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.

Sharing the Hummingbird Feeder

We were surprised to see a Verdin at the Hummingbird feeder. We saw them at the feeder in Anza-Borrego and last year at Patagonia Lake State Park so maybe we shouldn't be surprised. They just seem to be such an odd bird to be at the hummingbird feeder.

We did not see the overly protective Anna's Male ever try to chase the Verdin off as he will other hummingbirds. He seemed to tolerate the Verdin quite well.

We have seen Gila Woodpeckers at a lot of different feeders. They have a rather long tongue though you cannot see it due to the design of this feeder. Note the foot from the woodpecker wrapped around the plastic flower. Quite a Balancing act. The male Anna's did not try to run the Gila Woodpecker off either.

There is a lot of activity at the feeders here at Cave Creek.

Anna's Hummingbird

When we have put up a hummingbird feeder here in the southwest we most often attract Costa's Hummingbirds and Anna's Hummingbirds. Invariably one of the Hummingbirds takes over the feeder and protects it as if it were their own. They often will run off every other hummer that tries to get the sugar water from the feeder. We have seen a male allow females to feed but not any other male of any species. Click Hereto view an interesting and short video of a male Anna's Hummingbird.

We are always surprised to see Western Bluebirds in the desert. It must be that they like to head south for the winter. Another snowbird.

We have decided to stop back by Anza-Borrego in March on our way back north. It will interesting to see what different birds might be here and if the December Rains come there may be some great wildflowers.

Anza-Borrego State Park

This is the Anza-Borrego State Park Headquarters located in Borrego Springs. The park is over 600,000 acres in size covering a vast expanse of desert. The summer temperatures can reach 120 degrees at times so the building is underground to provide some respite from the heat. During the summer the visitor center is only open on weekends.

This is a typical view around Anza-Borrego. Wonderful scenery and the vastness of the land are quite something to see. If the December Rains come then there will be wildflowers here. If there is not adequate moisture at the proper time then no wildflowers. Such is life in the desert.

So we did put out some bird seed to see what kinds of birds we could attract. When there is food available you will attract all types of wildlife. This black-tailed jack rabbit came in along with several of his friends. We also had antelope squirrels and kangaroo mice along with other critters.

This fellow sure has some big ears. I imagine he could hear quite well and would need that ability to survive in such a hospitable environment.

A visit to Borrego Spring must include some time to drive around and look at the myriad of life size and large than life size metal sculptures. There are a wide variety of critters of all shape and form. This Grasshopper and Scorpion had been added since we were here last year. Quite fascinating.

There is a lot of information on the web about the sculptures. You can also CLICK HERE to view a picassa album we put together of many of these sculptures.

There are some great birds around here though it is not the best time of year. Spring is much more productive for bird life and a wider variety of species can be found then. This Black-throated Sparrow is a rather small sparrow of the southwest and is seen fairly commonly in our travels about.

So when we put out the bird feeder mentioned above we also attracted a lot of birds. Not a huge variety of species but large numbers of some species. This is a White-winged Dove and they came into feed in large numbers. Also we had a lot of California Quail. At one point we had 34 Quail and 14 Dove along with other finches and sparrows all feeding at once. You can imagine that the seed bill could get out of hand. That many birds can go through some seed really fast.

There is a seven tenths of a mile paved walking trail that goes from the visitor center to the campground that you can see here in the distance. Dogs are only allowed in improved areas, concrete, asphalt, or dirt roads. They are not allowed out on the desert hiking trails. We walked this trail with the boys several times. Good exercise for both them and us.

Anza-Borrego is a great place to visit, lots to see and do here in the winter but a bit too hot for us in the summer.

Julian California and Other Sights

We spent some time rummaging about the country side. One of the stops was the little town of Julian California. It is a fascinating old town that was founded to support the gold mining in the area in 1869-1870. It is now a tourist mecca and produces some wonderful apple pies. One statistic that we came across claimed that there were more than 17,000 apple tree in the area. Here is a link to the Julian Town Web Site.

Here is an image of one of the apple pies that are made there. They have a wide variety of pies most have apples but certainly berry pies and other varieties are available. One place had an apple-mango pie but you can, or rather should, eat only so much fabulous pie and ice cream in one day.

We were told by a couple of the locals that the two best places for apple pie, and there are many places, are The Julian Pie company and Apple Alley. Since we wanted some lunch we chose Apple Alley. It is a small place not fancy by any means. I had the Caramel Apple Pecan shown in the picture above, served warmed with a large scoop of cinnamon ice cream. The pie was wonderful as was the ice cream.

