Madera Canyon

We drove south from Catalina Park to hike in Madera Canyon.  We dropped a truck off at the bottom and then drove up to the highest trailhead to hike down the nature trail. Somehow while looking for the trail we managed to lose Leo.  We decided to hike down without him. The trail wound up high above the canyon for excellent views and then dropped down to the Santa Rita lodge.

Patti on the trail

The manzanita bushes were in bloom.

Meanwhile Leo walked down the road and waited at the lodge for us doing his favorite thing, photographing the birds at the lodge's feeders.

Yellow-eyed junco

And it's cousin

the pink-sided junco, a variation of our dark-eyed junco.

An acorn woodpecker

And today's Bird of the Day:

Hepatic Tanager

In the summer the Hepatic Tanager ventures as far north as Colorado but at this time of year it can be seen only in the far south of Arizona and Mexico.

After we were reunited

Leo and I came upon a flock of Mexican jays bathing in the creek.

We also saw several groups of the tiny Coue's white-tailed deer. They were not shy at all.

Young deer posing next to an alligator juniper.