Jan 30, 2023 Day 2 McDowell Mtn Scottsdale, AZ

Happy Birthday Shannon! Hope you have a wonderful Birthday!

The mountains in this area are simply spectacular. It’s mostly cloudy today, but at times the sun breaks through and highlights one mountain, while others stay in the shadows. We agree this is one of the most beautiful areas we’ve visited. There’s some wind and the forecast call for rain but the temperature is to stay in the mid-50s.

Ron took a morning hike with camera in hand and got some great photos of several new birds. One of them is a hawk standing on top of a Saguaro Cactus and with the mountains in the background, it’s an amazing photo. As he watches the hawk, it flies away and lands near 2 other hawks. This is unusual to us since in our experience they are solitary creatures. In our later research, we determine they are Harris Hawks, and they are one of the rare hawks that do hunt in groups. They have another unique behavior in that they stand on each other’s back on a Saguaro. It’s called stacking and a unique characteristic of this bird, too.

These are really nice trails here, with a sandy base and fairly free of rocks and we see why they bicyclists like them. Ron decides to take the Lectric Bike on one of the trails to Stoneman’s Wash. The ranger said this was a great area for birds and that 30 owls were spotted in the area. He had a blast riding the Lectric Bike and felt like he was a kid again. He captured photos of several new birds but no owls.

The 3 of us take a hike in the early afternoon. It’s a short hike that loops around the campground and brings us out on the other side. Justice loves all the new smells and can’t wait to get to the next one. The ranger told us to be sure to keep him on the leash because dogs are on the menu here with some of the other wildlife in the area!

While on our hike, we got a photo of one of our bucket list birds. It was Gambrel’s Quail and Ron was able to capture some good photos of them near a bird feeder in the campground. Later in the hike we got a real surprise when Ron spotted a Roadrunner! It was coming across the road in front of us and I got a lot of photos of it as it ran across the road, then in the grasses beside it. It’s been on our list to capture since Texas, and we finally got it!