Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - May, 2005 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 Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Sunday, May 1, 2005
Out again today with Ron and Pat. We birded in the Patagonia area for a handful of target species. A fairly mild and calm day reaching ~80 degrees by early afternoon at which time the breeze picked up a little.

We started at Patagonia Lake State Park where BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER was the main objective. I expected to find a fairly obvious family group and that's the way it turned out after 1 /12 hours of searching. We finally found and had great looks at male, female and three juveniles (the juvenile in the photo was very cooperative and slightly inquisitive as it waited to be fed). All three photos turned out quite well. I'm not sure when fledging occurred but the juveniles were very mobile and could fly quite some distance. For me, the sighting represented confirmation of successful breeding for the third consecutive year at the lake.

Our other targets here were BOTTERI'S and RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS and we found both species without any trouble at all.

I didn't cover anywhere near the amount of ground as a general birding visit. Nevertheless, I managed to record 45 species while searching for the gnatcatcher and sparrows. Migrant WILSON'S WARBLERS were common.

During a one hour visit to Kino Springs, we picked up our target BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER and LARK SPARROW along with a total of 55 species. Not bad considering the habitat loss. Species here included 15 BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS, several GRAY HAWKS, WHITE-FACED IBIS, RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, GILDED FLICKER and HOODED ORIOLE. The flicker is irregular at this location and I've only recorded the bird in four of the thirteen years that I've been keeping records here.

We stopped briefly in Marion Paton's yard without looking for anything in particular (which was just as well since late morning activity was low).

Our final target species of the day was CASSIN'S SPARROW, not an easy bird to find at this time of year. Less than an hour of walking the grass at Las Cienegas produced one very quiet and skulking individual. Otherwise, only SCOTT'S ORIOLE was of note from a dozen species seen.

83 species recorded:
Double-crested & Neotropic Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Least Bittern, White-faced Ibis, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Gray Hawk, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Spotted & Least Sandpipers, Red-necked Phalarope, Rock Pigeon, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Broad-billed, Violet-crowned & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Northern & Gilded Flickers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black & Say's Phoebes, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Horned Lark, N. Rough-winged, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Phainopepla, Cactus & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Verdin, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's & Plumbeous Vireos, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Yellow & Wilson's Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Green-tailed & Abert's Towhees, Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-winged, Lark, Black-throated, Song & White-crowned Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird and Hooded, Bullock's & Scott's Orioles.

Monday, May 2, 2005
Today was the start of five days with Hugh Buck from Dumfriesshire in Scotland. This trip was planned some time ago and follows eight weeks that Hugh has just spent in Mexico. Unlike most of my clients, Hugh is a world birder (~7600 species seen) and he doesn't care about particularly seeing species in the ABA area. Consequently, we have a fairly unusual mix of targets.

I left home at 1:00am to pick up Hugh in Phoenix and then we journeyed west to "the thrasher spot" near Buckeye in Maricopa County for Le Conte's Thrasher. Many of you may not be aware that this species in Arizona breeds very early has already fledged its young. From now until December the bird is generally very difficult to see and I considered our chances to be very low. As things turned out, it was the easiest bird of the day! We arrived on site before sunrise and were well rewarded for our early morning effort. We found a perched and singing LE CONTE'S THRASHER that afforded good scope views for a ten minute period and then evaporated. This was my first success in May. An excellent start to a long day and a wonderful birthday present for Hugh who had previously missed the bird in California.

Next followed a long drive east through Phoenix, north through the Salt River canyon to Show Low, then east into the White Mountains. A short stop at the roadside ponds in McNary yielded LEWIS'S WOODPECKER and a few ducks, swallows and blackbirds.

We picked up target birding again on Greens Peak where we disappointingly struck out on Blue Grouse. Frozen snow seriously hampered our ability to cover the terrain (difficult at the best of times at 10000+ feet) and high winds made listening impossible. The whole experience put a damper on the early thrasher success. Spring is very late in the White Mountains this year and very few birds were present at this elevation -- WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER (drumming), a couple of raucous CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS and singing VESPER SPARROWS.

Our next stop was at South Fork where we burned an inordinate amount of time to find TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE. Nevertheless, we eventually managed excellent looks at a singing bird.

The next target was PINYON JAY, another bird that was annoyingly difficult to come across. Last week I saw plenty of noisy flocks but it now appears the birds are into nesting and have become silent and less obvious. We found a pair nest building near the entrance to Sipe Wildlife area.

We finished up with some casual birding (what a concept) at Becker Lake and finally called it a day at 6:00pm. Among the species noted were CLARK'S and 2 WESTERN GREBES, a flock of WHITE-FACED IBIS, OSPREY, 11 FRANKLIN'S GULLS and a smattering of ducks including BUFFLEHEAD.

71 species recorded:
Pied-billed, Eared, Western & Clark's Grebes, Double-crested Cormorant, White-faced Ibis, Gadwall, Mallard, Cinnamon Teal, Bufflehead, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Franklin's Gull, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, White-throated Swift, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Lewis's Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Dusky Flycatcher, Black & Say's Phoebes, Horned Lark, Tree, Violet-green, N. Rough-winged & Barn Swallows, Rock & House Wrens, Le Conte's Thrasher, Western & Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaire, Am. Robin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Bushtit, Mountain Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch, Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Pinyon Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Am. Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, Warbling Vireo, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Western Tanager, Spotted, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Chipping, Vesper & White-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco, Eastern & Western Meadowlarks,  Red-winged, Yellow-headed & Brewer's Blackbirds, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird and Hooded Oriole.

Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Out again with Hugh. Our first task was to recover from yesterday's missed grouse and for that we journeyed to Big Lake Lookout. As it turned out, just getting there was a major task -- we had to move a large downed tree from the road, negotiate muddy dips where snow was melting and then pass through a couple of snowy areas.

I'm happy to report that our efforts were not in vain. First, we stumbled into a roadside BLUE GROUSE about 0.5m below the lookout. This bird was a young male that rocketed up into a tree where we were able to examine it at our leisure. At the lookout proper we had incredible looks at a displaying male that strutted its stuff on the roof of a building -- a walk away deal. A great start to the morning. Other species here included a drumming WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER, all three NUTHATCHES, a distant singing TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, WARBLING VIREO and RED-FACED WARBLER.

After brief stops at Big and Crescent Lakes, we headed to Butler Canyon in Greer. AMERICAN DIPPER was at Sheep Crossing bridge. I was expecting a little trouble finding RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER but it didn't take too long. WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER was also present along with RED-FACED WARBLER and a handful of other species during a short visit.

Next, we headed to South Fork and spent some time hiking the trail above the campground. Unfortunately, we struck out on the "Northern" Northern Pygmy-Owl despite much effort. The "Mountain" Northern Pygmy-Owl in southeast Arizona is much easier and even that is sometimes tough.

