The Outer Banks of North Carolina; 48 hours of Cape Hatteras - part 1 - Pelagic Birding!

 Following a great week at the USFWS Friends Academy in West Virginia, I bed farewell to new found friends, picked up a sweet Kia rental car and pointed it's wheels south towards North Carolina. I crossed the bridges and tunnels that cross the James River from Newport News to Norfolk a little after sunset, catching some lasting orange impressions of Virginia. I had a great time on the Outer Banks, and off the Outer Banks with my first time ever birding the open ocean. This experience included 5 new lifer birds, me getting nauseous, my first visit to the open ocean (>2 mi from shoreline), 25 miles off the coastline, off the continental shelf at a depth of 2000+ feet. The birding was incredible on the ocean and on land, as I also got to know two new Wildlife Refuges; Alligator River NWR and Pea Island NWR, as well as two national seashores, and a state park.

 

I arrived in Haterras, NC at far too late in the evening to care where my bed was going to be. I ended up sleeping at the end of a dock near the Pelagic Trip's boat, the Stormy Petrel II was docked. 

This trip was aboard the Stormy Petrel II with lead guide Kate Sutherland. We left around 5:30am into windy conditions for a long round-about trip to get beyond shallow shoals and through the Hatteras inlet, a break in the barrier island connecting the Atlantic with Pamlico Sound. 

The trip out of the sound was a fun, easy water trip through classic inland bay habitat. Shorebirds occupying small islands, Great Laridae diversity; Common Tern, Royal Tern, Black Terns, and Caspian terns, in addition to Herring Gulls, Great Black-Backed Gull, and Laughing Gulls coursed overhead. Squadrons of Brown Pelicans patrolled the coastlines. 

 After approximately an hour beyond the last view of the continent on the eastern horizonwe had made it to at least 10 miles off-shore. Along the way we ran into several small groups of Black Terns and a handful of Phalaropes.  At about this distance from shore we began to encounter our first true seabirds of the day. A small black and white bird seemingly appeared out of no where, streamlined against the direction of the boat, wheeled right and was gone. In a total of 2 seconds I had seen a bird that was white below, black above, with a high aspect ratio (long but thin wingspan) appear out of nowhere and disappear again. I had just seen my first true seabird - Audubon's Shearwater! We would end up seeing two more shearwaters this trip, Cory's Shearwater, and Great Shearwater, both much larger than Audubon's. Their quick wheeling flight and use of updrafts from the waves was impressive and characteristic of this family of birds.

 After becoming familiar with at the three Shearwaters, a much much smaller bird began appearing out of the blue. Wilson's Storm-petrels, with their fast wheeling flight like a swallow, and the behavior of skimming the surface of the ocean in our wake, were impressive, if dainty seabirds.

Wilson's Storm Petrel in it's gulf stream waters. WISP were only about the size of a small dove, with a flight like a swallow. It was impressive such a dainty bird lived amongst these turbulent waters.

The Wilson's Storm Petrels continued to follow our ship (and it's fish oil trail) for the next few hours, with as many as a dozen at their most. Besides the ones following the ship, we'd encounter occasional flybys. Searching for these birds, no bigger than an Inca Dove in the wide open ocean was a thrilling reason to keep an eye out on the horizons.

Pair of Wilson's Storm-Petrels skirting the waves, they never flew more than 10 feet above the surface, and on a day with 15ft swells this was all the more impressive.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

These Storm-petrels are widespread around the world's oceans, but are most common near the Gulf Stream off the Atlantic coastline of North America. They breed in coastal cliff habitats in Antartica and southern South America but may wander as far north as the Arctic when not in breeding season. These incredible birds spend more than 10 months on the open ocean, only coming to land during the nesting season, a behavior typical of nearly all seabirds. More about Wilson's Storm Petrels here on wikipedia.

Wilson's Storm Petrels spend a lot of time 'touch and going', flitting about on the surface of the water, picking through algae clumps for invertebrate food and all other manner of wee-beasties. 

The oddly-shaped large fore-head look of Wilson's Storm Petrels is distinctive of all the Storm-petrels.

