My progress so far has resulted in visits to the Sierra Ancha Wilderness and the Rim Country just below the Mogollon Rim to the north and east of Payson. Both of these areas have vast amounts of exploring to do, and I am far from saying that I'm anywhere near content with my endeavors. A bird man can wish for some crazy Mexican vagrant like an Eared Quetzal (which has occurred a few times in Gila County), a chance at finding my first Northern Goshawk for Gila County, seeing some cool mammals of the forest, birding along remote areas that have never been eBirded before, and detecting numbers of common high elevation birds that have always been "buddies" of mine. There's always owls and Whip-poor-wills too. As well as scenic slot canyons that harbor shade and chances of more surprises.
This summer goal of mine started on June 7th, 2019. I went up Highway 260 and up and east from Payson. Colcord Road is the first place I chose to bird at, at it sits just below the Mogollon Rim. It is dominated by a surrounding habitat of pine and oak forest, and it has denser mixed coniferous forests in other sections. Colcord Road has plenty of forest and atv roads that branch off of it, and those are the areas I usually like to explore and bird. One road I like to climb transcends steeply up towards the Rim itself. This road accesses stands of both live and burned trees, and it did produce American Three-toed Woodpeckers last year. I was hoping that lighting would strike twice on the road for the scarce-in-Gila County woodpecker, but it wasn't to be said for a second straight time during the adventure. Among a cast of birds were a few Greater Pewees singing their classic, "Jose-Maria" song.
June 7th
Colcord Road jeep roads
FR 188 to Valentine Tank
Valentine Ridge Campground
O.W. Bridge of Canyon Creek
Upper Canyon Creek and Fish Hatchery
Sinkhole Trail 179 via Two-Sixty Trailhead
The Greater Pewee is a songbird that I really enjoy observing, finding, and listening to. They are more common in the sky island ranges of southeastern Arizona, but they do extend their range in much smaller numbers further north into central Arizona.
The Greater Pewee usually sings and forages high up in pine trees. One would be considered lucky to get eye level views of this flycatcher.
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| ATV trail/road off of Colcord Road |
Most of the area is dominated by pine and oak forests, but the drier sections that harbor juniper in the mix is favored by Black-throated Gray Warblers.
After Colcord Road, I went further east to rep out visits of Forest Road 188 to Valentine Tank, Valentine Ridge Campground, and the scenic Canyon Creek. The latter included visits to both Upper and Lower sections of the creek.
Indigo Buntings, as well as Lazuli Buntings, have presented themselves to me at times during my adventures on these trips. They all have been alongside healthy streams that have plenty of vegetation. This Indigo Bunting was singing along Upper Canyon Creek.
Black Phoebe at Upper Camp Creek.
Osprey going over Upper Canyon Creek Fish Hatchery.
I love the Sinkhole Trail Number 179 via the Two-Sixty Trailhead. In a short climb it enters a lush canyon full of mixed coniferous trees. Red-faced Warblers and Western Tanagers thrive, as well as a handful of other forest species. The timber in the canyon is thick and is a great escape from the sun.
Western Tanager is one of the commonest birds during my high elevation adventures. As you can see, it's cool-looking. The more of them I see, the better.
This Virginia's Warbler responded aggressively to my pishing while on the Sinkhole Trail.
This Plumbeous Vireo did too, only Douglas fir branches got in the way of a good focus.
June 14th: Sierra Anchas
On June 14th and 15th, I took a two day camping trip up into the Sierra Anchas. The Sierra Anchas are a scenic, mysterious, and beautiful mountain range that are highly under-birded. It's lack of coverage and vast terrains ignite my thirst to bird the area and dig up what I can dig up. On the 14th, I drove up Road 288 to Forest Road 410. I took Forest Road 410 a short distance and parked, where I walked east for over four miles one way along the road. I've driven this road before in it's entirety, but I wanted to see what birds I could come up with by walking along the entire stretch. What's special about 410 is not much about the road itself, but about the canyon one walks through while driving or walking the road. It also parallels the beautiful Reynolds Creek. Pine, fir, oak, and sycamore make up the habitat along this stretch, and in my hike I encountered over 30 species of birds along FR 410. 30 species might not seem like a whole lot, but i these forested high elevations I've come to learn that 30 or more species is a solid list in the months of June and July.
