July Species Seen

Stuart Healy Journal - July, 2008 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 Thursday, July 31, 2008

Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Road trip Day 15: Wyoming; Trip List: 192 (+9)
Today I traveled south from Sundance to Laramie. I wanted to spend some time along the way at Ayres Natural Bridge Park near Douglas, east of Casper, so I took a short cut through the interior roads of Thunder Basin National Grasslands. This is a slower route on reasonably good earth roads that saved me about 30 miles. As things turned out, I ended up wishing that I had planned to spend more time in the grasslands. Most people get turned off when they hear the term "grasslands", but the habitat and the birding are usually more interesting than the name might suggest.

Thunder Basin National Grasslands actually covers a very large area in northeast Wyoming and comprises much of Weston County (west of Newcastle) and parts of adjacent Campbell and Converse Counties. There are many state and county blacktop roads in this area but you won't see much from them. I took the "Lynch Road" that runs generally southwest starting from SR 450 about 7.5 miles east of the SR 116 intersection in Weston County. However, there's much zigging and zagging through two counties before this road eventually hooks up with SR 59 near the "town" of Bill, some 35 miles north of Douglas.

The land is initially fairly flat and dull but soon becomes more undulating and varied with brushy draws and sagebrush. There's even some "badland" type habitat. The road quality is decent and some sections can actually support 50+ miles per hour. However, because of limited sight distance and billions of PRONGHORNS, I soon found that it doesn't pay to go fast. Since there may have been 1000 times more LARK BUNTINGS present than I actually saw from the road, I'm guessing there may just have been enough to sink several battleships. I mentioned recently about how little habitat is needed for some birds. That was certainly true today because I saw LEAST FLYCATCHER and FLICKER in what seemed to be very marginal habitat in the otherwise inhospitable (for these species) nothingness. Among the other species along the route were WESTERN KINGBIRD, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE (trip bird); GRASSHOPPER & LARK SPARROWS and, of course, scads of HORNED LARKS and WESTERN MEADOWLARKS.

As I was driving south on SR 59, I spotted a GOLDEN EAGLE perched at the side of the road about 10 miles from Douglas. I turned around (out of sight of the bird) to try for a photo. I could see the bird already in flight as I rounded the bend. What are the odds! Obviously, there's no way to know how long the bird had been sitting there. You sure picked a fine time to leave me Lucille!

I left Sundance at 5:00am in order to reach Ayres Natural Bridge Park when the birds were active and people weren't present. The park opens at 8:00am, I got there at 8:20am. This is a beautiful little area on La Prele Creek about 7 miles south of I-25 and 15 miles west of Douglas. Several years ago in June, it was a flat tire that cocked up my day and caused me to "discover" the place. Today was my third visit. There aren't any special birds here but it's a pretty spot -- here's the Natural Bridge.

CLIFF SWALLOWS are abundant and there are nests all over the canyon walls and on the bridge (opposite side to the photo). HOUSE WRENS are also very common and I watched one resourceful bird that had built a nest in an old Cliff Swallow nest. The nest immediately adjacent was still active and each time that a swallow came by to feed its young, the wren would leave its nearby singing perch and a little bit of argy-bargy ensued. I don't think the swallow was in any danger though! I tried to get a photograph but the light at the back of the bridge was extremely poor and the action was very fast. No chance.

American Dipper is reputed to be common here but I did not see one on my previous two visits, perhaps because they have dispersed post nesting. While standing by the water, I saw a gray shape fly past very close to the surface and I thought that I was in luck. I rushed to the spot where I expected the bird to be and found this dipper wannabe -- a.k.a. GRAY CATBIRD. Color me crestfallen.

I wandered around for two hours and enjoyed the comings and goings (I had the place almost to myself). YELLOW WARBLERS are incredibly numerous here and their song is constant. Other species included ROCK PIGEONS actually nesting on the rocks; WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW, HOUSE WRENS walking around on the ground like sparrows; BROWN THRASHER, numerous LESSER GOLDFINCHES, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, SPOTTED TOWHEE and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. Just outside the park I saw BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE.

The Lesser Goldfinches were a first for me in Wyoming. Their status is "uncommon in summer" in limited areas. I just hadn't bumped into them before.

I continued south on I-25 then headed west on SR 34 through the Laramie Mountains. Once on the west side, I could see the distant snow caps in the Snowy Range where I hope to be tomorrow. For now, I decided to check the old Laramie River Road that starts near where SR 34 meets Highway 287. This is a good road for Mountain Plover. By now it was early afternoon, very warm and windy; and my chances weren't good. Add to that the fact that I discovered I had yet another flat tire and my heart just wasn't in it. This time it was a slow flat (not the same tire as yesterday) and I was able to limp into Laramie without installing the spare (something that I certainly didn't want to do with the heat and mosquitoes along the river road!). I did get some birding done despite the adversity. Highlights were a couple of PRAIRIE FALCONS and CHESTNUT-COLLARED & McCOWN'S LONGSPURS; all trip birds.

I found a tire shop immediately upon entering Laramie and was on the road in 18 minutes flat (pun intended). Good service at the Laramie Tire Factory. A piece of wire was stuck in the tire. The streets of Sundance are undergoing major construction at the moment and it would be my guess that both tire problems had their origin there.

In the evening, I headed out to the plains southwest of town to check a few lakes. Storm clouds were brewing as I left town and I could see lightning in the Snowy Range. This all translated into high winds and bad light by the time that I reached Lake Hattie. By using the vehicle to buffer the scope, I was able to scan the white caps and pick up EARED & WESTERN GREBES; 4 WILLETS, 20 RING-BILLED, 2 CALIFORNIA and 6 FRANKLIN'S GULLS.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Road trip Day 16: Wyoming; Trip List: 205 (+13)
Today I birded several different habitat types around Laramie. The day began cloudy and cool then became clear and warm. Afternoon clouds eventually produced some rain by early evening.

I started early on the Old Laramie River Road (CR 51) north of town where I spent a productive 90 minutes driving from south to north. It took about 40 minutes of careful stop-and-scan birding to locate MOUNTAIN PLOVERS. I saw three birds on the east side of the road, exactly 5.1 miles from the southern intersection with highway 287. Based on size, I'm guessing two adults and a juvenile. By the way, this road consistently has large and voracious mosquitoes. Be prepared! If you get out of your vehicle without a liberal dose of bug juice, they'll be on you like Paparazzi on Paris Hilton.

After seeing the plovers I didn't scan diligently for more; I just cruised along slowly looking for whatever else I could find. Although McCOWN'S LONGSPURS were fairly common, display flights were infrequent and lacking in pizzazz (when I'm here in June they are quite spectacular). I missed Chestnut-collared today. Generally, activity was very high compared to yesterday afternoon but I only recorded 30 species along the 17 miles stretch of road. Species seen included 2 SWAINSON'S HAWKS, 2 FERRUGINOUS HAWKS, PRAIRIE FALCON, a few female WILSON'S PHALAROPES and 70 CALIFORNIA GULLS blocking the road. BREWER'S SPARROWS didn't become common until towards the end of the route. I only saw SAGE THRASHER and LARK BUNTINGS near Bosler where CR 51 rejoins highway 287.

After breakfast back at the Comfort Inn (a good place to stay in Laramie), I headed west into the (Snowy Range) mountains. For me, this is always the best part of a trip to the Laramie area. I get to do it again tomorrow as well. I was hoping that a couple of areas normally closed by snow when I'm here in June (typically around June 20) would be open to vehicle access. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Sugarloaf Recreation area near the summit is still snowed in (foot access is possible). The road to Brooklyn Lake has less snow than I'm used to seeing and I was able to drive a fair way in before needing to hike through the snow. Later in the day I learned from a local resident that the snowfall was higher this year. This has cancelled out the fact that I'm here almost two weeks later than previous visits.

