2011 Tour Narrative
We drove over 2,000 miles, meandering through northern Arizona and southwestern Utah’s most picturesque and scenic country and underneath fabulous monsoon cloudscapes of many colors and forms. It was a photographer’s dream. Limiting this tour to a single vehicle is major plus; we all saw everything and we could if we wished spread out and enjoy endless vistas in near-solitude. Although our main destinations were scenic icons such as the Grand Canyon and spire-ridden Bryce Canyon National Park, we managed to see over 200 species of birds! The avian highlight of the tour had to be the majestic master of the sky, the California Condor. We spent an hour long lunch observing these birds, awe struck and mostly silent except for our sighs of wonder – a memory never to be forgotten.
The road to our first birding destination was dotted with numerous raptors including a southwestern specialty, the Fuertes subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk, and a family group of the iconic Harris’s Hawk perched atop regal saguaro cacti. Boyce Thompson Arboretum, situated at mid-elevation in the Sonoran Desert, gave us a swath of birds we wouldn’t see again including Broad-billed Hummingbird, Gila Woodpecker, Bell’s Vireo, Phainopepla, Black-throated Sparrow, and the Northern Cardinal. In mid-afternoon we escaped the formidable heat and rushed to higher altitudes, stopping briefly at Mormon Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in Arrizona, to watch Elk foraging chest-deep along the lakeshore!
The next leg of our journey was to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A couple of desert oasis in the Painted Desert provided welcome stops along the way where we were rewarded with close-up views of hard to see species like Northern Waterthrush and Horned Lark. We drove over the mighty Colorado River atop Navajo Bridge to the Vermilion Cliffs, a release site for the renowned California Condor. Many of us simultaneously grew goose bumps as we watched 5 of these resplendent creatures wheel in the winds over the pink cliffs! It’s hard to believe that in the late 80’s there were only 22 of these birds remaining in the wild!
We started pre-dawn the following day to catch the unforgettable sunrise from Bright Angel Point on the edge of the Grand Canyon. The stunted evergreen trees along the path often give an up-close view of foraging birds, as a pair of feeding Black-Throated Gray Warblers sat only three feet from our noses! A distant fire on the edge of the South Rim added a certain unforgettable mystique to an already stunning scene.
Our group was the on the first tram the next day into Zion National Park and were amused by fleeing flocks of Wild Turkey along with a mother Mule Deer with fawns in tow. Severe flooding last winter by the beautiful Virgin River scoured the canyon bottom rearranging giant car-sized boulders. This proved attractive to the comical American Dippers that joined us for our walk along the river’s bank! Bryce Canyon National Park, a highlight of the trip for many of us, was simply stunning. This beautiful amphitheater on the eastern boundary of southwestern Utah’s Paunsaugunt Plateau introduced participants to spectacular hoodoos, huge chimneys of orange, pink, and white rock standing tall, all formed from ancient sedimentary lakebeds!
Leaving southwestern Utah’s canyon country behind, we descended the Grand Staircase and breezed by the shores of the scenic Lake Powell. Our visit to the amazing slot canyon of Antelope Canyon, offered an unusual perspective on the varied Navajo Sandstone formations of the Navajo Reservation. In Monument Valley we confronted a huge weather system that provided a true ‘western US’ ambiance including oppressive wind and dust storms followed by a pelting shower. The waterfalls cascading from Rain God Mesa were met by such powerful winds that they were forced backwards up and over the edges from which they came, giving the impression the rocks were on fire! Our visit to Canyon de Chelly provided us with views of cliff dwellings where indigenous tribes lived in the 1200’s, as well as Spider Rock a monolith 800 feet tall, a popular photographed spire at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and Monument Canyon.
An unattended campfire in late May sparked Arizona’s largest wildfire in history and whipped through the scenic White Mountains, in the center of the state, where we spent our final days of the tour. An amazing array of purple, pink, yellow, and red wildflowers resulted and birds thrived in what could hardly be described as a moonscape. We witnessed Pinyon Jays forced into lowland lying valleys by the hundreds and huge foraging flocks including Townsend’s Solitaire, Bushtit, MacGillivray’s and Hermit Warblers, and Plumbeous Vireos feeding on whatever green patches they could find. Near our hotel in Eager, Lewis’s Woodpeckers were stunning amid afternoon light as we observed many, including one individual eating apples right outside the van windows!
Although the weather at times was ominous, it never derailed the tour’s ambitious schedule. If anything it provided elements that thousands of people visiting this arid land never get to see. The normally dry, dusty rivers through the vast deserts were flowing bank-to-bank from monsoon rains and scads of birds were everywhere as a result. There were life-birds aplenty for all, much of which added to an already truly unforgettable experience! Who knows what exciting events we’ll encounter in 2012 as we set out again on our next journey through the southwest.
-Jake Mohlmann
Updated: October 2011