April 15-17 Barfoot Park redux, and a dayhike to Chiricahua Peak

I'd already done an "overnighter" at Barfoot Park, but there is so much to see in the high Chiricachuas -- and I wanted to hike the Chiricahua Crest Trail starting above Rustler Park -- that I allotted 3 more days up there, camping once again at Barfoot Park. I drove the trans-Chiricahuan dirt road up to Onion Saddle, where the road drops down to the western side of the Chiricahuas, and took the Rustler Park road. The mountain lupine were in bloom, so I got my Canon-brand tube extender out, which turns my Canon 17-55 f/2.8 lens into a macro lens, and got a closeup --

It's a great and inexpensive way to turn what lenses you have into one that does macros (I could even put the tube extender onto my 100-400 f/5.6 lens, if I so wanted, and achieve a macro that way). I had bought a 3rd-party tube extender prior to getting the Canon one -- and it didn't work at all, though what does one expect from something costing a mere $15? So with macro, landscape and telephoto possibilities, I was set for my Barfoot sojourn. Taking the fork to Barfoot Park, the rough and bumpy dirt road goes through an area burned by 2012's Horseshoe 2 fire (that's "Cochise Head" in the center distance, through the burned trees, so-called because it looks like an "Indian's" profile in a horizontal position) -- 

When I arrive down at Barfoot Park, I find I'm not alone -- surprisingly; a couple from the Gila area of central Arizona was camping there for 2 days. We chatted about birds and the beauty of the place, then I took off for the road to Rustler Park. Along the road the views were wide-ranging and spectacular, with clouds adding to the overall picture  -- 

This is looking north, from the road to Rustler. I climbed to the top of the hill in the center right and looked out to what is truly an awe-inspiring view -- 

Only a panorama can give a mere inkling of "you are there", so this is 4 photos stitched together, looking southeast to Cave Creek Canyon in the distance; the snaky road is the trans-Chiricahuan road that I'd driven up earlier. In the distant left are the mountains of New Mexico. It's a view I never get tired of seeing... 

Here's a closeup of Cave Creek Canyon and the road.  That's Silver Peak on the left, and the town of Portal is on the other side of it. I then turned looking west from the same spot -- 

The destruction from the Horseshoe 2 fire is appallingly evident. I'll be hiking in that area when I "do" the Chiricahua Crest Trail tomorrow...But back to Barfoot Park, as evening descends over Buena Vista Peak, where Barfoot Lookout with its fire watch "hut" once was, but the fire along the crest burned everything in its path -- 

I got an early start the next day, the 16th as I would be hiking the Chiricahua Crest Trail from Rustler Park to Chiricahua Peak, highest point in the mountain range. I went to the trailhead at Rustler Park and the fire destruction was evident from the beginning -- 

Notices for reasons of (probably) liability, charred signposts (behind the Crest Trail sign), dead, leafless trees, and then there's Rustler Park campground, where I had camped in a dark green forest in 2008; now -- 

The actual "park" is just beyond that hill in the middle center; it's a meadow, like Barfoot, and, somewhat incredibly, escaped the worst of the destruction. But it's still a sobering sight...I decide to take a "shadow portrait" using the morning's lengthening shadow of myself and the 500 f/4 lens, which I carry with me on my day hikes as you never know when you'll see that "special" bird or animal here -- 

The trail goes just below the ridgeline, but sometimes a spur trail will take you to a view looking west -- 

The view seemingly extends for a hundred miles, showing valley and mountain range marching off into the distance -- and just below, hills stripped of growth from the fire. Then you enter the wilderness proper -- 

Though you can't see it, by this time the wind was starting to pick up, and would howl for the rest of the day, coming from the northwest. The trail sometimes just hugged the side of the ridgeline, with a drop hundreds of feet below, which can be unnerving at times when carrying a camera lens like the 500 at your side -- 

 But the views continued to be spectacular; here's a panorama looking west --

Finally, about 6 miles from the start at Rustler Park, you reach the top of the Chiricahuas -- Chiricahua Peak, and the USGS stamp telling the elevation -- 

Someone had left a small notepad in a baggie for hikers to record their names; the last person to do so had been there 3 days ago. A lone raven flew "kited" in the wind above the peak (there are very few if any crows in southern Arizona, and two species of Raven, Common and the smaller Chihuahuan). The top of the peak is flat with pine trees thinned out from the fire -- 

After having lunch I begin the mostly downhill hike back. There are still pockets of what the forest cover used to look like; here's a part of the trail near the curiously-named Booger Spring (well, we may not want to know WHY it was named that) -- 