I started by proceeding directly to the summit to enjoy the solitude and views of Medicine Bow peak before the road became crowded. Surprisingly, although traffic increased as the morning wore on, there were far fewer people around than I expected. I spent 90 minutes at tiny Lake Bellamy where most folks only spend a minute, if that. One day I'll come here when it's not dominated by snow and ice. The lake is at an elevation of 10,700 feet so there aren't many birds to be found here. However, I very much enjoy this environment so the lack of birds doesn't bother me. The total experience for me is worth many Buff-collared Nightjars and the like. This WILSON'S WARBLER was singing its heart out the entire time I was there. The bird was at the very top of one of the trees next to my vehicle in the lake picture. Other birds at the lake were SPOTTED SANDPIPER walking around in the icy water; a displaying AMERICAN PIPIT; MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, a soaring COMMON RAVEN, LINCOLN'S & WHITE CROWNED SPARROWS singing from the small willows and a few PINE SISKINS in the nearby trees.

I dropped down the mountain to Brooklyn Lake (only 10,000 feet here!) where I was able to find two out of three expected species. Almost immediately I came across an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER (probable female) that I didn't pursue. After much tramping around in the mud and snow, I eventually found a female PINE GROSBEAK that didn't stick around to make the acquaintance of the business end of my lens. The bird was eating grit on the road and flew up into a tree allowing me only a brief look before disappearing, never to return. This is a little atypical for this species since they are normally quite confiding. Mañana.

When I'd finished looking for the birds (missed Gray Jay) I couldn't figure out why I was so pooped until I realized that there are 10000 reasons. Although the elevation here is the same as Green's Peak in AZ, the terrain at that location is steep (and you feel it, at least I do) whereas at Brooklyn Lake it's relatively (and deceptively) flat. Other birds were the same as Lake Bellamy plus CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER.

During a late lunch/early dinner in the small town of Centennial, just off the mountain, I picked up my first BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD of the trip and only the second hummingbird species of the trip.

I finished the day by checking a few water areas on the Laramie plains. Lake Hattie had the same birds as yesterday and I also saw DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, TURKEY VULTURE and SAGE THRASHER. A stop to watch a displaying McCOWN'S LONGSPUR at a roadside pond also produced a couple of CANVASBACKS and a calling SORA. At Moeber Lake I saw more gulls and grebes and added 3 FORSTER'S TERNS and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD.

An interesting, enjoyable and productive day with a decent diversity of species.

70 species recorded:
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes; Am. White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Canada Goose, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Canvasback, Ruddy Duck, Turkey Vulture, Swainson's, Red-tailed & Ferruginous Hawks; Am. Kestrel, Prairie Falcon, Sora, Am. Avocet, Killdeer, Mountain Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Wilson's Phalarope, Ring-billed, California & Franklin's Gulls; Forster's Tern, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Am. Three-toed Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Horned Lark, Tree, Violet-green, Cliff & Barn Swallows; Am. Pipit, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Sage Thrasher, Mountain Bluebird, Am. Robin, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Am. Crow, Common Raven, House Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, Pine Grosbeak, Pine Siskin, Yellow, Yellow-rumped & Wilson's Warblers; Chipping, Brewer's, Vesper, Savannah, Lincoln's & White-crowned Sparrows; Lark Bunting, McCown's Longspur, Red-winged, Yellow-headed & Brewer's Blackbirds; Western Meadowlark, Common Grackle and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Thursday, July 3, 2008
Road trip Day 17: WY-CO; Trip List: 209 (+4)
Several days ago I mentioned that I was undecided about the final days of the trip. My tentative thinking had been to return to the Snowy Range this morning before continuing west to Rock Springs for birding there tomorrow; followed by a final day in Pinedale south of the Tetons. However, the miles are mounting up and after some careful thought, I reluctantly decided it was time to head south. Even so, I will have traveled about 6000 miles by the time I'm done.

Before making the swing south, I followed through on my plan to return to the mountains this morning, primarily to try for a Pine Grosbeak photo (I have some images but they are not very good). I forfeited birding on the plains and proceeded directly to Brooklyn Lake where I started birding four hours earlier than yesterday. Consequently, it was much colder than during my midday efforts yesterday and some of the slush that I had tramped through was well frozen when I left the vehicle.

As yesterday, I very quickly heard an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. In fact, I heard two drumming males and I made an effort to track down and see one of them. I moved on a short distance and after 30 minutes of watching the activities of a few common species, I found a male PINE GROSBEAK eating grit on the road. The bird was in the very same spot where I saw a female doing the same yesterday. I had decided not to risk lugging my heavy gear through the snow so the image was shot hand-held. Although it's certainly a shame that the bird wasn't perched in a pine or spruce tree, I can't complain about the image quality despite the less than perfect background. Roadside "gritting" seems to be a normal activity for this species. I remember my life sighting in Manning Park, British Columbia was of a bird eating grit on the road. I've also seen them doing this in Minnesota in winter.

In addition to some of the species seen here yesterday (RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, WILSON'S WARBLER and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW ), I also saw SPOTTED SANDPIPER, HERMIT THRUSH (singing its beautiful song); MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, a few CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS, flyover RED CROSSBILLS, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and DARK-EYED (Gray-headed) JUNCO.

I continued on up the mountain and spent 30 minutes at scenic Lake Bellamy before forcing myself to get a move on. Nothing new here compared to yesterday. The little WILSON'S WARBLER was perched atop the same tree singing its rather feeble song.

I dropped down the west side of the mountain and quickly left the snow behind. After I broke out of the coniferous zone and encountered aspens, riparian habitat and sagebrush, I picked up a few new species including TURKEY VULTURE, BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD, HOUSE WREN, WARBLING VIREO, YELLOW WARBLER and BREWER'S & VESPER SPARROWS. Most species were singing.

Down in the flatlands, I checked Saratoga Lake and wetland where I noted about 20 species including a bunch of loafing WHITE PELICANS, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, OSPREY, numerous chattering MARSH WRENS, SAVANNAH SPARROW and plenty of YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

After a lunch break in Saratoga (excellent chicken burrito at the Warm Springs Cafe), it was time to make like a bread truck (haul buns) to my overnight destination of Grand Junction, CO. Along the way I added a few new species for the day including CANVASBACK, WESTERN KINGBIRD, MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD and BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE.

It was super warm in Grand Junction in the evening, just a little taste of what lies ahead.

Friday, July 4, 2008
Road trip Day 18: CO-NM-AZ; Trip List: 220 (+11)
I had 750+ miles to cover today so I planned just one birding stop  -- Box Canyon Falls in Ouray, CO.

This was my third visit to the falls, a location that just has to be the easiest place to see nesting BLACK SWIFT. I have a crappy photo from 2003 when I only had a Mickey Mouse camera so I was hoping for something better today. The swifts nest on the cliff walls near the waterfall, a very dark place indeed. Although there's a sign marking the location, it took some time for my eyes to get accustomed to the gloom before I detected a nest. The bottom line was that, with my equipment (I don't have a flash unit other than the wimpy thing built into the 40D camera) and the distance to the birds, I simply couldn't obtain a useful image. The walkway to the falls (June, 2003 photo) exacerbates the problems of long shutter times necessary with such poor light. Whenever anyone walks on the catwalk, vibration is significant.

Ouray is an upscale tourist own and it was packed to the rafters (no rooms available at any of the many hotels). However, I figured that if I got there at opening time (and I did, 8:00am), not many folks would be here so early on July 4. Wrong!  Perhaps if I'd been there later in the day the light would have been better. Of course, then there would have been more people on the catwalk. No way to win.

