Tuesday, April 13, 1999
Rained a bit during the night and was cold in the morning.  We left early and headed toward Catalina State Park, which had plenty of spaces as we arrived by 10:00; they were indeed full by mid afternoon.  Really dry here too; the stream we could barely wad across last year is completely dry this year. Got the laundry done and the taxes mailed off - nearly $14.00 in postage to mail all the damn things.  Mail station in Catalina says it won't accept Gen. Del. letters, which makes me wonder what will happen to our three envelopes now in the mail.

Wednesday, April 14, 1999
The motor home went to the RV doctor and we discovered that the gas orifice was partially plugged - an easy problem to fix.  For just an $11.25 we heaved a happy sigh at not having to have the fridge replaced. Looks like it is cooling down OK and by tomorrow we should be able to do away with the two ice chests.  Having them in the aisle makes this place a real trick to get 'round!

Took a walk today from the campground and around the "birding loop".  There was a trickle of water in the wash--no doubt from snow melting on high. There seems to be plenty of birds about, perhaps because there was a very good nesting year last year, combined with no foliage (increased visibility) on the trees because of the drought.  While in town we stopped by the Audubon store and one more place to try to find Annie a pair of lightweight binoculars (no luck).  Did purchase Peterson's CDRom of birds.

I don't understand why the campground is not as full as last year.  Even at end of day there are non-electric sites left.  We took off around 6 am from Organ Pipe to get here in time to find us a site, and there were ten of them full at that point. One thing happening in the lower part of the park starting tomorrow is a 4 day seminar on desert ecology. It is well esteemed, and I think there's a chance we could squeeze in if someone has backed out.  Six hundred dollars is generally something we have to think about for a bit.  Hope we won't be sorry to have passed it up. We have Sabrina Canyon in mind for Thursday.

     Thursday, April 15, 1999

To Sabrina Canyon today.  Weather remains beautiful, in fact temperature was up to 90 today after a freezing (frost on the car) morning.  We purchased two tram tickets but walked most of the way up and down the canyon, getting on the tram only for the final mile or so up the canyon, and the final mile back to the visitor center.  We took a short side trail to Sabrina Dam that is a silted in impoundment hardly worthy of the name "lake", but a rich riparian environment indeed.  Large, green trees with a thick understory of bushes and bamboo thickets and plenty of bird life.

Friday, April 16, 1999
Walked the Canyon Loop today, fine walk in balmy weather.  In the afternoon we went to the Pima County Library off Ina Road - a truly fine facility - to make use of their network computer to read our accumulated e-mail.  You can sign up for 30 minutes, or even longer if nobody is in line and it makes no difference if you don't have a local library card.  Went to the Tucson waste water treatment facility and saw a few water birds.  I understand this is but a shadow of what it used to be because of changes in treatment technology, but a nice little park with paths and ponds.

Saturday, April 17, 1999
Went mall crawling…Yuk….

Sunday, April 18, 1999
Went for a short morning walk and saw a Crissal Thrasher, a bird we have seen only once before. (Both were here at Catalina State Park.)  Attended Sunday service at the UU of NW Tucson, afterward went to the Tucson Botanical gardens.  Afternoon temperatures are really getting up there, ours read 104 today.  Wrote a letter to the main office of the AZ state parks to try to get generator hours curtailed a bit from the 10:00AM to 8:00PM.  Talked to the administrator here earlier, and he won't consider changing it.  (Jousting with windmills again.)

Monday, April 19, 1999
Walk in the morning around the Canyon Loop - not as many birds as there were a few days ago.  Spent much of the day getting various chores done, Laundry, shopping, and figuring out why the voice may wasn't catching messages.  (Somehow the home answering machine got activated and it was catching the messages before the voice mail would.  Had to call the EI's and get them to retrieve messages from the machine then turn the damn thing off completely.)  Hot again today. This evening a pygmy nuthatch (supposed to be in the mountains only) visited our campsite followed in a few minutes by a Bewick's wren - the first we've seen this trip.

