Sandia in the snow

So we decided to head Sandia Crest to try for the rosy-finches next. When we woke up it was 45 degrees and partly cloudy but it looked like a decent day. But the closer we got to the mountains it began to look a bit more bleak.  

At the turn off to head up to the crest snow was lightly falling and the evergreens and bare trees had that beautiful look of freshly fallen snow. By the time we made it up to the ski area 6" of snow covered the road and there was only a single set of tire tracks to follow ahead of us. By the time we reached the 10,009 foot pull offs the world was covered in more than a soft blanket of snow. There was at least a foot of that white shit on the road and the wind was howling and drifting it even higher in some places. By the time we reached the Crest House it was near white out conditions and not another soul in sight. 

I couldn't imagine the building opening up for business in the next 31 minutes so we decided to wait it out at the ski area parking in hopes that the dedicated employees would soon be making their way up. 30 minutes.  60 minutes. 90 minutes passed. No one was coming.  We were on our own. Right about the time I was bitching and saying lets go 3 cars gunned past us up the hill. I decided to wait a little while longer before Following them up in case they decided to come back down. I gave them another 30 minutes before heading back up the road. All was good until we reached the 10,000 foot parking area again. There they were. All three cars. Parked and getting covered in snow while their occupants were off cross country skiing and hiking. Morons. I like a bigger moron thought I'd give the top just one more try. The snow was even deeper now. The tire tracks we had followed before had long been covered and the snow continued to pile up. I got to the top lot, parked and decided to walk out to the overlook to look down at the feeder area just in case any stray birds or finches were waiting for breakfast. Not one. I was the lone idiot standing in 30mph winds and snow looking for any signs of life. The drifts were hip high and with this I knew it was over. No one was coming today. And I was leaving. 

Down we went again. And this time we didn't stop until we reached the gas station at the base. A dusting of snow down here. How pleasant. I punched up directions to Benson, AZ and we left the winter wonderland behind.  Gladly. 

 Six hours and change later we were in Arizona. 54 degree and the sun was setting. We would stop for the night here since I realized that there was a gem and precious rock show in Tucson that meant every hotel for 70 miles was either booked or completely overpriced. 

Somehow this place we had stopped was in a general good location if we were going to go to Fort Huachuca or Sierra Vista, not so great for Madera or Florida canyons but it would do because realistically what is an hours drive at this point? 

We arrived at Patagonia Sonoita Preserve just before it opened. It was warming up but windy and there were supposed to be pretty heavy winds at times this day. Not my favorite birding conditions but there was a mission. We headed to the staked out hackberry trees looking for 2 American Robins and a wayward Rufous-backed Robin that had been feeding in the area for weeks. 

We spent a few hours wandering the area without seeing either bird. When I was beginning to think it was time to move on another birder said he had just seen a few robins up the trail. We headed that direction and watched the 2 Americans feed in the wind sheltered area for a while hoping their friend would stop by to say hello. After about another hour and 30 degrees warmer we were just getting ready to go when there it was. Sitting silently in the tangled branches was the Rufous-backed robin. We called over a few other birders that were within earshot to share this beautiful bird and taking a few photos. It had definitely been worth the wait. A life bird as well as a year bird. 

We then headed to a few other areas but the high winds were making it difficult to find a lot of birds so we decided to head over to Tubac to try the trail for Sinaloa Wren. Again there were not a lot of birds actively moving around but we found the area where te wren has built a nest and has been seen most reliably. After an hour is looking around and seeing Bewick's wrens I heard the fast rattle call of the bird and located it moving through a scrubby brush like area. The bird only came out into the open a few times and for the briefest moments but all of the relevant field marks were observed and the bird did vocalize one additional time. 

We headed to local italian restaurant for dinner where we were disappointed in the subpar food but elated with finding two of our target birds on a windy Arizona day.