Arizona 2025 – Life Intrigued

Bunting to First

By the time you read this, we will have officially used up all the available days in August. I am stunned to say the least… not so much that another calendar page has been torn off, rather we will be in official haunt month. I am sure my long-time readers (so appreciative) are likely bored of hearing about our haunted trail and the effort it takes to get that built, put on for two days, and then torn down every year. It is truly the pinnacle for our year and a culmination of all the prop building and preparation that occur through the entirety of the year. Unfortunately, the “fun” times give way to full on stress when we get to this point as the project plan needs updating hourly the weather forecast is constantly fretted over and “overwhelmed” becomes the word of the day. All of this is really just context to let you know I will be stepping away from the Internet most of September as a result. Fear not, Intrigued will continue to bring you content with the help of Brad and Jan who will be going to bat in my absence. Truth is I have been saving up their adventures to this point knowing this was on the horizon (note, they also just returned from another exciting adventure in the field).

Since our power hitters are coming on deck, thought the perfect strategy would be to “Bunt” my way to first (of the month ha).

Lark Bunting found at Lorsburg, NM Welcome Center in March 2025

No mistaking that bill for a member of the Bunting family. Hit the jump and we will introduce you to a new featured feathered friend making its debut on the wild side of Intrigued.

Location, Location, Location

It is going to be close, but I think we are just barely going to get in under the wire to meet our self-imposed monthly post quota. Our streak is well over a decade and not willing to just throw all that effort away because of something trivial like lack of sleep ha. That and I don’t want to add “another” blemish to my performance this year with annual reviews just around the corner. Due to the short spacing between this and the last post, not really much to highlight as far as activities go with the exception I hit the 18 mile mark on my trail training today. I am feeling (a LOT) better about my conditioning now as that only puts me 7 miles short of the max training distance target – already at the 50+ mile mark for weekly mileage. Should be able to cover that remaining training distance in the next month assuming I can break away from the haunted trail for some good hard runs. The rest of the race distance is just a matter of grinding/gutting it out and that is exactly how I feel about today’s featured feathered friend.

Cackling Goose found at John Ward Memorial Park, Amarillo, TX in March 2025

Quick, take your first guess at this species and we will check it after the jump.

A Hummingbird Misogi

Every have one of those to-dos that stares you in the face and it just hangs around and around and around? In my latest situation it was an item on my read list. It has been there since 2019, finally got it as gift this last Christmas and then dragged it on two long trips out west and managed to get through maybe 2 chapters at best. Got back, put it on my nightstand, said goodnight to it every night and promised to turn the pages ….the next night. Even more embarrassing it was about building good habits and breaking bad one. The book – Atomic Habits by James Clear (link here). In my defense, I was keeping up on his thought provoking emails in the midst of this (think he stopped sending those or I got dropped somehow through 2025). My summary, probably would have been more useful while I was still in the grind as my “habits” have shifted a bit and maybe honing them isn’t as critical. I do like the core principles, Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy and Make it Satisfying, however, my big takeaway was his take on boredom . “Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference. Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way“. That rang absolutely true with me as I always tell people my superpower is the ability to grind in work (formerly) and sport (ultras). Overall, not a bad read, although, I would recommend first consuming my favorite book – Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter (link here) or Do Hard Things by Steve Magness (link here). Those two offerings pretty much summarize my long held outlook on life.

Steve focuses on developing mental toughness and Michael challenges you to participate in activities you have a 50% chance of absolute failure even with focused training (misogi)…and now you know why I do the things I do ha. Why bring all this up..well, because I am about to do something in this post that is hard, which I should make more of a habit of and yes, there is high probability of failure. Today we are taking on the female Hummingbirds!

Violet-Crowned Hummingbird captured March 2025 at Paton Center for Hummingbirds

Before digging into this, I found myself quoting Theron from 300: “This will not be over quickly, you will not enjoy this, you suck at female Hummers“…or something like that. Hit the jump to see the fruits of my misery ha.

Just Waiting on a Flame

Nothing like getting in just under the wire. We’ve come to the end of another month or as we say here at Intrigued, officially HT-2 – only TWO months before the annual Haunted Trail event. We have been working hard on creating props, new power solutions and trail prep since we made it home from our western foray, but now the pressure really starts to build. Sleep is becoming a luxury even before mixing in this month’s stepped up run training cycle. I would liken it to being back in the corporate grind if it wasn’t so damn fun hahaha. Oh, speaking of a physical “grind”, the Intrigued family extend their best wishes for “happy feet”, clear skies, cool temps and emotional fortitude to Jan (and Brad) during their annual charity event. I will let Brad comment more on that at a later time – fingers crossed they are not getting the current downpour going on here.

