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Vacation on a Budget: For the Birds

© Mari Brodersen

Ron and I enjoy bird watching. It gets us outdoors where we can share the experiences of identifying birds new to us and of enjoying the antics of those we already know. I imagine it could turn into an expensive hobby, but we do it for fun and because it is affordable.

Almost daily we watch birds who live in or near the riparian area just outside our back door. Abert's towhees and house finches aren't the least bit shy about letting us know they're hungry. Hummingbirds - mostly Anna's and black-chinned - feed on our front patio, year round, near the jacaranda tree. Early in the year, tiny Costa's hummingbirds join in the flurry of wings and aggressive displays around the feeders. More rarely, we have sighted a verdin, ferruginous hawk,lesser goldfinch, and a green heron.

We have a good vantage point, but a change is always welcome. So, every Spring, we go to Sierra Vista with our friends, Jack and Cathy, leaving on a Friday and returning on Sunday. We have always stayed at the Motel 6 there because it's clean, we could obtain rooms with microwaves and refrigerators, and it's affordable. This year, Motel 6 was a huge disappointment. When Ron and I opened the door to our room, nonsmoking as requested, we were overwhelmed with cigarette smoke. We asked for another room. This second nonsmoking room also reeked. Ron and I spent the weekend with sore throats and burning eyes. Jack and Cathy fared no better. Regretfully, we decided that Motel 6 would no longer be our lodging of choice in Sierra Vista.

Next time we plan to stay at a bed-and-breakfast inn managed by the Nature Conservancy,Ramsey Canyon Inn . Ramsey Canyon is considered one of the world's premier sites for bird watching, and would be ideal for our purposes as we would not have to drive there from Sierra Vista.

Just past the inn at the canyon's mouth, one finds a building, a sort of headquarters for the Nature Conservancy's Ramsey Canyon Preserve. It houses a gift shop, wall maps, and some informative guides, as well as clean restrooms. As we went into the canyon, we startled a white-tailed doe and fawn. I stopped by the artificial pond where a rare type of leopard frog lives. I watched and waited, but I never saw one. I sighted two tree lizards sunning on a wooden bench. The whole area was very dry and dusty, the years of drought taking a toll on vegetation and water, which in turn affect the creatures who live there.