Day 36 - Too Hot To Bird

We left the cool environs of Sunny Flat Campground early this morning on our way to the San Pedro National Riparian Conservation Area, not  far from Sierra Vista, a recognized Important Bird Area. We arrived at the San Pedro House at about 8:45am and it was already getting hot.

The San Pedro House is only a small part of the 45,000 acre BLM parcel, but it is a popular birding spot. There are a series of trails that lead from the visitor center of San Pedro House and feeders and trees surrounding the building. The trails lead to a Cottonwood lined stretch of the San Pedro River. We did a walk down to the river and along it a short walk along it and there were good birds, but it was getting very hot. It seems that we have picked up a cold somewhere along the way and we (Ellen especially) were feeling it. So we retreated to a pavilion by the house to sit in the shade awhile. It had rows of folding chairs set up for presentations and such.

As we were sitting there an older couple came along and asked if we'd seen the Screech Owl. We had not. They said that it was supposed to be right near here and the info they had said that you just sit down and look up into the tree. There were trees surrounding the the pavilion...which tree? One had a nest box on it so attention was focused there without success.

Meanwhile I glanced about and saw a lone chair over by the edge of the pavilion. I sat in it. There was a tree in front of it. I looked up the tree and in a big hole was the screech owl. It was definitely our bird-of-the-day.

We took a quick look in the San Pedro House Visitor Center which contained a very complete book section and found a book we'd been looking for, A Photographic Guide To North American Raptors. It had been recommended by the hawk watcher at the Bentsen-Rio Grande Hawk Watch. It turned out that it was written by the founding director of the Cape May Observatory, the place renowned for its hawk watch. We bought a copy.

It was now sunny and in the 90s—time to leave. We drove on to Sierra Vista and did a bit of shopping at the Fryes there while trying to find a decent RV Park to spend the night (and rest of the day). We wanted electricity and showers and there is nothing public around this area, but wanted to stay nearby as we are planning to hike in Ramsey Canyon tomorrow.. After much reading of reviews, we decided to try the Mountain View RV Park in Huachcuca City. It turned out to be a good choice. As most of these parks in the desert seem to be, it is open and graveled, but our back of the park site looks out onto desert. They are friendly, less expensive than a state park, have good showers, working WiFi and, most importantly, electricity to power the air conditioner.

Aside from going over to take showers, we stayed in the van all afternoon as the temperature outside got to 98°. It has cooled a bit to 84° at 8pm as I write this.

Hopefully we can recover from our colds a bit tonight as we are off for another hike in the morning. Ramsey Canyon opens at 8am and they have limited parking so we have to arrive at 7am.