Mary Jo's Ash Canyon B and B July 10, 2012 Day 4

We knew that the area of Ash Canyon had been hit hard by the fire and that their were no reported sightings of the Lucifer at their normal haunt, Mary Jo's.  Still, we just had to stop and see if maybe we would be the lucky first to spot this rare hummingbird.












There were other hummingbirds, mainly Broad-Billed, Costus, and Anna's but no Lucifers.  Mary Jo sat with us and shared her story of the fire.











The wind had turned and suddenly the fire was roaring down the mountain at 60 miles an hour.  There was nothing to do but to jump in the car and leave.  No time to grab things, no time for the wildlife to escape, no time for anything but leaving.











Mary Jo lucked out and her house was hit  with the fire preventative foam at the last possible second.  Just the house and a few trees in the yard were spared.  She lost many of the trees on her property and more importantly many more of her wildlife friends that she worked so hard to create a little sanctuary.













She talked with us for a while sharing this story.  You could see the pain in her eyes as she talked about her lost treasure of the Lucifer which had yet to return to her yard.  She spoke with realistic thoughts and knowledge of the time it may take for her feathered friend to return.













She talked of having to re-build by re-planting trees as she was able.  I made sure to put more then the required donation in the donation jar as every little bit helps this great birder re-build her sanctuary for people like you and me to visit.  Her hard work makes it so I can just go and sit somewhere to see some amazing wildlife so any donation is well spent.













While he was gone she did have many other feathered friends including some elf owl which we didn't get to see that day, some baby cooper hawks which had earlier that day been at the bird feeder, a ton of House Finches, and a cool Ladder Back Woodpecker who was working to gain control back of the suet feeder from the House Finches.












We left her as the sun was fading and while we didn't see our bird I was glad we had went.  We had spent the afternoon with some fun birds and in Mary Jo's good company.















Little did I know that a month later we would be back in her yard for an exciting day!