SIERRA VISTA IS A GREAT RESTING PLACE on the Southern Arizona birding trail — for birds and birders alike. Totally ignoring Trump’s Wall, Mexican birds make their way across the border where the Audubon Society and Nature Conservancy shelter them — sort of an avian Underground Railway. Ft. Huachuca’s FamCamp, where we are staying again is convenient to Tucson’s cultural scene and to Saguaro National Park and the Desert Museum. We had lunch with Connie’s cousin who lives in Sierra Vista and Paul told us that friends, Ron and Joyce — whom we met two years ago — are RVing in town. So we had enough to keep us busy for a month or more.
A Night At The Opera
It was so easy to drive to Tucson for massages that we decided to return for a night at the opera, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. We weren’t the best-dressed couple but we enjoyed both the pre-game presentation and the performance. The Desert Museum at Saguaro National Park was more up our alley, especially the free-flying raptor demonstration. We stayed with our old friend Jim and his new squeeze, Carol, who made it an memorable weekend.
At the Desert Museum
We took another road trip to the birding hotspot at Portal’s Chiricuha National Forest to search for the Mexican Chickadee, another illegal immigrant. While we were there we had lunch with Peg Abbot, a real US citizen, who had arranged our trips to Trinidad, Guyana and Cuba. We also photographed our first Western Screech Owl.
Western Screech Owl
It turns out Ron and Joyce are also birders. They’re not as serious as Connie — who is?? — but Ron is a biologist and knows a lot. We went to the Ramsey Canyon Nature Conservancy site with them and also to Huachuca Canyon on base. The highlights were their first Arizona Woodpecker and our first Painted Redstart of the season.
Arizona Woodpecker Paintd Redstart
We made a couple of visits to the Audubon site in Patagonia for a dose of hummingbirds and visited more feeders where we got a good photo at Scotts Oriole and saw a pair of Elf Owls, the smallest of all owls, that just returned for the fifteenth season! But we failed to see any Elegant Trogons. The one that we had seen twice in Patagonia seems to have died.
Scott's Oriole Elf Olw
