Coatimundi (Nasua narica, the white-nosed coati), at Santa Rita Lodge. Coatis are diurnally active, and this handsome fellow climbs up from the canyon below to the lodge’s bird feeding area several times each day to check out the action, scrounge a few treats, and get a drink of water. He’s still a wild animal, but habituated to people – an opportunist who isn’t put off by gawkers on the lodge deck.
At Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, in Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.
Mexican jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi), at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, in Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.
Clark’s spiny lizard (Sceloporus clarkii) on an alligator juniper tree (Juniperus deppeana), at Madera Canyon in Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.
Rivoli’s hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens) at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, in Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona. My room at the lodge had a treetop view that looked down into the canyon. I was able to watch these amazing birds gorge on gnats, then dash out of view to the nectar feeders to wash them down.
Etymology note: For a brief while this bird was commonly known as the magnificent hummingbird. In 2017 the ornithologists who task themselves with such things changed the name to Rivoli’s, in honor of amateur ornithologist François Victor Masséna, Duke of Rivoli (b. 1799). Our lovely Anna’s hummingbirds are named after his wife, the duchess.
Feeling fabulous!
Broad-billed hummingbird (Cynanthus latirostris) expressing himself at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon. In the Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.
Acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.
Center photo: Silverleaf oak acorns (Quercus hypoleucoides) in the canyon.
I watched woodpeckers visiting silverleaf and Emory oaks at the lodge, though they seem to be partial to the rare peanuts found in the lodge’s feeder mix. All of the telephone poles on the grounds are used as ersatz cache trees.
Northern pygmy-owl chick (Glaucidium gnoma) in a snug nest in an Arizona sycamore (Platanus wrightii). At Madera Canyon in Cornonado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona. These are tiny, sparrow-sized owls, and the opening to the nest cavity was only about 1½ inches in diameter (30 cm). Pygmy-owls are diurnally active, and the pygmy parents were still feeding their brood. I had miles and promises (etc.) and wasn’t able to stay to watch the chicks fledge.
Détente.
Contretemps.
Elegant trogon (Trogon elegans), at Madera Canyon in the Coronado National Forest, Pima County, Arizona.
Dithyramb 