Tuesday, April 20, 1999
Moved onward Madera Canyon where we again managed to find a campsite despite there being only 5 or so which are suitable for our house.  Began to see some birds typical of the AZ uplands: acorn woodpecker, bridled titmouse, yellow eye junco, and so on.  Our neighbor turned out to be the author of Birding In Northern California, John Kemper, put out by Falcon Press in MT.  He takes all of his own pictures and says that writing a book is a nightmare, though he does not have to do the publicity.  He gave Annie some advice about binoculars (thought the Nikons had good sharp focus).  A pleasant, helpful, modest person, somewhat reminded me of Cincy.

Wednesday, April 21, 1999
Off to Buenos Aires NWR fairly early because wind was forecast for the remainder of the week.  It was indeed windy, but not as bad as our two visits last year.  Saw a  good number of birds today, though they tended to be concentrated near the water--evidently because of the drought.  Wilson's warblers were everywhere.  Had an amusing experience while trying to identify a flycatcher--we had the book out trying to see if this was an ash-throated or a dusky capped.  I eventually decided to ask an opinion of an older couple nearby who also had their (same) reference book out. Before I could do so, the woman approached us, and she asked the identical question! The four of us decided it was indeed an ash-throated, absolutely no doubt (of course!)  We managed also to identify a grasshopper sparrow (finally) and later in the day stumbled upon a Montezuma quail while actually looking for rufous winged sparrows that have been seen in Florida Wash upstream--where it crosses the highway.  Both were birds we wanted to identify, but we never did find the sparrows.

Thursday, April 22, 1999
Hiked the main canyon trail this morning starting at Proctor.  Wind was blowing like hell, but we did pretty well with the birds despite tree limbs waving all over and dust flying.  Found a hermit warbler with assistance from a man passing by.  Saw several Townsend's warblers, and numerous others, all on the list.  Went into Green Valley and did a bit of grocery shopping and stopped by the library and dealt with e-mail.  Pima County libraries have been helpful in letting us use computers.  Later went down to the lodge to watch birds.  At first there were none at the feeders, evidently because a shrike or kestrel had passed by and they were taking cover.  Eventually, many finches and numerous lazulis appeared, as well as black-headed grosbeaks, and two kinds of juncos.

Friday, April 23, 1999
Moved to Patagonia State Park, found a fairly good campsite, such as they are here in this overused park.  Wind still very strong and obnoxious.  Picked up mail in Patagonia  and stopped at Paton's for a while. Lots of birds about--according to Mrs. Paton, "…because there isn't any seed or wild food available because of this severe drought."

Annie crossing Patagonia creek a mile or so upstream from the lake.  It is springtime; there should be much more water in the creek--but AZ is suffering through a severe drought.

