Monday 5/14, we left Kartchner Caverns State Park for a
short drive (54 miles) over to Patagonia Lake State Park near the town of
Patagonia, AZ. We headed south on Hwy 90
for a few miles, then at Whetstone, we went west on two-lane Hwy 82 through
Sonita and Patagonia to the park. This
park is on a lake down in a deep basin and we’ve been here a few times in the
past – our favorite place in Arizona. We
arrived pretty early and got set up in our site for the week.
We got the birdfeeders up pretty quick and it wasn’t long
before we had some customers. LaVerne is a happy camper again now that she can
put the feeders out.
Tuesday was a day of birding. The Sonita Creek feeds the lake and at the
head of the lake is the Sonita Creek Birding Trail. The campground sits on a little ridge above
the lake and there are some pretty steep steps to get down to lake level and
the trail. We got out there pretty early
before the day got hot.
The trail goes out through a pasture beside the lake with
tangles of Mesquite all along. There are
cows that use the pasture so you have to watch where you step.
We did see a few new birds for this trip.
Later in the day we went into Patagonia and went to
Paton’s Center for Hummingbirds (formerly Paton’s Hummingbird Heaven). This is a place birders from all over the
country have known about for years. It
was started many years ago when a lady named Mrs. Paton set up her back yard
with a lot of feeders, set up a tent and some chairs, and invited birders to
come and watch the hummingbirds in action.
We came here for the first time back in the early 2000’s and Mrs. Paton
was still alive and living here. Since that time, she has passed away. Her daughter kept it up for a while, but eventually
sold it to the Tucson Audubon Society who now maintains and runs it. They have made some improvements, including a
nice covered place to sit and observe the birds.
When we were there, it was the hottest part of the day
and there was not a lot of activity. We
did see an Annas Hummingbird, a Violet-crowned Hummingbird, and a Ladder-backed
Woodpecker.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we took a day trip (about 85 miles) up
I-19 to Tucson and went to Saguaro National Park (pronounced Suh-wah-row). The park is divided into an Eastern Section
and a Western Section – and they are literally on the eastern & western
sides of Tucson about 35 miles apart. We
went to both! We love the Saguaro cacti
– they are so majestic when they reach maturity (takes anywhere from 70 to 100
years). There are thousands of them in
all stages of growth and right now they are beginning the blooming stage. In addition to the Saguaro cactus, there’s
also lot of types.
We’re here for a couple more days, so I’ll catch up the
rest of the week later.
No comments:
Post a Comment