A Trip To Casa de San Pedro With Friends - Poems By Jim Blackburn - Gila Woodpecker - May 2016

Gila Woodpecker 

Sitting around the pool 
at Casa de San Pedro 
Watching the sun go down. 
The sun is departing but not without
A few final rays that highlight the leafless limbs
That call out to the Gila Woodpecker,
Inviting it to come and sit in the light 
That shows off its beautiful red top
And black and white striped back,
A woodpecker that voices its harsh
Quirr, quirr, quirr, 
Telling any living thing around that life is good
On the San Pedro River,
Inviting us to come down tomorrow morning
And explore the bounty that lies outside
The Casa de San Pedro. 

Later, eating Mexican food,
We plan for the next day, 
Meeting at 6:15 for a hike along the river, 
A hike of introduction, of celebration, 
A hike about life and living things
Along the green strip within the brown
And foreboding desert
That surrounds us,
Here at the Casa de San Pedro 
Watching the Gila Woodpeckers 
With friends.

Common Black Hawks Found in SE Arizona

Black Hawks are found in central Arizona, to the north of Phoenix, around Sedona, and so on. Several pairs are now starting to breed in South East Arizona as well. These Black Hawks have been present in SE Arizona for several years now. Over the past few years, regular summer records have been coming from Rose Canyon Lake on Mt Lemmon, California Gulch, Patagonia Lake, and Pena Blanca Lake. Other recent records outside the usual migration period are from Huachuca, Santa Rita and Chiricahua Mountains, and upper San Pedro river. It is always preferred to bird watch in locations where Black Hawks go to feed, rather than going to where they have their nest since they are very shy birds and easily disturbed.

If you are an avid bird watcher then Arizona is the perfect place to see the Black Hawk. Stay with Casa de San Pedro.

National Geographic Wild to feature Casa de San Pedro and the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory

Tune In: Friday, May 13

The Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory (www.sabo.org) hummingbird banding project at the Casa de San Pedro Bed and Breakfast was filmed by Nat Geo's production team last year and it will be part of the new series that has just premiered.  

•  The program is called the "United States of Animals" and it is on the network National Geographic WILD.
•  The sequence is in the Rocky Mountain High episode scheduled to first air on Friday, May 13
• (Season 1, Episode 5) 

This is a link to the teaser for the program. 

Click on the "This is Hummingbird Heaven" short teaser for the episode. (There is a short Geico commercial before the episode starts). 

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/wild/united-states-of-animals/videos/this-is-hummingbird-heaven/ 

New Puppy Contest Winners

New Casa Dog Has A Name!

We adopted our new puppy on March 31 when he was just 8 weeks old.

Of course he needed a name.  So we asked our guests to submit their recommendations for names that would fit a puppy that has an official job title of Greeter and Host at the Casa.  We received over 300 name suggestions from over 200 of our guests.  And that meant we had a great list of suggested names to sort through and slowly narrow the list down to just one name.

• And the guest who submitted the selected name first (date and time of their email or text) also would win a free night's lodging at the Casa.  

Winning Name:   Woody.

The winning name is Woody.  Sometimes he is so excited to greet guests (remember his official title..) that he wiggles and wiggles.  This has led to a nickname extension to Woody Wigglesworth!

But formally, and on his AKC registration his official name is Woody de San Pedro.

Winners Announced:

Actually two different guests suggested the name Woody.  

• Wendy W. was the first guest to submit the name Woody for our new puppy.  It fits him well. And for her suggestion, Wendy won the free night's lodging.  Thanks Wendy!
• And Harriet W. was the 2nd person to suggest the name Woody.  And while we had not published any second place awards for successful name suggestions, we decided to award Harriet 25 extra points in our TapMango frequent stay program.  She will get to add that to her total points and be able to redeem them for valuable gift shop or lodging stays.  Thanks Harriet!

Woody is growing like a weed!

This little puppy of just 4 weeks ago is now stretching out and getting bigger.  He absolutely LOVES guests and wants to greet them all.  We are beginning to suspect that this white dog with the black nose and dark eyes (that give him the look of a baby polar bear) is becoming one of the most photographed pups ever.  He is indeed soft, fluffy, and cute as a button with a good spirit and friendly nature.  Here is a pix of Woody by Chuck Kling.  Thanks Chuck!

A Nature Photographers Haven:

At Casa de San Pedro, in Hereford, AZ, we  host a lot of beginning to expert photographers during the year - the San Pedro River affords many opportunities for Nature Photographers to get incredible images of hummingbirds, rare birds, birds that are common to our back yard but not their back yards.  Here is a link to a blog by Steve Kaye who recently visited Casa de San Pedro and got a great pix of our yard Montezuma Quail.  This elusive and secretive bird usually stays up in the mountain canyons about 7 miles to the west of us.  But, last December a small family of them set up housekeeping in our yard.  Two of the birds have relocated but one remains a constant visitor to our feeders.  Steve got this pix one morning with Patrick's help.  Imagine setting up a 50 lb rig of camera, tripod and huge lens quickly to catch this elusive little guy in good light.   Thanks Steve for sharing your great pix!

Here's the link to Steve's blog where you can find this pix and links to other great shots that he has taken:  http://stevekaye.com/incredible-customer-service/ .

You don't have to be an expert photographer to visit Casa de San Pedro.  While many of our guests are bird watchers and nature photographers, from novice to expert, many other guests come for the relaxing stay along the San Pedro River, the great breakfasts, afternoon pies. and fantastic weather (we are 20 degrees cooler than Phoneix - so when you want to escape Phoenix at 120 degrees, just think of heading South to Cochise County where we have cooler temps, cool sleeping (at 70 or below every night while Phoenix stays over 100 degrees! yikes!), and sunny skies.  Plus the great birds - as Steve so wonderfully demonstrates.

New Casa Greeter and Host !

We have a new puppy, his name is Woody.

Woody is a Golden Retriever puppy.  He was born February 4, 2016 - so we were able to adopt him at the end of March.  

He is settling into his new home(s) and into his official work position as the Casa Greeter and Host.  He is learning these responsibilities well and is waiting to greet you when you arrive.  He is very friendly and loves to be petted.

Of course puppies (and our guests on his behalf!) have a few rules to observe.

• Petting is encouraged.
• But NO human food allowed.  Absolutely no feeding Woody from the dining room tables nor from your own food supply.  We do have puppy treats you can have for him, and only to reward good behavior.
• Please help us keep Woody in the Courtyard.  Unfortunately there are many critters outside that we do not want him to encounter (snakes, skunks, bobcats, coyotes, javalinas, etc etc) - so please keep the back gate closed and the puppy inside the courtyard.
• Please also help us train Woody not to go to the parking lot where a puppy might get squished by a car.  Please do not let him follow you to your car if he is playing in the back yard (we will be with him, but he loves every guest and wants to play with them).
• IF you are bringing a pet (prior approval required!) the pet must have all required immunizations (up to date).
• If  you see any hazards that Woody might run into please let us know immediately!
• As we are training Woody to respect the breakfast hour by taking his morning nap in the foyer (and not being underfoot nor tempting you to feed him at the table!).  So if he is taking his nap when you arrive for breakfast, please let him sleep.  Play time is after breakfast.

Thanks for all of your name recommendations.  We had over 300 name submissions for the puppy.  Two of our guests did nominate Woody as the best name for our new puppy.