A meandering trail of yellow led from a paloverde tree about 20 ft away to this nest, where red ants about 1/4” long carried the petals down into the hole in the middle.

Solitary Vireo and an unidentified chickadee (white mask, black cap and bib) hopping around in a mesquite tree in the eastern channel, a Northern Mockingbird and an American Kestrel perched on cactuses on the west side as I came back down.

Some corrections: Mr. Draper (Abby’s Field Studies teacher) said that Swainson’s Hawks have a dark-faced phase, so that could have been the mystery hawk of a couple of weeks ago. The mottled back and brown mantle fit. And the rapid warble I thought might have come from an Orange-capped Warbler is just a variation on the song of the Lucy’s Warbler.

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