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| This is my Sierra Ancha face. I wish I was there right now. |
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| Reynolds Creek along FR 410 |
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| A nearby devastating wildfire resulted in lots of smoke floating into the Anchas. It gave the scenery an added haze. |
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| At the end of FR 410, I like to take in the scenery. |
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| A small "waterfall" canyon |
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| Reynolds Creek |
In the Sierra Anchas in areas with thick timber of mixed conifer trees and a variety of deciduous trees, the Red-faced Warbler is found in high numbers. This is one of my favorite birds to watch in high elevations. Young Red-faced Warblers were out and about, and some of them don't look so "Red-faced". Some adult Red-faced Warblers put on some fun-to-watch "distraction displays" in front of my in attempts to deter my attention away from their nesting sites. Some Red-faced Warbler families were further along than others in their breeding results. More after these two pictures.
Along Forest Road 410 I encountered this Band-tailed Pigeon. I loved the sighting, and I rarely get to see this species perched below eye level and up close. Luckily, the pigeon liked it's perch just as much as I liked taking it's photograph.
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| Hairy Woodpecker |
Western Tanager cooperating well in the Sierra Anchas. Switching sides, to the right to the left...
In the Anchas, I walked up a random slot canyon off of a main canyon in pursuit of awesome scenery and a search for a pair of Spotted Owls that I like to visit. Looking through a window of bright green gave me the result that I wanted.
Spotted Owls don't mind human presence most of the time, but they still need to be respected. I was able to get about 50 feet away from them to snap these photographs. I'm thankful for what powerful zooms on cameras can do. The male Spotty is on the left and the female is on the right. Female Spotted Owls, as in all owls, and as you can see in this picture, are bigger than males.
Although they rested their piercing black eyes most of the time, they did open their eyes to me a few times in curiosity. I never grow tired of these incredible owls.
Back to the Red-faced Warblers. In the canyons and paths that I walked through in the Sierra Anchas, their families were prevalent.
Here is a young, recently fledged, Red-faced Warbler. Not so Red-faced huh...
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| I missed parent feeding him by a second. |
Distraction displays along the trails put on by parent warblers was thrilling to watch.
After the area of FR 410, I went further north on Highway 288 to bird along the main road itself. To my surprise, the birding along this road was very productive even in the afternoon. I hiked a trail from a place called the McFadden Trailhead. I walked down a random drainage. I birded Rose Creek Campground. I drove up scenic Forest Road 487 to it's ending limits after paralleling the beautiful Workman Creek. At this point I was near the highest point in the Sierra Anchas, which is Aztec Peak. I didn't make it up to the peak, but it was fun birding around the highest elevation in the range. The birding continued to be pleasant up until the end of the day, and I decided to camp out in these highest elevations of the Anchas. A Greater Pewee above Workman Creek Falls stood out among the common forest birds.
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| Black-throated Gray Warbler along the McFadden Trailhead |
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| Wild Turkey female who had young with her above the random drainage I hiked. I didn't know they were bedded down and the sprung up just feet away. |
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| Madrean Alligator Lizard |
June 15th: Sierra Anchas
June 15th was the second full day of my camping trip to the Sierra Anchas. I had hiked close to twenty miles of terrain the previous day and was exhausted, but I planned to get even more exhausted in a super fun way. It was all about Parker Creek. Walking along it, beside it, and up into the canyon that harbors it.
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| Parker Creek Canyon. Highway 288 level.. |
Parker Creek has a lush deciduous forest along it via Highway 288. I enjoyed that for the first hour of the day, as well as a small Forest Road, FR 142, that is just above Parker Creek. 142 goes out into chaparral and juniper habitat and ends in less than a half mile. It is good for birds such as Black-chinned Sparrow, Scott's Oriole, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and Gray Vireo. After birding these smaller sections of Parker Creek, I decided to go on a very long hike on the Parker Creek Trail number 160. This trail was awesome, and climbed up through chaparral, mixed conifer, oak, and spectacular scenery. Burned areas were in places along the trail also.
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| Looking down on Highway 288 from the Parker Creek Trail |
Birds were diverse on the trail. Some of them included Cordilleran Flycatcher, Mexican Jay, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Painted Redstart, Red-faced Warbler, Band-tailed Pigeon, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Western and Hepatic Tanagers.
