A few videos of the gannets collecting their nesting materials from the cliff tops
Been very busy at home since we got back from Arizona. The garden had changed seasons while we were away so there was all the bulbs to lift, tomatoes to plant out and the propogators all to be re-sown with seeds. Plus we had bought a new shed (the last one was 40 years old!) so had to take that down so the car went to the tip many times in the praying position! New shed delivered on Tuesday and was up and painted by teatime. Always busy !
We have been back two weeks now and only just catching up with ourselves. The jet lag on our return was immense with a long haul flight and a 10 hour time difference. We were slightly shell-shocked for a few days ! Anyway, not a bad trip but the heat did spoil it. It was 90 degrees every day by 10am, and it is still their spring. Heaven only knows what it is like in summer, unbearable I would think. So we were up at 4am every day, birded until 10am, then to the supermarket for lunch and something for tea and breakfast the next day. I knew where everything was in Safeway by the end of the trip and had even got myself a clubcard for all the discount! Lot's of Walmarts to shop at but the quality was yuk. We did have a few buns in Subway but the prices for a breadroll were scandalous. I had hopes of eating out, steak and chips, ribs and a cold beer......but that never happened.
The birding was good, but the miles we had to travel were staggering. We booked through Booking.com every couple of days when we knew where we were heading to next. Most rooms were around the £60 mark for us both, and the rooms were all nice. I added 110 new birds to my world list, with around 226 seen in total. Sorry, I have yet to do my mammals, best look sharp else will have forgotten!
The bird of the trip for me was between the Californian Condor and Roadrunner, can see where it gets its name from ! Afraid the brown sparrow types (of which there was a lot), did nothing for me. And the hummingbirds were fantastic, could have sat and watched them all day long.
The areas and places we visited were Sweetwater Wetlands, Mount Lemmon, Madera Canyon, Grand Canyon, Patagonia, Paton's Yard, Sierra Vista, Beatty's Yard, Willcox Twin Lakes and Golf Course, Huachuca Mountains, Monsona Canyon, Miller Canyon, Chiricahua Mountains, Pinery Canyon, Barfoot Junction, South Fork Road, State Road, Snowbowl, Walnut Canyon, Conorado Monument Road, San Pedro House, Patagonia State Park, Whipple Canyon, Saguaro Desert, Santa Rita Lodge, Bob Rodrigues Yard, Dave Jaspers Yard, Cave Creek Ranch and George Walker's House and of course Tombstone. These are not in any order and I am sure we went to more places but after three weeks recon brain fog set in.
The scenery was absolutely stunning and would have liked more driving stops to appreciate it. The massive open spaces that went on forever were something we have never seen before. Breathtaking. My pics certainly do not do it justice at all. Cactus, canyons, mountains and deserts, big open spaces, massive skies and mind blowing scenery. Fantastic !!
Vancouver and Alaska next......!!
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco as we come into land.
This is the largest military aircraft graveyard in the word with over 3,000 planes left in the Sonoran Desert, just outside Tucson. We drove past this dump a few times but afraid there was no stopping on this fast road, not even a layby we could look from. So all videos are from a moving car, but you will get the idea. They are all left here in the desert as the climate prevents rust. At one time they allowed bus tours round but they stopped that with the onset of covid, and have never started the tours again. It really was a 'what the F***' moment ! The planes went as far as the eye could see, lines and lines of them.
