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July 22-29, 2007
This was truly a great trip led by two great leaders, Brennan Mulrooney of Victor Emanuel Nature Tours, and Steve Gross. Fourteen participants went on this trip, ten from the OG, with David and Sandy Junkin joining us from New York and Joe and Jane Hanfman from Maryland. Since this trip was during the monsoon season, you are never exactly sure what you will get from the weather. It did rain every single day of the trip, but fortunately for us, it rained either after we finished birding one area and were headed to the next or it had just finished raining in the area we were headed to. For the whole trip the weather only forced us to cut our birding time short in two areas but it did not cost us to lose opportunities at any of the Arizona specialties. The rain and constant cloud cover did keep the temperatures down, so it never really got unbearably hot at all during the trip. There were so many highlights during this trip and will I will try and cover them all.
The first few days of the trip were spent birding in the Tucson Valley, Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains and in the valley between the Santa Ritas and the Huachucas. Highlights included on the first afternoon of the trip finding a female Costa’s Hummingbird at the Arizona-Senora Desert Museum. This was really the only good spot to find Costa’s Hummingbirds on the itinerary for the trip. Day two was one of the best days of the trip with us picking up the Black-capped Gnatcatcher along Proctor Road and hearing the Flame –colored Tanager, which I believe a few of the participants got a glimpse of near Madera Kubo, both bonus birds that are not seen every year. While looking for the Flame-colored Tanager we found a Dusky-capped Flycatcher and a couple of Painted Redstarts. On the way back to the vans from looking for the Flame-colored Tanager and watching Broad-billed Hummingbirds and Bridled Titmice visit the feeders at Madera Kubo we found a pair of Arizona Woodpeckers foraging in the trees around the Amphitheatre Parking Lot.
Day three had us seeing the absolutely splendid Violet-crowned Hummingbird as well as more Broad-billed Hummingbirds at the Paton’s House. The weather almost ruined our chances at seeing this stunning hummingbird. While we were eating lunch it rained hard for about a half hour and to get to the Paton’s house we needed to cross a wash and if the wash was full of running water because of the rain we would not have been able to get to the Paton’s house. Fortunately the rain hit mostly downstream of the wash and we were able to get to the Paton’s and see the hummingbird. Earlier in the day, before we stopped for lunch, we visited the Patagonia Roadside Rest Stop, made famous by a nesting pair of Rose-throated Becards that had been discovered there several years ago, to look for the Thick-billed Kingbird. It took us some time but we did see one Thick-billed Kingbird fly into a large cottonwood tree. All the participants got great looks at this big kingbird, appropriately named for its massive thick bill. While watching the kingbird a pair of Peregrine Falcons flew by and perched on the rocks near the top of the bluffs below our parking site. We all got great scopes views of the falcons. Other notable birds observed during the first few days of the trip were Gambel’s Quail, Gray Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk Sora (heard only), Band-tailed Pigeon, Acorn Woodpecker, Gila Woodpecker, Gilded Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird, Cassin’s Kingbird, Hutton’s Vireo, Mexican Jay, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Rufous-winged Sparrow and Botteri’s Sparrow.
The next two days found us birding in the Huachuca Mountains visiting places like Fort Huachuca, Garden, Ramsey, Miller, Carr and Ash Canyons. This part of the trip is where we had our most success with finding hummingbirds, including finding ten species in one day. Highlights included finding out about a Spotted Owl from a passer by as we were looking for Elegant Trogon in Garden Canyon on day four. We did not expect to find Spotted Owl on the trip because we were not planning on hiking into Scheelite Canyon, where the Spotted Owls are normally found. So, seeing one just above the upper picnic area in Garden Canyon was a real treat. We actually wound up seeing two, an adult and a juvenile. It was quite an experience. We did manage to find a male Elegant Trogon that we chased around a bit to get good looks at it. After we stopped chasing it, it decided to fly into a sycamore tree in the middle of the campground affording us absolutely spectacular looks at it while it was giving its Atari-video-game sounding croak. As we were driving out of Fort Huachuca we found a male Montezuma Quail just off the side of the road that gave us brief looks at it before briskly walking into the tall grass. Brennan and Steve tried to flush it back onto the road but instead they flushed the male plus a female out of the grass and the pair flew right over the van it was a cool site. The afternoon of the fourth day was spent watching hummingbird feeders and being rewarded by seeing a total of ten species of hummingbirds including a gorgeous male Berylline Hummingbird, another bonus bird that is not seen every year, at the Ramsey Canyon B&B, a nice male White-eared Hummingbird at Beatty’s Guest Ranch, and finally getting to see the male Lucifer Hummingbird at Ash Canyon B&B that we had dipped on the day before that came in right on schedule for his evening feed. We would have missed the Berylline Hummingbird if it were not for David noticing a hummingbird with what appeared to him as rufous in its wings leaving a feeder that we didn’t know about and hadn’t checked as we were driving off.