Now it was time to head south again with four White Mountain target species seen and one missed. Before the drive, we birded in the Nutrioso area and at Luna Lake then finished up with a brief check of Willcox pond. A little effort in the mountains along highway 78 near the Arizona-New Mexico border produced a very cooperative JUNIPER TITMOUSE to save us some time and effort in the Chiricahuas. A good end to another long day.

Nutrioso produced BLUE-WINGED TEAL and GRACE'S WARBLER; at Luna Lake we added BALD EAGLE. Birds at Willcox included SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, tons of AMERICAN AVOCETS and WILSON'S PHALAROPES, a couple of FRANKLIN'S GULLS and SCALED QUAIL.

88 species recorded:
Pied-billed, Eared, Western Grebes, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Canada Goose, Gadwall, Mallard, Blue-winged & Cinnamon Teal, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Blue Grouse, Scaled Quail, Am. Coot, Am. Avocet, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, Spotted, Western & Least Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope, Franklin's Gull, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Williamson's & Red-naped Sapsuckers, Hairy Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Say's Phoebe, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Horned Lark, Violet-green, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Phainopepla, Am. Dipper, Bewick's & House Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Western & Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaire, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Mountain Chickadee, Juniper Titmouse, Pygmy, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Clark's Nutcracker, Am. Crow, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, European Starling, Plumbeous & Warbling Vireos, Yellow-rumped, Grace's & Red-faced Warblers, Rufous-crowned, Chipping & Vesper Sparrows, Dark-eyed Junco, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Day 3 with Hugh was another long one starting with a successful owling session and ending with an unsuccessful owling session.

Our target WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL was relatively easy to see in Carr Canyon around 4:30am. ELF OWL was calling (not pursued) and we saw a couple of COMMON POORWILLS on the road.

After a drive east to Sulphur Springs Valley, we soon saw adult and juvenile BENDIRE'S THRASHERS in close proximity to CRISSAL and CURVE-BILLED THRASHERS.  During the search we noted my first of season BLUE GROSBEAK and migrant MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER and GRAY FLYCATCHER on Lee Road. SWAINSON'S HAWKS were common but LARK BUNTING numbers are dwindling.

Back in Sierra Vista, a short stop in the mesquite near Moson Road produced LUCY'S WARBLER and GREATER ROADRUNNER.

Next, we returned to the higher elevations of Carr Canyon where VIRGINIA'S WARBLER played hard to get. These birds can be consistently elusive deep into their breeding cycle. Virginia's was our only target but we also noted many regulars including ARIZONA WOODPECKER, OLIVE, BLACK-THROATED GRAY, GRACE'S and RED-FACED WARBLERS, PAINTED REDSTART, GREATER PEWEE, and BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER.

In the Chiricahuas, we easily detected FLAMMULATED OWL shortly after 7:30pm and the bird called constantly for the next two hours. Unfortunately, the owl had our measure and two hours of following it around did not result in a sighting. The bird sat just high enough in the tree to be out of sight and changed trees as we tried to approach. Close, but no cigar. We rolled into Sierra Vista at midnight.

71 species recorded:
Turkey Vulture, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Scaled & Gambel's Quail, Killdeer, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Flammulated Owl, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Elf Owl, Common Poorwill, Whip-poor-will, Arizona Woodpecker, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Gray Flycatcher, Dusky-capped & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbird, Violet-green Swallow, Cactus & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Bendire's, Curve-billed & Crissal Thrashers, Hermit Thrush, Am, Robin, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Brown Creeper, Verdin, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Scrub-Jay, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Chihuahuan Raven, House Sparrow, Plumbeous, Hutton's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Olive, Lucy's, Yellow, Black-throated Gray, Grace's, MacGillivray's, Wilson's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Canyon Towhee, Lark Bunting, Rufous-crowned, Black-throated & White-crowned Sparrows, Yellow-eyed Junco, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Eastern Meadowlark and Bullock's & Scott's Orioles.

Thursday, May 5, 2005
Day 4 with Hugh was slightly shorter in the field than the previous three days but required a fair amount of physical effort. We visited Patagonia Lake, Kino Springs, Patagonia Roadside Rest Area, Paton's Yard and Garden and Scheelite Canyons.

An early start at Patagonia Lake produced our target RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW without entering the park proper. Many BOTTERI'S SPARROWS were singing and easy to see.

I took advantage of my recent GILDED FLICKER sighting at Kino Springs and we were able to dig out the bird with a little patience.

A brief stop at the Roadside Rest area quickly produced ROCK WREN. Ditto at the Paton's for VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD.

Next stop was Scheelite Canyon where SPOTTED OWL was easy too see in a regular but infrequently used non-tree location. All we had to do was slog a mile up the canyon. Thanks to Wezil Walraven for the heads up on the location saving me search time. RED-FACED WARBLERS were singing and easy to locate. ELEGANT TROGONS were calling near the owl but the birds in Garden Canyon were silent in the heat of the day.

71 species recorded:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Gray Hawk, Gambel's Quail, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Spotted Owl, Broad-billed, Violet-crowned, Black-chinned & Anna's Hummingbirds, Elegant Trogon, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Gilded Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Western Wood-Pewee, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, N. Rough-winged Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Verdin, Mexican Jay, Common Raven, House Sparrow, Bell's & Hutton's Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Virginia's, Lucy's, Yellow, Black-throated Gray, Wilson's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Yellow-breasted Chat, Hepatic & Summer Tanagers, Spotted & Abert's Towhees, Botteri's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Lark, Black-throated, Song & White-crowned Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds and Hooded & Bullock's Orioles.

Friday, May 6, 2005
Fifth and last day with Hugh saw us down to the final target bird -- Five-striped Sparrow. Since the nightjar wasn't needed, we didn't have to leave Sierra Vista at an obscene time, just the "normal" 3:00am for a trip to California Gulch.

In fact, we didn't need to enter the gulch proper at all. We started at the south end and soon found a singing FIVE-STRIPED SPARROW at the fifth stream crossing (at 6:20am). A couple of THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS have returned for another year. I didn't detect Varied Bunting during this short visit. We saw at least 6 COMMON POORWILLS along the Ruby Road.

Our next port of call was La Gitana restaurant in Arivaca for a well earned breakfast. By the way, I picked up a Kaufman field guide (left here in April) belonging to someone with first names Lois and Rip -- please contact me if this belongs to you.

We finished up by spending a couple of casual hours in Madera canyon where we able to track down a male ELEGANT TROGON between Chuparosa and Kubo (Hugh only saw females in Mexico). FLAME-COLORED TANAGER was singing nearby but, somewhat sacrilegiously, we didn't pursue it.

Over the course of this 5 day adventure I drove almost 2000 miles in pursuit of 16 primary target birds and perhaps as many as 20 secondary birds. We missed only three -- the true "Northern Pygmy-Owl" in the White Mountains, Flammulated Owl (heard only) and Northern Saw-whet Owl (not looked for). Despite the very focused target birding approach, we recorded a total of 183 species in the process.

