At tonight’s meeting with the Forest Service and firefighters from the Type 1 fire team, the Rodeo-Portal community learned the team’s current basic strategy for dealing with the Horseshoe Two fire. This fire is a handful, as many are proving to be across the West, … Continue readingThe First of Many Meetings
After thinking the fire was so far away, we got a midnight call to evacuate, at first said to be mandatory where we live a couple of miles from Portal. (Actually, Arizona does not have mandatory evacuations.) People in Portal proper received the same call … Continue readingHorseshoe 2 Report
In haste, as we just received a midnight call to evacuate. The flames are indeed visible from our house as the fire approaches the environs of Portal. Time to pack the computer!
Today a fire began in the Chiricahuas and quickly blew into a large burn. It apparently began in upper Horseshoe Canyon, close to the origin of last year’s Horseshoe Fire, and is being called Horseshoe 2. A Type 1 fire team has been dispatched and … Continue readingHorseshoe 2 Fire: Deja Vu
We’re seeing two races of Hermit Thrushes right now in the Chiricahuas, slipping quietly along the edges of trails. Hermit Thrush taxonomy is complicated and unresolved, with roughly 10 races. Whatever the finer divisions, they do resolve into three basic groups: the bright Eastern forms, … Continue readingHermit Thrushes
… Someone is watching us! Red-faced Warbler (Photos by Narca) Red-faced Warblers are truly stunning. They are arriving now in the Chiricahuas, although many of them are still foraging at low elevations or moving with big mixed flocks in the higher mountains. Soon they … Continue readingRed-faced Warblers
The last couple of weeks have been very full, all days afield with friends and clients. A few days ago on the road to Barfoot Park, high in the Chiricahuas, a faint buzzing like an angry bee announced the presence of a tiny Twin-spotted Rattlesnake … Continue readingSnakes!
Last month, we stopped at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on our way home to Portal. The park newsletter was organized differently this year. Several wide columns sported headings such as: “What To Do if You Have 1/2 Hour” in the park… “1 hour”… “2 … Continue readingSign of the Times