The fifth day we spent driving up Carr Canyon to the Reef Town Site Campsite. On our way up we got side tracked by a camp fire that had not been put out properly the night before. After we made sure the fire was out a cleaned up the debris the campers had left behind we got back to birding and for our good deed we were rewarded with getting good looks at a pair of Buff-breasted Flycatchers after a bit of chasing. While we were chasing the flycatchers we came across a mixed species flock that included one young male Olive Warbler, a female Hermit Warbler and a female Grace’s Warbler. After a picnic lunch we proceeded back down the mountain stopping at a few spots along the way to try and find Greater Pewee. At our first stop we found the Greater Pewee acting very pewee like: perching at the tip of a bear twig and sallying out for insects and returning to the twig. We all got great looks and while we were looking at the Greater Pewee we found another male Olive Warbler. The afternoon was spent driving to Portal with a stop at the Sierra Vista Environmental Operations Plant where we found a nice sized flock of Yellow-headed Blackbirds. The highlight of the drive to Portal was getting our best look at a soaring Zone-tailed Hawk. Other birds of note seen in the Huachucas were Scaled Quail, Golden Eagle, Magnificent Hummingbird, Blue-throated Hummingbird, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Hepatic Tanager, Spotted Towhee, Cassin’s Sparrow, Yellow-eyed Junco and Scott’s Oriole.
According to Steve the best stop on the trip was saved for last. The last days of the trip were spent birding in the incomparable Chiricahua Mountains visiting Cave Creek Canyon, Pinnery Canyon and Rustler Park. We also visited David Jasper’s Feeders, the Southwestern Research Center and Rodeo, New Mexico while we were birding the Portal area. I think the vistas actually beat out the birds as the highlight of the Chiricahuas. Unfortunately, I can not put into words how incredible the vistas were, you are just going to have to go visit the Chiricahuas and see for youself just how incredible the vistas are. Early morning, before breakfast, on day six, found us looking for the Crissal Thrasher that David Jasper said was coming in regularly to his feeders but after waiting for almost an hour for the bird to show up we decided that David may have been exaggerating a bit about the frequency at which the bird came into the feeders. So we left and worked Foothills Road and found a distant Crissal Thrasher teed up in a tree affording us semi-descent looks. We would get much better looks at a couple more Crissals the next morning.
This was the other day that weather caused us to not be able to bird some areas for as long as we would have liked to but we still had a very good morning in spite of the weather. We had planned to bird for a little bit at the George Walker House and hopefully get good looks at Juniper Titmice that frequent the feeders and there had been recent reports of Lawrence’s Goldfinch at the feeders as well but due to the rain we bypassed this stop and continued up towards Rustler Park. The big highlight for the morning was having a Northern Pygmy-Owl calling back after we stopped playback of a Pygmy-Owl to get a mixed flock of birds together. After a little bit of playback it came right in and perched directly above us affording us great looks and causing some participants to get owl neck. Wait a minute I thought only warblers were supposed to do that. We also were able to locate a few Mexican Chickadees in Pinery Canyon, which according to Steve is the lowest in elevation that he has ever encountered them. We made it to Rustler Park before the big rains hit but had very little time to bird before being forced back down the mountain to try and find some drier areas to bird and not loose time trying to wait out the storm. On our way down we encountered a minor rock slide caused by the erosion from run-off water from the storm. So a few of us got out of the van to clear the rocks off the road so nobody would run into them. it was our second good deed of the trip.