53 species recorded:
Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Poorwill, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon, Acorn, Gila, Ladder-backed & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Greater Pewee, Say's Phoebe, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's & Thick-billed Kingbirds, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Phainopepla, Bewick's Wren, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Mexican Jay, Chihuahuan Raven, Bell's, Plumbeous, Hutton's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Black-throated Gray & Wilson's Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic, Summer & Flame-colored Tanagers, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Five-striped, Lark & Black-throated Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed Grosbeak, Brown-headed Cowbird & Hooded Oriole.

Saturday, May 7, 2005
First of three days with Harold and Camille Buchanan from Lumberton, New Jersey. We won't be looking for any specific target birds, just the typical SE AZ regulars (quite a change from my efforts last week). Harold uses the same camera that I use and we'll also be looking for photo opportunities.

I'd planned to spend the day in the Huachucas but when I saw the cloudy and cool conditions this morning, I decided to switch days and head to the Patagonia area. The clouds hung in for most of the day and it was quite cool in the flatlands so this turned out to be a good move. On a cloudy day in May, go low young man.

We started at Patagonia Lake State Park where we soon stumbled into a family of BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS. I heard the faintest of calls as we passed the bench at the start of Sonoita Creek trail and we located the birds (male, female and 3 juveniles) up on the hillside. We had some great looks before they eventually moved off to the east along the first wash.

Other than that, it was pretty standard fare for this time of year. Migrant WILSON'S WARBLERS remain annoyingly common and the only migrant of note was MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER.

LEAST BITTERNS were calling near the marina and along the east marsh trail. Not much on the water save for a dozen or so NEOTROPIC and a few DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, a lone male SHOVELER, a few RUDDY DUCKS and EARED GREBES and half a dozen SPOTTED SANDPIPERS.

All three Myiarchus flycatchers were present and vocal along with NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET and many VERMILION FLYCATCHERS including fledged young. 55 species in all.

At Kino Springs we added a dozen BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS, GRAY HAWKS (close up views of  perched birds), COMMON GROUND-DOVE, GILDED FLICKER and LARK SPARROW from 50 species seen in 90 minutes around midday.

Lots of human but not much bird activity in Marion Paton's yard in the early afternoon, although we did get great looks at VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD and BRONZED COWBIRD.

82 species recorded:
Pied-billed & Eared Grebes, Double-crested & Neotropic Cormorants, Great Blue & Green Herons, Least Bittern, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Black & Turkey Vultures, Gray & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeon, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Broad-billed, Violet-crowned & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Gilded Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Western Wood-Pewee, Black & Say's Phoebes, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, N. Rough-winged, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Phainopepla, Bewick's Wren, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Verdin, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, MacGillivray's & Wilson's Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer & Western Tanagers, Vesper, Lark, Black-throated, Song & White-crowned Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed Grosbeak, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds and Bullock's Oriole.

Sunday, May 8, 2005
Day 2 with Harold and Camille was spent in the Huachucas. A clear day that started quite cold in Carr Canyon then warmed up quickly back at low elevation. May is only eight days old but the first fire of the season in the Huachucas was burning when we left Garden Canyon at 2:30pm. The air was filled with smoke and I couldn't really determine the location of the fire -- somewhere in the direction of Huachuca Canyon perhaps. My eyes are stinging as I write these notes at 5:30pm.

Although Carr Canyon was very productive this morning, we had to work quite hard for most of the warblers. Birds seen on the very dusty and rough ride up included WILD TURKEY and BAND-TAILED PIGEON. We spent all of our time around Reef campground and adjacent trails where GREATER PEWEE was singing continuously for almost 4 hours! I was a little surprised to see BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER fledglings so early in the year. They arrived around March 20/21 and obviously started right away. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES were feeding young (still in the cavity).

Even the abundant GRACE'S WARBLER played hard to get today and only BLACK-THROATED GRAY and TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS and PAINTED REDSTART could be called easy to locate and see. OLIVE WARBLER  was a tease (sporadic singing prevented us from tracking the bird) but we persisted and got the reward of a good look. VIRGINIA'S WARBLER was its usual pesky self and cost us 30 minutes. A constantly singing RED-FACED WARBLER was surprisingly difficult to locate (not a great image but any photo of this bird is worth a look).

Other regulars included ARIZONA and HAIRY WOODPECKERS, HUTTON'S & PLUMBEOUS VIREOS, STELLER'S JAY, WESTERN and HEPATIC TANAGERS and many singing SPOTTED TOWHEES.

The upper picnic area in Garden Canyon still had a fair number of trogon seekers when we arrived at noon. Consequently, I chose to work a half mile or so down canyon. We had to tramp around for a while before eventually locating a calling male ELEGANT TROGON. We stayed with the bird for 45 minutes and managed many great looks but not a single photo opportunity.

56 species recorded:
Turkey Vulture, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks, Wild Turkey, Rock Pigeon, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, White-throated Swift, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon, Acorn, Hairy & Arizona Woodpeckers, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Dusky-capped & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Violet-green Swallow, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, Plumbeous & Hutton's Vireos, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch, Olive, Virginia's, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Gray, Townsend's, Grace's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Spotted Towhee, Yellow-eyed Junco, Black-headed Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird and Scott's Oriole.

Monday, May 9, 2005
Third and last day with Harold and Camille. We visited the Sulphur Springs Valley and San Pedro River on what turned out to be quite a warm day, somewhere in the low 90s by early afternoon. Thankfully, there was little evidence of yesterday's heavy smoke in the Huachucas.

We started by working some of the back roads in the valley where BENDIRE'S THRASHERS were easy to find. WESTERN KINGBIRD, NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE were all plentiful. I inadvertently parked near a SWAINSON'S HAWK nest and twice got dive bombed for my transgression. The sight of the bird headed straight for my head, talons outstretched towards me, was both spectacular and scary. I was too chicken shit to try for a photo, choosing to duck rather than finding out whether the hawk would flinch or not. Later, I managed a shot of the hawk soaring.

Other birds seen while working the back roads included several EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES, GAMBEL'S and SCALED QUAIL, several LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE family groups, a skulking and heard only migrant GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and singing BLACK-THROATED SPARROW, PYRRHULOXIA and BLUE GROSBEAK.

Among the 30+ species that we recorded at Whitewater Draw were a lone WHITE-FACED IBIS, a few CINNAMON and BLUE-WINGED TEAL, continuing VIRGINIA RAIL(S) and SORA calling from the marsh near the north viewing platform, a few SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, 17 WILLETS and a handful of migrant WESTERN TANAGERS. The pair of GREAT HORNED OWLS appeared to have young but we didn't see any. In the south willow grove, I heard two singing CASSIN'S VIREOS and with some effort we managed to see one of them.