After a couple of hours of good, albeit brief looks at shearwaters, we finally got sight of a larger, much more angled-wing flyer - Black-capped Petrels. These were larger than the shearwaters, and much more acrobatic flyers, swooping high, then low into the waves, and up again. They're black-white pattern distinctive, and their flight pattern unlike the shearwaters. As we birded more and more it became apparent how much flight pattern aids in ID of at least the commonly encountered birds in the pelagic zone off North Carolina.

Black-capped Petrel, with it's namesake black cap, accentuated by the white nape.

 The bird activity was like this, many birds at once, up to 5 species, then nothing for 30 minutes, then another group. The birds of the ocean, like land, are not distributed evenly across the map.

A couple of Black-capped Petrels mixed in with Wilson's Storm-Petrels in the Gulf Stream, Outer Banks, NC.

The Black-capped Petrels, which are found throughout the Atlantic Ocean, breed in Cuba and islands of the Dominican Republic. Like other Petrels, they nest in burrows dug into the sides of steep cliffs or rugged hills inaccessible from land-based predators. They are considered threatened under the IUCN due to loss of breeding sites and predation by humans and introduced species. More on Black-capped Petrels here.

Black-capped Petrel wheeling toward the boat. I loved this black cap-white nape look this bird was sporting!

This image of the side of the Black-capped Petrel shows it's famed tube-nose, present in all Procellariiformes (Tubenoses).

After I took the above photo my time enjoying the open seas was about at an end. As the day wore on, the northern breeze that had been blowing all day began to pick up. This had the affect of churning up the very warm (89F) northerly flowing gulfstream waters into a frenzy. What began with 3-5 ft swells (total elevation between wave crests and troughs) had become 15 feet and very choppy. Around noon I began periodically laying down in the boats cabin, where 4 or 5 others also laid down and tried to sleep. I'd never felt that level of nausea before, like a strong fever and a cold sweet on a warm >90F day. I drifted in and out of sleep, occasionally waking and getting out on deck if a bird was being called out in close range. I roused from my sea-sick nap to get a nice look at a Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, similar in all respects to the Wilson's, but at least 40% larger, with a much quicker flight.

We were not alone out on the ocean, we saw one cargo ship, several miles away but lurking like a gigantic city out on the waves. The size of this boat as seen from afar was truly amazing, and to think about the same type of vessel dealing with these waves that we were cresting and plunging with much action was an interesting notion. Surely this ship must have hardly felt the types of waves we were experiencing.

Cruising back to shore, this land-loving Llanero was happy to be back to shore!

On the way back we 'steamed' at a quick pace, it was a wet ride, lots of spray over the sides of the boat. I began to feel better as we motored back home, and made my way to the front of the boat, a narrow diving board with railing jutting out before the ship. From this vantage point, our guide Kate pointed out more Shearwaters, Black Terns, and a multitude of Flying Fish (more on these amazing creatures here). We had multiple species of these icthyological wonders being driven before the ship, they would streamline out of a wave, glide above the water's surface for 30m or more, occasionally slapping their tails into the water to achieve more propulsion, before slipping back into the blue. I had seen these sparingly off the Texas Coast, but nothing like this, sometimes groups of 10 or 15 would arise together, seemingly defying gravity and their own Kingdom of Animalia.

We arrived back to the marina in Haterras by 5:30pm after a total of 12 hours out on the water. After a quick bathroom stop I headed out for Cape Haterras National Seashore's Frisco Campground a few miles north and a (I felt) well deserved cold beer.

National Conservation Training Center - A week of West Virginia birding!

Three weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia (60 miles from D.C.) for the US Fish & Wildlife Service's Friends Academy, which aims at increasing capacity and skill-sets to board members of Friends of the National Wildlife Refuge System across the country. The NCTC campus has top-notch facilities for a conference/workshop type event. I won't even attempt to touch on the many great lessons and strategies learned for increasing the visibility and productivity of National Wildlife Refuges and Friends groups that I was able to take back home to Las Vegas NWR and my home community. We stayed busy and productive from 8-6 every day, but I still found some time to get out and do some east-coast birding for a little over a week. I ended up birding this small corner of West Virginia and then headed down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (eastern NC's barrier island), which will be touched on in a second posting.

