I get those folks mixed up. I was talking about the people in Patagonia.
If the people near Portal are the Spoffards, he has been dead for a few
years now. I was there shortly after he died and found out in an odd
way. We took a walk to the Portal/Paradise cemetary and were wandering
around looking at the old graves when we encountered a new one and were
startled to discover it was his!
Skip Williams wrote:
The "old couple" in the Chiracahuas are the Spoffards, who have been friendly
to birders for many, many years. The Chiracahuas are quite a hike from Tuscon, which is
why I hadn't mentioned them. Anywhere else but in S.AZ, 9,000' mountains in the desert
would be a National Park. Elegant Trogans are a specialty there, along with a few other
mt. ranges. If you're REALLY lucky, you might find an Eared Trogan, which is a bit
larger than the other. In either case, they are a nice taste of neotropical avifauna in
the U.S. The high mountains house lots of other specialties, like Olive Warbler,
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Flamulated Owl, Red-faced Warbler, and the hummers.
A Lucifer is a very nice bird, as is the Violet-crowned.
I didn't get a really good look at either, not much more than needed to
identify them. The Violet crowned just zipped in, took a hit of sugar
water and shot off again. If somebody hadn't hollered, I'd have missed
it. Waited quite a while, but it didn't show again.
Both those birds are quite rare and only found in the U.S. in S. Arizona, the Animas mts of S. New Mexico, and in Big Bend in Texas.
That's why we were in SE. Ariz.
The most amazing are clearly the huge Blue-Throated and the Magnificant. You haven't
experienced something until you've sat near a feeder and a 7" Blue-Throated
hummingbird comes up to you a 24" to check you out, buzzing like a small Peterbuilt
truck, then exiting, stage right, flying at 60 mph!
Agreed, the Blue-throat is a noisy, beautiful monster. A real bully at
the feeder too, except when a Rufous chases it away. About a fifth the
size but a really tough little critter. The magnificent is smaller and
quieter, but such amazing coloring!
Moose
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