Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - July, 2004 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Friday, July 30, 2004.

Thursday, July 1, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
Today I began my journey southward, although I only traveled from Jackson to Evanston in the southwest corner of the state. My original plan for this part of the trip was to look for grouse (Blue, Sage, and Ruffed) near Pinedale, a location that I've only birded once before and saw the latter two species. However, at the last minute I changed my mind because I've already spent lots of time in forested habitats and I decided that I should do some flatland birding instead. I visited Fontenelle Reservoir, Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and an area with Pinyon Juniper habitat south of Green River (all are locations that I've only visited once before).

It was a day of bits and pieces really and I didn't find any standout birds. Roadside highlight of the day was a LONG-BILLED CURLEW on highway 187 north of Daniel. The bird didn't like it when I stepped out of my vehicle and started screaming at me as you can probably tell from the photo. It didn't take long for the bird to decide it would rather be somewhere else and it took flight. Not one to look a gift curlew in the mouth, I took a rather hopeful flight shot that turned out far better than I expected. Other roadside birds on highway 189 included SWAINSON'S HAWK, a couple of juvenile SANDHILL CRANES near Cottonwood Creek, BELTED KINGFISHER and the grassland/sage birds -- SAGE THRASHER, BREWER'S, VESPER and SAVANNAH SPARROWS and LARK BUNTING.

Fontenelle Reservoir and Dam area wasn't very productive (and the road over the dam is closed). On the water I noted WESTERN GREBES, WHITE PELICANS and gulls too far away to identify. I checked a couple of riverside campgrounds (Green River) where I saw common stuff such as SPOTTED SANDPIPER, COMMON NIGHTHAWK, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, the omnipresent MAGPIES, YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.

Seedskadee NWR was fairly productive in the late morning and 90 minutes produced almost 40 species. Along the entrance road, I found a singing SAGE SPARROW that was moving around in a 1/8 mile circle/oval pattern. After I figured out what it was doing, I was able to get close enough for a photograph. HORNED LARKS were common and this photo shows that they really do have "horns". The river road was fairly active in places, although for the most part I only saw common species. Highlights were a couple of TRUMPETER SWANS.

Birding in the juniper country near Firehole Canyon was tough to say the least in the heat of the afternoon. I was hoping to pick up 6 new trip species typical of the habitat here but I managed only 3 GRAY FLYCATCHERS, 1 BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, scads of BEWICK'S WRENS and 3 BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS (missed Ash-throated Flycatcher and Juniper Titmouse, both of which I've seen here previously). Also present were numerous ROCK WRENS, SAGE THRASHER, several singing GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES and SAGE and BREWER'S SPARROWS.

On the day I added 8 species to the trip list which is now at 163 and Bewick's Wren and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher to my state list, now at 188. I have very little birding left to do in Wyoming so those numbers will probably be final. Tomorrow morning I'll bird the Uinta Mountains in Utah and then work my way homeward. Each day on this trip it's been taking longer and longer to boot my laptop. Today it took 30 minutes so this might be the last report until l get home!

Day List (66 species recorded, new for trip in italics):
Pied-billed & Western Grebes, Am. White Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Trumpeter Swan, Canada Goose, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Ruddy Duck, N. Harrier, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Sandhill Crane, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Long-billed Curlew, Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Belted Kingfisher, N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Gray Flycatcher, Horned Lark, Tree, Violet-green, N. Rough-winged, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Rock, Bewick's, House & Marsh Wrens, Sage Thrasher, Mountain Bluebird, Am. Robin, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-billed Magpie, Am. Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, Warbling Vireo, Yellow & Black-throated Gray Warblers, Green-tailed Towhee, Lark Bunting, Chipping, Brewer's, Vesper, Sage, Savannah & Song Sparrows, Western Meadowlark, Yellow-headed & Brewer's Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch, Pine Siskin and House Sparrow.

Friday, July 2, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
Today was a sad day as my travels around Wyoming came to an end and I drove home. I'd really liked to have stayed longer but (lack of) money is always a constraint. When I was a Silicon Valley drone I had money and not much time, whereas now I have plenty of time and not much money. How to strike the right balance? Perhaps it's time to review the old classic An Easy Life by Robin Banks.

Although I drove over 900 miles and didn't get much birding done, I had an enjoyable early morning (before the drudgery of driving!) and saw a few decent birds. Then it was a slog -- first through I-15 traffic in Utah and the obligatory road work, a lonely drive through Northern Arizona and then sitting in five lanes of accident traffic in Phoenix at 8:30pm with the temperature at 96 degrees! That'll suck the joy right out of your day. I didn't even see a daytime temperature that high anywhere on my travels. I cranked up the music and thought about Rosy-Finches on Beartooth highway freezing their ventral regions off, wishing I was up there with them. I reached home at midnight.

I left Evanston on highway 150 and headed south into the snow capped Uintas. Before leaving Wyoming I checked the City of Evanston's Sulphur Creek Reservoir. This a rather sterile place with little vegetation except grass around the edges (at least at the main viewing area), so I'm guessing that it mostly attracts open water birds. Today I saw a few WESTERN GREBES, a lone WHITE PELICAN and a few gulls -- RING-BILLED, CALIFORNIA and one FRANKLIN'S GULL. I was looking into the sun at distant ducks and could only make out a few RUDDY DUCKS. Lots of SAVANNAH SPARROWS were singing in the surrounding meadows. 13 species in all.

I continued on into Utah on 150, a high elevation and scenic highway that has the added benefit of bypassing Salt Lake City. Murphy eat your heart out. The highway summit at Bald Mountain Pass is somewhere a little shy of 11,000 (my GPS unit measured 10, 700+). My last chance for a high elevation fix. The summit of Bald Mountain is 11,943 feet.

The last bird in Wyoming was SONG SPARROW on the Bear River and the first in Utah was WESTERN MEADOWLARK. As I climbed in elevation, I noted typical species such as RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER and WARBLING VIREO (near Aspens) and heard YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, CHIPPING SPARROW and PINE SISKIN in the forested areas.

My first stop was just below Bald Mountain at the well developed Mirror Lake site, still a very picturesque spot. While not exactly devoid of people, it was far less crowded than I had expected given the holiday weekend. CASSIN'S FINCHES were quite common, feeding on the ground and easy to see. Also easy to see were master campground moochers -- GRAY JAYS (have they ever met a free meal they didn't like?). Several FOX and many WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were in full voice. I met a birder (the first of the trip!) who told me that he had just looked for Rosy-Finches at Bald Mountain without success.

I drove on a couple of miles to Bald Mountain, site of my Black Rosy-Finch lifer on a July 4th weekend some years ago. The problem was snow, or rather the lack of it -- no snowbanks down low to bring the Rosy-Finches into easy viewing. [This is about the same elevation as the West Summit of Beartooth Highway some 450 driving miles away, a little less than that straight line. However, the Beartooth summit is well above timberline and is just snow, tundra and rocks. Bald Mountain Pass has some trees. Latitude, like timing, is everything.] Feeling a little disappointed but not discouraged (and not wishing to slog up the trail to the peak!), I set up my scope and started scanning the snow banks high up on the ridges of Bald Mountain. Initially, a singing ROCK WREN was the only sign of birdlife. I scanned back and forth for about 10 minutes until, bingo, one BLACK ROSY-FINCH right in the middle of an expanse of snow where seconds earlier there had been nothing. Patience and persistence at work again. I didn't see much else here, just MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD and more CASSIN'S FINCHES.

