Southeast Arizona Adventure Part 5

Southeast Arizona Adventure Part 5 - Portal

By Mary Beth Stowe

Headed out to the “Research Station Road” pre-dawn as planned, but the trailhead parking spot I was going to use backfired only in that you could hear Cave Creek “roaring” behind you (at least enough to drown out any night birds), so decided to try Sunny Flats instead. A lot more people had settled in since the day before, and after I thought I had found a spot that was somewhat isolated, I didn’t count on the campsite “kind of” next to me (they were several yards back from the road) having two guys who were also early risers walking their dogs and chatting while they were at it! So we decided to use the end of South Fork Road (since Jon told me that I should get Whiskered Screech Owl almost anywhere), and thankfully no one was camped out there themselves! It was a lovely experience, with the owls tooting almost immediately!

No other night birds, and just had the regulars tuning up (oh, some Mexican Jays came in and fed on something in the parking lot; was almost too dark for video). No return appearance of the trogon, and I can’t recall anything stupendous on the way to Paradise Road (except another Sulphurbelly near the VC), but said road was gorgeous! A cute little Black-throated Sparrow sang, but the highlight here was a nice male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher! As we climbed, who should we run into again but Jon’s bunch! They had stopped for a Scott’s Oriole (that I thankfully saw fly in), so since they all piled out, I parked well behind them and moseyed over. Turns out the reason he stopped here was because Black-chinned Sparrows had been reported, so he was trying for that (never came in, though… ☹)! I chatted with one of the ladies who was here for the first time and was thrilled with all her lifers, while both Canyon and Rock Wrens sang from on high. Jon also confirmed this was the spot where the summering Green-tailed Towhee was hanging out, and unlike the sparrows, he did cooperate – everyone was able to get great views (and I got video to prove it 😊)!

A large rock formation in the middle of a forest

The end of South Fork Road (once it was light enough to take pictures…)

A mountain with trees in the foreground and a blue sky in the background

Sunrise on the mountains!

A river running through a forest surrounded by trees and rocks.

Cave Creek

"Long-crested" Cardinal

A mountain range with a dirt road in the foreground

Yet more scenes...

Two pictures of a bird sitting on a branch.

Black-throated Sparrow

A mountain covered in trees and bushes with a blue sky in the background.

Scene going up Paradise Road

Two pictures of a bird sitting on a tree branch

Over-summering Green-tailed Towhee

I continued on with the BBS Protocol, where Variegated Fritillaries and Orange Sulphurs played in this gorgeous open space! Made the right at the T, and found the “Lee Clark Property” fine thanks to a sign (the road up there left much to be desired; I didn’t think Jon’s van would make it)! Bob Chapman was the caretaker, and he pointed out the various feeder stations, which all happened to be in great light! After a few “can’t help myself” shots at the feeders near the house, I set up camp at the hummer feeders first since I was more in need of video of that than the normal “hard food” birds as he called them, and was able to film Rufous, Broad-billed, Black-chinned, and Rivoli’s for sure (there may have been a Broad-tailed in there, too). Down at the other station got great video of Acorn Woodpeckers, Mexican Jays, Lesser Goldfinches, and Black-headed Grosbeaks (I’m noticing that I tend to be ignoring the House Finches, but I got a couple of them, too…).

A dirt road going through a forest with mountains in the background

Continuing up Paradise Road

Two pictures of a butterfly on a yellow flower

Gulf Fritillary

A dirt road going through a grassy field with trees and mountains in the background

Continuing on...

A bird perched on a branch next to a bunch of bananas

Up at the Lee Clark property, the Acorn Woodpeckers drank from the Agaves!

Three pictures of a hummingbird sitting on a red feeder.

Presumed young male Rufous Hummingbird as at least one red gorget feather has come in!

Two hummingbirds are sitting on a red bird feeder.

Rivoli’s Hummingbird (showing small tail spots at left)

A hummingbird is perched on a red bird feeder

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Two birds are perched on a branch near a bird feeder

Diners down at the “hard feeders” include Lesser Goldfinches...

