At The Confluence

Another rainy day in Erie County, Pennsylvania, so might as well keep rolling with Arizona content from this past August, namely, continuing on with yesterday’s post of an amazing SEAZ Birding Festival field trip to California Gulch.

Time for some orientation/map reading. Q1: Where are we? A1: Cornado National Forest well south of Tucson and west of Nogales, in the mountainous area north of the border with Mexico. See green area in map excerpt above. (1971 AZ road map courtesy of AZDOT.) Note the proximity of world-famous “birding hotspot” Madera Canyon in the upper right corner. Q2: Where are we going? A2: Yesterday was the turn off Interstate 19 at Arivaca Junction, then southwest to the town of Arivaca, then southeast from Arivaca towards the mining ghost town of Ruby. Q3: Where is California Gulch? A3: With reference to the annotated map excerpt below (courtesy AZDOT & Bing Roads), instead of heading directly to Ruby, head south along Warsaw Canyon Rd to where it intersects with California Gulch Rd at point A below. California Gulch is roughly along the green line. Point A is “the confluence,” i.e., of Warsaw Canyon and California Gulch.

Following “on the road” shots are along Warsaw Canyon Rd heading downhill towards the confluence:

Note on weather conditions: mild-to-warm, with on/off sun, clouds, & rain. Tough lighting for photography.

Note on road conditions: mostly single-track dirt road w/ some rough spots + stream crossings. Suitable for pickup trucks & other high-clearance vehicles, e.g., a Toyota RAV4 or Subaru Outback.

This close to the border, had some distant views of “the wall:”

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After a lot of slow mountain driving, finally at the confluence:

A highlight of the day, right as hoped for at the confluence, a beautiful Five-striped Sparrow (following shots all Five-striped Sparrow except where noted):

The “five stripes” – 1 @ throat, 2 @ cheeks, & 2 @ eye ridges:

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Coming up soon, more at the confluence, & beyond!