I continued on down the west side of the mountain well pleased with my Rosy-Finch find. I stopped briefly at Trial Lake where I added only HERMIT THRUSH and MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE. Once again, CASSIN'S FINCHES were common. Dropping down rapidly amidst changing vegetation I added CLARK'S NUTCRACKER, BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD and BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES once there was some expanses of grass.

That was essentially it for birding. Everything else was a roadside bird or those seen during brief stops. Roadside species in Utah included PINYON JAY and SAGE THRASHER. The first bird that I recorded after I entered Arizona at Freedonia was COMMON RAVEN. The last bird that I "officially" recorded for the trip was AMERICAN CROW in Flagstaff. In between I noted HORNED LARK; BUSHTIT and WESTERN BLUEBIRD both in Kaibab National Forest, and COMMON NIGHTHAWK further south.

In the next day or so, I'll put together a Wyoming trip summary and photo collection including any outtakes that I manage to salvage (as well as cleaning up any of the photos that I've already published, as necessary). Look for my reports to start again after the holiday is over and I get out into the SE AZ field again, something I haven't done since late May. My scheduled break continues and my next client isn't until July 11 so I have some time to ease myself into work mode. In truth, I'm always working even when I'm playing.

Day List (49 species recorded):
Western Grebe, Am. White Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Ring-billed, California & Franklin's Gulls, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Red-naped Sapsucker, Western Kingbird, Horned Lark, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Rock Wren, N. Mockingbird, Sage Thrasher, Western & Mountain Bluebirds, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin (juv), Bushtit, Mountain Chickadee, Gray Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Pinyon Jay, Black-billed Magpie, Clark's Nutcracker, Am. Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chipping, Savannah, Fox, Song & White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco, Western Meadowlark, Red-winged & Brewer's Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbird, Black Rosy-Finch, Cassin's Finch, House Finch, Pine Siskin and House Sparrow.

Tuesday, July 6, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
[Note: I've added a trip summary and species summary for my recent Wyoming trip, accessible from the main journal page via the trip index, or directly from here. I've also added a "Trip Photo Log" feature to the Photo Gallery where all the species from any trip can be seen. I'll catch up on past trips as my schedule permits].

Now that the holiday is over I ventured out into the outside world again, my first day of birding in SE AZ since late May. No sign of the monsoon yet, every year I end my northern sojourn too soon! It's that time of year again when the ponds at Willcox start to come into their own so I headed over to see what was going on. I spent a couple of pleasantly cool and productive early morning hours there and turned up almost 50 species.

The drive along the entrance road to the golf course quickly produced a surprise -- WHITE-WINGED DOVE. A very common bird to be sure but in eleven years of birding at Willcox I only have a total of five records in three of those years, all in June and July. Also along the entrance road were plenty of SCALED QUAIL (some perched up calling), a few EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES (now seemingly well established here) and a few chattering BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. After first checking the golf course pond, I looped around the main pond as a "scouting run" then I scoped from various vantage points.

It seems to be somewhat of a banner year for BROWN PELICANS invading southeast Arizona (actually, all over the state), so it was perhaps inevitable that one would show up at Willcox (only my second here). The bird flew in around 6:30am and was still present when I left an hour or so later.

As usual, AMERICAN AVOCETS and BLACK-NECKED STILTS were abundant and common respectively; and well over 100 WILSON'S PHALAROPES were present. Shorebird migration is really only just getting started here -- today's highlights were one LONG-BILLED CURLEW (a few of them seem to have been around for a while), a couple of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, one WILLET, half a dozen LEAST SANDPIPERS and one BAIRD'S SANDPIPER (right about on time).

Other evidence of southbound movement came from TREE SWALLOWS and significant numbers of male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS (both of which typically show up in SE AZ during July week 1); and a small group of LUCY'S WARBLERS in the mesquite along Rex Allen Drive as I was leaving

I noted three species of gulls -- one RING-BILLED, one CALIFORNIA and two FRANKLIN'S. Only the Franklin's were present for the first hour, perhaps the other two were at the nearby sewage ponds.

49 species recorded at Willcox from 5:30-7:45am:
Eared Grebe, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Gadwall, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Swainson's Hawk, Scaled & Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Black-necked Stilt, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Long-billed Curlew, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Least & Baird's Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope, Ring-billed, California & Franklin's Gulls, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning &White-winged Doves, Lesser Nighthawk, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Tree, Cliff & Barn Swallows, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Loggerhead Shrike, Chihuahuan Raven, Lucy's Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Pyrrhuloxia, Eastern Meadowlark, Red-winged & Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackle, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch and House Sparrow.

Friday, July 9, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
I've been unable to go birding for the past few days, stranded without my vehicle as I needed to get some essential maintenance done (CA Gulch and French Joe Canyon are not places that you want to go with car problems!). The monsoon season seems to be upon us now and the past couple of days have seen afternoon rain and thunderstorms.

After getting my vehicle back, I was able to get out this afternoon to Sierra Vista EOP where I haven't visited for exactly three months (April 9). There's a little bit more open water visible than is normal for this time of year, probably due to the burning earlier in the year. The pond south of the observation platform (which is quite distant and difficult to see through various obstructions) has some water and will likely be the best bet for shorebirds, although I didn't see anything at all there today. While birding from 2:00-3:30pm, the temperature dropped from 95 to 88 degrees. It's probably down closer to 60 now in the late afternoon as the rain and thunderstorms kick in.

I saw just a few species of local note. The main highlight was provided by a couple of soaring PEREGRINE FALCONS, one of which was carrying prey (too high for me to see what it was). They are uncommon at the ponds (85 records in 845 visits) with no sightings in April, May and June. A female AMERICAN WIGEON represented my first July record here, my earliest previous sighting was in late August. A male BLUE-WINGED TEAL was also noteworthy, only my second July record in 70 visits. You can see all this graphically represented in the SVEOP bar graph.

The remainder of what I saw was common fare. CLIFF edged out BARN in a large swallow flock that contained just one TREE SWALLOW (that I could pick out!). YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS have returned but were not numerous. COMMON YELLOWTHROATS and SONG SPARROWS sang from the marsh where male and female BLUE GROSBEAKS were foraging. The rarest species that I saw was ROCK PIGEON, just 12 records in all. Of course, they are common just beyond the EOP fence. Amazingly, I didn't see a single Kingbird.

22 species recorded at Sierra Vista EOP:
Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Swainson's Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Am. Coot, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Say's Phoebe, Tree, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Chihuahuan Raven, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, Red-winged & Yellow-headed Blackbirds and House Finch.

Sunday, July 11, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
First of three days with Tom and Juliet Hansen from Alexandria, VA. Today we had one target bird -- Black-capped Gnatcatcher at Patagonia Lake. Based on the "cormorant pilings" in the middle of the lake, the water level is down about three feet since my last visit here in late May. The trails are very much in summer mode, i.e. overgrown.

Over a period of almost three hours we made two passes searching unsuccessfully through the first five washes (wash #5=Nutting's Wash), all of which were heavily loaded with cow pies and plenty of bugs. Success didn't come until around 9:00am after I eventually decided to extend the search zone. I heard a couple of calls from a BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER at the base of the hillside about 20 yards north of Nutting's Wash. We waited but the bird didn't vocalize again nor materialize over the next few minutes. Fortunately, a few screech-owl whistles brought in a  female, but not for long.

The most interesting bird of the day was one that I couldn't reliably put a name to -- a non vocalizing WESTERN FLYCATCHER type. Pacific-slope would be the most likely, although it seems a little early (my earliest "fall" records are in late July). I wouldn't expect a Cordilleran Flycatcher to be at this location in July (a breeder in nearby mountains), but it can't be ruled out. Hence, it was a "Western" Flycatcher.

