Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - December, 2002 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was on Tuesday, December 31, 2002.     

Tuesday, December 3, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Back in the field today after a few (self-imposed) days of being grounded. When not working I always try to stay home on a holiday weekend so I spent some time at the computer. I had planned to bird yesterday but the weather was so grungy I decided against it. A good choice -- it was generally a very unpleasant day and we ended up with at least 12 hours of rain in Sierra Vista. The first noticeable snow fell in the higher elevations of the Huachucas; at 2:00pm today the snow line looked to be around 8000 feet, perhaps a little lower. 

Patagonia Lake State Park was very fresh this morning after all the rain; mostly cloudy conditions with a few sun breaks, zero wind and warm enough for short sleeves -- a delightful morning to be outside. I'll be working at the lake later in the week looking for the gnatcatcher, but today I was able to enjoy some casual birding. I spent much of my time along the creek (wellies were a necessity) where the birding was extremely slow with long periods between birds. Nevertheless, despite missing some very common species, I ended the morning with 64 species.  

I started by scanning the water at the west end of the lake before the boats became active. A (continuing?) COMMON LOON was present, presumably the same bird that I saw here on October 29 and November 6. It turned out that this was my first December record at the lake. Also on the water were at least 20 NEOTROPIC and 3 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, many EARED and a handful of WESTERN GREBES, and a few duck species including CINNAMON TEAL, PINTAIL (uncommon here) and LESSER SCAUP.

WILSON'S SNIPE and AMERICAN PIPITS were easy to see in the very wet and muddy area where the south fork of the creek feeds the lake; I counted 20 snipe and even more pipits. Surprisingly, I heard only one VIRGINIA RAIL and not a single Sora.

GRAY and DUSKY FLYCATCHERS were both common in their respective favored habitats of mesquite and willow. ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS were also common in the willows.

Sonoita Creek had very few birds except for abundant HOUSE WRENS. I came across a LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH (again, presumably the same bird that I saw on October 29) about 200 yards upstream from the creek fork (in a backwater of the north fork of the creek).

Since I wasn't looking for the birds today, it was perhaps inevitable that I would stumble into a BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER. Around 11:15am, I was checking Hackberry trees in the bosque north of Nutting's Wash when I heard quite a commotion coming from a mixed flock comprising BRIDLED TITMOUSE (mostly these), BEWICK'S WREN, VERDIN and HUTTON'S VIREO. I headed over to investigate (it's always a good move to check mixed flocks) and lo and behold I heard the mewing call of the gnatcatcher. The bird (a male) was heading towards me and eventually stopped right over my head. Not wishing to look a gift horse in the mouth, I raised my glasses to look at the undertail. Bad move -- the bird shit right on me! It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.    

I recorded the following 64 species at the lake from 7:40am-12:00pm.
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Neotropic & Double-crested Cormorants, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, Lesser Scaup, Great Blue & Green Herons, Red-tailed Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Virginia Rail, Am. Coot, Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer, Common Loon, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Gray & Dusky Flycatchers, Say's & Black Phoebes, Common Raven, Hutton's Vireo, Phainopepla, Hermit Thrush, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rock, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Sparrow, Am. Pipit, House Finch, Orange-crowned & Yellow-rumped Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Chipping & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle

On the way home I stopped at a deathly quiet Paton's Yard where there wasn't even an Inca Dove let alone a Ruddy Ground-Dove. Hell, there wasn't even a House Sparrow. I kid you not.

As I was leaving, I stopped along the creek to admire the HARLAN'S HAWK that's been around here for a month or so (and in winters past). The bird was close to the road in a leafless tree so I decided to try for a digiscoped shot. I slowly set up the scope, fitted my adaptor to the camera and attached it to the scope, all the time trying to act nonchalant. This took about 5 minutes during which time the bird just stared at me. However, the moment that I aimed the scope at the bird it flew away. Lots of expletives deleted. As if getting crapped on by a gnatcatcher wasn't enough for one day (fortunately, a small bird). 

