Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - October, 2002 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

Bottom of Page

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Tuesday, October 1, 2002
Today I birded in the Nogales and Patagonia areas where I replicated much of the itinerary from last Friday with visits to Kino Springs, Palo Duro Ponds, Patagonia Lake State Park and Paton's Yard. It was a mostly cloudy day (with some late afternoon sprinkles) and far too windy for good birding.

I spent most of my time at Kino Springs from just after sunrise until midday. The wind kicked in around 8:30am and by mid morning it was a significant factor. After such a good experience here on Friday when the area was very birdy I was hoping for similar results today. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Despite the fact I worked the area thoroughly, and saw 20 species that I didn't see last Friday, I failed to find as many species as I expected. The explosion of buntings may finally be over since today I saw far fewer individuals of only two species. The large concentration of swallows also wasn't present. 

A pristine looking TROPICAL KINGBIRD near the club house was my first October record  in Arizona and was undoubtedly the best bird of the day. Other departing birds getting towards the end of their stay were WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, 6 WARBLING VIREOS, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, BULLOCK'S ORIOLE and a couple of VARIED BUNTINGS. 

Among the other species were BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK at the second pond, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER in the trees near the club house, GRAY and PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS and CRISSAL THRASHER in the wash west of the first pond and a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW on the east side of the Santa Cruz river.

I recorded the following 78 species at Kino Springs from 6:20am - 12:10pm.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Cinnamon Teal, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Turkey Vulture, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Black-chinned & Anna's Hummingbirds, Belted Kingfisher, Red-naped Sapsucker, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray, Pacific-slope, Vermilion, Dusky-capped & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Tropical, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Common Raven, Warbling Vireo, Loggerhead Shrike, Phainopepla, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed & Crissal Thrashers, European Starling, Rock, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Blue-gray &  Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, Tree, Violet-green & Barn Swallows, House Sparrow, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch, Orange-crowned & Wilson's Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Chipping, Vesper, Lark, Black-throated, Rufous-winged, Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Summer & Western Tanagers, Black-headed Grosbeak, N. Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli & Varied Buntings, Bullock's Oriole, Western Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Brewer's Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird.

I quick check of the pond at Palo Duro Golf Course revealed that the TRICOLORED HERON is still present along with a few BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS.

It was very windy by the time that I reached Patagonia Lake and my walk along the trail at the east end was largely a waste of time. The usual NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS, an OSPREY struggling to hold on to its catch and a calling SORA were among 20 species that I recorded. 

My only GRAY HAWK of the day was at the Paton's where five hummingbird species continue. ANNA'S was the most common followed by BROAD-BILLED, VIOLET-CROWNED (3-4 individuals), a few female BLACK-CHINNED and some immature RUFOUS. 

Wednesday, October 2, 2002
Today I checked Willcox and St. David and didn't see anything unusual at either location.

It was a little chilly at Willcox when I began birding not long after sunrise and the wind was a factor during the two hours that I spent there. Although the conditions for shorebirds remain excellent, winter ducks now significantly outnumber shorebirds -- diversity is about the same but the numbers continue to dwindle. Yesterday's blustery conditions didn't blow in anything new. 

The CANADA and 2 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE continue on the golf course grass and the FRANKLIN'S GULL remains on the main pond.

AMERICAN AVOCETS and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS continue in good numbers and GREATER & LESSER YELLOWLEGS and LEAST, WESTERN & BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS are still easy to find. However, I saw only 3 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES and 1 WILSON'S PHALAROPE.. 

Believe it or not, a couple of ROCK DOVES were the least common species that I recorded. They were only my second sighting here. Among the 56 species that I recorded were EARED GREBE (increasing in numbers), 2 SNOWY EGRETS, a beautiful male NORTHERN HARRIER, SWAINSON'S HAWK (I usually don't see them at Willcox after the first week in October), a fairly large concentration of VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS, a small flock of LARK BUNTINGS, various flavors of winter sparrows and WESTERN MEADOWLARK.

