Last Days in Arizona

Dragoon Mountains west of Wilcox

After leaving Tucson, we traveled a loop around SE AZ back to some of the places we had already been but wanted to visit again.  We added over 25 bird species for the year list by visiting Whitewater Draw, Paton's feeders at Patagonia, Patagonia Lake State Park, Madera & Florida Canyons.  

Thousands of Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw

Barn Owl at Whitewater Draw

Sunset at Whitewater Draw

Lazuli Bunting at Paton's

Trogon at Patagonia Lake

Elegant Trogon, immature male

Burrowing Owl

Desert Orange-tipped Butterfly at Florida Canyon

Hepatic Tanager female at Madera Canyon

Arch in Ajo Mountains

Time to move on to new territory.  A great visit to the beautiful flowering desert of Organ Pipe National Monument.  We traveled the dusty, 21 mile auto tour through the Ajo Mountains.  We found the elusive LeConte's Thrasher.  From the campground after dark, we heard several Com. Poorwills and very near our RV we had a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl come out of a Saguaro Cactus cavity and fly over us calling.

Organ Pipe Cactus

Lake Havasu

We drove northwest to Lake Havasu on the Colorado River.  A Blue-footed Booby had been observed roosting on a rock island northeast of Parker Dam.  We were able to see him through the scope but much too far away for a photo.  We had good looks at him preening for over an hour then he took off and flew high over the mountains.

We added another 14 species for our year list including Clark's & Western Grebes, Barrow's Goldeneye, White-winged Scoters, and other gulls and ducks.  Interesting birds to get in this rocky desert area.

We are crossing into California this morning, across the Mojave Desert to Joshua Tree National Monument.  Then to the Salton Sea before heading to the Pacific Ocean.

Love & Prayers,
Ty & Ida Baumann

More Tucson Area Wildlife Watching

We are enjoying the warm days and cool nights of the Arizona desert to end last year's birding and begin this year's.  Our total for 2013 was 486 - it's a lot harder to reach 500 than we had hoped. Today is day 985 of our travels and we have seen 645 bird species for our retirement list.


Pictured are the Santa Rita Mountains about 40 miles south of Tucson with Madera Canyon nestled between the rugged peaks.  This area overwinters some very interesting birds:

Hepatic Tanager at Santa Rita Lodge

Painted Redstart at the Gift Shop feeders

Bridled Titmouse

One of the local Tucson birding areas is Reid Park with ponds and great cover for many wintering birds and the local ground squirrels.

Canvasback

Ring-necked Duck

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Vermilion Flycatcher

The very rare Lewis Woodpecker

Coyote calling for a photo

Fortunately, directly behind our RV Park is the Pantano Wash, an urban riparian area that serves as a wildlife corridor.  Our daily walks have produced some good finds:

Prairie Falcon - note full crop

Sage Thrasher

Anna's Hummingbirds - territorial dispute

We took a drive north to the Santa Cruz Flats - an area dominated by agricultural fields, cotton and sod farms.  We saw 42 Mountain Plovers, Mountain Bluebirds, many Crested Caracaras and raptors, Bendire's Thrasher and 5 Great Horned Owls perched in Tamarisk Trees.

As our Tucson visit winds down we have enjoyed quality time with our dear friend Patti Hancock, joining her for church, Bible study and entertaining at an Assisted Living Home.  We also watched the NFL Playoffs and dined at Tucson's favorite eateries. This was also time to take care of RV maintenance and taxes.


We watch the winter weather reports from up north on TV and don't miss it at all!
Sending you warmth, love & prayers.
Ty & Ida Baumann

TUCSON ENVIRONS

Tucson is situated in the flat desert area of Southern Arizona nestled between 4 mountain ranges ( Santa Catalinas, Tucson Mts. Santa Ritas, and the Rincons).  This is the ideal habitat for the Saguaro Cactus found in no other area of the world.

We are enjoying our 6 week visit in this desert/mountain environment visiting several local birding areas.  We found Cactus Wrens at Saguaro National Park and Sabino Canyon.

This Greater Pewee is a rare winter visitor finding shelter and food at the Evergreen Cemetery.  This bird had other flycatchers for company - Says Phoebe and Vermilion Flycatcher.

Cinnamon Teal

On the northwest side of Tucson is the Sweetwater Wetlands Preserve - a sewage reclamation project that is a magnet for waterfowl, shorebirds and passerines.

Eared Grebe

Northern Shoveler

Northern Pintail

Abert's Squittel

Mt. Lemmon is the highest point with a commanding view of the desert. We drove a 26 mile scenic byway to Summerhaven, from the desert floor through 5 life zones to the pine/fir forest with snow at the 9,000 foot level.

Here are some of the specialties of the area.

Canyon Wren

Pygmy Nuthatch

Stellar's Jay

Yellow-eyed Junco

Gamble's Quail make their home scurrying through the underbrush and cacti of urban backyards.

A common sight and sound in the lower mesquite is the Phainopepla.

We are staying at Far Horizons RV Park and this Verdin quickly found our hummingbird feeder.  He shares it daily with Anna's Hummingbirds, House Finches and Gila Woodpeckers.

God Bless you in the new year.
Ty & Ida Baumann

Portal to Patagonia SE AZ

On December 7th we entered SE Arizona into Portal in the the Chiricahua Mountains and the beautiful Cave Creek Canyon.

Acorn Woodpecker

A place full of all new species of birds:  Mexican Jays; Magnificent and Blue-throated Hummingbirds; and two new species of Woodpeckers (Acorn & Arizona).

Arizona Woodpecker

Drove the old mountain road to Paradise to find Juniper Titmice and three species of Towhees (Spotted, Green-tailed and Canyon).

Canyon Towhee

Between Wilcox and Bisbee is the famous wintering grounds for thousands of Sandhill Cranes - Whitewater Draw.  Of course there are many other birds that make this their winter home too such as Snow & Ross's Geese, many ducks, shorebirds and passerines.  A new bird for our retirement list was the Ruddy Ground Dove.  We spent a cold night in the parking lot watching over 10,000 cranes come in to stand in the water for the night.  Then watched them all leave again breaking through shell ice to go feed in the nearby corn fields that are planted just for them.

After camping a night at Quail River RV Park we drove to Patagonia stopping at Patton's bird feeding area and photographed this Anna's Hummingbird sharing with the honey bees.

Other birds coming to feed were a Bridled Titmouse, (pictured), Lazuli Bunting, Abert's Towhee, and Gila and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers.

We also walked around the town square and this White-Crowned Sparrow was very cooperative for getting his picture taken.

On the way to Lake Patagonia State Park, we drove through the vineyards and grasslands near Elgin where we found our first Pronghorn.


At Lake Patagonia we found this sleepy Broad-billed Hummingbird keeping guard over the feeder at the Nature Center.

We walked along the creek that flows into the lake and is the best place for birds.  While I rested on a fallen tree, Ty trekked another mile up the canyon and comes back saying, "You won't believe what I saw!"  Then shows me the photos of a mama Cougar with two young.

After 17 hours in 2 1/2 days of searching for this 14" Elegant Trogon with only a fleeting glimpse earlier.  Ty was able to leisurely capture some photos of this gorgeous male munching on grasshoppers before going to roost before dark.

So we said, "Good-bye" to Lake Patagonia and headed north for 6 weeks in Tucson and spending some quality time with our good friend Patti Hancock for Christmas and the month of January.


God's Blessing to you all for the New Year.
Ty & Ida Baumann