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| Rufous-crowned Sparrow |
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| Black-headed Grosbeak |
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| Painted Redstart |
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| The other "upper" side of Parker Creek Canyon |
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| Band-tailed Pigeon |
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| The result of forest fire. It wasn't too bad walking through this stuff in stretches throughout the trail. The trail was still easy to follow, surprisingly. |
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| The hoodoos of the Anchas |
A scary moment occurred for me when I was down in the drainage itself and walking along upper Parker Creek before the trail took back up and above the creek. I turned a corner to see a huge Black Bear about 50 feet away and coming towards me. I've encountered a share of Black Bears in the wild in my life, and this one was the first one that scared me. However, this Black Bear didn't see me and before it had a chance to see me, I walked back on the trail for fifty feet. I decided to give the bear the impression of, "oh wow, what on earth is coming down the trail, I better bail" as I clapped and shouted out loud that I was present. I heard crashing branches to indicate a large mammal escaping. When I went back, I slowly peeked my head around a large rock the bear was near and it was gone. My regret was not being able to get a photograph of the impressive animal. Perhaps what has as big of an impact in the small bird world as a huge bear does in the mammal world is the Northern Pygmy-Owl. As I hiked along the ridges of the trail, I got lucky and encountered a family of these tiny but powerful owls. I detected them by hearing the insect-like call of recently fledged birds, and one of the nearby adults was the one I was able to find visually. These owls will kill birds that are much larger than themselves.
I'm sure Northern Pygmy-Owls have taken out plenty of Hepatic Tanagers in the history of time..
I've been looking for the superstar ode called the Apache Spiketail during my jaunts along creeks in Gila County's high elevation. I haven't had any luck, but Red Rock Skimmers have been common and are kinda cool too.
After a four mile (eight miles round trip), one way hike up into the slopes of the Sierra Anchas via the Parker Creek Trail, I was exhausted as I anticipated. I visited several stops along Workman Creek and closed the day in the Anchas out at Forest Road 489, a pleasant road through oak and mixed conifer that is lower in elevation that other forested spots in the Anchas. It has some good potential to it, but is missing Cordilleran Flycatcher and Red-faced Warbler so far. My camping trip concluded with about 35 miles hiked, and I was dead by the end of it.
Sierra Anchas: June 20th and 21st
It didn't take me to get back up into the Anchas again as I left from work on June 20th, camped out that night, and spent close to a full day on June 21st continuing my explorations. On June 20th, I listened to the NBA draft before doing any birding. I didn't have a lot of day left, and I set up camp at Rose Creek Campground, a place I have camped out at on a few other Sierra Ancha camping trips. My goal for this trip was to take Forest Road 671 for a good hike on the morning of the 21st. Once it got dark out on the night of the 20th, I owled and nightjared it up and detected Mexican Whip-poor-wills and Flammulated Owls. On the 21st, I woke up and started to climb out Forest Road 671 for close to five miles one way. It was a challenging hike, but was worth it. The bird diversity was impressive for high elevations, and from the road's start just south of Rose Creek Campground on the west side of Highway 288 as it climbed up through mixed coniferous forest, chaparral, grassy slopes, and rocky areas I recorded about 45 species of birds. The highlight was another detection of young Northern Pygmy-Owls. Several Downy Woodpeckers were near the highest of elevations, where several stands of aspen came into the mix. What I liked about this road was that it is probably the one road in the Anchas that goes up for a distance on the west side of 288, while the other roads go up on the east side of 288. Could a vehicle handle this FR 671? Probably not. But people and animals can. Plenty of deer were present.
And I encountered another Black Bear. This one was pretty big, and I was glad to get a picture.
Grace's Warblers were one of many bird species who were present on FR 671. I was focused on scouting the terrain and habitat that I didn't give photography much of an effort. I hope to go back to 671 soon, I enjoyed it immensely.
A few more scenes from the Anchas.
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| Plumbeous Vireo |
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| My campsite at Rose Creek Campground |
After the Forest Road 671 hike, I was almost out of energy. It seemed like I used up most of my energy for this trip up on the trip I took the previous week. I spent the rest of the time birding the Reynold's Creek area again, and loosely scouting out terrain for my next visits.
