Stephen Ingraham (who?)

the unofficial site for birders and digiscopers using Zeiss equipment.

Southwest Wings Birding Festival: Bisbee, AZ

Ah, there is no time like monsoon season in Southeast Arizona, and this year, for the first time in many years, the monsoons have come...and with a vengeance! Southeast Arizona is green and lush. When I tell people I am going to Arizona in August, they look at me like I am crazy, and I have to explain that average temperatures in Sierra Vista and Bisbee in August are lower, both in daylight and at night, than they are in southern Maine where I live, the humidity is considerably lower, and it rains at least once a day most days.

And the nesting birds are at their most active.

Bisbee is a mining town gone tourist, somewhere just on the grungy side of quaint (no-one could, imho, call the huge open copper pit either quaint or attractive, though it is interesting). For several years now, avid birders from all over the country have gathered in August to explore the canyons of the Huachucas and the riparian corridor of the San Pedro, with maybe a trip to the Chiricauhas thrown in. The place names are familiar to birders all over the world: Ramsey Canyon, Garden, Miller, Ash...the Betty's, Scheelite Canyon, Sawmill Canyon, San Pedro House, Portal.

As usual, the Festival is work for me, but I did get out birding several mornings.

As usual, the birds have larger version available by clicking the image.