After our second and last night in our AirBnB we explore the outside of the house for interesting moths and find quite a few, it seems the area would be quite productive for a more focused search.
But we are here more for the birds, the most special one that we see in the morning being a Pyrrhuloxia, the first one for this year. We eat breakfast from our provisions and then it is time to leave the beautiful AirBnB and return home via two stops in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.
The first stop is at Arivaca Creek Trail. When we arrive there we assume the trailhead is closed becaue the parking lot is full of border patrol cars. We pull into the parking and no one tells us anything so we decide that they are here just for a break or they just finished an operation. As we prepare for the hike car by car they leave and suddenly we are the only car in the parking lot, spooky. Still we start on the figure 8 trail, it is shaded a bit which is great as the temperatures are climbing over 80 already.
There are some nice views on the trail however we are here for the birds and they do not disappoint. A common inhabitant here besides the Lucy’s Warblers seem to be the Bewick’s Wren with their songs following us throughout the hike.
Something more rare is the Dusky-Capped Flycatcher that can only be seen in the US in the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico. Squirrels are not rare but still fun to see, always.
Brown-crested flycatcher is another Arizona specialty and while the Hooded Oriole is not that rare they are always welcome too!
At the middle point we decide to go counter clockwise because there is one more person on the trail and we do not want to follow them on the whole hike. It is a good choice as we don’t meet him again and the area is quite scenic.
While the trail is maintained, if you can pass under or over it they do not do any cleaning forcing us to go over and under a few tree trunks, quite fun really.
Almost at the other end of the 8 loop is an offshot that climbs up to a a nearby peak. It is too hot and late in the day for us to try that trail, maybe another time. Now it is time to return to the car and drive to the last attraction of the trip, the headquarters of Buenos Aires NWR and the surrounding area to look for Masked Bobwhite.
