Birds on the brain, but not bird-brained

I'll get off this bird kick after the weekend when we'll be hanging out with real birders at the Wings over Willcox bird festival. We're planning to take in several workshops and, if I can finesse Mr. T into it, we'll also spend some time building birdhouses. Last time we did something like this was at the Wings over somewhere else bird festival 2 years ago in St. George, Utah. At that one, I enthused so long and loudly about the birdhouse-building workshop that he agreed to come along. I distinctly recall him saying something along the lines of "Yeah, it'll be fun." And it was. We and about 50 small people hammered away at Home Depot birdhouse kits for, oh, about an hour until one of us couldn't take the embarrassment any more and we left. This year, I'm sure it will be different....

Meanwhile, we've had no small success in actually capturing our birding adventures on film, to wit:

One of a thanksgiving of wild turkeys we happened to spot in Ramsey Canyon, a wildlife area south and a bit west of Sierra Vista. I'm pretty sure this one's name is Tom. Or perhaps Tomás, given the proximity to Mexico. There were almost as many turkeys in this group as Border Patrol officers in the park.

Moving on to Montezuma Canyon National

Monument, we made the acquaintance of a greed of Mexican jays. They're almost indistinguishable from our gray jays (well, except for being blue and speaking Spanish) and have the same nickname, Camp Robber. This one's name was.... you guessed it, Jay. Or maybe it was Rob.

And at long last we encountered not one, but two, roadrunners when I actually had a camera in my hand. Very clever camouflage, non? And they're not just a pretty face either. Apparently, they are somewhat attracted to humans for their use as "beaters". You know, as in safari. They (according to my source, who shall remain nameless) follow along when people trundle into the desert because our clomping feet tend to send little snakes and lizards running for cover. At which point, the crafty roadrunner puts on his or her bib and prepares for dinner. Just like in the cartoons.

And finally, this is the view coming down from Montezuma Canyon. If you look closely, you can see a bit of a tail light of the ubiquitous white Border Patrol vehicle on the left.