As far as birds, Yellow-rumpeds are everywhere, I see 2 Spotted Towhees at about 9000 feet (!) and come across some Western Bluebirds at a saddle with trail junctions. Interestingly, Eastern Bluebirds were once common in the Chiricahuas, with a Mexican form that was known as "Azure Bluebird", and they are still around.  I so wanted to turn the Westerns I saw into Easterns, but it's another example of never totally knowing what you'll find here...Just before Rustler Park I come across Coues White-tailed Deer -- 

Here's another panorama showing the Chiricahua Crest looking north,with the burn area all along the upper reaches -- 

And the area around Rustler Park in the late afternoon -- 

Whew!  What a long day. I go back to Barfoot Park and set up camp out of the back of my Tundra -- 

The 2 people from the Gila area are gone, so I have the park to myself. And after dinner, just when I thought the surprises had finished for the day, I'm treated to another. Birds hover, or "kite," in the air around the rock face of Buena Vista Peak in the early morning and evening. I'd seen Turkey Vultures do it, and a Red-tail or two, but while looking at the peak behind Barfoot Park I saw a bird slowly gliding along the bluffs. I put the 500 f/4 lens on it and saw a black bird, looking very much like a Turkey Vulture, but it didn't fly with the same rocking motion as TVs do. As it flew to the west in my direction, I realized I finally had a Zone-tailed Hawk. It's been said that Zone-taileds use their similarity in appearance to Turkey Vultures to confuse any possible prey --

 This is probably a male, with its broad white band on the tail and one band at the tail base; females also have the broad white tail band, but also 3 to 4 narrower white tail bands (this info from the National Geographic's "Field Guide to Birds of North America", which along with Rick Taylor's "Birder's Guide to Southeastern Arizona"is my bird Bible when in the area). What a great way to end my stay at Barfoot Park. I get up early the next day, have breakfast, pack up and park the truck near the meadow and try one more time for possible Red-faced and Olive Warbler, Hepatic Tanager (I've seen them here on a stay 6 years ago) -- and Short-tailed Hawk, a bird which has been proven to nest in the area. I think I see the Short-tailed, flying along Barfoot Peak to the north of the park, but turns out it's just an adult Cooper's Hawk. So I head back in the direction of Rustler Park as I have one more bird to look for -- Olive Warbler, which is not really a warbler at all and has been recently placed in its own family. I've been told by a respected authority in Portal the location where they are most likely to be found, and after 3 tries I get some good photos of this somewhat elusive bird, then with a feeling of "mission accomplished" I say goodbye to Barfoot and the high Chiricahuas -- for now...

April 14 -- With the Mexican Chickadees along the Greenhouse Trail

 My "new" friend Dodie, birder and artist from Minnesota who has been spending part of the year at the Chiricahuas for awhile now, recommended the Greenhouse Trail as a good place to see a variety of habitat with a corresponding variety of birds. The trail goes all the way up to the Chiricahua Crest Trail --and I would see that intersection when I hike the Crest Trail a few days later. But it starts at Herb Martyr Road in Pinyon-Juniper woodland -- and right off the bat, just at the start of the trail, I hear the mournful call of, then see, a Dusky-capped Flycatcher (click on the name to hear the Dusky-capped's calls and song) --

If it weren't for the call I'd have a hard time IDing it in the field, which is why I tote the 500 f/4 lens around on my day hikes, since this clearly shows one of the ID marks of a Dusky-capped -- secondary feathers are "washed" with rufous coloring, unlike any other "Myarchus" flycatchers. I came upon another Dusky-capped later on in the hike -- 

 It was around 9am, and the air was full of singing birds, such as this Grace's Warbler (click on the name to hear the bird's calls and song) --

I mean, he was really belting it out, a Frank Sinatra among warblers -- 

 Simply spectacular -- and I remember myself thinking, as I have done so many times during the past year of my travels, that there is nowhere else I'd rather be, the moment was perfect in every way...The habitat along the trail is now a mix of Sierra Madrean pine and oak woodland, with Ponderosas scattered here and there, so there are Juniper Titmouse chattering along with the "shreep!" of Western Scrub-Jay. And a White-breasted Nuthatch was grubbing around the bark of a tree, and found a snack --

Lizards seem to be everywhere in the Chiricahuas, and the area around the Greenhouse Trail is no exception -- 

What I wouldn't do to see a Gila Monster -- though from a safe distance... But once again, you never know what you might come across here in this ultimate "sky island". And there are those species that are unique only to the Chiricahuas, such as the Apache Fox Squirrel, probably one of the most striking-looking squirrels you're ever to see, with its rich red coloring -- 

The Greenhouse Trail keeps climbing, and now you enter a mountain meadow -- 

The meadow, like much of this area of the Chiricahuas, shows evidence of 2012's Horseshoe 2 fire and its seeming arbitrariness, charring some trees while leaving others relatively untouched --

