It was a quiet sunrise in the Anza Trailhead. We heard nothing but occasional traffic from nearby I-19 overnight and the parking lot lived up to its billing as quiet and unbothered. We drove up to the Tubac Deli at about 6:30 a.m., its opening time. The only other patrons when we arrived were two Border Patrol agents having coffee. A few more customers came in while we had breakfast.
The breakfast choices were a bit limited, breakfast pastries or a breakfast sandwich. We had the traditional egg, cheese and bacon on an English muffin, accompanied by a black coffee for Ellen and a large cafe latte for me.
The deli was the meeting place for the Tuesday morning Tubac bird walk. The walk started at 8 a.m., so we had a bit of time to kill. After breakfast we wandered around the little village-like mall, La Entrada de Tubac, which included the deli. All of the other shops were closed at that time of the morning, but some seemed like they would be interesting when open. We'd already visited one, Tuma Cookery, the day before. It is a very well-equipped cooking supplies store in the Williams-Sonoma vein, but with a better selection of items.
Just before eight the bird watchers started showing up. Unfortunately, Rob and Reta, didn't make it so we didn't know anyone in the group of about 20. They are an informal group that gets together each Tuesday and are quite friendly. After introductions, we drove in convoy to a different Anza Trail trailhead from the one we'd overnighted at and started the walk from there. It went through a semi-wetland area to a back road and onto the Tubac Golf Resort where they have open fields and some artificial ponds. It then proceeded back via the trail through the wetlands along a stream.
There were several habitats and we saw many species along the way, including lots of ducks in the ponds, mostly American Widgeon, and two life birds, Lawrences's Goldfinch and Gray Flycatcher. There were also several Vermillion Flycatchers in the trees along the golf course. It was a good two mile walk.
After the walk was over, we drove back to the Fry's in Sahuarita to retrieve my coffee thermos, a mere 40 miles out of our way, but we also picked up some rice for Paco, the poodle belonging to other volunteers. Paco's owners had texted us about their need as Paco had been having stomach troubles. After Sahuarita we went south again to Amado and the Arivaca Road. We made two stops in Amado, first at the feed store for bird seed than at the Red Pepper, a Mexican food truck, for lunch.
It seemed to be quite a popular place. Ellen had the carne asada quesadillas and I had two soft carne asada tacos and a Mexican Coke. The tacos came plain with only the seasoned meat, but there was a condiment bar with veggies, salsas and hot sauces to complete your tacos. They were both very good. I also opted for the Mexican Coca-Cola which is the original formulation (minus the cocaine) using sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. I don't drink Coke much anymore, but this was a throwback to when it tasted good.
From Amado it was back to the refuge via Arivaca. We were both tired after four days of running around and bad Speedy news and looking forward to a bit of relaxing. Not to be however. When we arrived at the refuge, we headed to the visitor center rather than the outpost to look for a package. As we were driving along the main entrance, we saw a large raptor by the side of the road. It was a Golden Eagle and it wasn't flying off. We stopped and it tried to fly away but couldn't get off the ground.
This was the injured eagle we had heard about last Friday. A person showed up at the refuge late in the day on Friday with a Golden Eagle that had been hit by a car. He picked it up right after it had been hit and seeing that it was still alive, brought it to the refuge, hoping it could be helped. The eagle was quite stunned and was just in the back of the person's pick-up. As Dan was trying to contact a wildlife rehabilitator to come and get the eagle, it perked up and flew away. They figured it was gone and probably wouldn't survive long in the wild.
Well, it did. We found it five days later and it was still alive but weak. Ellen got out of the van to keep an eye on the eagle, while I drove up to the visitor center to get help. I found Dan who told me to get a blanket and pick up the eagle while he located a crate to keep it in. I quickly drove off to the community trailer where there was some old bedding, grabbed an old blanket and went back to Ellen and the eagle.
The eagle had managed to fly a little bit and was under a tree about 20 yards from the road. I took the blanket and walked out toward it. It tried to get away but couldn't fly; it had used all its energy in its short flight. I caught up to it, managed to get the blanket over it, grabbed it around its folded wings and wrapped it in the blanket. I now had an armload of a very large bird with very long talons and a very big beak. Fortunately, it was too weak to fight. I quickly walked back to Speedy, climbed in the back, holding the eagle, and Ellen drove us to the visitor center.
Dan was there with a large dog crate in the back of his truck and I put the bird into it. It didn't look good at that point as it was now just lying there panting. We closed the crate and Dan tried to get ahold of the rehabilitators again. After a few minutes, it was obvious that it was not going anywhere today, now late afternoon, and we decided to move it to the biology building where there was a nice dark and warm room behind the office. We put the blanket over the cage and started to move it. The bird livened up and was back on its feet complaining. We got it up to the office. Left it partially covered to keep it dark, but the eagle was at least standing again.
When we caught it, it was obvious that it had sustained a leg injury as it was limping along on one leg. It had survived for those five days, probably without food or water, and avoided the cast of local predators—coyotes, owls, ravens, snakes, bobcats and who knows what else. There had been two ravens watching it from the tree I found it under; it probably would not have lasted the night in its weakened state. It was safe for now.
We headed back to the outpost and a well-needed rest.
Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment