Subject: [Tweeters] Desert Options
Date: Sep 5 14:05:36 2009
From: Richard Carlson - rccarl at pacbell.net


There are deserts and there are deserts. I was comparing the Chihuahuan desert surrounding Big Bend to my home desert of SE AZ.

Big Bend has great birding in the mountains and along the river. The birds are concentrated in those locations because Big Bend is in the middle of the relatively unproductive Chihuahuan desert. If you want desert birds come to SE AZ. Using BBS routes as a measure, a west Texas BBS desert route, Valentine for example, will have less than 500 total
birds. Our Sonoran desert BBS routes, like my Sahuarita route, will
have nearly 800 birds. We also have a greater variety of nearby
habitats including the Chihuahuan desert.

Richard Carlson
Full-time Birder, Biker and Rotarian
Part-time Economist
Tucson, AZ, Lake Tahoe, CA, & Kirkland, WA
rccarl at pacbell.net
Tucson 520-760-4935
Tahoe 530-581-0624
Kirkland 425-828-3819
Cell 650-280-2965