Hello,
I just got back from a brief trip to Portal, Arizona in the extreme SE
of the state. What a treat to stay with friends and every morning get up to
the sound of many, many hummingbirds outside my window.
For any of you planning a trip to the area, it has been a very dry
winter, but there is some water in Cave Creek and the birds are really
moving through - warblers, chickadees, sparrows, etc.
I even saw an osprey flying over the desert on its migration north. The
nearest water that potentially could have some fish was well over 20 miles
in any direction.
The elegant trogans had just arrived. For me the highlight was the one
day, in one spot, in a two hour period I saw 9 species of hummers - rufous,
broad-billed, broad-tailed, calliope, Anna's, lucifer, blue-throated,
magnificent, and black chinned. And at the same spot, three oriole species
on the same branch - Scott's, Bullocks, and hooded. Where was I? In town
at the Utterbeck house where I had the good fortune to be staying. He even
has a nest of blue throats near the house, the young were near to fledging.
The Portal area and up the mountain is a place to bird that is hard to
beat. Also, many species of butterflies were out as well as deer and
havelina (with their piglets). And the endanged Arizona leopard frog is
still doing well at the Cave Creek Ranch pool and pond.

Martha Jordan
marthaj at swansociety.org
www.swansociety.org