Sandhill Cranes - White Water Draw - AZ

White Water Draw is a Wildlife Area managed by the Arizona Department of Game and Fish. It is a wintering roost area for lots of Sandhill Crane and other waterfowl and shorebirds. We visited the area on Monday December 17th. You can see their website about the area by clicking here.

Though there were various other birds there our main focus was on the numerous Sandhill Crane. For some unknown reason they were really moving around. Typically they are calmer during the day saving their energy. This is a major night time roost for them.

Here is a picture of some of the Crane just resting in an open field. To see a video of many Crane coming in and landing among this group CLICK HERE Turn your sound up and you will hear their call.

We will get back to White Water Draw in the next week and report back on other bird species. It is a fascinating place.

Hiking at Lost Dutchman

There are some good hiking trails at Lost Dutchman State Park. We hiked the Siphon Draw trail on a Saturday and it was really heavily used. We are not speed merchants along the trails as the dog like to smell everything. It is a good excuse to go slow. Additionally some sections of the trail at least the upper reaches of this trial are not well maintained and rather rocky and potentially slippery. The Siphon Draw trail leads eventually to Flatiron the top point in this area. Many people were headed there and many were on their way back. The scenery is beautiful regardless of how far you go. We climbed about 1250 feet to get up and into Siphon Draw.

This image is looking up and into Siphon Draw. You can see some of the hikers in the image. The trail is mostly rock at this point. As mentioned earlier it can be difficult hiking especially for us older folks. Along the trail we saw a young boy scout fall and an older gentleman trip over a rock. Neither was injured other than their pride but it is good to take it easy.

This picture shows the view looking back down where we came from. The view is down into and across Apache Junction. The sun had not gotten down into the canyon where we were and the temperature was pleasantly cool. There is no water available along any of the hikes so we need to take ample water for both us and the boys.

Here we are starting out on another trail, the Treasure Loop Trail. It has much more highly maintained trails. We climbed about 610 feet in elevation and also added a couple of other trails to make a nice 4 plus mile loop. Even thought we climbed a bit the trail condition was such that it was a much easier climb than the Siphon Draw trail. The big downside to Siphone Draw was coming back down, due to the rocks and gravel in the trail, here we had no such problem.

Again the scenery is beautiful. This is a panoramic shot near the top of the Treasure Loop Trail.

This image is of a rock formation called the Praying Hands and that name aptly describes the rock.

The hikes we went on were quite enjoyable and great exercise for both us and the boys.

Remember if your dog is overweight you are not getting enough exercise.

Gilbert Water Ranch

At the right is a map of the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch located in Gilbert Arizona. It is wonderful location that reclaims recycled water using setteling ponds and is a fabulous place for looking at birds and having a pleasant walk around. The Water Ranch is a magnet for rare and different bird species and has been the location to find some some very unusual birds for Arizona.Click Here for a good link to information about Birds that might be found there. There is a lot of information on this facility on the Internet if you just Google Gilbert Water Ranch.

As you walk the trails though the preserve you will pass through many open gates. They are named and decorated for different bird species. Most of the trails are gravel and the walking is comfortable and easy. As you look at this picture you will see some of the thick vegetation that can be seen as you walk the paths. Some of it is really dense.

Most of the settling ponds are shallow. When we were there at the end of November many were partially drained creating a lot of habitat for shorebirds. This image is of two Long-billed Dowitcher. You can Click Here to view a video of some of these shorebirds feeding and loafing.

This is a look across Pond 1. As mentioned above the ponds are shallow. One of the write ups indicated that the deepest point in any of the ponds is 15 feet. They do allow fishing in one of the ponds but swimming and drinking the water is prohibited for obvious reasons.

Here is an image of another wading bird, a Snowy Egret. If you look at the feet you see they are a yellowish color. Sometimes birders will call these Golden Slippers and they can be used as a field mark to identify this species and separate them from Cattle Egret and Great Egret. On several of the ponds there were several Great Egret walking about and feeding.

There is lots of bird activity here at the Water Ranch and we enjoyed our walk around. They do allow dogs to walk the paths. We will be back a couple of times in Late February as we head back north. It will be interesting to see the difference the season makes.

