November 20 -- Another Cold Morning, And Another Hike In The Chiricahuas

It must have got below freezing again here in Rodeo, New Mexico, because the sheen of ice was on the windshield of my rental car again this morning. I scraped enough ice off to make a circle that I could view through, then took off for the day. (A friend from Minnesota later recommended to get a plastic card, like a credit card, to scrape the ice off. DOH!  I'll try it this morning...) My plan was to go back to Greenhouse Trail, on Cave Creek Road leading to Herb Martyr Dam, as the trail went through a variety of habitats, and thus there could be a wide variety of birds. With this 4-door Nissan Versa I now have an easier way to pack my hiking gear -- put it in the trunk ---

Works perfectly, and everything fits in the back. I load the gear up and head up the old Jeep road that starts the Greenhouse Trail -- 

The first birds I notice are the usual mixed flocks of Gray-headed and Yellow-eyed Juncos, then I see a brown-backed Woodpecker in the shadow of a tree, with its back to me. It also has red on the back of its head. Good grief, it's a male Arizona Woodpecker! It takes off before I can take a photo of it, but I look to the other side of the trail and I see a female Arizona Woodpecker in a "century tree", digging bits out of it. I have time as she investigates and digs away, so I set my Canon 7D and 500 f/4 lens to ISO 100 for maximum resolution and shoot away -- 

She gives me about 3 minutes of her time then takes off, then  I thank her; I always do that after taking photos of birds/animals as I consider it an honor that they've given me the opportunity to get such good photos of them. I take the spur trail to Ash Springs to get a wide-ranging view -- and check out frozen Winn Falls. Looks like it's "defrosted" a bit from yesterday -- 

Here's the overall view; I took the above shot with my 500 f/4 lens. Winn Falls is in the shadows to the right of the tall peak -- 

The above was taken with my 17-55 f/2.8 IS landscape lens; here's the closeup of the peak with the 500 f/4 -- 

And during yesterday's hike up to Pine Park and Snowshed trail I was on the far side of the canyon facing me--

Wildflowers, yucca, and mountain scenery -- 

I head back to the intersection with Greenhouse Trail; here's the section leading back to my car --

This section of Greenhouse Trail is a mix of pines, pinyon-juniper, and yucca. 

There are mixed flocks of Gray-headed and Yellow-eyed Junco flitting about in the brush. I "pish" to attract birds, and while I don't think I'm very good at it, I have learned to do a  fairly-good rendition of the seven-note call of the Mexican Jay, and that seems to get the attention of the Juncos here; they   

pop up onto the branches, where I can get good photos of them ; here's a Yellow-eyed Junco -- 

And somewhat surprisingly, my "Mexican Jay pushing" irritates a House Wren, who also pops out of the underbrush -- 

There's also a group of about 5 American Robins in this section of the trail -- 

The trail goes above the creek, which has Arizona sycamores with autumn colors -- 

The trail crosses the creek, and it's a beautiful one -- 

In about a mile the path comes to a mountain meadow, the next habitat in this wide-ranging trail. 

I see birds way up in the forest canopy -- Mexican Chickadees and a Red-breasted Nuthatch --

The trail crosses the meadow, and officially enters The Chiricahua Wilderness -- 

It's nearly noon by this time, so I look for a place to have lunch. I walk on the now-faint trail, climb up over a little rise -- and THERE is my lunch spot -- 

It's a beautiful pool with the sun right on it. I have lunch, and even manage to lay on the rocks for a bit to take a rest. It's a truly gorgeous spot, with the sun lighting the pool in different ways --

I VERY reluctantly start heading back. As I cross the meadow, I see -- a Brown Creeper -- no, TWO Brown Creepers, one chasing the other. These little fellows are hard to get a photo of, but one of my shots comes out sharp -- 

There's also a White-breasted Nuthatch investigating the nooks and crannies of a pine, then gives me a nice Nuthatch pose -- 

I spot 2 butterflies, species unknown until I hear back from a naturalist friend, and I photograph them with my 500 f/4 -- I had to back up as the minimum focusing distance for the 500 is 15 feet -- 

Yellow-eyed Juncos are ubiquitous here; they're animated, friendly and very inquisitive -- 

Hard to believe this mountain meadow is less than 100 miles from the border with Mexico -- 

After the meadow, I take the spur of Basin Trail, and turn the corner where I see an Acorn Woodpecker on a tree limb, flying up in the air and coming back to his perch. Hmm, maybe if I change my 7D camera setting to A1 focus, I can get him in-flight -- it works -- 

Wow. What a day, I think to myself, as I make my way back to the car -- 

The more I'm here in Portal and the Chiricahuas, the more excited I get about actually LIVING here, and the possibilities for birds and landscape photography...