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Tucson Audubon Society
Tucson Audubon Afield: June-July 2005
Recent Field Trips and Sightings in
Southeast Arizona
by Rick Wright (see Tucson Audubon Afield home page)
This article first appeared in the September 2005 Vermilion Flycatcher, newsletter of the Tucson Audubon Society. Receive the Vermilion Flycatcher by becoming a member of the Friends of Tucson Audubon.
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Summer in southeast Arizona: most people’s favorite time to stay inside. Birders, however, aren’t "most people," and even the most unforgiving days find Tucson Audubon birders out looking for the birds, common and rare, that make every season here so exciting.
This summer, a lot of that excitement was close to home indeed. At least nine juvenile Brown Pelicans arrived in early July, lingering exhausted on the Avra Valley sewage ponds, Patagonia Lake, and Tucson’s Lakeside Park; as in last year’s huge influx, most of these birds likely perished for lack of food. Probably from the same part of the world, a Reddish Egret was found at Patagonia Lake July 24. Waterbirds were also the highlight of two Tucson Audubon trips to Sweetwater Wetlands. June Scroggin led a June 25 trip to this urban hotspot (apt term!); the ten birders enjoyed Pied-billed Grebes, Common Moorhens, Great-tailed Grackles, and a good variety of lizards and odonates. Sheryl Forte’s July 5 group had the good fortune to encounter what has become Sweetwater’s genius loci, the Least Grebe snoozing under overhanging branches; of the 45 total species observed that hot morning, most were new for two visiting birders from Virginia. The most surprising waterbird of the summer was a bit farther away, a second-summer Sabine’s Gull resting at Willcox’s Lake Cochise June 7-8 for an unprecedented summer occurrence.
Braving even greater heat, twelve birders followed John Higgins into California Gulch on July 17. Five-striped Sparrows, one of the great specialty species of southeast Arizona, offered stunning views, as did two Gray Hawks and at least a dozen Varied Buntings; later, at Arivaca Cienega, where the weather was described as "warm," the group enjoyed more Gray Hawks and good looks at Tropical Kingbird. Equally toasty and just as birdy was the July 26 trip led by David Dunford; echoing a route used for the enormously successful American Birding Association Convention the week before, the group of 12 visited Tubac, Tumacacori, Kino Springs, the Patagonia Roadside Rest, and Mrs. Paton’s feeders in Patagonia, coming up with such wonders as Gray Hawk, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Tropical Kingbird, Varied Bunting—and Rose-throated Becard. Among the rarest breeding birds in the US, becards arrived at the Roadside Rest in May and promptly disappeared; in mid-July, several were seen along Sonoita Creek above Patagonia Lake, and a pair was discovered building a nest at the Roadside Rest, where birders from around the world have been enjoying them since. An Eastern Kingbird was a pleasant surprise at Tumacacori July 13, and the Streak-backed Oriole seen at the same site July 24-26 was one of very few of its species to make the trip north of the Mexican border in recent years.
As good as birding in the lowlands can be, many birders (and even some birds) prefer to spend their summertime days in the higher canyons and mountains. John Higgins led a group at the Catalina Highway on June 11, when Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, House Wrens, Violet-green Swallows, and Hepatic Tanagers were all busily engaged in breeding activities. Two dozen birders joined Melody Kehl on the same route June 26, finding 62 species for the day, including Scott’s Oriole and Rufous-crowned Sparrow at Molino Basin, Arizona Woodpecker at Middle Bear Canyon, and a Zone-tailed Hawk at Inspiration Rock. June Scroggin’s July 2 trip to the Catalinas encountered more campers and picnickers than birds, but still enjoyed such colorful species as Red-faced Warbler, Hepatic and Western Tanagers, Bullock’s Oriole, and Black-headed Grosbeak, and got to watch an Ash-throated Flycatcher escort a Red-tailed Hawk from its territory at Molino Basin. In Willow Canyon, 29 (!) birders attended the birding potluck hosted by Barbara Bickel July 31, with gracious appearances by Painted Redstarts and Black-throated Gray, Grace’s, and Red-faced Warblers; hummingbirds included fall-migrant Calliopes. A Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher seen several times in July was rare for the Catalinas.
