Joe and Mary Ann's personal web site

Mary Ann and I went to the Verde River on October 18. We stopped at three recreation sites, which are all close together: Needle Rock Recreation Site, Verde River Recreation Site, and Box Bar Recreation Site. Needle Rock is about 50 minutes from home, and we got there at about 7:45, and left at about 2:00.

Mary Ann and I went to the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch (RPWR) on Wednesday, October 5. We got there at 7 and left at about 10. It was really nice weather in the morning, but by 10:00 it was starting to warm up.

Dave, Fr. Charlie, and I went to Mingus Mountain on August 11, 2022. It’s a 2 hr drive from Fr. Charlie’s place, and we got there at about 8:30 AM. It was my first trip to Mingus Mountain. We wanted to find some cool weather, and we wanted Dave to finally see the Red-faced Warbler, so Mingus Mountain fit the bill. Mingus Mountain is just off Highway 89A, between Prescott Valley and Cottonwood.

Fr. Charlie and I went to Woods Canyon Lake on July 7, 2022. The lake is on the Mogollon Rim at an elevation of 7,500 ft, so it’s a nice place to get some cool weather on an unusually hot day in Phoenix. It’s a two hour drive, and we got there at about 8:30 AM.

I’ve been asked about our fig tree, and pruning it, so I thought I would do a post. If you’re not interested in fig trees, then you won’t be interested in this post.

Mary Ann, Fr. Charlie, and I went to Mt. Ord on June 16. We got to FR1688 (Forest Road 1688) at about 8:20 AM. We met Ann Leight there, who is a prolific birder and posts a lot on ebird.org. She is a regular at Mt. Ord.

Mary Ann, Fr. Charlie, and I, went to Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA) on May 23, 2022. We got there at around 8:00 AM, and left at about 11:30, and then had lunch at Los Hermanos in Superior. I dropped off 19 ‘Birds of Boyce Thompson Arboretum’ posters at the gift shop for them to sell (for more details on the poster see here).

This post covers the third, and last, day of our trip to SE Arizona. We went to Portal, Arizona, which is a popular Arizona birding spot. It appears to me that the town’s main business is birding. Portal is in the Chiricahua Mountains, and it is home to birds whose range overlaps with Mexico. One of the attractions is the different species of hummingbirds. Fifteen species have been reported, of which about 8 are commonly seen there (depending on the time of year).

This is my second post on our trip to southeast Arizona. This one covers Aravaipa Canyon, which was the main reason for our trip.

Mary Ann and I made our annual trip to Aravaipa Canyon. We went to the east side trailhead, and, as in previous years, we decided to go to Safford, spend the night, and go to Aravaipa the next morning. We took advantage of that first day by visiting Roper Lake State Park, which is near Safford. We left at 7:30 AM and got to Roper Lake State Park at 10:30 AM.