Electric Tomato, Trogon, Patagonia in Arizona

This probably applies no matter where you are, but the Arizona optician says it happens more often on the desert. I left my glasses on the dashboard; photo-sensitive glasses that turn darker in the sunlight. The night trip across town produced a dizzy array of beams flashing all directions. My glasses looked like fried with a field of tiny bubbles, a result of too much heat turning the light sensitive layer into little bumps. 

I have my new glasses  at Paton's Birder Haven on the edge of the little town of Patagonia, AZ. 

Upper right is our camp site at Patagonia Lakes State Park  a few miles south of the town. Great area for birding!

While I didn't know about the great birding in advance we soon were oriented by docents in the park and at Paton's. Though I shot photos of birds none of them turned out good enough for the blog.


Our tour leader named the vibrant vermilion flycatcher the flying "electric tomato." These images will make good on that: http://birding.about.com/od/bird profiles/p/vermilionflycatcher.htm








On this winter/spring trip we had the good fortune to see a wide variety of birds that never venture into our usual haunts and some were new to us including the broad billed humming bird which you can find here: http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/220/overview/Broad-billed_Hummingbird.aspxas. I failed catch one in a photo!

 The Gathering Grounds turned into our fave place to gather, caffeinate and partake of  good eats too. Patagonia. Everytime I see that name I think of the mountains in Argentina. 

While it's not the taxi in Patagonia, it does figure large on the side street downtown. I wonder if any of my cast off cars are doing artistic duty half as well?

There is a 4th Fire Truck in the station that has all the running parts in the right places. Judging from this assemblage, the town has a standing order for the same model every 20 years? Without the cyclone fence and the weeds this group of trucks has real potential.








We took several hikes to look for the Trogon which is known to frequent Patagonia Lakes State Park but were not fortunate enough to see any. Here's the compelling reason to pursue a good look: http://birds.audubon.org/species/eletro

If you decide to venture down to Santa Cruz County on the SE side of AZ the elevations are high enough to be cooler than one might expect which is great in the summer and maybe a bit surprising in the winter months. The towns of Sonoita, Patagonia, and Elgin provide good diversion from camping life and the right skiff of tourism amenities without being oppressive.