We still needed to find Red-faced Warbler and our last chance would be at Turkey Creek below Onion Saddle. So even though it was still drizzling when we got to that spot we decided to stop and attempt to locate a Red-faced Warbler. Shortly after everyone got out of the vans we heard chattering from a mixed flock of birds. While watching the mixed flock of birds the first bird that I got on happened to be a Red-faced Warbler that I called out and Brennan wheeled around quick enough to also see it as it moved up stream and out of both our views. We decided to move upstream with the flock to try and stay with the bird but we wound up losing the flock with Brennan and I being the only ones to see the Red-faced Warbler. So we decided to walk down stream and listen for another mixed flock of birds. After walking a ways down stream we heard a Hermit Thrush sing and some chattering in the back ground. Brennan decided to stop there to play the Pygmy-Owl tape to try and bring the flock together. As he was doing that I head further downstream to directly across where I was hearing a begging call. I quickly located where the begging call was coming from and noticed a bird fly into that area and it was a Red-faced Warbler. I quickly called the rest of the group over and everybody was able to see it. We had found a family group and got to watch as the male and female Red-faced Warbler would feed the juvenile and then forage for more food for it. We must have watched them for nearly an hour. Some of us were so amazed by how red the face of a Red-faced Warbler was that we were debating what you would call that color. I think the general consensus was that it would be Poinsettia Red. I believe that this bird was voted bird of the trip based on a poll taken over dinner later that night.
The final day of the trip had us doing some birding in Rodeo, New Mexico looking for the Bendire’s Thrasher before breakfast. It was a windy and cold morning and I was thinking that might ruin our chances at seeing the thrasher and it took us to our last stop to find it. Everybody got good looks at two different Bendire’s Thrashers. We also got brief but great looks at two Crissal Thrashers in the middle of a dirt road. It was quite a stop. The rest of the day was spent driving back to Tucson with a stop at Lake Cochise in Wilcox before we got hit by more rain. At the lake we were able to find the Ruddy Turnstone that had been reported their several days earlier. The turnstone is a rare bird for Southeast Arizona so it was a good pickup. Other birds of note were a couple of Black Terns, several Stilt Sandpipers and a bunch of juvenile Baird’s Sandpipers. On the way back to Tucson we stopped in at Madera Canyon for one last try at the Flame-colored Tanager but were again unsuccessful. The final highlight of the trip, and an unexpected surprise, came on our way to dinner when we found a pair of Burrowing Owls perched on fences and signs during a detour we were forced into due to street construction. All the participants got to see them, and the birding portion of our Arizona Hummingbird Tour came to a joyous end. The trip end like it started with a couple of Burrowing Owls being seen on the way to dinner but this time all the participants got to see them.
In all 184 species were observed during the trip, including 12 species of hummingbirds with ten species in one day in the Huachucas. The only Arizona specialty that we missed was the Northern-Beardless Tyrannulet and due to the trips length we did not have time to make an atempt at the Buff-colored Nightjar or the Five-stripped Sparrow. In any case we needed to save some birds to come back for on future trips. Each participant wound up adding at least three birds to their respective life lists. This was the first time a few of the participants had visited this area and they added as many as 82 birds to their life lists. A couple of milestones were also reached during this trip. Joe saw his 600th ABA area species and Claire might have gotten her 500th ABA area species during the trip. On the non-birding side, a few of the participants earned merit badges by doing a couple of good deeds; namely, putting out a camp fire and cleaning up its vicinity, and clearing a minor rock slide caused by erosion as a result of the recent rains. Also, aside from the birds and to reinforce that birding is not just about the birds but the places birding takes you to; southeast Arizona is truly one of the most gorgeous places in the United States. The scenery was absolutely incredible and its beauty is indescribable. I know one of the parts of the tour Steve was most looking forward to showing us was the Chiricahuas specifically the Portal. He really enjoyed hearing the gasps and “Ooohs” of all the participants upon seeing the spectacular vistas. A huge thanks goes to Steve Gross for suggesting this trip to me and being willing to help lead it and a big thank you to Victor Emanuel for allowing Steve to be the second guide for this trip. Finally, a big thanks goes to Brennan Mulrooney for doing a fabulous job leading this trip. I hope everybody enjoyed the trip as much as I did.
Bird List Coming Soon
~ Adam Wood, OG Field Trip Coordinator, birdsondabrain@earthlink.net, 713-515-1692 |