By the time that I reached St. David Monastery the wind had dropped and it was much warmer. I stopped here to check if Lewis's Woodpecker had returned yet -- if they have, I missed them! I didn't stay long and recorded only 22 species including GRAY HAWK, WOOD DUCK, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and SUMMER TANAGER.

Friday, October 4, 2002
I toyed with the idea of looking for the Buff-breasted Sandpiper in Phoenix today. I wouldn't have considered it at all for just a state bird but it would also be a life bird. In the end I decided to make a routine visit to Sawmill Canyon since I hadn't checked there for a couple of weeks. 

We've had some much cooler temperatures in Sierra Vista over the past few days, a littler earlier than usual. The temperature does not normally fall off until mid October so it remains to be seen whether the current conditions will continue, or if the warmer temperatures will bounce back again. 

It was quite chilly even in town so I delayed my journey through Garden Canyon to give the sun a chance to reach Sawmill Canyon. It was still pretty cold when I arrived at 7:45am and there were some frost patches here and there. The calls of CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS greeted me as I stepped out of the vehicle. They didn't stick around very long and I didn't hear or see them again. Considering that Pinyon Jays have already shown up in several SE AZ locations, we may be seeing the first signs of another irruption year. The last time that I saw Nutcrackers in Sawmill was during the winter of 1996-1997 when they were present from at least October 11, 1996 to May 23, 1997.

The area around the cabin was fairly birdy and I spent much of my time there. As happens every year at this time, CHIPPING SPARROWS and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were very common. I didn't assume that the light tapping I was hearing belonged to the ACORN WOODPECKERS already seen and I was able to track down a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER. I was hoping for Williamson's but it's still a little early for them in Sawmill. A couple of TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES were calling and I saw one of them fly up canyon. I missed a couple of (mostly dull yellow) warblers that got away from me while chasing down other stuff. 

Boys of summer still hanging in were PLUMBEOUS VIREO and HEPATIC TANAGER. The first week of October is usually the last I see of the vireos (my latest date in Sawmill is10/16/95); the tanagers normally stay until almost the end of November. ARIZONA WOODPECKERS were fairly common a little further up canyon.

Apart from cabin area, the canyon was fairly quiet and I only managed to record the following 21 species in 90 minutes:

Wild Turkey, Mourning Dove, Red-naped Sapsucker, Acorn & Arizona Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Clark's Nutcracker, Plumbeous Vireo, Townsend's Solitaire, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Bushtit, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-eyed Junco, Chipping Sparrow and Hepatic Tanager.

Wednesday, October 9, 2002
Out today with Peter Weber from Rochester, IL who I've birded with once before for a couple of days back in February, 1999. Today we visited French Joe Canyon, Patagonia Lake State Park and the Paton's Yard looking for a few target birds and photo opportunities. My guess about the temperature bouncing back was (unfortunately) correct and after a chilly start it was a very warm day for October. 

Even though we've had some cold mornings I continued with my early start policy whenever I visit French Joe Canyon. The drive in darkness produced a couple of COMMON POORWILLS, one flying and one sitting in the road that I had to stop for! We neither saw nor heard anything else until we parked when a COOPER'S HAWK complained about our presence.

I suspected that the recent cool down might change the behavior of the warblers (which ended up being the case) but I still followed the same pattern as in the previous few visits. We spent 15 minutes at the spring then risked life and limb as we tip-toed through the shin dagger up to the upper waterfall, made worse for Peter because he was carrying camera equipment. After an hour in this location I hadn't heard anything to convince me that the warblers were present so we headed back down to the spring.  A few minutes later, around 8:00am, I head two RUFOUS-CAPPED WARBLERS calling (and some partial singing) from the north slope below the spring. We rushed (as much as you can rush) up the slope and soon tracked them down working low in the vegetation. Our reward for the morning's efforts was a stunning, close range view as one bird foraged nonchalantly just feet away from us. Unfortunately, both of us had left our cameras at the spring -- aargh! Peter left to get his camera and the bird came within 3 feet of me (that'll teach me to keep my camera with me at all times, it only weighs 1lb). The birds soon headed up canyon towards the waterfall and all photo opportunities were lost. Nevertheless, we were well satisfied with the great views. 

