From the fiesta, we drove to the Bog Springs Campground in Madera Canyon (a famed birding hotspot) on Saturday afternoon. The canyon is part of the Coronado National Forest and Bogs Springs is a Forest Service campground. It is pretty basic and small with only 13 sites and vault toilets but with a charm of its own. Only a few of the sites are RV sites with a space to park Speedy, the others are tent sites with a parking space. We managed to find the next to last RV site and it was a really nice one, a level paved area with a bit of a view of the mountains. The campground description by the Forest Service indicates a maximum size of 22 feet for an RV, just what we needed. They must have bears as each site has a bear-proof storage box and bear-proof trash containers (maybe just hyper-active squirrels). At $5 (Senior Pass rate), it was a bargain.
Madera Canyon is described as one of Southeastern Arizona's best birding areas. Of course, it is now out of season being winter, but it was still very nice. At an elevation of about 5,000 feet, we are in juniper-oak forest and that would mean different birds than those found in the grasslands of Buenos Aires. The evening was cool but not below freezing and the day warmed fairly quickly once the sun penetrated the canyon. Our views were to the north and west and we could see Green Valley and even Tucson in the distance. It was clear enough to also see Baboquivari, the peak overlooking the refuge, which is over 40 miles away.
Our bird walk started without even getting out of Speedy. The folks across from us had put out seed and feeders and we even saw our first two life birds of the day, Magnificent Hummingbird and Bridled Titmouse, without leaving the campground. We did leave, however, to take a two-mile walk down the campground access road, up the canyon road to the Santa Rita Lodge, and back by a section of the Bog Springs trail.
We didn't see much on the campground road but caught a good look at a Townsend's Warbler and another life bird, Acorn Woodpecker, along the canyon road. The Santa Rita Lodge, built in the 1920s, is one of three private accommodations inside the National Forest. It is a well-known birding hotspot with a large yard full of feeders, a water feature and woods directly behind it all. It attracts hundreds of birds. Today it was mostly Pine Siskins and Lesser Goldfinch, but there were almost as many Mexican Jays. There were also quite a few sparrows and juncos, including our first Yellow-eyed Junco and more hummingbirds, another Magnificent and an Anna's. We finished up our hour-long visit to the lodge with a stop in their gift shop which was mostly birding items ... what a surprise.
The climb back up to the campground was through the forest on a nice quiet trail. At one point we were trying to coax out a bird in a bush, so I tried playing a "pishing" recording on my phone. A whole flock of about 50 Pine Siskins appeared.
Next we hemmed and hawed about where we might stay Sunday night to get to the Dodge dealer on Monday and finally decided to go back to the refuge and just drive to Tucson early in the morning. It was down I-19 to Amado and the twisty road through Arivaca and then south to Speedy's site in the Sonoran Outpost.
Having not showered for a couple of days, we were looking forward to a hot shower, but when we headed over to the community trailer we were overpowered by Eau de Skunk. The skunk was back. There was a lot of odor and it seemed that it was from under the trailer. Oh, no, not again. How did it get in and had it been trapped inside for a while?
After our showers, we hatched a plan. The Have-a-Heart trap was still in place by Emily's trailer, the last place the skunk was seen, and not being effective. The trap was empty and all the bait had been eaten by rodents (not heavy enough to trip the skunk-sized trap). It was possible that the skunk was under the community trailer. I propped open one of the access panels just enough for it to get out and placed the trap in front of the opening also placing cement blocks around part of the access panel opening to direct the animal towards the trap.
To further entice it, we added a very appetizing (to a skunk) bait. Ellen was making salmon burgers for dinner using canned salmon. The leftover skin and can liquid was nicely odiferous, so we placed the can in the trap. Emily suggested covering the trap to make it more den-like (she had previously trapped feral cats), so I found a cardboard box to put over the whole thing. We left it all and went back to Speedy for dinner.
After dinner, while we were washing dishes in the community trailer, Emily came by to tell us that we'd caught the skunk. She and her dog, Luna, were out for their evening walk and Luna ran over to investigate the trap and quickly jumped back. She knew that something she didn't want to bother was there. It was our skunk. I guess salmon was just the ticket.
There was a brief discussion about what to do about the skunk. The right answer was "nothing". We would just leave it alone overnight and the refuge maintenance folks could do the dirty work in the morning. Our pay grade doesn't include dealing with a live, trapped and now angry skunk.
Photos
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