Thursday, November 30 and December 1, 2017 (Travel to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area, McNeal, AZ and then Bisbee, AZ)

With only about a half hour drive to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area, we weren't in any hurry to get going this morning. It was about 10:30 when we pulled out, stopping at the restaurant to pay up...$50 for the two nights.

Then we headed south on highway 191...passing a Border Patrol checkpoint...

The last 1 1/4 miles was on hard packed gravel road that was a little washboardy on spots but not that bad and after a little discrepancy in our GPS, we eventually found the entrance...

It was pretty much full, especially for a rig our size but we managed to pull in tightly behind the trailer on the right, ensuring we weren't blocking the road. We got out to take a look and a fellow came by saying that they and their friends would be leaving at about noon...they were in the first 2 motorhomes on the left. Perfect! He told us the Sandhill Cranes start returning around 10:30 and peaks around noon.

With about an hour to wait, we wandered down the trail to take a look...

The Whitewater Draw WLA, formerly a cattle ranch, was purchased in 1997 and is now managed to enhance wetland habitats and provide waterfowl habitat, management for plains leopard frogs, and wildlife viewing. Since 1997, the Arizona Game and Fish Department has made substantial improvements to make this a premier southeastern Arizona wildlife viewing site. Available water is managed to provide marshland, mudflats, and open water areas. Viewing opportunities are enhanced by viewing decks, an interpretive trail, viewing scopes, and an educational kiosk. Several ponds surrounded by native vegetation provide habitat that has become rare in southeast Arizona. Native grasslands, with intermittently flooded wetlands surrounded by agricultural fields, provide shelter and feeding opportunities for cranes and a wide variety of other birds, amphibians, and reptiles.

The number of wintering sandhill cranes has increased dramatically since the 1950s, and over 30,000 sandhill cranes may be present in winter, making this the premier crane viewing site in Arizona. The number of waterbirds wintering here has also increased in recent years, and thousands of ducks and other waterbirds are usually present all winter. This is a great place to see avocets, stilts, and yellowlegs. Wetland birds include a wide variety of ducks, geese, herons, egrets, and migrating shorebirds, gulls, and terns.

This site and the surrounding area is the best place to see wintering birds of prey, including golden eagles, prairie and peregrine falcons, northern harrier, Cooper’s hawk, American kestrel, ferruginous hawk, red-tailed hawk, merlin, and rough-legged hawks.



Mammals include the javelina, mule deer, black-tailed jackrabbit, and desert cottontail.

Many areas of the marsh is bone dry...

After a short walk partway along the trail, we returned to wait by the rig. We were absolutely amazed at the number of Sandhill Cranes returning after a morning of feeding...there were flocks upon flocks of them coming in!

Of course the folks in those two motorhomes that said they were leaving at noon, finally sauntered back at about 12:15. A few minutes later they pulled out and we pulled into the spot vacated by them. Since we were only staying one night, I did a very minimal setup inside...Steve did set up the satellite dish though.

Friday morning we woke to the coyotes very near yipping up a storm. Our drive today will once again, only be a short distance...about a half hour. So, like yesterday, we weren't in any rush to hit the road.

Steve wanted to be out before sunrise to get pictures of the Sandhill Cranes, so just before 7:00, armed with his camera and tripod, he was on his way. Not me though...I'll see them later. Not long after leaving, he was back...absolutely furious; his camera battery was dead! It was fully charged when he checked it last night. This happened a couple of times before with an aftermarket battery we purchased as a backup for our Africa trip so he turfed it. Now he thinks it's the camera so he's going to leave the battery out after charging until needed. He quickly grabbed the small camera and was off again. Unfortunately without a telephoto lens most of his early morning pictures didn't turn out.
There's a berm trail that loops back through the marsh to the parking lot and camping area

One of the viewing decks...

So this was the best he could do with the small camera...

Instead of leaving in large flocks they seemed to take off in small groups...

After a bit, I decided I really should get my butt in gear, so I got dressed and cleaned up and headed out to find Steve. The loop trail is about a mile long and it wasn't until I was almost completely around it that I finally met up with him. Steve said he saw a herd deer running away on his first trip out this morning.
There's picnic tables...

...and benches...

Yay...the sun is trying to show itself!

Parking lot left and camping area on the right...

There's room for 5 or 6 units depending how big they all are. They have picnic tables and pit toilets, no water or sanidump...

Back at the trailer, we had breakfast and then gradually packed up. We had the slides in and were basically ready to leave...but first Steve wanted to watch the spectacular return of the thousands of Sandhill Cranes. So back down to one of the viewing platforms we went...

Well we waited and waited...they were much later then yesterday, not arriving until almost 11:30 so we only had the ducks entertaining us...

At first it was just small groups arriving intermittently, then finally larger flocks from all directions began arriving after noon...

Unfortunately it was a dull grey day and the birds were not as close as they were this morning. The 300 mm telephoto lens just wasn't able to zoom in enough. The green field is full of birds too. We heard lots of bangs this morning from around the area where we assume farmers are using propane canons to scare the birds off their crops...

You can just make out another flock in the distance...

What an incredible sight and sound when they start arriving in huge flocks from all directions...

And to think we were excited about the small flock of Sandhill Cranes that circled over us at Chiricahua...

A couple of hours later, we'd had enough...besides it was just after 1:00 and time to hit the road...

This motorhome looks like the back of our rig...look at the dusty motorcycle!

We arrived in Bisbee around 2:30...

Not sure what these round structures are...

Queen Mine Pit on the left...

A very colourful area...

Our destination, the Queen Mine RV Park on the left above the mine pit...

We took the exit to Old Bisbee...

...and the first left on the other side of the parked cars on the left...

What's this? A low looking overpass? Yikes...it's only 13' 5"! We slowly crept through it...no scraping...whew! Steve watched the camera monitor for the trailer roof mounted camera and it appeared we had about 6" to spare...whew! As you can see there is nowhere to turn off...

The entrance to the Queen Mine RV Park is off the parking lot for the Queen Mine...up a steep driveway to a large flat gravel area with RV sites lining the perimeter.






Looking towards Old Town Bisbee...

Our site, #7, backed onto the hillside...it was close to the office and laundry though and we had no one come into the other two sites between us and the office, so that was nice. Being close to the office also meant good WiFi. The rate here is a little steep at $35 but we had full hook-ups, wifi and access to large clean showers (although we didn't use them) plus a small laundry (2 washers/dryers). The main attraction for us in selecting this RV park was it's proximity to Old Bisbee...walking distance. Handy, particularly since I'll be celebrating a birthday on Sunday.

Some sites have a great view of the mine pit...

After getting all set up, Steve got back to work on editing pictures and I decided to put on a load of laundry.

We're looking forward to exploring Bisbee tomorrow...