A black and orange bird perched on a wooden post

Black-headed Grosbeak...

A small bird with a red head is perched on a tree branch

House Finches...

A small blue bird perched on a wooden post

...and Mexican Jays.

Two pictures of a chipmunk standing in the grass

Cliff Chipmunk (token mammal)

After that headed down to the George Walker House, where a couple of other guys (one with a Big Gun) had just arrived, and the owner was explaining the setup. Their boxer whuffed, and I remember him being friendly the last time, but when he said his name was Bo, I could have sworn I was told a different name! He confirmed that that was Topaz, who was no longer with them, but Bo was just as friendly and was all too pleased to give me a Doggie Fix! 😊 I had barely sat down when the target Juniper Titmouse came in, so got “proof” video of that one, I think, but during the course of my time there also had Bridled Titmouse, a friendly White-breasted Nuthatch (the guy said he was getting ready to remove the ceramic cat from the feeder the nuthatch kept coming in to), a Black-headed Grosbeak, and the regular assortment of hummers. When my timer went off I was getting ready to leave when the Blue-throated Mountain-gem showed up! (Funny how that bird has more of an appeal since the name change… 😊) Filmed a Desert Grassland Whiptail back at the car…

A small bird with a long beak is perched on a bird feeder.

A White-breasted Nuthatch defies the ceramic cat in order to pick just the right seed!

A small black and white bird perched on a tree branch

Too cute Bridled Titmouse!

A lizard is crawling on a rocky surface.

The not-so-cute but still striking Desert Grassland Whiptail

Headed back to the Cave Creek feeders after that and chilled in the shade. The two guys showed up again and parked themselves over by the office; they asked about the Arizona Woodpecker and I mentioned that I had heard a couple, but they hadn’t come in to the feeders – just Acorns. Never saw the mountain-gem, but he was calling over my head the whole time! When I got up to leave I went over to the one guy (the other was around the corner on the phone); he explained that they often did cross-country birding trips together, and he himself had been birding since he was a kid! As always, I encouraged them to come stay with us at the Alamo Inn whenever they were in the Valley 😊, and while we were yapping the Arizona Woodpecker suddenly came in! He ran to get his friend, but I don’t recall if he got to see it before it bounced over the trees (I was too busy filming it)…

Bully Black-headed Grosbeak

A woodpecker perched on a tree branch looking at the camera

Arizona Woodpecker

The last two feeder stops were the Portal Store, where housekeeping was busy and the feeders didn’t look active, so I went to the feeders down the road from the library. Ran into a couple there; the husband said the feeders were down the road a bit, and I think that was the same road I had the Montezuma Quail on last time, as it looked familiar! Anyway, when I found the place, they even had places to sit, so I enjoyed the diners which also included a female Broad-billed Hummer. But the star was the mountain-gem, who eventually perched right over my head and preened; a little awkward, but got him filmed! On the way back had two types of lizard: Desert Grassland and Sonoran Spotted Whiptails (only got the former on film)!

A bird is perched on a branch with its wings outstretched

Preening Blue-throated Mountain-gem right over my head…

After “taking care of things” I headed to Bisbee to visit my friends Earl and Judy (and their friendly Newfoundlands Emma and Yogi whom I hadn’t met yet 😊). It really was a lovely drive from this direction; Douglas was no trouble at all to negotiate, and didn’t get lost until I turned on Black Knob instead of Hazzard ☹, but it was still a lovely drive in with the hill in the distance! After our visit I headed to Sierra Vista (Judy encouraged me to stop at Culver’s, but I was too tired to go by the time I got there) and checked into their new Best Western, which was lovely!

