Today we start on our long weekend trip to Arivaca to enjoy the cooler weather near the border and hopefully see a few interesting birds. As we leave right after work we are hungry when we pass through Tucson and stop at a Mexican restaurant to get some takeout for Arivaca as we don’t expect anything to be open when we arrive.
The AirBnB that we have chosen is quite beautiful in a former ranch house with deer heads adorning the main room and a separate game room with slots, foosball table and also a (plastic) axe throw area.
It even has a margarita station which fits with the theme of our dinner, tacos and quesadilla from Tucson. We do not make any margaritas as we lack the alcohol but still an interesting addition to an AirBnB.
In the morning we can see the house in its full glory, quite a nice AirBnB even with an outside jacuzzi and an old orchard.
As we eat breakfast we enjoy the great views and also the birds even though they play hide and seek like the Cassin’s Kingbird in the nearby tree. We were hoping it is a Thick Billed Kingbird which we came to see in the area but no luck yet.
The reason we came here is the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, a huge refuge protecting a very rare subspecies of Northern Bobwhite the Masked Bobwhite. Given the size of the protected area and that it is close to the border other highly desirable birds can be found from time to time on the trails and we start with the Arivaca Cienega Trail really close to the AirBnB.
There are quite a few flowers, mostly Mexican Poppies along the trail and with the flowers there are also butterflies all around us. It is early in the morning so it is not yet hot and we hope to also see birds along the trail, for now it is mostly Lucy’s Warblers that we hear.
We continue along the trail enjoying the views and then we stop at a group of huge cottonwoods which seem to have lots of birds including some beautiful red tanagers. And then we hear and after some looking around we see them, the Thick-Billed Kingbirds that we came here to see! They are quite vocal and jump from tree to tree as we try to catch glimpses of them. Always great to see the birds where you expect to see them ;).
The trail is a loop trail and it is not a long one but we stop a lot to listen and look for birds. There is also a nice stretch of boardwalk but there is no water below it at this time of year. However it is used by a couple of roadrunners, something fun to observe as they look back many, many times before deciding to move on.
In this section we also find evidence of illegal immigrants passing through, there seems to be a rule for them to wear specific footwear, maybe to not leave any identifiable footprints? Either way we continue on a shaded ssection of the trail, which is welcome as it is getting warmer outside.
There are also chats, hawks and a few other birds that we watch from a bench on the trail and then it is back to the car as we intend to explore the road further south towards Ruby the rest of the day.