One of our favorite stores in Julian is The Birdwatcher. It is rather large store that has everything for the person whom loves wild birds. They have a lot of feeders hanging in the trees out back and sometimes you can see lots of interesting birds there. They also have a wide ranging collection of anything and everything you would want pertaining to birds. This image shows some of their whimsical bird houses.

Since Julian is a big tourist attraction you will find anything and everything there that a tourist might want. We saw some way cool hats that were bird images and lots of other stuff that we didn't know we needed and by the way didn't buy. When you travel in an RV you quickly realize that you have a finite amount of space to put stuff. There is no extra basement, garage, or spare bedroom closet you can fill. It you buy something new then something you already have needs to go. It is a great lifestyle to keep one from acquiring things. It is however a lot of fun to look around in these places and see what you can find.

For those of you looking for a new business venture we have found just the ticket. Along Highway 78 between Julian and Ramona is this unique dairy. They have a web site and have sold a couple of camels and have many other items for sale. In all our travels about the countryside we have never seen another Camel Dairy. You can visit their website by clicking here. You can then order your camels and start your new business adventure.

The blog post wouldn't be the same without at least one bird. Here is a Male Anna's Hummingbird showing his colors. He was defending his territory that included several wild flower plants that were in bloom. He was in a battle with at least 4 other hummingbirds. The image was taken in Ramona when we stopped to run some errands.

We are having a lot of fun traveling about the countryside.

Lake Cahuilla County Park - La Quinta, CA

We spent a few days at Lake Cahuilla Park in Southern California. Our main reason for stopping there was to visit with George's sister. She lives in Hacienda Heights, one of the myriad of suburbs surrounding Los Angeles and she drove over for three nights to visit. She is a talented and gifted artist working in many different mediums. It is always fun to see her. This picture was taken on a hike around the lake which is a concrete resevoir.

When we first got to the campsite we noticed a couple of different hummingbirds zipping around looking at the red tail lights on the trailer and truck. We mixed a batch of hummingbird food up and put out the feeder. Almost immediately a Costa's Hummingbird and an Anna's Hummingbird came in to drink. Soon there after this fellow, an Anna's male set up to defend the feeder from all other hummingbirds and he would run everyone off that tried to get a drink. Male hummingbirds can be very territorial and he is protecting the food source from all other hummingbirds.

In our walk around the lake, it is about three and a half miles, we did not find many birds. There is a section along the east side that borders a golf course that has a great deal of vegetation, trees and shrubs and such and in past years the birds of various species had been plentiful there. Not so this year so when you cannot find any birds to photograph there is nothing wrong with butterflies. This is a Monarch butterfly. Really gorgeous.

This is a Vermilion Flycatcher and is commonly seen in the southwest. In full breeding plumage they are rather bright red and dark black. Quite striking and very distinctive. This bird has not developed his full breeding plumage yet as it is still early November. Early next spring I am sure he will be a gorgeous Vermilion.

Some of the other birds that we saw included a lot of Double-crested Cormorants, Western Grebes, Osprey, Mallards, American Widgeon, and surprisingly a Common Loon. The various range maps show that the Loon can be in the area but the bird surprised us. Unfortunately he stayed out of decent camera range.

This is a Great-tailed Grackle. They are a very common type of blackbird in the southwest. They seem to be very social and often travel in large flocks. Females of this species are rich brown in color and smaller than this male. Their large tail certainly differentiates them from the other blackbirds. Their vocalizations can be heard in a wide variety of calls, whistles, and chatter.

Lake Cahuilla is a great place to camp and relax and visit for a few days.

We visited with some friends in Walnut Creek, CA on our way south. They have a couple of bird feeders in their back yard and it is fun to see the different birds that we don't see at home but that are common in their yard. Here is what we think is a Nutall's Woodpecker. It is similar to a Downy Woodpecker but just a little larger with different markings on the head and different markings on the back. Neat bird.

This little fellow is called an Oak Titmouse. The Cornell All About Birds Guide has this to say about them - Nondescript save for its crest, the Oak Titmouse might not wow many bird watchers at first sight. But these vocal, active birds characterize the warm, dry oak woods from southern Oregon to Baja California—they’re “the voice and soul of the oaks,” according to one early naturalist. Mates pair for life, and both partners noisily defend their territory year-round.

This bird is called a Phainopepla and was a surprise to us. We had seen them all over the south west but did not realize that they came this far north. In doing some research we found that they have quite an extensive range in California going much further north than Walnut Creek.

In addition to these birds we also were awakened but a Western screech Owl on two late nights and had Northern Mockingbirds singing from the trees. There were lots of other birds in their yard as well. it is fun seeing the common birds in other yards as we travel about.