February 12, 2019 – Having spent the last several (5-6)
months working on the construction, furnishing and decoration of our Casita in
Benson AZ, to be our ‘winter residence’, and then the last two months
recuperating from Bill’s VA total knee replacement, we decided to step out and
try a short drive/hike visit to the Whitewater Draw (a State Wildlife Refuge
Area) in McNeal Arizona (about 30 miles from the Mexican border town of Douglas
AZ and Agua Prieta MX, where thousands (25,000 to 35,000) Sandhill Cranes stop
at during their national migration, arriving around October and leaving in March
to April, headed back up North, as do the ones that go to Florida.
Mass Ascension of several thousand cranes from the field where they had been feeding all morning. They are very social birds and socialize, flying, feeding and doing most things together. Except for mating season, the males are often found to travel in small groups of males together.
Mary watching awed by the sudden ascension of 1,000+ cranes from the open field.
Entrance to the Whitewater Draw Refuge.
Mary signing us in.
The Whitewater Draw Wildlife Refuge Area (formerly a cattle ranch), was purchased in 1997 by the State of Arizona and is now managed to enhance wetland habitats and provide waterfowl habitats, as well as management for plains leopard frogs, and for wildlife viewing by the public. Since 1997, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has made substantial improvements to make this a premier southeastern Arizona wildlife viewing site. Available water is managed to provide marshland, mudflats, and open water areas, even during droughts, when water is even pumped into these mud flats to keep the area enhanced for the ecological wildlife it supports. Viewing opportunities have also been enhanced with viewing decks, an interpretive trail, viewing scopes, and an educational kiosk, all in the interest of allowing excellent viewing opportunities, while not disturbing the wildlife that lives or visits this area. Several ponds surrounded by native vegetation provide habitat that has become rare in southeast Arizona. Native grasslands, with intermittently flooded wetlands surrounded by agricultural fields, provide shelter and feeding opportunities for the cranes and a wide variety of other birds, amphibians, and reptiles in this area.
The number of wintering Sandhill cranes has increased dramatically since the 1950s, and over 30,000 Sandhill cranes may be present in winter, making this the premier crane viewing site in Arizona, October through March, yearly. The number of water birds wintering here has also increased in recent years, and thousands of ducks and other water birds are usually present all winter. Wetland birds include a wide variety of ducks, geese, herons, egrets, and migrating shorebirds, gulls, and terns. The small stand of riparian woodland attracts many migratory birds including warblers, vireos, flycatchers, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks, buntings, and sparrows. In this area and neighboring areas, it is said by the AZ Department of Fish and Game that are some of the best places to see wintering birds of prey, including Golden Eagles, Prairie and Peregrine falcons, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s hawk, American Kestrel, Red-tailed hawk, Merlin, and Rough-legged hawks. Certainly in our own back yard in Benson we have often seen Peregrine falcons and the American Kestrel and Red-Tailed hawks. One even landed on the parapet of our roof from where he or she could scope the open field behind us.
Mammals that
can be found in the area include the javelina, coyotes (not the Mexican illegal
immigrant traffickers, although there are certainly some of those in the area
too with Mexico just a few miles away), mule deer, black-tailed jackrabbit, and
the cute desert cottontail. Whitewater Draw also features the healthiest and
most stable of the plains leopard frog populations in the state. This frog is
one of the most narrowly distributed of all Arizona leopard frogs. A variety of
other amphibians live around and breed in the draw including the Green toad,
Great Plains toad, Mexican spadefoot, and Sonoran Desert toad. Some of the more
common reptiles of the area include Western Hog-nosed snake, Gopher snake, Nightsnake,
Desert Kingsnake, common Side-blotched lizard, Texas Horned lizard, and
Southwestern Fence lizard. One of Arizona’s more unique invertebrates, the
whip-scorpion or ‘vinegaroon’, can be commonly viewed in this area as well
(boots are encouraged), particularly after sunset on paved roadways (with a
black-light).
Mary well-covered from the sun as her Northerner milky-white skin is sensitive to the sun
One group of Sandhill cranes, with a dust-devil (sand or dust whirlwind) in the background).