Although it was noon by the time we reached the San Pedro House, there was a decent amount of activity along the river and 90 minutes produced almost 40 species. Nothing unusual apart from a calling NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET (rare near the San Pedro House), otherwise just the typical stuff for this time of year. YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS were very common and noisy. Migrants and/or wintering species noted were a singing WARBLING VIREO, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and 3 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS (I don't have any SE AZ records for Lincoln's after May week 3).

75 species recorded:
Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Mallard, Blue-winged & Cinnamon Teal, N. Shoveler, Turkey Vulture, Gray, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Scaled & Gambel's Quail, Virginia Rail, Sora, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Great Horned Owl, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Western Wood-Pewee, Black & Say's Phoebes, Vermilion & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Barn Swallow, Cactus & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Bendire's & Curve-billed Thrashers, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Loggerhead Shrike, Chihuahuan Raven, European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's, Cassin's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's & Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer & Western Tanagers, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, Lark, Black-throated, Song, Lincoln's & White-crowned Sparrows, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird & Bullock's Orioles.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005
First of three days with Alveeta and Norm Corbitt from Arlington, TX.

We started at Patagonia Lake where I was unable to find Black-capped Gnatcatcher during a limited three hour search. I focused on the first, second and third washes and associated hillsides then expanded the search area to Nutting's wash and beyond. I had a few false alarms but nothing concrete in the way of calls heard or glimpses of anything gnatcatcheresque.

Our only other target at the lake was RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW which couldn't have been any easier to find than it was today. I even managed a photo showing the rufous on the wing, a feature not always seen.

Less common species encountered were a couple of MONTEZUMA QUAIL near the bottom of the steps (start of first wash) and a migrant OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER in the second wash. I only have four records for the flycatcher at the lake and three of them are from the second week of May in three different years. Almost 50 species in total.

We had a quick look at Kino Springs to check if Tropical Kingbird had returned without success (ditto at the San Pedro yesterday).

68 species recorded:
Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested & Neotropic Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Least Bittern, Turkey Vulture, Gray & Red-tailed Hawks, Gambel's & Montezuma Quail, Common Moorhen, Am. Coot, Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeon, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Broad-billed & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Olive-sided, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Black & Say's Phoebes, Cassin's Kingbird, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Phainopepla, Bewick's Wren, Curve-billed Thrasher, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Verdin, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Yellow & Wilson's Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer & Western Tanagers, Green-tailed & Canyon Towhees, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Black-throated, Song & White-crowned Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird and Bullock's Oriole.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Out again today with Alveeta and Norm. Today's report is short and definitely not sweet. As if missing the gnatcatcher yesterday wasn't a bitter enough pill to swallow, today I was unable to find a Spotted Owl in Scheelite Canyon -- definitely two bad days at the office. ARIZONA WOODPECKER in Garden Canyon was our only success, a bird that has eluded Alveeta on all past visits to AZ (small consolation).

ELEGANT TROGONS were active around the upper picnic area before 9:00am. Norm stayed to enjoy them while Alveeta and I headed up Scheelite Canyon. The walk was actually quite pleasant in the cool morning air. The female owl wasn't around the nest area and I couldn't find the male owl anywhere despite a 3 1/2 hour search. I also fell and twisted my knee for good measure. We did find male and female ELEGANT TROGONS that stayed within our view and called to each other for well over an hour in the upper part of Scheelite.

Among the 20+ species that I recorded in Scheelite were WHITE-THROATED SWIFT, a singing CASSIN'S VIREO, BLACK-THROATED GRAY and RED-FACED WARBLERS, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO feeding fledged young, HEPATIC TANAGER and a singing SCOTT'S ORIOLE.

My latest date for Cassin's Vireo in southeast Arizona is May 28, 1991 in Garden Canyon.

Thursday, May 12, 2005
First of three days with Jeff Nichols, Mary Doud and Jon & Joyce Bahrenfus from Boone County, IA. Today we birded entirely in the Huachucas starting in Carr Canyon then moving on to Garden and Scheelite Canyons.

Conditions in upper Carr Canyon were cool and calm early this morning and birding in the vicinity of Reef was excellent. We managed to clean up on all our target species in just over a couple of hours. GREATER PEWEES were singing constantly and BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS chased each other around. Zero effort was required for RED-FACED WARBLERS and PAINTED REDSTARTS, both of which found us and came close several times. We had to work just a little for OLIVE and VIRGINIA'S WARBLERS while, ironically, GRACE'S WARBLER (the most common of all the mountain warblers) was the hardest to see well. Of course, after the first one we saw one feeding on the ground just feet away. BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER was also surprisingly elusive.

Other regulars included HAIRY WOODPECKER, DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, HUTTON'S & PLUMBEOUS VIREOS, HERMIT THRUSH, WESTERN & HEPATIC TANAGERS and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO. The only migrants noted were HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER and WILSON'S WARBLER.

In Garden Canyon we had instant success with ARIZONA WOODPECKER near the middle picnic area and followed that up with great looks of male and female ELEGANT TROGONS at the upper picnic area.

After yesterday's failure, I approached the trip to Scheelite Canyon with some trepidation. However, not only was a male SPOTTED OWL easy to find today, the bird was also in the lower roosting area where I haven't seen an owl recently. We met a group of Brits on the way up who told us the location saving me search time -- thanks guys. The owl was roosting in a tree named "Southeast of Forestry Oak" which I have previously documented. Although this particular roost site ranks #3 in overall usage since I've been keeping records, the lowest usage month is May. Yesterday I couldn't find an owl despite a thorough search of all roosting areas -- today it was in a very obvious location. Over the years I've learned that you simply can't take anything for granted when it comes to finding an owl in Scheelite!

During an afternoon break, the group visited hummingbird feeders seeing LUCIFER and WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRDS as well as the more common species.

Our evening owling session was somewhat less successful. An ELF OWL called incessantly from a dense juniper for well over an hour but not once did we catch a glimpse of the bird. WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL was also less than cooperative than usual but we did manage to get a decent look.

Species recorded:
Turkey Vulture, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Spotted Owl, Elf Owl, White-throated Swift, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon, Acorn, Hairy & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Hammond's, Buff-breasted, Dusky-capped & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, Violet-green Swallow, Canyon, Bewick's & House Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Common Raven, Plumbeous & Hutton's Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Olive, Virginia's, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Gray, Grace's, Wilson's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Spotted Towhee, Lark Sparrow, Yellow-eyed Junco, Black-headed Grosbeak, Eastern Meadowlark, Brown-headed Cowbird and Scott's Oriole.

Friday, May 13, 2005
Day two with Jeff, Mary, Jon and Joyce was spent in the Patagonia area with visits to Patagonia Lake, Kino Springs, Patagonia Roadside Rest area and Paton's yard.

The day began with EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE as we passed through Sonoita.

Activity at Patagonia Lake was quite high this morning and three hours produced almost 70 species. Highlights were my earliest ever YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO and a family of BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS at the head of the second wash (adults still feeding young). Yellow-billed Cuckoos are the latest breeding species to arrive in southeast Arizona, typically arriving in early June, sporadic at best from mid May. In fact, I've been birding here for 13 years and this is my first May record. I just need to get out more.

