https://www.facebook.com/groups/343672745661997/?profile_pic_upload=1&success=1#!/groups/343672745661997/

If that doesn’t work just do a search for Birding British Columbia.

I know that we have plenty of forums, websites, rare bird lists etc in our province and it’s not my plan is not to overwhelm anyone.  Just another casual avenue to stay in touch and share pictures and stories.  What the heck, I’m sure most of us are all on Facebook anyways.  It also helps put a face to all those names that we see on forums but wouldn’t know the person if we bumped into them on the Iona South Jetty (unless your profile pic on Facebook is a bird).  Hope to see you fellow birders over on Facebook because who doesn’t need “more friends”.

Happy 2012 fellow birders.  I look forward to crossing paths in the field.

Iona South Jetty

Armed with my scope and camera (you need a scope if you’re going to hope for some decent waterbirds as they are always way out there) I started my first 4km trek heading south.  The tide was in, and it brought the AMERICAN WIGEONS, MALLARDS, NORTHERN PINTAILS and GREEN-WINGED TEALS close to the rocky bank.

Iona Jetty, at the beginning....

After passing the first wind shelter, the ducks started to thin out and the COMMON LOONS, HORNED GREBES and SURF SCOTERS started to make an appearence.

Heavily Cropped Horned Grebe

A few MEW GULLS flew overhead with the odd GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL and HERRING GULL mixed through.  After hitting the 2.5km marker, I noticed a very large flock of birds playing leap frog as they continued to get closer.  About 50 birds would start, land in the water, then the next group would come up from behind them and land just in front of them.  This continued for a few minutes as they continues to move closer to the jetty and then head down towards the shore.  These playful birds were a large flock of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS.  I counted over 300 of them.  Looking back at my past lists, this is the largest number of RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS I have ever seen at one time.  As I continued on towards the end of the jetty, SONG SPARROWS kept giving me fits.  I’d see one jump up onto the path in front of me, then back down to the rocks before I had a good look.  A few of them were close enough that I knew they were SONG SPARROWS, but a few of them stayed far enough ahead that they were playing games with me making me think, “Could that have been a Longspur?”  A couple of them did trick me because they were SAVANNAH SPARROWS and AMERICAN PIPITS.  As I got close to the end, I saw a larger bird fly by me on the left and land on the pathway behind me.  I knew immediately that is wasn’t a sparrow.  I got the binos on it and saw a VARIED THRUSH.  What a strange place to see a VARIED THRUSH, and what a nice sighting on the jetty!  It’s a very common bird in my backyard but not a bird I’d expect to see on a rock jetty in open water 4km from land.

At the end of the jetty, I scanned the rocks with my scope and found a nice mixed flock of peeps…standing room only.

Standing room only...peeps on a rock.

As I scanned through them, I was able to find WESTERN SANDPIPERS, DUNLIN and SURFBIRDS mixed throughout a large number of SANDERLINGS.

Western Sandpipers, Dunlin, Surfbirds & Sanderlings

I spent a good 30 minutes looking through them making sure I wasn’t missing something rare.  A few BONAPARTE’S GULLS were in the water around the rocks and a couple more SURF SCOTERS flew by but no LAPLAND LONGSPURS or HORNED LARKS to be seen anywhere.  Maybe I will have better luck on the way back.  I turned around and started my trek back to the parking area.

Ready to head back...only 4km to go

The walk back found several more MEW GULLS and SURF SCOTERS on the north side of the jetty but nothing new.  Looks like it’s still too early for the SNOW BUNTINGS, and it just wasn’t my day for Larks or Longspurs.  I was able to find a few good birds though, and I think the bird of the day was the VARIED THRUSH as he was in an unusual location.

4 hours and 8kms later,  I counted 28 species on and around the south jetty

1. Canada Goose
2. American Wigeon
3. Mallard
4. Northern Shoveler
5. Northern Pintail
6. Green-winged Teal
7. Surf Scoter
8. Red-breasted Merganser
9. Common Loon
10. Horned Grebe
11. Double-crested Cormorant
12. Great Blue Heron
13. Surfbird
14. Sanderling
15. Western Sandpiper
16. Dunlin
17. Bonaparte’s Gull
18. Mew Gull
19. Ring-billed Gull
20. Herring Gull
21. Glaucous-winged Gull
22. Northwestern Crow
23. Varied Thrush
24. American Pipit
25. Spotted Towhee
26. Savannah Sparrow
27. Song Sparrow
28. Golden-crowned Sparrow

Steller's Jay

It’s at this time of the year that I like to remember I still have lots to learn when it comes to birding and stop overlooking the common species like the SONG SPARROW.

Song Sparrow

I’ve often wondered how a birder finds the rare ICELAND GULL in among thousands of gulls, or the SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER at Boundary Bay in amongst thousands of peeps and ducks.  I can’t recall the last time I’ve scanned through a large flock of birds and found a rarity in among them.  The reason why is because I forget about going back to the basics.  If I was more patient and took my time, I’d probably be much more successful in finding the rarities.  How many times have I looked through a large flock of gulls, seen mostly MEW GULLS and assumed that they must all be MEW GULLS and stop looking?  I remember several years ago seeing hundreds of robins on a grassy picnic area.  I started to look through them and gave up after counting 50 Robins and just assumed they were all Robins.  Suddenly, I heard the “tone-deaf” VARIED THRUSH and scanned through them all again.  Sure enough there was one VARIED THRUSH in the middle of all the robins that I would have missed had he not spoken up and said, “Hey buddy, don’t forget to count me.”  Now I was lucky this time as I wouldn’t count that as a missed rarity, but suppose it was something unusual or rare.  I would have completely missed it because I couldn’t be bothered looking through a bunch of Robins, rookie mistake!  The reason I love birding so much is that it’s relaxing, an awesome learning experience and the thrill of the hunt hoping to see something new.  So why do I feel rushed when I get a flock of birds that I can’t be bothered sometimes to take my time and correctly identify each one as I scan through them instead of assuming I already know what they are?  That’s why I need to go back to the basics.  I have a large collection of bird books that I read and then put away.  I always have my National Geographic and Beginner’s Guide to Shorebirds with me in the field, but the others are full of valuable information, and I have begun to take them out and start reading them again.

