Did I mention our birding guide, Ethan? This is the first time we have hired a guide. Ethan's name was provided to us by the owners of the Casita we are staying in at Green Valley. More about the Casita in a separate post, but for now let me just say, if you want a vacation in Green Valley, you MUST stay in one of Dorothy and John's Casitas. But I digress....
Yesterday morning we rose at 4:45 a.m. After a quick breakfast we hit the road in the 4Runner with Ethan as our guide. We drove south for about 30 miles on highway I-19 towards Nogales, Mexico. From there we headed west on Ruby Road. The pavement runs for about 10 miles and after that it is a gravel road. The gravel road for this part of the trip is pretty good, but narrow in spots. Another 10 miles and we arrived at the entrance to Sycamore Canyon.
It is only 5.6 miles from the parking area to the Mexico border. I think all of us were thinking about the possibility of running into either smugglers or migrants. Fortunately we saw neither although we did spot a recent campsite on a rocky ledge just off the trail.
We started out at about 7:00 a.m. The birds were just waking up. Somewhat surprising was the flow of water in the creek that snakes (I really don't like to use that word) its way down the canyon. This day we had to criss-cross the creek many times. I should say the the first 1/2 mile or so was dry as we had yet to get to the bottom of the canyon. As we hiked down into the canyon we spotted some terrific birds. This day we were rewarded with Eastern Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaire, Rufous-capped Sparrows, Acorn Woodpeckers, Mexican Jays Chipping Sparrows and others. Once we got into the canyon the birds were fewer in number but memorable none the less. In the canyon we saw Elegant Trogon, Canyon Wren, Hepatic Tanager, Townsend's Warbler, Arizona Woodpeckers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-tailed Hawks, Common Ravens. Violet-green Swallow, White-throated Swifts, etc., etc. In addition to birds we saw many Butterflies including a lot of Two-tailed Swallowtails. (photo included)
The hike ended at a spot where the canyon narrowed to about 20 feet. The creek was fairly deep and would have required some disrobing and wading. The rock wall was passable but tricky. Ethan and I scrambled across the rock wall while Dana elected, wisely, to stay on the other side. We might have been able to go deeper into the canyon but really, we only had so much time on this day as we still had to go to California Gulch. So, Ethan and I scrambled back to where Dana was waiting and we headed up the canyon to the 4Runner. All in all it was "magical". We got back to the trailhead at about 12 noon. After a quick lunch we hoped in the 4Runner and headed for California Gulch.
6 miles of gravel road took us to the turn off for California Gulch. The road so far has been pretty good. Worse than the Alaska Highway in 1975, but better than the next 5 miles. With the big rain storms of the past few days we encountered 2 spots where there was significant pooling of water on the road. Ethan assured me that the bottom was hard so I did not have to worry about mud. On the other hand, the water was deep - running board deep. No problem for the 4Runner and we went through the "ponds" with no trouble. The road narrowed to single track and was steep in spots. We detoured off the road to bird a small lake. The lake is a seasonal body of water. This winter/spring there is a significant volume of water in the lake providing great habitat for all wildlife. We observed 32 species of birds at this location including Cassin's Kingbird, Yellow Warbler, Painted Redstart, Ring-necked Duck and a pair Gray Hawks.
The next 3 or 4 miles was slow going. The road was passable and did not really require 4 wheel-drive but I had it in 4 wheel low regardless. We made it to the turnoff to California Gulch after a couple of navigation errors. We eventually turned off FR217 and drove down a steep and rocky trail into California Gulch. Once again we encountered water where has been none for quite a few years. We also found the bird we came all this way to see, the Five-striped Sparrow. Ethan had a very good idea where to find the birds and sure enough we went to that location and within 5 minutes a Five-striped Sparrow popped up and gave us 5 minutes of good looks which was enough time for me to get a couple of good photo opportunities. (photos included in this post)
So far it had been a remarkable day of birding and exploration. Plus, we did not get arrested. After we finished observing the Sparrow it was time to make the trek back to civilization. California Gulch is only 1 1/2 miles from the Mexico border. After miles and miles of back road travel I was pretty exhausted, as were Dana and Ethan. We got into the 4Runner and climbed up the rocky track to FR217. From there we made our way to Ruby Road then west to Arivaca, Az., then on to Green Valley arriving at around 5:45 p.m. That folks, was a 12 hour day!
New birds for the year to date list - 8
Five-Striped Sparrow
Hepatic Tanager
Eastern Bluebird
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Violet-green Swallow
Cassin's Kingbird
Northern Beardless Tyrannulet
Yellow Warbler
New World Life List birds - 5
Five-Striped Sparrow
Hepatic Tanager
Eastern Bluebird
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Northern-Beardless Tyrannulet
All for now. This has been a very, very busy, birdy week. All of our days, with the exception of today has been birding from dawn to dusk followed by food, showers and then sleep. I plan to write more on our adventures this week once I catch my second wind.
Enjoy the photos...... (Scenery photos by Dana)
Scenes from Sycamore Canyon
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| Ethan telling Barry it is okay to say I don't want to scramble over these rocks carrying $4k worth of camera gear.. |
Flora and Fauna in Sycamore Canyon
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| Two-tailed Swallowtail Butterfly, and 2 friends..... |
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| Mock Vervain |
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| Arizona Woodpecker (male) |
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| Rufous-capped Sparrow |
Drum roll please........ And now, the Five-striped Sparrow. Very few get to see this bird. Dana and I were two of those few....
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