Sierra Vista - March 29, 2012

We just returned from a short trip to Sierra Vista, one of our favorite birding areas.  We stayed for two nights at Battiste's Bed and Breakfast.  They cater to birders, with Tony being a professional birding guide.  Their yard is full of feeders, with lots of opportunities to take photos.  He's even set up a blind. 

Many birds are late in returning, so we didn't have great success, but we did see a nice variety in their side yard and from our private deck.

The highlight of the stay, though, was seeing the Elf Owl.  It has returned every year since they've lived there, about nine years.  It nests in the fourth hole from the bottom on this pole.

Acorn Woodpeckers nest two holes up.  Tony and Julie had heard the owls earlier, but they had not seen them for ten days and were beginning to worry that they might not return to nest.  We joined Tony at 7:00 p.m. to sit and watch for them.  Shortly after, two of them came in and were calling to each other.  They even went up to the nest hole.  We saw them clearly with Tony's light, but I wasn't able to photograph them.  The next night several other people sat out to see them, but they never came.  I guess we really lucked out.

The Elf Owl is the smallest owl in North America, at only five and three quarters inches tall.  We also saw the Magnificent Hummingbird, which is just a half inch smaller than the owl.

We took a couple of side trips, one to the San Pedro River and another to Ash Canyon B&B, but both places were pretty quiet, with few birds.  But we still had a great visit and will definitely be returning to Battiste's next year.