Saturday, April 24-Monday, April 26 1999
What a difference a good campsite makes.  The "trail" end of the campground has been fairly quiet and the convenience to the trailhead is great.  The night noises are a delight to fall asleep to--bullfrogs honking, peepers peeping, other quizzical noises and gurgles we don't  recognize. We've made sojourns down around the marsh early each day, on Saturday walking at least a couple miles upstream. Saw many warblers (YAWW = Yet Another Wilson's Warbler! Learned that from a couple women we met, as well as the "Red-Necked Nut Scratcher"…) 
(Editors note:  I am editing these notes in the fall of 2001.  In spring of 1999 we indeed were seeing Wilson's Warblers all over -- virtually everywhere we went that spring Very numerous and visible.  The following spring we also traveled extensively in 2000, through AZ across the South to South Florida and saw no Wilson's Warblers at all until Annie found one near home in mid-summer.  Again in the spring of 2001 we took an extensive trip into the Gulf Coast of Texas and saw only a few.)
On Sunday, we were shown an Elegant Trogan (Annie got to see the shimmering blue back side of it- a male-as it was slowly disappearing into the woodland from a large tree in the lake area). 
Signed up for a boat ride on Sunday, given by a naturalist named Matt here at the State Park.  Started out at 8 AM, a group of 7 or 8, and we quietly cruised around the lake for 1 ½ hours, into coves, near the reeds, seeing bird life from the "other side".  We're especially looking for a Pacific Slope Flycatcher, since the Western variety has been split.  We hear that the Pacific ones are in the area--known only by their call.  The ones we've seen haven't said a word!
Spent the rest of Sunday over at the Conservancy reserve.  Despite getting there later in the AM, there were numerous birds around this year, we suspect because of the scarcity of water.  One disappointment was noting that the huge old cottonwood tree there had blown down.  There were numerous cars parked in the lot but folks were well dispersed around the grounds.
Many cottonwoods are being removed in the wash near Paton's by the Fish and Wildlife people.  The trees are dead (from beetle infestation) and it's feared that they'd create a dam if ever a large amount of water should flow through the wash.  Someone somewhere will have a lot of firewood.
After a bout with dysfunctional washers and dryers at the local laundromat on Monday afternoon, we returned to Paton's place for another look.  Wondered why the seed feeders were empty for so long, and eventually found out why when a Cooper's Hawk swooped down in that same area.  Eventually, the Lazulis returned in great number, as we had seen them a couple days before.  There was a noise down in the marshy area which we could not sort out--sort of like an unloaded freight train going by in the distance.  Later research hinted that this chug-chug might well have been a reclusive Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.
On Monday evening at dusk, we walked down to the head of the lake and watched as scores of swallows and bats flew together all over the area.  Eventually, the swallows disappeared and the nighthawks (lesser) took their place--several flying very close to us so that we could clearly see the stripes on their wings. Frogs started to grunt, blackbirds and grackles retreated into the cattails and reeds, chattering, and coots and moorhens started going to bed.  We sat on a bench near the trailhead and just listened for quite a while.  The moon lit our way home.  The night was balmy and so beautiful.

Annie crossing the South Fork of Cave Creek.  This creek, too, should have a lot more water in it.  It is often difficult or impossible to cross in the spring without getting wet.

Paraphernalia bird  (Phainopepla)   Somehow we named this guy the "Paraphernalia" bird and the name stuck.  (Doug calls it a Phenobarbital bird.) 

Mudhen (American Coot)  No rail is more numerous and widespread

Tuesday, April 27, 1999
There has been an increasing vibration and noise coming from the area of the differential and it is rapidly getting worse.  So, with crossed fingers we departed Patagonia area for Sierra Vista, listening for each noise.  We made it.  The first stop was the Ford agency who diagnosed the problem as a bad universal joint.  We had all three replaced, which seems to have cured the problem.  We camped at our usual spot, behind the cop shop and library next to the ball diamonds.  Like last year, we biked around and watched numerous kids' baseball games.  Again, we were very impressed with the kind support of the coaches and umps, and the supportive attitude of the family members watching.

Used the library to get our e mail.  Sierra Vista has a brand new facility--large and pretty impressive. We were given an hour on the computer.  There's also a "Friends' Book Store" where, for a dollar or two one can purchase any book someone has donated.  Bought a bagful of newer books to read and donate to WF library.

Wednesday, April 28, 1999
We got over to the San Pedro early, as planned, but the temp was quite cool and the wind was sharp and unending and uncomfortable.  It was decided by one (or two) of us that it was silly to deal with birding in these conditions, so we retreated, but not before Charlie saw a beautiful hermit warbler in the parking lot.

Later set out for Ft. Huachuca right at Sierra Vista, Garden Canyon being our focus.  We needed no pass, but had to deal with an elderly veteran man at a visitor's building who was "giving directions".  The AZ birding book had great instructions, though, and this was a beautiful area, a bit like Cave Creek Canyon with oaks, junipers, small maples and large sycamores.  After seeing no cars on 8 ½ miles of the road up there, we were greeted with several large, clattering trucks delivering enormous rocks which were at that moment being dumped at various spots roadside--in order to bar cars from pulling over at various convenient viewpoints.  Military make-work, I do believe…  And there were folks roaming around, all looking upward, of course, hoping against hope to see the often elusive trogan!  We spoke to a few who had come early and enjoyed this treat.  We flipped a mental coin about whether to continue up the road or walk up Sheelite Canyon, where another trogan was said to be.  It looked like a nice walk, and we trudged up a mile or so, decided to have lunch in a private spot near the stream bed (no water), then retreated to the road to warbler watch (mostly in the oaks).  Found Townsend's, another couple hermit warblers, and several hepatic tanagers, aside from the regulars. Definitely a spot to return to.  Want to check, too, about the RV park within the fort.
Wind unpleasant and persistent during evening hours, rocking the motor home and distributing dust throughout.  The local kids played baseball, regardless of the elements.

Thursday, April 29, 1999
We made another attempt to see birds at San Pedro, with little better result than yesterday.  We stayed a bit over an hour then gave up.  As we were hoping to use the rest rooms and go into the visitor's center, there arrived a bus with fifty-odd vociferous youngsters and a myriad of teachers--all heading for the same place!  We picked up a copy of Peterson's "Warblers" and the CD of bird western songs.  The book donates about eight pages to each bird and has info we're now ready for.
Went next up Carr Canyon, on an "improved" road, which was one of many sharp rocks, as far as I'm concerned.  Had lunch at a camping area near the top, five miles up and took a .7 mile walk around a loop where a mining road had existed back in the early 1900's. We stayed in the sun as much as possible.  Saw Townsend's and hermit warblers again, not too much else.  Too windy.  Got a Warning ticket for not paying for picnic parking on National Forest territory.
Did a large shopping in anticipation of Karin and Mark joining us on Monday.  Did a dump at the lot next to us here--another benefit of staying here in the heart of town.

The South Fork is completely dry.  We have never

Creek crossing into Sunny Flats campground and it is completely dry.  Normally the problem is "can we cross it?"  Sometimes angst arises whenever there is a rain "are we gonna get outta here?" 

Arizona Rock Squirrel.  I suspect this guy is having a hard time making a living--notice the lack of leaves and there seems to be no acorns about.

It is springtime, but the oaks are shedding their leaves and going dormant to preserve water

Friday, April 30, 1999
Got an early start and moved over to Cave Creek, getting LP in Douglas.  Managed to get last site in Sunny Flats-the first one in.  It's a nice site but a bit dusty and trafficy, so when another site opened up on Saturday we took it.  Cave Creek certainly has been found, or perhaps there are more folks here now that the season is later than we generally visit.  Cars come in and out all day and evening, we suspect looking for the elusive trogan, who has been seen on multiple occasions in recent days.  We even ran into about ten people sitting in garden chairs, just staring into the trees, on the trail from SF to Steward one evening!
Apparently in Sierra Vista we were riding our bikes around on huge burrs, and they put numerous holes into tire tubes.  Five flats so far.  Good C picked up another patch kit recently.
On our first foray out on bikes, we rode down to Stewart CG, and there, right beside the road was a coati.  It wandered around one site for a long time, and we stood by and watched it.  Later in the day, we saw another smaller one in the woods, a bit shyer.  While watching the coati, we met a young man named Jim.  Spoke with him quite a while, and at age 37, he is truly one of life's teachers.  He's on a bike jaunt alone, feeling quite alive and grateful for the chance of life.  Sober for a year, priorities sorted incredibly, eyes open to the minute and important things of life.  Not too many times do I come away touched like I did with this casual meeting.

On Saturday we went birding in Portal.  The wise old (horned) owl is on her usual perch--just tip of tail and ears showing--, and we saw an indigo bunting along with many Lazulis on a feeder.  There's an amazing lack of finches this year.  No water in stream bed.  Tried the Willow tank but the wind came up and make standing there miserable.  Did spot a male kingfisher, though.  Rest of day spent generally resting and enjoying the new site.  Both of us feel puny for some reason.  C's cold, or allergy, has worsened.

