ARIZONA 2011 : The Chiricahua Mts

On our trip we visited three of the four ‘sky islands’ that occur in SE Arizona – the Santa Rita’s, the Huachuca’s and the Chiricahua Mountains (above) – all in search of the hummingbirds that make this part of the country unique. Sadly, the major fires that occured in Arizona in the early summer had affected two of the three ranges.

We began in the Chiricahua’s, basing ourselves at the idyllic Cave Creek Ranch, just outside of Portal. For the first six months of this year the Chiricahua’s have only received 0.2 inches of rain. Sadly, the Horseshoe Two fire had reeked devastation upon the upper reaches of the range. Though the road was open to the junction with Paradise, we only went as far at the South West Research Station (above), where we could could see that a great deal of the forest above there was burnt. The monsoon had started, and as if the fire was not bad enough, the problem they now face is flooding!

A multitute of feeders set around the main cabin and reception area provided a smogasbord for an abundance of birds. The all day frenzy of activity included Arizona, Ladder-backed and Acorn Woopecker, Red-shafted Flicker, Bridled Titmouse, White-winged Dove, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mexican Jay (above), Bullock’s Oriole, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finches, Black-headed Grosbeak and of course hummingbirds. Lots of hummingbirds buzzing all around us!

We added the two upper elevation hummingbirds to our growing list – Magnificent and Blue-throated (above) – both about 5 inches with a long tail and wings, making them the largest of our hummers.

At the other end of the spectrum is the short tailed, diminutive Calliope Hummingbird (above), our third new species of the trip. We were lucky to have a very confiding male, with its gorgeous streaky magenta gorget, make numerous forays into the feeders only feet away from us.

Our tally for the trip now totalled nine hummingbirds – Broad-billed, Blue-throated, Magnificent, Black-chinned, Anna’s, Costa’s, Calliope, Broad-tailed and Rufous (above).

Mammals included Javelina’s, Cous’s White-tailed Deer, Desert Cottontails and a lone Coatimundi (above) that was hell-bent on demolishing all the peanut butter that was on offer.

I have always enjoyed night drives, the goal being to see any owls, nightjars, snakes or the ultimate prize a Mountain Lion! Though these mountain / canyon roads can be very rewarding, the conditions did not favour many snake sightings on our couple of tries. However, there was a couple of young Western Rattlesnakes that we made sure got across the road safely. As luck would have it a very pleasant family from California was also staying at Cave Creek Ranch, and their hobby was reptiles!  Being more successful than we were, they proudly showed us a Blind Snake, Night Snake, Long-nosed Snake and Gopher Snake (above)!

On our last night we witnessed a brilliant southwest desert sunset with fiery oranges and reds slowly melting behind the mountains.  There was to be more color the following morning when we had a stunning view of blazing red streak that crossed a sunlight glade adjacent to the creek – a male Elegant Trogon! What an end of a marvelous few days at Cave Creek Ranch!