Migrants included WHITE-FACED IBIS, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, CASSIN'S & WARBLING VIREOS and continuing WILSON'S WARBLERS (present in most locations visited today).

Among the other species were LEAST BITTERN (seen flying across the lake), NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET feeding young at a nest, numerous BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS, BOTTERI'S & RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS and BLUE GROSBEAK.

A visit to Kino Springs was also quite productive even though I was unable to detect Tropical Kingbird or Varied Bunting (~45 species). GILDED FLICKER continues at the first pond, GRAY HAWKS were easy to see at the clubhouse pond, BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS were at the sewage pond. The only migrant of note was BANK SWALLOW.

VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD, THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD and BRONZED COWBIRD highlighted a visit to Marion Paton's yard (~30 species) and THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS were at the Roadside Rest area along with HOODED ORIOLE and the usual WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS.

Friday the 13th was a good day for us with 11 of 14 potential targets seen.

97 species recorded:
Pied-billed & Eared Grebes, Double-crested & Neotropic Cormorants, Great Blue Heron, Least Bittern, White-faced Ibis, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Black & Turkey Vultures, Gray & Red-tailed Hawks, Gambel's Quail, Common Moorhen, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Greater Roadrunner, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, White-throated Swift, Broad-billed, Violet-crowned, Black-chinned & Anna's Hummingbirds, Gila &  Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Northern & Gilded Flickers, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black Phoebe, Hammond's, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's, Thick-billed & Western Kingbirds, N. Rough-winged, Bank, Cliff & Barn Swallows, Phainopepla, Cactus, Rock & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's, Cassin's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Yellow & Wilson's Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer & Western Tanagers, Canyon Towhee, Abert's Towhee, Botteri's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Vesper, Lark, Black-throated, Song & White-crowned Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds and Hooded & Bullock's Orioles.

Saturday, May 14, 2005
Third and last day with Jeff, Mary, Jon and Joyce was spent in Sulphur Springs Valley and the Chiricahuas. We looked for seven species and found six. A short report today as the hours take their toll.

We started by working the back roads at the south end of Sulphur Springs Valley where we easily found a couple of BENDIRE'S THRASHERS then had to work a little before finding a couple of CRISSAL THRASHERS.

Other species seen in the valley included SWAINSON'S HAWK, GREATER ROADRUNNER, many GAMBEL'S & SCALED QUAIL, EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES in multiple locations, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, scads of WESTERN KINGBIRDS, migrant WILSON'S WARBLERS (everywhere at the moment), singing BOTTERI'S SPARROW and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.

Heading north we saw BURROWING OWL in a regular spot on highway 181 not far from highway 191.

Less than two hours working the Pinery Canyon road produced another 3 target birds -- a perched and singing SCOTT'S ORIOLE, lots of MEXICAN CHICKADEES and a very cooperative NORTHERN (MOUNTAIN) PYGMY-OWL.

Also on Pinery we had great flight views of PRAIRIE FALCON in the lower grassland, in-your-face looks at several of RED-FACED WARBLERS and a latish RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. ~ 40 species in all.

We braved the construction work on Paradise Road only to strike out on Black-chinned Sparrow despite lots of physical effort climbing up to the ridge line.

An OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER was on Main Street in Portal.

Our final success of the day was at the Southwest Research Station where numerous BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS were constant visitors to the feeders.

Sunday, May 15, 2005
Third and last day with Alveeta and Norm Corbitt from Arlington, TX (we birded for two days last week).

We left Sierra Vista at 3:00am for a trip to California Gulch. Only three COMMON POORWILLS on the Ruby Road with one seen very well (one is all that it takes). FIVE-STRIPED SPARROWS were easy to locate around 6:30am. We entered the gulch from the south end and had decent looks at two pairs located at the fourth and fifth stream crossings. THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS were very vocal and easy to see. VARIED BUNTINGS sang from the slopes. We also had a "zinging" COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD and a migrant MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER among ~35 species noted during a short visit.

After the three hour drive back to Sierra Vista we started up Scheelite Canyon around 11:15am by which time it was quite warm. I missed the owl with Alveeta last Wednesday but today I'm happy to report that I found a SPOTTED OWL in a location where I haven't seen an owl roosting since May 2000. At least one other party had apparently missed the bird and continued up canyon. Other species included ARIZONA WOODPECKER, VIRGINIA'S, BLACK-THROATED GRAY & RED-FACED WARBLERS and PAINTED REDSTART.

[Entering soap box mode: Someone had made a half page entry in the log yesterday, apparently attempting to describe in great detail where an owl was located. Two problems -- the handwriting was essentially illegible (why bother?) and the distance specified (1.5 miles) was in error by approximately 0.7 mile. Please, do your fellow birders a favor -- IF YOU STINK AT ESTIMATING DISTANCE -- DON'T GIVE AN ESTIMATE BECAUSE IT WILL ONLY SERVE TO MISLEAD. Use landmarks instead.]

Monday, May 16, 2005
Today was to have been the first of two days with Neil Ellman from Livingston, NJ. However, we crammed two days into one which, coupled with the absence of other target birds, means that I get a day off tomorrow (my first in a while). A short report follows.

We spent five unsuccessful hours at Patagonia Lake this morning looking for Black-capped Gnatcatcher. Despite lots of success with these birds, I'd only seen them on two of the previous four visits so I wasn't completely confident. Nevertheless, given the amount of time that we invested I would have expected to cross paths with a bird, especially if the family group is still together. I basically don't do anything different on each visit -- I work the areas appropriate to the season and status of the birds (summer is tougher than winter). It's the birds that do something different! We even returned for a brief late afternoon visit. VARIED BUNTINGS are now back in numbers and I heard them singing from multiple locations. I recorded a total of ~60 species while wearily tramping the washes. A single WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW was in the mesquite bosque. This is close to the date when they leave SE AZ (end of week 3) --  I only have a few May week 4 records and just one June record (in the southeast part of the state).

Our evening excursion to Oro Blanco mine was infinitely more successful. The six hour round trip drive (which tends to suck the joy out any day, especially a long day) was the only downside.  BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR first called at 7:35pm and we had excellent looks at a bird from 8:15-8:20pm. At least two birds were present. Note to potential future clients -- despite what you may glean from others who visit this site, my experience over multiple trips each year is that I see the bird on roughly 30% of all visits that a bird is detected. I hear the bird on roughly 90% of visits. Anyone can have great success or miserable failure during a one time visit, it's the long haul that paints the real picture. Set your expectation level accordingly.

