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Description
I was smart enough to bring a hummingbird feeder to our wilderness campground, and immediately after its hanging, hummingbirds were arriving nearly nonstop. This is the largest hummingbird in the US (and North America?), the blue-throated hummingbird, female. The Gila NF is the northernmost range for such specialties, including Magnificent Hummingbird and rarely Berylline and White-Eared Hummingbirds. In September, males of most hummingbird species have already migrated southward, so I only saw massive female blue-throats, which are beautiful even without the blue throats. They are nearly the size of a sparrow!
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Upon driving into the Gila National Wilderness (first in the US), you already feel its wildness. This place has witnessed some of the US's few wild jaguars and Mexican Gray Wolves, some of the rarest animals in the world. This place abounds in true, pristine wildness and biodiverse ecosystems, with some of the greatest numbers and unique species in the country.

This is during the monsoon season of September, where the place is cold enough to see your breath as it pours chilly water and floods the mountains and streams with life.

(c) Me, September 2008

Description
I was smart enough to bring a hummingbird feeder to our wilderness campground, and immediately after its hanging, hummingbirds were arriving nearly nonstop. This is the largest hummingbird in the US (and North America?), the blue-throated hummingbird, female. The Gila NF is the northernmost range for such specialties, including Magnificent Hummingbird and rarely Berylline and White-Eared Hummingbirds. In September, males of most hummingbird species have already migrated southward, so I only saw massive female blue-throats, which are beautiful even without the blue throats. They are nearly the size of a sparrow!
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Upon driving into the Gila National Wilderness (first in the US), you already feel its wildness. This place has witnessed some of the US's few wild jaguars and Mexican Gray Wolves, some of the rarest animals in the world. This place abounds in true, pristine wildness and biodiverse ecosystems, with some of the greatest numbers and unique species in the country.

This is during the monsoon season of September, where the place is cold enough to see your breath as it pours chilly water and floods the mountains and streams with life.

(c) Me, September 2008