I arrived at Hereford House in the SPRCA and the wind was
blowing very strongly. Nonetheless, I decided to head out onto the trails and
see what I could pick up before whatever it was got blown to the next state. In
the grassy fields adjacent to the riparian area I picked up dozens of sparrows,
mostly Brewer’s, White-crowned, Vesper, and Chipping. An occasional Le Conte’s
Sparrow was also seen. Along a small hedgerow were an Ash-throated Flycatcher,
a pair of Vermillion Flycatchers, and a Northern Mockingbird. Closer to the
riparian zone I picked up Abert’s Towhee, Canyon Towhee, several Green-tailed
Towhees, and a Ladder-backed Woodpecker. The remainder of the birds seen in
this area were standard fair, so I moved on.
My next stop was at San Pedro House, also along the SPRCA.
Here it was extremely windy, and next to impossible to see anything flitting
amongst the trees. Around the nature house were common feeder birds, which had
trouble landing as the feeder swung violently in the wind. I proceeded down the
main trail hoping to take shelter among the trees where I had hoped birds would
be a bit easier to see; sadly that was not the case. To make matters worse,
there was a caterpillar outbreak, similar to the tent caterpillars we get in
the north. It quite literally was raining caterpillars as they were blow from
their nests high up in the cottonwoods. Once on the ground, the wind blew them
along the trail, making any effort of them crawling appear painfully futile.
There were no real bird highlights along the entire walk, other than a Cassin's
Kingbird; the area looked like it had great potential were it not for the wind.
At this point I mentally switched off the birding motor and
decided it was a waste of effort. To pass the time, and to do something I’ve
always wanted to do but never have, I paid a visit to Tombstone, AZ. Tombstone,
just by its name, conjures up a picture in the mind of what the Old Wild West
must have been like. Tombstone was known for such people as the Earp’s (Wyatt,
Morgan, and Virgil), Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, and Big Nose Kate. Two relatively
contemporary movies have been made just on the town or on the people who lived
there (Wyatt Earp and Tombstone). True to most current-day historical sites, it
had lost its allure and turned into a hand-over-fist cash machine for tourists.
For a fee you could do just about anything: go on a stagecoach ride, dress up
in 1880s attire, or watch a gunfight. If modern-day Tombstone has embodied anything
from its past, it’s that those who came to live there and make a fortune sadly appear
to have not.
It was now mid-afternoon and the wind was still howling.
However, as desperate birders do, I did not fully give up on the day. On the
way back to Sierra Vista I stopped at the third birding location in the SPRCA:
Fairbank. I went for about a 1.5 hour walk, and in all that time I located only
seven species. The only highlight was two Gray Flycatchers. Disappointed, I
headed back to Sierra Vista, hoping that by tomorrow the winds will have
subsided. The species count for the day illustrates just how bad it was.
Total Species for the Day: 39
Total Species for the Trip: 139
Total Lifers for the Day: 0
Total Lifers for the Trip: 2
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