July IBA experience

We finally received a respectable monsoon rain on July 26th, and I knew their would be a wildlife celebration the following day.. I set out for a bird survey the next morning in our neighborhood, which is an Important Bird Area. The birds were awesome. I watched a Peregrine Falcon eat his breakfast on the bare branch of the tall Eucalyptus which seems to attract all raptors.
The Western Screech Owl also poked his head from our man-made nest box.  A Tree Swallow was a surprising find over the lake, and the Purple Martins were in attendance as well . Three Tropical Kingbirds
made their appearance, allowing more picture opportunities and still calling shrill metallic whistles from the cottonwoods surrounding the lake.  
Further down the wash I was getting close to the magical Arizona Sycamore.   This survivor has yielded many great birds over the years and I always make a point to stop at its base to relax for a few minutes, share a drink of water, and possibly retrieve some seeds for dispersal.   Somehow great birds seem to show up while I am there, such as Gray Hawk, Common Ground Dove, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  These experiences are never expected, but always magical.   Today as I approached my eye caught a grayish bird flutter past and land on a nearby tree.   It was a small owl without ear tufts.   I struggled to digiscope a picture but it disappeared again, and I was not positive of its identification.   It seemed to fly toward the back of my favorite Arizona Sycamore.   
Now I've never peered in through the top of the main trunk of the sycamore, even when I've suspected something exciting to be in there.  For one thing, it seemed it could easily harbor a large mammal.   But also I didn't want to overstep my bounds.   But somehow today it just seemed like I had permission, and the dead branch laying against the trunk was sturdy enough to stand on, giving me just enough height to peer over the edge of the large cavity.   I suspected the owl may have gone into the far side of the huge hollow trunk, but hoped I may catch a glimpse from this angle.   To my surprise when I peered over it was right in front of me in the near trunk cavity.   I backed down quickly when I saw movement.   I then took my camera and held it over the hole, snapping about five shots before leaving the area.   Luckily one of those came out rather well for a blind attempt, and I was able to confirm the owl as a Western Screech Owl who happened to be flattening his ear tufts.  Okay, well 90 percent sure-I'm never 100 percent sure of anything, and when I am, I'm usually totally wrong.   As I left I silently expressed  thanks for my good fortune. 

  Further down the wash a raccoon peered out from a large hollow in an Arizona Walnut.  I also had a couple coyote sightings, and they seemed remarkably calm with my presence.  As I neared the end of the transect I spotted the last bird of the survey, a soaring Zone-tailed Hawk!  After the survey this bird seemed to follow me for a mile as I headed back home, or perhaps there was a second Zone-tailed, I can't be sure.

On the way home I walked through a remote part of our woods and was startled by a reddish animal scurrying up a tree directly in front of me.  It was a young bobcat who had tried to stay still until my approach came too close for comfort.   I heard another rustle and the mother, who had been under the same tree, scampered off in a diagonal path away from me in an attempt to draw my attention from her youngster.  I never felt threatened but wanted to assure them of my good intentions by walking a wide arc around the tree.  At one point the branches cleared and I saw the kitten clearly.   I took the opportunity to digiscope some photographs of this exciting finish to an extraordinary day.   Thank you for supporting our unique wildlife community.