IT TAKES ABOUT TWO HOURS TO DRIVE THE 42 miles from Silver City, NM to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. A bit more if you stop along the way to search for birds. The Red-faced Warbler, another Mexican migrant, had been seen near one of the campgrounds along NM15 in past years but no sightings were reported this spring. Undeterred, Connie and I searched in vain on our way to the Monument on a cold and windy Sunday. We had better luck on Monday when the mountain winds had died down. We followed the warbler’s melodic call and managed a couple of photos before it disappeared. Another lifer for Connie.
Red-Faced Warbler
Ancestors of the Mogollon people used the caves along the Gila River as temporary shelters but it wasn't until the end of the 13th Century that people of the Mogollon Culture decided it would be a good place to call home. Based on tree ring dating from the original roof beams, archeologists have dated the habitation of the five caves of the Gila Cliff Dwellings to between 1260 and 1280. It's estimated that between eight and ten families shared the caves' 42 rooms for only a single generation before abandoning their homes and fields around 1300. Gila Cliff Dwelling was declared a National Monument in 1907.
Gila Cliff Dwellings Gila Cliff Dwellings
