Feb. Species Seen

Stuart Healy Journal - February, 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, February 28, 2007

, February 1, 2007 

Birding at Patagonia Lake seemed agonizingly slow at times and although I tried my best to have fun, the conditions pretty much ensured that wasn't going to happen. Nevertheless, I persevered without ever making a serious effort for any particular birds and after five hours of slow but steady birding I tallied exactly 70 species. How the hell did I miss Song Sparrow?

Continuing species provided all the highlights -- CLARK'S GREBE, the wintering adult BALD EAGLE and the incredibly tolerant WESTERN SCREECH-OWL still hiding in plain sight.

I noted a few less common species for the location and/or season -- 2 COMMON GROUND-DOVES (my first January record at the lake); RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (common in SE AZ in winter but not at the lake); and a continuing flock of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS.

Among the regular species seen were WESTERN GREBE, 2 immature DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, an adult BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, numerous COMMON MOORHENS, 2 WILSON'S SNIPES, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, a flock of WHITE-WINGED DOVES, BELTED KINGFISHER, the usual GRAY & DUSKY FLYCATCHERS, GREEN-TAILED & CANYON TOWHEES; RUFOUS-WINGED (singing), BREWER'S, VESPER, LARK & BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS; and side by side views of PYRRHULOXIA (the poor man's Cardinal) and CARDINAL (some might argue that this is the poor man's Pyrrhuloxia).

I had great views of VIRGINIA RAIL and the very local "Patagonia Lake Tree Race" of MARSH WREN. The close proximity of diverse habitats at the lake regularly produces some interesting sightings such as Marsh Wrens in trees and Mockingbirds in the marsh.

In recent years, I've noted a sharp drop in winter sightings of Neotropic Cormorant at the lake. This is most apparent in December but they usually reappear in January. However, not so this year -- I haven't seen one yet. Interestingly, this is a species that is expanding its range northward in Arizona, particularly in Maricopa County. Perhaps this is due to the many man made lakes created in rapidly growing housing developments.

Kino Springs was a big disappointment. There's been some severe clearing of habitat at the first pond and almost all of the previously extensive weedy habitat has been removed. Ditto at the club house pond but much less severe. I saw very few sparrows and zero finches of any species, although it wasn't a good time of day. There's still plenty of weedy habitat in adjacent areas so I hope the Lawrence's Goldfinches will stick around. I've seen them feeding immediately west of the first pond (across the street) several times this winter but I didn't check there today.

The only birds of note were a male HOODED MERGANSER and a MERLIN, both at the club house pond. GREAT EGRET continues at the first pond.

On the drive home, 4 BLACK VULTURES circling over highway 82 in Patagonia seemed out of place on such a chilly and blustery day.

Friday, February 2, 2007 
Plenty of sunshine in Sierra Vista and a high in the low 50s today. I headed into the Huachucas, primarily to check on the snow level which was way higher than the predicted 5000 feet (more like 7000), at least in the Garden Canyon drainage. The canyon was chilly with a moderate breeze by mid morning.

At the fishing ponds, I noted 4 CANVASBACKS (2 males, 2 females), a male RING-NECKED DUCK and a very cooperative ARIZONA WOODPECKER.

Lower Garden Canyon pond produced CRISSAL THRASHER, quite scarce in Garden Canyon though I suspect they are more common deeper into the mesquite grassland the further away one gets from the main road. I also had good views of RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW.

Along the trail that runs south of the creek between the middle and lower picnic areas, I eventually came across a mixed flock containing 2 female TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS and a male BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER. I heard both birds calling which clued me in to their presence. Both species are rare and somewhat irregular in SE AZ in winter with Townsend's occurring more often than Black-throated Gray in my experience. As a migrant (and returning summer breeder), Black-throated Gray shows up a little earlier than migrant Townsend's. I suspect that today's Black-throated Gray is most likely a wintering bird, however, there's no way to absolutely rule out an early migrant. Either way, two nice birds to see in early February!

As usual, the main component of the flock was BRIDLED TITMOUSE. In addition to the aforementioned warblers, other hangers-on were RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH & YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER plus HUTTON'S VIREO, BEWICK'S WREN and several BROWN CREEPERS (the latter three species were all singing). 

The lower picnic area held little of note apart from a calling HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER.

My drive out of the canyon was interrupted by this GREATER ROADRUNNER (you can see that the bird knows it's been made). I took this shot from the car from some distance with the engine running, since I intended to creep closer. Unfortunately, some yahoo came blasting by and flushed the bird (deliberately, or so it seemed to me). Oh, well.