They settle down in various groups but usually based on where the standing water ponds are, as that is where they feel safe for spending the night to evade predators as they can hear their movement through water and the cranes can take off in a second. There is plenty of water ponds to accommodate everyone.
Notice the different species sharing the ponds. They can do so because of their varying individual feeding habits and needs not infringing on each other.
Bill, after all the weight he lost (70 lbs.) for his knee surgery. He went from a waist size 44 to a 34, from a 2XL shirt to a L. Now walking pretty good on his new knee from Dec 4, 2018.
We
had planned to go around 6am to be there around daybreak, as that is when the Sandhill
cranes (like the ‘Mass Ascension’ of all the hot-air balloons talking off at
the same time during the Albuquerque International Baloon Fiesta in NM in October yearly), ALL
take off together and fill the sky, leaving their roosts to go feed in the
neighboring alfalfa fields and circular-wheeled irrigated fields; then they
return to their roosts around noon. However at 5am when we awoke it was still
28 degrees outside so we opted to delay our departure and went around 10am,
arriving there around 11am. Still we had a great day as by then the temperature
was in the 50s and as luck would have it, as we approached the Whitewater Draw
area, turning (South) on N. Coffman Rd, off of W. Davis Rd, we found an entire
field full of Sandhill cranes (still feeding). We pulled off the road to take
photos and not more than 10 minutes later the entire field of cranes elevated
and took to flight heading back to their roosts about a mile away, in the Draw.
WOW!!!! That was an awesome sight.
Then as we parked at the Whitewater Draw Refuge and saw the rest of the cranes already there (over 15,000 to 20,000 we were told) our jaws dropped and our cameras started clicking. This is awesome. To all our friends in FL who see 10-20 cranes flying together and call it a ‘flock’, we can only say ‘FLOCK THAT… This is a flock. J The cranes spend the night in the shallow (6-9”) water for protection from predators, and the ones that do not have water to stand in, are surrounded by the many other cranes around them. At one point we were walking along the path and suddenly thought we heard a truck coming up behind us. It was not a truck. It was several thousand Sandhill cranes taking flight and flying around. The sound was from all their wings flapping...
There were
also Northern Shoveler (kind of like a Mallard but with a darker head than green) and other ducks, white Snow Geese (black tipped wings), long-billed Dowitcher (looks
like a Sandpiper), Wigeons (brown ducks), and others. We are buying an Audubon
Society Bird Identification book to be able to better tell what we find and report these more accurately.
Hopefully that will help.
Either Snow (black wing tips) or Ross's (black tails) Geese
Northern Shoveler ducks
These are Conservative ducks... swimming RIGHT.
These are Liberal ducks... swimming WRONG.
And this is what happens when they realize they went the WRONG way.
A Conservative celebrating that he is headed the RIGHT way.
A male and female Sandhill cranes, Males have the red head to attract the females.
If only it was that easy for humans.
Long-billed Dowitchers (Sandpiper are smaller and have shorter beaks).
Nearing lunchtime we passed a tree that was clearly posted 'Owl Roost area' and though no nest was seen the owls were seen on the tree.
This is the parking area and a covered pavilion for shelter if/when it rains or for people to have lunch in the shade in the summer. This is the car or small van parking. Further back (seen in the background) is the larger RV parking area where RVs can spend the night to be there for the dawn ascension of the birds when they leave to go feed. We'll be back for that in the motorhome as in the motor home we'll have inverter power and if necessary gas furnace, water, restrooms, shower, etc and satellite TV, plus cooking facilities.
After about an hour there and a mile or so walk around the Draw, we had lunch on the truck's tailgate and then discovered a nesting pair of Great Horned Owls under the big building next to the parking area. They were both asleep, as they are nocturnal hunters, with one in the nest and the other on the other side of the building. With a little encouragement (Bill meowing like a cat) they both opened their eyes for about 15-30 seconds, for a 'photo opportunity', then closed them again and proceeded to ignore us. These are magnificent birds.