The Santa Ritas, too, produced some good birding—both before and after the fire that burned some 10,000 hectares in July. Bev and Clair Postmus’s June 18 field trip to Madera Canyon discovered Varied Bunting and Bronzed Cowbird, lifebirds for several participants, and active nests of Plumbeous Vireo and Cooper’s Hawk were enjoyed by all fifteen birders. Dick Palmer spent the evening of the summer solstice showing 10 birders owls and other nightbirds in the canyon, turning up Whiskered Screech-Owl (including one bird seen in a nest hole), Western Screech-Owl, Elf Owl, "Mexican" Whip-poor-will, and Common Poorwill. An Aztec Thrush was reported from the Vault Mine Trail August 6, while a Gray Catbird discovered July 10 lingered at Proctor Road for nearly a month.
Cool, productive, and underbirded, the canyons and grasslands east of Patagonia were the destination of Clait Braun’s July 12 Tucson Audubon trip, where "all birds seen were ‘good’ except for European Starling and House Sparrow." The 55 species observed included Gray Hawk, a drinking Band-tailed Pigeon, Greater Pewee, and Eastern Bluebird. A White-tailed Kite family near Harshaw July 31 provided an important data point for the attempt to unravel the complicated breeding phenology of this uncommon species in Arizona.
The Huachucas provided some of the summer’s most exciting birding. Jim Hays’s June 14 trip turned up White-eared and Lucifer Hummingbirds, many active nests, and an intriguing pair of Carpodacus finches, possibly Cassin’s. Extremely rare was a Yellow-throated Vireo near Carr Canyon found during the ABA Convention; the three Aztec Thrushes discovered in Carr Canyon just after the Convention displayed less felicitous timing. A female Berylline Hummingbird shared the Ramsey Canyon feeders with an apparent Berylline x Broad-billed hybrid starting July 21. Netted July 14, a Painted Bunting on the San Pedro below Sierra Vista was the first of an unusually large number of this species observed in July and early August. Another was found on Erika Wilson’s August 2 trip to the San Pedro House, which also featured Tropical Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, and numbers of Cassin’s and Botteri’s Sparrows; a Baltimore Oriole there July 23 can only have been a shock to the lucky observers. A Louisiana Waterthrush was found on ABA field trips to the San Pedro River Inn July 21 and 23.
The Chiricahua Mountains are a promised land for summer birding, just close enough to be tempting, just far enough to be magical. The first report of Aztec Thrush this year was of a juvenile bird seen in Cave Creek Canyon June 30. Just as far out of range for the season was a juvenile female Williamson’s Sapsucker discovered by Barbara Bickel at Barfoot Park July 28. The ABA trips to the Chiricahuas admired such remarkable conjunctions as Short-tailed Hawk and Northern Saw-whet Owl; to their credit, many participants enjoyed Pygmy Nuthatch and Hermit Thrush every bit as much as the "ooh-aah birds"!
Birders know that whatever the astronomers say, fall doesn’t wait for the equinox. The first Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird was back at Ash Canyon June 27, and shorebird migration was clearly under way by July 3, when a Red Knot arrived in Willcox (followed by an uncommon Sanderling July 18). Western Tanagers, Lazuli Buntings, and Black-headed Grosbeaks were also conspicuous by late July. But September is the great month for migrants, with a history of producing such vagrants as Broad-winged Hawk, Philadelphia Vireo, Blackpoll Warbler, and even Gray-cheeked Thrush. But even if you don’t find a rarity, it’s a great time to bird.
But what time isn’t?
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This page was updated on 05/09/06