Sunday, February 4, 2007 
I headed to Sierra Vista EOP this morning for the regular Sunday jaunt. However, when I saw the number of cars in the parking lot, I immediately turned around and left. As I mentioned last Sunday, I really dislike crowd birding and as much as I want to continue collecting data for this location, the price today was simply more than I was willing to pay. I later learned that people were turned away due to the city mandated limit of 24. How ironic is that, getting turned away from a place that's not even a good birding location.

Now what to do? All dressed up and nowhere to go. Since I hadn't planned (and wasn't equipped) to travel far, I just spent some time peedling around in lower Garden Canyon. I mostly checked mesquite-grassland areas and ponds and didn't really get into much oak habitat. Highlights were juvenile SHARP-SHINNED and COOPER'S HAWKS, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER and a flock of ~30 WESTERN BLUEBIRDS.

It was a fairly mild morning under high thin clouds and a number of common species were vocal and conspicuous, particularly PHAINOPEPLA and EASTERN MEADOWLARK.

WHITE-WINGED DOVES were singing at Lower Garden Pond. They've been singing where I live for 3 weeks now but this is the first I've heard in Garden Canyon so far this year (a location where they are not very common). I also heard GREATER ROADRUNNER singing (if you can call it that) at the Fishing Ponds. Spring is in the air.

Monday, February 5, 2007 
There's been quite a warming trend over the past couple of days After a relatively mild start, the temperature climbed into the 70s today in Sierra Vista (about 10 degrees above average). I checked Sawmill Canyon where there's still some snow around at 6300 feet. Nevertheless, it was shorts and short sleeve weather.

Although I found a couple of mixed flocks, the canyon was generally quiet and uninspiring from a birding standpoint. Worse still, I failed to find my target Williamson's Sapsucker for the first time in a while (seen on 5 recent consecutive visits -- October 24, November 2, 14; January 4, 29). It's a good thing that I was able to enjoy some wonderful conditions and solitude. Highlights were several ARIZONA WOODPECKERS and OLIVE WARBLER. I also saw a handful of regulars.

In Garden Canyon, the CANVASBACK population at the Fishing Ponds has risen to 7 (5 males). Several GREATER ROADRUNNERS and PHAINOPEPLAS were around. Since they are rather uncommon in SE AZ in winter, I'm assuming that the White-throated Sparrow sighted at the ponds earlier this morning was the same bird that I saw and photographed here on November 23. Unfortunately, I didn't get to the ponds until noon and saw hardly any sparrows. I still haven't figured out how to be in multiple locations at the same time.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007 
Today I checked Whitewater Draw in Sulphur Springs Valley along with lots of other people (peak snowbird season is approaching). I also checked several other valley locations and finished up with a visit to the Mule Mountains. It was another sunny and unseasonably warm day, much more like spring than winter. While spring is fixed on the calendar, from a vegetation and bird standpoint it comes much earlier at this latitude. I doubt that folks in Nome and Barrow are thinking much about spring as yet.

Between early morning and late morning visits to Whitewater Draw, I cruised around looking for thrashers. We're now getting into the heart of thrasher breeding season so this is a good time to see them perched up and singing. I found CURVE-BILLED THRASHER, 4 BENDIRE'S THRASHERS and 3 CRISSAL THRASHERS; all in different locations and all singing. For good measure, I also saw 2 wintering SAGE THRASHERS.

Every silver lining has a cloud and today that cloud was the absence of Mountain Plovers, at least in the fields bounded by Davis Road and Central Highway. I didn't check the fields around Essary Hay north of Elfrida. Plentiful FERRUGINOUS HAWKS were a decent consolation.

Among the highlights at Whitewater Draw were a lone WESTERN GREBE, the continuing mixed flock of 150ish SNOW and ROSS'S GEESE (they flew in a little later today; after 11:00am), MERLIN, PRAIRIE FALCON, 3 ROADRUNNERS, 6+ BARN OWLS, GREAT HORNED OWL, 2 LONG-EARED OWLS,  6+ VERMILION FLYCATCHERS and 30+ MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS.

I didn't see many SANDHILL CRANES at Whitewater Draw but they were plentiful elsewhere. It won't be long now until they start to head back north. The early birds start drifting away in mid to late February but many stay well into March.

Despite the warm conditions and time of day, an afternoon visit to the Mule Mountains was very productive. My main target was BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW and I found at least a dozen of them. I managed to see several quite well but couldn't get a decent photo. On the photographic plus side, I was able to get a good image of ROCK WREN in a tree (not an uncommon sight) and decent images of ROCK WREN on a rock, CACTUS WREN on a couch (there's a first time for everything) and a punk LINCOLN'S SPARROW.

