San Rafael Valley to Coronado National MemorialKate and Jim's 2003 Vacation - Day 3 - Feb 24 |
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WIND! Think wind. Now for most of you non-birders, wind is no big thing. But to birders, this particular meteorological phenomenon is a real pain in the buttinski. Wind will plague poor Kate and Jim for the rest of the week. We started off the day again with Stuart. We were on a search for Chestnut-collared Longspurs and McCown's Longspurs in San Rafael Valley. Our first step was to get to San Rafael Valley. The shortest way there (those darned mountains were in the way again) was to take a little used shortcut through Fort Huachuca to the other side of the Huachuca Mountains. The fort is an active Army post (you'll know the name if you read Tom Clancy...think electronic intelligence) but you can get in with presentation of sufficient credentials, like car rental agreement and driver's license. Once on the base, we wound our way through barracks, fields, office buildings, etc. and finally found ourselves at the lonely West Gate. After a little more driving, we found ourselves in the San Rafael Valley. |
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This picture was taken just as we emptied out of the mountain road into the valley. I'm sure I bored Stuart and Kate by constantly remarking about how beautiful this area is. Frankly, I couldn't pay attention to the birds with all the remarkable scenery around us. |
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The valley is pretty much grassland and cattle
grazing country. There are corrals and windmills, with knolls
and hills to make it interesting. The objective was to find the
longspurs perched on the fence lines...that would make them more visible
than trying to see them in the grass or while they were flying.
The darned wind caused the birds to fly really fast when they did fly,
and to hunker down in the grass when they didn't fly. They
were pretty much invisible. We knew they were around...but we
couldn't find them. For the non-birding among you, birders like to
get "lifer looks" at birds they're seeing for the first
time. Having a guide find them for you is one thing, but seeing
them sufficiently, so that you can see the field marks, is something
else. Stuart was seeing them, but we couldn't "get"
them.
We got some use out of our rented SUV. We drove some seriously dirt roads in the grasslands that would have tested a regular car. On one of these jaunts, Stuart spotted a Falcon perched on a windmill at a very long distance. We drove closer and closer and eventually were able to make out enough of the bird to declare it a Prairie Falcon (and it flew, confirming our identification). Eventually, we did come to a corral where the birds were feeding. We finally got spectacular looks at the Chestnut-Collared Longspur, but we just couldn't get the McCown's to cooperate. But that was another lifer for the trip. And the McCown's is an "excuse" bird...an excuse to visit Arizona again. Stuart and I had a spirited discussion about flyover eagle identification while we were waiting for the Longspurs to show themselves. He said it was a Bald Eagle...I think it was a Golden. But I didn't see it well enough to call it one way or another. But it WAS an eagle, and I'll let it go at that. |
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Here is one unfortunate situation that apparently is the fault of a birder. This corral is one of the best spots to find both longspurs. However, because of a birder's rude behavior toward the previously tolerant landowner, birders now are not welcome. In fact, there is a sign on the corral: "No birding within 1/4 mile." I'm not sure how enforceable that is when the corral sits on a public road, but it is sad. We did see longspurs at this location, but not wanting to make the situation any worse, kept our distance, which meant not really seeing the birds. |
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If you're wondering why I didn't take any pictures of the
longspurs, did I mention that there was a lot of wind and they were hard
to see, let alone photograph? Plus, they're really, really
small.
Anyway, I made up for it by taking a picture of my all time favorite subject. |
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After San Rafael, we headed back through Sierra Vista (taking the route through the Fort again) and drove to San Pedro House. This is part of the San Pedro Riparian Area that attempts to preserve this desert river. The habitat is much different here, as you can see. With the water comes more trees and shrubs, a lusher habitat, and different birds. Our target here was a Hammond's Flycatcher. But the WIND screwed us up again. We did see some of the expected birds for this area, including Black Phoebes and Bushtits, and some unexpected birds, like Canvasback. But we never did see the Hammond's Flycatcher, which wasn't a surprise...given the WIND. |
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We did stop at the feeders by the San Pedro House on our way back to the truck, and I took this picture of a Gambel's Quail. |
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I cropped that same image to this one. One of the benefits of having a 5 megapixel camera is that I can do this kind of blow-up. It's not great, but tolerable. We went back later in the trip, and I got some better pictures by getting closer. You'll see them. |
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After Kate and I got back to our room at the Best Western,
we decided to go out again and just drive around, since we still had
some daylight. So we headed south on Route 92 and drove into the
Coronado National Memorial. I had always wondered what the heck
this was, so now was the opportunity. On the access road, I
spotted some Montezuma's Quail standing by the side of the road.
We stopped and enjoyed them, and I managed a picture by maneuvering the
truck so I could get a picture. Only later did I read that I could
have gotten closer since these birds apparently don't fly or run away
from a car, they just hunker down in the ditch.
After reading some plaques at the memorial, we closed out the day. Tourist note: We ate dinner at Delios, an Italian restaurant, on 92 south of Sierra Vista...pretty good. |