Back to the Basic with my bird books

Birding 101

I have had several requests from fellow birders, beginners and advanced, to go out and do some birding with them.  What valuable lessons can I help teach someone if I am practicing bad habits myself when it comes to watching and studying birds in the field?  How many times have I seen or heard a SONG SPARROW or SPOTTED TOWHEE and not even given them the time of day?  They can be some of the most interesting birds to watch.  I’ve heard birders call them “boring” or not interesting, heck I’ve heard that all too often when it comes to gulls.  I used to be one of those birders.  I found that when I took the time to study a bird in its natural habitat and learned the songs and sounds of a bird, then it wasn’t so frustrating when it came to identifying the bird.  That takes patience and just spending the time in the field watching the birds.  I have to remember that I’m not going to be able to find and count every bird in a particular area when I go birding.  Staying focused on what I’m watching and observe its habits, its movements, and any sounds it makes is what makes me a better birder.  Reading and studying my books when it’s too rainy to go into the field also helps me to be a better birder.  The key is to never become complacent or think I know everything.  That’s when I’m at my worst, and that’s when it’s time for me to return to the basics.

When we arrived and walked in, I felt like a kid in a candy store.  Books about birds on all four walls, bird t-shirts, bird CD’s and DVD’s, and all sort of bird related material.  I didn’t know where to start.  Kate and I walked around the store, and I was grabbing at books as she headed over to the basket of Audubon stuffed birds.  Kate found 7 birds that she didn’t have (that’s incredible as she now has 83 birds).  I picked up a few books to add to our always growing bird book library.  We talked with the wonderful volunteers, shared birding stories, and told them all about our amazing time birding in Arizona.  I don’t usually go into a bird store and spend an hour, but I was overwhelmed with their inventory and the passion that the Tucson Audubon Society has for the local birding scene.  I won’t tell you how much we ended up spending, but it’s not everyday that we get to walk into the Tucson Audubon Store.  As we were getting ready to leave, Kate asked the lady if she knew if she could give us directions to the Arizona Inn where Luis at the Chuparosa Inn told us we could finally find some quails.  I know it may be hard to believe, but after 7 days we still didn’t have a single quail on our list, and I’m told that GAMBEL’S QUAIL are common.  The last of Kate’s target birds was a MONTEZUMA QUAIL, but we figured at this point it would be a bird saved for another visit.  We were given the directions to the Arizona Inn near Downtown Tucson.  She reiterated Luis’ recommendation and said that if we walk the grounds, we would be almost certain to see a GAMBEL’S QUAIL.

When we started our bird trekking, I didn’t think the last place we would be birding would be the grounds of a hotel and one at which we weren’t even staying.  We entered the beautiful manured grounds and found way too many HOUSE SPARROWS, a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD and a NORTHERN CARDINAL but no quails.  I wandered outside of the grounds (Kate followed) and closed the gate behind us, which locked us out.  When I looked around, I realized we had exited out the back area of the Inn in the colleague’s entrance and loading bays.  A female staff member asked if there was anything she could help us with and without missing a beat, Kate asked her “Where can we find some quails?”  You can just imagine the look on her face.  No, we are not looking to break into something or snooping around up to no good, we are just looking for birds.  She told Kate that they are always by the pool area and tennis courts.  Just then I saw a bird run under a bush and we both went in that direction.  It was a GAMBEL’S QUAIL!  We walked down a dirt alley and found over 50 of them.  They weren’t MONTEZUMA QUAILS, but it was our last lifer of the trip, and we could wrap up our adventures in Arizona very satisfied that we could tick off a very common bird.

Gambel's Quail - male

We had an amazing 7 days birding in SE Arizona.  We met some great people and fellow birders, loved spending our day with Max and Lynn, and truely enjoyed the hospitality of Luis and Nancy at the Chuparosa Inn.  We visited some amazing birding hotspots and missed some that we were hoping to visit, which makes it all the more reason to plan another trip down to Arizona.  Our final numbers for the trip were:

103 species (with an additional 6 in New Mexico) and of those I had 38 lifers and all three of my target birds (ELEGANT TROGAN, VERMILION FLYCATCHER and BRIDAL TITMOUSE) and Kate had 41 lifers and two of her three target birds (ELEGANT TROGAN and VERMILION FLYCATCHER)

Kate La Plante

When I was looking for a place to stay in the Madera Canyon area, the Chuparosa Inn’s website showed that the Hummingbird Monitoring Network was scheduled to band hummingbirds on their property for September 19^th.  As a bander, I knew this would be THE place to stay in the Madera Canyon area.  The prospect of being able to see hummingbirds banded and maybe being able to hold one was enchanting.  The Hummingbird Monitoring Network (HMN) visits the Chuparosa Inn every 2 weeks from May to October to band hummingbirds.  As Les previously wrote, the hummingbird feeders were busy during our stay, and the owners Luis and Nancy are nature lovers.  So it was easy to see why the Chuparosa Inn was chosen by HMN as their banding site in the Madera Canyon.

