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 10 - Sky Islands Naturalist Saunter

This was another early morning, as I met a van-load of birders at 5 a.m. to go on the “Sky Islands Naturalist Saunter" field trip through the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival.  Our trip leader was Vincent Pinto, whom we met at his Raven’s Nest Nature Sanctuary.

We spent a good share of the morning walking the sanctuary grounds and wash.

Vincent is an Ethnobotanist, Naturalist and Wildlife Biologist, and provides classes and teaches Sustainable Living and Earth Stewardship at the Sanctuary.

Together with his wife Claudia, Vincent owns two southeast Arizona nature and wildlife sanctuaries: the 50+ acre “Raven’s Mountain” in the Chiricahuas and the 42-acre Raven’s Nest by Patagonia Lake.  Based at Raven’s Nest, Vincent’s mission is to educate and inspire people about the wonders of the natural world.

I believe that some of the participants on the trip were expecting more of a “birding” tour, rather than a “naturalist” tour, and were somewhat disappointed.

But I really enjoyed the walk, and the minutiae that Vincent provided regarding all the plants and animals that we saw on the walk around the sanctuary.

Native fire ants . . .

A Sprig of Acacia

Caterpillar of the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)

It was neat seeing an Antelope Jackrabbit on the Center's "Jackrabbit Trail"

Lepus alleni

I just wish that I’d taken notes on all the bits of information that Vincent provided to us.  It was really cool . . .

Tarantula Hawk

We left the Sanctuary en route to the town of Patagonia, stopping again at the Rest Area to see if a previously-seen Thick billed Kingbird could be found.

Sotol - Dasylirion wheeleri

“Dipping” on the Kingbird, and finding our only Montezuma Quail of the day as road-kill, we arrived at Paton’s. The Paton Center for Hummingbirds had its origins when Marion and Wally Paton moved into a cement block home in the small desert town of Patagonia, a town had a current  population of 900 residents.

Bird lovers themselves, they put out feeders around their house, which became magnets for resident and migratory birds. There were sapsuckers and tanagers, redstarts and jays - and, of course, hummingbirds.

Our target bird today was the Violet-crowned Hummingbird, which finally showed up at one of the feeders for about 10 minutes.

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Crappy photo of a "Lifer" . . .

This was my ABA Life Bird No. 638.  Then, the bird left for cover just as a major thunderstorm hit, and our group made a dash for the Gathering Grounds Coffee Shop.

It rained pretty hard for about a half-hour, during which time we had coffees and ate lunch.  Then, we started to drive out of town up Harshaw Creek Canyon.  We crossed one wash with a little water coming across the road.  Then, we crossed another wash with about 4 or 5 inches of water.

Ultimately, we came to a wash with water that would have been over the hubcaps of the van.  Here, discretion proved the best policy, and we turned around.  Unfortunately, when we got back to the second wash, it also was running about 16 inches deep.

Flash floods can be dangerous to life and property, so we waited for an hour or so until the flood began to abate before returning to the Sanctuary, dropping off Vincent, and returning to Tucson, making a quick stop along the road into the Bureau of Land Management's Las Cienegas National Conservation Area.

This evening, we were treated to a banquet and program, where the Keynote Speaker was Laura Erickson.

Can't have a supper without a Mariachi Band . . .

Laura gave a very enjoyable talk on “The Best Bird Ever!” which pretty much summarizes the concept that every bird can be the “best bird ever”.

Raven’s Nest Nature Sanctuary eBird Checklist is Here

Overlook of Patagonia Lake eBird Checklist is Here

Patagonia Roadside Rest Area eBird Checklist is Here

Paton Center for Hummingbirds eBird Checklist is Here 

Las Cienegas National Conservation Area eBird Checklist is Here

As I write this in November from the lower Rio Grande Valley, it is the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

To Paraphrase former GOP President Ronald Reagan:

"Mr. Trump:  TEAR DOWN THIS WALL"