Wednesday, December 4, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Although winter species diversity in the mountains is always very much lower than lowland locations, I decided that a routine visit to Sawmill Canyon was on the menu for today, especially after my sapsuckerless visit of November 20. I couldn't have wished for a better day -- the grungy conditions of the past two days cleared out and today was a beautiful, crisp and sunny blue sky day without any wind. 

Upper Garden Canyon road had plenty of ice in the shady spots and it wasn't much above freezing when I started birding. To the uninitiated first time winter birder in Sawmill, today would have seemed like a daunting task and it would have been easy to say "hey, this place is birdless, let's get the hell out of here". Only by spending an inordinate amount of time combined with a liberal amount of persistence (or sheer pig-headedness) did I manage to eke out some birds. In fact, the 21 species that I recorded represented almost 60% of all the species that I've seen in the canyon in December (see bar-graph).

Despite spending 3 hours searching in perfect (windless) conditions, I again failed to find a Williamson's Sapsucker. I did find at least 5 RED-NAPED SAPSUCKERS which was an improvement on my last visit here when I failed to find either species. However, there is some good news in that I was able to determine that a bird is present, because I found fresh sapwell activity in a tree that has been regularly used by Williamson's in previous winters. For those not familiar with the behavior of these birds on winter territory in SE AZ, Williamson's prefers pine trees and creates some serious sapwells like this, whereas Red-naped prefers oaks, junipers and deciduous trees and is a much more delicate worker, like this. Red-naped probably takes more insects than Williamson's and both species feed on berries when available. Both these shots were taken in the canyon today. 

The best bird of the morning was CLARK'S NUTCRACKER -- I saw one bird flying and heard several more calling. Generally, however, they were remarkably quiet compared to how raucous they normally are, and it would have been easy to overlook them (hard to believe, I know). This season is the first time that I've seen them in Sawmill since the last invasion year of 1996. This year I first saw them on October 4. 

The plaintive whistled "phew" of an OLIVE WARBLER led me to a mixed flock that contained at least two of them including a beautiful adult male.

Other stuff in the canyon today included at least 8 WILD TURKEYS, numerous ARIZONA WOODPECKERS that were impossible to sneak up on because of the MEXICAN and STELLER'S JAYS that kept giving me away, a small flock of WESTERN BLUEBIRDS (rare here -- I have 7 records in 5 different years from Dec-Feb), a few calling TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRES and a few PINE SISKINS.

I recorded the following 21 species in Sawmill from 9:30am-12:30pm.
Wild Turkey, Red-naped Sapsucker, Acorn & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Steller's & Mexican Jays, Clark's Nutcracker, Common Raven, Hutton's Vireo, Western Bluebird, Townsend's Solitaire, White-breasted Nuthatch. Brown Creeper, Bewick's Wren, Bushtit, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, Pine Siskin, Olive Warbler and Dark-eyed (Oregon & Gray-headed) Junco.

Thursday, December 5, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
More routine birding today, this time in the Sulphur Springs Valley. Not surprisingly after yesterday's clear skies, it was cold overnight and for the first time this season I had to scrape ice off my windshield. Although the temperature was still below freezing when I left home at 7:00am, I was able to change into shorts by 11:00am. Hey, it's December in Southeast Arizona, what more can I say. 

For the first time so far this season, the valley had the look and feel of winter this morning. Low lying fog soon disappeared but it stayed very cold until around 9:30am. The sight and sound of SANDHILL CRANES filled the air and RED-TAILED HAWKS seemed to be on every other pole. However, the numbers of sparrows and LARK BUNTINGS are way down from normal. 

I started on North Frontier Rd. where I looked unsuccessfully for Sage Sparrow, rare but regular here every year. The problem in this location is that the good habitat is on (posted) private property and scanning from a distance is difficult. I turned up 20 species including ROADRUNNER, WHITE-CROWNED, VESPER, SAVANNAH, BREWER'S, LINCOLN'S and BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE and PYRRHULOXIA.

Next I looked for Mountain Plover and checked all the fields on Davis as far as Central Highway. Scope visibility was excellent in the crisp morning air and I was able to scan at full power. However, once again, I came up empty.

I birded along Coffman Road and then on to Whitewater Draw where I spent almost two hours. There really wasn't that many birds to keep me there for that long, I just spent too much time trying to photograph a cracking male VERMILION FLYCATCHER. Perhaps the most noteworthy bird was single BARN SWALLOW. Between mid November and early March they are not often seen in this part of SE AZ, although I do have a number of winter records (4 in December, 4 in January). 

Among the other species from 30 recorded at Whitewater Draw were 5+ GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 20 LEAST SANDPIPERS, at least 2 calling SORAS and a few AMERICAN PIPITS.

Continuing north, I started looking for plovers again (which generally means looking for "good" fields). Success came on Central Highway about 1 mile north of Davis Road. By now the heat shimmer was pretty bad and sorting through the 250-300 KILLDEER (which told me that it was indeed a good field) wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world!  This particular field is the third and last one on the left (west side) as you drive north from Davis Road. I eventually found 8 MOUNTAIN PLOVERS in the north east quadrant of the field, opposite the sign for house number 9345. Also at this location were a couple of FERRUGINOUS HAWKS.

It's interesting to note that the plovers show up in the valley about this time every year, about two months later than they arrive at Western Sod Farms, north of Tucson. Quite a difference and not obvious why. 

Having found the plovers I put my foot down and headed for Willcox. I made only one stop along the way, on Kansas Settlement Road at the Kennedy Farms pond. This is private property and visibility is poor from the roadside access. Of note here were a GREAT EGRET and a few CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS.

The water level at Willcox has risen considerably since my last visit on November 22 -- not really a problem now that shorebird season is over. I saw very little of note here among 25 species -- 2 CANADA GEESE and 20 BUFFLEHEADS, including 8 males (always a treat). EARED GREBES were plentiful and I noted 1 CANVASBACK.

Day list (60 species recorded):
Eared Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Canada Goose, Am. Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Pintail, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, N. Harrier, Cooper's, Red-tailed & Ferruginous Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Sora, Am. Coot, Sandhill Crane, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, Mountain Plover, Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Say's & Black Phoebes, Vermilion Flycatcher, Chihuahuan Raven, Loggerhead Shrike, Cactus & Marsh Wrens, Barn Swallow, Horned Lark, House Sparrow, Am. Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Lark Bunting, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Savannah, Brewer's, Vesper & Black-throated Sparrows, Green-tailed & Canyon Towhees, Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern & Western Meadowlarks, Brewer's Blackbird and Brown-headed Cowbird.

Friday, December 6, 2002     Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Marvin Cooper from Seattle, WA, who I've birded with twice before. Our target bird was the Black-capped Gnatcatcher at Patagonia Lake.

It was partly cloudy and chilly when we started at the lake at 7:30am and nary a bird was stirring. We stayed close to the base of the hillside (that generally follows the contour of the eastern edge of the lake) and worked our way through the various washes as we encountered them. Around 8:30am we heard the chatter of BRIDLED TITMICE some way up the hillside and headed in their general direction. The call of a HUTTON'S VIREO gave me some encouragement that we had the right flock and minutes later I spotted a very backlit gnatcatcher that could have been any species. However, shortly afterwards I heard the mewing call of a BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER. The location for this sighting was about 200 yards up the hillside a little to the south of Nutting's Wash. We gave chase over very difficult terrain of loose dirt cow trails and shin-dagger, all to no avail. We soon lost the flock and that was the end of that.

We returned to lake level and resumed the walk-and-listen routine, eventually reaching the northeast corner of the lake without hearing the flock again. We decided to take a break and return to the car, meeting a couple of birders along the way, relating our news to them. 

