We moved to Rodeo, NM today. We’re staying at Rusty’s RV Ranch.
After supper we went out for a walk and noticed a lot of smoke coming from the other side of the mountain. There is a large wildfire on the other side of the ridge. After the sun went down the wind shifted and there didn’t seem to be as much smoke coming our way.
May 7 - We got up early (5:30 NM time, 4:30 AZ time) and drove to Portal, AZ. It was quite cool (50°). We parked at the post office and walked down Portal Road. There was one house where we were invited to come into their yard and sit. We saw Gambel’s Quail, Blue-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds, and a bunch of Western Tanagers.
We drove on up to South Cave Creek and walked about a mile up the trail. We had a Painted Redstart that followed us for a while. He kept getting right in front of us!
We also saw Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Hermit Thrush, Black-throated Gray, Orange-crowned, Lucy’s, Yellow-rumped, Townsend’s, and Wilson’s Warbler.
While we were looking at an Elegant Trogon, a Law Enforcement officer came up the trail to tell us there was a wildfire on the ridge and we needed to go ahead and head back to our car. This was the same fire we were seeing last night.
We drove on down to the Southwest Research Station. They have built a new gift shop that is very nice. We bought a couple of t-shirts and talked to the women running the store. She said the fire came very close to her house last night.
May 8 - We drove up Paradise Road this morning. There is a wonderful home owned by Jackie Walker (called the Walker House). She has her yard open to birders. We sat there for over an hour and saw Lazuli Buntings, Juniper Titmouse, etc. She has a very nice boxer named Tundra!
We went up to Rustler Park (over 8,000 feet up). There was snow on the ground in some places.
We stopped at Dave’s place on Foothills Road. In the log/guest book several people had mentioned a large rattlesnake. We found him!
Photos: Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Mark with a snowball, Painted Redstart, our RV, Sunset, Sunrise.
No comments:
Post a Comment