Now let’s get to today’s featured feathered friend and put a wrap on this month’s colorful theme!

Anna's Hummingbird found at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, AZ in March 2025

Watching Hummers go passing by
It ain’t the latest thing
I’m just standing in a blind
I’m just trying to make some sense
Out of these Hummers that passing by
The tales they tell of nectar
I’m not waiting on a lady
I’m just waiting on a [male to] flame

Yes, I took some liberties on a classic song, but that was me in March of 2025. Hit the jump to learn more.

Keep Your Chin Up!

Howdy ya’ all! I have to say, it feels like a stress weight has been lifted as of noon today. Got through the anniversary celebration event earlier in the week and that all went very well beyond a bit of a let down on our chosen fancy pants dinner location – a LOT of dollars for a mediocre experience which is disappointing when you are ordering “market” priced entrees. Beyond that, a great day just confirming why we both said “I do”. That only left today’s physical to get through and then it was days primarily filled with training and prepping for the haunted trail (that is actually coming at bullet train speed). Didn’t know what to expect at the doctor’s office – late start to training, pushing to the edge in our humidity trying to get caught up, just got back from 2 months living in a tin can and in a battle since January to cut the weight from the sedentary ankle recovery months. A bit shocked, but every diagnostic test indicator came in excellent (some cases better than my peak performance years) and weight was 8 pounds less than last year – apparently rucking mountains, daily core work and limiting yourself to only two if not one meal a day is the ticket – a bit of work, but rewarding! Which brings us to today’s featured feathered friend.

Black-Chinned Hummingbird found at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon, AZ in March 2025

Hopefully you have picked up on my featured theme as of late – Hummers. Like the last several training months, this purple chinned beauty comes with a bit of work. Hit the jump to read about the latest in this rocket-propelled series.

Magnificent by Any Name

Greetings from the heat wall of the Midwest! Finally getting settled back in after our long trip – had to harvest my yard for the second time yesterday and finally appears to be tamed..for the time being. Along with the catch-up work around the homestead, the body had been quite upset its relative “time-off” from training is over. Back on the road now including two-a-days whenever possible. Typically there is a slow(er) transition to the high heat and humidity typical of the area allowing the internal thermostats to readjust and condition for the mid-year training and races. Being gone for two months, this has been an abrupt introduction and basically getting sweat-spanked on the outings even with the early mornings and darkness sessions. This is a bit tricky for me as you recall from my previous race posts as my internal thermostat is damaged, so I have to be careful not to go over that fine knife edge between training and…well, ambulance. Imagine running with Linda’s voice in your head “Make good choices!“. To my credit, I did pass up this weekend’s big ultra-race (CMAR link here) as hard as it is to admit, just not ready for that distance with the heat or the ankle – next year, no question as I need redemption for that last DNF.

Speaking of Linda, Monday will be our 35th anniversary and just over 37 years since we met on our first day of our new careers – fingers crossed our bosses and HR do not find out we are in a relationship hehehe. Joking aside, we did keep it a secret for a VERY long time not knowing what that might do to our work situation. You can say or training class was really close…we and the 15 other individuals in the training program were all sworn to secrecy – many of which are still close friends today in retirement. In honor of that first day I laid eyes on Linda decades ago, I thought it would be fitting to go with a featured feathered friend that I will also never forget the first time I met and equally beautiful.

Rivoli's Hummingbird found at Santa Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon in March 2025

How is that for a stunner of a Hummer? Hit the jump to learn more about this new Hummingbird on the lifer list.

Not Violent, Violet

Been a few, my fault, upmost apologies. Free time has been at a premium as of late since we started are final drive east for home. In fact, by the time you are reading this we will either be officially back or minimally less than a state away. I’ll likely provide a more thorough recap of our foray through the west, but some key summary (at at least very close) statistics:

In total – 13 states visited
6 new states lit up on my eBird account
140+1 new birds for the year
54 new lifers
Current annual bird count – 440+4 (a new record)
Hit #125 on top US birder list for 2026
Over 6500 miles driven

This has been quite a trip, the longest we have been away from home and have to admit, looking forward to a good night’s sleep in a large, stationary bedroom. Then up bright and early to get my ass back into hard training. Although I rucked several mountains, wedged in a few 10 miles runs, did my cardio/core routine 6/7 days a week and mostly kept myself to 2 if not 1 meal a day, the body took the holiday to heart and needs a quick reminder it has a big race later in the year. Oh, and the Halloween Haunted Trail work is waaaay behind schedule.

