Madera Canyon: Escaping the Heat

Yesterday, Tucson hit the 75th day of 2020 with a triple digit high, and we recently had two consecutive days of at least 110°F, which is common here in June, but the first time in August since 1915. At such temperatures, going to elevation is basically the only way to hike--or really spend any time outdoors, except perhaps in a a pool--during daylight hours. So this past week I went back to Madera Canyon for another lovely excursion. I saw many of the same birds, which I could mostly identify this time, plus some new ones! 

I think this is a juvenile elegant trogon (Trogon elegans), which is very exciting, because these birds are rare and highly sought after, as the only member of trogon/quetzal family (Trogonidae) present in the United States. There are a few known nesting pairs in Madera Canyon, but they are mostly found south of the border, in the tropics. The last time I saw a trogon--of a different species--was in Panama!

As is typical of many species, especially birds, the photos you see are often of the brightly colored adult males, while the females and juveniles are much less frequently photographed (or at least shared). It took me a while to identify this one because the barring of the wings seemed so distinctive, but that's not in any of the identifying information for the species. The white spot underneath is mentioned for both juveniles and females though.

Based mostly on the white stripe on the head, I think this one is a female black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus), which similarly has much more muted coloration than its male counterpart. Unfortunately, she didn't turn her head, so I didn't get a clear side view.

Here's a yellow-eyed junco (Junco phaeonotus) again. There were certain places along the trail where several of these hopped on ahead of me companionably for quite a ways.

This little bird is a house wren (Troglodytes aedon), which is one of the most common and widespread birds in the western Hemisphere. They can be found from Canada to southern Chile, although in the winter they reside closer to the tropics and in the summer some of them migrate polewards.

Mammals tend to be scarcer here in the desert, although I did see a couple of deer and several cute squirrels. Tree squirrels (as opposed to ground squirrels) are much rarer out here than they are back east, and I'm always happy to see them. Also, the local gray squirrel is actually a different species, the Arizona gray squirrel (Sciurus arizonensis), which is endemic to the riparian forests in the sky islands of southern Arizona and northern Mexico.

There were a few different wildflowers blooming along the trail this time, including what I think was a lemon beebalm or lemon horsemint (Monarda citriodora).

These delicate pink flowers are coralbells (Heuchera sanguinea), which are native to Arizona and New Mexico, but are often planted in gardens elsewhere in the country.

My favorite flower of the hike, though, was the Mexican pink (Silene laciniata), which has quite a distinctive lobed petal shape that looks a little bit like a firework.

I didn't see any of them last month, but this time there were several, especially at slightly higher elevation. Here a yellow butterfly of some sort--I think maybe a cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae)--is drinking nectar from one. Can you see its tongue (also known as a proboscis)?

I got lucky with the lepidoptera tongues! This one is some kind of skipper. I think maybe it's an Arizona mottled-skipper (Codatractus arizonensis). See the curl of the proboscis in this one?