Several YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS, NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULETS and VARIED BUNTINGS were quite vocal early on but fell silent as the morning warmed. Even the normally raucous YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS were subdued. ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS were thick in the mesquite bosque. I also heard BROWN-CRESTED and saw and heard DUSKY-CAPPED.

I didn't spend any time checking the lake (there could have been a flock of Brown Pelicans at the west end!), but noted the usual NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS, BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS and a GREAT EGRET.

Not a spectacular first day back at work but a successful one.

48 species recorded at Patagonia Lake State Park:
Neotropic Cormorant, Great Egret, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Turkey Vulture, Am. Coot, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Broad-billed & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Say's Phoebe, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, "Western" Flycatcher, Cassin's Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus Wren, Bewick's Wren, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Bell's Vireo, Lucy's & Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Canyon Towhee, Rufous-crowned & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Varied Bunting, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch.

Monday, July 12, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
Out again today with Tom and Juliet for two target birds -- Flame-colored Tanager and Buff-collared Nightjar. Rather than take a chance on an afternoon visit for the tanager which would have been logistically economical on the way to the nightjar, I decided that a morning visit was in order to ensure the best chance of seeing the bird. Fortunately, that worked out very well.

We left Sierra Vista at 5:00am and arrived at the Madera Kubo area a little before 6:30am after a drive through Box Canyon. [Note: there is currently one "soft wash" that is a problem for small cars that will likely get worse with more rain.]. From Madera Kubo, we walked slowly up canyon looking and listening and about 6:55am we found adult male and female FLAME-COLORED TANAGERS near the "big rock". Both birds were silent (although I heard a bird calling about 30 minutes later down canyon near Kubo). We also saw a juvenile male near the rock -- the bird perched in the clear for a long time until I decided to retrieve my camera from the car. You snooze you lose, when will I ever learn. Nevertheless, excellent looks at male, female and juvenile were ample reward.

Several other species in the area were quite vocal and active, particularly ACORN WOODPECKER and DUSKY-CAPPED, BROWN-CRESTED and SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS. Also singing, albeit less so were HUTTON'S & PLUMBEOUS VIREOS and PAINTED REDSTART. In the grassland, we heard several BOTTERI'S SPARROWS but not a single Cassin's. BLUE GROSBEAKS were numerous along Box Canyon road.

We broke for the bulk of day during which time Tom and Juliet picked up a male LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD at Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast after trying unsuccessfully yesterday.

In the late afternoon we headed out over Oro Blanco Mine for the nightjar, a 6 hour, 200 mile round trip plus birding time. Since it was almost a new moon and there was heavy cloud cover, I wasn't hopeful of much activity from the nightjar so we were prepared for a "heard only experience". Given the conditions, I think we were thankful to get that.

We arrived at the mine at 6:45pm and settled down to wait to the sound of a dozen or so regular species. MONTEZUMA QUAIL called fairly consistently from a ridgeline. NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS were extremely vocal and became a problem as darkness fell. Other species included NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET, VERMILION FLYCATCHER, BLUE GROSBEAK, VARIED BUNTING and HOODED ORIOLE.

As darkness fell, the sequence of activity followed a fairly predictable pattern (although all participants are not always willing to get involved!). After the bats made an appearance, COMMON POORWILLS began calling at 7:45am followed by a worryingly late BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR at 8:10pm. The bird sang 3 times quite close to us, after which we heard 3 sporadic calls over the next 10 minutes from some distance away. Other contributors were WESTERN SCREECH-OWL at 8:20pm, ELF OWL at 8:22pm and a GREAT HORNED OWL that we flushed from its perch as we left at 8:25pm.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
The third and last day with Tom and Juliet ended disappointingly as we failed to find Rufous-capped Warbler and maintain the success of the past couple of days. After way too little sleep following last night's nightjar expedition, we got an early start for French Joe Canyon that, unfortunately, did not pay dividends. The canyon is generally very dry although there is a little standing water at the upper spring. I didn't see a single bird visit the water (a regular occurrence) which tells me that there is water available elsewhere.

A juvenile COMMON POORWILL hardly able to walk let alone fly provided a bit of entertainment on the entrance "road". BLUE GROSBEAKS were common, singing in the early morning gloom.

A session of about 2 1/2 hours divided equally between the upper spring and upper waterfall was entertaining enough with lots of activity from a variety of birds. However, the star of the show failed to put in an appearance. It's rare that I don't even hear the warbler but I can't honestly say for sure that I did today. At one point I was convinced that I heard some partial song near the waterfall but it was not repeated and I was probably mistaken.

Other than hummingbirds, there wasn't any sign of migrants in the canyon. WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS & SCOTT'S ORIOLES were common. The only bird of note was a SPOTTED OWL, brought to our attention by the obviously pissed off sounding chatter of BUSHTITS and BRIDLED TITMICE. To me, the bird appeared to be perhaps two or three years old and had a red band on the right leg for anyone reading this who tracks the owls in French Joe.

40 species recorded in French Joe Canyon:
Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Spotted Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Poorwill, White-throated Swift, Broad-billed, Black-chinned, Anna's & Rufous Hummingbirds, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Cassin's Kingbird, Violet-green Swallow, Rock, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Crissal Thrasher, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Western Scrub-Jay, Mexican Jay, Plumbeous & Hutton's Vireos, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Spotted & Canyon Towhees, Rufous-crowned, Black-chinned & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Hooded & Scott's Orioles and House Finch.

Thursday, July 15, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Carol Horner and Mary Schuster from Toronto, ON for a number of target species in the Huachucas. We began early (3:45am) for a morning owling session but since we ran out of darkness, it wasn't early enough. This is precisely why I prefer to go owling in the evening. Except for morning owling, it was a case of back in the old routine for me with visits to Carr, Garden and Scheelite Canyons. All in all it was a successful day.

In Carr Canyon, we worked first on WESTERN SCREECH-OWL and had great success, a walk away look in fact. Unfortunately, I ignored the abundant WHISKERED SCREECH-OWLS (calling in multiple locations) in favor of the less common Western and that strategy backfired as daylight arrived before we managed to see Whiskered. Drat! GREAT HORNED OWLS (adults and young) were calling in both locations that we birded (which probably didn't help our cause). Also calling were ELF OWL, COMMON POORWILL and WHIP-POOR-WILL.

Now it was time to drive up the canyon (and admire the view of Sorry Vista in the early morning light) to work on NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL. After a little hiking and hillside scrambling we managed to track down a very cooperative individual that called away in a dead tree. All the looks we wanted and then some.

In various locations between Reef and the main Carr drainage (located on the Comfort Spring trail) we picked up a number of "dicky bird" target species (all seen well) including lots of singing GREATER PEWEES, a few not so vocal BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS, a couple of singing OLIVE WARBLERS, a few calling and not as elusive as usual VIRGINIA'S WARBLERS, mostly silent GRACE'S WARBLERS and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO.

Among the other species recorded were BAND-TAILED PIGEON, BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD, HAIRY & ARIZONA WOODPECKERS, DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, WHITE-THROATED SWIFT, CANYON & HOUSE WRENS, STELLER'S & MEXICAN JAYS, HERMIT THRUSH,  HUTTON'S & PLUMBEOUS VIREOS, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, HEPATIC & WESTERN TANAGERS and lots of SPOTTED TOWHEES.

On the drive back down canyon we ran into a fledged family of ARIZONA WOODPECKERS that we had only heard higher up.

As we entered the Fort, a COMMON GROUND-DOVE was only my second record for the Huachucas. BOTTERI'S and CASSIN'S SPARROWS were both singing in Garden Canyon grassland but the area where I normally go (and where they were singing!) is now off limits. [Note: There are still many other accessible locations in the grassland.]

At the upper picnic area, a calling ELEGANT TROGON easily gave us the slip (twice in fact, at 9:30 and 10:15). However, we couldn't have missed SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS even if we had wanted to. A soaring GOLDEN EAGLE was a nice treat.

It was a bit of a slog up Scheelite Canyon in the late morning heat and humidity but an easy to find SPOTTED OWL (our 6th owl species of the morning) was well worth the effort. In fact, we found four owls -- two very downy juveniles in the Forestry Oak, one adult in the adjacent "V" Oak, and the second adult across canyon in the Sentinel Oak. If I ever finish documenting all the roosting locations, these names will mean something. The sighting of juvenile birds confirms successful breeding in Scheelite for the fourth consecutive year, after at least six years without any breeding at all.

Friday, July 16, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
First of a couple days of target birding with Jerry Poe from Monte Vista, CO. We visited French Joe Canyon where once again I was unable to find Rufous-capped Warbler. Activity in the canyon was about the same as on Tuesday and I didn't note any migrants other than hummingbirds.

From approximately  5:45am until 10:00am we divided our time between the upper spring and upper waterfall without an appearance by the warbler. WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS, ROCK & CANYON WRENS and HOODED & SCOTT'S ORIOLES were common. Unexpected near the spring was a SUMMER TANAGER (they normally stay in the lower part of the canyon). A calling CRISSAL THRASHER came by a couple of times (I hear this species on over 50% of visits but don't often see it). SPOTTED OWL was again present and even called a few times.

41 species recorded in French Joe Canyon:
Red-tailed Hawk, White-winged Dove, Great Horned Owl, Spotted Owl, White-throated Swift, Black-chinned, Anna's, Broad-tailed & Rufous Hummingbirds, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, Violet-green Swallow, Cactus, Rock, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed & Crissal Thrashers, Bridled Titmouse, Western Scrub-Jay, Plumbeous & Hutton's Vireos, Hepatic, Summer & Western Tanagers, Spotted & Canyon Towhees, Rufous-crowned, Black-chinned & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Brown-headed Cowbird, Hooded & Scott's Orioles and House Finch.

Saturday, July 17, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
Out again today with Jerry for three target species -- Buff-collared Nightjar, Botteri's Sparrow and Flame-colored Tanager. We made a morning visit to Madera Canyon and an evening visit to the old Oro Blanco mine site.

BOTTERI'S SPARROW is pretty much a forgone conclusion at this time of year and many individuals were singing on the Box Canyon and Continental Roads. We stopped to scope one on the way home after first ensuring that we saw the tanager. CASSIN'S and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS were also in full voice.

We arrived at Madera Kubo area at 6:15am and started to patrol up and down the road under cool and cloudy skies. HEPATIC and SUMMER TANAGERS were both singing -- the latter surprised me a little at this location although I have seen them here before. Two other parties were looking for the tanager but soon bailed out. I first heard the male FLAME-COLORED TANAGER singing at 6:55am ~150 yards or so above the gift shop. The bird sang for about 5 minutes but disappeared before we could see it in the crappy light and light sprinkles. We continued to work the area and relocated the bird when it started to sing again at 7:50am, initially close to gift shop (opposite side of canyon), although it soon moved back up canyon to the same location as the earlier sighting. This time we were able to track it down and get a decent look. Even though I remembered to bring my camera, I knew that with such poor light and the bird fairly high in an oak tree that I would only get a poor photograph. Mejor que nada.

We recorded about 20 species during the search including COOPER'S HAWK, a calling ELEGANT TROGON further up canyon, ARIZONA WOODPECKER, lots of noisy SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS, a few equally noisy BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, PAINTED REDSTART and HOODED ORIOLE.

Our evening expedition to the old Oro Blanco near California Gulch was almost a complete washout but ended up being successful. The drive over was about as pleasant as this drive can be and conditions didn't seem very threatening until we reached the ghost town of Ruby. The rain started here and intensified as we drove down California Gulch Road, becoming very heavy by the time we reached the mine at 6:55pm. We were forced to sit in the car as the wind and rain really lashed down and at this point I would have given high odds against any kind of nightjar experience. Amazingly, at 7:40pm the rain stopped and skies above the mine site cleared. We noted that three other vehicles present when we arrived had bailed out.

COMMON POORWILL and BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR both called at 7:50pm at which time there was still a fair amount of light. For a period of 15 minutes ending around 8:10pm we had multiple good looks at the nightjar perched in several oaks and flying between them; and finally, a long flight view as it moved from the east hillside to a distant location on the west side of its territory. [I must stress to any future clients (and potential clients) that such good looks are not the norm.]

This experience served to reinforce something that I'm always saying (to myself and clients) but don't always practice -- if you stay and persist you always have some chance, if you leave the chances become zero. Even with the three hour journey home, I was back before midnight. What a deal.

Monday, July 19, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
I have a few days off between jobs (some of which I'll be without a vehicle) so today I took advantage of my free time to visit Willcox. Although the main pond water level continues high, there's a decent amount of shorebird habitat around the edges (but no islands, sandbars or spits). The monsoon season has pretty much been a non-event so far and all of the temporal ponds are still dry. Temperatures continue about five degrees above average -- mid 90s in Sierra Vista today, almost 100 in Willcox and Tucson will be above 100 all week.

It wasn't particularly cool when I arrived at Willcox a little after 5:30am and clear skies ensured that the day would warm quickly. In fact, it was already too warm for me by 7:30am and I finally bailed out at 8:15am. I started at the golf course pond, moved on to the main pond, doubled back to the golf course pond again and finished up on the road that parallels the golf course on the north side. Had I felt more enthusiastic, I could easily have spent more time at the main pond sifting through the many individuals present.

As I drove by early this morning, SCALED QUAIL were very common on the golf course grass and perched on fence posts calling. As I was leaving I saw only one individual. The small pond wasn't very active save for a pair of COMMON YELLOWTHROATS feeding young. The photo is of a female showing some rich orange-yellow color in the morning light and perhaps should be titled "you have much to learn, grasshopper". Many times since I started photographing birds, I've learned some interesting details about various species by looking at the photos that I've taken. Note how big the feet are on this species, no doubt an adaptation for clinging on to marsh vegetation as in this image.

Shortly after I started at the main pond, a couple of Green Valley birders arrived and asked if I'd found "the Glossy Ibis". I learned that an adult Glossy was reported here yesterday and two other parties showed up looking for the bird. The bird was not relocated which was perhaps as well (for me!) because it would have been a life bird and in all likelihood I would not have been happy with an "iffy" out of range sighting. There is just one accepted record for Arizona. All that I saw were a couple of what I'm calling first fall WHITE-FACED IBIS. However, according to Kaufman in Advanced Birding, "If a bird's facial skin trim is not clearly delineated and if the eyes are not obviously red, it must be left unidentified" Others seemed to have no trouble calling it White-faced, I'm not sure by what characters. By enlarging the high megapixel image straight from the camera I can see indications that it is White-faced even though you can't really tell from the published image -- or in the field! It makes me wonder how many Arizona Ibis that I enter in my data base as White-faced should really be "plegadis species", even if the odds are 99.999999% White-faced!

