So, that Elegant Trogon picture is incredible, isn't it? I have to tell you, I paid the price to get it - and Avi ended up with a story that he will never forget! We read that the trogons lived in the Madiera Canyon, quite a ways in. Fortunately, we had planned ahead to see the trogon and the quetzal in Cave Creek Canyon, and brought our hiking boots - which we ultimately did not need to find the quetzal, but we did need for the trogon. The trail up was steep (as we were warned) and "rocky" (again, warned, although "rocky" in the PNW is not the same as "rocky" in the Madiera Canyon). As you can see from this photo taken near the trailhead, just a few hundred yards from the parking lot of the wild turkeys barrelling down, not concerned about the humans at all!
"Rocky" on the Madiera Canyon Carrie Nation Trail means sharp rocks of varying sizes sticking straight out of the ground all over the pathway, as well as smaller sharp rocks scattered across the pathway making it fairly unstable ground to walk on. Keep in mind that the trail is pretty steep. The instruction that we had was that the birds generally hang out 100 yds. beyond the bench - sounds easy enough. Just keep hiking up until we find a bench. We passed a picnic table, but didn't think that could've been mistaken for a "bench" so we kept going. A little further up, we passed a couple hiking down with camera in hand. I paused to ask them if they'd been up to see the trogons. They said yes, but did not find any. The also mentioned that they had met another couple who saw them yesterday, but since they were less ambulatory than the rest of us, there was no way that they hiked furher up this trail. Maybe we all heard the instructions wrong or missed a key landmark. After exchanging the usual birding pleasantries - "What have you seen so far?", "Are the hummingbirds feeding at the lodge right now?" [they are always feeding at the feeders] and of course "Good luck!" - Avi and I continued up the hill with our expectations greatly diminished. Eventually we came to an umistakable bench. Aha! About 5 mintues more and we will be to the spot. Now to find the 12" long bright green and red bird.
We hiked slow and kept our eyes out for any movement. 5 minutes turned quickly into 15. Eventually I saw it, a flash of red flew by. I pointed it out to Avi and through the dark, thick tangle of branches, we found where the trogon had perched. I snapped as many pictures as I could before it flew off. My heart thumping and my face grinning from ear to ear, I'm sure you could hear my silent squeals of delight miles away. We did it! We found the trogon! But my pictures were beyond awful and I didn't think they could be used for identification purposes. What to do? Should we continue hiking to see if we will find the bird again, or settle for the fact that we saw it and start back to the car?
Avi convinced me to go just a bit further until we were out of the dense forested area (trogons like the trees). I complained about the distance and continued to ask when we should turn around. We were just about to reach the tree-line when I heard something. We stopped, listened, and turned to listen more as we heard something fairly large moving through the trees. Suddenly, the flash of red flew by again. This time, Avi and I watched as it perched closer to the trail in a less dense area. I snapped pictures fast and furious as he sat, hopped to another branch closer, sat some more, then hopped closer again. I was thrilled that he actually permitted me to take so many pictures - this time they were unmistakable, it was a male Elegant Trogon, albeit still not a "calendar shot". At this point, another hiker came down the hill and I thought for sure the bird would fly off. Avi hiked up to meet him and explained that there was a trogon perched near the trail. The hiker had never heard of a trogon, but was considerate enough to walk slowly and quietly until he was able to see the bird [to which he was amazed]. Then the bird flew across the path in front of me and perched on an unobstructed branch just a few yards away from me. He posed, waited for me to snap about 10 shots, and off he flew back into the dense black forest. Unbelievable! I go my perfect shot! Avi and I were both grinning ear-to-ear at this point! We turned to hike back down the path, recounting the story over and over and patting each other on the back for our scouting ability and teamwork.
I was hiking very carefully, making sure I picked my heavy hiking boots up high to climb over the sharp, pointy rocks and tree roots. Avi continually asked if he could carry my camera (I hand carry it instead of using a camera strap, because I find it easier to take quick photos). I gripped my camera tight like a child clinging to a beloved teddy bear - there was no way I was going to let the pictures of the trogon out of my grip, plus who knows what we will see on the way down?
At about the same point where we had been run off the trail by the Wild Turkeys earlier (a few hundred yards from the car), it happened. The toe of my boot caught the tip of one of the sharp, pointy rocks. Within a matter of seconds, my instincts kicked in - I dropped my camera and put my arms in front of my face like the flight attendants used to demonstrate on the airplane during the pre-flight safety briefing. I don't know what hit the ground first, my knees, elbows or hands, but I was splat! Avi was in shock - he was sure I had impaled myself on a rock or hit my head. Luckily, neither was the case, but my knee and elbow was bleeding, both palms were mangled, and my camera was...oh God, the trogon pictures! Avi didn't want me to move until he could triage me, but all I could think about was whether my camera still worked! The battery compartment and storage disk compartment had both opened up from the impact which meant there was dust in the mechanical areas. The large lens clearly got jostled. Since the palms of my hands were both screaming in pain and bleeding, Avi had to be my hands and assess the damage. We quickly blew the dust out each open compartment, closed the doors, turned it on and took a quick photo. Phew, at least the camera works and the memory disk wasn't obviously damaged.
Now let's focus on me. We hiked down the rest of the way to the car (thank God we were most of the way down). We hadn't brought a first aid kit with us on the trip, but we did have a bottle of drinking water in the car. Avi flushed the wounds on my hands as best as he could. I just kept praying that I didn't have to go to an Emergency Room in the middle of a pandemic. To cut the long story short, we bought a box of big band-aids, antiobiotic ointment with lidocaine, ice packs and tylenol at the drug store in Tucson, went through the Starbucks drive-thru to get me a mocha to calm my nerves and headed to Phoenix. I cleaned up my various scrapes at the hotel, piled on the ointment and covered all the wounds with bandages, then talked Avi into taking back out to a park near our hotel. We only had one day left before flying home and I wasn't about to waste it just because my hands were mangled! It took about a week to heal up. I still have scars and I "broke my lifeline" - I'm not sure what that means in palmistry, but I am under the impression that it means that this is the start of a new life ;)
[As a side note, I had to buy a new lens becuase the lens mechansim did get damaged and I had to promise Avi that I will now use my camera strap when we go out on walking/hiking trips.]
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