Other species in the mountains (mostly oak, manzanita and chaparral habitat) included WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, GREEN-TAILED, SPOTTED & CANYON TOWHEES and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007 
Baird's Sparrow in San Rafael Valley was my main objective this morning. Since I also wanted to look for Short-eared Owl, I left home early to make sure that I was in the valley well before dawn. Compared to recent overnight low temperatures (as low as 18 degrees in Sierra Vista), it was a positively balmy 42 degrees at 5:30am this morning and the daytime temperature was again well above average.

I cruised around at the east end of the valley where I was eventually rewarded with a roadside SHORT-EARED OWL on the southern section of FR 58 not far from FR 799. In fact, since it was so early, it was almost the first bird that I saw!

I headed to my favorite sparrow watching spot at the west end of the valley where I had to be a little more patient. I long ago learned that, unless you have a large group, traipsing through the grass is not a good strategy for Baird's Sparrow. Most times, even if I locate a bird, all I see is the ass end as it flies away. I found a good vantage point where I could see plenty of fence lines as well as small bushes protruding above the sea of grass. Apart from a few SAVANNAH SPARROWS perched up before sunrise, I saw very little in the sparrow family for the next hour. However, my patience was eventually rewarded when I saw BAIRD'S, GRASSHOPPER and VESPER SPARROWS in the same scope view, all perched in the same bush.

Now I had a decision to make. Although I would have loved to do some casual birding at nearby Bog Hole, I wanted to check Kino Springs after the recent habitat clearing. I left the valley and drove through Harshaw Canyon where I saw just a few birds obvious from the roadside, such as ACORN WOODPECKER, MEXICAN JAY, BRIDLED TITMOUSE and tons of CHIPPING SPARROWS.

Although the activity level at the first pond at Kino Springs was much higher than my recent visit, the number of individuals is way down. This is hardly surprising since most of the food and cover is now in the surrounding areas. I wasn't able to find any LESSER and LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES at the pond proper, but I did find them in the dense, weedy area across the street adjacent to the wash. I had to wait a while though because the border patrol guys were working that section with a helicopter and eventually rounded up a bunch of UDAs.

I birded the first pond and club house pound before returning to the first pond to get my goldfinches. Between the two ponds, I noted 18 COMMON GROUND-DOVES and two female RUDDY GROUND-DOVES (one at each pond). Also of interest (but probably only to me) was a continuing AMERICAN ROBIN working the hackberry trees.

Other species included the continuing GREAT EGRET, 2 GREEN HERONS, the HOODED MERGANSER contingent, BLACK VULTURE circling over the bridge at the entrance, a nice male MERLIN on the club house island, SORA, VERMILION FLYCATCHER at the first pond (I've only seen them at the club house area all winter), singing CRISSAL THRASHER and singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW.

I spent a little time trying to get a decent photo of the Hooded Mergansers. However, no matter where I positioned myself the birds would simply swim as far away as they could. There came a time when they made a bit of a mistake and I managed a so-so image of the male and part of his entourage.

Thursday, February 8, 2007 
Busy days lie ahead so I made the effort to do some non mainstream research birding at the south end of the Huachucas today. I drove through Coronado Memorial and up to Montezuma Pass where I spent a few hours on some of the trails. This is as close as I come to a play day. As I reported on November 30, the road up to the pass is in excellent condition after recent repair work. It was another pleasant spring-like day, not quite as warm as recent days with high cloud cover and a little breezy in the mountains.

The elevation at Montezuma Pass is a little above 6500 feet and the base habitat of the surrounding area consists of rugged rocks and grassland. There's a fair amount of oak, juniper and pinyon pine but the predominant habitat is chaparral and desert plants. This is an area that deserves more of my time, especially the Crest Trail, Joe's Canyon Trail and Yaqui Ridge Trail that heads down to the border with Mexico. There are also a number of inviting side drainages. Unfortunately, there are lots of regular locations that I need to continually track so I have to allocate my time accordingly. We all have our crosses to bear.

Golden Eagles nest in the area and birds such as Cactus Wren and Ladder-backed Woodpecker are found alongside Mexican Jay and Spotted Towhee (habitat trumps elevation). Some of the habitat appears to be excellent for breeding Black-chinned Sparrow and I have seen them here before in winter. Unfortunately, I never seem to find the time to get up here in spring and summer. I worked hard to to find Black-chins without success today despite a considerable amount of trolling over several miles of trails.

I saw nothing out of the ordinary, just common birds. I enjoyed super close looks at a pair of perched COMMON RAVENS that eventually flinched in a game of "how close can I get" chicken; and a CANYON WREN investigating a rotting tree stump.

Among the other species were several singing NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS, a flock of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS,  HOUSE and BEWICK'S WRENS (the latter singing in multiple locations from the lower oaks all the way up to the pass), a busy flock of chattering BUSHTITS, 4+ singing CANYON TOWHEES, many skulking SPOTTED TOWHEES; and 6+ RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS (not all in the same spot!) giving their "dear dear dear" calls complaining that I had invaded their space.