Fire tower above Barfoot Park  high in the crest of the  Chiricauhuas.

View looking northward toward Chiricauhua National Park.

Cave Creek Ranch down the road is now under different ownership and we went down there to explore the place.  Nice atmosphere, prices okay. (Can find on Internet, have brochure.) Decided to move over to Patagonia for K and M's last two days.  They got a site near the lake and we got (our first) electric site near the trailhead.  Ran the air conditioner for the 1^st time in years, and even used the nuker and vacuum cleaner. 
After visiting "the" roadside Rest Area, finding an easy thick-billed kingbird through the scope of a tour guide, we had lunch at a Mex. outdoor restaurant.  Did Paton's again, finding far fewer hummers this time, very few Lazulis, and no hope of the cuckoo since the swamp area had dried considerably.  Mrs. P told us that she, the mayor, and folks from TNC had been able to halt the cutting down of numerous cottonwoods along the wash, claiming destruction of present nesting habitat. She was proud that she had a nest of western screech owls in one of her trees and that the heron nest in the distance had three fledges who were just about ready to bail out.  Met a nice lady from RI, full-timing in a motor home, who told us about Beatty's place, another open yard with numerous feeders in Miller Canyon.  Trogons come through there, as well as buff-breasted flycatchers and caliopes. (Check Internet.)
Made a new list of birds found during this May visit to Patagonia, to see what's now different.  We've seen quite a few Inca doves in the campground, the grackles doing their usual charades, pairs of phainopeplas, and numerous kingbirds.  We watched a least tern fish for a day before it disappeared, and enjoyed the brilliance of vermillions.  There were numerous soras allowing us to view them at all hours, and several coot chicks with "poor dye job" red fuzz.  They seemed to grow larger and more independent literally overnight.
Word from home is that we have septic problems at the cabin, but Heidi's connecting with Jerry Langton and hopefully the pump can be replaced with little problem.
Went down to the end of the lake towards dusk to witness the swallows, bats, and lesser nighthawks fly once again, but found far less swallows and almost no nighthawks this time.  Bullfrogs, however, were bellowing an enormous, pulsing serenade, and they continued this both day and night, in waves. Found black hawk in the same area the following day--only the second we've ever seen.

Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Karin and Mark left around 9 AM, leaving with us their chairs and various grocery items. Hope that our various photos turn out for a nice remembrance.  We'd decided to stay one more day before moving toward home.  Repeated the nature trail walk and watching the critters at dusk.  The temp rose to 93 degrees, so we took it easy.

Thursday, May 13, 1999
Say it ain't so--the wind's kicking up again. This is the day we're beginning the trip home. Seems sad to be heading back in some ways.  Huffed and puffed our way up hill and down dale all day through the mountains of central Arizona.  The route was up through Tucson and Globe to Show Low, where we roosted early for the day at Fool Hollow Lake.  (There seems to be no public camping anywhere north of here for a long, long ways.)  FH is a new state park.  Though not much in the way of attractions, it is indeed a nice clean park with paved interior roads, large pads (with electric, water and sewer), sites fairly well spaced (for a state park, anyway) and new restrooms with hot showers.  All this a bit pricey at $15.00 per night, but what the hey…  On the positive side, generators are completely verboten here-great news!!  Wind still strong as we rode bikes through the campground. Fortunately, it was mostly behind us as we drove today.

