Jan Species Seen

Stuart Healy Journal - January, 2007 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 Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Monday, January 1, 2007 

Although it wasn't frosty this morning, it was still quite cold and there wasn't much early activity (and I deliberately didn't start birding until 9:00am to give things a chance to warm up). However, my first (male) GREEN KINGFISHER of the year was on duty at Kingfisher Pond at 9:20am. At least one CANVASBACK continues on the pond.

Most of the activity was along the river near Garden Wash. Even so, apart from 4 HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS in a 200 yard stretch, I saw only a few common residents including 3 COMMON YELLOWTHROATS. I was unable to find Louisiana Waterthrush or Wilson's Warbler.

Sierra Vista EOP wasn't open so I made a quick run down Moson Road where I saw 4 raptor species including PEREGRINE FALCON.

I saw absolutely nothing of note in Garden Canyon in mid afternoon and almost missed MEXICAN JAY!

54 species recorded:
Great Blue Heron, Gadwall, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, N. Harrier, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks; Am. Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Rock Pigeon, Mourning & White-winged Doves; Greater Roadrunner, Green Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers; N. Flicker, Hammond's Flycatcher, Black & Say's Phoebes; Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Phainopepla, Cactus, Bewick's & House Wrens; N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Am. Robin, White-breasted Nuthatch, Loggerhead Shrike, Mexican Jay, Chihuahuan Raven, European Starling, House Sparrow, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees; Chipping, Brewer's, Vesper, Song, Lincoln's & White-crowned Sparrows; Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007 
This morning I made my first visit of the year to Patagonia Lake State Park. Although I'll be at the lake a number of times with clients later this month, I don't think you can visit this location too many times at this season. Excellent weather today even though I was ice scraping at 6:30am. It was much milder than I expected at the lake around 7:30am and it was close to 70 degrees by the time I left at 12:30pm. Birding was also excellent.

Highlight was a roosting WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, pointed out to me by a lady from Vermont whose name I've already forgotten. The owl has apparently been in the same location for five days. Great views, but not much of a photo opportunity because of twigs and other vegetation. However, when have you known me not to try (especially when it's a photo first!). I shot almost 60 images and managed to salvage a couple -- image #1, image #2 (this image reminds me of a Koala Bear). I only have a few records for the owl at the lake. Note: I will not publicly disclose the location because I know that there's a breed of photographer out there who won't settle for twigs in the way (I once saw someone climb a tree and saw off a few branches near a bird!). Please contact me if you want to know the location since the bird may stick around for a while longer.

I enjoyed seeing the adult BALD EAGLE in its regular roosting spot on the island at the west end of the lake, VIRGINIA RAIL and SORA along the trail at the east end of the lake, many COMMON MOORHENS, BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER in Nutting's Wash and LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH in the open area along the creek just west of where it exits from the willow forest.

I'll also mention the ***possibility*** of a Rufous-backed Robin. While wandering around Nutting's Wash, I flushed a Robin that was feeding in a Hackberry tree. Unfortunately, the bird quickly flew away and the shade and angle were such that I could not see any useful features. There's plenty of berries so check the area if you're at the lake -- Rufous-backed may be more likely than American.

I had to eat some humble pie with a RING-BILLED GULL that I initially thought was a California Gull -- and I had the scope on the bugger! After I saw red on the bill alongside the ring, I didn't really pay attention to other features. However, I later realized that those features didn't fit for California -- too small a bird, pale mantle and not enough neck streaking. I also now realize what the red was -- the bird was easting a fish and I must have seen the red of the fish and not the bill. Just shows how it always pays to look at every field mark.

Other species from 70+ at the lake included CLARK'S GREBE (good comparison with a close WESTERN GREBE), great looks at a gorgeous male CINNAMON TEAL, 2 CANVASBACKS, 3 LESSER SCAUP, 2 BUFFLEHEADS, 50+ COMMON MERGANSERS, a few WHITE-WINGED DOVES, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, the usual HAMMOND'S, DUSKY and GRAY FLYCATCHERS, AMERICAN PIPIT, HUTTON'S VIREO, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and GREEN-TAILED, SPOTTED & ABERT'S TOWHEES. Apart from CHIPPING, sparrows were not conspicuous today.

Thursday, January 4, 2007 
Today I decided to head up to Sawmill Canyon where, in contrast to yesterday, I didn't expect to see very many species. Although that turned out to be the case, it was also a case of quality over quantity.

A brief stop at Garden Canyon fishing ponds yielded about 20 species with an immature female VERMILION FLYCATCHER being the pick of the bunch. I first detected (what was then a hatch year bird) on December 20 but having missed it on December 25 and January 1, I thought that the bird had departed. Not so.

In one particular mistletoe clogged mesquite, I saw PHAINOPEPLA, NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD and EASTERN MEADOWLARK sitting very close together (perhaps just coincidence for the latter -- I've never seen a meadowlark feeding on mistletoe but I guess it wouldn't be out of the question).

Upper Garden Canyon road was quite icy in the vicinity of the pictograph site (from the third concrete stream crossing to above the rappel cliffs). This 0.5 mile stretch is very shady at this time of year and the road surface becomes dangerous when covered with packed snow and ice. Ironically, the one area that gets sun was like glass (due to daytime thaw and nighttime freeze) and very treacherous. I don't think I would have been able to make it to Sawmill without using four wheel drive (and I certainly didn't risk not using it!). Years ago, I remember spinning out regularly here when I had a Chevy Caprice and often had to turn around (gee, you think).

Conditions in Sawmill Canyon were perfect. Clear blue sky, zero wind and a temperature from the high 30s to around 50 when I left around noon. The only downside was crunchy snow (up to 4 inches in places) that made it impossible to listen while walking (or to sneak up on anything). I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of bird activity (the canyon can often be dead at this time of year).

As I've mentioned before, woodpeckers are the primary reason for a visit at this time of year. Today I wanted to verify that WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER had not bailed out after the recent nasty weather. Happily, I soon found a male at its regular sapwell tree. One of these days I'll get a really good image of this species. Most of my shots are like this one  -- too far away and too high in a tree. Not to mention obstructions. Check out the gallery and you'll see what I mean. ARIZONA WOODPECKERS were easy to detect today (5 seen, more heard). This particular individual was working low on a trunk and allowed me to get reasonably close.

Sawmill is not known for raptors (especially in winter) so an immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK and an immature GOLDEN EAGLE were a tremendous bonus. I've averaged less than one Goshawk sighting per year in the canyon and I've only seen Golden Eagle here once before.

Other species from a total of only 17 in the canyon included fly-over WESTERN BLUEBIRDS, AMERICAN ROBIN and HERMIT THRUSH (must be some Madrone berries); the usual dickey bird flocks with BRIDLED TITMOUSE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER & HUTTON'S VIREO; and several calling OLIVE WARBLERS (the one I laid eyes on was a spiffy adult male; Murphy eat your heart out).

A good day at the office.

Friday, January 5, 2007 
Today I made a much shorter than expected visit to Whitewater Draw. From a birding perspective, an otherwise beautiful blue sky day was ruined by gusty winds ahead of some stormy weather. The day became progressively colder and cloudier and by late afternoon it was raining in Sierra Vista (and probably snowing in the Huachucas).

Before heading to Whitewater, I checked the fields on Davis Road and again found MOUNTAIN PLOVERS in the first field east of Coffman Road. The birds were far from the road and widely scattered so I didn't attempt to get an accurate count. However, there were certainly more than 30. While scanning for plovers I also saw 5+ FERRUGINOUS HAWKS, 2 CRISSAL THRASHERS, lots of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and a few HORNED LARKS & AMERICAN PIPITS.

A slow drive down Coffman Road wasn't as productive as usual but did yield lots of SANDHILL CRANES and LARK BUNTINGS and a few more MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS.

Highlights at Whitewater Draw were a lone GREAT EGRET, the continuing "white geese" flock, 50 PINTAILS, REDHEAD, BUFFLEHEAD, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, scads of  SANDHILL CRANES, 2 GREAT HORNED OWLS, 2 BARN OWLS and 5+ VERMILION FLYCATCHERS. With a few exceptions, sparrows were generally hard to come by.

The "white geese" flock flew in around 10:00am and I counted 137 birds. However, due to a tightly packed flock and wave action caused by the wind, I wouldn't expect any better than +/-10%  accuracy on that number. The mix was similar to what I've seen in recent weeks and I only managed to pick out 2 ROSS'S GEESE from the many SNOW GEESE.

The flock took flight several times and I looked around in vain for an eagle or falcon. During one flight, I decided to try my photographic luck. I set the camera to aperture mode and cranked up the ISO setting in an attempt to get as much depth of field as I could without sacrificing shutter speed. I selected burst mode (9 frames per second) and panned through the flock with my finger on the shutter release and shot about 60 images in a short space of time. I really didn't expect a useful result but I ended up with a serious "Murphy gets screwed moment" of which I'm so fond. What are the odds with the ratio of Snow/Ross's that I would randomly capture an image showing both a SNOW GOOSE and a ROSS'S GOOSE in flight and that it would be reasonably in focus? Well, that's just what happened. Not a great image quality-wise, but one that easily shows the overall size difference and bill difference and a good reinforcement for "if you don't buy a ticket, you won't win the raffle". It's a good thing that I set the aperture to f/14 otherwise both species would probably not have been in focus.

Now, just in case I wasn't satisfied with my day -- when I got home I found that (due to an AZ state law change) my driving license has been extended. So, instead of a visit to the DMV next month on my birthday, I get to avoid it for another 5 years! Some days are better than others.

Tuesday, January 9, 2007 
Out today with Peter and Marie MacParland from Burlington, Ontario (yes, the spelling is correct!). We birded at Patagonia Lake State Park and Kino Springs. Although no lifers were at stake, Peter wanted to see Black-capped Gnatcatcher again so we made an effort for that. Otherwise, we just wandered around seeing whatever came our way. It was a very warm day (about 10 degrees above average) and warm enough for me to start in shorts at the lake.

We started at the day use area west of the marina and then checked around the visitor center. Birds here included BALD EAGLE, a few EARED GREBES, lots of COMMON MERGANSERS, 20+ WHITE-WINGED and a few INCA DOVES; ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD and GRAY FLYCATCHER

We continued birding at the east end of the lake where, since we were after the gnatcatcher, it was another dose of "tramping of the washes at Patagonia" -- not to be confused with "running of the bulls at Pamplona". However, there might just be more bull and cow shit in those washes! After a typical methodical search, we eventually found a calling male BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER in Nutting's Wash. Now the pressure was off and we could enjoy ourselves.

By far the highlight of the day was a calling male ROSE-THROATED BECARD that we tracked to a cottonwood and enjoyed fantastic views. The location was along the north fork of Sonoita Creek some 50 yards west of the creek split (note: the south fork of the creek is currently dry). This was a good bird for two reasons: 1) it was my first January sighting in Arizona, I've only seen them south of the border in Sonora in winter; 2) it was a new location species for me -- #258 on this my 450th visit to the state park. They are seen at the lake sporadically but I've never stumbled into one before.

Activity was generally lower today than on my recent visits (very few sparrows) and I recorded just over 60 species. Other species included WESTERN & CLARK'S GREBES, CANVASBACK, SORA, many COMMON MOORHENS, BELTED KINGFISHER, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (very sporadic here in January), 3+ DUSKY FLYCATCHERS, calling ROCK & CANYON WRENS and an AMERICAN ROBIN in a hackberry tree in Nutting's Wash (possibly the robin that I saw here last week).

Despite not arriving at a very warm Kino Springs until 12:30pm, we had some quick success. The group of 5 HOODED MERGANSERS (1 male) continue at the first pond along with a singing CRISSAL THRASHER, a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW and male & female LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES. The highlight was a calling DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER in the hackberry grove just south of the pond. Although this species is a common breeder in a variety of habitats (including today's location), it's no better than casual in SE AZ in winter and I only have one other January record.

Other species (here and at the club house pond) included GREAT EGRET, COOPER'S HAWK, ROADRUNNER, LARK SPARROW, CARDINAL & PYRRHULOXIA. About 35 species in all.

Thursday, January 11, 2007 
First of two days with Antoinetta Capriglione and Lois Barrett from Middletown, CT. As on Tuesday, we birded at Patagonia Lake State Park and Kino Springs without looking for anything in particular. The weather forecast wasn't good (plenty of rain in the offing) and the morning began cloudy and damp. However, that soon disappeared and it was a mostly sunny and calm day. The birding was generally quite good although we missed a couple of good birds (Becard and Trogon). I was at home yesterday and heard "my" WHITE-WINGED DOVES singing for the first time this year (they usually start singing about this time in January).

Early birding at the day use area west of the marina and around the visitor center was productive. We turned up almost 40 species including plenty of EARED GREBES and COMMON MERGANSERS, CINNAMON TEAL, BALD EAGLE, NORTHERN HARRIER, COMMON MOORHEN, WILSON'S SNIPE, WHITE-WINGED & INCA DOVES, LADDER-BACKED & GILA WOODPECKERS, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and CARDINAL.

On Tuesday I had to work for a while before finding BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER in the mesquite bosque at the east end of the lake. Today we stumbled into a male foraging on the hillside above the bench while tracking a GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS. Unfortunately, this location was also the site of a Becard miss.

After looking at the continuing WESTERN SCREECH-OWL hiding in plain sight, we headed out on the east marsh trail where we met a couple who had just seen the male ROSE-THROATED BECARD back near near the bench. We doubled back to look for it and bumped into Kenn Kaufmann and a VENT tour group. After passing on the Gnatcatcher/Owl/Becard info, I heard an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER which we began tracking. We only saw the bird in flight then went back to look for the Becard only to learn from Kenn that they had just seen it and that the bird had now moved on. Argghh! This is easily a mile (although perhaps not as the Becard flies) from where I saw the bird on Tuesday.

After looking for a few more minutes we headed back out on the trail again. The main creek trail produced hardly any birds today (someone saw ELEGANT TROGON) so our time might have been better spent looking for the Becard. Among the species seen were WESTERN & CLARK'S GREBES,  BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, good views of SORA, GRAY & DUSKY FLYCATCHERS, HERMIT THRUSH and a fly-by PINE SISKIN. 65 species at the lake.

At Kino Springs we only birded at the first pond which was a little less active than on Tuesday (30 species). No Hooded Merganser or Crissal Thrasher today but we did get great looks at several LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES.

BLACK VULTURES were in Patagonia which is well west of their normal Nogales hang out this early in the season (although I do have plenty of Patagonia records in January).

Friday, January 12, 2007 
Out again today with Toni and Lois. We spent all of our time in a mostly cloudy Sulphur Springs Valley where we managed to almost completely escape the rain. Unfortunately, we couldn't escape the wind which was a problem in all locations that we visited, especially after mid morning. While we didn't see a great number of species today, we did manage to see a few of the area specialties.

The morning began well on the Davis Road with 2 roadside GOLDEN EAGLES (adult and immature) around milepost 8. Further along Davis we found many MOUNTAIN PLOVERS in the fields east of Coffman. Although I didn't attempt to get a count in the windy conditions, I have no reason to suspect that the 60 birds I counted on a previous visit are not still present. Perhaps as many as 10 FERRUGINOUS  HAWKS and lots of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS were also present.

On Coffman Road we added SCALED & GAMBEL'S QUAIL, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, a pair of CRISSAL THRASHERS (a singing male eventually joined by a female), more MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE.

Birding at Whitewater Draw was difficult in the wind and we  managed far less species than normal. However, the SANDHILL CRANE show is always guaranteed to please. At least 5 VERMILION FLYCATCHERS with immatures in all stages of plumage were a delight to watch. Since Vermilions have up to three broods, immature birds at this season range from very blotchy individuals through mostly pinkish all over to almost adult plumage. Among the other species were lots of NORTHERN PINTAILS, a male BUFFLEHEAD, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, 4 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, 2 LEAST SANDPIPERS, GREAT HORNED OWL, 3 BARN OWLS, a bathing AMERICAN PIPIT, an out-in-the-open MARSH WREN and an extremely cooperative SAGE THRASHER that perched for as long as we wanted to look at it.

After leaving Whitewater Draw we cruised some back roads and fields as far as a few miles north of Elfrida. Highlights of this session were few and far between as the wind became more of a factor -- I couldn't even find Horned Lark! We had great looks at BENDIRE'S THRASHER (that rivaled the earlier Sage Thrasher for tolerance), ~25 SNOW GEESE in the air with thousands of SANDHILL CRANES and large flocks of LARK BUNTINGS in multiple locations.

Saturday, January 13, 2007 
First of two days of target birding with Joe and Kathy Nowak from Wheaton, IL. We had good morning success in Sulphur Springs Valley then dipped on Spotted Owl in the afternoon. Although it was significantly colder this morning, the wind wasn't quite as bad as yesterday.

Thrashers were our early targets and I began at the location of yesterday's CRISSAL THRASHER sighting. There wasn't a sign of the bird which led us on an almost three hour quest around the back roads, fruitless apart from one brief call. However, just as we were about to move on, we had long looks at a perched bird in exactly the same spot where we had started. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done!

During the search we easily found our other target BENDIRE'S THRASHER with zero effort and we probably saw at least three of them along with two SAGE THRASHERS.

FERRUGINOUS HAWKS, MOUNTAIN PLOVERS and MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS were easy to see in the fields on Davis Road.

Next, we journeyed to the Granite's in search of BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW. It took a little while but we eventually located a fair number of them working on the ground.

My first visit of the year to a very windy Scheelite Canyon ended in disappointment despite much physical effort. Owls have been spotted low in the canyon recently which is very typical in the winter months when there's snow on the ground. The canyon was completely snow free today (even in the upper area) and I failed to find a Spotted Owl despite an extensive search of lower, middle and upper areas. In such cases, I never know if I simply missed them in a regular spot, missed them in a new spot or whether the owls have left the canyon for a day or two. Of course, if they decide to roost up slope away from the canyon bottom (to get out of the wind) there's no way they will be found. Bottom line: no owl!

The canyon was quiet from 2:00-5:30pm -- calling ARIZONA WOODPECKER, BRIDLED TITMOUSE and MEXICAN JAY; with only CANYON WREN, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET and PINK-SIDED & YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS seen.

Sunday, January 14, 2007 
Out again today with Joe and Kathy for another day of target birding. Just like yesterday, it was a day of two very different halves. We had good success at Patagonia Lake and Kino Springs in the morning and miserable failure in Scheelite Canyon the afternoon. After a clear night, the day began very cold (low 20s) and the temperature never really recovered. Thankfully though, the wind wasn't a factor and it was a calm day.

A lone CALIFORNIA GULL in flight was a strange sight as we headed west along the Cochise County section of Highway 82 this morning. The bird was clearly following the highway over the several miles that we tracked it. This was only my second SE AZ record for January.

Although it was really cold at Patagonia Lake this morning and activity was a long time developing, we eventually found all five targets that we sought  We had instant success with great looks at male and female BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS on the hillside near the "top of the steps" just east of the infamous bench. We stayed with them for a few minutes as they foraged and called to each other. Shortly afterwards we enjoyed the continuing WESTERN SCREECH-OWL hiding in plain sight -- a very cooperative bird that has been gawked at by many folks over the past couple of weeks. We had to wait a while in the cold for flycatchers to become active but our reward was multiple looks at DUSKY and GRAY FLYCATCHERS with time to study field characters and behavior. We decided against walking the creek to look for Hammond's and opted to move on to Kino Springs. A singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW was another target success as we departed. Multiple birds were present but we had to be patient before getting a great look.

We didn't do much general birding -- other species at the lake (east end only) included WESTERN & CLARK'S GREBES, numerous COMMON MOORHENS, GILA & LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKERS, HERMIT THRUSH, BLACK-THROATED SPARROW, CARDINAL and PYRRHULOXIA. 45 species in all.

Even though it was still cold at Kino Springs, plenty of birds were active at the first pond. LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH was our primary target here and we saw a male very quickly. Based on my recent visits, I wasn't too hopeful about finding RUDDY GROUND-DOVE. However, we managed a brief but diagnostic view of a female among several COMMON GROUND-DOVES. For good measure, we also had a scope view of a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW to supplement the earlier sighting at the lake.

Other species at the first pond included the continuing band of 5 HOODED MERGANSERS (1 male) along with 2 female COMMON MERGANSERS, GREAT EGRET, a calling CRISSAL THRASHER, CANYON & GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES and the usual assortment of sparrows including BREWER'S and LARK SPARROWS.

We struck out on Gilded Flicker at the club house. Species here included a large flock of AMERICAN WIGEON, REDHEAD and GRAY & VERMILION FLYCATCHERS. Even though they are a Nogales area regular (including winter), a soaring TURKEY VULTURE on such a cold day was somewhat unexpected.

Scheelite Canyon was really cold today (especially by 5:00pm) and the upper pools were icy. Once again my extensive search went unrewarded as I failed to find a Spotted Owl for the second day in a row. HUTTON'S VIREO was our only success and we even had to work for that small mercy! Other species in the canyon included ARIZONA WOODPECKER, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, MEXICAN JAY and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW all heard only; and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, CANYON WREN, BRIDLED TITMOUSE and a couple of SPOTTED TOWHEES seen.

Although we did very well on targets over the two days, missing Spotted Owl was obviously a major blow.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007 
Today's report is short and definitely not sweet. Being a glutton for punishment, I returned to Scheelite Canyon for another slice of humble pie. My recent clients, Joe and Kathy Nowak, took the two back to back misses of Spotted Owl with good grace. Not me though! Whenever I can't find an owl, my Type A personality ensures that I take it very badly and my overall 93% success rate over 900+ visits counts for very little on such occasions. Sadly, I completed the hat trick today and set a very dubious personal record of failing to find an owl on 3 consecutive visits.

Recent days have been cold with overnight lows in Sierra Vista of 18 on Monday, 20 yesterday and a balmy 23 today. Willcox has barely reached half these numbers. I didn't head out until late and the temperature in Scheelite in the early afternoon was in the mid 40s. Having had no luck in the middle and upper roosting areas over the weekend, today I focused on the lower canyon in addition to the lower roosting area. I checked a number of potential new roosting locations as well as regular sites. Over the years, I've come across many places that "look good for an owl" in which I've never seen an owl. None of them paid off today either. The owls are either using a very out of the way location or perhaps they are not currently in the canyon. An alternative explanation is that I'm losing my touch. I managed a whopping 11 species in the canyon during my exertions.

Back in Garden Canyon, I checked for owls between Scheelite Canyon entrance and the upper picnic area. A dying man clutching at straws.

A brief stop at the fishing ponds wasn't very productive to complete a pretty miserable outing. If I were a drinker, I'd be crying in my beer right about now.

Friday, January 19, 2007 
Following a prolonged period of rain, I made a rare afternoon visit down to the San Pedro. Rain began shortly before midnight and continued almost continuously until early afternoon. Clearing skies prompted me to head out. Apart from muddy trails and blustery conditions, it was actually quite pleasant during sun breaks. I expected plenty of activity after the rain but that wasn't the case.

I also looked along the river. Although I didn't see the kingfisher there either, I did find the continuing LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH. Once again the bird was approximately 50 yards north of Garden Wash. There's a shallow, rocky area here that the waterthrush seems to favor. Also present was a HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER working low over the water. I had great close up looks of both birds. Unfortunately, since the threat of more rain was real, I didn't carry my camera otherwise I would almost certainly have obtained very good images of both species. Murphy wins on this occasion.

38 species recorded:
Great Blue Heron, Gadwall, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Coot, Rock Pigeon, Mourning & White-winged Doves; Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers; N. Flicker, Hammond's Flycatcher, Black & Say's Phoebes; Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House Wren, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Chihuahuan Raven, House Sparrow, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Green-tailed & Abert's Towhees; Chipping, Brewer's, Vesper, Lincoln's & White-crowned Sparrows; Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Saturday, January 20, 2007 
Out today with Susan Jones from Winston-Salem, NC. Although we're scheduled for four days later in the year, last week Susan decided to make a short trip to look for a couple of targets -- Black-capped Gnatcatcher and Rose-throated Becard. Sadly, despite plenty of effort, we saw neither. It was just as well that Susan was able to see a lifer Streak-backed Oriole yesterday at Gilbert Water Ranch (and Rufous-backed Robin at Boyce Thompson Arboretum).

The weather didn't look very promising as we left Sierra Vista in darkness this morning. Heavy cloud enveloped the entire area and overnight snow down to street level just north of town made for difficult driving conditions. The stretch of Highway 90 between Sierra Vista and Huachuca City was particularly treacherous -- at least two vehicles had gone of the road. Surprisingly, as we climbed higher and traveled westbound on highway 82, the road was bare and dry and we saw some sunshine by the time we reached Patagonia. However, it was generally cold, mostly cloudy and at times breezy at Patagonia Lake.

We focused on finding the gnatcatcher and walked ourselves silly for almost 6 hours working the washes and hillsides multiple times. A couple of BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHERS were all that we came up with, although I may have heard weak Black-capped calls a couple of times. A very disappointing outcome given my recent good results. Birders were eventually more numerous than birds and nobody that we spoke with had seen Gnatcatcher or Becard.

Highlights were the continuing and extremely tolerant WESTERN SCREECH-OWL on its day roost, a stunning view of a male ELEGANT TROGON in the second wash (gobbling down a large grasshopper) and a PLUMBEOUS VIREO (foraging  with a HUTTON'S VIREO).

Despite our narrow focus and only scanning the east end of the lake whenever we had a high vantage on some distant hillside, we managed to see almost 60 species at the lake including side by side WESTERN & CLARK'S GREBES, scads of COMMON MERGANSERS, ~10 WHITE-WINGED DOVES, ~5 GRAY FLYCATCHERS, a heard only ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW, BLACK-THROATED SPARROW and a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW.

Monday, January 22, 2007 
No birds for you today -- it was a good day to be working at the keyboard due to some lousy weather. By southeast Arizona standards, the snow last night and today represented a major event. I live in town at approximately 4600 feet where only a couple of inches fell. However, since the temperature this morning was only 19 degrees and the daytime high didn't make it much past the mid 30s, the snow took a while to start melting (plus it snowed again during the day). Tombstone is about the same elevation as Sierra Vista and over 6 inches fell there.

This is my 15th year in Sierra Vista and although we regularly get small amounts of snow in town, I only remember one other time when more snow accumulated. Of course, the mountains always get decent amounts of snow. I couldn't even see the Huachucas where higher elevations reportedly got as much as 12 inches. I probably won't be able to get to Sawmill Canyon for a while! Folks who only come here in the heat of summer may have a hard time getting their minds around this.

My yard birds were certainly AWOL today. No sign of White-winged Dove and Curve-billed Thrasher that have been singing away recently. Not even a House Sparrow! The only birds that I saw all day were GILA WOODPECKER, PYRRHULOXIA and GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007 
What a difference a day makes. Today was a cold and beautiful blue sky day and most of the snow was gone from the Sierra Vista area. I visited Whitewater Draw in Sulphur Springs Valley where I hoped the nasty weather might have driven in something unusual. As I checked my email first thing this morning, CURVE-BILLED THRASHER was back on duty and singing well before sunrise.

Despite the low elevation (~4000 feet), there was plenty of snow on the ground in the valley. The "Mountain Plover" field on Davis Road fared the worst in that respect since the grass is very short and there are plenty of bare dirt areas. I checked the field a couple of times and I didn't see any plovers (nor much else) for the first time in a while. I also checked other fields on Davis and on Central that had longer grass and less snow. I found plenty of FERRUGINOUS HAWKS and SANDHILL CRANES, half a dozen LONG-BILLED CURLEWS and numerous MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS (widely scattered in multiple locations).

It was interesting to note how birds were coping with the snow covered fields. Many species were concentrated in high numbers wherever snow was absent. Coffman Road in particular was loaded with birds. The road is always treacherous when wet and today it was a mixture of mud, snow and slush. My vehicle had a mind of its own even with 4 wheel drive engaged. AMERICAN PIPITS found the road to their liking -- I counted over 100 foraging in the middle of the road between Davis Road and the entrance to Whitewater Draw.

Also along the road within my Whitewater Draw measurement area were a singing CRISSAL THRASHER, 2 BENDIRE'S THRASHERS and 3 SAGE THRASHERS. Other than the fact that it was perched on barbed wire, one of the Sage Thrashers was extremely cooperative. Ignoring the fact that I really don't care for photos of birds on wires, I managed a couple of decent images from opposite angles -- image #1, image #2.

It was a challenge just to walk around in the mud and snow at Whitewater Draw and I was glad my wellies were in the car. The reward for my efforts and my hope for something unusual came in the form of a lone RED PHALAROPE. This is a casual visitor to southeast Arizona with most records occurring from September through December. However, they are far from unprecedented at other times -- in fact, there was a bird in Green Valley earlier this month. Today's bird was only my third personal record in SE AZ and a first for me at Whitewater Draw (location species #201). I know of at least one previous winter record at Whitewater Draw.

The mixed SNOW and ROSS'S GOOSE flock has increased in numbers slightly. I made two scope passes through the flock; first to get a total count (154) and the second to count Ross's (9).

Waterfowl were widely scattered and generally in low numbers. Only NORTHERN PINTAIL (50+) could be considered numerous. A single female COMMON MERGANSER was the least common location species. The only shorebirds that I found were a couple of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS.

In the willow grove (interior still mostly inaccessible), I found 4 BARN OWLS, both Phoebes, several VERMILION FLYCATCHERS and a couple of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007 
I birded at Patagonia Lake State Park today (just for a change) without looking for anything in particular. It was a sunny, relatively mild morning and much better than recent days. Unfortunately, it was also very windy which kept a number of species subdued (by my results). I missed many common birds and really struggled to reach 60 species. Just to give you an example of the difficulty, my first and only RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET was species #51 of the morning and came after almost 3 hours of birding. This is normally an abundant bird for which the phrase "kicking them out of my way" was coined. Generally speaking, sparrows and ground birds were hard to come by.

I wandered around rather aimlessly and didn't spend any serious time looking for rarities. I found only LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH along the creek and a female ELEGANT TROGON in the second wash where I saw a male on Sunday. Check out the trogon image which might aptly be subtitled "I think that I've bitten off more than I can chew!". Such a pity that the light was poor otherwise this would have been a real keeper. I was informed by ranger Bill Adler that there are now three trogons present; 2 males and a female, which is quite exceptional. Usually, only one bird is present (probably the same lone male has wintered here for about 8 years now). Rose-throated Becard and Black-capped Gnatcatcher were both seen yesterday.

The lake is not a great place to see raptors so my tally today was quite surprising. Despite missing the wintering Bald Eagle (seen by others), I saw 6 species -- NORTHERN HARRIER, SHARP-SHINNED, COOPER'S & RED-TAILED HAWKS, AMERICAN KESTREL and MERLIN. A quick glance at my Patagonia Lake bar-graph will put this into perspective. The Merlin sighting was only my third at the lake with one of those sightings also coming in late January. I've never had much luck getting close enough to a Kestrel for a decent photo but today's bird was quite confiding. Perhaps the wind helped as it likely didn't want to fly! Kestrel is actually a spiffy looking bird that doesn't get a lot of press because it's very common.

Less common location species noted were the continuing WESTERN SCREECH-OWL, 8 LEAST SANDPIPERS and 20 WESTERN BLUEBIRDS.

Among the more regular species were 2 WESTERN GREBES, 1 CLARK'S GREBE, 2 immature DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS (I haven't seen the more common Neotropic Cormorant yet this year), 2 CANVASBACKS, scads of COMMON MERGANSERS, 1 WILSON'S SNIPE, 3 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, several GRAY & DUSKY FLYCATCHERS, 10+ LARK SPARROWS and many YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS foraging on the ground.

Thursday, January 25, 2007 
The prospect of another windy day (forecasted twice the velocity of yesterday) almost caused me to work at home today. I changed my mind after I saw the promising early conditions and made a mid morning visit to St. David Monastery (mostly sunny and calm) and an afternoon visit to Willcox. I should have quit while I was ahead -- it was cloudy, cold and increasingly windy at Willcox with a little rain and sleet for good measure. Back to normal in my neighborhood with WHITE-WINGED DOVE and CURVE-BILLED THRASHER both singing this morning.

Although I didn't find what I was looking for at St. David (a wintering Lewis's Woodpecker), conditions were pleasant and I found a decent selection of species apart from ducks (almost none on the main pond or Hermitage pond). Other ponds encountered on my ~2.5 mile loop walk were dry.

The hackberry trees on the west side of the main pond have lots of berries, a fact that had not gone unnoticed by the birds. I watched GILA WOODPECKER, FLICKER, many CEDAR WAXWINGS, MOCKINGBIRD, HERMIT THRUSH and AMERICAN ROBIN taking advantage of the abundant food source.

The weedy fields at the start of the birding trail held plentiful, albeit common sparrows -- BREWER'S, VESPER, SAVANNAH, SONG, LINCOLN'S and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS plus LESSER GOLDFINCH and PYRRHULOXIA.

Among the other species that I noted were WHITE-WINGED DOVE, BELTED KINGFISHER, PHAINOPEPLA, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, VERDIN, lots of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, GREEN-TAILED & ABERT'S TOWHEES, NORTHERN CARDINAL and a marsh full of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS singing away.

I traveled to Willcox via Sybil Road where many MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS continue in the pasture about 1.3 miles from Hwy 80.

Willcox was bleak, to put in mildly. Not a lot of fun rustling up birds in the wind. With apologies to readers living where gulls are commonplace, highlights were a couple of adult RING-BILLED GULLS and a first winter CALIFORNIA GULL. I tried desperately to turn the California into Herring but in the end I couldn't ignore the truth.

The most noticeable species were ~200 widely scattered COMMON MERGANSERS and perhaps slightly less NORTHERN SHOVELERS on the main pond; and several hundred AMERICAN WIGEON on the golf course grass. I scanned for Eurasian (hybrid or otherwise) but I was fighting a losing battle due to distance and wind. Among the smattering of other ducks were a female PINTAIL and a couple of LESSER SCAUP. I noted ~500 SANDHILL CRANES heading north over I-10.

Landbirds were not easy to come by and highlights were few. A perched up CRISSAL THRASHER along the entrance was a pleasant surprise (only my second at this location) and I enjoyed a male VERMILION FLYCATCHER working very low at the golf course pond.

Other stuff included EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, AMERICAN PIPIT, a handful each of BREWER'S, VESPER and SAVANNAH SPARROWS and a couple of large flocks of LARK BUNTINGS (entrance road and city dump).

Friday, January 26, 2007 
We're almost out of the woods weather wise -- today is supposed to be the last chance of rain and snow for a while with a decent dry and warm spell in the offing. Today was mild, mostly sunny and calm in the Sierra Vista area. I stayed local with visits to the San Pedro RNCA and Sierra Vista EOP.

On the San Pedro, I focused most of my time and efforts around Kingfisher Pond and along the river hoping to find the little green guy. Unfortunately, the only kingfisher that I found was BELTED KINGFISHER.  In recent years, Green Kingfisher has mostly been a late fall visitor on the San Pedro and has stuck around until the cold weather begins in January. It appears that this may be the case again this year (or perhaps the bird(s) has/have moved to another location on the river). I'm not sure that I understand why since Kingfisher Pond and the river both have open water and I watched the Belted Kingfisher successfully finding fish this morning.

I also failed to find the Louisiana Waterthrush today despite spending about 30 minutes just standing still in the area where I've been seeing the bird. Of course, it could easily have been a little further up/down stream.

My time wasn't completely without reward though. MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD at Kingfisher pond was species #228 for me on the San Pedro (most of them seen at the Hwy 90 crossing where I spend most of my time). There have been a number of sightings this year at the pond and other locations up river but I've managed to avoid them until today. There's very little habitat and food for thrushes on the river and the family is poorly represented here, as at look at my SPRNCA bar graph will show.

I found a total of 50 species with nothing of real note. Highlights were a lone male NORTHERN PINTAIL (very scarce here -- this was only my 7th record in 15 years), 3 CANVASBACKS, WILSON'S SNIPE (uncommon on the river in winter), at least 2 HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS and a CRISSAL THRASHER on the east side of the river east of Kingfisher Pond.

PEREGRINE FALCON was the only bird of note at Sierra Vista EOP.

62 species recorded:
Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Green-winged & Cinnamon Teal; Mallard, N. Pintail, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Ruddy Duck, N. Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Gambel's Quail, Sora, Am. Coot, Wilson's Snipe, Rock Pigeon, Mourning & White-winged Doves; Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers; N. Flicker, Hammond's Flycatcher, Black & Say's Phoebes; Horned Lark, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Cactus, Bewick's, House & Marsh Wrens; N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed & Crissal Thrashers; Mountain Bluebird, Bushtit, Bridled Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Verdin, Loggerhead Shrike, Chihuahuan Raven, European Starling, House Sparrow, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees; Chipping, Brewer's, Vesper, Savannah, Song, Lincoln's & White-crowned Sparrows; Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged & Yellow-headed Blackbirds; and Great-tailed Grackle.

Sunday, January 28, 2007 
This morning I joined the regular Sunday morning tour of Sierra Vista EOP, something that I haven't done since Christmas Eve. I really don't care for crowd birding but this is the only way to gain access to the interior. However, since I'm not on duty as a guide, I can stay low key. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Weather conditions were excellent -- mostly sunny with a few high thin clouds, zero wind and a temperature of 36 to 54 degrees from 8:00 to 10:30am. Birding was generally on the slow side. Ducks were numerous, shorebirds absent, raptors and sparrows in low numbers.

The highlight was a lone male MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, the first that I've seen here since October, 2002. Overall, it was my 10th EOP record from four different years. Also of note was a cooperative but distant MERLIN seen sitting for long periods in two different locations. The bird was a brown backed juvenile or female (probably the latter) with an extremely well defined banded tail and a very pale front. Although way too distant to be 100% certain, I believe it was a Prairie Merlin (richardsonii).

Compared to normal, there's some large expanses of (deeper) water present at the moment and ducks have certainly noticed this; NORTHERN PINTAILS in particular were very numerous. Less common species were 5 CANVASBACKS (3 males), 7 LESSER SCAUP (at least one male) and the continuing female BUFFLEHEAD that has been present for about a year.

Among the few landbird species were 2 GREATER ROADRUNNERS, the usual BLACK & SAY'S PHOEBES, a small flock of HORNED LARKS, CACTUS WREN, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, PYRRHULOXIA and five flavors of icteridae including many YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

WHITE-WINGED DOVES were in full voice when I got home.

Monday, January 29, 2007 
After the mildest overnight temperature for some time where I live (about 32 this morning), it was a very pleasant blue sky morning. I decided to head into the mountains for the first time since the heavy snowfall exactly one week ago. Although there is still plenty of snow visible on the highest peaks of the Huachucas, I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the snow has melted at middle elevations. While slushy in places, upper Garden Canyon road was quite passable and there wasn't much ice even in the worst area near the pictograph site. Sawmill Canyon had far less snow than on my last visit on January 4.

Back in December, I learned that the fishing ponds would be restocked in January. Sure enough, several fisherman were present at the main (Gravel Pit) pond this morning and there wasn't a duck to be seen. The nearby smaller and much shallower pond had just about as many waterfowl species as I've seen here at one time (but that's not saying much). Interestingly, apart from multiple COOTS, I saw just one individual each of the other species -- PIED-BILLED GREBE, male GREEN-WINGED TEAL, female MALLARD, female CANVASBACK and male RING-NECKED DUCK.

The cold weather may have driven off a few species that depend on insects since I didn't detect either phoebe species, Vermilion Flycatcher or Yellow-rumped Warbler. On the other hand, PHAINOPEPLA, MOCKINGBIRD and CURVE-BILLED THRASHER were all conspicuous in the mistletoe draped mesquites. I also noted at least 4 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES and as many AMERICAN KESTRELS.

Sawmill Canyon was very quiet and I only stuck around long enough to locate my target WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER. I found a male a little lower down the canyon then my other sightings this season. ARIZONA WOODPECKERS were fairly numerous but certainly not conspicuous; just a little light tapping to give away their presence. Noisy STELLER'S JAYS were the most noticeable species.

Less common species were a bill clapping GREATER ROADRUNNER and a few WESTERN BLUEBIRDS. I typically don't detect Roadrunners in the canyon except when they are singing in March and April (and even then not very often).

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 
This morning I made a rare early visit to Scheelite Canyon. Generally, if Spotted Owl is the primary target, it's not necessary to use the best birding hours of the day because the owls sit in the same roosting spot all day. I headed to the canyon for two reasons -- first, I wanted to lend a hand to fellow countryman and guide Peter Dedicoat who is leading an Avian Adventures (UK) group (not that help was needed as it turned out); and secondly, I wanted to pick up an owl for January on this the last day of the month so as not to spoil my record. Since I started visiting Scheelite on a regular basis in the early 90s, I have not failed to see a Spotted Owl in January. However, with three spectacular misses under my belt so far this month, that record was looking a little dodgy to say the least. Man, what pressure!

First, a word about the weather. Less than a week ago, the Tucson weather guys (normally a super accurate bunch <ever so slight grin>) were forecasting a stretch of dry and warmer weather though this week. Since then, the forecast has become progressively worse without, of course, any real admission of "oops, we screwed up". Yesterday was cloudy, chilly and quite wet at times and today was worse -- raining hard early this morning then on and off all day. I came across the following "my, how things change" statements which might appropriately be applied to concepts of weather reporting or perhaps a theory on bird identification.

Four Stages of Acceptance:
1. This is worthless nonsense.
2. This is an interesting, but perverse, point of view.
3. This is true, but quite unimportant.
4. I always said so.

I entered Fort Huachuca at 7:30am and departed just about an hour later. From this you'll gather that I had instant success. I managed to avoid the rain, although there were a few light snowflakes falling in Scheelite Canyon as I left. Snow is expected down to 5000 feet tonight.

First, a little background to reinforce the fact that my obsession with Murphy's Law is well founded. Earlier in the month (January 13 and 14), I searched all roosting areas (lower, middle and upper) as well as the lower canyon without finding an owl. On January 17, I focused on the lower roosting area and  lower canyon without finding an owl. Imagine my feelings when I checked the sighting log and noted that someone had reported an owl on January 15 with a rather contradictory description that read "way up there below the split". Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure how accurate this description is since the split is at 3/4 mile and hardly "way up there". No matter, it's higher up canyon than I decided to go on my January 17 visit. It just goes to show that you can't afford to cut corners no matter what the data from recent visits might indicate. By the way, for an explanation of these roosting areas, see my Spotted Owl Data.

Today I entered the canyon ahead of the Avian Adventures group and I was determined to approach the search with a completely open mind. Would you ******* believe it. I was in and out of the canyon in about 15 minutes having easily found a very obvious SPOTTED OWL below the 3/8 mile mark. The bird was in a new roosting location (for me that is, perhaps not for the owl). A guy with a white stick would have found the bird today. You can't make up this stuff. The bottom line for me is that, although I've recorded another roosting location, it was so close to the trail and obvious to be of little value in the grand scheme of things.

The only birds of note in the canyon were ARIZONA WOODPECKER and a ROCK WREN near the entrance. The AA group also saw MONTEZUMA QUAIL.

EASTERN MEADOWLARKS are suddenly common again in the grassland.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Jan Species Seen

Stuart Healy Journal - January, 2007 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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