We then drove back home following an alternate route to explore new vistas, returning headed East on W Davis Rd, to the small town of McNeal (current population about 100 and declining), which is about 20 miles from Douglas AZ (at the Mexican border); then north on US Hwy 191 for 6 miles to the town of Elfrida, which is supposed to have a good restaurant called the 'Kountry Kafe', however their sign is almost bigger than their building, but for a town of 450+/- people, what can one expect. Just outside of Elfrida we had witnessed a triple wildfire burning by itself in a field just outside of town, so on our way through town we stopped at the Elfrida Fire Dept to report the wildfire, for which they were very appreciative. We continued to follow US Hwy 191 north, past Sunizona and through Sunsites (population of about 2000) where we saw a big fire truck heading South with sirens blaring, possibly to assist the wildfire we had just reported back in Elfrida at MM 23.
Then continuing
to drive north, we decided to turn West at W. Ironwood Rd to go check out the
campground at the Cochise Stronghold, which we can see from the other side of
the mountain, from our back porch. This was the winter residence of Chiricahua Apache Chief
‘Cochise’ (?-1874), prominent leader of the ‘Chiricahua’ Apache tribe, feared for their settlement
raids of the mid-18th century. He was arrested by Lt. George Bascom
of the US Army for allegedly kidnapping a rancher’s (John Ward’s) adopted-son (Felix
Tellez). Cochise insisted that he had not kidnapped the boy but the Army did
not believe him and under the pretense of an invitation to visit the Army camp
for dialog, Cochise and his elders were arrested and Cochise was imprisoned
until the boy was returned. Cochise escaped his confines and for the following decade
led his people against the settlers on both sides of the border as Cochise felt
that both US and Mexican settlements were infringing on their lands. The US Army
reacting to calls of protection by the American settlers in the US continued to
try to capture Cochise but each time Cochise eluded capture by retreating into
his encampment in the Dragoon Mountains, which by the topography seemed
impenetrable.. Within a few years of the end of his life, tired of the ongoing
fighting and in his declining years, he finally accepted the government’s offer
to relocate the Chiricahuas to a larger reservation in the southeastern corner
of Arizona. He died in 1874 and on that night the story is that his braves
painted his body in yellow, black and vermilion and took him deep into the
Dragoon Mountains and lowered his body into a rocky crevice, the exact location
which remains unknown. However, that section of the Dragoon Mountains is known
a ‘Cochise’s Stronghold’. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, about a
decade after Cochise’s death, Felix Tellez (the boy whose alleged kidnapping by
Cochise and the Chiricahua Apache had started the war between them and the
settlers and US Army), was suddenly identified as an Apache Scout for the US
Army, and reported that he had been kidnapped by a group of Western Apache,
NOT by Cochise or the Chiricahuas.
So sad… and the government injustices continue.
Speaking of the government, here is one of the Border Patrol Checkpoints. This one on US Hwy 191. Surprisingly they seem to know who they should question more critically and who they can waive through with "Thank you for stopping...Have a nice day" (like we had a choice of stopping or not).
The campground was deep into the mountains where we had to forge wet washes (uncommon in Arizona) and travel through unimproved roads. Thank goodness for our 4x4 high clearance F150 truck. We definitely can’t take the motor home there, but will be back to camp for 1-2 nights with the truck. The area is quiet and well maintained within the campground… no potable water or hook-up sewer or electric, but there is non-potable water available and bathroom men’s and ladies ‘facilities’, with good paved camping spaces with outdoor grills, fire pits and concrete bench tables. Ideally, there should also be an abundance of wildlife in the evenings and dawn hours.
We came up on a deep wash with water in it. We threw a big rock in the middle to see how deep it might be and though deep, Mary said she was sure that Edith would get us across. However, I volunteered to stay behind to take photos of her braving the elements, until I was sure that she did get across... dry. As it turned our it wasn't as deep as it looked.
The town of Cochise, alongside the Stronghold in the Dragoon mountain retreat had a population of about 3,000 in its day, but now only has about 50 full-time residents who live there, just 5 miles south of Interstate I-10.
See you on our next outing.
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