Friday, May 14, 1999
Wind strong through the night, but we were well protected by a hill and trees.  (Site was suggested by ranger at gate.)  In the morning it was up the road through Holbrook, Ganado, Chinle, Bluff, Blanding, Moab and Green River where we roosted for the night at the state park.  They have built a golf course that surrounds the campground and it is impossible to walk along the river, as we have done in the past, because one encounters no-no signs.  Traffic heavy along the way today, particularly within Utah.  Not like years gone by when it was unusual to encounter any vehicles at all - you waved at each other then.  There were at least 4 instances of dangerous passing today, (blind curves, hilltops, plus high speeds) one incident resulting in the passor running an oncoming car off onto the shoulder at high speed.  It was such an inappropriate place I didn't even notice him passing until I saw the oncoming vehicle braking into the dirt.  The asshole passing didn't even make an attempt to get back - he just kept going.  We both agree that highways are more dangerous than when we first started out with the RV 10 years or so ago.  Winds obnoxious again today, but again mostly quartering from the rear.

Saturday, May 15, 1999
Started early in order to reach Pinedale before dusk.  Noticed at Flaming Gorge that permits are now easier to get--a necessary improvement.  Checked in at Cindi's late afternoon.  Dinner at Wrangler before driving to Tommy's place to roost.

Sunday, May 16 to Tuesday, May 18, 1999
In Pinedale.  Breakfast with Clay and Cheri, taco dinner at Smiths, Monday dinner out with Margaret.  Left Tuesday, made it to fishing access near Ennis.   

Monday, May 19 1999
Onward to home.

  Sunday, May 2 1999
Walked up the South Fork to a point about ¼ mile above Maple Camp.  Didn't hear or see any Trogons this year in the same area where we saw several two years ago, however lots of migrating warblers - painted redstarts, Wilson's, Townsend's,  yellow, black-throated gray, and two black and whites.  The black and whites are really an eastern bird but evidently winters on the west coast of Mexico and is seen here sometimes during migration.  We saw 4 different red-faced warblers.  Weather was good, the wind down to just an occasional gust.

Monday, May 03, 1999
Wind blew all night and only got stronger in the morning - too strong to do much of anything.  Dust blowing all over.  After 6 weeks of this wind (with a good day here and there), everything is getting gritty in the motor home.
We got a tour of a 28' Trek motor home (by Safari).  The owner, middle aged, travels by himself, with three Himalayan cats. He didn't realize that he was having power problems (ie: battery going dead) so he used his generator, sometimes as early as 5:15 AM!  Fortunately, it was a fairly quiet one, but by the time he left today he was a good deal better informed about solar panels and ways of testing his equipment for power drainage.  (He had a solar panel installed on the roof but didn't realize that it wouldn't charge if put under trees).  At any rate, there was a wad of space in this vehicle: a bathroom 4x the size of ours; many cabinets and closets; hard wood floors;built-in TV and VCR--plus a double bed which raised to the ceiling when not needed (it was in the center of the living space). This man, despite the generator, which he did apologize for today, was quite nice, though quite conservative (ie: Dan Quayle for Pres…)--and a pretty good birder.  It's fun to talk to all sorts of folks.
Took our bikes up the Southfork and made numerous "warbler stops".  There seems to be a minimum of traffic here these last couple of days--wonder if the worst comes over weekends.  For a while there it seemed like trogan tours were nearly constant through Sunny Flats.
Karin and Mark expected here this evening.  We have a site across the road saved for them.  A large, new motor home with new SUV pulled in next to it this AM and we're hoping against hope that this older couple will not be the generator type. (They did.)