Lost Dutchman State Park

We are presently staying at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction Arizona. The park is right at the western base of the Superstition Mountains. There is a great deal written about them and the seemingly mythical Lost Dutchman Gold Mine that lies unfounded in these mountains. It is a hauntingly beautiful place. The above image was taken from the front steps of the trailer.

Life is hard in this desert environment. Not sure if this Cactus Wren has grown tired of standing on the cactus thorns or was just caught doing the two step. Fun picture nonetheless.

As I mentioned just above, life can be very difficult in this desert and to survive you must go to extremes. I called this plant the Water Seeker. The plant is, I believe, a Jojoba and it is unclear whether it sent this root down through the soil seeking moisture and the soil then got eroded away after the root system had been established or if it sent it along the ground or minimally subsurface to gt to water. Fascinating show of determination nonetheless.

Early this morning there were 5 Harris Hawks flying around the campground. In some earlier travels in South Texas we had seen them hunting together where one of the Hawks would go into a tree and flush a bird and the others would wait outside and grab the bird as it unsuspectingly flew out. They seem to travel and hunt quite a bit in groups.

This butterfly is an American Snout. It seems aptly named if you look at it's nose that can be seen in this picture. We saw about 8 of them flitting around on one bush as we hiked along one of the trails earlier this morning.

Lost Dutchman State Park has a rather decent trail system. The trails are well maintained and the dogs are allowed to hike along with us. we just take lots of water and treats along for them.

Having a great time, wish you were here.

Saguaro Cactus

If you have been to the Southwest you have undoubtedly seen the Saguaro Cactus. They are fairly widespread in distribution in the Sonoran Desert and aggressively protected within the State of Arizona.

They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes with the typical specimen having a main trunk with some number of arms or limbs that most often point upwards. The arms are optional and some Saguaro will not have appendages. They are slow growing and can live to be 150-200 years.

Here at Cave Creek Regional Park north of Phoenix there is a Saguaro that has been dubbed the Michelin Man. It is a strangely formed Saguaro and seems aptly named with all the arms and folds. It is not far off the Slate Trail, one of the many multi-use trails that are here in the park, and easily seen once you know where to look.

Unfortunately the Nature center here did not have any information regarding this interesting specimen.

Certainly a fascinating variation in nature's handiwork.

The Nighttime Bird Seed Eaters

So we have been putting up a bird seed feeder and hummingbird feeder at the campsite. We had been doing it for several days and just leaving it up over night. A couple of nights ago there was quite a ruckus outside and the two dogs started barking and carrying on. It was a little annoying because it was only 3:15 AM.

We looked out side and shined a flashlight around and there were 5 Javalina that wanted the bird seed. They knocked the pole over and dumped the seed out. They then began arguing amongst themselves as to whom should get what. I went outside with a flashlight and retrieved the bird feeders and stuck them in the back of the pickup. It seems that the Javalina cannot jump into the truck or at least have not learned how to yet.

They didn't back away very much and I certainly didn't want any confrontation. Amazingly the feeders were intact with no damage.

That settled things down for the night and since then we take the feeders down at sunset and put them back out in the morning. We have not had any further problems.

The above image was taken during the daylight as I did not want to stand around in the pitch black with several upset Javalina and ask them to pose for their picture.

There is much to learn about feeding birds in Arizona. Sometimes you feed different critters than you wanted to at different times then you intended to.

The Hog Trough Smokehouse

Since you are probably getting ready for Thanksgiving Dinner and all the appetizers that go along with the day we thought we would pass along a restaurant recommendation in case you might want a late snack. "The Hog Trough Smokehouse" in Wickenburg, AZ. With a name like that the food better be good. It was. We stopped by there on our way to Cave Creek and had lunch. The pulled pork was fabulous as were the other smoked meats we tried. The accompanying cole slaw was excellent as well. They also have a great desert consisting of a Triple Chocolate Brownie covered with Ice Cream. We did indulge ourselves.

We hope you don't or didn't over indulge at the table over Thanksgiving but when in Wickenburg stop by the Hog Trough Smokehouse, it is a great place to eat.