Thursday, November 16, 2000
Tucson, AZ - Nov 16
It continues to be 10-20 degrees cooler than normal everywhere we have been in AZ. However, it has been mostly sunny, so it is quite pleasant. As you will see, the birding become quite interesting since we have been in new areas.When we were in Cottonwood, we visited Tuzigoot, Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well, all Natl Mons. They were each interesting in their own way. The biggest surprise was Montezuma's Well, because there was so much more there than we were expecting. The huge pool of water was fed by warm springs and harbored many interesting birds. New for us were Ring-necked duck and Common merganser. Over at the Castle we saw Bridled titmouse and Crissal thrasher. Not "new" but fun to watch were the flocks of Cedar waxwing voraciously devouring whole juniper berries. You could watch the berries go right down their throats.
We spent a day looking around the tourist town of Sedona and driving up the lovely Oak Creek Canyon. It is a very narrow, winding road with lovely views along the way. At the top you can park and overlook the whole length of the canyon. We also visited the old mining town of Jerome, which has quaint shops and good pizza.
We visited the Sinagua ruins (Palatki and Honanki), which are both under the jurisdiction of the Natl Forest Service. These are less-visited ruins than any of the Natl Mons, so it was quite special to see them. Both had quite a few pictographs (painted rock art), too. We visited another rock art site, which was at V Bar V Ranch, also managed by the NFS. This site is strictly petroglyphs (carved rock art) and has over 1000 glyphs. We were the only people visiting at the time, tho two more arrived just as we were leaving. Both sites have interpreters on site who explain the history and show you around. While at Palatki, we saw a Red-naped woodpecker.
We stayed at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood. It was a lovely park with stocked fishing lakes and many hiking trails. While there, we saw our first Spotted towhee. When we arrived at the campground, we were greeted by a Greater roadrunner and many Gambel's quail.
After 8 days in Cottonwood, we headed further south to Casa Grande, where we spent 3 nights. We visited Casa Grande Ruins NM, which are the first Hohokam ruins we have seen. These ruins are different because they were made from caliche, an adobe-like mud, so they don't last as well. The ruins at Casa Grande are protected by a roof that was built in 1927, and is on the Natl Register of Historic Structures. So if the mud ruins ever wash away, they will still have Roof Natl Mon. At our RV park we saw Curve-billed thrasher and Cactus wren.
Now we are in Tucson, camped in Doug's dad's driveway. We really fill up the whole thing! The birdwatching in the desert-like surroundings has been wonderful. We have seen Anna's and Costa's hummingbirds, Phainopepla, Verdin and Gila woodpecker. We are also taking care of lots of practical matters here, like maintenance on the truck and new hiking boots for Doug. We attended a U of A Women's Basketball game and plan to attend another as well as a Women's Volleyball game on Sat.
Doug's brother Bob is here for a few days, but unfortunately his brother Rodger & family were not able to make it. So the "family reunion" was cut in half. The rest of our time here will be spent visiting with family and friends. We'll write again soon when we are "on the road again". We'll be on our great push towards the coast of Texas where we will be spending about two months.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:09 AM 
