Bog Springs Trail Madera Canyon June 23

 Sometimes, you just don't get your bird!  We heard about a Scarlet Tanager on a trail in Madera Canyon, AZ.  So, on June 23 we packed up the SUV and headed out.  Now, those of you on the East Coast won't be impressed because for you this is a normal bird, but on the West Coast, well we shouldn't have this bird out here.  So, with hopes of seeing all the US Tanager's in a year we went off to find our bird.
We headed up Bog Springs Trail looking for the Scarlet Tanager.  The trail had some pretty steep portions making is slow going for us with my Asthma.  We ran into a good amount of people who had seen the bird and with hopes high kept on trucking!  We got to the spot where everyone had seen the bird.  We waited,







and waited,











and waited, while the kids played and hiked around on their own adventure toddler style.

I watched them play, a stick was investigation worthy and a rock made for the perfect observation platform.

Or if your my daughter a place to practice push-ups.

I loved to watch them explore and my normally messy hands aversion daughter didn't seem to mind the dirt on her hands.

So, while we looking for a bird feeling the disappointment creep in our little ones were gaining joy out of the world around them.

Finally, a bird!  It was a Turkey.  So, with out seeing the bird we came for we headed back down the mountain.

We went to our favorite feeders at Santa Rita Lodge and the kids got some Popsicle.  We caught sight of our friends the Black-chinned Hummingbird,

a female hummingbird,

and some hummingbirds in flight.

I was thinking of how disappointed I was over not seeing the bird, I had slept in a little and then with my asthma, sleeping in seemed to be the difference in us seeing the bird.  I spotted something on the ground that caught my eye.

HOLY COW!  4 Blue Grosbeaks!  I have been trying to see this bird for months!  Every-time I go into the outhouse or gift-shop my husband sees this bird and I never could get my eye on it!

I like these next shots because it looks like the bird is some how coming out of the rock.

As I sat watching a bird I had been trying to see for months I thought about the day.

I realized that the disappointment I felt in missing my bird distracted me from the joy of playing in nature my kids were experiencing.  They had fun and I saw that, but I didn't realize just how much excitement they were feeling.  Then, if we hadn't sat for so long waiting for that bird, I probably wouldn't have been at the feeders giving the kids Popsicle when a bird I had been trying to see for a long time showed up!  Sometimes out of disappointment comes excitement if you just keep your eye's looking for things to come.