Wickenburg, AZ

A day trip to out of Phoenix to Wickenburg was my favorite part of our vacation. I can't say much about the town except that we had a fabulous Mexican lunch at a little restaurant there. There were several interesting museums there that I'd love to go back and see but the highlight of that trip was a jeep tour out into the desert outside of Wickenburg. Another lifer on that day was a canyon wren. It's not a striking looking bird, but the song was beautiful. Check this link to hear the song.
The prettiest bird I saw out there was the vermilion flycatcher. At the end of our tour, on our way back in to Wickenburg we stopped alongside a horse pasture. From across the road these gorgeous red birds looked like flashing red lights perched on the barbed wire fence. There were four- two males and two females actively hunting insects in the pasture. They would dart out to catch an insect then fly back to the fence to eat. They were moving way too fast for me to get a picture but I was just enthralled just watching them.

This curve-billed thrasher doesn't seem to mind the spines of this saguaro cactus. They must have tough toes!
This phainopepla (not Pepcid AC Susan!) posed nicely. They are all inky black with a blazing red eye. Very cool bird!
The lighting in the desert in late afternoon is wonderful and there is no way to describe the smell of the air. I found myself taking in great lungs full of that air- unlike anything I'd ever experienced before. Fabulous!
The phainopeplas were striking beautiful poses all afternoon.
Our tour guide/jeep driver seemed to know a bit about everything- except birds. It got to the point where he's stop when ever he'd see a bird so I could look. He couldn't help with id's but was patient with me and let me look as long as I needed to. He called these berries "desert mistletoe" and said it was a major food source for the phainopepla (one of the few birds he could id).

Art and John had a different highlight of the trip. They spent one morning taking helicopter flight lessons! Here's John above hovering by himself. The flight instructor told Art that John's vast video game experience actually game him a leg up in eye hand coordination. John did really well in his lesson and was thrilled by the compliment. He has talked about wanting to be a helicopter pilot for a few years and now can't wait for the next lesson.

Art was a helicopter crew chief years ago in the Army and so has some prior experience. He accepted the offer to fly with the door off. Art and John took pictures of each other as I reigned in my protective instincts and did not go along to watch. I'm glad I didn't go. It's a guy thing that they have shared and now the memories are theirs.

Among my memories are these new life birds:

Inca Dove

White-winged Dove

Vermilion Flycatcher

Great-tailed Grackle

Harris's Hawk

Swainson's Hawk

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird

Phainopepla

Black Phoebe

Gambel's Quail

Black-throated Sparrow

Curve-billed Thrasher

Abert's Towhee

Verdin

Gila Woodpecker

Cactus Wren

Canyon Wren