August 11 - Montosa Canyon

This Sunday was the last day of the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, and I was signed up for the field trip to Montosa Canyon with a van full of birders led by our guide Gavin Bieber.  Gavin lives in Tucson and guides for WINGS in a number of locales.

Our first birding stop was the Amado Water Treatment Pond, south of Green Valley.  Any water in the desert is a draw for birds, and this little pool is just off the freeway.  We started the day with 15 species, of which the Tropical Kingbird was a new “Year Bird” for me.
The trip continued to Mount Hopkins Road, and then up to Montosa Canyon.
Among the bird species we found there were a couple more were more Five-striped Sparrows.  This species apparently had a good year.  It is interesting to me how the distribution of this species has changed since it was first discovered in Arizona in the late 1960s.  Kathleen Groschuf’s article in 1994 discussed how there were birds in four canyons in the Pajarito Mountains (Sycamore, Tonto, Holden, and California Gulch) and in Chino Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains, in the 1970s.  But, they had disappeared from Chino Canyon and Patagonia by the time of her study in the 90s.
This year, I’ve seen a number of birds now, at three different Canyons in the Santa Rita Mountains.  Handsome little birds.

We spent a bit of time at the top end of the road, where it was gated off, hoping to spot additional species.
And we did!  We got good looks at 4 Black-capped Gnatcatchers, which species were my ABA Life Bird No. 639.  No photos, but these look similar to the more common Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but have lower and rougher call notes.

The Two-Spotted Forester Moth (although it seems to have three spots on each wing…) Alypiodes bimaculata has been recorded from a wide range across Arizona and New Mexico.  The recognized larval host plants for the moth are Mirabilis and Boerhavia in the Four-O’Clock family Nyctaginaceae.

The group left the Canyon and returned to Tucson, where many folks were saying goodbye and checking out the Festival species list.
At about 5:30, I met Denise Riddle and we drove over to the UA Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill.  The site is a National Historical Landmark, and an 860-acre ecological preserve in the heart of Tucson.  The Laboratory began in 1903, and was among the first to include the sciences of plant physiology, ecology, and arid land studies.  The Laboratory’s permanent study plots, established in 1906, comprise the world's longest continuously-monitored vegetation plots.  It is also the world's first and oldest restoration ecology project, beginning when cattle were excluded from the site in 1907.  Today, researchers continue to track these changes as well as investigating the functioning, origin, and future of the Sonoran Desert.

We walked from the from the Anklam Road entrance to the UA facility atop the hill, and  returned.  Denise’s “target” for birding was the Gilded Flicker, a species whose distribution overlaps almost exactly with that of the saguaro cactus.  We heard the bird call as we walked up the hill, but did not get a view until we were on our way back down, when a family of the birds gathered at a roost hole in one of the giant cacti for the evening.

As we finished our walk on a pleasant clear and calm evening, the Nighthawks came out to forage over the saguaros.  Here, these are Lesser Nighthawks, which have a bit shorter wings and the white bars on the brown wings are a little closer to the wing tips than on the Common Nighthawk.  This was ABA Life Bird No. 640 for me.  We also saw a family group of Gilded Flickers which were a "Lifer" for Denise.  I couldn't get a photo of them, but there were also Gila Woodpeckers going to roost in the Saguaros at dusk.

I stayed another night in Tucson to get a good night’s sleep, as I plan to return to Madera Canyon tomorrow for a couple days, attempting to find a few ‘target’ birds that I’d missed during the Festival. 

Amado Water Treatment Ponds eBird Checklist is Here 
Lower Mt. Hopkins Road eBird Checklist is Here 
Montosa Canyon eBird Checklist is Here 
Tumamoc Hill eBird Checklist is Here

August 7 - Madera Canyon, Arizona

This is the first day of the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival, and I’d signed up for field trips every day of the festival.

Having stayed the night at the Double Tree, I ate breakfast at their restaurant and packed my gear for the trip to Madera Canyon.  The Southeast Arizona Birding Festival runs from today, the 7th of August, until Sunday the 11th.  I’d signed up for the overnight trip to Madera Canyon, and our group of eight birders gathered a little before noon.

Gordon Karre was our trip leader for the overnight excursion, and is an avid birder from Mesa, Arizona.  He is also a professional guide, and very familiar with the many specialty birds to be found in and around the Phoenix area and Maricopa County.  We loaded into a 12-passenger van for the drive up to Santa Rita Lodge, where we were booked into cabins for the night.

Broad-billed Hummingbird was the most common species at the Lodge

 

Madera Canyon is one of the most famous birding areas in southeast Arizona. This canyon’s habitat consists of riparian woodland along an intermittent stream, bordered by oak woodland and mountain forests. The road enters through desert grassland and ends above the oak woodland, where hiking trails lead up the “sky island” through pine-oak woodland to montane conifer forest at the top of 9,453-foot Mt. Wrightson.

Arizona Woodpecker storing acorns

We spent a bit of time birding at the many feeders that the Lodge maintains, and the main showboats were the Broad-billed, Rivoli’s, and Black-chinned hummingbirds.

There is always a crowd watching the feeders at Santa Rita Lodge

A White-nosed Coati Nasua narica made the rounds at the feeders.  This animal must have quite the sweet tooth, as the folks at the Lodge report that he drains a feeder full of nectar every day!

Later this afternoon, we headed out to Mile Post 6.9 on the road to Box Canyon, where there has been a “stakeout” for the Five-striped Sparrows.  At least two pairs have been nesting here to raise broods.  There has also been a pair of Lucifer Hummingbirds seen here in recent days.  We got to the canyon and walked along the road, scanning the Century Plant blossoms and mesquite for birds.

There were a number of Blue Grosbeaks,

as well as my “Life” sighting of a Varied Bunting for ABA Lifer No. 626.

The guides at this Festival are really good about not playing recorded calls, or even “pishing” too much, to avoid either disturbing the birds or inuring them to birders’ attempts to bring them out in the open.  It’s an Ethics Thing.

Photos are OK

But, finally, among the several buntings and sparrows, a bird teed-up on an agave that was the ‘target’ Five-striped Sparrow, and the birders all got a great view.

This was my ABA Life Bird No. 627.

Other folks got better photos of the Five-Striped Sparrow - see the eBird checklist

Many of the birds were perched on, or feeding at, the flowers of the Century Plant Agave americana.  This relative of the asparagus is called a “century” plant, supposedly living for 100 years, blooming once, then dying.  But putting Truth to the Myth, the species generally lives only 10-30 years.

I ended up getting great views of the Five-stripes and the buntings, but we could not locate the Lucifer Hummingbirds.  Gordon speculated that the birds dispersed from the site after their chicks fledged.

There were lots of Broad-billed Hummers

This evening, we finished supper, and were sitting around the deck at the cabins listening to the squeaky-toy call of the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (my ABA Life Bird No. 628), when a Mexican Whip-Poor-Will began calling not 50 meters away.  We shined a light, hoping to pick out its reflected eyes, but couldn’t find it.  But, I’ll take a “heard only” call - especially on one of the ‘goatsuckers’ - as a “Lifer” (my ABA Bird No. 629).  The inspired us to take a walk up the road to listen for owls, and we heard Elf Owls (No. 630) and a Whiskered Screech-Owl (No. 631).    Not bad, picking up eight "Year Birds", including a half-dozen Life Birds in a day!

Swainson's Hawk was not a Lifer . . .

Santa Rita Lodge eBird Checklist is Here

Box Canyon eBird Checklist is Here

Santa Rita Lodge evening walk eBird Checklist is Here 

The Hepatic Tanager says "The End"