Babe had decided the night before that she wasn't going to try going back up the fairly steep trail this morning, so she spent the morning watching the feeders around the lodge while I headed back Old Baldy Trail by myself. It was only 25 degrees and was tricky walking because the snow on the trail had been packed down by birders and hikers, melted some during the afternoon, and refroze into a slippery sheet overnight. I spent the entire morning looking for the warbler. I wasn't even able to find one of the small flocks of birds that were occasionally seen working up and down the canyon slopes. The Aztec Thrush hadn't been reported for a couple weeks and looked like it had moved on, so it was a 'long shot' at best. I carefully headed back down the trail empty-handed. Going down was much worse than up because you never knew if your heel was going to stay put or slide out on the packed-down sections of the trail.
Back at the lodge, the feeders produced Wild Turkeys (that weren't very wild), Mexican Jays, Bridled Titmice, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, and Dark-eyed Juncos that included the 'Gray-headed', 'Pink-sided', and 'Oregon' forms.
Bridled Titmouse at the feeder near our room at the Santa Rita Lodge.
Yellow-eyed Junco at the feeder behind our room at the Santa Rita Lodge.
We then headed back down to Proctor Road. New birds seen there included Curve-billed Thrasher and Townsend's Warbler, but the gnatcatchers still eluded us. Along the way down into Green Valley to get some groceries and hit a restaurant, we stopped at a pecan grove and spotted several Gambel's Quail crossing some railroad tracks. We drove across the tracks on a dirt road to get a better look at them and proceeded to get blocked in by a freight train that stopped and parked across our exit! Luckily, after waiting for about fifteen minutes to see if it would move again, I continued down the dirt road and found another way out of the area and back across the tracks. From now on, I will remember to park the car and walk in across railroad tracks unless I know there's another way out.
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