Birding SE Arizona April 2014

Hi

just got back from 10 days exploring from Tucson to the chiricahuas- 155 spp in 10 days -  photos to follow.

We flew to Phoenix then drove to Tucson, stayed at El Presidio B&B- totally brilliant with birds feeding from a fountain outside our room. Also visited the Saguaro Desert Museum ( jammed in on a bird walk- we made it last so long they had to send out an extra guide) .

Drove to Cave Creek Ranch at Portal  and stayed there 8 nights birding the canyons. CCR  is run by mild mannered bespectacled Reed Peters ( interestingly there is still a phone booth with a door in Portal - aha!) . Reed has local info and will mark up your map with locations for birds you need.

You have to take in basic supplies- but Portal Store does cooked breakfasts and Burger/ tuna melt type lunches and has milk, bread ( til it's gone)  beer, wine,  gun belts and holsters,  Bird DVDs etc. The Burger place on Rodeo Main street is great but check opening hours- not everywhere opens every day here.   CCR is part of the Portal community and so everyone seems to know everyone and if you need help ( punctures etc) it's no problem. Everyone seems to wave and we found that the U.S birders always asked us what we'd seen and were great at passing on info and site details. Visiting Brit tour parties were less communicative in our direction.

Right outside the main office building  at CCR is a small rock pool with fountain surrounded by feeders- you can sip wine in the shade mid afternoon ( temp about 80 degs in the sun) watching typical birds  such as  Acorn Woodpeckers, Western Tanagers, Lazuli Buntings,  occasional Ladder Backed, Arizona  and Hairy Woodpeckers;  Frequent Bridled Titmouse,  White Breasted Nuthatch, Black Headed Grosbeaks, Green Tailed Towhees, Lincoln's and White Crowned Sparrows, Scott's Orioles, Mexican Jays,  Broad billed, Blue throated and Black chinned Hummers.

TYPICAL BIRDING DAY -

Up at 0530  ( No TV or wifi here- just birds )  and walk around the CCR and out down  nearby tracks  checking back yards ( many Portal residents are birders and  open their yards for birders to sit ( in shade) and watch their feeders). The mesquite along the roadsides has Lucy's Warblers, Band Tailed Pigeons, Hooded Orioles, Curve Billed Thrashers, Dusky Flycatcher , Wilson's Warblers, Gambell's Quail, Cassins Kingbirds and passing migrants included Olive Sided Flycatcher. On the downside Pishing doesn't work here as all the local birds have heard it all before.

 A drive to the south fork of Cave Creek follows breakfast- we had cereal, fruit and coffee-  then  follow the sun down the local  roads  as it warms the tops of the sycamores past several campsites  and up the canyon for Painted Redstart, Townsend's warblers, Red faced and Black and White warblers, Dusky  Capped Flycatcher ,  Summer and Hepatic Tanagers, Red naped and Williamson's Sapsuckers ;  and then move higher up the canyon path to seek out the Elegant Trogon.

As the temperature rises to about 70 degrees near Portal  by about 10 am it's good to  drive up into the mountains ( where it's about 20 degrees cooler til noon) - our favourite stop off was the Turkey Creek Paradise road junction where a creek crossed the road :    It never let us down- birding the roads in all three directions for 200 yards ( which took about 30 minutes each direction  or longer on a good day)  produced birds including  Grace's Warbler, Mexican Chickadee, Yellow Eyed Junco,  Hutton's Vireo, Western Wood and Great Pewee, and Osprey ( !!)

Other sites were the Herb Martyr campground road, the South West Research station ( great for late staying Townsend's Solitaires and Say's Phoebe) . The George Walker House ( garden open  to birders -  Juniper Titmouse, Calliope Hummer, Inca Dove.   Dave Jasper's ( ex) house for Pyrrhuloxia, Spotted Towhee, Green Tailed Towhee ( we found Yellow Breasted Chat there ).

Some days we had to drive out to nearby Rodeo for bread , puncture repairs etc and birded  the fields from the roadside , finding Eastern Meadowlark, Swainson's Hawk, Scaled Quail Loggerhead Shrike .

A half day excursion over Onion Saddle to Willcox for shopping (  nearest Safeway is there -over 30 miles away) we found Lark Bunting, Brewer's Sparrow, Bendire's Thrasher and Loggerhead Shrike.

A siesta around 1pm - 2pm  with cold meat/ cheese sandwiches and 7Up back at the ranch ( yes we did say that) then a relax by the CCR feeders til around 330pm. Then either a short trip out around the roads or find a sunny spot in the canyon where a feeding flock is hanging out.

Late afternoon in pleasant 60 degree temperatures odd birds turn up- we had Merlin,  went owling towards dusk  and had Elf Owl .

The one PROBLEM was when we needed to replace a tyre - our rental company said we had to pay for it and  customer service said they wouldn't cover it because we had driven on dirt roads- STOP PRESS- most of Cochise county and SE Arizona has dirt roads! We paid up and are 'taking it up' with the no good low down yellow bellied city slicker company which I won't name but starts with A and has 4 letters. Lady at the Tyre place said they try that trick all the time and it's Horse S**t. :)

More to come here and on Flickr.

S