The canyon was fairly quiet this morning and yielded only 30 species. PINYON JAYS continue high up on the slopes near the ridge line of the mountain and at least 6 BAND-TAILED PIGEONS were present. Other species included RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, 5 species of WRENS, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and an HEPATIC TANAGER zooming down canyon just fast enough to escape an accipiter species (probably a Sharp-shinned Hawk).

Our next stop was Patagonia Lake -- last night Peter had received a call from Rich Hoyer regarding a pair Black-capped Gnatcatchers that Rich had found at the park yesterday. It was extremely warm with very little bird activity as we checked the mesquite area where the birds had been seen and we didn't even hear a gnatcatcher of any kind. ROCK WREN was quite common in this area. Birds at the lake included the usual NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS, SNOWY EGRET (I have a few spring records but this was my first here in fall) and OSPREY. 

We returned to Patagonia and spent the next couple of hours at the Paton's Yard where we had great success. Our targets here were RUDDY-GROUND-DOVE and LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD and we saw them both almost immediately after we arrived. Both species made multiple appearances during our time here and Peter was able to get some photography work done.

One male and at least two female RUDDY GROUND-DOVES were present. Among the other species in the yard from 28 seen were many INCA DOVES, COMMON GROUND-DOVE, BROAD-BILLED, VIOLET-CROWNED, ANNA'S, BLACK-CHINNED & RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS, PHAINOPEPLA and ABERT'S TOWHEE.

Driving back to Sierra Vista, a falcon near the intersection of highways 82 and 83, that I initially thought was a Prairie, turned out to be a PEREGRINE FALCON.

In the end it was a successful day with 3 of 4 targets seen and Peter picked up a couple of lifers.

Friday, October 11, 2002
On an absolutely gorgeous fall morning I birded for several hours in Carr Canyon. The fall colors on Carr Peak were more impressive than the birds, at least in terms of quantity.

The highlight was a flock of circa 20 RED CROSSBILLS near Reef. Although crossbills are regular in the Huachucas (I've seen them in every month of the year in all the major canyons), this was only the second time that I've seen them in Carr Canyon. I saw them flying around in several locations and the one time that they perched in a dead tree I was able see males, females and juveniles. It took me several minutes getting set up to digiscope only to have them fly off at the last second -- expletive deleted.

My next best sighting was a stunning male OLIVE WARBLER. I stopped at a regular location for this species and soon heard its plaintive whistled call. Shortly afterwards I was able to track it down at the top of a fir tree. Every now and then sun would illuminate the brilliant orange color on the bird's head. Well worth the price of admission.

TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE'S were the most conspicuous bird and I saw 6 of them in different locations. All were silent and working low except one bird that perched high in typical fashion.

Regular fare included BAND-TAILED PIGEON, ACORN WOODPECKER, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, STELLER'S & MEXICAN JAYS, HUTTON'S VIREO, HERMIT THRUSH, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER, CANYON WREN, BUSHTIT, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, PINE SISKIN, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO, SPOTTED TOWHEE and HEPATIC TANAGER.

Sunday, October 13, 2002
I headed out this morning about 30 minutes after sunrise to find some very gloomy and ugly looking conditions. Low clouds and a yucky haze were more representative of LA than Sierra Vista. Speaking of LA, I'll be spending much of the remainder of October in southern and northern California. I had intended to leave a couple of days ago but decided to wait until the Giants beat the Cardinals (I can hear the Cardinal fans now -- hey, you'll be waiting a long time!)  We'll see.

