An Historic Birding Adventure

 Discovery Trail at Empire Ranch on Las Cienegas NCA September 16-2012

After spending almost an hour birding on the Greaterville Road on a pleasant Sunday morning in September, my new friend, Chris and I drove back out onto the Sonoita highway and crossed the road to Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. Though I have been birding here in the past, I have never driven up to the ranch house. I did not know it was open to the public. Today we drove the short distance off the main road and parked the car. Even as we got out of the car, there were birds everywhere. We quickly grabbed our gear and walked through the gate and started down the path.

There was still a bit of coolness to this bright sunny day. Dark shadows fell across the rusted tin roof of an old adobe building.

We walked by slowly, listening for birds and ghosts from the past.

The dirt trail led us down through a mesquite bosque…

 

and through a meadow dotted with flowers…

 

Where tall trees rose above us,

 

and butterflies sipped nectar below.

 

By now the shade of the tall trees was a welcome relief from the sun,

 

so we followed the path around the old ranch house and emerged onto the former lawn…

where we found a Say’s Phoebe catching insects in the corner of the eaves.

 

There were kingbirds everywhere, both western and Cassin’s.

 

While beneath the porch roof on the visitor’s center we found this.

 

Who’s this peeking out of the red mud nest?

 

Look closely now…

MAMA!

 

The mother Barn Swallow flies in….

 

feeds the chick…

 

and then…

 

flies off again!

 

The Canyon towhee in the grass below is unphased!

 

While pigeons cling to the old ranch chimney as they did over 100 years ago.

• See my post What Woodpeckers Eat on the Birding is Fun blog!
• Read The Song of the Say’s Phoebe on Kathie’s Poet Tree 
• Read the first part of this adventure-Greaterville Road Birding

These are the birds Chris and I saw at Empire Ranch on September 16th:

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Gray Hawk (heard)
3. Rock Pigeon
4. White-winged Dove
5. Mourning Dove
6. Gila woodpecker
7. Red-naped Sapsucker
8. Northern (red-shafted) Flicker
9. Prairie Falcon
10. American Kestrel
11. Says Phoebe
12. Vermillion Flycatcher
13. Western Kingbird
14. Cassin’s Kingbird
15. Common Raven
16. Barn Swallow
17. Verdin
18. Phainopepla
19. Green-tailed Towhee
20. Canyon Towhee
21. Black-headed Grosbeak
22. House Finch
23. Lesser Goldfinch

(Plus an empid, a couple of hummingbirds and a few sparrows!)

And we’re not done yet! Come back to see the rest of our adventure Birding the Empire Gulch! Thanks for stopping by and thank you for all your comments!