Many thanks to Patrick, who identified our blue beetle from the Chiricahuas as Gibbifer californicus, the Pleasing Fungus Beetle. Aren’t insect names amazing?

It’s a long ways from Tucson to the east side of the Chiricahuas, but Beth, Elizabeth, Michael, Denis, and I were undaunted at 3:00 this morning when it came time to head out. Apart from some early-rising Chihuahuan Ravens and a late-falling meteor, the drive across to Paradise was thankfully uneventful, and we were at [...]

Most everybody got it right, which speaks volumes to the advances made in hummingbird identification in the last decade, thanks particularly to the splendid photographic guide by Steve Howell. In the old days of the Petersonian “field mark,” we were taught to look at the head pattern of male hummingbirds, and essentially to guess on [...]

Word on the AZ listserver is that an adult Crescent-chested Warbler is feeding a fledgling in the Chiricahuas. Stay tuned: this will be a first ABA-area breeding record!

The first sign is usually a pile of twigs in front of the front door. Then one morning I walk out onto the porch and throw a Mourning Dove into hysterics: help me, save me, that big biped is going to get me, swoon! And if I’m away for a few days this time of [...]