BIRDING PORTAL AND ENVIRONS

The birding around Portal is splendid, as is the scenery. You will encounter very few people who are not birders.

The alarm sounded rudely before dawn on 4/16. Snuggled in our cozy cabin, we faced the challenge that confronts all birders who, with well-intentioned zeal, set their alarms, planning to venture out before the birds are awake the next morning. We overcame our reluctance and soon were on our way to the South Fork Trail in Cave Creek Canyon.

It was cold! The birds, smarter than we, remained well hidden and quiet until the sunlight began to filter in. We were enjoying the trail along the creek, which held enough water to make it a real creek but not enough to make the numerous crossings difficult. After a while, we finally heard some chickadee-like singing and caught the movement in a treetop. Lifer #29, Bridled Titmouse. Several other lifers followed: Grace's Warbler, Strickland's Woodpecker, and Western Wood-Pewee.

We had turned back and retraced our steps when we found the birding to be very slow and our teeth to be chattering (at 39 degrees). Our primary target bird, the Elegant Trogon, did not make an appearance, although at one point we thought we had heard one. We weren't sure, though, and the sound was not repeated.

When we got back to the picnic area, I picked up one more life bird when I tracked down (with some difficulty) a constant, repeated "tseep." I finally found a female Blue-throated Hummingbird perched on a branch about 20 feet up, calling over and over again. This experience later made it easy to ID and find Blue-throated Hummers at Ramsey Canyon.

Other birds we encountered on that early morning walk included Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Northern Flicker, White- breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Painted Redstart, and Scott's Oriole. It was a nice, rewarding walk, but we were relieved to hear some of the local birders complain of a very slow morning at Cave Creek when we stopped at the Portal Cafe for our gourmet lunch. That's OK, another good reason to return to the area in the future!

On 4/16 we also visited the famous Spoffords' home. This is a private home just outside the village of Portal where birders are welcome to spend some time observing the feeders whilst comfortably seated. No lifers there, but there were great numbers of Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins, along with Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Hooded Orioles, Cassin's Finches, and some more common birds.

A stop at the Research Station after lunch produced another lifer for me, Magnificent Hummingbird. Black-chinned Hummers visited the same feeders also, and nearby on those grounds we saw Say's Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbirds galore, Chipping Sparrow, Scott's Oriole, and more Evening Grosbeaks. In back of the building, I was surprised when Herb found an American Goldfinch.

We continued up the forest road to the junction where another road leads down to Paradise, and turned off onto that road. We stopped for a while there, since Taylor indicated it is a great birding spot. Not on 4/16, it wasn't! So we drove on. Pretty soon we spotted two more birds along the road that were lifers for me, Yellow-eyed Junco and Mexican Chickadee. The chickadee was quite a thrill, since it is highly local.

At Paradise, we stopped at the George Walker House, a "B&B" where birders are welcome to check the feeders. The proprietress gave us a couple of tips on birding in the area, including a hint on where to look for a Plain Titmouse (which has since been split and so is now Juniper Titmouse). So we headed onto the road that leads from Paradise back over to Portal. What a beautiful ride! This was one of my favorite stretches of road, with gentler views than many others in the area. We got to the Paradise Cemetery (a lovely name, don't you think?) and parked the car so that we could go find the titmouse. Before we entered the cemetery itself, we spotted a bird that we and another birder then identified as a Townsend's Solitaire (lifer #39). Inside the cemetery the Juniper Titmouse obliged us as well with a perky appearance.

On 4/17 we awoke to find rain puddles outside the cottage and a cool, cloudy sky above. This was to be our last day in the Portal area, and we still needed to try for some of the species that inhabit the higher altitudes of the Chiricahua Mountains, but we decided to bird the little street in Portal and have some breakfast first. A Ladder- backed Woodpecker was easy to spot and identify in a tall cottonwood tree; this was a lifer for me. Orioles and hummers were swarming around the feeders at the first house on the left, where a stone wall surrounds the yard.

We headed for Barfoot Junction and Rustler Park. Bundled up (and having donned my gloves in spite of snickers from my esteemed companion), I ventured out of the car at Barfoot Junction to look at the tall pines where Taylor promised that "it's worth the trouble" to bird. He certainly was right! Another birder who was there quickly pointed out two lifers for me, Olive Warbler and Pygmy Nuthatch. We also saw, again, Mexican Chickadee, Grace's Warbler, Ruby- crowned Kinglet, and Yellow-eyed Junco here. We drove down to the end of the Barfoot Junction Road and found beautiful silence and solitude there, but no birds.

The next stop was Rustler Park, a little farther up. We upped our species count with the only Hairy Woodpeckers and Brown Creeper of the trip, but the drizzle continued to put a damper on bird activity.

Upon our return to Portal, we spotted our first Black- throated Sparrows (lifer for me), and then celebrated with a gourmet burger at the Portal Cafe. In the afternoon, we decided to bird Rodeo, New Mexico (just across the border). We made a stop just outside of Portal to bird the Big Thicket, where we found Western Scrub-Jay and Bullock's Oriole (a lifer for me since the Northern Oriole species was split).