HMN is a science-based, project-driven, non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of hummingbird diversity and abundance throughout the Americas.

They support efforts to preserve habitats for hummingbirds, conduct/support research to gather more information about hummingbirds and promote their conservation, maintain long-term monitoring sites, and provide education by sharing information.  For those of you who may know Devin Manky, he has been involved as  Master Bander for hummingbirds with HMN.  He works as the Wildlife Manager on Grouse Mountain and has banded many hummingbirds up on the mountain top.  To learn more about this organization, please visit their website at:

www.hummonnet.org/index.html

Elissa Fazio arrived with a group of volunteers before dawn.  She has been involved with the HMN since 2006, starting as a trapper and a data recorder.  After a couple of years, she began banding in 2008.  She is currently the Site Manager for Madera Canyon, Sabino Canyon, and Mt. Lemmon in Southeast Arizona.  Being a Site Manager takes a LOT of dedication.  She spends countless hours making the bands and compiling the data for HMN.

After their pre-dawn arrival, the morning began with the flurry of setting up the traps, shown below, around two hummingbird feeders, one nearby on the secondary patio, and the other in the forested area above the Inn.  Then at 6:00am, they started the clock and banded hummingbirds for the next 5 hours.

Trapping & catching hummers

Les decided to sleep in a little.  By the time I was up and outside with my breakfast about 6:25am, they were banding and recording data for the third hummingbird of the day, a male MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD.

Elissa had charts to follow for each hummingbird species.  These charts include information and pictures to help determine the age and sex of the bird.

Banding Guide page 1

Banding Guide page 2

Each bird arrived to the banding table in a mesh bag.

Magnificent Hummingbird in a bag

With each bird, she explained what she was examining.  She started by banding the bird prior to removing it from the mesh bag.  She delicately pulled the right leg through the mesh, wrapping the hummingbird in the mesh to protect it while she placed the band on its right leg.  After placing the band, it’s important to review the band to ensure the band is properly closed so that there is no danger to the hummingbird.

Banding an Anna's Hummingbird

Checking the band

After removing the hummingbird, she demonstrated the bander’s grip modified for hummingbirds, showing the brilliant colours on the throat feathers.

Bander's grip of an Anna's Hummingbird - female

She continued examining the birds for various data, including bill measurement, wing chord, fat content, feather molt and the percentage of iridescent feathers.  All of this information is utilized in determining the hummingbirds age. HY is for hatch year, which means a bird that was born this year, while AHY is for after hatch year, which is for all adult birds after the year they were born.

While measuring the bill, she also looked for corrugations in the bill.

Magnificent Hummingbird - male - measuring the bill

She explained that checking the furculum for fat content provides information about how well the hummingbirds are storing fat for their migration.

Magnificent Hummingbird - male - measuring the bill

While measuring the wing chord, Elissa described how the BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD and the RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD (an eastern N.A. species) have unequal length width the primaries while ANNA’S and COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRDS (both Western N.A. species) have equal primary width

Measuring the wing chord of a Black-chinned Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird has equal primaries width

Black-chinned Hummingbird has unequal primaries width

Female hatch year MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD had less white in the tips of the retricies, aka the tail feathers.

Measuring the white tip of the Anna's retricies

Reviewing the feathers

As male hummingbirds mature during their hatch year, the crown and/or throat feathers molt into the iridescent feathers.  The percentage of iridescent feathers for both were taken.

Magnificent Hummingbird -male - counting the coloured feathers

Weighing the hummingbird was the last data collected.  The hummingbirds were wrapped in tiny a “straight jacket” and placed on the scale.

Magnificent Hummingbird being weighed

After all of this, the hummingbirds were offered some sugar water before being released.  Most of them weren’t interested in drinking, but this Black-chinned Hummingbird was only too happy to accept the reward.

Black-chinned Hummingbird feeding after banding and measurements are done

Then…it was release time!  The ANNA’S and BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS flew off immediately upon being placed on someone’s hand whereas the MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRDS were much slower to depart, sometimes taking up to 5 minutes.  I was in awe of holding a tiny male for a few minutes before Elissa placed him on another person’s hand.  He did, however, leave a liquid present behind!

Holding a male Magnificent Hummingbird

Magnificent Hummingbird - female

At 11:00 am, hummingbird banding finished with a total of 17 hummingbirds – 3 ANNA’S, 4 BLACK-CHINNED, and 11 MAGNIFICENT.  This was a “magnificent” experience overall!  Everyone enjoyed the banding very much.  Thank you so much to Elissa and your volunteers.  I learned a lot!  It was a great pleasure meeting you all.  I really admired your hospitality to us and the other individuals who came to observe your banding station and learn about hummingbirds.  Also, a big thank you to Luis and Nancy for allowing HMN to use your Inn as the monitoring site for Madera Canyon.  We’ll be back!!

