San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area (SPRNCA)

We were going to go on the nature walk this morning at 9 a.m at the SPRNCA but we had purchased tickets to have breakfast at the RV park at 8:30. It was a good breakfast and we had good company at our table as we got to meet some of our neighbors. We decided to do our own nature walk. Here is some information on the area:

SPRNCA was created in 1988 to protect one of the rarest ecosystems in the United States - a desert riparian forest. SPRNCA covers approximately 58,000 acres of public land that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This 40 miles of riparian habitat runs from the Mexican border to St. David, AZ. What is unusual (at least to us) is that the San Pedro River flows north from Mexico. This area has been designated as a "Globally Important Bird Area" as it is a migratory pathway for birds. We were told that there are 400 different species of birds in the United States and that at least 300 species make their way here over the course of a year.

We were standing within the overlap of four eco-regions: the southern edge of the Rockies, the northern edge of the Sierra Madre, the eastern edge of the Sonoran Desert, and the western edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. Here is what an area of the San Pedro River looks like:

There are some nice trails that you can take through the SPRNCA. Here is a shot of the Green Kingfisher Pond. This was once a sand and gravel quarry. It is not spring fed but the water surface is the ground water level. This water is available during the dry season. Beavers were reintroduced to the SPRNCA in 1999 after having been eliminated due to hunting and trapping in the 1800s. Several of the large trees had wire mesh around them to protect them from the beavers.

We saw Coots, Cinnamon Teal Ducks, and this Great Blue Heron as we walked around the pond.

John got this great shot of the Cinnamon Teal Ducks as they spooked when we got close. Click on the picture to get a better view of their beautiful blue wing patches. They must have flown over our heads several times until they settled down. We were treated to the sound of hearing the wind through their wings as they went by. John said that is what it sounded like when ducks flew over when he was hunting them. It was a neat sound.

As we walked towards the river, we got to see lots of different birds and several Vermilion Flycatchers. They certainly do stand out.

I really like this picture. It doesn't look like we are in Arizona does it?

As we continued our walk along the river, we could hear what sounded like two owls having a conversation. They were on the other side of the river so we never got to see them but it was interesting to stand there and listen to them.

As we got closer to the San Pedro House, we stopped and watched a Northern Harrier as it flew low over the grassy field. As we approached San Pedro House, we saw this Red Tail Hawk sitting high in the tree from quite a distance. He wasn't the least bit concerned about all the human activity going on below him. We also ran into neighbors of ours at the RV park who shared our breakfast table. They are quite the birders.

This is a large Fremont cottonwood that is about 80 years old and is over 36 feet around. Supposedly, they live between 100 and 150 years. John looks tiny in front of it. The tree is huge!

As you can tell from the shot above, the clouds started moving in as we were wrapping up our exploration. It was so beautiful in the morning and in a matter of hours it turned very cold and it poured in Sierra Vista. John and I got pretty wet while running between stores. When we got home after making our stops, we could tell that it hadn't rain here at all. We did, however, have some strong wind gusts that knocked over John lounge chair (quite an accomplishment).

The RV park was going to have a group fire this evening and everyone was invited. It was definitely too cold for the both of us to sit out there so we settled in for some TV.