Aug 15: Thursday
I woke up around 5 a.m., and planned my day in another of
the “Sky Islands” of southeast Arizona.
My first goal was to eat a decent breakfast here in Portal, but the café
doesn’t open until 7:30, so I worked on a blog post (yes, I was/am ‘way, 'way behind
on getting these out) before starting my birding day.
The Friends of Cave Creek Canyon group
provides volunteers at the USFS Visitor Information Center, located about 2
miles southwest of Portal. Based on volunteer
and staff availability, the center is open daily from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., and
they’re great at letting one know about rare bird sightings, road conditions,
and such.
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| The trailhead |
I drove to the Herb Martyr Road up Cave Creek near the
American Museum of Natural History’s Southwestern Research Station and walked
the Crystal Creek trail No. 382 with the hope of finding the temporary feeder
set up by Dave Jasper to attract a Berylline Hummingbird. The bird had been found nearby, feeding on a
yucca flower. As I arrived, a van load
of birders led by Sheri Williamson pulled up.
These folks headed up the trail ahead of me for a quarter-mile where the
feeder had been set up.
There were
already a couple folks there, set up to take photos of the bird.
We settled in to watch the birds coming to the feeder, and were treated to views of a Violet-crowned Hummingbird, which
was a “Life Bird” for me only 5 days ago. We also had great views of Black-chinned Hummingbird
and Blue-throated Mountain-Gems.
After only about 15 minutes of our watching, the
Berylline arrived at 9:22.
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| A Hummingbird with all-green head and shoulders and cinnamon wings - Berylline!! |
This charming visitor then came to the feeder again at 9:32, and 10:19.
The bird made what Sheri
described as “short, intense feeding visits and rapid, "purposeful"
departures in the same direction each time are consistent with an adult female
attending an active nest.”
After giving the crowd a good show, she flew off and I figured it was time to continue on.
I drove on up to the end of the road at the Herb Martyr
Campground, and took the Forest Service trail from the picnic grounds up to Ash
Springs and looped back. There was an
old line shack at the springs. Back when cattle were grazed more heavily on the National Forests, and the work was mostly done by horseback, these shelters were important places in the woods.
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| No longer habitable |
 |
| I've cooked on old wood stoves like this . . . |
A
White-eared Hummingbird had been reported here, but I saw no signs of one. Though, I did puzzle for a while over an
Empidonax flycatcher, that never vocalized, and I just eBirded it as a
Cordilleran/Pacific-Slope.
 |
| They never vocalize when you want them to . . . |
Thunder began
at 12:30 & rain sprinkles started at 1:15, so I came back down Cima Creek
after spending a pleasant morning and early afternoon in the canyon.
My next attempt at birding was for Mexican
Chickadees. I stopped along Forest Road
42 at the turn down Turkey Creek, where the Yellow-eyed Juncos were feeding in
the road. |
| East Turkey Creek habitat shot |
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| I love their piercing yellow eyes! |
It was late afternoon when I found myself only 3 miles
from Paradise, and realized that I wasn’t up for driving all the way out to
another town, so decided to go back to the Portal Peak Lodge and took room 13,
eating supper at the café.
 |
| Coues' Whitetail buck |
Aug 16: Friday
I slept in a bit this morning, and ate breakfast at the
café, sharing my meal with Jim, who’d just driven in last night from San
Diego. I left Portal around 9 a.m., and
drove up FS 42 toward Onion Saddle, and lucked into seeing a pair of Montezuma
Quail crossing the road with 4 small chicks. The male of the species has quite the stunning pattern; the old field guides called this the "Harlequin Quail".
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| Male Quail and a chick |
I got out to try for a photo as they escaped through the brush, and the
adults both went into a ‘broken wing’ display, hoping to get me - perceived as
the predator - to follow them rather than going after their progeny.
 |
| When Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy . . . |
I stopped again at the intersection with the
Road to Paradise (I love that description; it sounds much better than the
“Turkey Creek Road”) where there was a mixed feeding flock in the trees. After a bit of time, I heard the squeaky call
of a Chickadee. The only Chickadee
species in the area is the Mexican Chickadee, Poecile sclateri, a pine forest
species which barely makes it across the border into the United States here in
southeast Arizona. Finally, I saw a pair
of them feeding amongst the evergreen boughs for my ABA Life Species No. 645. Like most Mexican immigrants, it just wishes to work
hard, raise its family, and contribute to the community. And, it is unlikely to be kept out by a $21.6
Billion wall . . . I couldn't get a photo of the chickadees, but was intrigued by the fungus on the Chihuahua pine cones in the canyon.
This is the Southwestern Cone Rust Cronartium conigenum that deforms the cones, and keeps them from producing viable seeds. Nasty-looking stuff.
I continued over the saddle into the Pinery Canyon
drainage, stopping where the stream crossed the creek near where the campground
was before the habitat burned in the Horseshoe 2 Fire of 2011, but even those
appear starkly beautiful and serve as a reminder of the resilience of the
state’s fire-adapted ecosystems.
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| The bright orange indicates the fungus is actively sporulating |
Pinery Canyon, the pines that inspired its name now
resemble a forest of blackened toothpicks in spots, eventually giving way to
oaks, junipers and grasslands dotted with century plants.
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| There are always Yellow-eyed Juncos |
Again, a mixed-species flock of birds foraged in the
treetops, and I eventually caught a glimpse of red, then two, confirming the
birds as Red-faced Warblers for my ABA Life Bird No. 646 - and World Lifer No.
850.
Leaving the Chiricahuas for the Tucson area again, I checked into the Best Western Inn in Green Valley. I’d had a call from Elizabeth and Liam, who often
bird-watch at Nisqually.
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| Nothing says "Desert Birding" like seeing a Roadrunner |
They were in
town for a week of birding, and I met them at their Bed & Breakfast near
the Saguaro Natl. Monument, where they shared a bottle of water and some good
conversation.
August 15:
Herb Martyr Campground eBird Checklist is Here
East Turkey Creek eBird Checklist is Here
August 16
Cave Creek Canyon eBird Checklist is Here
Montezuma Quail eBird Checklist is Here
East Turkey Creek eBird Checklist is Here
Pinery Canyon eBird Checklist is Here
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