I had my normal breakfast and we went out to shoot at the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area around 7:00.

The wind was calm and the sun was at our backs as we approached the ponds — much better conditions than yesterday afternoon. We headed to a pond on the north side of the complex because there was no berm around it and we could easily photogrph from water level. We photographed a great blue heron then tried to photograph some American avocets and peeps that turned out to be rather skittish. The wind started to pick up around 7:30. We started to walk through the complex to see what else we could photograph, and we stopped to photograph some more American avocets. There was another photographer already set up in a nice secluded location, so I snuck up next to him. As soon as he said something, I recognized the voice, but couldn't remember his name. We had met on a reptile photo shoot at Joe and Mary Ann McDonald's in June 2004 and then photographed together again on a wildlife models photo shoot at Minnesota Wildlife in September 2004. The avocets didn't come close enough for good portrait shots, but I got a nice image of a group of them flying back towards us (left). After we were done, I "introduced myself," and had a great time chatting with Marlin for a while.
J and I started to head back to the RV because the wind had kept getting stronger, and now the water in the ponds was mostly a rough brown color. :( We went through the large shelter and saw the great horned owl that we had photographed yesterday. We also found its mate perched out in the open on some rafters (left).

We returned to the RV at 8:45 and I downloaded the images from the morning. Then I downselected them in iView then in Capture One (C1). The wind was blowing like crazy as we prepped the RV to move. We left at 9:30.

We went to the Silverado Ranch between Bisbee and Douglas around 10:05 to dump. The owner lets RVers boondock on her property as well as dump and take on water. The gates were locked when we arrived, so I called her to see if we could dump. She said we couldn't and recommended the Double Buttes RV park on the way to Douglas.

We went to the Double Buttes RV park around 10:20, and the camp host said they didn't allow people to dump without staying there.

We went to the Post Office in Douglas around 10:45 to pick up our mail. We finally got our vehicle registration information after it had gotten lost in the mail before. I put the stickers on the license plates before we left because the old ones had expired a few days ago.

We went to a Safeway in Douglas at 11:00 to pick up a few things, then I walked to the WalMart next door and got a 1 in (2.5cm) clamp to replace the clamp from our DIY flash arm that broke.

We went to a parking area near the Saddle Gap RV Park in Douglas around 11:58 to have lunch before we dumped. I had Genoa salami and Swiss sandwich with Coca Cola Classic followed by a banana and red delicious apple. I posted a blog entry and did some computer work.

We went into the Saddle Gap RV Park around 1:20 and paid the $6 to dump and take on water. We were able to do both simultaneously at one of their open campsites. We left around 1:50.

We headed towards Portal, Arizona, and went by hillsides colored yellow by the poppies — beautiful! We entered New Mexico for a bit, then swung back into Arizona. As I expected, we lost the Verizon Wireless signal before reaching Portal. We entered the Coronado National Forest, to the east of the Chiricahua National Monument, at 3:10. It was J's first time here, and I had been here in 2007 for the bat photography workshop.

We went to the Sunny Flat Campground and were level in Site 12 by 3:35. It was the only site left, and it was good for solar-electricity too. :) We left at 4:20 in the Jeep to go exploring.
We went to the Southwestern Research Station to see what kind of birds they might have at their feeders. They had two wild turkey gobblers in the yard, so we photographed them first. They were rather comfortable with people, so eventually they worked their way close to us as they foraged for food (far left). I was fascinated by how so many of their usually brown feathers iridesced (near left). When we were done with the turkeys, we spoke with some people there who said the elegant trogons hadn't arrived yet this year, and J was really disappointed. There was an acorn woodpecker and a magnificent hummingbird at the feeders, but the environment wasn't good for photography. We left and drove around for a while.

We returned to the RV at 5:55. I downloaded the images I took this afternoon then downselected them in iView then in Capture One (C1).

We had dinner at 7:00 of Bertolli Chicken alla Vodka & Farfalle and a Greek-like salad.

After dinner, I processed four images for the blog and J started her taxes.