Chuparosa Inn

We didn’t need to walk 2 feet past our room for some amazing birdwatching.  Luis and Nancy have seating areas set up throughout the property (an area by every hummingbird feeder), as well as a small foot bridge that takes you to a waterfall with a beautiful sitting area to enjoy your breakfast.  Throughout the back of the property, Luis has a mixture of seed feeders and more hummingbird feeders with a swing bench, hammocks and benches so you can just relax and bird.  All three mornings, there were MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRDS, ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRDS, BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, ACORN WOODPECKERS, PAINTED REDSTARTS, BRIDAL TITMOUSE and LESSER GOLDFINCHES all over the property.  I would take my coffee and breakfast outside, sit down, and bird.  It was a nice way to start the day.  On the last morning, Kate and I got to participate in the hummingbird banding that the Hummingbird Monitoring Network does at the Chuparosa Inn every second week.  If anyone is heading to this area, I strongly recommend staying at the Chuparosa Inn.  You will not be disappointed.  Just to show that I’m being fair, we did stop in at both the Santa Rita Lodge and the Madera Kubo cabins, which are the two other of the three places to spend a night in the canyon, and they were also nice and very birdy, but the Chuparosa Inn would be my choice.  Luis and Nancy were amazing hosts, and Luis is always willing to talk with you about birds.  They are both extremely knowledgeable about the area and where you might be able to find those particular birds for which you are looking.  You can find their website at www.chuparosainn.com

Painted Redstart

Painted Redstart

In our two days of birding the Madera Canyon, we tried to cover as much of the different areas as possible but once again just didn’t have enough time to get to every area.  On the first day, Kate and I started our morning at the lower canyon at Proctor Rd, birding along Proctor Rd and through the trails that wind along Madera Creek to the Whitehouse Picinic Area.  Some great birds of note that we saw were CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, SAY’S PHOEBE, BELL’S VIREO, BRIDAL TITMOUSE, VERDIN, SUMMER TANAGER, BLUE GROSBEAK, NORTHERN CARDINAL and a beautiful male VARIED BUNTING.

Lower Madera Canyon - Proctor Rd.

Cordilleran Flycatcher

Bridal Titmouse

Blue Grosbeak

After spending the morning in the lower grasslands and wooded area of the canyon, we headed back to the Chuparosa Inn for some lunch and energy before heading into the mountains.  My third target bird, which was in those mountains, was the ELEGANT TROGAN, and if I didn’t see another bird, that would have been okay with me as I wanted that bird so badly.  We headed in on the Vault Mine Trail towards Agua Caliente Saddle at an elevation of 7240 feet and a distance of 3 miles.  As we continued to climb higher and higher, some points of the trail went straight down the mountain at the side of the trail. This is not for a person who is a little intimidated by heights.

Madera Canyon and Santa Rita Mountains

Madera Canyon and Santa Rita Mountains

To give you an idea of high we went in the Santa Rita Mountains, in this picture you can see the parking lot and the entrance to the trails, our starting point of this trek.

Looking down the mountains

After 3.5 hrs of climbing up hill, which at some places was as steep as the Grouse Grind.  With no ELEGANT TROGANS and about an hour left of daylight, we decided it was time to start making our way back down.  We didn’t get very many birds on this hike, a total of 5 species to be exact, but one of those species was a rare bird on the Birds of Madera Canyon checklist.  The irony is that it was a SWAINSON’S THRUSH, a common bird here at home, but a nice find in Madera Canyon.  The other four species we found were ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD, BRIDAL TITMOUSE, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET and LESSER GOLDFINCH.  We finished off day one with some more birding at the Chuparosa Inn before we lost our daylight.  Kate and I both had a great night’s sleep that night.

Day 2 in Madera Canyon once again started with a morning coffee, some breakfast, and a seat in the chair outside of our suite to watch the birds in and around the property.  After we finished eating, we headed back down to the town of Green Valley to try the Green Valley Wasterwater Treatment Plant.  Being a Sunday morning, the plant was closed.  The trip was still worth the drive.  Near the entrance of the Green Valley WTP, we found a WHITE-FACED IBIS (a lifer for the both of us) in a small pool of water right at the side of the road.  Another example of roadside birding at it’s best.

White-faced Ibis

We watched it for a while before heading back into the canyon.  On the way back in, we turned off on to Box Canyon Rd. (a dirt back country road) to do some more roadside birding as we made our way to the Florida Work Center.  This area was made up of mostly grasslands and rocks with another small stream surrounded by riparian woods.

Florida Works Center Trail

That's me looking for birds at the Florida Works Center.

It was hot and dry but a wonderful area with some more great birds.  The highlights of the day were CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (lifer for me as Kate wasn’t able to get it in view), ROCK WREN (it was finally my turn and we saw 2 of them), NASHVILLE WARBLER, PAINTED REDSTART, and a beautiful bright red male SUMMER TANAGER.  Kate found herself a LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD (another lifer), but I missed it as I was looking in the other direction.

We headed back to the Chuparosa to have a drink and then decided to head back into the mountains to try to find an ELEGANT TROGAN.  We only had about an hour and a half of day light left so we hiked back in to the Vault Mine Trail with one bird on our mind.  Along the way we heard a few BRIDAL TITMOUSE and LESSER GOLDFINCHES, but my mind was focused on one bird only, the ELEGANT TROGAN.  On the way, in we heard two of them off in the distance so I knew they were around.  We called back and waited……nothing.  We hiked in some more to the area that Luis had told us we’d have a good chance at finding them and nothing.  I wanted to push on but we were in the shadows. As it was dusk, we were quickly losing our light.  We did come equipped with a headlamp, so I wasn’t really worried about it getting dark on us.  Kate and I reached the well known spot to see them and nothing.  We waited a little while……still nothing.  It was time to head back as it was getting pretty dark.  Oh well, that just leaves a target bird for our next trip to Arizona.  We tried.  On the way back down, we talked about what a great trip it had been (we were moving quickly as we had come across some fresh bear scat on the trail and it was getting dark) and all the wonderful birds we did get to see.  As we came to a small clearing with the last minutes of light, I noticed a large bird fly right over our heads and into a pine tree right above us.  I really though it was a MEXICAN JAY.  I got the binos on the bird, and sitting right above my head was a male ELEGANT TROGAN.  Apparently I dropped a holy F bomb (I don’t remember, I was too excited) and grabbed Kate by the arm to pull her back.  We enjoyed what little light we had left and watched him until all we could see was a silhouette in the tree.  Kate managed two very dark blurry pictures that I won’t even put up.  If we had seen it in the proper light, this is what our picture might have looked like.

