Wednesday, August 2

The next morning we started early to head for Fort Huachuca, but the hassle of paperwork created some delays. We finally got our permits and headed out, led by Kerrie Kirkpatrick, a former Kansan and WAS member who has moved to the Sierra Vista area. Right away we found a Botteri's Sparrow in a grassy field and everyone got good looks. Then we drove up Garden Canyon and found a noisy flock of Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers. At the end of the canyon we hiked up to find the Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Olive Warbler and Red-faced Warbler. Seven of us decided to hike up Sheelite Canyon to try for Spotted Owls. The rest of the group returned to town for lunch. We only hiked about one-half mile when Carol spotted a pair of Spotted Owls sitting on a branch right over the trail. We met a couple coming down who had walked right under the birds twice without seeing them. We got good looks and some decent pictures, too. It started raining again, so we all decamped to the motel for lunch and a siesta. Later in the afternoon we went to the Nature Conservancy's Ramsey Canyon preserve. We watched hummingbird feeders again - this time there were many Magnificent and Anna's. The real target was a Berylline that was being seen regularly. We were there maybe ten minutes when he appeared for about 15 seconds. We waited another forty minutes until he reappeared, again for a brief stay. He was a lifer for all of us. Then we went to the Beatty's Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon to watch their feeders. This time we added White-eared Hummingbird to our list.