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Day 6 - Mustang Island 2

By Mary Beth Stowe • June 16, 2025

Started out pre-dawn the next morning, adding a beent ing Common Nighthawk to the trip list right in the parking lot! There wasn’t a hint of any utility work, so I found The Willows fine, only it was as I suspected: a fancy residential area with a few trees that looked good as a migrant trap. No migrants around today (it was already in the 80s) so I found the hotspot designated as the area between Port Aransas and the state park, and just covered that stretch by stopping every half mile and scanning for falcons. There were still no occupants at the nesting platforms, but one stop did have a White-tailed Hawk perched on a gas well! That’s when I discovered (presumably) that I had left the foot for the cameras at the hotel, so I went blasting back (but not before stopping for a pair of Mottled Ducks and Black-necked Stilts), got back inside, and couldn’t find a trace. The nice front desk gal said she’d let me know if housekeeping found anything, but I figured it had to be buried somewhere ! And while checking the towel that I use to wrap The Monster, there it was, on the body of the camera instead of on the lens, where I usually put it! I felt so dumb – I told the gal I had found it, so we were both relieved, but I felt like I had wasted a half hour by coming back. But I had to remind myself that God’s timing is perfect, and everything is for a reason, even if it isn’t obvious at first!

Day 5: Mustang Island 1

By Mary Beth Stowe • June 9, 2025

When I realized I wanted to hit The Willows first (some good migrants had been seen there the day before), I was curious to see what direction Siri would take me, as it obviously would be different than my written directions that would take me directly to the state park. But as always, she wanted to take me into the heart of Houston rush hour traffic, but an alternate route appeared to zigzag towards Galveston, so I took that, only she kept trying to get me to take a totally different route!! Needless to say I got terribly turned around and ended up going a back way back to the tollway (and actually went through pretty nice suburban area – I got to thinking that I wouldn’t mind living there so long as I didn’t have to get on the freeway), and from there she took us the same way we came up until it was time to veer off towards Corpus, where we went through some hair-raising construction but finally made it safely to Padre Island! I wanted to head straight to the Willows (she was initially gonna bring us in from the north, but I guess she abandoned that idea), but stopped first at the state park to use the potties and make a sandwich. On the way up I saw the two Aplomado nesting platforms, and thought for sure I saw some birds in there, but headed on to the Willows with the idea of checking them more closely on the way back, only ran into some “Be Prepared to Stop” traffic (and they really meant it this time, too), so rather than fight that we decided to turn around and check out the beach access we had just driven by.

Day 4: Sheldon Lake State Park

By Mary Beth Stowe • May 27, 2025

It was indeed raining the next morning (and really blowing the night before), so I actually got to have the "real" breakfast before settling down to work on file processing! The initial forecast was heavy rain up till 11:00, but after an hour that drastically changed, and by 8:00 it had cleared up enough (with no heavy rain thereafter) to head on up to Garrett Road! Again, the beltway was a breeze, and after getting off on Garrett I quick-like got some ice (it melts in a hurry) and then headed down to the "boat ramp". It really wasn't a "boat ramp", but rather a huge parking area abutting a cypress swamp that rivaled anything in Florida — no wonder the Limpkins like it! I parked at the far end and set up shop (already several fishermen were at the other end, close to the road), and was wondering what all these red splotches on the cypress trunks were when it dawned on me (upon closer inspection) that they were the Apple Snail eggs! Again, no wonder the Limpkins like this place! And I didn't have to wait long, either: shortly one came sailing in, yelling as he did so, and landed right on the edge of the parking area! Another one came in shortly thereafter and chased the first one, and he was practically at my feet! Kay had confirmed where the babies had been, but when I went over to check, I couldn't find any — I suspect they're fledged by now. Besides the Limpkins (which really performed well, both on top of trees and close by) I was able to film a female Red-winged Blackbirds on the nest (and later poking around the ground with a missing foot), plus a pair of Great-tailed Grackles strutting around the joint. The first Neotropic Cormorant of the trip flew overhead, and somewhere what I suspected was a Great Blue Heron nest was hidden, as I could hear babies squawking. [Update: They may have actually been Cattle Egrets, as while in the process of creating video grabs, I caught a couple sailing by in the background of one of the Limpkin videos...] A Green and calico Little Blue Heron also came wheeling in, but closer to the road, and I didn't want to get too far away from the car. A ranger made the rounds with a bucket, picking up trash, and we got to talking about the Limpkins, which were "all over the place" now, according to him, and reported that birders all the way from Austin came in to see them (and a lot further than that, I'm sure, when they were first reported)! Purple Gallinules called but wouldn't come out, of course, and after about an hour a guy pulled up and got on his phone, so I figured it was time to move on. After I packed up I jokingly said to him, "Your turn!" which got a chuckle, and it did indeed look like he was preparing to fish right where I was!

