Day One of our Road Trip Adventure

The morning of Boxing Day was dark and cold when we bundled ourselves out of our apartment and into our parents Ford Escape; very kindly lent to us for our trip. It took two or three trips to and fro to get all of our food, suitcases of clothes, laptops, optics and sundries distributed in the backseats and trunk before we were finally ready to go. The garage door raised in creaking protest, and we rolled out into the wide world. It wouldn't be until the next year that we'd see our home again.

The drive to southeast Arizona is becoming familiar, but that doesn't make it seem to go any more quickly. We got onto the I-10 in California, and it became our constant companion for the next 400 miles. We sped through the Mojave Desert - creosote and sage blurring by as we past the snow covered San Jacinto Mountains. Then you drop down into the very dry Colorado Desert, the westernmost section of the Sonora. Tall spiky Ocotillos begin to assert themselves as you pass the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. Long dry sandy stretches seem to blur together before you arrive at Blythe, its agricultural fields, and the mighty Colorado River. A simple bridge crossing takes you into Arizona, and the first Saguaros promptly make ou welcome as the road wends its way through more rocky outcroppings.

Sonoran Desert from the car window
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We didn't stop for anything but gas and food - our lunch hour confused by the time change - before we arrived at Casa Grande. This small city is at the junction of the 8 and 10 in Arizona, and the last two winters has played host to a Northern Jacana, a type of coot-like bird normally only found in Mexico and further south. Unfortunately, it was uncooperative for us, but we did see start ticking our first trip birds. Canyon Towhees, a Prairie Falcon, and Loggerhead Shrikes on the nearby telephone wires welcomed us to the delightful avifauna of the lower deserts in Arizona. A Redhead and some Ring-necked Ducks in the golf course ponds (those very ponds that were so disappointingly short of Jacanas) were the only representatives of their species that we saw on the entire trip!

The Redhead at Casa Grande

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After a few trips back and forth between the ponds, much craning of our necks, and a good bit od waiting, we packed ourselves back into the Escape and sped off to Tucson. There we encountered some light rain, but decided to persevere despite it to stop at the Sweetwater Wetlands there. These wetlands are a series of marshy ponds that are anything but sweet, being the discharge of a nearby wastewater treatment plant. These sorts of places are great for birds, if sometimes smelly (Sweetwater is actually not bad in that regard), and a short walk around the ponds yielded some more new trip birds, and our first lifer of the trip. This latter bird came in the form of a Harris Hawk, a semi-tropical raptor resident at the ponds.

Harris Hawk
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A group of this desert dwelling hawk was milling about in the Eucalyptus Trees lining one side of the area, and we were happy to enjoy both flight and resting views of its striking plumage. We also saw our only Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Common Ground-Doves, Gila Woodpeckers, and Anna's Hummingbirds of the trip. The ponds there held yet more ducks, but most of these we would see at Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, later.

As it grew darker, we once again made our Escape (heh) and hit the road down the 19 to Green Valley where we spent the night. It was very cold in Green Valley, and we could see the snow in the nearby mountains had come very low. That was a little troubling becuase it was our destination for the next morning, but we decided to make the best of it and sleep in a little before heading up.

A small gallery of pictures from our first day on the road trip can be seen here: http://flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/sets/72157612170157379/