As usual, gobs of AMERICAN AVOCETS and lesser numbers of BLACK-NECKED STILTS were present. WILSON'S PHALAROPES were also in good numbers -- most were drab gray males although the photo is of a female still with some color. Other shorebirds noted were a single LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER that I thought might be Short-billed from a distance (I eventually heard it call), 3 fly by LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, a few SPOTTED, 1 WESTERN, 1 BAIRD'S, many LEAST and my first of season STILT SANDPIPER, right about on time for this location (see the Willcox bar graph). I wish that I had more visits here to make the data more meaningful (I consider about 400 visits over 10 years a minimum requirement for proper representation of the birdlife). When I returned home, I saw a report of a hundred Western Sandpipers here yesterday emphasizing how quickly birds can come and go at Willcox.

The ratty looking CALIFORNIA GULL continues and a RING-BILLED GULL flew in as I was leaving.

46 species recorded at Willcox ponds and Golf Course:
Eared Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, White-faced Ibis, Gadwall, Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Swainson's Hawk, Scaled Quail, Am. Coot, Black-necked Stilt, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed Curlew, Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted, Western, Least, Baird's & Stilt Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope, Ring-billed & California Gulls, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Black Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Tree, Cliff & Barn Swallows, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Loggerhead Shrike, Chihuahuan Raven, Common Yellowthroat, Pyrrhuloxia, Blue Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, Red-winged & Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackle, House Finch and House Sparrow.

Tuesday, July 20, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
I didn't have much time for birding before dropping of my vehicle this morning so I stayed close to home with visits to the San Pedro and Sierra Vista EOP. I don't much care for the San Pedro at this time of year due to the overgrown and muddy trails and that was borne out today  -- there were places where just staying on my feet was the top priority. Considering the highly litigious society in which we live, the BLM/Friends of the San Pedro would do well to close certain sections of the trail, or at least put up some warning signs. I knew what to expect and I still managed to slip and fall twice in the mud.

I saw little of note on the river except for BRIDLED TITMOUSE, decidedly rare here in summer. There aren't many breeding records on the San Pedro and I suspect that today's birds were a good indication of breeding here again. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS were calling in multiple locations and YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS were abundant. I was hoping to find Tropical Kingbirds (a breeder at the big pond for 10 years) but I didn't detect them. I also didn't detect either Cassin's or Botteri's Sparrows in the mesquite-grassland. All three species are almost certainly present.

A short visit to Sierra Vista EOP produced 20+ species including SCALED and (less common here) GAMBEL'S QUAIL, a few singing BLUE GROSBEAKS and a couple of BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. A fair number of LARK SPARROWS were present -- they usually show up at this time every year (see SVEOP bar graph). A family of CHIHUAHUAN RAVENS were kicking up a racket as I drove through the gate; an adult and juvenile are pictured here.

45 species recorded at SPRNCA and SVEOP:
Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Am. Kestrel, Scaled & Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Greater Roadrunner, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Black & Say's Phoebes, Vermilion, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Barn Swallow, Bewick's Wren, N, Mockingbird, Bridled Titmouse, Verdin, Chihuahuan Raven, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Lark, Black-throated & Song Sparrows, Blue Grosbeak, Red-winged & Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch.

Thursday, July 22, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
I was scheduled into French Joe Canyon today but after advising my client about (at least) 5 misses on the warbler (2 by me) on recent visits, I ended up with a day off. I was undecided where to go (Willcox or Kino Springs) right up to the intersection of highways 90 and 82 -- I turned onto 82 and chose the latter! Until the devastating habitat loss some time ago, Kino was a regular place on my "rounds" and with 201 species seen there in 263 visits it still ranks third on my list behind Patagonia Lake (248 species) and the San Pedro highway 90 area (213 species).

I last reported on the habitat restoration project underway here in April when I made three visits (14, 18 and 20); I also visited twice in May (12 & 25). I'm happy to say that the situation has continued to improve. In particular, lots of low growing vegetation has really sprung up at the club house pond a.k.a. "second pond" (actually, now a divided pond), especially around the "island pond" (partial view of this area). Furthermore, there's emergent vegetation in the water and a fair amount of reedy stuff around the entire pond. Of course, the downside is that tall trees lining the pond are very limited, a situation that will persist for some time until the newly planted trees grow. The "first pond" has been filled for a while now and vegetation has started to grow there as well, although it still has a long way to go. There's a fair amount of taller stuff to the south of this pond, but nothing like before. Long term, I think the area will actually be better than before. In the meantime, I believe that it's well worth visiting here again. The birds are certainly finding a way to work with the changes!

My objective for the day was to cover as much terrain as I could and take inventory of the birds now using the area. I entered what for some time now has been signed "Estancia Yerba Buena" (good grass Ranch?) at 5:30am and left at 9:30am. I spent a little over an hour at the first pond and trees, the Santa Cruz river, and the wash that runs west from the pond. I spent the rest of the time working the Club House area. Initially, conditions were cloudy, cool and humid by Arizona standards. The sun tried to break through around 7:30am and started to have an impact by 8:30am even though it was still mostly cloudy.

As I expected, species like YELLOW WARBLER and SUMMER TANAGER (that usually nest in taller trees) were down in numbers. YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS also seemed down in number. Species that like low vegetation such as SONG SPARROW and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT were quite common. Traditional species such as GRAY HAWK, NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET, ASH-THROATED, DUSKY-CAPPED and BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS, TROPICAL KINGBIRD and VARIED BUNTING (at least 6 seen) were all present. I failed to detect some expected species (some I obviously just missed, others may not be present) such as Green Heron, Mallard, Am. Kestrel, Killdeer, Greater Roadrunner, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Say's Phoebe, Lucy's Warbler (shocking!) and Abert's Towhee.

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS were fairly common and conspicuous and I saw them at all three ponds (1st, 2nd, and the sewage pond where workers were hacking down weeds). They were not very accommodating in terms of getting a photo, especially with crappy light. I managed a couple of usable shots -- BBWD image #1 of two birds in the water and BBWD image #2 showing why it was previously called tree duck.

The only real migrants that I noted were LAZULI BUNTINGS, fairly common in the weedy stuff around the club house pond. BLUE GROSBEAKS were very common in the mesquite areas. LARK SPARROWS were common in all locations. In fact, I generally did well on sparrows. RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS were singing from the hillside soon after I left highway 82. I had to work to find RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS in the first pond wash (west side) but I eventually found a few singing along with many BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS and a very inquisitive juvenile BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER. Most of the VARIED BUNTINGS that I saw were here with a couple more seen near the (dry) river.

CASSIN'S and BOTTERI'S SPARROWS were easy to see east of the club house along Kino Springs Drive. Both species were singing on both sides of the road from about 200 yards east of the club house to the Santa Cruz river bridge. Cassin's outnumbered Botteri's about 3:1, which probably has to do with the mix of habitat here. The grass is quite low (sparse in places) and the mesquites well scattered, so much so that I said to myself "how hard can it be to get a photograph" Ha! The birds are probably still laughing at me. For about 30 minutes I followed multiple birds of both species pretty much to no avail. There were times when each species would perch in the same mesquite and sing, although not simultaneously. Cassin's were constantly skylarking. The best image that I managed of a somewhat distant Botteri's #1 doesn't really show the large head and bill -- Botteri's #2 is not as good an image but does show these characters. Note how richly colored these birds are compared to Cassin's (unfortunately, a very distant shot but I include it so you can see the differences). When seen well, these species cannot really be confused. It can be considerably more challenging using a scope at long distance with heat haze!

All in all, a few hours well spent (although I could have done without the 2+ hours round trip driving).

61 species recorded at Kino Springs:
Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Cinnamon Teal, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Gray Hawk, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black Phoebe, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Tropical Kingbird, Cassin's Kingbird, Western Kingbird, N. Rough-winged, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Phainopepla, Rock & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Verdin, Common Raven, European Starling, Bell's Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Canyon Towhee, Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged , Lark, Black-throated & Song Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, Varied Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

Friday, July 23, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
First of two days with Ed Deal from Seattle who I've birded with once before. Today we tried for Rufous-capped Warbler, Flame-colored Tanager and several sparrow species. We had some success but all things considered I think we have to call it an unsuccessful day in terms of target birds. It was a mostly cloudy morning followed by a few sun breaks and then on and off rain, heavy at times, from noon onwards.

For the third consecutive visit I failed to find (or even hear) Rufous-capped Warbler in French Joe Canyon, obviously a poor start to the day. We cut our losses and only spent from approximately 5:45-8:15am in sessions at the spring, upper waterfall and below the spring. To make matters worse we only managed a brief look at COMMON POORWILL in the early morning gloom (we entered the canyon at 4:30am).

The canyon seemed generally quieter today and I recorded only 38 species. Still no migrants other than hummingbirds.

We redeemed our day in the Santa Rita Mountains with good looks of the male FLAME-COLORED TANAGER, singing quite loudly and consistently above and below Madera Kubo from 10:45-11:15pm. However, the bird was hard to see as it constantly moved up and down the canyon and wasn't always close to the road. We had to track it for almost 30 minutes before getting a satisfactory look. Rain threatened as we left around 11:30am.

In the grassland near Florida Wash we didn't have any trouble at all locating and seeing BOTTERI'S SPARROW. We then turned our attention to a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW that led us on for a while. We managed several brief looks and then rain stopped play just as we were getting close. We listened and looked for Cassin's Sparrows in vain.

We moved on to the Box Canyon Road where the slick surface of the first few miles was quite an adventure in the rain. During a break in the rain we stopped again to listen for CASSIN'S SPARROW and hit the jackpot with several birds singing and (initially) skylarking in the same location. I set up the scope but once again the rain put paid to our efforts before we could get a look. At the highway 83 end of Box Canyon Road we found a couple more very sadistic CASSIN'S SPARROWS that messed with us. Here it was wind not rain that was the enemy. We gave up after 30 minutes of being jerked around.

We gave it one last try at Las Cienegas where we again found numerous singing CASSIN'S SPARROWS. Believe it or not, mosquitoes were our problem here. They were plentiful in the wet grassy areas and very ferocious. Again, just glimpses of the sparrows. As they say, tomorrow is another (and hopefully better) day.

Day list (65 species recorded):
Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Scaled Quail, Killdeer, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Poorwill, Magnificent, Black-chinned & Rufous Hummingbirds, Acorn, Ladder-backed & Arizona Woodpeckers, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran, Dusky-capped, Brown-crested & Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Horned Lark, Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus, Rock, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Scrub-Jay, Mexican Jay, Common Raven, Bell's, Plumbeous, Hutton's & Warbling Vireos, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hepatic, Summer & Flame-colored Tanagers, Spotted & Canyon Towhees, Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Black-chinned, Lark & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Eastern Meadowlark, Hooded & Scott's Orioles, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch.

Saturday, July 24, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
Out again today with Ed. Our targets for the morning were Black-capped Gnatcatcher and Varied Bunting plus Cassin's and Rufous-winged Sparrows left over from yesterday. The original plan was to take a midday break and then head down to California Gulch and Oro Blanco mine for Five-striped Sparrow and Buff-collared Nightjar. However, when we met this morning Ed decided not to make the evening trip despite my pleas <grin>. I was so looking forward to making that drive again.

Our day was essentially the antithesis of yesterday and we had seen all our targets at Patagonia Lake by 9:30am. We spent the rest of the morning casual birding at Kino Springs, Patagonia Roadside Rest area and the Paton's yard. The morning was very cloudy and humid.

We started on one of the side roads off Patagonia Lake State Park entrance road at 6:00am where multiple CASSIN'S SPARROWS were singing. It took about 25 minutes to finally get a scope view which was only about 24 minutes too long. Nevertheless, success at last after yesterday's debacle with this species. Further along the road near the lake we worked on a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW but managed only a flight view as it flew across the road. Knowing that the gnatcatcher might take some time we moved on and left the sparrow until later. A decent freebie here was a VARIED BUNTING that flew in and perched in good light -- we were certainly overdue for an easy target bird!

Starting at 7:15am, we methodically worked the various washes looking and listening for gnatcatchers. A little before 9:00am I finally heard the call that told me the search was over, only to quickly lose it as I saw movement heading away from us. A few minutes later we saw a "pair" of gnatcatchers interacting, or I should say fighting (contact made) which I thought was strange. However, the reason soon became clear because the birds turned out to be a male BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER and a female BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER -- they eventually went their separate ways. We had very satisfying looks of the (very clean plumaged) male Black-capped Gnatcatcher that posed for us in the open for about one minute. The location was the same place that I found a female on July 11 -- at the base of the hillside 25-30 yards north of Nutting's Wash. I passed on the location to Gary Crandell (who was also looking for the bird) and later learned that he relocated the male with a female as well as the female Black-tailed. Another birder had seen a second male Black-capped in the first wash.  [There were (at least) two pairs of Black-capped Gnatcatchers breeding at the lake this year and both successfully fledged young.]

Before heading back on the trail we checked the lake (still very low) that was essentially devoid of ducks except for a lone RUDDY DUCK. At least 20 of the usual NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS were present along with GREEN HERON and a calling LEAST BITTERN. Other regulars recorded while looking for the gnatcatcher included YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET and lots of YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS. We finished up back along on the entrance road where it didn't take long to relocate two singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS. After a little bit of cat and mouse effort we ended up with an excellent view (rufous wing and all) as the birds eventually capitulated. Another look at a perched up and singing VARIED BUNTING was just gravy. 50 species at the lake.

The one time that we encountered full sun today was on the berm that separates the club house pond at Kino Springs. The heat-humidity here was searing amidst all the damp vegetation. BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS and GRAY HAWK (attacked by kingbirds with contact made) were easy to see as were TROPICAL KINGBIRDS in the pines on the club house lawn. Image #2 is a side view of the same bird. Note how this particular individual does not show much of a dark ear patch/mask normally seen on this species. A couple of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS were working at the water's edge and LAZULI BUNTINGS were very common in the weedy stuff. 40 species in all.

Among 24 species seen at the Roadside Rest Area were a soaring GRAY HAWK, a calling and fly-by YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, easy to see (and hear!) THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS and male and female VARIED BUNTINGS foraging in the trailside grass. A calling PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER was my season first (although a silent "Western Flycatcher" at Patagonia Lake on July 11 was almost certainly this species). A calling WESTERN TANAGER was another migrant -- they usually show up at the Roadside Rest during the second week in July. WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS chattered as they soared overhead. Of note (to me at least) was my first LUCY'S WARBLER seen in a couple of weeks (just one bird). Lucy's are one of the early arrivals in spring and the bulk of them start leaving in mid August, making them decidedly harder to come by as the summer wears on.

Marion Paton's yard was fairly active and the star of the show VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRDS were constant visitors at the feeders. WHITE-WINGED DOVES threatened to overrun the place and vastly outnumbered all species except perhaps BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS. A lone INCA and a few COMMON GROUND-DOVES were also present. 25 species in all.