The only other bird of note was a male MONTEZUMA QUAIL seen on the blacktop section of the Ruby Road at mile 8.5, east of Peña Blanca lake.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005
First of five days with Jimmy McHaney and Dorothy Burroughs McHaney from Husser, LA and Brooke Nicotra from Crystal Beach, TX. I've birded with Jimmy on three previous occasions and he only has a couple of targets. Brooke is looking for about 8 species while Dorothy has a fair number of potential new species to keep me busy. We spent the day in the Huachucas.

Carr Canyon was delightfully cool under cloudy skies early this morning and that lasted until mid morning. The next few days are forecast to be over 100 degrees in Tucson. A few hours around the vicinity of Reef saw us weed out all the typical species, although VIRGINIA'S WARBLER is now very much in stealth mode and we only managed a few glimpses. OLIVE WARBLERS were more conspicuous than of late and RED-FACED WARBLER was easy to see. The Red-faced was Brooke's 700th ABA species, a fitting bird for the milestone. GRACE'S WARBLERS were common but not particularly easy to see. BLACK-THROATED GRAY, a migrant WILSON'S and PAINTED REDSTART taking food to the nest rounded out the warblers. Other typical species included BAND-TAILED PIGEON, GREATER PEWEE (not singing as much now), many BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS, HEPATIC TANAGER and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO with fledged young.

Our trip to Scheelite was long and unsuccessful. For the second time in a week I was unable to find a Spotted Owl. I've also found them twice during the same period. However, we did pick up a few species to make the trip worthwhile including a couple of target migrants --  HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER and HERMIT WARBLER. We also saw ARIZONA WOODPECKER, a male ELEGANT TROGON, lots of WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS and PAINTED REDSTART feeding a recently fledged "Blackstart".

Our evening owling session for WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL was ultimately successful after a delay in the proceedings due to a reticent bird. Fortunately, only a slight change of location was needed to get good looks at a very cooperative bird. ELF OWLS and COMMON POORWILLS were calling.

Species recorded:
Turkey Vulture, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks, Band-tailed Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Elf Owl, Common Poorwill, White-throated Swift, Magnificent Hummingbird, Elegant Trogon, Acorn & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Greater Pewee, Western Wood-Pewee, Hammond's, Buff-breasted, Dusky-capped & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Say's Phoebe, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Violet-green Swallow, Canyon, Bewick's & House Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Western Scrub-Jay, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Common Raven, House Sparrow, Plumbeous, Hutton's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Olive, Virginia's, Black-throated Gray, Hermit, Grace's, Wilson's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Spotted & Canyon Towhees, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Yellow-eyed Junco, Black-headed Grosbeak and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Thursday, May 19, 2005
Day two with Jimmy, Dorothy and Brooke. We spent the early hours of the morning in Sulphur Springs Valley then headed to California Gulch after a break.

We only had a couple of valley targets -- Bendire's Thrasher (a bird that I expected to find without any trouble) and Crissal Thrasher ( a bird that I expected to struggle with). As things turned out, we had great looks at a perched and singing BENDIRE'S THRASHER on Coffman Road and followed that up with scope looks at a perched but silent CRISSAL THRASHER on Lee Road.

Lee Road also produced a WESTERN MEADOWLARK in habitat quite suitable for breeding. The bird was singing while perched on a pole near the lush green field on the north side, an area that often has Sandhill Cranes in winter. Although the species has bred in southeast Arizona, this is my own latest sighting by a 5 week margin. A couple of ROADRUNNERS were present along with BLUE GROSBEAKS and BULLOCK'S ORIOLES on the south side in the mesquite area.

Early success allowed us to spend an hour checking Whitewater Draw. The amount of water continues to dwindle and the ponds will probably dry up soon unless water is pumped in. Species present included 12 WHITE-FACED IBIS, male BLUE-WINGED and CINNAMON TEAL, a couple of AVOCETS, at least 10 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, 16 RING-BILLED and 2 FRANKLIN'S GULLS, GREAT HORNED OWL and SCALED QUAIL. A couple of BENDIRE'S THRASHERS were at the entrance (they breed near the HQ building).

In the afternoon, we headed to a very toasty California Gulch and started birding at the south end around 4:30pm. Initially, the temperature was close to 100, cooling somewhat with the shade of the gulch. In increasing order of difficulty we located and had scope looks of three target species -- a singing VARIED BUNTING perched in great light, a pair of interacting THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS and, finally, a singing FIVE-STRIPED SPARROW shortly before 6:00pm.

We then moved on to Oro Blanco mine to await nightfall. When Jimmy first contacted me about this trip back in October last year, I checked the moon phase conditions and selected this time period to maximize our chances for the nightjar. Although I've found that moonlight doesn't have much effect on owling success, it does have a major impact with nightjars, poorwills, etc. As things turned out, all factors combined in our favor tonight and we had great success. We had good light from a little over half moon, zero wind and (perhaps most importantly) we had the area to ourselves. BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR first called at 7:37pm and by 7:50pm we had great looks at the bird sitting on a fencepost on the west ridgeline. Interestingly, I didn't hear any Common Poorwills calling, just WESTERN SCREECH-OWL. We arrived back in Sierra Vista by 11:00pm - such a deal.

Species recorded:
Great Blue Heron, White-faced Ibis, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, N. Shoveler, Turkey Vulture, Gray Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Scaled Quail, Gambel's Quail, American Avocet, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Ring-billed & Franklin's Gulls, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Western Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Buff-collared Nightjar, Broad-billed Hummingbird, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Western Wood-Pewee, Black & Say's Phoebes, Vermilion, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's, Thick-billed & Western Kingbirds, Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus, Canyon & Bewick's Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Bendire's & Crissal Thrashers, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, Loggerhead Shrike, Mexican Jay, Bell's Vireo, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Yellow & Wilson's Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Summer Tanager, Rufous-crowned, Five-striped & Black-throated Sparrows, Pyrrhuloxia, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Varied Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern & Western Meadowlarks, Bronzed Cowbird and Hooded & Bullock's Orioles.

Friday, May 20, 2005
Out again with Jimmy, Dorothy and Brooke. We spent time in the Patagonia area and in Madera and Scheelite Canyons. It was another very warm day, perhaps the warmest so far this year, and a reminder that the heat of June is just around the corner. Despite the heat, we found seven of eight target species.

We began at Patagonia Lake State Park where I once again failed to find Black-capped Gnatcatcher. When the birds are nesting, unless you stumble upon the nest location, they can be very difficult to locate. However, we didn't spend a lot of time searching since we had a full day ahead of us. Great looks at BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER and BOTTERI'S & RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS ensured that didn't leave empty handed in terms of target birds. Other species noted included NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET and VARIED BUNTING.

Our next destination was Madera Kubo where the male FLAME-COLORED TANAGER duly obliged within minutes of our arrival. The bird sat on an open branch in full view while singing strongly. A nearby SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER completed the targets for this location. GOLDEN EAGLE on the Continental road was a nice bonus.