Day 3: More Brazos Bend

By Mary Beth Stowe • May 20, 2025

The Lord was merciful the next morning and it wasn’t raining! Got packed up, swiped a couple of sausages from the breakfast, and headed out to the park. Got in earlier than yesterday, and right away a Painted Bunting was singing right next to the car! Unfortunately it was still too dark to take video, but you could just barely make out his colors! The first missed trail I wanted to cover was the Pilant Slough Trail (kept wanting to call it Pliant Slough), but wanted to crawl along that cypress swamp just in case another Limpkin showed up! Well, if someone didn’t mind counting a heard-only bird, there were plenty of them wailing away, only way back there! In fact, I could even see a private home back there, and five’ll get you ten that that was the place the owner was letting people in to see the birds when they first started showing up! While I was making audio recordings a couple of feral pigs snorted and ran away on the other side of the road, so that got me back to the car in a hurry! Shortly came across a “murder of crows” that was giving something fits, so I pulled over to see if I could spot what they were mobbing, and it was a Bobcat up in a tree! He stayed put for video, too! I thought that was pretty neat!

Two trees are standing in the middle of a grassy field.

Day 2: Brazos Bend State Park

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 28, 2024

Got ready to go the next morning a little earlier than planned, so went ahead and headed over to the park, thankful that the gate was open just like the guy said! I went straight to 40 Acre Lake and took the Powershot down to the pier, but didn’t stay long as I realized I really needed to be using The Monster (i.e. Sony with the Big Lens) in this situation (it was still kinda dusky, even after sunrise, and it handles low-light situations much better than the Powershot). I ended up spending over an hour there as it was quite active: tons of Little Blue Herons (including many transitioning birds, called “calicos”), Common Gallinules, a young Great Blue, and even a pair of Purple Gallinules taking a bath (but on the other side of the lake)! Some Anhingas were swimming with just their head and necks above the surface (hence the name “snake-bird”), so that was fun to shoot! A Pied-billed Grebe was new for the trip (as was a Tricolored Heron that kept hiding). Got some artsy shots of Great Egrets and spoonbills across the lake, and another Anhinga had landed on the railing to dry his wings, and he was pretty dilapidated! I didn’t wanna bother him (it was obvious he was agitated when I started getting closer), but a Plegadis ibis wheeled in that had a gray face and dark eye, and I would think that this time of year any Whiteface would have a red eye! Unfortunately so long as I didn’t have Internet access I couldn’t upload a picture to eBird, so documentation would have to wait until I got to the Holiday Inn (if I could get on their Wi-Fi…). [Update: I could, so I submitted the photos – more on that story later…] White Ibis were out the yin yang, and what I thought were a mom and kid Boat-tailed Grackle came by (as the male was singing somewhere), but they turned out to be Great-tails after I reviewed the video. A Mississippi Kite circled over the trees, but the best video op was a roaring Alligator! That was great! The Four-spotted Pennants (a type of dragonfly) on the way out were anti-climactic! Totally forgot to film the Barn Swallow nest on the way out, though… ☹ I did hear some chickadees on the way out, so I wheeled back in and tried to get some video out the car window!