My trip to the East coast for 8 days began with a night's stay at my favorite (errr free) lodging in Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Sunport Airport. I arrived in Albuqueruqe from Arizona, following my last day of work with the Forest Service around 2am, and with only 3 hours to go until the Security Checkpoints opened I decided to to just camp out in the waiting area. It's a relatively quiet place through the night, but the 'TSA Travel Advisory' announcements every 20 minutes tend to infiltrate your subconscious and sleep is marginally restful at best - but hey, it's free!

Best free bed in town

A 6:05 am flight out of Albuquerque in September guarantees great sunrise views over the Sandia mountains from a few thousand feet up.

Sunrise over the Sandias and Kirtland AFB.

I had a great unobstructed window seat for the short flight from ABQ to DFW, it was cool flying this route as I've driven it countless times, to see the various reservoirs, playas, rivers, and patches of prairie from up high was a treat. I even had a parting look at Hermits Peak and the Las Vegas NWR playas as we flew just south of my home refuge.

Looking north over the clouds of Eastern New Mexico

Almost every morning of the Academy, a stalwart birding group left the dorms a little before sunrise to bird the campus. Highlights included Eastern Phoebes, Green Herons, Indigo Buntings, and lots and lots of Northern Cardinals. Eastern Kingbirds were a personal highlight for me as I have little experience with these smaller version of my Western and Cassins' Kingbirds back home. Chipping Sparrows and Field Sparrows (including my first experience with Field Sparrow song, a great trilling tune) were abundant, I kept a n eye out for some other Spizella species but to no avail.

Eastern Phoebe

Chipping Sparrow

Indigo Bunting - a real beauty!

Indigo Bunting

 A few lifers were to be had within the NCTC grounds, Baltimore Oriole, Alder Flycatcher were both new to me, and the call of a Red-Shouldered Hawk - while not a new bird, was a new vocalization, a hybrid hawk-gull type sound.
The old farm fields around the campus were full of hip high grass and abundant thistle. While I'm not familiar with the species that was present - and if it was native or not, the wildlife seemed to be enjoying them immensely. Large flocks of American Goldfinches - a winter bird for me back home but a common summer resident here in the Potomac River region.

American Goldfinch on thistle

In addition to the Goldfinches, some nice showy large butterflies were also taking in some late summer nectar - including my favorite Lepodoptera of my trip, this Zebra Swallowtail, a new butterfly for me!

Zebra Swallowtail, a beautiful, long and thin swallowtail with one of the longest tails I've ever seen. The cerulean blue color was drop-dead gorgeous.

Zebra Swallowtail

In addition to the Zebra Swallowtails, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were also abundant, as were Black Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtails. These big showy butterflies were quite the site as they congregated at thistle patches.

Eastern Swallowtail

The NCTC campus apparently had put some effort into Monarch conservation through milkweed planting programs (Find out more here http://www.xerces.org/milkweed/ ) as the farm fields had abundant milkweed growth. The fruits of the labors had at least paid off at the local level as I found Monarchs daily during my stay at NCTC.

The ubiquitous Monarch. Stunning on every side of the country I happen to find one.

Mornings were cool but humid giving a wonderful feeling to the skin for this New Mexican. The weather was a nice misty balmy in the shade, and a warmth in the sun.

Sunset on the Potomac River

A few short walks down to the Potomac River yielded Canada Geese, Tree Swallows, Barred Owls, and Yellow-billed Cuckoos. The woodlands surrounding the NCTC campus are classic East Coast secondary growth forests dominated by Sycamores and Tuliptree. Paw-paw and a variety of other nameless East Coast trees grew thick on the clayey forest soils.

East Coast Forest

The Potomac River in it's sunset glory. The Potomac is a beautiful river with a lot of history, from Civil War battlefields to revolutionary-era farms. The river runs in a great gorge through this part of Maryland and West Virginia, I was surprised by how clear and shallow the water was. A stark difference to the muddy big rivers back in Texas and New Mexico.

Sunset on the Potomac

While I didn't spend much time out looking for Herps, I did come across two new species for me, a Northern Ring-necked Snake just outside of the cafeteria building, and a hopping Fowler's Toad near the river.