The conditions made for some silent and eerie birding down on the San Pedro. Not much was stirring when I started but I ended up with almost 40 species in a couple of hours, including several interesting birds. Along the river I first heard then saw a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, a bird that I record just about annually in Arizona. There was a lot of activity in the weeds on the east side of Kingfisher Pond and I waited around to see if anything good was present. After only a five minute wait a PAINTED BUNTING popped up -- I couldn't tell if it was an adult female or an immature male (green back and fairly bright yellow underparts so it could have been either). This was a new species for me on the river and the first time that I've seen one in Cochise County in October. An even more interesting bird was a ROCK WREN that I was able to track down after being surprised by its song. This was only my third sighting on the SPRNCA, others have been away from the river in the dry washes.

Although CASSIN'S KINGBIRDS were fairly common,  the prize for most conspicuous species goes to COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, they were everywhere. LAZULI BUNTINGS were also common (I saw at least 30). Other species included GREEN HERON, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE, lots of BREWER'S SPARROWS, several BLUE GROSBEAKS and a singing WESTERN MEADOWLARK, just about right on time at this location.

I've been neglecting Sierra Vista WWTP (for reasons that I've explained before) but today I decided to make a visit. Immediately after entering the main gate, I stopped to look at a columbarius MERLIN perched in a leafless tree. The bird soon bird flew over to an irrigation rig and stared me down. Other raptors included migrating TURKEY VULTURES drifting south, quite a few RED-TAILED HAWKS, a couple of NORTHERN HARRIERS and a beautiful PEREGRINE FALCON that was just too far away to photograph, although I did try (ignorance is bliss).

A few ducks were present on the pitiful amount of water that is visible -- CINNAMON and GREEN WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER and RING-NECKED DUCK. Other stuff included GREATER ROADRUNNER, a couple of lingering WESTERN KINGBIRDS, MARSH WREN, SAVANNAH SPARROW and the usual plentiful YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

Monday, October 21, 2002
Cabin fever finally got the better of me today and after spending just over a week at home resting my ankle I decided to visit Scheelite Canyon to give my ankle a workout and, of course, to check on Spotted Owl. I can only stand so much computer stuff -- I did some rewiring, networked my systems together and added a DVD writer. There's something quite satisfying about assembling a video project, writing it to DVD and having it work first time when played in a stand-alone DVD player. Just like I did with Windows XP, I waited over a year before buying a second generation DVD writer and I was rewarded with software and hardware that worked together without problems. Maybe all those years in high tech weren't wasted after all.

Shortly after I entered Garden Canyon my first bird of the day was an HEPATIC TANAGER near the fishing ponds. Although I had never seen one here before, I wasn't surprised because they often use low elevation riparian areas during migration. However, a little further up canyon near the lower picnic area I was definitely surprised. In the middle of a flock of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS feeding on the blacktop were a couple more HEPATIC TANAGERS. Just what they were eating from the blacktop I don't know. I do know that I haven't seen an Hepatic Tanager doing that before. 

Among the typical species in Garden Canyon grassland were GREATER ROADRUNNER, CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, VERDIN and PHAINOPEPLA. Amazingly for this time of year, the only sparrows that I noted were CHIPPING, not a single Brewer's, Vesper or White-crowned.

At the upper picnic area my ears pricked up when I heard what sounded like a Least Flycatcher, a very rare bird in AZ. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be something else, namely a HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER singing a partial song. The first two syllable phrase of a Hammond's song sounds very much like the song of a Least. What surprised me, however, was the fact that the bird was singing at all. Of the three regularly wintering empids in SE AZ (Hammond's, Dusky and Gray), Gray sings regularly, Dusky sings occasionally, but I don't remember ever hearing a Hammond's singing down here (of course, all three regularly call). I still wanted to make in into a Least but after tracking the bird down and getting the scope on it, the very long primary extension immediately ruled out Least even though it was completely in shadow. Another good clue was that the chi-bek like phrase wasn't repeated fast enough for Least. Oh well, some brief excitement. 