The swift and a few EVENING GROSBEAKS in the parking lot were both trip birds. While waiting for opening time, birds that I noted in town included CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE and WESTERN TANAGER.

Unfortunately, now it was time to pay the piper. The route home from Ouray is somewhat convoluted and uninviting, especially the New Mexico segment. However, I was looking forward to experiencing the high elevation environment on highway 550 south of Ouray (a route that I'd taken only once before). This is a beautiful drive through the high country with lots of ups and downs and mountain passes above 10000 feet; and mountain peaks much higher than that. I expected this to be a mitigating factor of the long drive, but sadly it wasn't. Mark this day. You won't often hear me say that I was glad to get out of the mountains. What was I thinking selecting this route on July 4? There are some people who simply should not be allowed to drive in the mountains. Sunday drivers who ripped of their mirrors and threw them away on the day they bought the car. Never had an accident, caused thousands. Turnout, what's a turnout?  It's not easy to enjoy the scenery and look for birds when you're on a windy road in bumper to bumper traffic for many miles. Talk about suck the joy right out of the day.

After I finally worked by way through Durango and into New Mexico, I made the mistake of choosing to drive through Farmington, west to Shiprock then south to Gallup. What a bad idea that was. Lots of traffic and travel on bad roads to boot. It was 97 degrees in Shiprock and the 93 miles from there to Gallup through the Navajo reservation yielded just one bird species (take a guess). The juniper country south of Gallup had far less traffic and was more enjoyable. I also added a couple more trip birds -- PINYON JAY and WESTERN BLUEBIRD. I ran into a cooling rain by the time I reached Quemado and that bodes well for the days ahead.

I picked up my normal White Mountains route near the town of Reserve, NM. Had it not been a holiday weekend I may have been temped to stay in the mountains for a couple of days. No, keep on trucking, I said. A few more trip birds lay ahead. CASSIN'S KINGBIRD in Glenwood, MEXICAN JAY and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW on SR 78 in the Gila National Forest west of Mule Creek. The forest name changes to Apache National Forest at the Arizona state line and here I added HEPATIC TANAGER.

Although the heat increased as I dropped down towards Safford, clouds and thunderstorm activity were definitely having an impact and I didn't need A/C for a while. A couple more trip birds were motivated to sing -- multiple BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS and a single CASSIN'S SPARROW on highway 78 at mile 165. The final trip bird (the 11th of this travel day making a total of 220) was LESSER NIGHTHAWK on I-10 west of Willcox.

I arrived in Sierra Vista just in time to see the firework display starting. Conditions were very pleasant as the great escape for 2008 came to an end. My plan to start later this year in order to get back after the rain had started seems to have worked. However, there have been some downsides which I'll talk about that when I put a trip summary together over the next few days.

Look for my journal to resume on July 9 when I start working with clients again.

Note: My site will be moved to a new server on July 7. I'm not changing my web hosting company, but they are moving my site to a new physical server. This should be user transparent and, as we all know, computer stuff never goes awry. Please let me know if you cannot access the site or see any other problems -- thanks.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Note: I've added a summary for the recent road trip. Comments welcome.

Back in the field in SE AZ today for the first of two days with Steve Shaffer from New Bern, NC and Eric Skrzypczak from Gaithersburg, MD. Steve has the opportunity for many new species while Eric is looking for photo opportunities. We birded in Carr Canyon on what was anything but a typical day. First off, due to weather related flight delays, Steve and Eric didn't arrive in Sierra Vista until 3:00am this morning so we didn't meet up until 9:00am. As if that weren't enough adversity, the weather was completely ass backwards. Carr Canyon was enveloped in clouds for most of the day (with on and off light rain) and we didn't see the sun until 3:00pm (and that only lasted a short while). While hardly conducive to good birding (we had to really scratch and scrape for almost every high elevation bird today, especially warblers) the swirling clouds, cool temperature and smell of damp pine were certainly enjoyable. Moderate rain fell in Sierra Vista in the early evening.

Birds in the lower canyon were quite active when we started and we soon encountered a very aggressive CASSIN'S SPARROW (excellent close views). Later in the day I was surprised to learn that it was my first in Carr Canyon. Also in the lower canyon were GAMBEL'S QUAIL, WHITE-WINGED DOVE, CACTUS WREN, PYRRHULOXIA, BLUE GROSBEAK and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.

Along the road in the oak zone  we added ACORN WOODPECKER, DUSKY-CAPPED, ASH-THROATED & BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS (the latter heard only); CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, a typical flock of twittering BUSHTITS and a few BRIDLED TITMICE.

A stop at Reef overlook quickly produced STELLER'S JAY and WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, PAINTED REDSTART and the first of many SPOTTED TOWHEES and BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS.

We then chipped away at reef, the adjacent trails, and part way along the road to Ramsey Vista for a number of hours for fairly scant reward. A family of fledged GREATER PEWEES and a BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER taking food to a nest were the only easy species. Warblers were very hard to find. We eventually had good views of BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER and poor views of GRACE'S WARBLER. Unfortunately, OLIVE WARBLER led us a real dance and was a heard only. Other stuff included HAIRY WOODPECKER, MAGNIFICENT & BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRDS, EASTERN BLUEBIRD and HERMIT THRUSH both singing, PLUMBEOUS & HUTTON'S VIREOS, a pair of well seen HEPATIC TANAGERS; two poorly seen male WESTERN TANAGERS; and a ton of YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS including many streaked juveniles with dark eyes.

On the way back down canyon a stop at the waterfall overlook was very productive. Here we saw soaring ZONE-TAILED HAWK and PEREGRINE FALCON; many WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS gracefully entering the cliffs despite a full pelt approach; and great close up views of ROCK & CANYON WRENS and RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW (all singing).

Although we could have used a few more birds, it was still a decent day and I certainly won't complain about the weather -- cool, no wind and not too wet during field hours. What's not to like?

Thursday, July 10, 2008
Out again with Steve and Eric for some rainy day birding as the rather strange weather continues. Normally, the monsoon season is characterized by clear sky mornings with heat and clouds building throughout the day. The end result is rain (usually heavy and short lived) in the early afternoon. Occasionally, however, we get periods like we are currently experiencing -- today began very cloudy with moderate rain starting early (heavy at times) and continuing for much of the day. Somehow we muddled through and had a reasonable day.

We began at Patagonia Lake where we had the longest rain free period of the day (6:00am-8:30am). We spent most of our time working along the entrance road and in the grassland. For the first time that I can remember at this location, CASSIN'S SPARROWS outnumbered BOTTERI'S SPARROWS by a large margin and we actually had to put in some effort for the latter. Cassin's are obviously finding the wet conditions to their liking and they were singing and skylarking all over the place. We also had good looks at VARIED BUNTING (several singing individuals) and RUFOUS-CROWNED, RUFOUS-WINGED & BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS.

Among the other species outside the park proper were YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, PHAINOPEPLA, YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (uncharacteristically perched in the clear and singing, if you can call it that); CANYON TOWHEE, NORTHERN CARDINAL and BLUE GROSBEAK.

We entered the park for BELL'S VIREO and VERMILION FLYCATCHER; other species seen included NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, a possibly sick or injured female COMMON MERGANSER that has been here since last winter (only my second July record in southeast Arizona); VERDIN, SUMMER TANAGER and BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK.

Our next stop was a complete washout. We waited over 30 minutes for the rain to stop at Kino Springs before leaving without recording a bird. I decided that the covered viewing area in Marion Paton's yard would be a good place to go. Here we could see some birds and give the rain a chance to diminish.