A tree in a park with spanish moss hanging from it

Day 1: The Drive Up & Brazos Bend Scouting

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 21, 2024

As usual, woke up early so got going early after the morning routine; added Golden-fronted Woodpecker to the list while packing the car (among other things we’ll probably pick up later). Another “write-in” bird heading north on US 77 was a Harris’ Hawk! We stopped at the Sarita rest stop, picking up a Hooded Oriole for the trip, but boy, did it look nasty up ahead!! I wish I had been able to take a picture on the fly, because you talk about storm-chasing: once under it, it was black as night, with some terrific lightning displays! But then the rain started, and by Riviera it was zero visibility, so I just pulled into a Pizza Hut (or some such joint) parking lot to wait it out for a while. A Flood Warning came over the phone, and looking at the radar, we were right in the middle of a big red blob (I kept trying to capture a picture of the thing and was turning the phone off by mistake, so by the time I did get a picture the Red Blob had moved north a bit so the effect wasn’t the same)! Continued on after a few minutes, and while it let up, it didn’t really stop until the next stop at Refugio. We got a breakfast croissant at Burger King, then continued north. Filled up at El Campo (ended up going around the Very Long Block for that one), where a homeless guy opened the door for me! Headed on to Brazos Bend, where there was no hint of the threatened rain! Jumped out at the entrance to shoot the requisite sign, and had a Carolina Wren actually in view for a second while waiting to check in! I had some questions, so the ranger had me park and walk in where he gave me a map and showed me where the Limpkins usually show up; unfortunately it was as someone else had mentioned, and it was an almost three mile one-way hike along the Live Oak Trail to get to the habitat! He also suggested a couple of spots for Purple Gallinules, and said that the gate opens around 6:15, so that was perfect! Back at the car I remembered the other question I wanted to ask and went running back: do they have feeders? Nope – all natural here, she said!

A dirt road in the middle of a desert with mountains in the background

Day 6 - Kickapoo Cavern State Park

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 16, 2024

And what a final day! It was another cold but (thankfully) windless morning, and the drive to Brackettville in the dark was (again thankfully) uneventful. We made a potty stop there, picking up a singing Western Kingbird for the trip, and by that time it was getting light enough so that the last leg to Kickapoo Cavern on FM 674 was delightful – I’d love to be able to survey that road, as there was lots of good Edwards Plateau habitat and plenty of places to pull over. Did see a couple of ravens, but according to eBird both could occur, so I let them go. And am I thankful I downloaded the eBird checklist the night before, because there was no signal once I got to the park! (Although I had an initial shock when I ran the day list and only got four species – needed to change the date… 😊) After taking the obligatory entrance sign picture, we just crawled along, and were rewarded with a friendly Golden-cheeked Warbler, and later a Rufous-crowned Sparrow (he wasn’t friendly – just happened to be on my side of the road and was nice enough to stay put)! A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher on a wire sallied out and caught a big bug, and although the singing Canyon Wren wasn’t new for the trip, the singing Scott’s Oriole was! The normal songsters seemed to be just Cardinals, Bell’s Vireos, and Bewick’s Wrens.

A river runs through a lush green forest with mountains in the background.

Day 5 - South Llano River SP - The Trails

By Mary Beth Stowe • September 7, 2024

Headed out in the black, deciding to park at the walk-in camping lot to see in the dawn. And what a morning! It was freezing cold (around 37 degrees; Heppy – my Subaru – even warned me that the roads could be icy), but not a speck of wind, and the night sky was glorious! (There was a sign in the campground saying this was a Dark Sky Park or something like that…) Got to see a couple of meteors, and even a satellite (or the Space Station)! 😊 Once again, the Cardinals had to voice their dominance as the first birds up (even before it was lightening in the east), but nothing in the way of night birds vocalized. I did hear this weird barking that I suspected was one of the Axis Deer, so I thought I’d have some fun and see what Merlin said! Interestingly, he thought it was an Inca Dove (no way), but he also said he picked up a Poorwill! I did briefly hear something that sounded like one poor-will phrase, but since it didn’t keep going (as they usually do), I didn’t count it. Walked around the lot trying to keep warm, and in the twilight a Great Horned Owl glided low over my head (and it was light enough to see the details of his face without the bins 😊)! Also heard Turkeys gobbling in the distance, and as it got lighter a singing Yellow-breasted Chat (that Merlin didn’t recognize, interestingly) was new for the trip, and that weird whistling that I heard yesterday that sounded like a funky Black-capped Chickadee and wrote it off as an oddball Field Sparrow or something suddenly clicked: it was the reported White-throated Sparrow! He gave great recording ops but never came out for a view, either there or in the blind.