Elegant Trogan

I was so excited that for the rest of the way down the trail, I kept throwing my arms in the air.  I went three for three on my target birds on this trip!  It was a beautiful last evening in Madera Canyon.  Once again, we didn’t find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep.  We had another early morning ahead of us as it would be our last morning at the Chuparosa Inn, and we had hummingbird banding starting at 6am.  Kate has asked me if she could do a special guest blog about the hummingbird banding, so stay tuned I will let her tell you all about it.

Our 2 days in Madera Canyon produced 43 species with several new lifers to add to our growing list.

1. White-faced Ibis
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Swainson’s Hawk
4. Red-tailed Hawk
5. Mourning Dove
6. Magnificent Hummingbird
7. Lucifer Hummingbird (Kate)
8. Blue-throated Hummingbird
9. Anna’s Hummingbird
10. Broad-billed Hummingbird
11. Elegant Trogan
12. Acorn Woodpecker
13. Cordilleran Flycatcher
14. Say’s Phoebe
15. Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (Les)
16. Cassin’s Kingbird
17. Western Kingbird
18. Bell’s Vireo
19. Mexican Jay
20. Chihuahuan Raven
21. Common Raven
22. Bridal Titmouse
23. Verdin
24. White-breasted Nuthatch
25. Rock Wren
26. Canyon Wren
27. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
28. Swainson’s Thrush
29. Orange-crowned Warbler
30. Nashville Warbler
31. Black-throated Gray Warbler
32. MacGillivray’s Warbler
33. Wilson’s Warbler
34. Painted Redstart
35. Canyon Towhee
36. Brewer’s Sparrow
37. Black-throated Sparrow
38. Summer Tanager
39. Western Tanager
40. Northern Cardinal
41. Black-headed Grosbeak
42. Blue Grosbeak
43. Varied Bunting
44. Lesser Goldfinch

Welcome to San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area

The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area is one of America’s top birding destinations.  The SPRNCA covers a 40 mile area from the Mexican border to St. David’s, AZ to the north.  It is made up of deciduous riparian woods, mesquite scrub, grasslands and desert scrub.  The SPRNCA is a major pathway for neotropical migratory songbirds in the spring and fall, attracting over 350 species.  Many vagrant and interesting species have also been found here.  There are multiple entry points into the SPRNCA throughout the 40 miles, but one of the most birded areas and popular destinations is right off Hwy 90 at the San Pedro House.  The gardens and feeders, including many hummingbird feeders, surrounding the nature house attract such a wide variety of birds that you can sit on a bench and watch.  I call it easy birding.  One of the great birds that visited the feeders was a pair of CURVED-BILLED THRASHERS.

Curved-billed Thrasher

One of the most common birds of our entire Arizona trip were LESSER GOLDFINCHES.  San Pedro is where we had the largest numbers with over 50 birds.  They were all over the thistle feeders throughout the gardens.

Lesser Goldfinches

We headed out into the grasslands making our way to the San Pedro River.  Interesting birds seen along the 2 mile Nature Loop Trail included VERMILION FLYCATCHER, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE, ABERT’S TOWHEE, BOTTERI’S SPARROW (large numbers), CASSIN’S SPARROW, BREWER’S SPARROW, LARK SPARROW, BLUE GROSBEAK, LAZULI BUNTING and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS (a flock with over 50 birds).

The Grasslands of San Pedro

Lark Sparrow

Abert's Towhee

We then headed down into the riparian woods that surround the San Pedro River on the both sides.  This area was much cooler, and although the San Pedro River was pretty dry, it still offered a water source for the songbirds.

San Pedro River

San Pedro River

San Pedro River

The wooded area is a great place to find interesting warblers, although all we managed to find was a WILSON’S WARBLER and a MACGILLIVARY’S WARBLER.  We made our way around the loop and headed back to the Nature House to once again check out the action at the feeders before moving on to our next location.  The Nature House was a great place for bird books and field guides and the usual assortment of bird related souvenirs.  There is also an entire room dedicated to hummingbirds that included t-shirts, feeders, DVD’s and books.

Gila Woodpecker

White-winged Dove

I highly recommend visiting the SPRNCA if you are planning a birding trip to Arizona.  Leave yourself at least a day to bird this area, or at the very least half a day if you are going to explore the trails around the Nature House.  Including the 1.5 hours we visited on the second day at dusk, Kate and I spent 6 hours at this location, and I still feel like there was so much more that we missed.  We ended up with 34 species, including 6 new lifers.  The species highlighted in BOLD were our lifers.