Plenty of soggy birds were at the feeders including INCA DOVE, VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD, a calling but unseen YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, a particularly bedraggled ABERT'S TOWHEE, a juvenile CARDINAL begging from an adult male; a male BLUE GROSBEAK and a male BRONZED COWBIRD.

The rain eased off a little as we left town so we doubled back to the Roadside Rest area. This turned out to be a good move -- the rain stopped as we arrived and we managed to get decent looks at THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD, BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER and a male HOODED ORIOLE. Unfortunately, a calling GRAY HAWK stayed out of sight on the other side of Sonoita Creek.

Our final destination of the day was Garden Canyon on Fort Huachuca. Although the sky looked brighter as we traveled east, that came to an abrupt end when we entered Cochise County and the heavens opened. A couple of soggy SWAINSON'S HAWKS toughed it out on poles along highway 90. What else can they do?

Our chances at a very wet upper picnic area looked bleak for quite a while. Miraculously, we found two SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS and a male ELEGANT TROGON doing a very good Gene Kelly imitation ("singing in the rain" for those too young to figure that one out). Our success didn't come a moment too soon -- we were asked to leave and the canyon was closed at the yellow barrier above the lower picnic area. The road was awash in places. CASSIN'S and BOTTERI'S SPARROWS were singing in the lower grassland where we saw a very bedraggled COOPER'S HAWK and a calling SCALED QUAIL, both perched atop mesquites.

My next gig is a trip to California Gulch and there's more than a slight chance that I'll need a boat.

Saturday, July 12, 2008
First of two days with Joe and Kathy Nowak from Wheaton, IL, who I've birded with on two previous occasions. It was quite a day (and not in a good way). Although we didn't see any rain during our time in the field, we had a seriously rain impacted day. Our principal targets were Buff-collared Nightjar and Five-striped Sparrow but we never even made it to California Gulch. We left Sierra Vista at 1:15pm for a afternoon/night visit to the gulch with a few target bird stops along the way. There had been plenty of rain in the morning but our timing was such that we missed it all.

Our first stop was at Patagonia Roadside Rest area where we had three potential targets (Thick-billed Kingbird and a couple of Myiarchus flycatchers). Soggy conditions, debris on the road and a very muddy and strongly flowing Sonoita Creek provided some indication of the earlier rain. THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD called as we stepped out of the vehicle near the picnic table. Although the bird was relatively easy to see atop a sycamore, viewing against a seriously gray didn't provide a great view. We had decent views of DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER (same caveat as the Thick-billed) but a calling BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER remained on the far side of the creek. In the end we gave up and moved on to the creek crossing on Salero Road (flowing strongly but easily navigable in the right vehicle). Here we had success with BROWN-CRESTED.

We continued east to Patagonia Lake entrance road. Just like a few days ago, our target BOTTERI'S SPARROW was difficult to see well which is most unusual at this time of year. The birds were not inclined to perch up and did not give their full song. Conversely, CASSIN'S SPARROWS were in full song and skylarking. RUFOUS-WINGED, RUFOUS-CROWNED and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS were also singing.

So far so good (but what's that thing about the guy falling off the Empire State building?). We continued east on schedule to search for Five-striped Sparrow in the gulch. I knew that we were in trouble when the dips on the blacktop section of Ruby Road had some serious water flow (I rarely see water in them). We aborted our mission about a mile or so along the dirt section of the road at the Peña Blanca Canyon crossing. The flow of water across the wide concrete crossing was quite impressive. Not wishing to appear on the evening news, common sense prevailed and we turned around. Even had we managed to get across safely, I knew there would be more problems ahead.

Now what to do? Joe and Kathy had spent an unsuccessful morning at Madera Kubo looking for BERYLLINE HUMMINGBIRD so we decided to give that another shot. We arrived there at 5:40am and managed to redeem the day a little when we saw the bird after a vigil of about 25 minutes. Plenty of other birds were around (hummers, orioles, tanagers) but I didn't see or hear Flame-colored Tanager. However, Joe and Kathy had already seen "Flameboy" during their morning visit.

We ended up in Carr Canyon where I had planned to go tomorrow night. Here we dipped completely on WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL (one call from a very distant bird). No other nightbirds were heard. Stream noise was a major factor and even the waterfall further up canyon could be heard.

The monsoon season brings much needed rain and cooler temperatures. However, as you can see, there is a downside.

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Out again today with Joe and Kathy. We spent the morning in Carr Canyon looking for Greater Pewee, Buff-breasted Flycatcher and Cordilleran Flycatcher. The weather began fairly clear and cool becoming progressively more cloudy, warm and humid. Rain fell in the afternoon.

GREATER PEWEE and BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER were both fairly easy to locate, although it took a few bites at the cherry at different times to get satisfactory looks at Buff-breasted. Unfortunately, we dipped on Cordilleran on the Comfort Spring trail. Carr Canyon is not the best location for this species, however, the main Carr drainage (accessed from the Comfort Spring trail) perhaps offers the best chances within Carr Canyon. The trail in Miller Canyon is a much better bet and we thought about trying that after failing in Carr. In the end we dropped the idea to avoid the possibility of getting caught in a thunderstorm.

Apart from a few common species, activity in the Canyon was quite low. Warblers were mostly AWOL which is normal at this time of year as they feed young. Since we didn't have any warbler targets, they certainly weren't our focus. Nevertheless, two species -- BLACK-THROATED GRAY (heard) and PAINTED REDSTART (seen) were a particularly poor return even on a "stumble into" basis.

The most noteworthy birds were a dashing PEREGRINE FALCON over Reef and a handful of BAND-TAILED PIGEONS sitting on snags along the road to Ramsey Vista and the Comfort Spring Trail. WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE and SPOTTED TOWHEE (singing everywhere) were the most common species.

Evening conditions looked a little more promising than last night as monsoon activity moved away from the mountains and off to the east. However, our owling session was just as unproductive as last night. The only nightbird activity came from a briefly calling WHIP-POOR-WILL.

Monday, July 14, 2008
Out today with Mark and Lindsey Gray from Austin, TX (I birded with Mark on one previous occasion back in 1999). We visited several canyons in the Huachucas -- Carr, Garden and Huachuca. This was perhaps the best weather day since I returned from my road trip with some early morning sunshine for a change. Of course, a day without rain at this stage of the monsoon season is not likely and we just about managed to get our birding done before the rain started.

Birding in Carr Canyon was much better than in recent days and we turned up 60+ species in 4.5 hours. The only surprises came in the lower canyon. A singing NORTHERN CARDINAL was certainly unexpected (I only have 8 records in 6 of the 16 years that I've birded here). A calling SUMMER TANAGER near the first stream crossing was a canyon first for me. CASSIN'S & BOTTERI'S SPARROWS, several PYRRHULOXIAS and BLUE GROSBEAK were all singing in the lower canyon. Other species present included ASH-THROATED & BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS, WESTERN & CASSIN'S KINGBIRDS, PHAINOPEPLA, CACTUS WREN and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.

The ride up to Reef was more productive than normal. First up was a singing SCOTT'S ORIOLE. A stop at the waterfall yielded many WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS and ROCK & CANYON WRENS. A little higher we added MAGNIFICENT, BROAD-TAILED & RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS, PLUMBEOUS & HUTTON'S VIREOS, WESTERN TANAGER and a few warbler species (see comments below).

The conditions at Reef and along the road to Ramsey Vista (damp, fresh and cool) were apparently appreciated by the birds as well as me. GREATER PEWEES were very vocal today and we heard their José María song and saw multiple birds at every stop. BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS were also much more cooperative than in recent days. Among the other regulars noted in the same area were BAND-TAILED PIGEON (heard only), several EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, HERMIT THRUSH, HEPATIC TANAGER and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO.

