Mt. Hopkins Drive
Blog 388: Back to Amado
From Roper Lake State Park to De Anza RV Park near Amado was an easy 141 miles on good roads. We had spent the month of April earlier this year and were happy to return to this excellent park for another month.
Canoa Ranch
Almost every morning we drove the six miles to Canoa Ranch, a great place to walk the Pups and look for birds.
Here we saw roadrunners, red-tailed hawks, a northern harrier, Cooper’s hawks, gray hawk, curved-bill thrashers white-crowned sparrows, black phoebes, western kingbirds, vermillion flycatchers, a great blue heron, and cardinals.
Elephant Head Road
A couple of times we took the Elephant Head Road to the Whipple Observatory and hiked around the picnic grounds where we saw a “Mexican General” or the horse lubber grasshopper.
It is nicknamed the Mexican General as its colors are the same as the old Mexican Army. Here is the green-green view from up the Mt. Hopkins Drive.
Patagonia
One day we journeyed to Patagonia Lake State Park and hiked the Birding Trail. Nice walk, but we didn’t see squat. From there we drove to the Paton Center for hummingbirds. Very cool place, but unfortunately our Pups were acting up so we had little time to spend.
Madera Canyon
Three times we made the drive to beautiful Madera Canyon, and each time we never made it to the trails as we stopped at the Santa Rita Lodge. This is a wonderful place to see and shoot hummers.
Along with the hummers, we saw Mexican jay, house finch, hepatic tanager, Arizona woodpecker, and acorn woodpecker.
Also, the lodge is the home of a family of Catamundi, a South American raccoon. Here is a healthy specimen searching for his sugar supply.
This and That
Finally, here is a nymph gray bird grasshopper and a buffalo bur, another highly toxic nightshade. Another example of how looks can be deceiving.
See you next time.