Huachuac City, AZ

After reviewing my last blog, I realized that if you are not into birds, it was probably very boring.  But I knew that I was moving into more scenic territory so hopefully I will have more than just birds in my blog.  Warning, there will still be some bird pictures!!  I am getting more interested in these flying creatures and the area that I am in is known for their birds!

From Texas, I had planned on heading to Utah, but since it is still fairly cold in Utah I decided to spend a couple of weeks in Arizona.  I drove 6 – 8 hours every day for  3 days straight to get to my first stop in Arizona.

But first, I have to post another bird picture.  After leaving Mission, I overnighted in Boerne, Texas.  While there I was sitting in my RV and noticed some people looking up in a tree.  I saw a bird that I did not know.  He had a pink or salmon belly and I thought he was interesting so I took a couple of pictures through my dirty back window of the RV, thinking I would identify him later.  About 30 minutes later, I walked outside and noticed the bird (and his partner) were on a wire not far from my RV.  I think I spooked them and they flew off – what a sight.  Their tail was very long and split – like an open pair of scissors.  I quickly identified it as a Scissor Tailed Flycatcher.

It’s not a great picture and I didn’t even notice the long tail when I took the picture.  I found out that this bird is on the Oklahoma quarter.

From Boerne, I headed to Van Horn, Tx for another overnight.  Then on to Huachuca, Arizona for a couple of nights.  Here I visited Ramsey Canyon for a bit of easy hiking and some bird watching. 

I took their nature walk, where we learned a lot about the plants, rocks, birds… as we headed up into the canyon.  Below is a Mexican Jay that I saw just before the walk started. 

 

The leaders pointed out the Monkeyflower was just starting to bloom.

On the way up the canyon we heard several Painted Redstarts.  I finally got a picture of one--

They are also in the area that I am now in.  I hope to get a better picture.

I also went to the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.  The first thing I saw was a bunch of Lesser Goldfinch.

I headed to the river and this is what I found --

It’s not very big, but considering this is the desert it supports all kinds of life that is not typical to the desert area.  

I saw this bird and was curious what he/she was.  I found out that she is the mate of another bird that I have posted before but I like him so much, I’ll post a picture I took at San Pedro.

The red one is the male Vermillion Flycatcher, while the one above it is the female.

A couple more bird pictures, a White Crowned Sparrow --

A Yellow-Rumped Warbler Audubon’s Population --

There is so much to learn about birds.  The yellow throat of the bird above makes him a sub-species of the Yellow-Rumped Warbler. 

From Huachuac City, I headed to Patagonia, Arizona.  I had some RV problems on my drive there (less than 40 miles), but you will have to wait until I write about that in my next blog.