A probable Fowler's Toad near the Potomac River

A very very tiny Northern Ring-necked Snake found on the way to the Dining hall.

 The campus had a nice trail system connecting buildings together, making for very pleasant 5-10 minute walks between buildings. At night, the trail nightlights were incredible insect attractors. I found this huge Neuroptera species towering over other night's more modestly sized insects.

A large Neuroptera (?) on a night walk back to the dorms.

The NCTC campus itself was beautiful, stylized like the farm houses of the region, but far from them in size and materials. This was the closest thing I've ever come to being at an Ivy league school.

The NCTC Bridge which puts one nearly 10m above the creek bottom's forest floor. A canopy bridge if you will.

One of the non-technical highlights of the week's schedule was a visit to the USFWS archives in a basement storage facility. Within this one cluttered room was a treasure trove of wildlife management and conservation memorabilia and antiques. From the first ever USFWS Refuge signpost (now posting the boundary of refuges across the county), radioactivity signs from some of our pacific island refuges, and the first ever Duck Stamp (Artwork by Dick Darling the first USFWS Director). In a padded box lay the the pistol, badge, and presidential papers (T. Roosevelt) of the first Refuge Manager, a fella out on Pelican Island in the Florida Keys.

Archive Specialist and Historian Mark Madison with the first ever USFWS boundary sign, back when the agency was Under the USDA as the Biological Survey.

U.S.B.S. I need say no more about the potential uses of the iron on politicians. These branding irons were used on trees as boundary markers. In the early days of the Refuge System, refuges were expanding so rapidly it was much easier and economical to just brand trees marking new boundaries.

The group down in the archives.

Mark was an energetic and very knowledgeable host, this was a real treat of an experience. 

Confiscated Kingfisher display - they appear to be African/South Asian kingfishers.

Tigers from the past...-selfie

Specimens collected from various locations and for various reasons.

The participants (minus a few) of Friends Academy 8, see ya next time NCTC!

A Backpacking Bird Survey of the Rincon Mountains, Saguaro National Park, AZ - Late May 2015

The Rincon Mountains are one of the most viewed, yet little visited of the Sky Islands of southern Arizona. Their proximity to Tucson and their rugged terrain and wilderness designation within Saguaro National Park (e.g. no roads) account for these seemingly opposing conditions. As part of our bird survey work with NPS, we were to conduct bird surveys across the Rincons at transects  conveniently* situated nearby to some of the park's wilderness campgrounds (* relatively). The total hike would take us to 3 different campgrounds, over approximately 27 miles, and through nearly every life zone in the range (Apache Highlands Desert, Mesquite woodland, Oak woodland, pine-oak woodland, Ponderosa pine, Mixed Conifer). Being that this was a backpacking trip, I saved weight by not taking my camera, but did have my phone (an Android S4 which takes some of the best macrophotos I've ever seen) which took the entirety of the photos in this post.

May 19th, 2015
We were dropped off at the southern edge of the range, at the Madrona Trailhead, the site of an old ranger station and now the jump-off point for a government mule (not the jam band) packer  that makes the trip to the top of the range to re-supply the resident backcountry ranger. The Madrona TH lies on Rincon creek, at an elevation a little over 3,000 ft, where the Saguaro is still king and the Mesquite occupies all the space that's left. At 3:00pm we set out into a mildly warm day (mid 80s) and began making our way up 1700 vertical feet to our first camp at Grass Shack. This was my first experience backpacking around Saguaro!

My coworker Samantha and I backpacking through the Saguaro on a mid-may day.

Along the way we had some nice desert resident birds, noticeably quieter than they were a month prior during the height of their breeding season; Verdins, Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, Pyrrhuloxia, and even a Varied Bunting, unusual at this latitude.  Taking a rest beside one of the main draws below Wasp Spring, something stirred in the first Oak leaves along the trail. Out trudged a healthy adult Gila Monster foraging onto the rocks hardly paying us any attention. This was the highest elevation Gila I'd seen this season (3 in the past 4 weeks), he was calm for a little while, but soon became agitated at the photographer.