1. Turkey Vulture
2. White-winged Dove
3. Mourning Dove
4. Common Ground Dove
5. Anna’s Hummingbird
6. Rufous Hummingbird
7. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
8. Gila Woodpecker
9. Black Phoebe
10. Vermilion Flycatcher
11. Cassin’s Kingbird
12. Western Kingbird
13. Loggerhead Shrike
14. Barn Swallow
15. White-breasted Nuthatch
16. Curved-billed Thrasher
17. MacGillivary’s Warbler
18. Wilson’s Warbler
19. Green-tailed Towhee
20. Canyon Towhee
21. Abert’s Towhee
22. Botteri’s Sparrow
23. Cassin’s Sparrow
24. Chipping Sparrow
25. Brewer’s Sparrow
26. Lark Sparrow
27. Black-throated Sparrow
28. Blue Grosbeak
29. Lazuli Bunting
30. Red-winged Blackbird
31. Yellow-headed Blackbird
32. Brown-headed Blackbird
33. House Finch
34. Lesser Goldfinch

Our next stop was at the Paton’s House in Patagonia.  This famous birding destination is one of the best places in America to see VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD.  Another lifer bird, we saw 2.  The Paton’s House has a large backyard open yearround to local and visiting birders.  They have a large feeder system set up with numerous hummingbirds feeders and water features.  You really feel welcome when you visit.  The set up was amazing with a covered tent area with chairs to watch the feeders, a board of what’s been seen that’s updated daily, numerous birding guides, a sign in book, and a book in which to write any unusual sightings that you have seen during your visit.  There is no fee to visit the yard but they do have a small donation box set up for the sugar fund.

Paton's House - Patagonia, AZ

Paton's House

Gila Woodpecker at the Paton's House

This was backyard birding at it’s best. In the hour and a half we spent there (and again I could have stayed longer), we found 17 species including the one lifer, VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD.

1. Turkey Vulture
2. White-winged Dove
3. Mourning Dove
4. Black-chinned Hummingbird
5. Anna’s Hummingbird
6. Broad-billed Hummingbird
7. Violet-crowned Hummingbird
8. Acorn Woodpecker
9. Gila Woodpecker
10. Cassin’s Kingbird
11. White-breasted Nuthatch
12. Abert’s Towhee
13. Northern Cardinal
14. Black-headed Grosbeak
15. House Finch
16. Lesser Goldfinch
17. House Sparrow

A few miles (3.5 to be exact) to the south-west of the Paton’s House along Hwy AZ83 is another birding hotspot, the Patagonia Roadside Rest Area.  I’m not being sarcastic when I say that.  When we were birding with Max and Lynn, this was one place that Max highly recommended at which we stop.  It has become famous throughout southeast Arizona and is a stop over between sites for all local birders.  It’s exactly what it sounds like, a rest area at the side of the road.  What makes it so famous you ask?  I wondered the same thing myself.  Years ago a rare bird (unfortunately I don’t know the species…any help fellow birders? I found the answer to my own question.  It was a pair of ROSE-THROATED BECARDS) was found here causing the “roadside rest effect” or the more offical name “Patagonia Picnic Table Effect” and yes there is a lone concrete picnic table there.  Soon after because of several birders showing up to find the rarity, several other rarites were found, and this area has now become a local legend.  It’s a small area on the south side of the Hwy AZ83, no bigger than your local park but it has yielded some exceptional birds over the years that include, GREEN KINGFISHER, YELLOW-GREEN VIREO, BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER, FIVE-STRIPED SPARROW and YELLOW GROSBEAK.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get any of those species ourselves.  I really loved this small area as it gave new meaning to one of my favourite terms “roadside birding”.  For those of you that don’t know me, I love to roadside bird.  Driving down a back country road, old dirt road, any road…just stop the car, get out and bird.  I have found some incredible birds this way, and it’s the element of surprise I enjoy so much.  Who knows what you will find at the side of the road in a field, a strand of trees or just a ditch full of water?  Give it a try…you will be surprised at what you will find.

Patagonia Roadside Rest Area

I have to say that I was very impressed with this stop.  Thank-you Max!  His rest area got us a few lifers, including a breeding pair of THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS.

Thick-billed Kingbird

Western Tanager

While we were searching the trees and rock face, a local birder (sorry I didn’t get his name, but I believe it was Mark Marsden) arrived to look for the reported VARIED BUNTING.  We started searching one area as he searched another.  A few minutes later, he had found it (a chocolate brown dull female) and waved us over.  It was gone by the time we arrived.  He wished us luck and went on his way.  Kate and I searched and searched and eventually found it approx. 30 minutes later.  We only found 12 species in the 1.5 hours that we were there, but of those 12 species, 3 of them were lifers.  Not too bad at all…I wish I could get 3 lifers at every roadside rest area!

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Common-ground Dove
3. Gila Woodpecker
4. Thick-billed Kingbird
5. Bell’s Vireo
6. Warbling Vireo
7. Canyon Towhee
8. Western Tanager
9. Black-headed Grosbeak
10. Blue Grosbeak
11. Varied Bunting
12. Lesser Goldfinch

I really wish we had more hours in the day, or longer periods of daylight.  There were so many other places (too many of them to count) at which that we would’ve like to have stopped.  However, it was getting late, and we still had an hour drive left to get to our next stop at the Chuparosa Inn.  This was another great day of birding in Arizona.

Birding Map of the Chiricahua Mountains

We started the morning driving to Paradise to check out the feeders at the George Walker House.  As we entered the dirt road leading up to the house, we hit a washed out area of the road.  With my driving experience down in Costa Rica I thought I could get through the washout with no problem.  What I forgot to remember was, in Costa Rica we had a 4×4 Landrover.  In Arizona, I was driving a Chrysler Minivan.  I almost got us stuck but managed to back the Minivan back out. We left it on the road and continued the journey in on foot.  The walk down the road produced ACORN WOODPECKERS, one on every electrical pole and tree and an amazing display of 23 TURKEY VULTURES sunning themselves on the bare trees.

Turkey Vultures

We arrived at the George Walker House to a flurry of activity at the feeders.

