6:00 am: Check out, luggage in the lobby, and hotel breakfast.
Wheels rolling at 6:30 (a Power statement).
We made a brief stop to an industrial park near the airport to look for a staked out Burrowing Owl. No luck, but we did see a sweet couple of cotton tops, officially known as Scaled Quail. We headed southeast on US 10, past the Rincons, the Santa Ritas and the Whetstones, isolated mountain ranges called sky islands that rise out of the desert like islands out of the ocean. We passed soap tree yucca with their tall stalks of white blooms, teddy bear cholla, beavertail cactus, mesquite, ocotillo, the desert green and flush with spring.
After about 50 miles, we turned south off of US 10 onto State 80 to Saint David on the San Pedro River, an important migration corridor for migrants and a good spot to see cottonwood affiliated species. We birded at a mulberry tree on a country road, then at the St. David RV Resort and the Holy Trinity Monastery. Down the road Bob showed us a roosting spot for Mississippi Kites that he had found the week before. Another St. David bird we did not see again on the trip was a Tropical Kingbird.
Back on the road, we reversed our course on State 80 to US 10, then east for about an hour to Willcox to bird the Twin Lakes Golf Course and the pond near the golf course, where we saw the only ducks and shorebirds of the trip. In Willcox we had a quick lunch at the MacDonald's. Then, it was about 40 minutes with no stops to just past San Simon where we turned off US 10 onto a country road, Portal/South Noland Road. We drove past groves of nut trees on paved road and, as Bob had warned, when the agriculture ended so did the pavement. We drove for more than an hour on bumpy dirt road noting Roadrunners crossing in front of the van until Bob turned off and stopped at a trailhead. We walked a short trail to a vista overlook where we could see both forks of Cave Creek Canyon. At the overlook we got an overview of some of the area we would be birding in the next week.
We proceeded to Cave Creek Ranch near Portal to check in and settle in to our home for the next five nights. At about 5:00 we birded the feeders at the Ranch while we enjoyed some of the wine and fruit drinks that Bob had brought for us. We turned out to be a moderate drinking group, and Bob left three bottles of wine for the proprietors of the ranch at the end of the trip. Feeders are quite magical, making it possible to fill the binocular view with a Blue-throated Hummingbird or a Bridled Titmouse.
We had dinner at the Portal Peak Lodge and Cafe. They did an excellent and accommodating job of providing our breakfasts, bag lunches, and dinners during our stay in the area.
After dark we heard and located the Western Screech Owl and the Elf Owl that were residents of the Ranch. In the van driving near the Ranch we caught the eye shine of the Common Poorwill roosting on the road and were able to see them in our binoculars as they flew across the road.
Here are links to my eBird checklists for the day:
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