Gila Monster, Saguaro National Park, May, 2015

As the vegetation began to transition to oak-dominated communities in the higher slopes, the butterfly community began changing as well; less Pipevine Swallowtails and Empress Leilias, more Gray  Hairstreaks and other blues.

Gray Hairstreak, Saguaro National Park, May 2015

Farther up the trail while taking another break, I put my butt down on a trail-side boulder. Enjoying the view for a full 10 minutes, I shifted my weight and suddenly a flutter of wings and energy bolted from just beside me - a Common Poorwill had been sitting on nest the entire time an arm's length away, holding her nerve until she could take it no more. Poorwills nest directly on the ground, where they simply brush a few rocks away for a clean spot big enough for them to sit, and voila a nest! Perhaps they are protected in plain sight by this strategy's bold simplicity.

Wash near Wasp Spring, first oaks of the southern Slopes of the Rincon Mountains, Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

Common Poorwill nest. Saguaro National Park, May 2015

A long mile later we reached a large bench on the mountain of exposed bedrock, where took a right at a trail junction for a mercifully flat .6 last mile into Grass Shack Campground. By this elevation at nearly 6000ft, we'd climbed 2000ft on the day, and had gone through a major vegetation zone change.

Samantha cresting a bench in the terrain. Almost to camp! Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

Praying Mantis Greeter, Grass Shack CG, Saguaro National Park. May 2015.

Grass Shack Campground - 5,800 ft

One of the many water pools along Grass Shack's stream. Saguaro National Park. May 2015.

A praying mantis greeted us as we approached Grass Shack Campground, bidding us welcome to this mesic oasis. Grass Shack sits along a seasonally wet creek with many tinajas and scatterd Alisos (Sycamores in english) along it's banks. We found abundant clear water along the stream's course. After a nice dinner of packed-in burritos from Viva Burrito (Chile Relleno - delicious!) it was time for a night's asleep under the stars.

Camp. Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

The night came without a moon, revealing a sparkling night sky, the kind so common out here in the Sky Islands, where the deserts below and arid climate seem to suck all the moisture and particles out of the atmosphere, leaving a full astronomical show on what seems like perpetually cloudless nights. Lack of a moon didn't stop the abundant nightbirds from singing their chorus, Great-horned Owl, Western-screech Owl, and family of Elf Owls all hooted and barked in their own particular rhythms, while Common Poorwills pumped out their rhythmic notes like a metronome.

 The next morning's survey started mercifully not-early, so after a 10 minute walk and a 445 start, things ran smoothly. VIRGINIA'S WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, and even a few PAINTED REDSTARTS  at this elevation were a treat. A COOPER'S HAWK and a RED-TAILED HAWK being mobbed by a CASSIN'S KINGBIRD had nice flybys down the canyon. BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER seemed odd at this elevation, but Grass Shack has a well developed, if thin, sycamore lined riparian corridor that is suitable for this species.

Tinajas near Grass Shack CG, Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

Tinajas, Saguaro National Park. May 2015

The real treat of the morning came after the transect was completed and I had time to explore the wild tinajas and waterfalls along the route. The water was only a trickle in it's most active areas, but the pools were alive and healthy, some cascading into others in that graceful way that rock carves from water. One tinaja, a large round one at the top of a sizable waterfall held at least 2 dozen Canyon Tree-frogs, I was alerted to their presence as I approached by the sound of at least10 jumping from the rock into the water. The real stalwarts stayed on the rock wall for a decent phone shot. Canyon Tree-frogs can be highly variable in their skin patterning and these showed off an impressive range of colors, from limestone white to speckled granite gray.

Canyon Tree-frogs above a tinaja pool. Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

Instant Coffee Blues.

Back at camp I made some very disappointing instant coffee - it's just never like the real thing! I must admit however, despite it's sub-par taste, there's something beautiful about the way dehydrated coffee granules dissolve into hot water.