Scheelite Canyon was quiet which is typical at this time of year. Some light overnight rain had left the canyon feeling fresh and my hike was very pleasant despite the lack of birds. Only a tapping RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER next to the trail and a CRISSAL THRASHER (rare here) calling from the scrubby slopes broke the silence.

Further up canyon was an easy to find SPOTTED OWL and some calling PINYON JAYS. This was only my second record for Pinyon Jay in Scheelite, the first was also in October during the last invasion year of 1996. The three regular jays, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, MEXICAN & STELLER'S JAYS, made it a four jay day.  

Back down canyon near the entrance was a calling HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER and a WHIP-POOR-WILL roosting near the trail. This was my latest Whip-poor-will sighting in Scheelite although I do have a record for October 30, 1995 in Sawmill Canyon. There are a few November records for AZ

Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Heavy clouds covered the peaks of the Huachucas this morning so I changed direction and headed down to the San Pedro River. Although I found sunny and calm conditions there, they didn't last and the wind kicked in before too long and ruined the birding Not that it was particularly good to start with -- in 2.5 hours I managed only 30 species.

Winter sparrows in the grasslands were decidedly AWOL. I found the expected flocks of WHITE-CROWNED (mostly in the weeds alongside the river) but only a couple each of VESPER and BREWER'S. Both SONG and LINCOLN'S were common near the water.

Ironically, the most interesting bird was one that I couldn't really identify. About 0.5 mile north of the highway 90 bridge I was scanning through a typical flock of adult and immature White-crowned Sparrows when I noticed an immature with a very clean and bright white throat patch, just like that of an adult White-throated Sparrow. In all other respects the bird was an immature Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow. I can only assume that the bird was a hybrid White-crowned x White-throated. However, I've never seen such a bird before and I haven't been able to find an illustration in any field guides that I own. I have no idea how often these species hybridize.  

Very little else of note to report save for a GRAY CATBIRD near the highway 90 bridge, my second on the San Pedro as I start my 10th year of continuous birding on the river. I wonder if the birds that show up in SE AZ are part of the small breeding population in the White Mountains.

Among the regular species were BELTED KINGFISHER, quite a few CASSIN'S KINGBIRDS (should be around for a couple more weeks), HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, GREEN-TAILED, ABERT'S and CANYON TOWHEES, PYRRHULOXIA and LAZULI BUNTING.

Thursday, October 24, 2002
This morning I checked Willcox where the conditions for wading birds keep getting better and better. Too bad that shorebird migration is just about over. It was a beautiful fall morning with lots of sunshine, calm winds and a very pleasant temperature. The birding wasn't particularly inspiring and I recorded 40 species in 2 hours, not much return on my investment of  2+ hours of driving, gas money and 150 miles of wear and tear. Still, if you don't buy a ticket you'll never win the raffle. At Willcox you never know what might turn up.

Shorebird diversity has diminished considerably since the beginning of the month and I found only a few AMERICAN AVOCETS, 100 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS and 150 LEAST SANDPIPERS, the latter two scattered around the main pond in small groups.

Waterfowl were fairly plentiful on the main pond with RUDDY DUCK and NORTHERN SHOVELER being most abundant with smaller numbers of PIED-BILLED and EARED GREBES, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN PINTAIL, REDHEAD, RING-NECKED DUCK and LESSER SCAUP.  A distant immature RING-BILLED GULL provided me with a bit of momentary excitement when at first I thought it was small enough to be a Mew Gull.

Wintering sparrow flocks consisting of WHITE-CROWNED, SAVANNAH, BREWER'S and VESPER were very numerous along the entrance road. I added SONG and LINCOLN'S at the golf course pond where at least 3 SORAS were calling. Other species at and near the pond included SAY'S & BLACK PHOEBES, CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, MARSH WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, PYRRHULOXIA and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

In addition to lots more SAVANNAH SPARROWS, species in the grassland to the south and west of the main pond included NORTHERN HARRIER, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, HORNED LARK, a small flock of CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS and EASTERN MEADOWLARK.