Ahhh, the scent of pine...And it's just about 300 yards from this point that I make the re-aquaintance with that most wished-for of all the bird species to be found in the Chiricahuas, Mexican Chickadee (click on the name to hear the Chickadee's calls) --

It's the only Chickadee to be found here, and the Chiricahuas are the ONLY place on public land in the United States that you encounter them. Even though they're "common" in the Chiricahuas, they're still a bit challenging to find. But this one seemed to be putting on a show for me -- 

Once you cross the meadow, the trail continues on up to the Crest Trail, about 3 miles and perhaps 2,000 feet above, so I reluctantly head back -- and flush out what I believe to have been Montezuma Quail. You never notice them as they blend in so well with their surroundings, and they fly off at the last minute. Alas, I can't re-find them, and though I also encounter them along South Fork road a few days later -- and actually see them; 2 are crossing the road -- I end up with no photos of Montezuma Quail. But, getting back to the meadow along Greenhouse Trail, the dayhike still holds one more surprise. I see Flycatcher -- a BIG one. It's hidden behind a single branch, so I can't get a totally unobscured look at it --

RATS -- 

And it isn't calling, but with that crest, and large bill -- and then it flies to a higher perch, in the direction of the sun of course, but now it's unobscured -- 

I've been wanting to get this species for a LONG time. It's a lifer for me, and one of the signature birds of SE Arizona's sky islands, known for its "Jose Maria" call, the King of Pewees (and you thought it was Peewee Herman),  Greater Pewee (click on the name to hear the Pewee's call) -- 

With that large bill, and showing the head crest in the previous photo -- no doubt about it, even though I never heard its call. I am truly a Happy Camper by this point. And to add to another great day in the Chiricahuas, I hear the call of Mexican Whip-poor-will, in the day (very unusual) while in that same meadow. Gee, how can you top THIS day? Well, it happens, when I go back to Barfoot Park and camp for the next 3 days there...

April 13 -- Red-faced Warblers and Others Along South Fork

The South Fork trail, beyond beyond Cave Creek Canyon's road's end and the picnic area, is such a special place that it merits repeat visits. I've been there in May, when Greater Pewee were singing their "Jose Maria" calls from the treetops, and Canyon Wrens sing their unique song. And in spring and summer, Elegant Trogon nest in the canyon and the lower reaches of South Fork. So it was with the anticipation that ANYthing could be heard and found that I did another solo hike up South Fork trail, then up a spur to Sentinel Peak. The morning along the creek was gorgeous --

Lizards were out about; there are over 20 species of lizards in the Chiricahuas, including Gila Monster; this isn't one, but everything is of interest in this "sky island" --

And then the warblers and flycatchers began to make their morning appearance. The first I saw was a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a common enough species, but in full breeding plumage they can be quite eye-catching -- 

I heard the call of a Plumbeous Vireo and sure enough, there one was, though of course obscured behind branches and leaves; the foliage can be quite thick here -- 

And then I saw a Brown Creeper, spiraling slowly up a tree -- 

A female Broad-tailed Hummingbird made a brief appearance, flying away seemingly in an eyeblink of time --

Hairy Woodpeckers, with their white patch on the back, are easy to ID and you soon get used to hearing their call in the Chiricahuas -- 

And flycatchers were in the willows along the creek; I spotted this Hutton's Vireo preening about taking a bath -- 

But the bird I REALLY wanted to see here was the Red-faced Warbler. I'd seen one along the Chiricahua Crest Trail above Rustler Park a few years back but nothing since, so it was a thrill to see about 4 of them during the hike, and to have them sing, too -- 

 I even got one procuring lunch -- a good-sized cicada --

The Red-faced seemed to be saying "OK, so NOW what do I do with it?" I never saw the outcome, but I'm sure he succeeded in downing it. 

I left them as they were singing and searching for food. The Red-faceds will be in the Chiricahuas until the end of August, when they'll depart for Mexico. As I headed up the canyon I also saw a flock of Pine Siskin at the top of a tree -- 

I took the spur trail that leads to Sentinel Peak, about 3 miles further and up, but the trail became steep so I headed back, seeing another female Williamson's Sapsucker along the way (which made that the 4th one I'd seen, but no males).  While hiking back, there are parts of the South Fork trail that go out of the creek bed and climb up a side of the canyon, so you can see above the treetops and marvel at the Apache and Ponderosa Pine, along with Douglas Fir, Arizona Sycamore and oak -- all within 60 miles at most from the Mexican border. 

What a great hike. And I'd "do" South Fork one more time, a week later, with friends. But my friend Dodie recommended Greenhouse Trail, accessed from Herb Martyr Road, so that's what I'll do tomorrow, Monday the 14th...