Sierra Vista and Bisbee

We traveled out of Tucson on Tuesday to spend a few days birding and sightseeing in the Sierra Vista area. We actually stayed in Hereford, at a B&B called Battiste's Bed, Breakfast & Birds. Turns out it was a great choice. The owner, Tony Battiste, is a bird guide in the area, and from the moment we met him he was helping us find whatever birds we wanted to see. We said we were looking for Scaled Quail, so he immediately phoned up his buddy two streets over who reliably has the quails in his yard. He sent us over there and we went right through this guy's living room, waved at his wife watching TV, and out to his backyard to look for quails. No luck, but we did find another lifer, Say's Phoebe. On the fourth visit to the neighbor's house (we were really beginning to feel like stalkers by then) we finally saw 2 scaled quails! Tony also found us an Elf Owl one night, in a tree right in his yard. And he is a retired cop and a retired math teacher, so he had lots to talk about with Kenny and Chris too (besides birds).

The yard at Battiste's B&B is set up with all sorts of feeders and water features for birds, and even a photo blind for taking pictures of birds.

On Tony's recommendaiton, we went birding at the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area one morning. It's a dry grassland habitat, so very different from Tucson or the canyons we'd been to previously. Vermillion Flycatchers were everywhere! If you have ever seen a Vermillion Flycatcher, you'd remember it. They are brighter than any highligher, a gaudy fluorescent red, and they especially stuck out against the tan background of the desert grassland. Aiden fell asleep in the backpack half way through our walk, so Kenny carried him all the way back to the van.

Grasslands at the San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area (you can tell exactly where the river is because its the only place trees grow)




Lesser Goldfinches

Vermillion Flycatcher

Our next stop was Bisbee, for some cultural interest. I thought Bisbee was a strange town. It's part hippie artist colony, part wild west, and part creepy abandoned copper mine. Everyone we talked to there seemed a little cuckoo-for-cocoapuffs. But they did have some great gift shops, and Aiden loved the old replica train in the center of town.

Bisbee

The old copper mine at Bisbee

Not much you can do with this big hole

Aiden riding the old train in Bisbee

The following day we left early and went to Ramsay Canyon, a Nature Conservancy Preserve. We had a quick hike (involving a Summer Tanager) and then hit the road to go to Patagonia, to someone else's private backyard. This area of Arizona is so popular with birders that some people with especially birdy locations have opened up their homes as public birding sites. We went to several such places, and they are even in the guidebooks for the area. You just park in the driveway and walk through to the backyard where there are lots of feeders and chairs set up for birdwatchers. It's great! Donations are usually collected for the "sugar fund" to feed the hummers. We hit the Jackpot at the Paton's house in Patagonia- we had four lifers in about 15 minutes! We got the Violet-Crowned Hummingbird (what we had come to see) and then Lazuli Bunting, Zone-Tailed Hawk, and Dusky-Capped Flycatcher too! Finally, we stopped at Patagonia Lake State Park for a quick hike before heading back to Tucson and the Dolan's house.

Hiking at Ramsay Canyon

Ramsay Canyon

Violet-Crowned Hummingbird in the Paton's backyard, Patagonia

Patagonia Lake State Park