Saturday, October 26, 2002
In between soccer games I checked Sierra Vista WWTP this morning. It was way too windy to expect much and an hour produced only 19 species.

The highlight was a spectacular wind assisted display of aerobatics by a PRAIRIE FALCON that was intent on not letting a RED-TAILED HAWK stay on its perch. The Red-tail eventually moved and the falcon flew off.

The only real birds of note were a female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD working the fence line along the road to the new viewing area and a couple of WESTERN KINGBIRDS near the old viewing area.

Mountain Bluebird is decidedly rare at SVWWTP and with today's bird I only have 9 records in 3 of the last 10 years. Half a dozen birds were present in January of 1997, a lone female spent from late November 1997 through early December 1997, and a lone female was briefly present in December 1999. Could the female I saw today actually be the same bird? Three times is a conspiracy so it's certainly tempting to think so.

WESTERN KINGBIRD is normally gone from SE AZ by the end of October (although there are several November records). My own latest sighting in SE AZ is November 1, 2000 at Nogales WWTP.

Several TREE SWALLOWS battled the wind as they tried to make southbound progress. 

I recorded the following from 11:00am to noon.
Gadwall, Mallard, N. Shoveler, N. Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Am. Coot, Mourning Dove, Say's & Black Phoebes, Western Kingbird, Mountain Bluebird, European Starling, Verdin, Tree Swallow, Song, Brewer's & Vesper Sparrows and Yellow-headed Blackbird.

Sunday, October 27, 2002
This morning I spent a few hours at the highway 90 area of the San Pedro. Strong wind early on threatened to ruin the birding but, miraculously, the wind died down completely and I enjoyed pleasant conditions and decent birding. Highlights from over 40 species were an EASTERN PHOEBE and a continuing? NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.

The juvenile plumaged Eastern Phoebe (bright yellow underparts) was foraging in Garden wash about 200 yards west of the river. This is my third record of Eastern Phoebe on the San Pedro, the previous two were in October 1993 and December 1999. 

The Northern Waterthrush was along the river about 1/4 mile south of where the trail from the San Pedro House meets the river and chances are that it's probably the same bird that I saw earlier this month (October 13). I spent about 45 minutes with the bird, losing and relocating it several times. Had I just heard it and not seen it, I would have had no trouble recording "Northern Waterthrush" and continuing on. However, when I saw the bird I tried to make it into a Louisiana Waterthrush for several reasons: 1) some conflicting field marks; 2) there are more records for Louisiana at this season; and 3) wishful thinking -- I've never seen Louisiana on the river (although one wintered here last year).

On voice alone I was convinced that it was a Northern and every field mark except one pointed to Northern -- smallish bill, densely marked on the throat and breast, unicolored white supercilium that didn't flare, and strong vertical only tail bobbing. My one concern was that the flanks were yellowish while the breast and supercilium were white. Usually, with the yellowish race of Northern Waterthrush, the breast and supercilium are yellowish too. Back at home I consulted 10 different references that I have on hand and found much conflicting (or incomplete) information. The Garret and Dunn Warblers book was the most useful. 

Of local interest, in terms of SE AZ Northern and  Louisiana Waterthrush records in fall, the TAS and ABA bar graphs are completely at odds -- the ABA guide shows no records at all for Northern Waterthrush in October and November! From my own data base, my latest Northern sighting was November 8, 2000, also on the San Pedro (this was an all yellowish bird). Another interest snippet that I found was that, although Louisiana is regular in winter in SE AZ and Northern is essentially absent at this time, Garret and Dunn state "the Northern Waterthrush is far more likely to be encountered in late fall and winter north of Mexico than is Louisiana". All of this reminded me of a Smittyism: "study nature not books, there's a new page everyday".

