Day 37 — Finally!

Elegant Trogon

We left the MountainView RV park early enough to get to the entrance of Ramsey Canyon well before it opened. They have only 27 parking spaces at this Nature Conservancy preserve and they fill quickly.

Since the preserve is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, this would be our only chance to hike it.

While we waited at the gate we were entertained by the local Wild Turkey show. Several males were displaying and gobbling in the yard of the inn just outside the gate...much to the delight of the guests.

Once they opened at 8am (a rather late start for birding) we parked Speedy and set off up the trail. After a short stop at the hummingbird feeders, we entered the oak woods along the trail. We were looking at a group of Acorn Woodpeckers when a man ahead us started motioning us to come over.

There they were a pair of Elegant Trogons in the trees next to the trail. We could hear the male calling (sort of like a barking small dog) and then we were able to see them. The male came right out onto a branch over the trail and Ellen managed to get a few reasonable photos before they flew further up the canyon.

We continued up to the top of the lower trail and considered going up the Hamburg Trail to see if we could find the Flame-colored Tanagers that were supposed to be up there, but it was about 2.5 miles uphill. It was already beginning to get rather warm, so we opted to go back down and look at the hummingbirds for a little longer before getting back on the road.

As the day was predicted to be in the 90s again, we decided to go straight on to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson, just outside of Green Valley. The Google maps route took a shortcut across the Santa Ritas on a state route, but the Garmin directed us on a longer route (40 miles longer). We couldn't see from the maps we have what the road surface was on the part that ran through the mountains.

Before we reached the turn-off to the shortcut, we came upon a Border Patrol checkpoint. I asked the agent if he knew the condition of the shorter road. It started out paved but it turned to gravel and then got quite rough as it went through the twisty steep bits.  We decided on the longer route.

We made it to the Bog Springs Campground, a US Forest Service campground, in Madera Canyon in the early afternoon. We had hoped that it would be cooler at altitude, but it was still in the high 80s. We settled in for a lazy afternoon after finding a site for Speedy. There was a weak cell signal at the campground, just the place to see if the cellular booster was worth it...unfortunately, we managed to break off the external antenna leaving Cave Creek on a low hanging branch. But there was enough signal to get onto eBird and research the birding in Madera Canyon.

While doing so, I noticed that one of our friends, a local Buenos Aires volunteer, a great birder and lives in Green Valley, had posted on eBird yesterday. We thought they would be away. When we were planning this trip, we got in touch and found they would be away until the 23rd. I gave them a call and, surprisingly, they were still home...leaving tomorrow. They said they would come up to the canyon to see us. Half an hour later, Rob, Reta and another volunteer friend, Craig, showed up, cooler full of beer in hand.

It was great to catch up with happenings at the refuge and living in Green Valley. For them, coming up into the canyon was a bit of a treat as it was about ten degrees cooler up here.

After they left, it was dinner time and an the end of a good, but warm day.