…but you are here for birds and we have another Arizona specialty for you to kick off this new month.

Violet-Crowned Hummingbird found at Paton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, AZ in March 2025

Pretty eh!?!, hit the jump to learn more about this beautiful creature.

That is One Good Looking Broad

Greetings once again from the road. By the time you read this we should be out of California and somewhere in Arizona. Picked up a number of birds during our first “official” trip to the state lighting up the 6th new state this trip on my eBird profile. Have to admit, Linda’s bribe of birding opportunities for agreeing to go out to Washington for the CPE Agility Nationals has materialized far better than ever imagined. I am getting a bit homesick now and looking forward to getting back…but not until we hit a few more of my favorite birding spots in Arizona. Fingers crossed the heat doesn’t chase the birds away.

This month is coming to a close and surprisingly it was spent entirely on the road. Big thanks to Brad for keeping the post quota pressure from adding additional stress to the trip. For this 6th and final post of the month, I am going to feature a member of a bird family that doesn’t get a lot of attention on this site. This has absolutely nothing to do with our fondness for this group of birds – we love them actually – but it comes with a great deal of work both during the encounter, inevitable work in the digital darkroom and then depending on a number of conditions (gender/lighting/breeding/etc), the potentially painful ID process.

Broad-Billed Hummingbird found at Patagonia, AZ in March 2025

To get the ball rolling, this post is going to focus on a Hummingbird that is pretty easy to identify if you can find the male. Hit the jump to learn more about this distinctive speedster.

An Arizona Specialty

Continued greetings from the road! We are in the second half of our western jaunt and I have to say it has been a bit tiring. The long drives, the continual up and downs from one mountain range to another and the temperature fluctuations … well that is probably the real story right now. After spending so much time at altitude and fairly pleasant temps (if not cold) weather conditions at elevation, we are now in the hot desert, more accurately, the torturous hot box. I have a history of heat “issues” and it takes the gradual temp changes back home to get the internal thermostats calibrated. This process has been short circuited to a 2 day cycle – one day 70sF followed by a steady 105-109F. Probably should have thought the plan through a bit more, but we are really in wait mode now until we make our sprint into California for a wedding and then point the RV east(ward). Early morning birding only at this point. Still managing to get some good checks and even broke through the 300 mark as I now sit at #268 in the top US birder rankings thanks to the now 92 birds added this trip (only 8 more to hit the Average Year goal of 400!!)

Thought I would introduce you to one of my favorite feathered friend finds from last year’s trip to Arizona while I try to get the internal body temperature down.

Arizona Woodpecker found at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, Arizona in March 2025

Your eyes are fine, that really is a brown Woodpecker. Hit the jump to read more about this very regionally limited bird!

Grab Your Dictionary

By the time you are reading this we should be well on our way to the Pacific Northwest. Ruger (and Linda) qualified for the Canine Performance Event (CPE) Agility Nationals which are being held outside Seattle, Washington. This is our first time to that region outside of work – there is a certain software giant near there that I may or may not have been responsible for managing our corporate partnership and thus may or may not of had reason to travel there. From there we head south eventually making a quick run into San Diego for a family wedding before heading back through southeastern Arizona. All in providing 6 never before birded states and the chance to visit some of our favorite “staples” as we say to fill up the tins and push to hopefully a new Average Year record (link here). In case you are keeping score at home, I am now sitting at 302 species for the year including 3 provisionals. Last year I hit the 400 threshold (link here) and with the new states sitting in a good position to reach new heights. Meanwhile, absolutely chaos here trying to Tetris everything in place we need to haul out there. I promise to get caught up on the comments and responding to all your posts once on the road and have time to think ha. Note, I will likely be sparse(r) on my posts, but just received a whole batch of new adventures from Brad so you will be in excellent hands while I am traveling. Oh, and happy birthday Brad!

Okay, let’s get to the next edition of “May I have another chance”. This particular entry is not entirely my fault as our featured feathered friend here has mastered the ability to keep some annoying obstacle between my glass and its body. By the time it ran out of interference my arms were so tired the shots were softened – ugh.

Plumbeous Vireo found at Paton Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia, AZ in March 2025

Grab your dictionary and hit the jump as it is time to test your Latin word origins.

	TD on Bunting to First
	Magnificent by Any N… on CMAR 2024: Waker of the D…
	Magnificent by Any N… on CMAR 2024: Waker of the D…
	doerfpub on A South Texas Specialty
	doerfpub on I’m Waiting