Blue Goose ~ Day 310

April 3, 2015 ~ Tucson, AZ

Sororan Desert - AZ

It was a Tucson Day with a Starbuck's stop on the way to the Arizona-Desert Sonora Museum west of the city. On the way, we noticed many birds in the desert but I assured DHC all these would also be at the Museum which is 85% outdoors.

Sonoran Desert west of Tucson - AZ

One minute from the main entrance, a Cactus Wren flew right by our faces and snuggled into her nest in a saguaro four feet away, nearly at eye level. And then we watched Hooded Orioles (lifer for DHC???) flying in grand swooping circles around the grounds, perching for ten seconds now and then but mostly allowing only tantalizing glimpses of orange and black against the blue sky and in between the lime-green new leaves and yellow blooms on huge acacias. Or they would dive into palm trees and disappear.

Sonoran Desert - AZ (these barrel cacti always lean to the south)

After that glorious beginning, we wandered through the hummingbird aviary, with its constant low buzzing / humming as the captive birds seemed to be desperate for freedom, flying round and round their relatively small enclosure. Neither of us were comfortable watching them though we did see a couple on nests which was entrancing. The museum has tortoises, javelina, a newborn bighorn sheep, coatis and raptor shows...although desert flora is show-cased with its prickly hot beauty utterly foreign to us midwesterners. Still, we both got museum malaise after two hours and headed for the gift shop. I cannot resist books and bought three; DHC bought a lovely basket made by Native Americans.  I did resist another pair of earring though....

We both agreed we could have / should have birded the pull-offs we passed on the way.

Our next stop was the western unit of the Sonoran National Park:

WWW.NPW.GOV

Its two districts are separated by the city's 1 million residents. The Tucson Mountain District (TMD) on the west, and the Rincon Mountain District (RMD) to the east, are approximately 30 miles (45-60 minutes) apart. While similar in terms of plants and animals, the intricate details make both areas praiseworthy. The TMD (west) boasts large stands of saguaro cactus creating a breathtaking saguaro forest, whereas the RMD (east) hosts a magnificent sky island, where you can find bears, cougars and the ever elusive coati (aka kudamundi).

We liked this venue; it was free with my Golden Age Pass and there were far fewer visitors.

Hummingbird on nest at Desert Museum Aviary - AZ

We hung out at the VC which stands alone in the desert. Behind and below is a currently dry wash with hills rising from that. We could stand on the outdoor second-level areas and watch birds below, or see Gila Woodpeckers on the saguaros. 

I spotted a small gnatcatcher, and DHC and I spent the 30 minutes watching it, sitting on the ground down below in shade, always aware of the snake factor, though it was probably not warm enough yet. Rattlesnake Warning signs were out though, reminding us in case we forgot....

The gnatcatchers turned out to be a pair of Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, another life bird for each of us. Again, Deborah concentrated on the song. They had a nest and both would fly off and return, fly off and return about every five minutes. We could almost see the nest in a modest little bush. Most birds are continually wary, looking around in all directions when perched and seldom flying directly to a nest. The gnatcatchers would return to the bush separately, often on the opposite side, and move closer in short flying bursts and then pop out of sight, but just barely, so we could pinpoint exactly where the nest was. The deal is, there is also a Black-capped Gnatcatcher, even more uncommon here but a possibility nonetheless, and an important field mark requires one see the underside of the tail, frustrating in a hyperactive bird. But we persisted, and before we left, DHC went back into the VC and asked their opinion. The resident biologist was not there, but the guy she talked with told her that we were seeing the Black-tailed Gs.

It was another memorable vignette, sitting among the cacti, in the shade, with only a few visitors coming and going, watching a pair of tiny, bright, cleanly marked black and white birds with long tails seriously going about their spring nesting duties.

While Tucson has many birding venues (urban parks, Sweetwater Wetlands and dry water courses like the Santa Cruz River or Tanque Verde), we decided to drive up Mt. Lemmon....which was probably the only thing we would do differently had we known. Locals (and visitors) bird all up and down the mountain as the habitat changes with the elevation. We didn't do that, however, and just concentrated on getting up and then down the 22-mile drive. There is a touristy town (Summerhaven) near the top. We could have gone a few miles even higher to a ski area but didn't realize this until we were halfway down. Deborah wasn't particularly delighted by the mountain road with switchbacks and occasional precipitous drop-offs, but it was a picnic for me compared to the road between Durango and Ouray, Colorado. Here, there were always guard rails or small retaining walls. She did tricks to keep her mind and stomach intact and we made it.

On Mt. Lemmon, with Tucson in the distance....

We did get out at a few turnoffs, but to bird this area would require hours with short (or long) hikes into the canyons. The temperature dropped 30 degrees, and this surely is a respite from the summer temperatures. It's only about 15 miles from downtown Tucson.

WWW.GO-ARIZONA.COM

It is one of the most scenic drives in southeast Arizona. It provides access to a fascinating land of great vistas, outlandish rockscapes, cool mountain forests and deep canyons spilling out onto broad deserts. Because the road starts in the Lower Sonoran vegetative life zone and climbs to the high forests of the Canadian zone, it offers the biological equivalent of driving from the deserts of Mexico to the forests of Canada in a short stretch of 27 miles. Here you'll find plants and animals and geology that exhibit some of the most wide-ranging natural diversity to be found in any area of comparable size in the continental United States.

We did this in a couple of hours, but there was too much to properly experience and appreciate in so short a time. Still, it will be a memory....

As it was late afternoon, we found one more Olive Garden before checking into another $50 room, this time in a Sheraton. I've learned some of the nuances of using Priceline. More often than not, one does NOT get all that good a deal, in my experience. But, time of week, location, number of rooms / motels available, time of year, etc....taking all that into consideration, one can get lucky.

DHC in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson