I made this short trip (3 full days and one partial day) to check on migration happenings. Most of my April trips to the White Mountains have been during the first three weeks and I can state with some confidence that this period is too early for the bulk of migrants, even with favorable weather. The last week in April and May is a much better period to witness migration here. Unfortunately, this is when I need to be in SE AZ.

I spent from April 23-26 in the mountains. I stayed at The Bunkhouse at Juniper Hill in Nutrioso (highly recommended). Apart from moderate winds, weather conditions were fairly good with sunny skies every day. Temperatures  ranged from overnight lows in the low to mid 30s and warmed to the 60s and 70s in the afternoon. I spent most of my time at low elevation (~7000 feet) checking riparian areas and bodies of water. I also visited West Fork and Butler Canyon in Greer (~8500 feet) and Sunrise Lake (~9200 feet).

Since the sole purpose of the trip was to check on migrants, I didn't spend any time specifically looking for White Mountain specialties. Apart from Wilson's Warblers, landbird migrants and returning breeding species were not much in evidence until the last day. Compared to typical arrival dates in SE AZ (mid April), Purple Martin at Luna Lake might be considered on the early side. The protracted departure from SE AZ of species such as Green-tailed Towhee, Lincoln's, Vesper & White-crowned Sparrows and Yellow-headed & Brewer's Blackbirds was reflected in their low to moderate numbers in the mountains along with their continuing presence in SE AZ. I also detected Williamson's and Red-naped Sapsuckers. I saw only Broad-tailed Hummingbird and their numbers were very low until the last day.

By visiting the links above, you can find day to day details of the trip (in my journal), see the overall trip list and view all of the bird photos that I took in the trip photo log.

Questions and comments welcome.