Around 10:00am we started back along the trail to try again. I was blown away by a sound I never thought I would hear in SE AZ -- the COMMON LOON that has been around for a month or so was actually giving its yodeling call that echoed around the lake. Yikes, are we in Minnesota? Fact is stranger than fiction!

We bumped into the same folks again just after they thought they had heard the mewing call of the gnatcatcher. Time again to head into the scrub to track them down. After about 15 minutes I heard a single call and we headed toward the location. A little patience and a few scratches later we found both male and female BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS foraging in close proximity to each other and vocalizing constantly, which is what allowed me to find them. The couldn't of cared less about our presence and came within feet of us. We enjoyed spectacular looks in very good light for several minutes. Fortunately, we were able to get the other two birders on the birds as well. 

I've seen the birds four times now in recent weeks and today was by far the best view. I was really regretting leaving my camera in the car, however, that was probably why we saw them well! Location for this sighting was in very dense scrub, about 20 yards up the hillside and a little to the north of the "third wash" (measured from the steps where the trail drops to lake level). Time from 10:50-11:10am; still present there when we left..

Wandering around in the scrub today I noticed lots of fruit on many of the Hackberry trees. This fact also seems to have been noticed by many AMERICAN ROBINS, an uncommon visitor here in winter. There were at least 50 of them. Time to start looking for a Rufous-backed! 

While looking for the gnatcatchers, we recorded the following 50 species from 7:30-11:40am:
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Neotropic Cormorant, Ruddy Duck, Mallard, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer, Common Loon, Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Gray & Dusky Flycatchers, Say's & Black Phoebes, Common Raven, Hutton's Vireo, Phainopepla, Townsend's Solitaire, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, Curve-billed Thrasher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Rock, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, Pine Siskin, House Finch, Orange-crowned Warbler, Song, White-crowned, Chipping, Black-chinned, Black-throated & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Canyon Towhee, N. Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Sunday, December 8, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Cheryl Fox and Jay Miller from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of MN. On another beautiful late fall day, we birded at Patagonia Lake, Kino Springs and in the Huachucas. It was very cold at the lake when we began at 7:30 but it was shorts time again by 11:00am.

We had no particular targets at Patagonia Lake and we began by checking the water at the western end, followed that with a brief check of the campground and finished up by walking the trail around the eastern edge of the lake as far as the creek

My best bird of the day came as we were scanning the lake. At first I thought it was a late Osprey but it turned out to be a BALD EAGLE -- not quite a full adult, probably a fourth year bird. This was the first time that I have seen one here -- species #242 for me at the lake.

However, the highlight really has to be the continuing pair of BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS that we saw completely serendipitously. After I heard an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER calling from the mesquite bosque, we gave chase and stumbled into the gnatcatchers (never did see the flycatcher!). The birds were in a similar location to where I saw them on Friday -- at the end of the "third wash" where the thick mesquite ends and the scrub begins at the base of the hillside. Both birds were again quite vocal and foraging fairly close together. Time of this sighting was 8:45am.

Other species of note included the continuing COMMON LOON (calling again!), TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, 5 MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS (quite rare here; I have 4 records in 3 different years) and a PLUMBEOUS VIREO seen in the willows at the start of the creek trail at the northeast corner of the lake. (First time that I have seen one at the lake in December). All of the other species from 50+ seen were regulars including WESTERN GREBE, NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, REDHEAD, CANVASBACK, VIRGINIA RAIL, WILSON'S SNIPE, DUSKY & GRAY FLYCATCHERS, AM. PIPIT, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE,

A short visit to Kino Springs yielded the hoped for VERMILION FLYCATCHER, a male at the sewage pond. A handful of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS and AMERICAN ROBINS were at the (almost dry) first  pond. Both TURKEY and BLACK VULTURES were enjoying the thermals.

