Entering Arizona

Bill Cavaliere retired from law enforcement several years ago and bought an Arizona ranch near the New Mexico border.  Bill was also a birder and opened up his ranch to other birders.  Since the ranch contained additional rooms and buildings he and his wife began to offer lodging to birders.  Bill was the ideal host.  He came out to greet us on our arrival and took us on a tour of the ranch with information on what birds were coming in to his feeders and tips on birding the area including the birding town of Portal and the popular Cave Creek Canyon.

 

Entrance to ranch

 

 

The town's Walmart

 

We walked through the small town of Portal which consists of the residents, a store, post office, and library.  Many of the residents have bird feeders and are use to people walking around with binoculars.  A few even have signs inviting birders into their yards.  Acorn woodpeckers,  Arizona Woodpeckers, and Mexican Jays are everywhere. The canyon itself was pretty quiet.

This is what your 49 cent postage stamp pays for.

View from the floor of  Cave Creek Canyon

Another view of the canyon walls

The next morning we birded the area with nothing new showing up and headed back down Hwy 80,  Interestingly enough, Bill, the former law enforcement officer, warned us that this portion of the highway was a speed trap.  Sure enough,  at two strategic places, the speed limit dropped, and law enforcement was ready to trap the unwary.  Needless to say we were alert to speed changes.  This is a rather remote area with low traffic volume so apparently they feel they have to tilt the game in their favor.  South of the small town of Rodeo, one comes to a sign for Apache.  It is hard to tell if it has any residents.  Nearby, on this lonely stretch, is a monument commemorating the place where the Apache Chief Geronimo surrendered.  His surrender resulted in the cessation of all Indian hostilities from that point on.

When we left the ranch,  Bill's wife, Jill, had baked us some pumpkin muffins and told us we ought to visit Bisbee on the way out.  Bisbee is built into the hillside near a huge open pit mine simply called "The Pit".  The town looks to be a popular place during the summer season.  A must place to see is the 40's and 50's era street block complete with vintage cars. 

 

 

We decided to spend the night in Patagonia at the Stage Stop Inn.  Nearby is the famous "Paton's Feeders" where we sat with other birders (including a tour group)  in the backyard and watched the hummers and other birds while they entertained us.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

 

Anna's Hummingbird