Posts

Masked Bobwhite Quail

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Masked Bobwhite Quail As mentioned in previous blogs, one of the missions of the Buenos Aires NWR, is to reintroduce this endangered bird. One of our many jobs here is to care for this bird once a week.  There are other volunteers that are the primary care givers.  They perform many tasks daily in providing care to the “pens”; where they grow before being released into the wild.  Others also fill in like us, making sure the quail have food and water daily. There is a display pen near the visitor center where several quails are kept for public viewing.  The flight pen is for staff only access and is about a mile away from the visitor center.  The birds here are banded and reintroduced to their natural habitat before being released into the wild. Locked and electrified fence to discourage predators, providing access to the flight pens. Immediately upon entry into this fenced in area, one must step into a Vircon bath to disinfect our shoes.   There is one mor
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The Sonoran Outpost

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“The Sonoran Outpost” Just a few pictures to show you the neighborhood in which we live.   Yes, it’s a compound, surrounded by a chain link fence, topped with razor wire.   An electric gate allows access for us.     We call it, home!   You can see our truck, marking our site. Baboquivari Mountains Home! In addition to the volunteer RVs, there are several mobile trailers here.  One of them is called the Community Center.  We use it for our twice monthly Volunteer Potluck dinners, and it contains the laundry room as well. The other trailers are temporary housing, for staff biologists and wildlife specialists.    
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A Typical Workday

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A Typical Workday Hello and Happy New Year Everyone As we enjoy our days off, we don’t have to return until Sunday.   While sitting around and trying to recoup our strengths, we thought of showing you what a typical refuge road looks like. As you can imagine, a refuge this large has dozens of roads used for many purposes.   There are roads used for basic / primitive camp sites throughout the refuge as well as many roads used by hunters.   These roads if not maintained, nature will eventually reclaim the space.   One of our many jobs here is to maintain some of these roads and keep them open for safe vehicle passage.   This includes trimming branches. As can be seen below, some of these have varying degrees of openness or thick growth.  In addition, the views from these roads also vary: Since we are in Southern Arizona, just about everything here will either prick, stick or sting you.  Every bush, tree or shrub has needles.  It is just a question of how lon
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Brown Canyon

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Brown Canyon It is set in the Baboquivari mountains.   This is a beautiful sycamore-shaded canyon. The habitat is very diverse Its elements are what makes this canyon a sky island ecosystem . The only way to enter the canyon, is by appointment. Volunteers give guided tours to the public (for a slight fee) every other Saturday; and give private tours on alternating weekends. (for a higher fee, of course). Arrow above shows canyon location.  Guide meets the hikers at the foot of the canyon (see sign!)  A 30 minute drive by “high” clearance vehicle required to get to the trail-head at the EEC. See below. Environmental Education Center Final rest area and use of facilities before commencing hike.  Approximately a little over 4 miles round trip of rough terrain, creek crossings and mostly all going uphill. When the land was obtained from its previous owners, one the major stipulations was to protect the canyon; provide guided tours to prevent public access, campi
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Buenos Aires NWR

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Buenos Aires NWR First a little history of this area, the following is a summary, directly from the Buenos Aires website: In the 1800's, the Altar Valley was an open grassland teeming with large herds of pronghorn. Masked bobwhite quail calls filled the early morning summer air. The grasslands blanketed the landscape, uninterrupted as far as the eye could see. Pedro Aguirre, Jr. came to this location and started a stagecoach and freight line that would connect Tucson and the mining towns of Arivaca, Arizona, and the town of Altar in Sonora, Mexico. He built a homestead here in 1864 and named it Buenos Ayres, or "good air," because of the constant winds found there.   Aguirre was the first person to develop artificial sources. He began by constructing a large reservoir near the head of the watershed at the confluence of the Lopez and Compartidero washes. With water in place, cattle industry exploded.   But the cattle industry suffered a setback. A severe drough
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