Max and Lynn at the George Walker House

Black-headed Grosbeak

Acorn Woodpecker

Mexican Jay

As we sat on the porch, we watched the birds come down to the feeders and the crazy activity at the hummingbird feeders.  We managed 15 species in a short amount of time that included 4 hummingbird species.  We had MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD and BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD.  Some of the other good birds included BLACK PHOEBE and MEXICAN JAYS up close.  After returning to the van, we headed back to Portal to have some breakfast and coffee to fuel ourselves up for the search of MEXICAN CHICKADEES.  Just before arriving back in Portal we found this CASSIN’S KINGBIRD just sitting on a road marker minding his own business.

Cassin's Kingbird

After breakfast, we headed up the canyon as far as we could go before the road was closed (there was no way I was driving through that washout) at the Turkey Creek Junction.  Once again, we left the van on the road and started on foot looking for any evidence of the MEXICAN CHICKADEE.  Within a few minutes the clouds opened up on us, and the rain began to fall for another day of birding in thunderstorms.  Everyone got their rain jackets on, except me, I didn’t have one, and we continued to walk up and down the road.  Lynn and Kate had finally had enough, but Max and I were determined to find at least one chickadee.  The area stilled showed signs of the forest fires earlier in the year, but there had already been a lot of re-growth in the understory.

Turkey Creek Junction

We decided that the rain had won out and got back into the cover of the van before finding any MEXICAN CHICKADEES.  We stopped a few times back along the road to do some road side birding, and the rain began to let up.  Max and I looked at one another and turned the van back around to Turkey Creek Junction to have another go for the MEXICAN CHICKADEE.  Once again, we walked up the road, and once again the thunder started and the rain fell, so back to the van we went.  Once again we stopped at a few places along the roadside. It was nice to hear a few birds that I knew from back home.  We found a SPOTTED TOWHEE just off the road; then I heard a STELLER’S JAY on the other side of the canyon before I was able to get it in view.  As the rain continued on and off, the birds were few, but the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

Chiricahua Mountains

Chiricahua Mountains

Chiricahua Mountains

Chiricahua Mountains

After spending a few hours stopping along the roads and birding, we finally ended back down at the Southwestern Research Station.  They have a small little gift shop with which I was extremely impressed.  They carried an excellent selection of birding books and guides and had a few souvenir items such t-shirts, hats, pins and pictures.  Just outside the gift shop, there is a current list of all the recent bird sightings.

Southwest Research Station

At the east side of the research station, they also have a hummingbird feeder station that we had to check out.  On the way over, I found a small “blah” bird in the grass and another on the railing to a small foot bridge.  I got them both in my binos and let out a small cry of excitement when I saw that they were YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS, a lifer bird for me.

Yellow-eyed Junco

We made our way to the hummingbird feeders to find dozens of hummers surrounding the 6 feeder stations.  We found MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD, ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRD, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD and another lifer for both of us, BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD.

Blue-throated Hummingbird

Blue-throated Hummingbird

We had spent a fair amount of time watching the hummingbird feeders, and it was beginning to get late in the day.  So we decided it was time to start heading back to Willcox but would take our time along the road just in case we found something jumping around in the brush.  It wasn’t long before we found a LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE looking for a late afternoon meal.

Loggerhead Shrike

Next it was a few BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS a little closer to the road.

Black-throated Sparrow

This SWAINSON’S HAWK was perched up on a hydro pole to wish us a goodbye as we headed out of the the Chiricahua Mountains and back towards the New Mexico border.

Swainson's Hawk

Both Kate and I had a fun day, and it was a pleasure to bird with Max and Lynn.  If you are heading down into the Willcox area be sure to let me know.  I’m almost certain that both Max and Lynn would love to show you their birds of southeast Arizona.  We had a lot of fun, got wet and made a few jokes about giant Bushtits along the roadside.  Max and Lynn, if you read this, I’ll be sure to let you know when we are back in Arizona because we’d love to do another birding day or two with the both of you.  Thanks again for your southern hospitality!

We finished the day with a total of 42 species with 5 new lifers on the way into and including the Chiricahua Mountains.  Lifer birds of the day are in BOLD

1. Turkey Vulture
2. Swainson’s Hawk
3. White-winged Dove
4. Mourning Dove
5. Greater Roadrunner
6. Magnificent Hummingbird
7. Blue-throated Hummingbird
8. Black-chinned Hummingbird
9. Anna’s Hummingbird
10. Rufous Hummingbird
11. Broad-billed Hummingbird
12. Acorn Woodpecker
13. Ladder-backer Woodpecker
14. Greater Pewee
15. Western Wood-Pewee
16. Black Phoebe
17. Cassin’s Kingbird
18. Western Kingbird
19. Loggerhead Shrike
20. Steller’s Jay
21. Mexican Jay
22. Chihuahuan Raven
23. Barn Swallow
24. White-breasted Nuthatch
25. House Wren
26. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
27. Townsend’s Solitaire
28. Orange-crowned Warbler
29. Black-throated Gray Warbler
30. Townsend’s Warbler
31. Wilson’s Warbler
32. Spotted Towhee
33. Canyon Towhee
34. Lark Sparrow
35. Black-throated Sparrow
36. Lark Bunting
37. Yellow-eyed Junco
38. Black-headed Grosbeak
39. Blue Grosbeak
40. House Finch
41. Lesser Goldfinch
42. House Sparrow

Our first stop of the morning was the Huachuca Mountains, located just east of Sierra Vista on an active army base called Fort Huachuca.  I will remind you at this point we are travelling with an older version of “Finding Birds in Southwest Arizona.”  In the book, it told us we could check in and register at the entrance gate for a pass to enter.  When we pulled up to the main gate (just like crossing the border), I handed the security officer our Canadian passports.  He looked at us and asked “What is this?” I explained that we are birders from Canada here to do some birding.  He replied ”you’re foreigners and you cannot enter!”  He stopped the traffic and made us turn around and leave.  Apparently you have to be a US citizen to enter an army base after the events of 9/11.  I guess we should have had an updated version of the book.  Strike one…..

