Evelyn, Faye, Emma and I drove to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park east of Phoenix. This park is in the foothills east of Phoenix and is an ideal setting for an arboretum. There were a wide variety of desert plants from all over the world.
Arboretums create a great habitat for birds. We had a great time wandering through the park scoping out birds.
A very industrious Canyon Wren was clambering about a make-shift shed in the Australian Desert section of the park.
January 24
We said goodbye to Evelyn and Faye and left Phoenix. We had such a good time at the
Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park that we returned for a short hike the next day on our way out of the Phoenix area.
The Orange-crowned Warbler does have an orange crown but it it almost impossible to see it unless you are up close and it bows its head. In earlier days, naturalists like Audubon used a shotgun to get a good look at birds so identifying the orange crown was easier to do.
This bird would be more aptly named the Non-descript Yellowish Greenish Warbler. However, Orange-crowned Warbler does sound better.
We continued on to the Casa Grande National Monument. This large pueblo style building was build about the 15th Century by the local First Nations people. There was a large village on this site with an extensive irrigation system for farming.After several hundred years of prosperity and innovation, the population vanished. It isn't clear why this happened; one theory is that a series of droughts occurred and the people didn't have the resources to maintain an agricultural society. The survivors dispersed into smaller groups to better handle the drier climate.
The tiny windows in the upper left and upper right are astronomically significant. The window on the left aligns with the Summer equinox; the window on the upper right aligned every 18 years with the cycles of the moon. On the way to Tuscon we saw a 91) Harris's Hawk.
January 25
We dropped down from Tuscon and drove up Madera Canyon into the Coronado Forest.
We settled into the Bog Springs Campground and went on a hike up the Carrie Nation Trail. We enjoyed the cool afternoon breeze as we walked through groves of oak trees and into pine forest as we ascended.
Naturally, we spent some time by the Santa Rita Lodge as this location is a magnet for wildlife.
Suddenly, two interlopers showed up by the Santa Rita Lodge. Were they big racoons? Were they small bears? No, they were two hungry Coatimundi.
They wandered around the estate like squirrels, scaring the birds out of their way.
In among the three sub-species of Dark-eyed Juncos, there was one southern Arizona specialty at the Santa Rita Lodge. The Yellow-eyed Junco comes up from Mexico but never goes beyond the mountains of Southern Arizona.
January 26
We left Madera Canyon in the afternoon and headed south to the Mexican Border at Nogales then headed northeast to Patagonia Lake State Park. This is another birding hot spot on the east side of the Coronado National Forest. The southeast corner of Arizona is a thousand feet higher than the southwestern part of Arizona. After a month in the desert it felt good to be in prairie and open oak forest.
Emma and Sona sharing a moment beside one of the many cow paddies along the Patagonia hiking trail. (Note from Emma: I wanted Jim to include this photo to document my devotion to him, that I am willing to tread through fields full of cow paddies and territorial bulls, to make him happy). To continue our hike, we had to detour through the woods around one rather intense bull.
January 27
A glorious day of birding. We started with a hike at Patagonia Lake State Park and saw:
95) Mexican Ducks; 96) Ruddy Ducks; 97) Double-crested Cormorants
98) Canyon Towhee
99) Gray Flycatcher
The Gray Flycatcher is one of several flycatchers in the Empidonax genus. All species in this genus are pretty much identical. Bill colour, shape and length are key distinguishing features.
We continued on to the town of Patagonia. At the small town park, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was tapping a Ponderosa Pine.
In Patagonia, Paton House is still open for birders to drop by and enjoy the birds coming to the backyard feeders. We saw: 100) Lazuli Bunting 101) Lincoln Sparrow
We continued on to Sierra Vista for the night and saw some 9] White-tailed Deer near the San Pedro River.
January 28
We started the day at San Pedro House. This nature preserve is in the heart of the protected riparian corridor of the San Pedro River. This is one of the key bird migratory pathways out of Mexico as this river originates in Mexico and it still floods enough to maintain the cottonwood trees along the riverbank.
The Cottonwood is one of the fastest growing trees in the world. This tree dwarfs Emma but it is only about 125 years old.
Among the many birds there, we saw our first Inca Doves of the year.
We did a short hike at the nearby Murray Hot Springs. We enjoyed the interpretive trail that described the mammoth bones found there as well as the hunting techniques of of the prehistoric Aboriginal peoples. 106) Vesper Sparrow
We continued southeast and were surprised by the quaint mining town of Bisbee. It was quite the thriving town in the late 1800s and the old town retains much of its frontier beginnings.
The town is on a hillside beside the old copper mine. It reminded me of Trail BC with all the steep narrow stairways. Emma loves to climb stairs, me ... not so much. She is quite supportive of our birding to I felt obliged to drag my butt up several stairways that seemed to go up the side of the mountain endlessly.
The locals had style and a playful air you don't see in every town. I particularly liked the car door that was being used as a gate to enter the front yard.
We continued to Douglas then north to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Refuge. It is a beautiful flat prairie/marsh landscape between the Dragoon and Chiricahua mountain ranges. This prairie valley is a major wintering ground for Sandhill Cranes and other waterfowl.
There were lots of ducks and we added 108) Cinnamon Teal to our yearly count. With all the duck dinners there were also lots of predators including a cooperative 109) Great Horned Owl
We ended up at Wilcox for the night. It was a long fun day.
January 29
Emma caught up on some Red Fox paperwork, then we traveled to Cochise Stronghold. There is a reason why the US cavalry had trouble extracting him from his stronghold. Even today, the road up is not fit for RVs. We made it most of the way up before calling it a day.
January 30
We entered Chiricahua National Monument. The rock formations and vistas were spectacular.
As we rose 2,500 feet, it got colder. There was a fair bit of snow on top, so we did a lower level hike from Faraway Ranch to Bonita Creek.
Great place to visit but Emma and I didn't travel to southern Arizona for snow. We saddled up and finished the day in Deming, New Mexico.
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