Today we were heading to Portal in the Chiricahua
Mountains, but not before calling in to Hunter Canyon where a Rufous-capped Warbler had been reported.
It was a bit tricky to find this place as its not signposted off the main road
out of Sierra Vista but we got there eventually and then began walking up the
trail. It was quite a rough trail and took a while to reach the trees where the
bird had been reported the day before. We were really feeling the altitude this
morning for some reason but it was just around 6,000 feet so not too high but
we were battling a high wind and uneven and in places steep trail. Well, within
a few minutes the Rufous-capped Warbler
appeared in the creek below us and began singing and what a beautiful vision of
red, yellow and olive it was. No photos unfortunately but just go look in the
Sibley Guide to see what a cracker it is. Not a lifer, as I’ve seen one in
Texas but a really cool bird. The same spot also had another Buff-breasted Flycatcher, as well as Cassin’s Finch, Cassin’s Vireo, Greater
Pewee, Dusky Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Virginia’s, Black-throated Grey and Townsend’s
Warblers and other common Sky Island goodies.
 |
| Buff-breasted Flycatcher |
So that was us done here and we walked back to the
car, seeing a few Bell’s Vireos
along the way. From here we headed to Portal, a journey of a couple of hours
and one thing I noticed was the wind seemed to be picking up with gale force
gusts once we reached the open plains. I screeched to a halt at one point as
some movement along the fence adjacent to the road looked interesting. There’s
absolutely no traffic here so a quick turnaround and we were looking at a bunch
of Lark Buntings – a bird I haven’t
seen for many years. A little further on we pulled in to look at one of those
Historical Markers that are dotted around the country – this one marked the
place of Geronimo’s surrender.
Anyway, we drove on to Portal, checked in to our cabins
behind the café, ate lunch and then had to drive some 20 miles to fill up with
gas. Along the way a few White-throated
Swifts flew over but we were soon back in Portal and despite the wind
headed up the road to check out the area. We stopped at Paradise and then up to
Barfoot Park, which is just under something like 10,000 feet but there was a
distinct lack of Mexican Chickadees
(a bird we were fated not to find) although there was a dearth of any kind of
bird due to the foul weather apart from a few Violet-green Swallows.
So on returning to the cabins we had dinner and
then walked around after dark, seeing a Great
Horned Owl perched at the top of a large tree. A drive up the road resulted
in two different Ringtails (also
known as Ring-tailed Cat), a member
of the raccoon family, a Striped Skunk,
and a cute Gray Fox. But no owls
were calling so we called it a day and returned to the cabins.
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