THE SEARCH FOR A TROGAN
By Jim Foster
Just for the record the Elegant Trogan is a bird and is not something that lives under a bridge.
Driving into the Chiricahua Mountains alone is a great trip. This drive was the idea of neighbor Bill Mead who suggested the side trip on our way back to Idaho. We had had a great morning in a blind in Junction, Texas a few days earlier and our confidence was high.
Bill’s question that perked my attention was something like, “Have you ever seen a Trogan?” Considering that Bill was the guy that steered me to an albino hummingbird and an article that was published in BIRDS & BLOOMS magazine – hence the decision to search for the trogan was a no brainer.
After some on-line research I learned the trogon is surpassingly beautiful bird, a relative of the “quetzal”, the bird revered by Mayan priests. I also learned these feathered friends are quite rare and hard to locate, even for those who know where to look.
The bird is found in one of the desert mountain canyons where it returns to annually for nesting.
“Look in the large sycamore trees”, said Bill. “They will generally be perched stiff and upright on a sycamore or on some other streamside tree.”
After several hours walking along sycamore-lined creeks we still had not even heard the call of the bird. These large trees have holes where limbs have fallen off and are the trogans favorite nesting areas.
The bird we searched for has a deep green head with a white line across its breast, beneath that a bright red lower breast and belly. This is a bird with extraordinary colors nature has painted. This is the trogon.
The trogon was almost wiped out by collectors half a century ago, though its numbers seem to be on the rise. As one of the few truly exotic birds that breed north of Mexico, it has always drawn an interest that vastly exceeds its very slight numbers.
We were looking what is said to be the best location to find the elegant trogon, Cave Creek Canyon. It is also considered one of the best birding spots in the Southwest United States. Located in the heart of the Chiricahua Mountains the drive will pass through towering, jagged cliffs over them, green sycamores that fill the canyon.
It was just before ten in the morning when we saw the trogan back in the limbs. It was a good sighting but did not give me a good view for a photograph. Just then the bird flew and our luck held. The trogan landed closer to us and on a limb in full sun.
The angle was steep but I started shooting away. I was excited to say the least and several of the images were not as sharp as I would have liked but I got the shot.
For those of you who have never seen a trogan this is the place to spend the day in the spring. After nesting these colorful birds return to Mexico.
As a further observation, it doesn’t seem like the “border wall” has slowed the trogans down in the least as some of the more radical environmental idiots seemed to think it would.
To reach Cave Creek Canyon, head south on State Road 80 from the small community of Road Forks, New Mexico (Exit 5 on I-10, just before the interstate crosses into Arizona). Drive on State Road 80 for 26.5 miles through rocky foothills, creosote and yucca, and (2.5 miles before the town of Rodeo) look for the sign for State Road 533, also known as Portal Road. Take this road west - a "Cave Creek Canyon" sign is clearly visible. Follow it for 7 miles to the town of Portal. The store at Portal, incidentally, is a good source of information about recent sightings in the canyon. Continue on State Road 533, and at 0.6 mile beyond the store, stay on the paved road to the left of a fork. There is a sign here, but some signs are confusing and don't agree on mileage. If you follow the signs and a "map" you shouldn't get lost.
A visitor center/ranger station lies 0.8 mile beyond the fork in the road; stop for good information here. This was closed when we visited.
If you have comments or news for Jim Foster please email him at: jim@jimfosteroutdoors.com