We then headed over to what was going to be our second stop of the day, Ramsey Canyon. It’s a beautiful drive up an old country road with bird activity on both sides.  I was thinking that maybe it was a sign that we were sent this way earlier than we had planned on being here.  We drove to the end of the road to find a closed gate blocking our route with a big sign “Welcome to Ramsey Caynon.  Entrance fee is $5.00 per person.  We are closed Tuesday and Wednesday.”  This just happened to be a Wednesday morning.  Again our outdated book said that Ramsey Canyon was open 8am to 4pm 7 days a week.  Strike two…..

I was beginning to lose all hope of getting any birding done if this is the way that this day was going to turn out.  On the way in to Ramsey Canyon, we had passed a small dirt parking lot with a sign saying “Brown Canyon Ranch.”  We thought why not give it a try, what have we got to lose besides our morning at this point.  Brown Caynon Ranch was not a site listed in our book, which was probably a good thing.  We drove down the single lane dirt road approx 1 mile in to a parking area out front of an old ranch house with a pond and operating windmill.  On the left, we found a trail head that read “Nature Trail Loop” and on the right a sign for “Brown Canyon Trail”  we started off at the pond before entering the Nature Trail and soon found a beautiful SAY’S PHOEBE.

Say's Phoebe

Pond at Brown Canyon Ranch

Nature Loop Trail at Brown Canyon Ranch

Cassin's Kingbird

 Just as we were rounding the last part of the Nature Loop Trail and heading back towards the ranch, we found something small and red sitting in one of the bushes.  It stood out like a sore thumb as the deep red brightened a rather dry landscape.  We both got in on it and found our first target bird (and lifer for both of us), a VERMILION FLYCATCHER.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher

We ended up watching this guy for a while and also ended up seeing his female campanion just a few bushes back.  We re-grouped back at the pond for another quick look around and a drink of water.  We then decided to enter the canyon on the Brown Canyon Trail.  This trail wasn’t as open as the Nature Loop Trailand and took us through some different types of landscape.  The trees became taller with conifers and oak starting to mix through the mesquite terrain.  The birding was much quieter, but we did come across a few good birds that included SWAINSON’S HAWK, MEXICAN JAY, CANYON TOWHEE, LARK BUNTING, BLUE GROSBEAK and another one of our target birds, BRIDAL TITMOUSE.  Kate also found a ROCK WREN that I missed while climbing the rocks to try and get a picture of the view (apparently I flushed it).

View from the Brown Canyon Trail - Brown Canyon

Kate looking for Rock Wrens while I take the pictures

 The fun part about birding this trail was the background noise of thunder moving in from the west.  It reminded me of storms that we use to get in Ontario.  It was the first time Kate had birded in a thunderstorm, and we did get caught in a few periods of rain.  It didn’t dampen our spirits though, just cooled us off from the intense heat of the Arizona desert.  We ended up hiking in approx. 3 kms on the Brown Canyon Trail before we turned around and headed back to the parking area.  We spent a total of over six hours at Brown Canyon Ranch and ended up with a total of 27 species (28 for Kate as she had the Rock Wren).

We arrived on Tuesday morning in Phoenix and had a 3 hour drive to our first stop over of our trip.  We had a few ideas of where we wanted to stop on our way down.  As most of you birders know, where better to go than a sewage treatment plant if you want to find the birds.  Armed with our “Finding Birds in Southeast Arizona” book, we headed south on the I-10 to the Casa Grande Wastewater Treatment Plant.  We arrived just before 2pm with the sun beating down on us.  The current temperature was 35.5 degrees celsuis,. I was already feeling like I was melting.  Kate went into the office to check-in as I waited in the van for her (she was kind enough to leave a window open for me).  After approx. 15 minutes I thought they had kidnapped her and was ready to go inside to see what was going on, but she arrived back to the van and informed me that the facility was closed to the public because of recent construction and in the past birders had been turned away.  After convincing them that we were nothing but a pair of harmless Canadian birders (and she showed them the book that said we could go in and bird), they decided to give us a personal escort to the sewage ponds and created a brand new sign in log for birders, and we were the first to be entered into the log.  We parked the van, loaded up with our gear, and started our trek around the ponds.  The Casa Grande Wastewater Treatment Plant in made up of one large pond to the south with two smaller ponds on the north side.  There is a small dirt road that circles around each pond with lots of low lying shrub close to the shore.

Casa Grande Wasterwater Treatment Plant – Large Pond

Road through the sewage ponds

 

1. Green-winged Teal
2. Ruddy Duck (counted 82)
3. Pied-billed Grebe
4. Eared Grebe
5. Snowy Egret
6. Green Heron
7. Turkey Vulture
8. American Coot
9. Killdeer
10. Spotted Sandpiper
11. Greater Yellowlegs
12. Wilson’s Phalarope
13. Forster’s Tern
14. Mourning Dove
15. Warbling Vireo
16. Verdin
17. Yellow Warbler
18. Wilson’s Warbler
19. Abert’s Towhee
20. Savannah Sparrow
21. Western Tanager
22. Great-tailed Grackle