A Visit to the Mountain Empire

Patagonia Lake

Keith and I just returned from a short trip to Arizona's Patagonia Lake State Park and environs.   Patagonia Lake is 60 miles south of us, and about 18 miles from the Mexican border.  It's a 265-acre man-made lake that offers swimming, fishing, hiking, camping, and beautiful scenery.  The park features a birding trail that winds around the lake and its source, Sonoita Creek.  An abandoned railroad bed, used in the late 1800's to service a number of small mining towns--including Patagonia, Nogales, and Sonoita--lies under the lake.

A turkey vulture warms in the sun along shore Patagonia Lake.

We camped in our RV, using the lake as a base for exploring nearby areas, including lands that John Wayne once owned.  With the Huachuca, Patagonia and Santa Rita Mountains as backdrops to rolling bajadas (lowlands) and steep-sided arroyos (dry creek washes), the Patagonia-Sonoita section of Arizona is stunning.  Here the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts blend to create an unusual ecosystem of high desert grasslands and mesquite bosques (forests).  There are no saguaros or creosote here; the winter temperatures are simply too cold.  Prickly pears and ocotillo dot the landscape which, for the most part, is covered with juniper, mesquite, and tall grass.

An American coot finds breakfast.

A scarlet tanager rests in a cottonwood.

Of special interest to us was the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve managed by the Nature Conservancy.  This magical birding site is world-renowned for its diverse and numerous array of migrant Mexican specialty birds.  The preserve follows the lovely Sonoita Creek, encompassing some of the last remaining permanent riparian area of southeastern Arizona.  Huge Fremont cottonwoods mingle with Goodding willows, netleaf hackberry, and Arizona ash and walnut to form a thin ribbon of forest lining the creek.  Some of the state's largest and tallest cottonwoods are found here alongside swampy cienegas (wetlands) that attract a number of rare and endangered avian species.  We spent two days of our trip simply hiking the preserve.  And we were rewarded.


A rare gray hawk watches Keith photograph her.

Keith caught this western screech owl napping in a cottonwood tree at the

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

The area teemed with scarlet tanagers, black-headed grosbeaks, vermilion flycatchers, lazuli bunting, and blue grosbeaks.  We watched a couple of rare tropical kingbirds fly from tree to tree catching insects.  The sad cries of gray hawks greeted us on day 1, and on day 2 we felt were treated to an up close view of this much sought after raptor as it sat in a nearby cottonwood scanning the bushes for dinner.  Only a few pairs of breeding gray hawks are found in the United States, and the place to see them is right here.  We also spent some quiet time watching a western screech owl watch us from a cavity in a cottonwood.


A vermilion flycatcher at the preserve.

Nicknamed "The Mountain Empire," this lovely portion of Arizona is also home to Elgin, a small town of excellent wineries.  We've often seen pronghorn antelope in the grasslands surrounding the town.





The Mountain Empire of Arizona



Yerba mansa, a Native American herb, grows at the preserve.