Warblers remain stubbornly silent and resistant to the gaze of humans, particularly OLIVE WARBLER. We heard at least three individuals today but I didn't see a single needle moving in the pines and firs. BLACK-THROATED GRAY was the only well seen warbler and we only managed fleeting looks at VIRGINIA'S and GRACE'S. Even the normally showy PAINTED REDSTARTS were less than cooperative today.

Back in the lower canyon we watched an ARIZONA WOODPECKER feeding on an agave. The bird appeared to be picking bugs of the flowering plant.

Garden Canyon was our next port of call. The usual suspects were all singing as we drove through the lower grassland -- BOTTERI'S, CASSIN'S, RUFOUS-CROWNED, LARK (less common here) and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS; BLUE GROSBEAK and EASTERN MEADOWLARK. Two singing male VERMILION FLYCATCHERS well away from the fishing ponds were a little less expected.

We easily picked up SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER at the upper picnic area (3 noisy birds). Unfortunately, and not for the first time this year, Elegant Trogon was a no show. I've mentioned several times in my journal reports how they are less common in Garden Canyon this year. Not absent, but certainly not the usual "no-brainer".

As clouds built and rain seemed imminent, we headed over to Huachuca Canyon and heard ELEGANT TROGON calling as we stepped out of the vehicle. However, we were soon back in the vehicle waiting out the rain that coincided with our arrival. Murphy 1, Birders 0. Ten minutes later it was our turn to get on the scoreboard when the rain eased off and we were able to get multiple looks at a male trogon. The rain didn't stop for long though.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
First of two days with Mary Lou Kaufman from Boston, MA. Today we birded in Carr Canyon, my third consecutive day at this location. The day began with a completely clear sky and I thought we might get our birding done without rain. However, the monsoon had other ideas and rain began on the mountain by noon. Generally, it was a good day as the birding continues to improve, although most warblers are still very difficult.

Highlights only today:

SCALED and GAMBEL'S QUAIL within feet of each other in the lower canyon (and they didn't make eye contact as far as I could tell).

Pair of SPOTTED OWLS roosting in a fir tree near Reef campground. We would never have bumped into these birds without help from scolding STELLER'S JAYS. The owls normally use the main Carr drainage and I'm guessing that the roaring flow of water has prompted the birds to seek temporary alternative accommodation.

CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER at a nest site (sorry Joe!).

Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Out again today with Mary Lou doing the rounds in Santa Cruz County. In order we visited Patagonia Lake State Park, Kino Springs, Patagonia Roadside Rest Area, Paton's Yard and Las Cienegas. A few clouds early, increasing clouds as the morning progressed, warm and humid by early afternoon.

Our first bird of the day was LESSER NIGHTHAWK on highway 90 as we left Sierra Vista in the pre-dawn gloom.

Patagonia Lake State Park was very productive this morning (50+ species recorded). Our focus was on the grassland approaches and mesquite area near the entrance gate; we  only spent a short time in the park proper.

CASSIN'S SPARROWS continue to be extremely conspicuous (singing and skylarking all over the place) while BOTTERI'S SPARROWS are mostly silent with just a few doing some partial singing. I've noticed this at multiple locations recently. My thinking on this is as follows: Cassin's is a resident and can afford to wait until the absolute optimum time to breed. Obviously, they think that the current conditions are right and they are into the early stages of breeding (birds still courting seen today; most birds are very responsive and aggressive to playback of their song when close to territory). Botteri's, being a migratory species, feels the need to get started earlier and their behavior reflects that breeding is at an advanced stage (most birds are currently not very responsive to playback of their song whereas in May they were very responsive when establishing territories). Another factor that may be playing a part is that arrival dates for the past couple of years have been multiple weeks earlier than historical early dates. 

We had good looks at both species (Botteri's required a little time and effort) along with RUFOUS-CROWNED, RUFOUS-WINGED and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS. We had excellent looks at NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET and VARIED BUNTING. Of note in the grassland were HOODED & SCOTT'S ORIOLES feeding on agaves (both species are quite uncommon at the state park as my bar-graph shows). Other species included YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, many PHAINOPEPLAS, BELL'S VIREO, a couple of LUCY'S WARBLERS that are not particularly easy to find at the moment; YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and BLUE GROSBEAK.

Among the species seen in the park proper were an immature BROWN PELICAN at the spillway (thanks to Rob Van Zandt); the usual NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS, CINNAMON TEAL, COMMON MOORHEN with juveniles in tow; many VERMILION FLYCATCHERS, more YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS (very vocal); SUMMER TANAGER and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE.

Kino Springs was less productive than I had hoped and I failed to find Tropical Kingbird. However, we had good looks at three other hoped for species -- GRAY HAWK (perched and in flight); GILDED FLICKER and BRONZED COWBIRD. Other species here included INCA DOVE and COMMON GROUND-DOVE.

A stop at the Roadside Rest area soon produced THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD near the nest tree. Also present in that same tree were YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO and VARIED BUNTING (flew in, sang for a minute then flew off). GRAY HAWK called from across the creek and a BLACK VULTURE soared overhead.

Birding was a little slow during a midday stop in Marion Paton's Yard but we still had several great looks at a pristine VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD. Other yards visitors included BLUE GROSBEAK and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. No sign of Thick-billed Kingbird; NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET sang nearby.

We finished up at Las Cienegas where GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was easy to locate near the highway 82 entrance. However, it took about 20 minutes of walking and stalking to get a close enough view to see all the field marks.

Thursday, July 17, 2008
Today I had the day to myself. Instead of relaxing as originally planned, I decided to visit Garden Canyon grasslands to confirm/refute my impressions about Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows. I also wanted to improve on the poor Cassin's image that I have and to test the ISO performance of the 40D camera.

The comments that I made yesterday regarding Cassin's and Botteri's Sparrows were based on impressions gained while out working with recent clients (in the grasslands of the Santa Rita Mountains and at Patagonia Lake). Hardly scientific to say the least. Today I was in Garden Canyon grassland about 20 minutes after sunrise (5:50am) and conducted a survey over the next 2 hours. I drove multiple back roads, stopping to listen regularly, and detected 23 CASSIN'S SPARROWS (all singing) and 3 BOTTERI'S SPARROWS (no singing, just chips). I didn't do any trolling (i.e. song playback at regular intervals) and these birds were heard spontaneously vocalizing. I was conservative and didn't count a bird if there was any chance of double counting. Therefore, the Cassin's count was probably more then I recorded. I stopped for each of the three Botteri's to see if they would respond to song playback. Two birds became silent, one responded with "excited utterances" and came close, but did not sing.

I think I can safely say that my assessment of the breeding status of these species is correct. Normally in July, Botteri's are easily detected by song and outnumber singing Cassin's by a significant margin. The reason for the reversal this year (at this time period, mid July) is that both species started their breeding cycles early. However, what I'm still really in the dark about is why this is the case. As stated yesterday, Cassin's are still in the early stages of breeding and Botteri's are well advanced (Cassin's are normally a few weeks behind Botteri's). I also get the impression that Cassin's numbers are actually higher this year as well (a supporting reason for this is the apparent range expansion in Arizona and in Wyoming). It's also worth noting that the Cassin's territories I encountered today were very small, as little as 150-200 yards in some cases.

On the same survey route, I counted 10 RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS and 7 BLUE GROSBEAKS as well as many EASTERN MEADOWLARKS and abundant NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS. Other species included 2 GREATER ROADRUNNERS, a few WESTERN KINGBIRDS, 6+ CACTUS WRENS, 4+ CURVE-BILLED THRASHERS, LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, 2 CANYON TOWHEES, LARK SPARROW and 3 BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. 

