Joe and Mary Ann's personal web site

I went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA) by myself on Thursday, June 18, and again on June 22 with Mark. I got there at about 7 AM the first trip, and 7:45 AM the second one, and spent about 4 hours each time.

Mary Ann and I took a day trip to the Pinal Mountains. It was nice and cool there, and not too long of a drive. We left at 7:00 AM and arrived at Sulfide del Rey campground at about 8:30. We stopped at a couple of places along the way on Forest Road 651 (after the dirt road started). There was a creek flowing across the road, and some birds, butterflies, and dragonflies. In general, there was a lot of water flowing in the springs and creeks this year.

Dave and I went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum on May 19, 2020. We delivered our ‘Birds of Boyce Thompson Arboretum’ posters to the gift shop. They liked them, and were confident they would sell them – all money going as a donation to the arboretum. We then spent the morning at the arboretum. We left home at around 8:00 AM, got there at about 9:00 AM, and left at lunch time. We got take-out at Los Hermanos, and ate at a little park in Superior.

Dave and I did a little ‘pandemic’ project. Dave made a poster quite a while ago with a grid of Arizona wildflowers. He has mentioned several times to me that we should do a similar poster with pictures of birds from Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA). I decided to take him up on it.

I ventured out to the Granite Reef Recreation Area on the Salt River on March 14, 2020. I also hiked some trails on the Sonoran Desert Trail System. The recreation area is closed due to the Corona Virus (along with all recreation areas in the Tonto National Forest), but I noticed there were still ebird.org reports from there. So I called the Cave Creek ranger station, and they said we could park in a pull-out area south of Granite Reef, and walk in from there. I got there at about 7:30 AM, and walked along the freeway to the recreation area. I realize now I could have accessed the area from the back by walking along the canal.

This post has a photo from Aaron’s Birthday.

Dave and I went to Tonto National Monument, which is by Roosevelt Lake, to see the poppies in bloom. We weren’t disappointed.

Mary Ann’s sister, niece, and great nephew were in town. We went with Teresa to the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch (RPWR) in Gilbert. This post has some photos from there, as well as some unusual birds in our yard, and a few people pictures.

This is the third and final post of our southern California trip, this one covering our time in the Joshua Tree National Park, on January 15 and 16, 2020. For an overview of the trip, and a map, see here.

This is the second post of our southern California trip, this one covering our time at the Salton Sea, on January 14 and 15. For an overview of the trip, and a map, see here.