Day list (90 species recorded):
Pied-billed Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue & Green Herons, Least Bittern, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Ruddy Duck, Black & Turkey Vultures, Gray, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeon, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Greater Roadrunner, White-throated Swift, Broad-billed, Violet-crowned & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Tropical, Cassin's, Thick-billed & Western Kingbirds, Horned Lark, Tree, N. Rough-winged, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Phainopepla, Cactus, Rock, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-tailed & Black-capped Gnatcatchers, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, European Starling, Bell's Vireo, Lucy's & Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer & Western Tanagers, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Lark, Black-throated & Song Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Blue Grosbeak, Lazuli & Varied Buntings, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

Monday, July 26, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
First of five days with Bill Harrigan, Kevin Kane and Roger Hill, all from Michigan, and Mike Rodergerdts from Oregon. Bill originally scheduled this trip for himself and Mike back in August of last year, the others joined later. Roger is the only one that I've birded with before, twice in AZ and once in CA. Today we worked on "easy" targets.

We spent the entire day in the Huachucas where it was mostly cloudy for much of the time and stayed cool (60 degrees or so) in the higher elevation areas of Carr Canyon warming to the mid to high 70s in Garden Canyon. We left town at 3:30am and returned at 3:30pm having had great success finding all nine target species that we sought.

Between 4:00 and 4:45am we managed good looks at both our target owls -- WESTERN SCREECH-OWL and WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL. Bother species eventually cooperated, although Western was much easier to locate and see than Whiskered. This was similar to my experience ten days ago, but contrary to what will happen on the majority of owling expeditions when the birds don't have youngsters in tow. Also calling were GREAT HORNED OWL (adult and juvenile), COMMON POORWILL and WHIP-POOR-WILL.

At Reef we had to put in some effort for our first BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS. However, the feeling of success was diminished by the fact that the flycatchers were feeding a BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD. We saw and heard many other Buff-breasted throughout the morning. After an unsuccessful search for Red-faced Warbler, we tried for GREATER PEWEE and soon found a cooperative albeit silent bird. We saw several more that were mostly only calling (peek-peek) with just sporadic bursts of their Jose Maria song. Next up was OLIVE WARBLER, a bird that took quite some time to locate. We eventually found a couple of mostly silent birds -- just a couple of "phew" calls that were enough to get us to their location. Although they were high in the pines and firs and backlit by gray sky, a little persistence produced decent looks.

The highlight for me was a small group of 8 RED CROSSBILLS, mostly females and juveniles. They are permanent residents in the Huachucas but I don't see them much in summer. Other species included MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, VIRGINIA'S WARBLER (seen well with zero effort, probably because we didn't "need" it), scads of YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS (including many youngsters), HEPATIC and WESTERN TANAGERS and a good proportion of all the SPOTTED TOWHEES currently present in SE AZ.

We moved on to Garden Canyon where it was easy to get a scope look at a singing BOTTERI'S SPARROW at 10:45am (thanks to the weather they were still singing at 3:00pm). Other species in the grassland included ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, singing CASSIN'S SPARROWS and 3 SCOTT'S ORIOLES.

Further up canyon we worked hard to try to see several calling SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS. This would have been #699 for Bill making the (hopefully) upcoming Spotted Owl a nice milestone bird. Unfortunately, the birds were just too far away and we reluctantly moved on to Scheelite Canyon. Imagine my surprise when we encountered a group of very noisy SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS around the 3/8 mile mark -- only my 12th record for this species in Scheelite. However, now the pressure was really on to find an owl! With two recent fledglings I wasn't too concerned about finding one of four potential owls. I was a little more concerned an hour or so later after a thorough search of the lower roosting area didn't bear fruit. After double checking, I reluctantly decided that we'd have to go higher up the canyon (thankfully, it was a cool day).  While I was searching, the guys turned up a RED-FACED WARBLER which became ABA #700 for Bill. Our earlier encounter with the Sulphur-bellies backfired on us. Still, Red-faced is a pretty good bird for 700. To cut a long story short, after much more effort we eventually located a very easy to see SPOTTED OWL. As I've mentioned before, if I could cut out all the routine searching and just go to where the bird was roosting, I could save lots of time and effort!

66 species recorded in Carr, Garden and Scheelite Canyons:
Turkey Vulture, Cooper's Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Scaled Quail, White-winged Dove, Western Screech-Owl, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Spotted Owl, Common Poorwill, Whip-poor-will, White-throated Swift, Magnificent, Black-chinned & Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Acorn & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Say's Phoebe, Cordilleran, Buff-breasted, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Violet-green & Barn Swallows, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Western Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, Plumbeous & Hutton's Vireos, Olive, Virginia's, Black-throated Gray, Grace's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Spotted Towhee, Botteri's, Cassin's & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-eyed Junco, Black-headed Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird, Scott's Oriole, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Lesser Goldfinch.

Tuesday, July 27, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
Day 2 with Bill, Kevin, Roger and Mike was a long day (19 hours afield) which translates into a short report. Apart from one big miss, we had a successful day.

We began at Patagonia Lake where four hours of effort did not produce a Black-capped Gnatcatcher. 45 species recorded.

From then on we enjoyed great success without spending much time or effort. THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD was seen and heard instantly at the Roadside Rest area. Ditto at Madera Kubo where the FLAME-COLORED TANAGER was singing at noon (no doubt enjoying the relatively cool and cloudy conditions). In contrast to recent visits, the bird perched completely in the open for over a minute and required no effort at all to see.

A short stop just off I-19 easily produced a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW and we enjoyed great looks as the bird did some flycatching by jumping up from the ground.

Next we journeyed to California Gulch where the effects of recent heavy rain can clearly be seen. All the watercourses are running strongly and we had to wade through a couple of  knee high stream crossing south of the gulch proper. Our reward was a perched up and singing male FIVE-STRIPED SPARROW that eventually led us to a female sitting on a nest.

After what seemed like an interminable 2 1/2 hours of dead time (we tried to track calling MONTEZUMA QUAIL with success), the clouds moved in and obscured the 5/8 moon as darkness approached.  COMMON POORWILLS began calling at 7:50pm but it wasn't until 8:15pm that we first heard BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR. The bird was not very vocal and we were perhaps fortunate to find it sitting in a mesquite -- we managed about 30 seconds of the bird perched and about the same flying, albeit at some distance.

The journey home was memorable for some spectacular weather, although we also came across 5 COMMON POORWILLS including one individual that allowed us to pull alongside it and never did fly away. Lightning illuminated the sky for much of the 3 hour drive home. Between Sonoita and Whetstone we passed through a cell that produced some tremendous horizontal rain. Even at 10mph I could hardly see to drive. Just what we needed at the end of a long day.

Day list (72 species recorded):
Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Gray Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Montezuma Quail, Am. Coot, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Greater Roadrunner, Western Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Common Poorwill, Buff-collared Nightjar, Broad-billed & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Acorn, Gila, Ladder-backed & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Western Wood-Pewee, Black Phoebe, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated, Brown-crested & Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, Cassin's, Thick-billed & Western Kingbirds, Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Bridled Titmouse, Verdin, Loggerhead Shrike, Mexican Jay, Common Raven, Bell's & Warbling Vireos, Lucy's & Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer, Western & Flame-colored Tanagers, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Botteri's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Five-striped & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Varied Bunting, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds, Hooded Oriole, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch.