July 4th: Whispering Pines and Washington Park
On July 4th and 5th, I took another two day camping trip into the high elevations of Gila County. This time I went up towards the Mogollon Rim directly north and east of Payson. On the first day of my trip, I went north of Payson to explore the highlands in and around two very small communities called Whispering Pines and Washington Park. This area was one I barely entered into last year, and after driving for about a mile or two of it, I never got out to bird before turning around. The whole area was a location lifer for me, and I loved it. Whispering Pines and Washington Parks creek is the East Verde River, and it flows throw the area and creates a beautiful recreation area. Crowds of people were present for the Fourth of July. I drove up towards Washington Park first, where there is a namesake trailhead. I loved the trailhead and it's habitat of a thick mixed coniferous forest paralleling the creek. Even though I got a late start to my day and didn't start hiking from the Washington Park Trailhead till about 11 AM, the area was still very birdy. Here's an eBird checklist I did from the hike, as well as some pictures of the birds I encountered:
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| Red-faced Warbler |
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| Western Tanager |
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| Warbling Vireo |
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| young Painted Redstart |
After the Washington Park area, I went south for a few miles and spent the rest of the day hiking and birding the pine and oak forests in and around Whispering Pines. I loved all of it, and the area has a ton of exploring that needs to be done. Common Nighthawks were a fun way to close out the day on the Fourth of July.
July 5th: See Canyon, Christopher Creek
For July 5th, I headed east of Payson and went to Christopher Creek as my main goal, where I covered See Canyon Trail, See Springs, Christopher Creek Campground, the south end of See Canyon, Sharp Creek, and a few other spots south of Payson throughout the day. I didn't sleep well at my Whispering Pines camp spot, and once I did sleep I slept an hour longer than I meant too. It gave me a 5 AM start rather than a 4 AM. I did get to see loads of Elk while driving out of Whispering Pines. Hiking the See Canyon Trail was nothing short of awesome. Several bird species were present in very high numbers, such as Western Tanager and Cordilleran Flycatcher. A was glad to find a singing MacGillivray's Warbler just below the Mogollon Rim towards the end of the trail, still in Gila County. The song of a Greater Pewee was more than welcome too, of course. Here is a selection of photos from the See Canyon Trail, as well as a link to my eBird checklist:
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| Red-faced Warbler |
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| Mountain Chickadee |
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| Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| Western Tanager |
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| Red-faced Warbler action |
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| Christopher Creek via See Canyon Trail |
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| early morning sun in See Canyon |
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| south See Canyon via Highway 260 (above and below) |
South of Payson: I went south of Payson to Bear Flat Recreation Area. Not the best area for birding with limited access. The canyon it is nestled in is awesome though. A Common Black-Hawk was a bird highlight.
July 12th: Camp Geronimo area and Whispering Pines
July 12th was another fun one, and I went back up into the Whispering Pines area, stopping at several recreation sites along the way at East Verde River just south of Whispering Pines before proceeding north. Elk were abundant everywhere along the road (Houston Mesa Road) from Payson to Whispering Pines. Once at Whispering Pines, I went west on Forest Road 64 for about 4 miles to the turnoff for Camp Geronimo. Geronimo is a popular Boy Scout Camp below the Mogollon Rim, and a Arizona Trail trailhead is found just before camp. I parked at the trailhead, Geronimo Trailhead, and went for another long hike up towards the Mogollon Rim in mixed conifer and oak forest. A beautiful and flowing creek, Webber Creek, ran alongside much of the hike, which was the Geronimo Trail 240 and East Webber Trail 289. Both of these trails produced bird great bird variety of 37 species apiece. The scenery was beautiful and is another place that is worth my birding time. Here are eBird checklists from the earlier hours of the day between the two trails, as well as a selection of photographs. I closed the day out by visiting another location within Whispering Pines called Dude Creek. True to the name, it was a creek, and I matched well with it being a dude and all. Dude Creek was awesome, and looking it over on maps, there seems to be a bit of exploring and interesting terrain to look at as well.
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| Elk are abundant in the Whispering Pines, Washington Park, and Camp Geronimo area |
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| Mexican Jay, Geronimo Trail |
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| Band-tailed Pigeon, Geronimo Trail |
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| Pine vistas, Geronimo Trail |
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| Geronimo Trail, going towards the Rim |
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| Cordilleran Flycatcher |
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| Geronimo Trail |
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| Ash-throated Flycatchers |
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| Mexican Jay |
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| Elk at Dude Creek |
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| East Verde River |
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| East Verde River (above and below) |
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| Webber Creek, Geronimo Trailhead |
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| Geronimo Trail (Above and below) |
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| Webber Creek, Geronimo Trail |
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| swimming hole on East Webber Trail |
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| upper section of East Webber Trail |
More Gila birding to be coming. Gosh it's awesome. Before I forgot, Caleb Strand found Gila County's first Cave Swallow at San Carlos Lake. Luckily, I was birding with him and got to see it too. I didn't get a photo.
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