I also managed a few photographs (click for image links). The pictured Lark Sparrow bumped a Cassin's Sparrow of its perch just as I was about to press the shutter. I got the Lark Sparrow instead! Note that the two Cassin's Sparrows and Botteri's Sparrow show signs of wear. You can also get some id pointers from these images. Note the richly colored Botteri's (an extremely buffy individual) versus drab gray Cassin's. Note also the raised hackles of the second "punk" Cassin's. I don't remember ever seeing a Botteri's doing this but it's very typical behavior for Cassin's.

[Non geeks ignore. I usually leave the ISO setting on my camera bodies at 400 and only increase it under really adverse lighting conditions. I was recently told that the 40D noise performance with higher ISO settings was very good (i.e. higher ISO does not produce significantly more noise). Unfortunately, I was unable to confirm that today, at least with good light. I shot multiple images of the same subject using ISO values of 400, 800 and 1600 and saw a significant increase in noise in clear blue sky background with 800 and 1600 (I dread to think what higher values would do). On the plus side I was able to obtain shutter speeds of 1/8000s (even using a 1.4X converter) so this would be good for flight shots as long as noise is Photoshopped out. I'll be sticking with ISO 400 unless I'm really hard pressed.]

After leaving the grassland I spent 30 minutes listening to the goings on at the Upper Picnic Area. Unfortunately, not much was actually going on and, once again, I did not detect Elegant Trogon.

Friday, July 18, 2008
First of two days with Kevin Wallace from Las Vegas, NV. Our targets are Montezuma Quail, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Spotted Owl, White-eared Hummingbird, Gilded Flicker, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Botteri's Sparrow and Rufous-winged Sparrow. Today we visited Patagonia Lake State Park, Kino Springs and Scheelite Canyon.

The day began well at Patagonia Lake with good views of BOTTERI'S SPARROW, RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW and NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET. While viewing Botteri's in the grassland, at least two MONTEZUMA QUAIL tantalized us (one giving the descending, quavering call; the other the broken whistled song). Unfortunately, the birds stopped vocalizing and our pursuit fizzled out. We were unable to sustain our early success at the lake and a two hour search for Black-capped Gnatcatcher came to naught. 

We noted 50 species at the lake including LUCY'S WARBLER (very numerous today), YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT perched in the open; VARIED BUNTING and HOODED ORIOLE.

We got back on track at Kino Springs and only needed a short while to find GILDED FLICKER. Not much time to look at other stuff, although we did see 25 species including GRAY HAWK, PEREGRINE FALCON, numerous COMMON GROUND-DOVES and BRONZED COWBIRD.

As we headed back to Sierra Vista, a perched THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD at the roadside rest area was visible from highway 82.

The afternoon ended disappointingly in Scheelite Canyon where I failed to find Spotted Owl despite searching lower, middle and upper areas. Quite a workout in the muggy conditions and without reward. Species seen in the canyon included BAND-TAILED PIGEON, MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER and RED-FACED WARBLER. Among the heard only species were NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, two BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS, PAINTED REDSTART and HEPATIC TANAGER.

Three separate PEREGRINE FALCON sightings in one day were most unusual for July; one in flight at Kino Springs, one perched on a pole on highway 90 near Sierra Vista and another perched on a pole in Garden Canyon. This would be extremely difficult to repeat! Before today, I had 12 sightings in July in SE AZ.

Kevin visited Beatty's in Miller Canyon in the afternoon and was able to add WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD.

An evening thunderstorm and heavy rain couldn't have happened at a more inopportune time and we had to cancel the scheduled owling session. Thus, the day ended with 5 of 8 targets seen but with two important birds missed.

Saturday, July 19, 2008
Out again today with Kevin. We visited Madera, Chino and Scheelite Canyons to work on species missed yesterday with only marginal improvement.

The drive over to Madera Canyon produced 2 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS on highway 83 near Sonoita. The journey along Box Canyon Road served to emphasize my recent comments about sparrows. CASSIN'S SPARROWS were singing strongly on both sides of the Santa Rita Mountains while BOTTERI'S SPARROWS were hardly noticeable. RUFOUS-WINGED, RUFOUS-CROWNED and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS were all quite vocal.

I was surprised to find that we had the Proctor Road area of Madera Canyon entirely to ourselves on a Saturday morning. However, it certainly didn't do us any good at all. Although the cloudy and cool conditions meant that birding was pleasant at this low elevation location, we couldn't turn that into success with Black-capped Gnatcatcher. For the second consecutive day, the calls of MONTEZUMA QUAIL promised hope of a sighting that never came. One bird seemed very close while another was high on a ridge. We scanned to no avail and the birds eventually stopped calling.

Species in the area included NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET, LUCY'S WARBLER, VARIED BUNTING (several) and HOODED ORIOLE.

We moved south down the mountain to Chino Canyon where I hadn't been for a while. The road certainly hasn't improved since my last visit and it's far worse than California Gulch. Surprisingly, given all the recent rain, we didn't have any problems with water anywhere along the road and the rough creek crossing was bone dry. The road surface is extremely rocky in many locations and there are the usual deep ruts with workarounds. In several places it's necessary to drive at steep angle to the roadway. We needed to use four wheel drive for a good portion of the road closest to the canyon. Don't even think about going here in a small vehicle.

Including travel time from the end of Hawk Way (about 25 minutes each way), we spent 4 hours in the canyon and worked our asses off looking for gnatcatchers. I almost lost my ass when I stepped on a loose rock and fell (very painful). Chino Canyon is often a very hot place so I was pleased that the clouds hung in until 10:30am. However, it was pretty toasty by the time we left at 11:30am. BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHERS were common and fairly inquisitive (although once they realized that I wasn't an owl they quickly became invisible). We had two encounters with our target BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER. The first was heard only as the bird showed no signs of approach to owl calls. A couple of hours later we had the briefest of glimpses of another individual, initially perched up for a couple of seconds and again as it flitted through dense brush saying "so long suckers".  We attempted to relocate the bird over the next 30 minutes without even hearing it again.

PEREGRINE FALCON, BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER, ROCK & CANYON WRENS, CRISSAL THRASHER, BLACK-THROATED SPARROW (nest with four eggs) and VARIED  BUNTING were among 25 species that we recorded in the canyon.

We finished the day with another unsuccessful search for Spotted Owl in Scheelite Canyon. Sometimes it's what you don't see that provides useful information. Yesterday I didn't see any fresh whitewash in all the regular roosting locations that I checked (which, of course, told me that the owls had not used these areas recently). Today I expanded the search to include the "upper middle" area, a location where I've seen owls infrequently (this is outside the area on the map of my Spotted Owl data elsewhere on this site). I was working on the principle "if they are not where I've looked, they most be somewhere else!". Conditions for an extended search were ideal -- cloudy, cool and very pleasant (rain held off until early evening). However, still no owls (nor fresh whitewash seen). Just like the owls that I saw in Carr recently, it's possible that the Scheelite owls are taking a temporary vacation. However, I doubt this because the conditions in Scheelite are not water impacted.

We recorded 20 species in the canyon today including NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL, ELEGANT TROGON, ARIZONA WOODPECKER, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, PAINTED REDSTART and HEPATIC TANAGER.

Day to day changes are often surprising. Several Cordilleran Flycatchers (a breeder in Scheelite) were extremely vocal yesterday. Not a one was seen or heard today.

