Subject: Southeast Arizona 2000
Date: May 13 09:12:59 2000
From: sanjer at televar.com - sanjer at televar.com


Great trip, hot weather, beautiful birds.

We flew into Phoenix and Robert Taylor was there with a rented
Windstar to pick us up. Thanks to Bob's expertise we were able to see
alot more birds then if we went on our own.

We spent the first night in Tucson. The new day started with a trip
up Mt. Lemmon. There were several picnic areas along the road and each
one had a variety of birds. Some of the birds viewed were GAMBEL'S
QUAIL, PHAINOPEPLA, GILA WOODPECKER, GRAY HAWK, SUMMER TANAGER,
NORTHERN CARDINAL, SCOTT'S ORIOLE, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO, HERMIT WARBLER,
CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, OLIVE WARBLER, RED-FACED WARBLER, GRACE'S
WARBLER and ZONED TAILED HAWK. (And that is just the beginning.) We
also ran into Heidi Brunkal and her mother Judy. Heidi is from
Richland, WA. What a great surprise!

We worked our way towards Nogales and spent the night there.
California Gulch is an interesting drive. A group of about ten
Collared Peccary ( Javalina ) crossed the road. What a sight! Jerry
tried to get a picture, but they were to fast and too many to chase.
We went into the gulch after the Five Striped Sparrow, but did not see
it. The birds in the gulch were ROAD RUNNER, VERMILLION FLYCATCHER,
BRIDLED TITMOUSE, HOODED ORIOLE, BELL'S VIREO, and MEXICAN JAY'S. The
Mexican Jay's are every where. They are such a beautiful shade of
blue.

Ramsey Canyon was our next stop and we spent the night there. It is a
lovely place with humming bird feeders and a hiking trail. The
"hummers" at Ramsey were BLUE THROATED, COSTA'S, BLACKED-CHINNED,
MAGNIFICENT, BROAD BILLED and BROAD-TAILED. And, we spotted a PAINTED
REDSTART in the yard. Some of the other birds at Ramsey Canyon were
STRICKLAND'S WOODPECKER, BLACK- THROATED GRAY WARBLER and BLACK-TAILED
GNATCATCHER.

We visited Beatty's Orchard in Miller Canyon and there we saw the
WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD. Now, we are off to Portal, actually Paradise.

Paradise was a very relaxing place. We stayed at the George Walker
House. They have bird feeders all over and bat boxes. In the evening
the bats come out and feed from the hummer feeders. From the screen
porch, you can kick back and several species come in to feed. Some of
the "birds of Paradise" are JUNIPER TITMOUSE, LAZULI BUNTING, GREEN-
TAILED TOWHEE, HOODED ORIOLE, WHIP-POOR-WILL, VARIED BUNTING, NORTHERN
BEARDLESS TYRANNULET, LESSER GOLDFINCH, and many more common birds. We
did watch the bats come in to feed in the evening. It was very
interesting. In "down town" Portal, there is a home that has several
hummingbird feeders. We had heard the LUCIFER'S had been coming there.
We stopped in, sat on the bench for a while, and sure enough it showed
up four different times. It is a beautiful hummer.

We drove to the campground at the top of Rustler's Peak (9000 feet
plus). At the top we found more OLIVE WARBLERS and the MEXICAN
CHICKADEE. We went down the other side of the mountain and spent the
night in Willcox. Some of the birds at Willcox include SWAINSON'S
HAWK, SPOTTED SANDPIPER GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE, WILSON'S PHALAROPE,
GREAT BLUE HERON, and at the golf course before the golf balls start
flying, SCALED QUAIL.

We spent a lot of time Monday driving, but saw some great birds. In
route to Phoenix, we saw HOODED WARBLER, HARRIS HAWK, CACTUS WREN and
a BLACK-THROATED SPARROW. In an area called Aravaipa, there was a Gila
Monster walking along the road. We stopped, watched from a distance
and Jerry did get some pictures.
What a great trip! The temperature ran between 90 and 103. We added 30
new birds to our life list and saw 150 plus species. We are ready any
time to go back for another visit.

Sandy Converse
Grand Coulee, WA
mailto:sanjer at televar.com
http://ConverseCorner.com

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember, amateurs built the Ark and
Professionals built the Titanic.