Less common species for this location were RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, HERMIT THRUSH and SPOTTED TOWHEE. Regular species included several continuing CASSIN'S KINGBIRDS (my latest record on the river is November 12, 1999), a first year female VERMILION FLYCATCHER (Vermilion is an abundant breeder on the river but they usually desert this location in winter and I only have one record after October), at least 3 HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS and a few LAZULI BUNTINGS in Garden wash.

I recorded the following 43 species from 8:30-11:30am.
N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Great Blue Heron, N. Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Mourning Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Red-naped Sapsucker, N. Flicker, Hammond's Flycatcher, Eastern, Say's & Black Phoebes, Vermilion Flycatcher, Cassin's Kingbird, Chihuahuan Raven, Hermit Thrush, White-breasted Nuthatch, Bewick's & House Wrens, Tree Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch, N. Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Savannah & Vesper Sparrows, Spotted, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Lazuli Bunting and Red-winged Blackbird.

Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Today I visited Patagonia Lake State Park for the first of what will be many routine visits throughout fall, winter and spring. I would normally have started birding here a couple of weeks ago but with all the fuss over the Black-capped Gnatcatchers currently present here I decided to wait a while. Birding is hardly routine when lots of people are around.

After a chilly night it turned into another gorgeous fall day -- sunny, calm and not too warm. In fact, it was so chilly early this morning that I had to scrape my windshield for the first time this season. I started birding at the west end of the lake (I like to scan the deep water before the power boats get active) then I walked the marsh trail and finished up along Sonoita Creek.

Among the birds in the deep part of the lake were COMMON LOON, a CLARK'S GREBE in with a few WESTERN GREBES, quite a few EARED GREBES and a handful of REDHEADS. Elsewhere on the lake I noted one each GREAT EGRET and CATTLE EGRET (rare here); a GREEN HERON that let me get fairly close, and a few common ducks. 

As is typical at this time of year, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS were almost as numerous as NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS. I enjoyed watching an OSPREY fishing (successfully) -- they are regular visitors here from late September through October and I also have one December record.

The east marsh trail was fairly quiet although GRAY and DUSKY FLYCATCHERS were numerous (more than 5 of each) along with 1 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER and a singing but uncooperative CASSIN'S VIREO that insisted in staying in the densest part of a willow. Warblers were represented by lots of YELLOW-RUMPED, almost as many ORANGE-CROWNED and a couple of WILSON'S.

As I started the creek trail, I stumbled upon a very close RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER that didn't fly away. When I reached the main part of the creek trail I was delighted to find a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH, not so much because they are fairly rare in SE AZ, more so because the Northern Waterthrush that I saw a couple of days ago was still fresh in my mind. I took advantage of my good fortune and took the time to do some mental comparisons. 

I heard the bird before I saw it and was immediately struck by how much duller and softer it sounded compared to the loud and sharp call of Northern, overall much less emphatic sounding. The bird flew up into a tree and stayed put for some time, all the time bobbing not just its tail but the whole body, quite a different behavior from Northern. Plumage wise, the throat was unmarked and the breast streaking was more brown than black, overall thicker striped and far less dense than Northern. The markings didn't extend down the belly very much, cutting off fairly abruptly similar to a Vesper Sparrow. 

Even though I spent way too much time on the Waterthrush, I managed to stumble across the following 63 species:
Pied-billed, Eared, Western & Clark's Grebes, Neotropic & Double-crested Cormorants, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Great Blue Heron, Great & Cattle Egrets, Green Heron, Osprey, Am. Coot, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Loon, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red-naped Sapsucker, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Gray, Dusky & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Say's & Black Phoebes, Common Raven, Cassin's Vireo, Hermit Thrush, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rock, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Finch, Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped & Wilson's Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Chipping, Lark, Black-throated & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Green-tailed & Canyon Towhees, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - October, 2002 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

Top of Page