Next on the agenda was a stop at Kino Springs for GILDED FLICKER. As I mentioned earlier this month, the flicker is irregular at this location but I've now seen one on five recent visits. The very high temperature made for unpleasant birding but we nevertheless succeeded in finding the bird. We also managed to stumble upon the nest site as the bird delivered food. Even though the flicker is a common bird elsewhere, this was an important sighting since it eliminated the need to visit the Tucson area. Activity was low during the noon hour -- 20 species at the first pond including GRAY HAWK, NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET and YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT.

A stop at the Paton's produced VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD after a thirty minute wait. THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS have started their nesting activities across the street. GRAY HAWK called nearby.

Our final task for the day was to recover from Wednesday's miss in Scheelite Canyon. The temperature at the trailhead was 95 degrees at 2:30pm and to say that I wasn't looking forward to the hike would be the understatement of the year. Fortunately, SPOTTED OWL was easy to find in the middle area, a little under one mile from the trailhead. My job was made a little easier by an entry in the log saving on search time, very valuable on such a hot day. Among the other birds in the canyon were ELEGANT TROGON, WHITE-THROATED SWIFT, RED-FACED WARBLER, PAINTED REDSTART, HEPATIC TANAGER and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO.

Species recorded:
Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested & Neotropic Cormorants, Black & Turkey Vultures, Gray Hawk, Golden Eagle, Wild Turkey, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Spotted Owl, White-throated Swift, Broad-billed, Violet-crowned & Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Elegant Trogon, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Gilded Flicker, N. Beardless-Tyrannulet, Western Wood-Pewee, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated, Brown-crested & Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, Cassin's & Thick-billed Kingbirds, Phainopepla, Canyon, Bewick's & House Wrens, Am. Robin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Mexican Jay, Common Raven, European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's, Plumbeous, Hutton's & Warbling Vireos, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Lucy's, Yellow, Black-throated Gray, Wilson's & Red-faced Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Painted Redstart, Yellow-breasted Chat, Hepatic, Summer, Western & Flame-colored Tanagers, Spotted Towhee, Botteri's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Lark, Black-throated & Song Sparrows, Yellow-eyed Junco, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Varied Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle & Bronzed Cowbird & Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Saturday, May 21, 2005
Fourth and last day with Jimmy, Dorothy and Brooke. We scrapped the originally scheduled fifth day for Le Conte's Thrasher and Gray Vireo which would have required a 500+ mile round trip drive with poor chance of success with the thrasher. Today we had eight primary target species and managed to find them all on a long and even warmer day than yesterday. We began and ended the day on the Pinery Canyon road in the Chiricahuas with visits in between to a few other mountain locations and an afternoon trip to Willcox.

For my money, Pinery Canyon Road is the best overall birding location in the Chiricahuas. However, since it's not really a destination (you have to drive, listen and stop as necessary), I don't think it gets the same coverage as other locations (such as Cave Creek and Rustler park). We had great success here and in well under two hours we picked up NORTHERN (MOUNTAIN) PYGMY-OWL (wonderful scope look at a calling bird), CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, MEXICAN CHICKADEE and VIRGINIA'S WARBLER (as elusive as ever on a tricky, 30 degree slope).

We headed down the other side of the mountain for a visit to The George Walker House where a short (30 minute) vigil produced JUNIPER TITMOUSE. Thanks to Jackie Lewis for the open access to the property. Other feeder visitors included LAZULI BUNTING, BRONZED COWBIRD and SCOTT'S ORIOLE.

Our final destination of the morning was the Southwest Research station for BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. A fair number of individuals were present along with several MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRDS.

Now we needed to kill lots of time before an evening owling session. We drove to Willcox and enjoyed an excellent lunch at Salsa Fiesta then spent some time at the very hot (104 degrees) Willcox ponds. The recent one day wonder Red-necked Grebe had departed (first SE AZ record, seventh for the state) but we still managed to dig out a few less glamorous species. Highlights from 30 species recorded were a couple of BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS, all three TEAL species, MARBLED GODWIT and FRANKLIN'S GULL.

Back in the Chiricahuas, we headed for high elevation (Rustler/Barfoot area) where the temperature plummeted into the 70s with a cool breeze to boot - fantastic! We did a little casual birding and saw a few species typical of this location -- HAIRY WOODPECKER, PYGMY NUTHATCH, WESTERN TANAGER and a male HEPATIC TANAGER displaying to a female. OLIVE and GRACE'S WARBLERS were singing around 6:00pm.

Now it was time for the main event back on the Pinery Canyon road. Although we detected the first FLAMMULATED OWL calling at the relatively early time of 7:26pm (especially with a very bright full moon), we had to work long and hard before finally laying eyes on a bird at 9:20pm. We worked the road and heard 6-8 owls before I finally heard one very close to the road. The bird called constantly from a fairly dense Juniper and it took almost 30 minutes before I found its location. We barely had chance to enjoy the bird before another group somewhat tactlessly approached and the bird flew away. Nevertheless, an excellent end to a nineteen hour day afield that ended back in Sierra Vista at midnight. My experience here a couple of weeks ago was similar (numerous owls present and an owl found calling constantly from one tree), although on that night I failed to see the bird which is often the case with this species.

Other birds in the canyon during the Flammulated search were calling NORTHERN (MOUNTAIN) PYGMY OWL, WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL and uncountable numbers of WHIP-POOR-WILLS. All three owls were calling at the same time.

Over the past four days we managed to see Jimmy's two targets (Buff-collared Nightjar and Flame-colored Tanager), all eight of Brooke's targets including those two plus Flammulated Owl & Mountain Pygmy-Owl, and a round number of fifty for Dorothy. Now I get to put my feet up for a day before finishing up my busy period with a couple more days in the field; then it's off to somewhere that's green on the USA Today weather map for my annual June getaway, but who's really looking forward to that?.
 
Species recorded:
Eared Grebe, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Mallard, Green-winged, Blue-winged & Cinnamon Teal, N. Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Black-necked Stilt, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Marbled Godwit, Spotted Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, Ring-billed & Franklin's Gulls, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Greater Roadrunner, Flammulated Owl, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Northern (Mountain) Pygmy-Owl, Burrowing Owl, Whip-poor-will, Blue-throated, Magnificent, Black-chinned & Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Acorn & Hairy Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Say's Phoebe, Cordilleran, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated & Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's & Western Kingbirds, Horned Lark, Violet-green & Barn Swallows, Cactus, Bewick's & House Wrens, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Bushtit, Mexican Chickadee, Bridled Titmouse, Juniper Titmouse, Pygmy, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches, Loggerhead Shrike, Western Scrub-Jay, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, House Sparrow, Plumbeous & Hutton's Vireos, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch, Olive, Virginia's, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Gray, Grace's & Red-faced Warblers, Painted Redstart, Hepatic & Western Tanagers, Canyon Towhee, Yellow-eyed Junco, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks, Lazuli Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle, Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds and Hooded, Bullock's & Scott's Orioles.

