From Mexico to Lake Havasu, Arizona

   This morning we went to a place near the Mexican border. Organ Pipe National Monument is one of the most desolate pieces of real estate in the United States. Part of the place had suffered a forest fire, so the cacti on one side of the road were singed by fire. This rocky national park showcases the Organ-Pipe Cactus (Stenocereus thurberi).

Organ Pipe Cactus

   The Curve Billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre) is called the default bird in the desert. We don’t mention it, because in Arizona, we have seen the Curve Billed Thrasher in every wildlife refuge we visited. They perch on top of the cacti, make nests on the cacti, search for food among the cacti. There is no bird better adapted to the desert than the Curved Billed Thrasher, except maybe the Cactus Wren.

   The Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) is America's largest wren. It is half again as large as the Carolina Wren (Thryothorus Ludovicianus) which visits our backyard. We have seen the Cactus Wren land on the cacti and flit quickly into a tangle of cactus branches. It nests holes in the side of cacti. It has a white supercilium above its eye. It is very quick and very active.

   The closer we got to the Mexican frontier, the Border Controls on the highway became more frequent. No one cared if you went to Mexico, they were more serious about those coming into the United States. So nothing happened at these stoppages on the way south. But, the closer we got to the Mexican border, when the radio stations all became Mexican radio, the line of cars heading to Mexico increased enormously. It was strange. There was a line of 17 cars, heading to Mexico, so we pulled over and let them go by. Then a line of 14 more cars pulled up behind us. We pulled over to let them go, and then 15 more cars zoomed into the line of cars behind us, heading to Mexico.

   The “Bird of the Day” was the Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway). This is a large black falcon with white neck and a red face. It has a black crest on the top of its head. It perches on the crossbar of powerlines along the highway. We have seen it perched on top of large fence posts in the countryside, staring at the ground, looking for field mice or voles.

Crested Caracara

   We saw 45 to 50 Red Tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) perched on the crossbars of powerlines along the highway. These were so common that we did not want to mention them. This bird is a large brown hawk with a red tail. What is not to like? But we have seen thousands of these hawks over the years, all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It is not that we are tired of it. It's just that we are looking for birds we've never seen before.

   There are no set rules for who drives the car while birding, but usually I drive the car on dirt roads, on gravel roads and inside the various wildlife refuges. Berry likes to drive the car on the highway and on the expressway. We are a team. When she took the wheel to take us to the west, I put my feet on the dashboard, folded my arms and immediately fell asleep.

   We made our way from the frontier with Mexico to the Hampton Inn in Lake Havasu in western Arizona. We pizzaed and blogged, then crashed.

Robert and Berry

photos courtesy of wikipedia