On Saturday morning, we again left early after breakfast at our rental house for a day of birding. This time we went to Catalina State Park, just north of Tucson, where our birding book said we would likely see the flame-red vermilion flycatcher. It was only a 15-minute drive from our house on a very sunny and warm morning. After paying our entrance fee, we drove to the picnic area where the bird was supposed to hang out. We parked and got out and there it was, sitting boldly out in the open on a bare tree branch. There’s nothing shy about the bird.
After expressing appropriate enthusiasm about finding this showy little bird, we went in search of other species. We were rewarded with seeing a greater roadrunner in the campground, a gila woodpecker, and several other birds. Then we drove to the trailhead parking lot, which was quite full of cars. We set out on the Birding Trail, one of several trails in the park, to see more. After first crossing a dry wash, we took the dusty loop trail to see what we could see and ended up seeing a few more species. By the time we finished the loop, we were really hot, sweaty and tired and we returned to the car.
We had a second destination planned too, so we left the park around noon and stopped for lunch in one of the many strip malls along the highway. Then we made our way downtown to Tucson Audubon’s nature shop. There we did some binocular and souvenir shopping and learned more about this large chapter, which was started in 1949.
Returning to the rental house, we took it easy until dinner time, when we went to a hip place called Culinary Dropout. The kitchen was visible through glass and was huge, the waiters were young, and the place was large, airy and very busy. I enjoyed a great hard cider and chopped chicken salad, while Nancy had a spicy vegetable curry.
Sunday was our day to check out of Tucson and move on to Tubac. First we enjoyed a good breakfast at Blue Willow restaurant, where I had huevos rancheros. We returned to our VRBO house to finish packing, then hit the road about 10 a.m. southbound. An hour later, we were in the small artist’s village of Tubac.
We drove to the trailhead for the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail and set out to see Lucy’s warbler, among other birds. And we found the Lucy’s, thanks to the help of two birders from Portland who took us to the right spot.
It was another hot and dusty trail, so we hit Tubac Jack’s Saloon for beers right away. After being refreshed, we found the Tubac Country Inn, a cute five room inn where Nancy had reserved us a two-room suite.
Tubac is a very small town with only seven streets. After taking it easy in the suite for a while, we looked at the list of the hotel’s recommended restaurants for dinner ideas. Some were in a nearby town, others weren’t open on Sunday. We ended up eating in the restaurant of the nearby Tubac Golf Resort and it was nice. It had been another good birding day.
Lori's Travels 