MOUNT LEMMON

After we had spent our lovely morning with Kathie we took her advise and headed off to the peak of Mount Lemmon. It was a stunning drive through a variety of habitats, starting on the desert floor with a veritable forest of statuesque giant Saguaro cacti


I love cacti of all shapes and sizes so I was like a kid in a candy shop, of course I wanted to take them all home but I had to restrain myself!


We did have an incentive to get to the top of Mount Lemmon, Kathie had told us about a beautiful little pizza and cookie place at the summit, the Mount Lemmon Cookie Cabin - this was my husbands incentive, mine was to see the unusual Yellow-eyed Junco and neither of us were disappointed.


The Cookie Cabin was charming and both our pizza and giant cookie were delicious, made all the better by being enjoyed outside in the crisp mountain air next to a log fire. All the time we were eating, the Yellow-eyed Juncos were hopping around our table looking for dropped crumbs!


All too soon it was time for us to head back down the mountain but as it was by now late afternoon we had to keep stopping to take photos of the dramatic scenery made even more beautiful by the warm evening light.




On the birding front I saw one more new species on one of our stops, a Mexican Jay. There was a flock of six of them and, like all members of this family they were very loud and raucous.


As we made our way down the mountain the sun sank below the horizon and the sky lit up with a dazzling kaleidoscope of colours.


What a perfect day :)




Photo Credits - CJT & DominickV