Wednesday, July 28, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
Out again today with Bill, Kevin, Roger and Mike. Although our day wasn't quite as long as yesterday, we did lots of driving since we started at Patagonia Lake and then headed over to the Chiricahuas. The day was much warmer and we saw only a few sprinkles after some early morning rain. Some areas in the town of Patagonia resembled a lake as we passed through at 5:30am. Another abbreviated report today.

The day began with rain and a COMMON NIGHTHAWK on highway 82 near Elgin Road. How it survived last night's rain I'll never know. Surprisingly, Patagonia Lake had not received any rain since yesterday and it was very pleasant there except for the humidity and mosquitoes. We struck out again on Black-capped Gnatcatcher, although we only spent two hours (about half as much time as yesterday).

Fortunately, we enjoyed some success in the Chiricahuas to make up for all the driving. We arrived at Barfoot Park at 12:35pm and only had to wait about 10 minutes before SHORT-TAILED HAWK was sighted soaring near the lookout. The downside was that we saw the bird only for a minute or so at some distance.

The expected easy birds were easy -- MEXICAN CHICKADEE, PYGMY NUTHATCH and JUNIPER TITMOUSE. The latter was present right on cue as we arrived at The George Walker House in Paradise -- thanks to Jackie Lewis for the hospitality.

RED CROSSBILLS were at Pinery Canyon Campground and at Barfoot.

Day list (80 species recorded):
Neotropic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Least Bittern, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Turkey Vulture, Short-tailed, Swainson's and Red-tailed Hawks, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Nighthawk, Broad-billed, Blue-throated and Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Acorn, Gila, Ladder-backed & Hairy Woodpeckers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope, Cordilleran, Vermilion, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus, Bewick's & House Wrens, Curve-billed Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Mexican Chickadee, Bridled &, Juniper Titmice, Pygmy, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches, Verdin, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Common Raven, Bell's, Plumbeous, Hutton's & Warbling Vireos, Olive, Black-throated Gray & Red-faced Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Painted Redstart, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Canyon Towhee, Botteri's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged & Black-throated Sparrows, Yellow-eyed Junco, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, Varied Bunting, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch, Red Crossbill, Pine Siskin and Lesser Goldfinch.

Thursday, July 29, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day
Out again today with Bill, Kevin, Roger and Mike. We visited French Joe Canyon where I again failed to find Rufous-capped Warbler for the fourth consecutive trip (July 13, 16, 23 and today). We spent over 4 hours monitoring the spring and waterfall areas without success. I'm not sure what to read into this except to state the obvious that the established pattern of warbler behavior has definitely changed, something that I find odd in the middle of the breeding season. Perhaps they have moved into another part of the canyon, or even into another drainage. They may even have left the canyon altogether -- perish the thought.

During the drive in we flushed 4 LESSER NIGHTHAWKS and 7 COMMON POORWILLS. Activity around the spring was initially quite high but died down quickly. It was a mostly clear morning and the temperature was in the 90s by the time that we left. Signs of seasonal movement included singletons of  RED-FACED WARBLER and my second earliest SE AZ record for fall HERMIT WARBLER (my first July record in French Joe). Both species were near the spring. Five species of hummingbirds were present including a male COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD. A soaring SWAINSON'S HAWK near highway 90 was my first record for the canyon, although the record is really a stretch in terms of the bird's location.

42 species recorded in French Joe Canyon:
Swainson's Hawk, Lesser Nighthawk, Common Poorwill, Black-chinned, Anna's, Costa's, Broad-tailed & Rufous Hummingbirds, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Cassin's Kingbird, Phainopepla, Cactus, Rock, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed & Crissal Thrashers, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Western Scrub-Jay, Mexican Jay, Bell's & Hutton's Vireos, Hermit & Red-faced Warblers, Hepatic, Summer & Western Tanagers, Spotted & Canyon Towhees, Rufous-crowned & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak, Hooded & Scott's Orioles and House Finch.

In the evening we made an unsuccessful attempt to see WHIP-POOR-WILL. We heard a few brief calls shortly after dusk and then the birds fell silent. This is often a difficult time to see nightbirds (at the end of the breeding season). In fact, we didn't even hear a single owl and I was sure glad that we worked on owls earlier in the week. All in all, a very unsuccessful day.

Friday, July 30, 2004    Previous Day    Next Day  
Fifth and final day with Bill, Kevin, Roger and Mike. We returned to Patagonia Lake for a third attempt at locating Black-capped Gnatcatcher. This time we split up and covered much more ground than previously, mostly in areas away from lake level washes. However, the bottom line was the same and our three hour search was unsuccessful. It was the warmest day for some time and the conditions were quite uncomfortable when we left a little before 9:30am.

We moved on to Kino Springs where TROPICAL KINGBIRD was front and center and easy to see and hear in the club house pines. BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK and GRAY HAWK were at the adjacent pond.

After saying goodbye to the guys, I returned to Patagonia Lake for another helping of humble pie. I spent a thoroughly unpleasant couple of hours in the heat (90+), humidity and bugs without a sniff of Black-capped Gnatcatcher. I bailed out after midday. My only reward was a couple of marginal shots of YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (image #2) in the relatively dark and shadowy mesquite bosque.

Obviously, the main focus at the lake was the gnatcatcher. Nevertheless, I recorded a fair number of (mostly heard only) species as I did the rounds. MONTEZUMA QUAIL calling from the hills due east of the first wash was the most noteworthy species (I have five previous records at lake level). LEAST BITTERN was again calling from the marsh at the south east corner of the lake. VARIED BUNTINGS were singing in multiple locations on the hillsides.

53 species recorded at Patagonia Lake State Park:
Pied-billed Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Green Heron, Least Bittern, Turkey Vulture, Gray & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Montezuma Quail, Am. Coot, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Greater Roadrunner, Broad-billed & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black Phoebe, Vermilion, Dusky-capped & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Rock & Bewick's Wrens, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Bell's Vireo, Lucy's & Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer & Western Tanagers, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Botteri's, Rufous-crowned & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Varied Bunting, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch.

Review:
The past couple of days have been disappointing as I failed to find a couple of key species, a situation that irked me no end. Back at home I reviewed the original correspondence for this trip to do a post mortem and put the results into perspective. When Bill first contacted me back in August of 2003, my response to him split his target species in two groups as follows:

1) Regularly occurring (annual, should see)
Western Screech-Owl, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Spotted Owl, Greater Pewee, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Thick-billed Kingbird, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Mexican Chickadee, Olive Warbler, Red-faced Warbler, Five-striped Sparrow, Botteri's Sparrow and Rufous-winged Sparrow.

2) Recently occurring (may not be present in 2004, possible to varying degrees if present)
Ruddy Ground-Dove (normally a winter bird, present summer 2003)
Buff-collared Nightjar (present in 2002 & 2003)
Berylline Hummingbird (present in last 5 years)
Plain-capped Starthroat (present in 2002 & 2003)
Rose-throated Becard (spotty in last 5 years, present in 2003)
Black-capped Gnatcatcher (reliable since late 2002)
Rufous-capped Warbler (present & reliable since 1995)
Flame-colored Tanager (present and fairly reliable since 2002)
 
As expected, we saw all 13 species in (1) but only 2 of the 8 species in (2) -- Buff-collared Nightjar and Flame-colored Tanager. Of the remainder, Berylline, Starthroat and Becard are not currently known to be present and we missed Rufous-capped Warbler and Black-capped Gnatcatcher. The Ground-Dove is still present at Red Rock and Bill and Co were headed there after they left me. We also found and missed some additional targets for Kevin, Roger and Mike. 

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Friday, July 30, 2004.

Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - July, 2004 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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