The hike from Grass Shack to Manning is a relatively short (5 mi), but steep (>2000ft) trail that follows a single ridgeline up to the pines. The sun was warm, making shade sacred. Bird activity completely died by 1000. That birds go quiet during the heat of the day is evident to anyone who's spent a full day of work outdoors, but there's nothing like experiencing that kind of quieting on a long backpack day. As the heat rises and the birds go quiet, the cicadas kick up with their grating violin concierto. Leida Ministreaks were out in good numbers, as was our first Arizona Sister butterfly of the trip. A female Gray Sanddragon (thanks Western Odonata facebook page for ID help!) was also found along the trail, a strange taxa to encounter in these arid woodlands.

Leida Ministreak. The fine speckling of this species makes it one of the most attractive Lycaenidae in my opinion. Saguaro National Park appx 7,000ft elevation. May, 2015.

Female Gray Sanddragon (Progomphus borealis). Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

Pine-oak woodland above 7000ft

We reached the pines eventually after encountering only one other group of 5, a Government packer with his string of 4 mules. I kept myself from calling him 'Mule-skinner' (referencing Little Big Man) and instead asked that ubiquitous backpacking question, "how many miles to XYZ?" although I already knew the answer, it's always nice to hear you are close to the destination. The GREATER HORNED LIZARDS were out in full force above 7000ft, these are truly the kings of the herps in these high elevations.

Greater Horned Lizard, Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

Manning Camp, Arizona - Elevation 8,000 ft, May 22nd, 2015

Manning camp is the base of operations for nearly every backcountry activity within Saguaro National Park. It's heliport, good water supply, and fire-camp-ready outfitting make it the summer residence of at least a few fire crews during high fire activity season of late summer, and it's water, kitchen, refrigerator, and shade make it a welcome base for any biology crew working in the highlands. Shannon, the wonderful backcountry ranger who lives at the cabin for 5 months a year is a gracious host with an intimate knowledge of the trails, history, and goings-on at this undervisited sky island crest. The cabin was built in the 1910s by the then-mayor of Tucson as a summer get-away for his family. In what must have been a harsh taste of government right-of-way, the Forest Service took the cabin and his homestead claim away only two years later and turned the area into a forest preserve. By the 1930s the land was given over to Saguaro National Park and the cabin became a residence for nearly 80 years worth of park and research staff. Solar panels keep the lights and chargers on (cell phones and radios), while propane keeps the stove, refrigerator, and backup lights running. As the evening sun sets and the MEXICAN WHIPORWILLS began singing, the lights of the cabin amidst the pines gave a cozy feeling of a time long forgotten.

The high elevation transects near Manning camp yielded some nice high elevation birds; all of our expected upland warblers; RED-FACED WARBLER, VIRGINIA'S WARBLER, AUDUBON'S WARBLER, GRACE'S WARBLER, and PAINTED REDSTART, and good numbers of the regional specialty OLIVE WARBLER. STELLAR'S JAYS and HAIRY WOODPECKERS provided a harsh-counterpart vocalization to the sweet warbler songs. HERMIT THRUSHES sang their painfully beautiful ethereal songs in all directions, giving the forest a beautiful flute-like echo. WESTERN TANAGERS were around in good numbers, as were CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHERS and GREATER PEWEES - perhaps my favorite flycatcher singers with their catcall song of 'Do-dip, Do-dip, Jose-Marrriiaa'. Raptors were scarce this trip, with a single ZONE-TAILED HAWK call coming from across the mountains from a likely nest. While I never saw any raptors, I did find a pile of Stellars Jay feathers, that a likely Northern Pygmy Owl or Northern Goshawk had gotten a hold of it.

In the afternoon I went for a hike towards Reef Rock, which gives a commanding view towards the south. Along the way I encountered Bracken Fern just starting to 'leaf-out', with their fiddle heads reaching for the sun.

Bracken Fern 'fiddle-heads', Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

The view towards the south from Reef Rock, high in Saguaro National Park.

While conditions were not great for butterflying, with mostly overcast skies, and few blooming flowers, butterflies were still present. Some Acmon Blues were a real treat as I had not seen this species in a couple of months. Fatal Metalmarks were found feeding on some groundsels, later in the day I saw the ubiquitous Painted Lady and a few Northern Cloudywings.

