Mt. Ord, August 18, 2018

I went to Mt. Ord with Father Charlie, Dave, and Mark. I also included a couple of photos from our backyard.

The road to Mt. Ord was closed for a while due to a fire at the lower elevation, but I noticed it was back open when we drove to Woods Canyon last week. There were lots of birds being reported there, so we decided to check it out. This is keeping with the theme of finding cooler places than Phoenix in August. But, Mt. Ord is a great place to go any time of the year.

We thought we might get some clear views from the mountain due to the recent rainstorms in the area, but, unfortunately, it was the opposite. It was very hazy, so the views weren’t very good. I included a couple anyway.

There were birds there, but I didn’t have much luck getting good shots.

I included a couple of shots from our backyard. We saw a Greater Roadrunner on the fence in our backyard, which is unusual (I think it’s the first time I’ve seen one there). Also, there was a Northern Mockingbird making an alarm call, over and over again. The call sounds kind of like a cat hissing. I didn’t realize what it was alarmed about until I saw a Cooper’s Hawk fly out of another tree. Darn! I wish I would have seen it before it flew away so I could have taken some pictures of the hawk.

The photography wasn’t great on Mt. Ord, but the company was great, and it’s a beautiful spot that I always enjoy visiting.