Mike in the Wild

At the junction of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts rise the Santa Rita Mountains in southern Arizona.  This small range is known as a sky island because it has an isolated and contrasting environment compared to the surrounding arid deserts.  In terms of its flora and fauna, it has more in common with the nearby Sierra Nevada range in Mexico than it does with North America's Rocky Mountains.  As a result, a number of neotropical birds only venture as far north as this part of our continent. The most popular area of the Santa Ritas to visit is Madera Canyon.  The Coronado National Forest maintains a paved road several miles along Madera Creek, affording access to a number of trailheads, picnic areas and a campground.  As a result, a hike through dense pine forests to the highest peak, Mount Wrightson at 9,453 feet, is possible, albeit a bit challenging.  But lower in the range, springs and seasonal creeks feed lush riparian areas filled with sycamore an...

I will soon be going back to Madera Canyon, located on a sky island in southern Arizona, not far from the Mexican border.  It's in a mountain range that has high elevation ponderosa pine trees but is surrounded by low Sonoran Desert, hence the reference to an island.  Every spring, many migratory birds pass through this area while other unique birds like the yellow-eyed junco and Arizona woodpecker call this home all year long.  But one summer visitor, the elegant trogon, has fascinated me since I became interested in birding and bird photography. He’s quite uncommon in the state, let alone in a park that lies at the very northern edge of his geographic range.  He’s really a Mexican bird, related to the quetzal, with a southern range that goes as far south as Costa Rica.  In the summer he’s known to come into southeastern Arizona for nesting, and Madera Canyon might be as far north as he flies. So what’s really the big deal about the elegant trogon?   B...

At the southern intersection of the cities of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley, sits the Valley's most distinctive landmark - Camelback Mountain.   From either the south or the north, it clearly resembles a kneeling dromedary, with it's head facing west and it's larger of two humps reaching 2,700 feet in elevation.  The highest point in the city of Phoenix, it offers panoramic views of the urban sprawl and surrounding mountains. Fortunately for area hikers and nature lovers, Phoenix maintains a popular trail and trailhead in the park.  A recently expanded parking area at Echo Canyon is the ideal gateway to exploring not just the peaks but the unique desert landscape in the heart of the metropolitan area.   Many people consider the Echo Canyon Trail to the summit or the alternate Cholla Trail from the east as the most difficult hikes in the city's many mountain parks.  It's a steep ascent that's graded in only a few places.  As a result, you've got ...

After posting details of my first burrowing owl encounter a couple weeks ago, I was lucky to meet a larger group this week.  But this time it was in the extreme opposite corner of the greater Phoenix area, in Zanjero Park in the community of Gilbert, where I had heard some owls were living.  Since the city has only shed its agricultural roots in the last twenty years or so, it made sense that this field-loving bird might still have habitat there.  So I took advantage of cooler-than-average May temperatures and made the 30-mile ride to see for myself. While I was surprised the park abutted a major freeway, seeing there were still some adjacent green fields made me cautiously optimistic.  Then I saw that the park service had installed a very long row of 50 plastic containers and pipes on an embankment between a pathway and the fields.  It might have been a football field in length, and they were clearly meant as shelters.   It there was any doubt, nearby si...