A midday visit to the Paton's was completely unproductive

We drove back east to the Huachucas and started the trek up Scheelite Canyon at 1:20pm. It was quite chilly in the lower section where sunset had already arrived. I couldn't find an owl in the lower roosting area so we trudged on up canyon. After a fair amount of work, I finally found a fairly well concealed SPOTTED OWL in a regular tree about 1 mile into the canyon. The bird was roosting much higher than normal in this particular tree, probably trying to catch some afternoon rays. Very little was stirring in the canyon -- a calling CRISSAL THRASHER high up on the slopes, RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW and the usual CANYON WRENS.

Proving the theory that "luck"/"timing"/"whatever" evens itself out -- after stumbling into the gnatcatchers and working hard to find a Spotted Owl, I was unable to find a Mexican Jay! A portion of humble pie to end the day. 

Day list (79 species recorded):
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Neotropic Cormorant, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, N. Pintail, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Black & Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagle, N. Harrier, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Virginia Rail, Am. Coot, Wilson's Snipe, Common Loon, Mourning & Inca Doves, Spotted Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray, Dusky, Vermilion & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, Plumbeous Vireo, Loggerhead Shrike, Phainopepla, Western & Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend's Solitaire, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, N. Mockingbird, Crissal Thrasher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Sparrow, Am. Pipit, House Finch, Orange-crowned & Yellow-rumped Warblers, Dark-eyed Junco, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Chipping & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Green-tailed & Abert's Towhees, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle and Brewer's Blackbird.

Wednesday, December 11, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
My original plan for today was to visit French Joe Canyon to check on the warblers. However, they were confirmed as still being present on Monday so rather than take coals to Newcastle I decided to visit Patagonia Lake instead, just for a change :) Actually, today was somewhat of a milestone -- my 250th visit to the lake. It sounds like a lot until you realize that it takes at least 400 visits well balanced throughout the seasons over multiple years to collect really useful data. I'm sadly lacking in summer visits (see bar graph).

Even though I delayed my start time by 30 minutes, it was still surprisingly cold at the west end of the lake a little before 8:00am. Before long it turned into a beautiful, birdy and very enjoyable morning. 

As I started along the marsh trail shortly after 9:00am, I bumped into someone who had just seen the BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS. I continued on and soon bumped into them myself after I heard their distinctive mewing calls. Both male and female foraged on the outer edge of the mesquite bosque (next to the grass) and in the willows closer to the lake; from about the "third wash" to just north of Nutting's wash. They moved about 200 yards over a 45 minute period and I followed them around, trying to get a photograph.

I spent most of my time well upstream along the creek trail hoping for a Green Kingfisher or an ELEGANT TROGON -- I found a male at least 1 mile upstream from the lake. This part of the trail was the least birdy but I did find a couple of HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS (my first at the lake this season) and an EASTERN PHOEBE near the creek fork.

The creek trail from where it starts (where the south fork feeds the lake) to the fork area was the birdiest section. I didn't see anything special save for the PLUMBEOUS VIREO that was in this area on Sunday. I also saw CASSIN'S VIREO in the big willow near the steps.

Other less common birds (either in absolute or seasonal terms) were a lone BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK, a few BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS, a PEREGRINE FALCON perched on an Agave on the hillside behind the bench, the continuing COMMON LOON, a handful of WHITE-WINGED DOVES at the visitor center feeders, a roosting GREAT HORNED OWL along the creek trail and a perched up TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, calling and singing along the marsh trail.

Regulars included many EARED and 5 WESTERN GREBES, many NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS, a few COMMON MERGANSERS, 10 WILSON'S SNIPE, GRAY & DUSKY FLYCATCHERS (both common today), 3 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS and scads of HERMIT THRUSHES. Sparrows remain very sparse. 

