The Mysterious "Continuing"

Maricopa County has been fantastic lately.  More on that later!  Over the last few years, I have taken a big break from birding in Maricopa County.  I took three years to bird Gila County extensively, and I don't regret it.  But what I did do was put a lot of Maricopa County birding on hold as I have not only birded Gila, but have explored other counties too.  I've gotten to know Arizona A LOT better by stepping outside of Maricopa.  Over the past week, I've realized that I'll probably be "stuck" in Maricopa County for awhile due to some circumstances.  And right now, I can't complain at all.  There has been an outburst of epic birds in Maricopa County.  More on the outburst later.  In the meantime here on TDBE (Tommy D's Birding Expeditions), we'll go up into Maricopa County's higher elevations.  There are a few drainages that resemble some of southeastern Arizona's canyons.  These drainages have thick forest that consist of pine, Douglas fir, oak, and sycamore.

My buddy Ronnie Reed joined me for an expedition to Maricopa's high country.  We hiked down into the drainages of this area, which are not only outstanding, but call for thorny bushwhacking too.  Over the years, these canyons have become more vegetated.  Ronnie and I were looking for high elevation rarities on the Maricopa scale, as well as anything else.  Birds that were on the mind were Montezuma Quail, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, and Rivoli's Hummingbird.  While they are long shot attempts, one could certainly cross paths with one of them when birding here.  Ronnie and I didn't find any of them, but we had a fun time exploring.  Over the years, Spotted Owls have been confirmed as being present, including a few years of them breeding and having young.  It was awesome finding them.  Over the past several years, I've gone to these canyons several times and have kept my eyes out for the owls.  I wasn't able to find them, but have figured that they are set up in a very secretive area.  While Ronnie and I were exploring, I looked up to see a Spotted Owl.

As we moved a few feet over, we realized a second Spotted Owl was behind the first.

Although I hadn't seen them in a few years, it was great to know that they are still around in my home county.  Call it "continuing", since they are as mysterious as they are.  Ronnie and I walked past the owls while keeping a distance and taking pictures with our high zoom cameras.  When we came back an hour later, the owls had switched perches.  Hopefully these neat birds will continue while remaining mysterious.