August 9 - Patagonia

This is the third day of the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, and I’d signed up for field trips every day of the event.  I was wide awake at 3:55 a.m., and the alarm was set for 4:15, so I just got up and made coffee.  I joined the tour led by Alex Lamoreaux to Patagonia Lake State Park.

Alex leads trips for Wildside Nature Tours, and is planning a trip in October to India’s Nagaland, where they expect to experience the spectacle of 100,000 Amur Falcons(!!!) in migration.  That would be something to see!!

Wildside Nature Tours photo

But, here in southeast Arizona, we walked out the path then looped through the riparian area along the creek.

It was overcast, cool, and humid as Alex led the nine of us from the parking lot along the “Birder’s trail” to where Patagonia Creek enters the reservoir.

We had good views of a lot of the riparian birds, and several of the group picked up a number of "Life Birds"..

A few of us had fallen behind the group, and heard a different call so kept on the bird.  I finally got a glimpse of it, and saw it was a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, which was my ABA Life Bird No. 637, and I got a sound recording of a couple of its calls.  We had good views of cuckoos

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

and a bathing Summer Tanager.

Along this trail, there was - as usual - more going on than just birds.  There were a number of the “Glorious” Scarab Beetles Chrysina gloriosa along the way.  Looking at any scarab, you can see why the Old Kingdom Egyptians believed them to be symbolically as sacred as the cross is to modern Christians.

Another “scarab” we found was a dung beetle, which I think is from the genus Canthon.  Obviously, this is a “roller”, one of the species that forms dung into round balls, which are buried for use as a food source and brood chamber for the young.

I've had jobs like this before . .

Grazing is allowed in the park, which provides the dung for the beetles.

The giant agave bugs, Acanthocephala thomasi, were likewise pretty common here.  These are “true bugs”, with sucking mouth parts used for drawing the juices out of the leaves and petals of agaves.

A Bug's Life

We waked the short loop near the campgrounds and along the lakeside, finding a pair of Bronzed Cowbirds, as well as a Black Vulture.

I was taken by the numbers of this little butterly, which I believe is the Theona Checkerspot Chlosyne theona.

On the way back toward Tucson, we made a short stop at the old Patagonia highway rest area, where I’d last birded in 1978!

I remembered the habitat as much more open back then, and believe that the trees and brush have increased considerably in the 40 years since.  It wasn’t all that “birdy” this morning, although we had a great view of a singing Varied Bunting.

There's 'way more vegetation here now than there was 40 years ago

We got back to the motel around noon, and I attended a talk by Curt Fargo - manager of the Dust Patrol - about the ins-and-outs of cleaning the sensor on a DSLR camera.  My Canon Rebel T6 sensor was filthy, and had been leaving obvious spots on my photos.  I had been loath to mess with the sensor, for fear of “doing it wrong” and damaging it.  At the session, Curt taught folks how to clean the sensor safely and efficiently, and - incidentally - sells a package with cleaning materials.  Cleaning the sensor only takes minutes, just a fraction of the time you’d spend removing sensor dust in processing.  I don’t attend a lot of the inside sessions at these birding festivals, but was glad I came to this one.

This afternoon, there was a ‘mixer’ at the Borderlands Brewing Company, and I went over for a quesadilla and a pint of ale, before returning to the motel at 8 pm.

Patagonia Lake State Park Birding Trail eBird Checklist is Here

Patagonia Lake State Park eBird Checklist is Here

Patagonia Roadside Rest Area eBird Checklist is Here 

Editorial:  As I write this in October, the House of Representatives has formally begun investigations into the activities of the President of the United States.  Our country is polarized, but throughout this process, let us remember that we are all Americans, and that Peace and Harmony should Prevail.

Don't be a Dick!