July 2021

July 30, 2021 I have recorded 9.6″ of rain in July. This is more than all of last year. Many of the birding trails are muddy quagmires. Boots are pretty much required along the Santa Cruz River trails. It will be several months before the thick clayey mud is easily passible. The WTP pond at […]

July, 24, 2021 Rain total here in Green Valley is up to 4.65″ since the beginning of the month. That’s about the total that fell in 2020. Another inch is expected between now and the end of the month. This Scissor-tailed Fly was found by Caleb Gordon at Himmel Park in The Old Pueblo yesterday

July 16, 2021 ~3.2″ of rain since July 1. Several days ago Kathy Beck found a single Mississippi Kite (MIKI) at Paton’s Center for Squirrels, Mosquitos, and Chiggers in Patagonia. Others also found MIKI over the next several days, including several reports of three birds! I found the three birds at Patagonia Park within about

July 11, 2021 This bird had been reported off-and-on for while. So I trekked up to The El Rio Open Space Preserve near Marana this morning. It was pretty warm by 8am, so I camped out in the shade of a salt cedar. An early Western Tanager appeared, and then in the same spot, the

July 9, 2021 Another 0.3″ of rain fell in an intense half-hour about 2am on the 7th. Another one-half inch is expected early next week. I have been watching the progress of the Agave plants along Box Canyon Road. Last week they had not opened their flowers. Yesterday morning I tried again and note that

July 4, 2021 We’ve gotten about a quarter inch of rain over the last three days, and about the same last week. This morning I noticed that some of the oaks and other trees have begun to show some life. Today the weather authorities spake that we would get about .11″ over the next two