I woke at 4 a.m. &
made myself a cup of coffee, and caught up on my bird records, then went down
to the restaurant. I had a voucher for 3
items off the menu, so had ham, eggs and chorizo with my coffee. The Best Western here, like many motels, has
signs or placards urging the guests to re-use the towels to save water and
reduce costs. But, most often, the
housekeepers collect the towels anyway and re-issue clean ones. And, as for being “green” many of these motels supply single-use coffee pods, with throw-away plastic holders. Go figure . . .
Before I checked out, I
looked at the eBird “Top 100” list for birders in the “ABA Area”, which is
basically the United States and Canada.
I was sitting at Number 8!! The
Red-faced Warbler I saw in Pinery Canyon had moved me up a notch in the
listings.
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| I'm not that good a birder, I've just been going where the birds are . . . |
At 7 a.m., I drove
over to the McDonald’s and met Elizabeth and Liam, birding friends from Olympia, who were waiting for their
birding guide, Richard Fray of FUN Birding Tours. They’d
invited me to tag along, and I was pleased to accept their kind offer. I’d met Richard during
the Birding Festival, and found him to be quite the fun guide, and very
informative. He’s been guiding in
Southeast Arizona for 17 years, now.
We
first drove out to Box Canyon, where Liam was looking for, especially, the
Five-striped Sparrow that was a Life Bird for me just a short week ago. The birds were there, and gave great
views.
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| The Five-striped Sparrow was a Lifer for Liam |
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| We couldn't find a Lucifer Hummingbird, but the Black-chinned Hummers gave us a show |
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| Rock Wren on a rock |
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| The Rufous-crowned Sparrow is a desert denizen |
We looked and looked for the
Lucifer Hummingbirds, but they have apparently dispersed into the canyon, and I
once again ‘dipped’ on this species. Ah, well. It
was fun watching Liam get a number of his own “Lifers” today.
On the way back down
the canyon, we stopped at a number of places along the road to try for birds,
including Black-throated and Botteri’s Sparrows.
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| Black-throated Sparrows have black throats . . . |
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| Botteri's Sparrow - a Mexican species that makes it into SE Arizoona |
At one point, a large
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake was stretched across the road, and we carefully
urged it out of the road, so it wouldn’t get run over.
The Western
diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) is a heavy bodied snake with a
triangular shaped head. There are two dark diagonal lines on each side of its
face running from the eyes to its jaws. It has dark diamond-shaped patterns
along is back. The tail has black and white bands just above the rattles.
Then, we drove back to
Green Valley, got the cars and headed for Tubac, where the Rose-throated
Becards have been seen regularly. There
are a number of pairs of this species nesting along the Santa Cruz River this
year, but they are finished with their annual nuptials and chick-rearing for
the season, so are not closely tied to the nest sites. We walked down to the river near Tumacácori
National Historic Park, where we watched the riparian area for over an hour as
the day warmed.
The river was flowing
fairly high with the monsoons’ thunder and lightning storms, so the area along
the De Anza Trail below the Bridge was flooded and muddy, making the path to
the Becards there difficult. Thus, the
area near the old Mission seemed the more likely for a chance to see these
tropical wonders, and that’s the direction we took. The Roadrunners watched us pass by.
We made it down to the
riverbank, and had a great view of a recent nest of the Becards.
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| The nest looks like a hanging football-sized basket |
Hoping that the birds might be hanging around their old nest area, Richard played the call notes of the Becard,
so that we could recognize it if it vocalized, but we were not successful in
locating the species today.
Today’s
effort makes the third time this year I’ve tried to find the Becard, all
unsuccessfully. But, I did get to see the red Velvet Ant, which is actually a wasp. The female, here, has no wings.
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| Dasymutilla magnifica |
On the other hand, we
had great views of Dusky-capped and Brown-crested Flycatchers and the Northern
Beardless Tyrannulet, all of which were Life Birds for me only a couple weeks
ago.
 |
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet |
|
Brown-crested Flycatcher |
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| Crappy shot of a Dusky-capped Flycatcher |
We retreated into town
for a sandwich at the Tubac Market, and I parted company with the intrepid
birders. They went on to find some cool
shade, as it was over 100º F, while I determined to return to the river side
and listen, wait, and pray for the Becards to fly past. They never did, so I finally gave up the
effort at 3:30 p.m.
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| Too hot for birding? |
|
I headed north out of the Santa Cruz Valley and toward
home. I ended up in the town of Globe,
checking into the El Rancho Motel. This
budget establishment is somewhat unprepossessing, but was clean and the bed was
comfortable. The only drawback is that
they didn’t have a coffee-maker in the room to start the day tomorrow.
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| Common Ground Dove, with a White-winged Dove |
Box Canyon eBird Checklist is Here
Box Canyon Road eBird Checklist is Here
Madera Canyon Road eBird Checklist is Here
Tubac eBird Checklist is Here
Tumacácori – De Anza Trail a.m. eBird Checklist is Here
Tumacácori – De Anza Trail p.m. eBird Checklist is Here
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| Gray Hawk |
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