Tucson: Sabino Canyon and Mount Lemmon

From a family visit in my distant past, I remembered Sabino Canyon as a restful place completely in contrast to
the extremely arid Tucson desert. Yesterday as we hiked and searched for birds there and at Mt. Lemmon,
I found that my memories were quite accurate and in some ways surprisingly detailed. 

A dessert bunny was on the path just after we started our walk.

Our guide, Laurens, knew all about not only birds but also lizards, mammals,
butterflies, and cactus. He was a fabulous bird finder!
His website is here.

Up on Mt. Lemmon, at a site known to our guide, we spent at least an hour looking for this red-faced warbler, which Len finally managed to photograph. These warblers had just arrived in the area one or two days ago. They were singing their territories and preparing to nest -- we heard them a lot more than we saw them.

A black-chinned hummingbird on her nest.
Nearby we talked to a group of people who
are banding the hummingbirds to trace their migration routes. 

Pyrrhuloxia, a beautiful bird we saw near the stream at Sabino Canyon.

For lots more bird photos that he took yesterday, see Len's Flickr set.