We finally found the Sandhill Cranes we've been hearing in the San Simon Cienega! I'd guess there are about 100 of them there. Very timid. Also some Mallards (Possibly Mexican Ducks) but we were too far away to get a good look at them. The cranes flew up and circled the pond until we left the area. They flew higher and higher, honking an announcement of our intrusion into their sanctuary. This pond had been significantly larger after the floods in September, so now that we know where it is, we'll be able to visit regularly and note how long the water is retained. If we get some winter rains, it should be a good spot through the spring for water fowl and other wildlife.
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Yesterday we drove over to the San Simon Cienega which used to be a New Mexico State Conservation area, but since the water table in that valley is being pumped for agriculture the area is dying. Huge Cottonwood trees are crumpled to the ground, their roots no longer reaching the water level. A couple of these magnificent trees are clinging to life and after the heavy rains in September, actually look pretty good. There are also huge Desert Willows that are surviving. The biggest Desert Willows I've ever seen!
There are always birds when we go there. Red Tailed Hawks, Meadowlarks, Sparrows, Red Shafted Flickers and even Cardinals. Last summer there was a family of Great Horned Owls with 3 fledglings! It's a pleasant location that is easy to reach with our little Tacoma. Don't even need 4 Wheel Drive. We kept hearing Sand Hill Cranes honking, but never did see any flying over or feeding in the tall grass, so I guess their sound was carrying from the corn fields south and west of the Cienega. Besides birds, there were still a lot of Grasshoppers, Butterflies and a few Lizards running around. It's been a while since I've done an update, so here we go........ First of all, Autumn is here and the days are perfect for hiking and enjoying the outdoors. The evenings are cool and it's a bit chilly in the mornings. We even had a thin coating of ice on the bird bath yesterday morning. Today was beautiful and we watched a gorgeous sunset over Silver Peak. Our view of sunsets is pretty well blocked by trees at our house, but we got a pretty good shot by just walking out in the back of our property to the north. Today I hosted "Sewing", a group that meets every Friday at someone's home and mainly catches up on each others' doings. Many folks are just arriving back from their summer homes in Northern states and Canada, so it's a good chance to find out what's been happening while they were away. Some people do actually sew. I sewed a button on a pair of pants! :) Some knit, crochet, cross stitch, or embroider. Today a group made Turkey decorations for folks at a nursing home in Douglas for Thanksgiving. We had a good turnout of 10 ladies. All were interested in seeing "Penny's" house with our new touches and were pleased with our new flooring. We served simple drinks and dessert. It was a fun afternoon and I thoroughly enjoy the diversity of my neighbors. By now, most everyone has heard about the flood through Cave Creek Canyon and Portal from Hurricane Odile. I was working on a couple of posts about how beautiful it is in the Chiricahuas in September, when the flood came and we got distracted, so I'll be posting a few entries at one time this week. Happily no one was injured or killed in the flood. A few homes had some water damage, but all in all everyone came out okay. Our house and the cabin both came through with no water reaching the structures. The canyon itself suffered the most damage and will be closed by the Forest Service for an undetermined time to assess and repair the damage. The road through Cave Creek Canyon was washed away in several places and undermined in others, so it will take a while to get it fixed. South Fork Road was damaged some going to the bridge. The bridge had no damage and the cabins had no damage, but beyond the cabins to the picnic area, the creek took over the road and washed it out completely. No dirt left, just boulders and trees. It will be a costly repair to get that road back in shape. The good news is that Mother Nature has a way of coming back from disasters in her own time in her own way. The Chiricahuas have rebounded after the fires in 2011 and will rebound again after this. I have no doubt. Just before Odile paid us a visit we walked a bit of the Nature Trail that was still able to be found after the flash floods of earlier in the Monsoon. Butterflies and caterpillars were busy doing their things, eater or mating or defending territory. Such a life. Even after Odile, the caterpillars and butterflies were abundant.
September in the Chiricahuas is beautiful! We drove through Cave Creek Canyon and up the mountain to Rustler Park which just opened up for camping last week. It has been closed since the Horseshoe fires in 2011. Clouds hung low over the mountain tops and as we approached Rustler, it was an eerie scene. The fog made it dark for mid-morning, and the outside temperature was a cool 54 degrees. We decided to walk the forest road to Long's Park. Just 2 miles, but we had never done that trail, so it was new territory. The 4-wheel drive road is not very steep and follows the contours of the mountain, so it was a pleasant hike. We saw lots of wildflowers. Some I'd never seen before and I still haven't identified. We saw ravens, 3 red-tailed hawks, what I believe was a zone tailed hawk (definitely not a vulture) and one other hawk that may have been a short-tailed, but I can't say for sure. It was soaring over Long Park Road and looked kind of like a Swainson's. Also one that appeared to be a falcon, but we didn't get a good look. All these raptors were in the same drainage along Long Park road riding updrafts. Possibly a migration route over the mountain to get to the Sulphur Springs Valley. In addition to those, we identified mexican chickadees, pygmy & white breasted nuthatches, bridled titmouse, yellow-eyed juncos, townsends warbler, stellers jays, hairy woodpeckers, american robins, a hermit thrush, ruby crowned kinglet and acorn woodpeckers and some unidentified LBBs.
We forgot to take down the bird seed feeder when we left Portal last week and the Black Bear took full advantage of our error. He/she knocked down the feeder and proceeded to have a feast of sunflower seeds. Halfway through the pile, she/he stopped to get a drink and then mosied out of camera range to take a humongous dump before returning to finish the seeds. In addition to the seed feeder, the Bear destroyed one of the apple trees eating all the little green apples and leaving broken branches in his/her wake.
It's been a lovely week in Portal. Cool days and pleasant nights. The monsoon appears to have ended and we cut all the 2 foot high grass in the yard. What a chore! The primary sound in the neighborhood this week was weed eaters and lawn mowers. The seasonal home-owners return in September to mow their grass! We're seeing lots of young Black-headed Grosbeaks, Cardinals, Nuthatches, Mexican Jays, Blue Throat Hummingbirds, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Rufous & Mags, Acorn Woodpeckers, Butterflies and assorted insects, but, the birders have flown the coop and it's very quiet and peaceful. Our yard camera has captured the Striped Skunk on a regular basis. There are three Coues White Tail Bucks that frequent the water feature and the Bear has been back on & off. Nectar feeding Bats are back emptying the Hummingbird feeders at night. They are fascinating to watch. We are pleased with the tile job we had done in the house. It really feels like home now. The dogs are still a bit confused about where "home" is. Matty seems to prefer Tucson. Brown likes it here where he can chase squirrels. Bud & I prefer it here, so Matty is outvoted. Last weekend we had these visitors back in the yard in Portal. The Bear once again bent the hummingbird feeder pole down to the ground and sucked what little sugar water there was in the feeders. Besides that handsome fellow there are three Coues Whitetail Deer that visit the water feature daily. Nice velveted antlers on the bucks. It has been raining a lot in Cave Creek Canyon & Portal and our grass was nearly 2 feet tall! Got that mowed down, this visit. The tile guys finished the job and the whole hose is tiled. No more carpet for us! We'll be moving the rest of our furniture in this weekend. This is the master bedroom. The wall unit covers the entire wall on the west side of the room. I'll soon have it full of Bird Books and other nature & reference books. The room adjacent to this one has a sliding glass door to the back yard so we can sit and watch the birds from inside. We need to get a ceiling fan/light put up in this room. It already has a sky light. |
AuthorBud & I bought our dream house in Portal in December 2013 and find ourselves in a heaven on earth in this beautiful friendly community. Archives
August 2018
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