Monday, May 23, 2005
Out today with Jean Turner from Bradenton, FL and Deanna MacPhail from Juneau, AK. I've birded with Jean on three previous occasions and Deanna just once. Today our primary objective was Buff-collared Nightjar with Five-striped Sparrow as an additional target for Deanna. Consequently, an afternoon/evening visit to California Gulch and Oro Blanco mine was in order and we left Sierra Vista at 1:00pm with the temperature at 100 degrees.

It was very warm at the south end of the gulch when we got started at 4:30pm. We worked diligently searching for sparrows but, not surprisingly, there was little activity from almost all the usual species, including the sparrow. We first detected FIVE-STRIPED SPARROW at 5:00pm then worked for fifteen minutes to see the bird without success. We continued on and eventually located an apparent pair of sparrows that became more vocal as the gulch cooled. We persevered and by 6:30pm we managed good looks at the birds. Three sparrows in all.

Now it was time to head over to the mine and kill some time. Conditions were excellent -- still warm, of course, zero wind and zero other parties present. We'd just started to eat dinner and I was completely taken by surprise when a BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR started to call in full daylight at 7:20pm. In fact, we saw the bird's first flight at 7:40pm, still in daylight. The bird flew very close over our heads, dwarfing the just active bats. Following this exciting event, the nightjar became silent as night fell and it wasn't until 8:20pm (about 10 minutes after the full moon started to rise over the east ridgeline) that we heard it calling again. With some effort on difficult terrain we found the bird perched in an oak on the west ridgeline and got a great look as well as some subsequent looks at the bird in flight.

Other nightbirds noted were COMMON POORWILL (first call 7:40pm), ELF OWL (first call 7:50pm then constant chatter until we left) and WESTERN SCREECH-OWL (first call 8:40pm).

This was my third afternoon/evening visit to California Gulch/Oro Blanco mine in the past week. All of have been successful for the sparrow (seen each time with increasing difficulty) and nightjar which was seen well on each occasion, setting a personal record for consecutive quality sightings (see the entry for May 19 for nightjar seen/heard stats). We left the mine at 8:45pm and rolled into Sierra Vista at 11:45pm with the temperature now at very pleasant 73 degrees. An excellent outing.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Out today with Marilyn and Dwight Williams from San Antonio, TX for one target species -- Black-capped Gnatcatcher. We left Sierra Vista at 4:45am and began birding at Patagonia Lake around 5:45am.

After a couple of recent misses I wasn't completely confident in finding the birds, just completely confident that they are still present!. We worked very diligently for four hours without sight or sound of a gnatcatcher. We covered lots of ground traversing the washes from first to fifth (Nutting's) and beyond, multiple times. Just to make matters worse, the washes were alive with gnatcatcher like begging calls from recently fledged NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULETS, VERDINS, BELL'S VIREOS and LUCY'S WARBLERS. Of course, it's always a joy to bird the washes in warm weather among the cow shit and flies.

Our perseverance eventually paid off around 10:00am when I heard the calls of what turned out to be three juvenile BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS foraging together in the fourth wash. We watched the birds for ten minutes or so and they seemed quite adept at finding food. However, when an adult male appeared on the scene they immediately went into begging mode, wings a quivering. In fact, their change in behavior alerted me to the fact that an adult was now present, It was immediately obvious that the adult didn't want anything to do with them and tried to go about its business of foraging for itself. We did see it break down just once and feed something to one of the juveniles. We enjoyed the birds at close range for twenty minutes, wonderful reward for our efforts. I wouldn't want to do it again tomorrow though!

I recorded 45 species during the search including several BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS, 10+ NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS, LEAST BITTERN calling from the lake margin, calling COMMON GROUND-DOVE, all three regular Myiarchus species, VARIED BUNTINGS perched up on Ocotillos seemingly in competition with BLUE GROSBEAKS (each singing in turn) and migrant WESTERN TANAGERS (the only migrant noted).

Today was my last scheduled day of work ahead of my annual "anywhere but Southeast Arizona in June" escape and I don't resume work again until July 4. I haven't decided for sure where I'll be headed yet, although Wyoming (again!) and Maine are the principal contenders. Any further journal reports (if any) will be sporadic at best until I hit the road. Ironically, after a spate of very hot weather, the area is now seeing monsoon like conditions which is unusual for this time of year. After a relatively clear morning, clouds built up and a fairly good thunderstorm with respectable rain hit Sierra Vista this afternoon (yesterday was similar, just a weaker event).

Hasta luego.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Road Trip Day 1 (Arizona - New Mexico)
Now that the long holiday weekend is over and done with, I started my trip to points north (with a slight detour east to begin with). I decided against a visit to Maine and chose to go to Wyoming again. As I've mentioned before, Wyoming is my favorite state with some great scenery and a liberal dose of solitude away from the great parks, especially up on the Beartooth highway in the north west. I plan to spend most of my time casual birding and checking on some of my favorite high elevation species like Pine Grosbeak and Black Rosy-Finch as well as several species of Woodpeckers. I've expanded the scope of my trip to give myself a chance of seeing some new species (either for the U.S. or true life birds). However, since I haven't even bothered to travel 15 miles from home for a lifer Slate-throated Redstart, I may not get too serious about this aspect of the trip.

The Plan: Version 1.0 (may change many times along the way!)
My first destination will be the Osage Tall Grass Prairie near Pawhuska, OK where I'll be looking for Henslow's Sparrow, a species that I haven't tried for before.  From there I plan to head to North Dakota using a more or less due north route through Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota with stops along the way as the fancy takes me. In North Dakota, I'll look for Black-billed Cuckoo (now an official nemesis bird), Philadelphia Vireo and Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Who knows, I may even stumble into a Gray Partridge, a bird that I still haven't seen in the U.S. After North Dakota, I'll head into Montana then on to Wyoming where I expect to spend the remainder of my time. Okay, now you're as wise as I am about what I intend to do. We'll see how it goes.

I got a late start by my standards (9:15am) and I only traveled as far as Santa Rosa, New Mexico. I stopped at a very quiet Willcox where 45 minutes produced less than 20 species (quite disappointing -- but it is almost June). On the main pond, BLACK-NECKED STILTS outnumbered AMERICAN AVOCETS and they along with a lone female WILSON'S PHALAROPE and a few KILLDEERS were the only shorebirds that I noted. Throw in GREAT BLUE HERON and COOT and that was it. Ducks were few and far between -- a handful of MALLARDS and CINNAMON TEAL plus the usual RUDDY DUCKS. I didn't see any gulls or terns  Over at the golf course pond I added several BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS, at least 3 EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, WESTERN KINGBIRD, CURVE-BILLED THRASHER and BULLOCKS ORIOLE.

The remainder of my day was high speed driving with very few additional species seen -- just your typical roadside birds including several SWAINSON'S HAWKS and many HORNED LARKS along highway 60 in New Mexico.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - May, 2005 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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