Tucson to Tombstone....

I can't resist the bunny :-) I saw him first thing in the morning sitting out front. He's wiggling his nose, but you can't see that of course.

Dorothy has a large mulberry tree in the backyard that is like a "tree of life". In this photo there is a Gila Woodpecker, a Phainopepla, a couple doves, a House Finch, and a quail among the branches.

The Phainopepla is a very cool looking black bird. It is about 7 and a half inches long with a crest. There is white on the wings when it spreads them. They are related to the waxwings.

There were 3 of them flying in and out of the mulberry and perching way up at the top. It bobs its tail up and down while sitting....probably for balance.

Another shot of it sitting up tall.

We decided to drive to Tombstone and see if there were any birds along the San Pedro River area. On the way I began seeing hawks sitting on power poles....just like at home. We saw a total of 11 going and coming plus 3 in flight. I think they are all the same kind.

This one let us stop along the road right underneath it and take photos. It took me a while to figure out that is one of its feet that looks like it is sticking out of its belly.

We crept on past slowly and I got a side view. I'm guessing Red Tail, but of course I don't know for sure.
Between Benson and Tombstone you have the miles of the typical desert scrub scenery and then suddenly you see a row of cottonwood trees stretching across the road in both directions. That is the San Pedro River. They have put barbed wire all along the roadside to keep you from getting close.....supposedly to keep it protected, but mostly making it impossible to enjoy it very well.

Being stubborn, we climbed over the barbed wire....or in my case through it being rather short in the legs. It is a beautiful river and I'm sure if we had set down for hours we would have seen more birds. I saw a few finches in the trees.

We spotted this little bird along the water's edge and believe it is a Black Phoebe....which is a new bird for me.

I happened to snap this just as he started to take off or something. Made it possible to see his front side!

Since the birding wasn't too good, we headed on to Tombstone.

The "faux" wild west. A couple stage coaches were driving up and down the main street.

I like the horses :-)

One of the character actors....Marshall Earp perhaps? Looks like he is guarding the car park.

We went to a small quilt show and sat through the history of Tombstone at the Historama.

That was our day out, pretty much.
Tomorrow we will go to Sabino Canyon and Aqua Caliente Park probably.