Friday, July 25, 2008
First of five days target birding with David Patick from Huntington, WV who I've birded with on two previous occasions in Arizona and California. David's previous trips to AZ have been in winter and spring so many of our targets are the later arriving species plus a few White Mountain species. Including remotely possible birds, we have 30 potential species of which I expected to find 20, possibly a few more. This trip was scheduled to start on Saturday but a cancellation allowed us to start a day earlier which gives me some down time between the SE AZ and White Mountains segments of the trip (at the cost of lost income). Today we put in a very long day that began well in the Huachucas and then went extremely pear shaped.

After considerable time and physical effort in Scheelite Canyon, I managed to get back into winning ways by finding a well concealed pair of SPOTTED OWLS high up the canyon. After two recent consecutive misses, I was a little apprehensive about completing a dubious hat trick. Thankfully, I was able to avoid that, but certainly not without some hard work. Fortunately, our schedule allowed us an early start and the canyon was cool and relatively pleasant despite high humidity. Much of the lower canyon and lower roosting area had running water, including several sections of the trail. The owls were off the beaten path in a shady area well away from running water.

Other species in the canyon (most heard only) included MONTEZUMA QUAIL, BAND-TAILED PIGEON, ARIZONA WOODPECKER, WHITE-THROATED SWIFT, CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER , WESTERN SCRUB-JAY and PAINTED REDSTART.

A short time spent in Garden canyon produced a couple of target species -- CASSIN'S SPARROW in the grassland and SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER at the upper picnic area; both of which are about as easy as any bird can be at this time of year.

We then traveled north to Pinal and Gila Counties. We slogged through traffic (outbound and return), spent many hours in the field and endured temperatures up to 103 degrees coupled with high humidity. For all that we dipped on both our principal targets. We visited Aravaipa Canyon, the San Pedro River in Dudleyville, the confluence of the San Pedro and Gila rivers at Winkleman, and the Gila River along highway 77 north of Winkleman. We dipped completely on Common Black-Hawk and Mississippi Kite (I managed the briefest of glimpses of a kite in Winkleman but we failed to relocate the bird). A quite miserable experience after such a bright start to the day.

The only successes were BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER (plenty in Aravaipa Canyon) and TROPICAL KINGBIRD at the footbridge over the Gila in Winkleman. I was quite pleased to get the kingbird after missing it recently at Kino Springs (and hearing of other misses there). David had seen Berylline and Blue-throated Hummers in Madera canyon yesterday so we ended the day with just 7 targets seen.

Saturday, July 26, 2008
Out again today with David for another long day in the field with lots more miles traveled. We had a little more success than yesterday, although we still ended in failure and a slow flat to boot!  It was mostly cloudy and cool in the locations we visited and for the second day in a row we escaped serious rain.

We started by traveling west to pick up VARIED BUNTING at Patagonia Lake and BRONZED COWBIRD on the green in Patagonia. The cowbird encounter was interesting. After cruising around the green and locating a male displaying to a female, a couple of noisy motor bikes fired up and flushed the birds before we got a decent view. After some initial cursing, we were able to watch two males squaring up to each other with "ruffs" raised and wings quivering.

We also checked ground-doves at Kino Springs. A rather obscure report of two Ruddy Ground-Doves (extremely rare in summer) surfaced on e-bird recently. We checked all the ground-doves that we found and came up with 19 COMMON GROUND-DOVES, almost all males. Of course, this doesn't mean that Ruddy Ground-Doves are not present (I have a record at Kino as late as May 4). A couple of GRAY HAWKS were easy to see.

Our next destination was St. David, where, in contrast to yesterday's debacle, we only needed 30 minutes to find MISSISSIPPI KITE at the second location that we checked. We had excellent views of a low soaring bird along highway 80 less than a mile south of the San Pedro River bridge.

Next, we journeyed east to the Chiricahuas choosing to go the long way via I-10 and Road Forks, NM. I'd much rather have taken the Pinery Canyon route but I was worried about the stream crossings. We returned via the Pinery Canyon road without any trouble at all (low water at all crossings and easily passable, as were all the roads that we traveled up to Rustler and Barfoot Parks). The lower elevations near Portal were pounded with rain in the late afternoon and evening but we saw very little up top.

We had to work for several hours for our MEXICAN CHICKADEES, eventually found on Rustler Park road about 3/4 mile above Onion Saddle. Later, we heard more in the dense fir section along the road to Barfoot. We had time to kill before nightfall and spent some of that time scanning the sky from the meadow below Barfoot lookout (hoping for a Short-tailed Hawk fly-by). A single RED-TAILED HAWK was the only raptor seen in the very gray sky.

As I had dreaded (and realistically expected), we didn't hear a single Flammulated Owl call on the Pinery Canyon road despite checking several locations where they were easy to hear just a couple of months ago. Although this species sticks around for a while yet before heading south, July is most certainly not a good time to try for this bird after fledging occurs. However, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Our tally after two days stands at 11 targets seen. We'll try to recover on Black-Hawk on Monday, but we kissed of Buff-collared Nightjar opting not to invest the considerable time required to visit the old Oro Blanco mine site.

I spent 33 of the past 48 hours in the field. Now I need to do some packing (not quite including the kitchen sink, but close) and load up the Blue Trogon for a 7 week trip to the White Mountains. It's not just a job it's an adventure.

82 species recorded:
Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Turkey Vulture, Mississippi Kite, Gray, Swainson's & Red-tailed Hawks; Am. Kestrel, Scaled & Gambel's Quail; Am. Coot, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves; Common Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Black-chinned & Broad-tailed Hummingbirds; Acorn, Gila, Ladder-backed & Hairy Woodpeckers; N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran, Vermilion, Dusky-capped, Ash-throated, Brown-crested & Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers; Say's Phoebe, Cassin's, Thick-billed & Western Kingbirds; Barn Swallow, Phainopepla, Cactus & House Wrens; N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Mexican Chickadee, Pygmy, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches; Brown Creeper, Verdin, Steller's & Mexican Jays; Western Scrub-Jay, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens; European Starling, House Sparrow, Bell's & Hutton's Vireos; Lesser Goldfinch, Olive & Yellow-rumped Warblers; Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Spotted Towhee, Botteri's, Cassin's, Rufous-crowned, Rufous-winged, Black-throated & Song Sparrows; Yellow-eyed Junco, N. Cardinal, Black-headed & Blue Grosbeaks; Varied Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle and Bronzed & Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Monday, July 28, 2008
White Mountains Day 1: Day List 57
Out again today with David as we traveled from Southeast Arizona to the White Mountains for a couple of days birding there. Today is also the start of my fourth consecutive extended summer trip to the White Mountains. This will be my longest trip to date (I'm scheduled to return home on September 12).

During the day yesterday, David picked up WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD at Beatty's and LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD at Ash Canyon B&B. In the evening we both briefly visited Sierra Vista EOP where we had fairly close views of LESSER NIGHTHAWK. The viewing platform is an excellent location to see the nighthawks working low over the marsh at dusk. The target tally at the start of the day now stands at 14.

We traveled to the White Mountains via the longest route from Sierra Vista in order to check for Ruddy Ground-Dove in Red Rock and Common Black-Hawk near Sunflower. Sadly, we dipped on both for a double whammy - more miles, zero birds.

Ruddy Ground-Dove has not been reported from Red Rock for quite some time (May 13 is the latest date that I am aware of). We didn't find doves of any species near the property at the west end of the cattle pens where the Ground-Doves are most often seen. Elsewhere in the area we found GREATER ROADRUNNER, ~10 COMMON GROUND-DOVES, lots of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES and a few YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

The Common Black-Hawk nest near Sunflower is empty so the birds have either fledged or the nesting attempt failed. We worked both sections of sycamore lined old Beeline Highway and it soon became apparent that we would not be successful. Apart from one area with a small amount of standing water, the creek is bone dry for several miles so there's no food to keep the Black-Hawks in the area. Bird activity was reasonable given our late morning arrival and we managed to pick up one target species -- a colorful male WESTERN TANAGER. Among the other species present in the area were BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER, GRAY VIREO (at least two singing), BLUE GROSBEAK and HOODED ORIOLE.

