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Tucson Audubon Society
Tucson Audubon Afield: April-May 2005
Recent Field Trips and Sightings in
Southeast Arizona
by Rick Wright (see Tucson Audubon Afield home page)
This article first appeared in the July – August 2005 Vermilion Flycatcher, newsletter of the Tucson Audubon Society. To receive the newsletter, become a Friend of Tucson Audubon.
Roger Eastman nearly ruined our field trip. The other participants had already assembled on this last morning of a carefully planned three-day excursion to the Chiricahuas; the normally punctual Rog pulled up just moments ahead of the scheduled start time. Rarely have I seen a birder look more stricken. "I spent yesterday evening and this morning with Arizona’s first Black Turnstone at Willcox." Eyes opened wide and binoculars fell at the words "Arizona’s first"; car doors slammed and ignitions roared at the words "Black Turnstone." And half an hour later there it was, giving outstanding views to a constant trickle of amazed birders.
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Late spring is like that, with birders’ best-laid plans regularly sent agley. The discovery on May 26 of a Slate-throated Redstart in Carr Canyon disrupted lots of schedules, and not just in Tucson; apparently only the eighth documented record for the American Birding Association’s listing area, this flashy tricolored warbler drew eager observers from all over the country—until it was found dead on June 5. One birder who did not rush off to see the redstart was field-trip leader Dick Palmer, who, with uncanny prescience, had scheduled a Tucson Audubon trip to Carr Canyon for May 31: "Not every day you can plan a trip two months in advance and expect to have a rare bird show up!" And show up it did, with good views for all fourteen birders on the trip; the "usual" wonders of the Huachucas—Greater Pewee, Virginia’s and Red-faced Warblers, and Hepatic Tanager—were just bonuses, as was a singing male Hooded Warbler seen there the day before.
Of course, the southeastern mountains provided great birding all spring. An Evening Grosbeak was in Carr Canyon mid-April, and Short-tailed Hawks—a recent and exciting addition to Arizona’s avifauna—returned to the Huachucas by April 5 and to the Chiricahuas a month later; fresh from their encounter with the Black Turnstone, the participants on Rick Wright and Alison Beringer’s early June trip enjoyed spectacular views from Barfoot Lookout of an adult light-morph Short-tail, both in flight and perched. "Mexican" hummingbirds appeared right on schedule, with several Lucifer and a startling three White-eared Hummingbirds at feeders in the Huachucas; rare in recent years, a Berylline Hummingbird paid a brief visit to Chiricahua National Monument May 2, and another was seen briefly in Miller Canyon May 11. Birders in the Santa Ritas admired Madera Canyon’s Flame-colored Tanagers, which returned April 15—and six weeks later were feeding a fledgling. Madera also produced one of several Rose-breasted Grosbeaks seen in April and May at a number of sites, while on the western flank of the Santa Ritas, Black-capped Gnatcatcher was observed repeatedly in Montosa Canyon.
The Carr Canyon redstart was not the only exciting warbler this season. Visitors from the east, Black-throated Green and Prothonotary Warblers were observed at Las Cienegas and at the San Pedro River Inn, respectively; Chestnut-sided and Tennessee Warblers were also noted during the period. And from the south, a Rufous-capped Warbler was found in Sycamore Canyon May 9, in rare conjunction with a Hooded Warbler.
Tucson’s "home" range, the Santa Catalinas, was also productive. The Sabino Canyon butterfliers, led by Janine McCabe, enjoyed a variety of leps and nesting Gila Woodpeckers, too, on their April 24 trip. Bob Bates’s April 30 excursion up the Catalina Highway turned up no fewer than 67 species, including nesting Pygmy Nuthatches and an unexpected Bendire’s Thrasher. The montane specialties enjoyed by participants on Moez Ali’s May 17 trip included Virginia’s and Olive Warblers, Zone-tailed Hawk, and Arizona Woodpecker; the biggest surprise was a pair of Clark’s Nutcrackers, whose behavior over subsequent days raised hopes for a first breeding record for southeast Arizona. A mid-April visit to Peppersauce Canyon, led by Doug Jenness, turned in an equally impressive tally, including Brown Creeper, nest-building Zone-tailed Hawks, and over 300 Cedar Waxwings. Just across the Avra Valley, Clait Braun’s April 17 group found Bendire’s Thrasher, Acorn Woodpecker, and Band-tailed Pigeon on a trip to Kitt Peak.
The same trip discovered 19 White-faced Ibis at the Avra Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant, where a week earlier birders guided by John Higgins had seen a late Greater Scaup, Wood Duck, and a Peregrine Falcon. John’s May 7 trip to Willcox—another typically scenic destination for birders!—found a Franklin’s Gull and a Sanderling, both very uncommon on their northbound migration. Willcox was also the site of a Semipalmated Sandpiper May 4, an extremely rare Red-necked Grebe May 19, and a record-early Short-billed Dowitcher April 14. Tucson’s euphemistically named Sweetwater Wetlands continued to host a single and sometimes elusive Least Grebe, seen forlornly building a nest on May 26.
Hard as it may be to believe, summer is an even better time for rarities than the two months just past; why not join a Tucson Audubon field trip—and see what surprises show up to "ruin" it this time?
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This page was updated on 05/09/06