Trip Report: Arizona June 2025
Report of a two week trip primarily through Arizona plus a bit of Nevada and New Mexico. We saw a total of 52 mammal species with highlights including Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat, both Southern and Chihuahuan Grasshopper Mice, and Mexican Woodrat.
Arizona Trip Report
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4 Comments
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EllenLinton
Glad you enjoyed the report. I appreciate your advice and I’ll try out your strategy on my next Arizona trip. Ringtail was a big blow to miss so it’ll be a huge focus. Interesting about the Hog-nosed Skunks and explains why sightings of them seem to be inconsistent. Thanks again for your advice!
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Jon Hall
It was very generous of you to list Mexican Woodrat in the highlights when – if I understand it – only the insomniac birding Lintons saw it. For both the skunk and ringtail then the entrance road into Carlsbad Caverns was reliable for both species (I saw multiple ringtails along here in a couple of hours 10 years ago). Trouble is you are not allowed to spotlight along there as it ‘harasses’ the animals .. the main reason I think is that they worry about people collecting herps along the road and if they see lights shining they will investigate. I got a ticket there. But I don’t think anyone can accuse you of harassing animals with a thermal scope and you might get away with putting a flashlight on for a few seconds if you see a ringtail or a skunk.
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EllenLinton
I debated about whether to include Mexican Woodrat in the highlights but it’s a very good mammal so I gave in even though I missed it 🙁 It did teach me the valuable lesson of never letting the birders go out by themselves! Carlsbad was too far for this trip but I’ll look into it for the future since the thermal scope should mitigate the ticket issue.
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vnsankar
Nice report, and glad to see the Chiricahuas and Animas Valley are as mammal rich as I remember. Just amazing places. As much as I love CA, I have to admit that this area during the monsoons has the US’s best mammal watching.
For future reference, I find spotlighting from a car the easiest method for Ringtail; they give really bright eyeshine that’s hard to miss. If you see particularly promising looking canyon walls, bluffs, or rocky outcrops next to the road, it’s often worth stopping and giving them a careful scan on foot. American Hog-nosed Skunks are weird, at certain times they are downright common and then they vanish at others. Rainfall/soil moisture may have something to do with it, in Cave Creek my impression is that they are seen more frequently Aug-Oct.