We arrived in the White Mountains late in the day and our only birding was a quick trip out to the visitor center feeders at Sipe Wildlife Area. It didn't take long to pick out our target CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD among the abundant BROAD-TAILED and RUFOUS. End of day target tally:16.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
White Mountains Day 2: Day List 52   Trip List 86  (+29)
Out again today with David for our first full day of birding in the White Mountains. We looked for four species and found three ending the day with 19 targets seen. Unfortunately, Dusky Grouse was the bird we missed.

We started with a check of Big Lake Lookout where conditions were breezy and fresh first thing this morning. Activity was very low during our two hour fruitless search. Among the dozen species recorded were HAIRY WOODPECKER, CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, the usual chickadees and nuthatches; a speckled juvenile TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE and DARK-EYED "Red-backed" JUNCO.

A check of pine-juniper habitat as we left the rim didn't produce a hoped for Gray Flycatcher. However, we picked up a few species typical of the habitat including WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, PLUMBEOUS VIREO, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER and WESTERN TANAGER.

A late morning session at Green's Peak was equally grouseless and almost birdless. Highlight was a very close and prolonged eye-level look at a male AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER (close enough to count the toes). This species is often a target in the White Mountain but not so today. Consequently, it was scant consolation.

Our afternoon turned out much better. We moved on to Greer where it didn't take too long to find a juvenile male WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKER (similar to an adult male but without red on the throat). Other species in the Greer area included HOUSE WREN, PYGMY NUTHATCH and VIRGINIA'S WARBLER.

The afternoon temperature was very high by White Mountain standards (~90 degrees) which was unfortunate since we needed to spend time in low elevation pinyon-juniper habitat. GRAY FLYCATCHER is not a particularly common bird in this part of the White Mountains and I was happy to find a bird with less than an hour of effort in Saffell Canyon. It was tough going in the heat with nary a bird stirring. Fortunately, I heard the soft "whit" of the flycatcher in response to my owl calls. We stalked the bird for a while and ended up with a decent look. I was hoping for a titmouse in the same location but that didn't pan out. Other species seen were WESTERN BLUEBIRD, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY and WESTERN TANAGER.

We moved on to the juniper habitat along the Sipe WA entrance road and played cat and mouse with a particular nasty JUNIPER TITMOUSE for over an hour (and it wasn't any cooler here either!). However, we wore the little bugger down. Species recorded during the search included HAIRY WOODPECKER (seen surprisingly often in juniper habitat as long as there are pines nearby); MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY and VESPER & LARK SPARROWS.

Driving back to Nutrioso I saw OSPREY at Nelson Reservoir and I heard CLARK'S NUTCRACKER calling as I pulled into Juniper Hill.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

We reversed yesterday's search order by starting at Green's Peak followed by Big Lake Lookout. Four strikeouts in two days. No species of special note seen at either location, just regulars such as CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, PYGMY & RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, BROWN CREEPER and TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE.

In the afternoon we birded along the Blue River in the south White Mountains (northern Greenlee County). Armed with first hand knowledge from Eagar birders Donna Roten and Gary Crandell (thanks guys), I was hopeful of success. However, it wasn't to be and we struck out for the third time on the trip. Best bird along the Blue was a singing INDIGO BUNTING. This is an area of the White Mountains that I bird infrequently since the birds are more typical of SE AZ and my focus is on other species. However, in my limited visits I've found Indigo to be more numerous here than in the traditional nesting area of South Fork.

It's seems quite ironic during these warm summer days that I developed a cold on the journey to the White Mountains on Monday. Thus, the birding over the past few days has been tough in more ways than one. Obviously, the grouse and hawk misses were extremely disappointing. Nevertheless, over the five days we managed to see 19 targets species which is only one shy of the minimum 20 that I expected.

Two OSPREYS worked over Nelson Reservoir as I drove "home".

After another very warm day, I enjoyed the evening on the porch at Juniper Hill listening to a singing GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and watching several aggressive RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS fighting over the feeders. I happened to look up just at the right time to see 16 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS in the air over the property, quite a treat since they are relatively scarce in southeast Arizona and I rarely see them in numbers. The most that I have seen together in SE AZ is 10 in Sawmill Canyon (8/9/99). The most I have seen together in the White Mountains is 130 in South Fork (8/10/00).

46 species recorded:
Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Broad-tailed & Rufous Hummingbirds; Acorn Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Western Wood-Pewee, Cordilleran Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Cassin's Kingbird, Horned Lark, Violet-green & N. Rough-winged Swallows; Golden-crowned Kinglet, Canyon Wren, Western & Mountain Bluebirds; Townsend's Solitaire, Am. Robin, Mountain Chickadee, Pygmy, Red-breasted & White-breasted Nuthatches; Brown Creeper, Steller's Jay, Western Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, European Starling, House Finch, Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Green-tailed & Spotted Towhees; Chipping & Vesper Sparrows; Dark-eyed Junco, Indigo Bunting and Eastern Meadowlark.

Thursday, July 31, 2008
White Mountains Day 4: Day List 60   Trip List 114  (+20)
I now have almost a week of free days before my next client. I'd love to use this time to visit all my regular haunts to see what's going on but, unfortunately, I have the pressing issue of finding a grouse! The monsoon season is currently AWOL and the temperature continues super warm (we're talking record warm). Today I needed to take care of a few errands in Show Low so I tried to arrange my birding around that. I started in Springerville working the area around Becker Lake; then checked a few locations in Greer before finishing up at Sunrise Lake as I returned from Show Low.

A lone CLARK'S NUTCRACKER stopped by Juniper Hill this morning but only stayed long enough to check out the WESTERN SCRUB-JAYS at the feeders. A male LAZULI BUNTING was another brief visitor. RUFOUS well outnumbered BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRDS.

EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES were conspicuous in town in Eagar and along Becker Lake Road in Springerville. A brief stop at Becker Lake yielded BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, a couple of AMERICAN WIGEONS, a perched OSPREY, calling VIRGINIA RAIL and a few YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

A check of the first bridge as highway 373 drops down into Greer was unproductive for dippers but I did find a lone GRAY CATBIRD in the dense vegetation, my first in the Greer area. Gray Catbird is a "specialty species" along the Little Colorado in other areas of the White Mountains. CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS were conspicuous further along the highway closer to "downtown".

I spent a little time in Butler Canyon where I found a family of CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHERS, more CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS and a few other common species. Somewhat surprisingly, I didn't see or hear any species of woodpecker.

No dippers at the Four Seasons bridge but I found yet more CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS and VIRGINIA'S WARBLER. I did a quick about turn at the Red Setter bridge when I saw about 20 kids fishing!

West Fork was generally quiet but I easily found 3 AMERICAN DIPPERS (adult and two juveniles). I shot lots of images but I was always working against strong sunlight and only managed one shot of a juvenile.

Later in the afternoon I looked at the east end of Sunrise Lake. There's a little more water than when I was last here in May. WILSON'S PHALAROPE (3 males) was the only shorebird species that I detected. Other species included EARED GREBES carrying youngsters on their backs; a few REDHEADS and 6 female COMMON MERGANSERS.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Thursday, July 31, 2008

July Species Seen

Stuart Healy Journal - July, 2008 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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