May 4-12, 1999
Karin and Mark have been with us through this time.  The winds finally died down and they had the best weather that this area can produce.  In Seattle it has been 40 degrees and raining, so we hear.  It has been fun to share with K and M our favorite spots, and both have taken to our crazy schedule and pace, and they have accumulated quite a long list of birdies.  We showed them Willow tank, Spofford's, the yard at the end of Portal (Stone House) Rd., Slaughter Ranch and San Bernardino Refuge.  We had dinner out twice in Portal, once for Mom's day.  Charlie and I walked up Southfork a couple times and went up to Rustler Park, hiking again up to the fire lookout (trail almost impassable in a couple spots--no FS money for trail maintenance). Very few birds there, no olive warbler, but we did see a couple Grace's warblers.  Found a Warning ticket on the windshield since there is now a fee required for all trail sites. (There were no envelopes in the box.)
K and M have seen an abundance of wildlife, especially right outside their own tent door.  A coati has been hanging around and has become a master of stealing both birdseed and sugar water.  All who have seen it are amazed, a and some are not amused.  He climbs trees, hangs upside down and drains almost everything!  Also, there have been a lineup of skunks an even a bobcat which Mark has discovered in the wee hours (there are 4 varieties of skunks here).  C and I saw about 5 javalinas down in Portal one day, and then there are rabbits, round squirrels, and more.
One evening , after playing Tumbling Towers II, which Mark contributed for many evenings' hilarity and balancing skill, Charlie played the trogon's call on the computer. The very next AM, M and K heard the "woof" right outside their tent!  K threw on some clothes, followed the sound up the wash, and eventually caught up with the trogons on private property.  She saw the pair and was even able to take pictures.  Wow.  The following day, Annie was walking by herself down the nearby trail and heard "that sound" again. A female trogon flew onto a nearly branch, followed by the male, who sat almost side-by-side, both talking to one another.  No camera, of course, but A did enjoy sharing the event with a nice couple from Jackson, WY.  Then, on the following afternoon we were on the same trail and Mama trogon flew onto a branch almost in front of us.  We were able to watch her sit, flit and preen for almost 15 minutes.  On the same day we found gray vireos, with a tip from another birder on Southfork Rd.  So of course we felt especially blessed.  On that day also, we ran into a couple (retired teachers Bev and Clare from Sanibel Is.) on the Southfork trail, and found they are close friends of Don and Lillian Stokes.  They had been gifted with one of the Stokes' first copies of their western bird CD.  We'd just bought Peterson's and found it disappointing in the short time allotted to each bird call.

Met a naturalist named Bob, a large, outgoing man from Baylor U, who's working temporarily at the research station.  He gave us birding tips, stating that a Dutch group had found a northern parula in Idlewilde Campground. Bob told us (quietly) where we might find a buff-breasted flycatcher, but we failed to locate it.  He also mentioned that a Blackburnian warbler had been spotted--and A did see the front of this flame-colored bird, but it disappeared and didn't return.  This year we had many sightings of red-faced warblers, black throated gray warblers, painted redstarts, bridled titmice, Townsend's warblers, and orioles. We discovered a pair of black and white warblers out of their territory, and also saw a band tailed pigeon near Sunny Flats.  Pacific slope flycatchers were migrating through the area, and we were able to sort one of these out from the cordellerians when it sang (unusual). 
We visited Slaughter Ranch, 16 miles past Douglas, birding first at the cienega at San Bernardino NWR, and had a peaceful day.  Picnicked at a table near the pond, enjoyed shade from the large trees and what was probably the largest patch of green grass in eastern AZ.  Watched a great assortment of birds, patted the docile dog and friendly black cat, toured the ranch house and adjoining buildings (an Historical Site). Aside from one other couple from MS, we were the only ones there.
There is an unusual amount of dust-stirring in Sunny Flats this year. Much trogon-trolling, tour vans, folks stopping by to use the pit toilets or to get water, and to walk down the trail where the trogons have been seen most frequently.  Hubbub not a good trend, we fear. The rates for camping have gone up to $10, with a sign that saying this is one of the "Demo" areas where fees are essentially being put back into the individual parks. Chatted  with the lady down at the ranger station about our reactions to the changes we see and will write a letter later to the regional office, where policy is made.  We feel that for this price there should be much cleaner and less smelly toilet facilities (they are bad).  Perhaps a 5 MPH sign to keep the dust down.  A posted limit on generator running. And later, a handout telling people exactly what improvements have been accomplished with the extra revenue.  And a rethink of asking the $3 fee for each trailhead daily (why not include this privilege with the price of camping?)  Maybe even a place where dry campers up the3 road could get water, not in Sunny Flats.