Chiricahua Mountains AZ

The next stop on the road of retirement for us was one of my favorite locations in all of Arizona, the Chiricahua Mountains. The park we chose was Rusty's RV Ranch, a park we've stayed at several times. 

The weather was not going to be perfect because it was forecasted to be very windy with red flag warnings and dust storms. We decided it would be okay since our day trips into the mountains would likely block most of the winds. 

The mountains in this part of Arizona are more reminiscent of mountains found in northern Mexico than they are in the Arizona climes. As a result, many species of birds and mammals can be found there and only there in the USA. 

Our first day we took a hike up into the South Fork Canyon where we saw a nice array of birds and had a very enjoyable hike. 

The next morning we planned a loop drive to stop at several sights and take a tour through the mountains. Our first stop again was at South Fork Canyon.  After a short hike and seeing a few new birds, we moved on to the Southwest Experiment Station. Here there are hummingbird feeders set up where we saw at least four different species of hummingbirds enjoying the free nectar. 

We left the experiment station and headed up towards Rustlers Park at the top of the mountain. The road to the park was very rough and rocky, but we made it as high as we wanted to before stopping to check out the birds in the area. We walked a bit and neither saw nor heard anything. 

Next, we started our descent from the top of the mountain back down into the valley where we stopped at a bed and breakfast in Paradise, New Mexico called the George Walker House. The owner welcomes guests to sit on chairs on the porch to view his bird feeders and often, as was the case this time, stops by to chat with the guests. 

Here we saw lots and lots of the birds that birders often come to see in the mountains of this part of Arizona. We stayed for about 45 minutes and had a nice chat with the owner before moving on to the last stop on our loop trip. 

Our last stop was another place owned by a local who allows guests to stop by to birdwatch the feeders at a spot known as Bob Rodriguez's yard near portal, Arizona. Here we saw a nice diversity of birds more typical of the lower foothills of the mountains. 

We had planned to stay another day but the winds were supposed to worsen for several days so we thought it best to slip out and move on to our next location.