Fatal Metalmark Butterfly. Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

Acmon Blue Butterfly, Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

Painted Lady Butterfly, Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

Returning back to camp by the early afternoon, a gravid (pregnant) Plateau Lizard provided lots of entertainment in her seasonal home - the camp's fire ring.

Plateau Lizard, Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

By 1500 it was time to depart from Manning, not an easy thing to do when you know you're heading down mountain into warmer temps and more mosquitos. Sam and I took the classic 'Manning Camp' photo in front of the door, waved goodbye to Shannon and headed west towards Cowhead Saddle. The first few miles of the trail were beautiful as we decended from Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir into more of a mixed Ponderosa and Chihuahan Pine mixed Oak community. There's something about seeing big healthy Schott's Yucca and Agave growing in the undercanopy of Pine trees that really drive home where you are biogeographically. After 4 miles we made it to Cowhead Saddle, and with a quick right hand turn north to Douglas Spring we were *almost there.

The trip from Cowhead Saddle to the Douglas Springs Trailhead on the edge of Tucson the following day, a span of about 18 hours, was mostly a blur. Our final couple of miles into Douglas Springs campground were more of a limping stumble down an increasingly rocky trail. About half-way, we caught wind of some smoke, a wildfire had started several miles away to the northeast. Thinking perhaps this was the smoke from some previously reported fire we thought little of it and kept hiking. Along the way I saw what I first assumed was an Orange Skipperling, however once landed I was able to snag a shot of the craziest looking moth I had seen in a long time. ID is pending, but this other-worldly creature was certainly beautiful.

Unidentified Moth, Night birds, mosquitos, gnats

Night came quickly after a dinner of maceroni and cheese accompanied by a constant swatting of mosquitos and gnats. Crawling under my sheet was a welcome respite from the bugs as Elf Owls, Great-horned Owl, and plenty of Common Poorwills began vocalizing shortly after dark. These were very active for the first 30 minutes of dusk, slowly fading into night.

Douglas Springs CG, Saguaro National Park. May, 2015.

The early next morning wakeup had me hiking uphill out of camp about 1.5 miles to the beginning of the transect. As I looked towards the sunrise, a large amount of smoke a ridge over appared to be cresting the ridge. A few flaming junipers and oaks were in full view with my binoculars. Just as this scene became apparent my phone picked up some service and several voicemails from our office telling us to evacuate and leave the transect area immediately. As these were sent the previous night, I called in, was told more about the fire and began making my way back down the trail. I had completed 3 of the 7 points on the transect, but the rest would have to be scraped and re-visited on our second trip into the Rincons in mid June. I found Sam on her transect in the wash below camp, we reluctantly packed up camp and began heading back to Tucson. While disappointing, the fire did present a beautiful sunrise addition looking towards Reddington Pass, which seperates the Rincons from the Santa Catalina mountains. Birds seen in the morning were typical of the habitat, Mexican Jays, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Scott's Orioles, Ash-throated Flycatchers, large numbers of Bewick's Wrens, a few Black-throated Gray Warblers, and Hepatic Tanagers, and a lone Blue Grosbeak.

A fire on Reddington Pass adds to the colors of a Sky Island sunrise. Looking east from Douglas Springs trail, Rincon Mountains, Saguaro National Park, May 2015.

The 6 mile hike back to Tucson was mostly uneventful, plenty of butterflies (American Snout, Pipevine Swallowtail, Queens, Orange Sulphur, Dainty Sulphur, and Gray Hairstreak to name a few), and quite a few reptiles, including a beautiful Regal Horned Lizard, and my first ever good looks at an Eastern Collared Lizard.

Eastern Collared Lizards must be the liberaces of the reptile world; stunning shades of blues and greens, with yellows white spotting, with some very cute yellow finger-mittens.

Eastern Collared Lizard, Saguaro National Park. May, 2015

Regal Horned Lizard. Saguaro National Park. May, 2015.

In all, we had spent 4 days on the mountain, seen 79 species, a good representation of the bird life of the Rincons, approximately 30 species of butterflies (have not analyzed this data as of yet), and good survey of the reptiles of the various elevations. We returned and did this trip several weeks later, adding an extra day to complete the Douglas Springs transects, that will be reported in a future blog post. Hasta!