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
Last night, Dave Jasper and I joined Gerry, Peter, and their friends from the West Midland and West Sussex bird clubs in Britain, in search of two of the special owls of Cave Creek Canyon––the Whiskered Screech Owl (a denizen of Mexico’s oak-pine forests, which … Continue readingOwls, Tiny and Merely Small
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!
We have just finished another winter stay in the bunkhouse at the headquarters of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, courtesy of the refuge manager Tom Melanson and our good friend Rod Drewien, who goes each year to count geese for the refuge. This year’s … Continue readingA Bitter Day
Just now, the nest of a Berylline Hummingbird graces Cave Creek, next to the Stewart Campground bridge. The nest was discovered by a couple from Michigan (if you read this, please tell me your names!), then refound by Raymond VanBuskirk and Michael Hilchey. We’ve made … Continue readingA Berylline Hummingbird
Our technique on the Short-tailed Hawk vigils has been to split up and watch from different vantage points. Helen and Noel have stayed in contact with handheld radios. We’ve each had marvelous encounters with wildlife. Yesterday, the hours passed quickly for Helen, who found no … Continue readingWhile Helen Waited