montezuma Quail (I don’t even think I heard any last year, but my friend Norma and crew, who were there at the same time I was, had one out the window!) but was able to film a Rufous-crowned Sparrow that came in to pishing, and spooked a little grasshopper when I got out at one stop that was quite distinctive; I made it fly so I could see the color of its wings (red), and when I pulled my make-shift book out at the hotel there was a perfect match: Arroyo Grasshopper! Couldn’t get a singing thrasher to come out, but when a Curve-billed called across the way, I’m assuming that’s what it was until proven otherwise… A Western Wood Pewee sat up on a snag and called, as well as a Cassin’s Kingbird, but the star of the show was a calling Thick-billed Kingbird up on the hill – had he not done his pow-WEET!, I never would have noticed him! Near the end of the road a female/young Blue Grosbeak posed on a fence.

Harshaw Creek Road

L-R:  Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Cassin's Kingbird, Thick-billed Kingbird

L:  Arroyo Grasshopper; R: Female Blue Grosbeak

After I got done with that, the plan was to road-bird Harshaw Road, but I was a little nervous about the building monsoons. Turns out Harshaw Road is paved most of the way, so we headed on up, but it shortly started spitting, so that was our cue to turn back (rain in and of itself isn’t a big deal, but around here that can turn into a flash flood and block your passage real quick). So since it wasn’t even noon yet we decided to check out Pena Blanca Lake and get that out of the way (seeing as that road is paved, too). When we passed the state park, my conscience was bothering me 😊, so we swung in to suck up and pay the rather steep day use fee. I was kinda hoping the guy would give me a pass seeing as I was in and out (probably) before the booth was open, but he didn’t; in fact, I think it was the same guy who was making the rounds on his motorized cart earlier! I was kinda laughing about that on the way out, but right there by the side was a lovely Gray Hawk that was just primping away! Guess that was my “jewel” for doing the right thing!

Gathering storm

Primping Gray Hawk back at the state park

Anyway, Siri took us the back way to Ruby Road, which was a very scenic drive down South River Road. Construction at the freeway was horrible, but we got through, and once at the area I noticed that dirt road that goes to a wonderful overlook that I took last time, so down we went, but we didn’t get very far as there was a big chasm in the road! Thankfully we had enough room to turn around (very carefully) and head towards the paved part. Had another Gray Hawk come tearing in for video, and what I thought was a Bell’s Vireo actually turned out to be a Varied Bunting (hard to tell when it’s backlit sometimes)! The flowering bushes were loaded not with butterflies, but day-flying moths (the only ones I could ID were tons of Indomitable Graphics and, according to the book, Deduced Graphic! Went up to Upper Thumb to use the restroom, but a big monsoon (thunder and all) was bearing down (with one to the south as well), so we figured it was time to get out of there.

Pena Blanca Lake SRA

Deduced (left) & Indomitable Graphics

And boy, what a mess coming into Nogales! (In retrospect I shoulda gone straight to the hotel after Harshaw – I bet they would have let me check in early considering the weather…) That’s when the deluge started, and again at the construction, there was a backup to beat all! I thought I was getting on southbound I-19, but I had actually gotten on the frontage road, and that’s where the traffic was coming from (not sure why as it wasn’t anywhere near rush hour)! Siri was going nuts until she finally directed me to several back roads (and I truly was concerned about flooding along some of those) and put me on a surface street that really did have some flooding issues! Talk about the parting of the Red Sea when we went through! But she ended up taking us the back way to the little complex where all the hotels are, so we checked in fine (a little early, but that was okay), then gassed and iced up. But it was raining pretty hard and I got pretty soaked arranging the cooler, so donned that poncho I had taken to Costa Rica that worked like a charm, and it did its job this time, too, only I had to make several trips to the room (and wade through a small lake as well), and with the lightning firing off all around you, that was a trip! Then I cut myself on the Cup-o-Noodles box ☹, so it definitely was “one of those days”, but I was very glad to get to the room (which is lovely – second floor with a great view of the construction across the street 😊)! Did some calculating, as I was truly concerned about the condition of Ruby Road, plus I wasn’t sure I’d pick up anything new along there (general targets are Golden Eagle and the Monty), so we decided to do Montosa Canyon tomorrow and get that sparrow filmed (hopefully)!