Friday, February 9, 2007 
I had very little time for birding today and only managed to check a couple of ponds on Fort Huachuca (Fishing Ponds and Sycamore Pond) followed by a brief visit to Sierra Vista EOP. More clouds today but the temperature still reached 70 degrees in Sierra Vista.

I was able to find the WHITE-THROATED SPARROW at the fishing ponds but only managed a brief flight view. This is a seriously skittish and skulking individual.

Each of my recent visits has produced an increasing number of CANVASBACKS -- 1, 4, 5, 7 and today 11 (6 males). Prior to these sightings, I only had one record in the Huachucas from January, 2002. It's interesting to note that the birds are hanging out in an atypical (rather small and shallow) pond. Presumably, this is because the larger (still fairly small) and deeper pond has too much disturbance from fisherman since the restocking last month (6 parties fishing by the time that I left this morning). I managed a photo of a female CANVASBACK from a distance.

Other species (~30 in all) noted during a short visit included RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, MARSH WREN, WESTERN BLUEBIRD, RUFOUS-CROWNED, SAVANNAH & LINCOLNS SPARROWS, SPOTTED TOWHEE and PYRRHULOXIA.

Highlights at Sierra Vista EOP were PRAIRIE FALCON, SORA and my first NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW of the season.

Saturday, February 10, 2007 
First of two days with Jim and Nancy DeWitt from Fairbanks, AK who I've birded with once before back in February, 1999. On another unseasonably warm day, we birded at Patagonia Lake, Kino Springs and Paton's Yard. From a target bird standpoint, we did very poorly seeing only one of four potential targets.

Although there was plenty to look at on the water, the birding at Patagonia Lake for landbirds was quite poor this morning. Furthermore, the lake was very crowded due to a weekend day plus lots of snowbirds. All in all, not a good experience. We dipped on Western Screech-Owl on its regular (since late December) day roost and it's possible that the bird may finally have moved on. I also failed to find Black-capped Gnatcatcher (possibly heard once, way to the east of and above the fourth wash). We spent about three hours at the lake and recorded 50+ species (no creek birding).

NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS have finally returned (present yesterday as well) and I noted 16 of them today. I commented on their absence on February 1. WESTERN GREBE continues but we didn't see either of the two recently present Clark's Grebes.

The normally easy to find Dusky and Gray Flycatchers were conspicuous by their absence and we heard just one GRAY FLYCATCHER.

Highlights were three thrush species, all of which are rare to very uncommon at the lake -- a lone male MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, a small flock of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and a calling TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE between the fourth wash and Nutting's wash. RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER was the only other less common location species noted.

By comparison, birding at Kino Springs was fairly good despite the recent habitat loss. Unfortunately, a fairly concentrated effort in good habitat didn't produce any Lawrence's Goldfinches. In fact, we didn't even find any Lesser Goldfinches. On the plus side, we had decent views of a perched pair of CRISSAL THRASHERS, our only target success of the day.

A few YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS (at the club house pond marsh) represented a rare sighting for this location -- I only have 9 records from 5 different years, most in early fall. COMMON RAVENS are already fussing around their nest at the first pond.

Among the 50 species noted between the first and club house pond areas were GREAT EGRET, 4 HOODED MERGANSER (1 male), CINNAMON TEAL, COMMON MOORHEN, several COMMON GROUND-DOVES, GRAY FLYCATCHER, an inquisitive BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER; GREEN-TAILED, CANYON & ABERT'S TOWHEES and a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW showing the rufous patch on its wing (not always the case by any means).

We finished up in Marion Paton's yard where it was fairly quiet in the early afternoon. Murphy struck immediately when we learned that we had missed an earlier visit from Lawrence's Goldfinch! The only hummingbirds present from 1:00-2:00pm were male and female ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS (a male Broad-billed was seen earlier). A small group of LESSER GOLDFINCHES and a couple of LAZULI BUNTINGS provided some color and entertainment. Among the regular yard visitors were WHITE-WINGED DOVE, ACORN WOODPECKER, GAMBEL'S QUAIL, BRIDLED TITMOUSE and CURVE-BILLED THRASHER.

Sunday, February 11, 2007 
Out again today with Jim and Nancy on what was an improvement over yesterday in all respects -- we had much better target bird success, encountered far less people and enjoyed cooler conditions. We visited Sulphur Springs Valley and the Huachucas.

Our valley birding began well with a successful search for MOUNTAIN PLOVER on Davis Road. Even though I had seen them here consistently earlier this year, I was far from optimistic about finding them after a couple of recent misses that started with the snow a couple of weeks ago. Truthfully, I really didn't expect to find them at all. However, a careful half-hour search produced 3 birds (a low count for this species but still two more than we needed). If you don't buy a ticket, you won't win the raffle.

Other birds present in the fields and adjacent properties included several FERRUGINOUS HAWKS, a few SANDHILL CRANES, ~10 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, calling EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES, lots of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and the usual blackbird flocks including YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

Next we headed down Coffman Road to Whitewater Draw where our targets were BARN OWL (4 seen) and SCALED QUAIL (1 seen). The Barn Owls can be incredibly difficult to locate in the willow thicket -- I've seen as many as seven but today we found only four with just one providing a half-decent view.

We did well on thrashers with 3 SAGE THRASHERS, BENDIRE'S THRASHER, several CURVE-BILLED THRASHERS and 2 CRISSAL THRASHERS (easily seen since we worked for them yesterday). It's been a good year for Sage Thrashers in the valley.

We didn't spend much time birding at Whitewater Draw and probably missed plenty of stuff including the white geese flock since we left before their normal mid morning arrival time. Among the ~45 species seen were COMMON MERGANSER, a lone LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, several EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES (Coffman), a couple of GREATER ROADRUNNERS, GREAT HORNED OWL, 3 LONG-EARED OWLS, a few VERMILION FLYCATCHERS (it won't be long now before they are common again) and my first TREE SWALLOW of the season.

Our next port of call was Scheelite Canyon in the Huachucas. Although we had success with Spotted Owl when Jim and Nancy were here in 1999, Jim is now into photography and wanted to try for a photo. This requires that three things fall into place -- first and foremost, of course, is to find an owl (no shit, Sherlock)! Then we have to hope for an unobstructed view and, finally, some decent light. We found a SPOTTED OWL perched in an mostly unobstructed location but the light left a little to be desired. Two out of three isn't bad so they say. Hopefully, Jim got some decent images.

We finished the day in Sawmill Canyon where it was very cloudy and quite breezy. After a little wandering around, we found a mixed flock containing at least one male OLIVE WARBLER. We had several views of a high foraging bird and it was a shame that the light wasn't better. Not surprisingly given the windy conditions, we didn't hear any woodpeckers.

In addition to the usual jays and canyon regulars, less common location species were a fly-by group of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and a single RED CROSSBILL, also seen in flight and heard calling. The crossbill is very uncommon, almost rare in Sawmill. I have records from 8 of the last 14 years in every month except September.

My last bird of the day was a COOPER'S HAWK perched on a light pole in town (House Sparrows are either easy, tasty or possibly both).

Monday, February 12, 2007 
Back on the air today. Even though the journal hasn't been published for a couple of weeks, I've still been doing my thing out in the field and keeping the journal current. Consequently, you have some catching up to do with a number of entries dating back to January 28. Future reports may not be as timely as in the past.

Even though I achieved my goal of responses to the browser survey, a quick analysis of my site statistics for January alone shows that less than 10% of the number of visitors to the site in that month took the time to respond. Extremely disappointing. Thanks again to the 200 plus of you who did respond. I had planned to publish the results of the survey and the changes I intend to make as a result. However, it's obvious that very few folks care about such matters so I'll save myself the work. Hell, I may not even make any changes.

Fort Huachuca: There have been some changes to the operating hours of the gates at the fort and I've updated my Fort Huachuca Map and Info. Please let me know you if see any errors.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 
First of two days of target birding with Susan Clark from Grand Ledge, MI. Today we put in a long day of driving and enjoyed success with all three species that we sought -- Le Conte's Thrasher, Ruddy Ground-Dove and Streak-backed Oriole.

We left Sierra Vista at 4:00am and began birding at the "Baseline/Salome thrasher spot" near Buckeye, west of Phoenix, at 7:45am. It was cool and cloudy for a while and initial activity was very low. We heard a very close LE CONTE'S THRASHER singing at 8:00am fairly close to the the highway but never managed to see the bird. No matter, it only took another 30 minutes before we had good looks at a couple of birds, this time well west of the highway. After obtaining a distant but diagnostic view of a single bird, we moved closer and saw two birds very well, both perched and foraging on the ground.

Other species were few and far between and included BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, 3 SAGE THRASHERS and a fair number of SAGE SPARROWS. We were underway again at 9:00am. Good deal, I'd have taken 10:00am and still been happy.

Our next stop was 121st Avenue south of Avondale where we immediately saw 3 of the previously reported RUDDY GROUND-DOVES. The birds were hanging out under a mesquite in the yard of the second property south of Southern Avenue on the east side of 121st. This property has a covered fence, you'll know it when you see it.

After a fairly easy drive across town, we resumed birding at Gilbert Water Ranch where it was sunny and pleasant. A ten minute walk out to the orange laden mesquites on Whistling-Duck Way was immediately rewarded when the best fed STREAK-BACKED ORIOLE in Arizona showed up to dine. I took a number of better quality images than the one published here but they were all perched on oranges. At least this one is orange free and clearly shows the streaked back.

Other species noted on a very brief visit included GREAT & SNOWY EGRETS, NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, BLACK-NECKED STILT, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, BELTED KINGFISHER, BELL'S VIREO and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER.

Three hours of driving put us back in a very cloudy and cool Sierra Vista with fresh snow visible in the mountains.

Thursday, February 15, 2007 
Out again today with Susan for a few more target birds We visited San Rafael Valley, Patagonia Lake, Peña Blanca Lake and Kino Springs. Today's weather was a big improvement over the conditions in Sierra Vista late yesterday. After an ice scraping start and a temperature of 19 degrees at the west end of San Rafael Valley at dawn, it was a very sunny and pleasant day in the high 50s.

Not surprisingly with such a cold start, we needed plenty of time (2 hours), patience and persistence to see BAIRD'S SPARROW. Our reward was multiple scope views of a perched bird. In fact, even though we only saw one bird at a time, plumage differences made it virtually certain that we saw two birds. [I was at the same spot last week when the temperature was in the 40s. On that day, it only took about an hour to find Baird's Sparrow but sparrow activity in general was much less despite the much higher temperature.] Other birds noted during our search included a singing GREATER ROADRUNNER, tons of SAVANNAH, several VESPER and 2 GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS; and EASTERN & WESTERN MEADOWLARKS.

Our visit to Patagonia Lake was sacrilegiously brief  (in and out in less than an hour). Our only target here was GRAY FLYCATCHER which actually took a little longer to find than I expected.

We encountered an incredibly cooperative male ELEGANT TROGON sitting quietly in the willows along the main marsh trail between the second and third washes. On both outbound and return journeys, the trogon actually flew our way and perched very close to us next to the trail -- 10 feet away at one point. We went out of our way to walk around the bird so as not to disturb it! I've seen this behavior before.

Other species included NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, DUSKY & ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS and singing RUFOUS-WINGED & BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS.

As expected, the investment of a drive to Peña Blanca Lake immediately paid dividends with great views of male and female RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS. The lake is perhaps the most reliable location to see this species in SE AZ in winter (I once saw 30 individuals on a walk around the lake).

Among the 25 species recorded during another short visit were ACORN WOODPECKER, ROCK & CANYON WRENS, HERMIT THRUSH and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW.

As I feared, our only failure of the day came at Kino Springs where we failed to turn up Lawrence's Goldfinch (or Lesser) despite checking the first pond, club house pond and sewage pond areas. Fortunately, Susan will be around until later in the month and should pick them up elsewhere. 

We noted GREAT EGRET, HOODED MERGANSER (only 2 females seen with the male today), CANVASBACK, COMMON GROUND-DOVE and NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW among about 40 species in the early afternoon.

Sunday, February 18, 2007 
This morning I took a break from working on itineraries to make a quick check of the fishing ponds in Garden Canyon where I was hoping for an early migrant or two. It was a mild and and cloudy morning and rain is expected over the next couple of days.

The trees around the ponds are certainly showing signs of spring but the only avian evidence of the season was a male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. Somewhat surprisingly, I've only seen Anna's a few times in Garden Canyon. Other less common species for this location were GREAT BLUE HERON, CANVASBACK (now up to 15 individuals, 8 males) and MARSH WREN.

Species that I've been seeing here regularly of late included PHAINOPEPLA, SPOTTED & CANYON TOWHEES, RUFOUS-CROWNED & LINCOLN'S SPARROWS and EASTERN MEADOWLARK. No sign of the elusive White-throated Sparrow.

Monday, February 19, 2007 
First of two days with full time travelers Bill Voss and Renée Marth, formerly of AK; and Kenna Sue Trickey, Karen Pfeifer and Susan Westervelt all from Anchorage. Given the conditions, I'd have to say we had a fairly successful day, although there were times when it sure didn't seem that way. Rain wasn't the problem since that didn't arrive until late afternoon. However, after the first hour, it was extremely windy all day.

We spent most of the morning in Sulphur Springs Valley. The day began well before the wind picked up with FERRUGINOUS HAWKS and MOUNTAIN PLOVERS in the fields on Davis Road. Other species here included EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, SANDHILL CRANE, lots of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and SAGE THRASHER.

We then spent some time cruising around for thrashers. Crissal was the main target but we didn't get a sniff in the wind. Species noted in the Coffman-Lee-Central Road area included at least 3 BENDIRE'S THRASHERS, 2 more SAGE THRASHERS, SCALED QUAIL, lots of LARK BUNTINGS and BLACK-THROATED SPARROW.

We made a short visit to Whitewater Draw for owls seeing 2 GREAT HORNED (now nesting), 1 BARN and 3 LONG-EARED OWLS. We didn't enter the willow grove so there could well have been more Barn Owls present.

Among the ~25 species recorded on this abbreviated visit were the mixed SNOW & ROSS'S GEESE flock, CINNAMON TEAL, GREATER YELLOWLEGS (I usually start seeing them at Whitewater in mid February), SCALED QUAIL, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE (HQ area), VERMILION FLYCATCHER and AMERICAN PIPIT.

Next, we visited the Mule Mountains where it was uncomfortably windy and birds were really hard to see and hear. Despite plenty of effort, we found just one BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW. It was a hollow victory though since we only saw the bird briefly. We didn't see much else -- 2 ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS, tons of CHIPPING SPARROWS, SPOTTED TOWHEE and heard only RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW and WESTERN SCRUB-JAY.

The original plan was to finish up with a try for Spotted Owl. Unfortunately, the time spent on Crissal and Black-chinned put paid to that, for today at least.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 
Out again today for more target birding with the Alaska gang. I've said it many times -- what a difference a day makes. Unlike yesterday (a day on which we worked hard for very little reward), the weather cooperated and we had a very successful day characterized by excellent views of all but one of the target birds seen. On a mostly blue sky day with zero wind, we visited San Rafael Valley, Kino Springs, Patagonia Lake and Scheelite Canyon.

Although it was a certainly brisk in San Rafael Valley (22 degrees was the lowest temperature we noted at dawn), we didn't have to wait long to see BAIRD'S SPARROW. To say that the bird was very cooperative would be a major understatement -- when 6 people get multiple scope looks at this species in winter you know that you have a cooperative bird! The sparrow perched in the open for at least five minutes. We then had a similar experience with GRASSHOPPER SPARROW and were able to leave the valley at 8:00am with both targets in the bag.

We drove directly to Kino Springs where only a modicum of effort was needed to locate a perched CRISSAL THRASHER singing its whisper song. Once again, we had multiple scope looks -- quite a contrast from our wind plagued and unsuccessful search for this species yesterday. Shortly after seeing the thrasher, we found our next victim. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we once again had scope looks at a singing RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW. If there was a downside, it was that we couldn't detect any rufous on the wing.

We only spent a short time in the vicinity of the first pond and associated washes/mesquite areas so didn't have time to amass much of a species list. Apart from the targets, highlights of 30 species were the continuing GREAT EGRET and 4 HOODED MERGANSERS (male and three females).

Patagonia Lake State Park had a very spring-like feel today, mostly because of the hordes of birders. Our best bird was one that I didn't think we would see -- BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER. After hearing two birds calling to each other, a hillside scramble produced good looks at both male and female. I last saw the gnatcatchers on January 14 and have missed them on 5 subsequent visits including one concerted 6 hour session. I haven't seen any reports from others since January 27. I was very pleased to see them again today and if previous years are anything to go by, the birds will be in breeding mode quite soon.

For the second consecutive visit, GRAY FLYCATCHER was again difficult to find and I didn't hear a single call from this normally vocal species. Fortunately, we had decent looks at the only bird that we came across. A short late morning visit (no creek birding) produced ~40 species including good views of SORA, 2 COMMON GROUND-DOVES, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER and newly returned VERMILION FLYCATCHERS.

A pleasant afternoon hike in Scheelite Canyon culminated with an equally pleasant few minutes spent viewing a couple of SPOTTED OWLS. The owls were roosting in separate trees about 30 feet apart. We saw little else save for peek-a-boo looks at a CANYON WREN bouncing around the crevices on a vertical cliff face.

Of interest to me was a calling and singing CRISSAL THRASHER, a very scarce species in Scheelite. I didn't record them in the canyon until 1999 and they have been less than annual since then. I have a total of only 13 records in 4 years falling between August and February. I'm not sure what to make of this.

At this point we were essentially done for the day but we pushed on a little further and turned up a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER near the middle picnic area in Garden Canyon. A good end to a very good day. However, I feel duty bound to point out that, somewhere along the line, there will be an equally bad day to balance this out. Just hope that you are not with me when this happens!

Website note: I've updated and reformatted my notes on "selected SE AZ birding locations".

Friday, February 23, 2007 
I was scheduled in the Sulphur Springs Valley today but a cancellation gave me a day to myself. After a couple of days at the keyboard, I was happy to be back in the field again. I headed down to the San Pedro, a location that I haven't visited for several weeks. Unfortunately, it was a fairly windy morning and I only stayed around for three fairly unproductive hours.

I was surprised to see that the very large expanse of weedy habitat in the vicinity of the San Pedro House has been completely cleared. I'm not sure of the reason (perhaps fire risk reduction?) but the timing sure stinks. This area is used by lots of wintering species so it's a shame that the clearing operation couldn't have been left until a little later after those species thin out.

I spent way too much time (well over an hour) looking unsuccessfully for Louisiana Waterthrush in several locations along the river. I first saw a bird on the river this season on October 27 and it was reported as recently as a few days ago. However, since Louisiana Waterthrush is one of the earliest migrant warblers, it's entirely possible that the bird has already departed.

I have a total of 50 "wintering" records for southeast Arizona ranging from September 2 (Patagonia Lake) to March 14 (San Pedro); with the following record distribution:

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
  2   4   6  14  13   8   3

Mid February is when VERMILION FLYCATCHERS return to their breeding grounds in southeast Arizona. They were certainly fairly common today along the river between Kingfisher pond and the intersection with the trail to the San Pedro House. All told, I saw perhaps as many as 10 of them (mostly males, just one female). The birds were actively feeding and I didn't see any display flights or territorial spats. A couple of HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS were also along the same stretch of river.

The most interesting bird was a territorially calling (hard barking) male ELEGANT TROGON, location species #229 for me. They are reported on the river sporadically but I've never stumbled into one before. The bird called four or five times, perhaps in response to the calls of CHIHUAHUAN RAVENS.

Monday, February 26, 2007 
This morning I spent 5 hours in the Huachucas looking for signs of spring. The weather was more spring-like than the birding but I did notice a male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD at Garden Canyon fishing ponds, apparently defending territory from the same perch as last week. Other indications of the season were 6+ singing HUTTON'S VIREOS in Garden and Sawmill Canyons and 6+ BROWN CREEPERS singing in Sawmill.

Among the few (15 species) in Sawmill were WILLIAMSON'S and RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS, ARIZONA WOODPECKER, HERMIT THRUSH, a small flock of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS and GRAY-HEADED & YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS.

A late morning stop at the fishing ponds yielded 9 RING-NECKED DUCKS (6 males), 3 CINNAMON TEAL (1 male), BUSHTIT, PHAINOPEPLA and a handful of other species.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 
First of three days with Paul and Beth Loehnen from Missoula, MT; and Dave Beaudette, formerly of MT, now of Sierra Vista. We visited Sulphur Springs Valley and Scheelite Canyon. An otherwise decent weather day was ruined by high winds. Did I ever mention that I hate wind.

We began by checking the fields on Davis Road west of Central Highway where I was delighted to find that MOUNTAIN PLOVERS are still present. I was apprehensive since this species often leaves Cochise County in mid to late February (last year was my first March record). We counted about 40 birds in two separate groups -- however, due to distance and windy conditions, there could well have been more. Other species here included several FERRUGINOUS HAWKS, 9 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, SANDHILL CRANES, calling EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES and a large flock of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS.

Among the species on nearby Coffman Road were 2 GREATER ROADRUNNERS, 3 BENDIRE'S THRASHERS, a few more MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS., lots of LARK BUNTINGS and BREWER'S SPARROWS, decent sized feeding flocks of RED-WINGED, YELLOW-HEADED & BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS and EASTERN & WESTERN MEADOWLARKS.

A short stop at Whitewater Draw focused on owls produced 6 BARN OWLS, 1 GREAT HORNED OWL and 3 LONG-EARED OWLS in a slightly more concealed location than of late, perhaps due to the wind. Signs of spring came in the form of a lone AMERICAN AVOCET, a couple of calling GREATER YELLOWLEGS and small numbers of TREE and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS.

Other species included a pair of REDHEADS, several CINNAMON TEAL, numerous GREEN-WINGED TEAL & PINTAILS; a few VERMILION FLYCATCHERS (about 4 seen on a limited walk but probably many more present), SPOTTED SANDPIPER, a pair of LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKERS, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, COMMON  YELLOWTHROAT; PYRRHULOXIA and lots of sparrows -- mostly BREWER'S and SAVANNAH with a few WHITE-CROWNED and VESPER. No geese present when we left at 9:15am (they normally arrive mid morning).

Our trip to Scheelite Canyon was disappointing as I once again failed to find a Spotted Owl (and probably not due to the wind, either). I'm only 3 for 7 so far in 2007, well below my overall average of 93% (although my success rate in January and February only averages 75%). Stats generally don't lie over time. Very little of note in the canyon save for WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. The swifts normally arrive in the canyon in numbers during the second week of March but I have records throughout February starting as early as February 6. HUTTON'S VIREOS were singing in multiple locations.

White Mountains note: bookings in the White Mountains in late July and August are creeping up to the maximum number of days that I plan to accept (see schedule notes). If you are planning to hire me in that location, it's time to get off the dime.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Feb. Species Seen

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

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