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Southeast Arizona

by Mike Stiles

In the far southeast corner of Arizona, the Chiricahua Mountains rise out of the desert floor to 10,000 feet elevation and then flow south into Mexico. This provides a natural corridor for mammals and birds and insects and reptiles to travel over the border to the United States. Jaguars and Coatimundis occur here, along with birds like Elegant Trogons, sparrow-sized Magnificent and Blue-throated Hummingbirds, Northern Beardless Tyranulets and many others, some found nowhere else in the United States. It is considered by some to be the premier birding destination in the country.

This is the country of the Chiricahua Apache, where Cochise and Geronimo eluded capture by the concerted effort of the United States army. It is a wild and beautiful place to this day. Cave Creek flows out of the high country, and has cut a large sycamore-lined canyon out to the desert floor past the tiny town of Portal. There are several campgrounds and lodges near Portal. I've been there in the January snows (the base of the mountains start at 4,500'), and in May when the birders almost out-number the birds — but my favorite time to visit is in the August monsoon season.

In August, I once experienced three thunder cells meeting overhead near the town of Portal. It went from clear skies one moment, to the wind coming up and taking away anything that wasn't tied down, the lightning hitting all around us with instantaneous thunder, and then rain...rain so incredible that in mere moments every flat piece of ground was running water. One of those flash floods you hear about; this one washed three trucks off the road and quickly buried them up to the windows in the streambed.

Many of my friends and I, both amateur and professional biologists, would meet at Cave Creek every August. After sunset, after a rainy afternoon, we would take flashlights and drive down the roads looking for nocturnal animals. We once counted eight species of toads, along with countless snakes, both poisonous and non. Astronomers would gather for the dark night skies, we would hang a sheet with a light behind it to attract the incredible array of insects, and we would watch the nectar feeding bats empty the hummingbird feeders. It is truly a paradise for science.

My wife and I were there this August at the end of a two week vacation, after a ten year hiatus. We camped in one of the Cave Creek campgrounds and set up hummingbird feeders. Within minutes the Blue-throated Hummingbirds were fighting over the nectar, we had an Elegant Trogon in our campground, Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers were giving their call that sounds like a squeaky rubber toy, and Montezuma Quail with young were walking past our campsite. It was good to be back.One of the many Portal residents with hummingbird feeders that open their yards to birders had been seeing a Mexican hummingbird called Plain-capped Starthroat for several weeks. There are less than two dozen records for this bird in the US, and I was hoping it was still around. I visited the yard of Bob Rodriguez who graciously escorted me to the feeder that the bird had been visiting. While waiting I had Northern Cardinal and Pyrrhuloxia, Black-throated Sparrow and Canyon Towhee, several species of hummingbirds, and then the star of the show. The large starthroat appeared, drank at the feeders for about a minute, and then flew off into the desert.

Even if you're not a birder, or a botanist, or a herpetologist, I implore you to visit southeast Arizona. Start south of Tucson at Madera Canyon, visit the Patagonia rest stop, the hummingbird feeders at Ramsey Canyon, then spend as much time as you can in Cave Creek. I promise you it is well worth your time.