I recorded the following 75 species from 7:50am to 12:20pm.
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Neotropic & Double-crested Cormorants, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Ruddy Duck, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Pintail, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, N. Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Virginia Rail, Am. Coot, Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer, Common Loon, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Great Horned Owl, Elegant Trogon, Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Eastern, Say's & Black Phoebes, Hammond's, Gray, Dusky & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Common Raven, Hutton's, Cassin's & Plumbeous Vireos, Townsend's Solitaire, Hermit Thrush, N. Mockingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Sparrow, Am. Pipit, House Finch, Orange-crowned & Yellow-rumped Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Chipping, Vesper & Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Green-tailed Towhee, N. Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Thursday, December 12, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Just another shitty day in paradise as the great weather continues -- cold early on; sunny, clear and very pleasant by mid morning. Today I birded at St. David and Willcox.

At St David Monastery I was hoping to confirm that Lewis's Woodpecker had returned for another winter. However, I failed to find one despite a fairly thorough two hour search. In the past few years they have arrived during the last week in November and since they are already in a number of other places in SE AZ, perhaps this year they will be absent here. Time will tell. 

I recorded a respectable 44 species without seeing anything spectacular. Most interesting were the fruit eating species that had gathered around the fruiting Hackberry trees, even though they are not fully ripe yet. AMERICAN ROBINS were the most abundant, followed closely by EASTERN BLUEBIRD, HERMIT THRUSH and CEDAR WAXWING.

WOOD DUCK, WHITE-WINGED DOVE, GRAY and VERMILION FLYCATCHERS can usually be relied upon here in winter and I found all without too much difficulty. Other species included GREEN HERON, COOPER'S HAWK, BELTED KINGFISHER and PINE SISKIN.

Activity at Willcox continues to dwindle (unless you count tons of SANDHILL CRANES!) and I couldn't even manage 30 species. Highlight was a small group of gulls containing RING-BILLED and CALIFORNIA. I have a number of records for California Gull in November but this was only my second in December.

Ducks weren't particular abundant and they were kept on their toes by a PRAIRIE FALCON that made a few fly-bys. NORTHERN SHOVELER was most abundant and at least 14 BUFFLEHEADS continue as do a few LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS and LEAST SANDPIPERS.

Similarly, the AMERICAN WIGEON feeding on the grass at the golf course were scared up by a MERLIN, although I can't imagine a Merlin going after a healthy Wigeon. Also, a hybrid AMERICAN x EURASIAN WIGEON was present. If you only see the head of the bird it can look quite good, however, the flanks are pinkish and not gray. A calling SORA was in the marsh at the golf course pond.

LARK BUNTINGS and BREWER'S SPARROWS were fairly common north of the golf course.

Day list (66 species recorded):
Eared Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Wood Duck, Am. Wigeon + AMWI x EUWI hybrid, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks, Merlin, Prairie Falcon, Scaled & Gambel's Quail, Sora, Am. Coot, Sandhill Crane, Long-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, Ring-billed & California Gulls, Rock, Mourning & White-winged Doves, Greater Roadrunner, Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray & Vermilion Flycatchers, Chihuahuan Raven, Loggerhead Shrike, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh & Bewick's Wrens, Verdin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Pine Siskin, House Finch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lark Bunting, Song, Lincoln's, Savannah, Brewer's & Vesper Sparrows, N. Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle and Brewer's Blackbird.

Saturday, December 14, 2002     Previous Day    Next Day
A very abbreviated report today. The great weather continues -- sunny skies, cold morning, warmer than of late in the afternoon. I birded a loop through Santa Cruz county starting at a very cold Kino Springs followed by stops at Palo Duro Golf Course Pond, Amado Sewage Pond, Green Valley Sewage Ponds and the old maintenance yard in Green Valley; then I drove home via the Box Canyon Road. 

Highlights:
EASTERN PHOEBE at the second pond and a large flock (>50) of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS at Kino Springs first pond.

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCHES at the maintenance yard. This was only the second Y-B sapsucker that I've seen in AZ (although they are annual). The goldfinches were perched nicely on a fence wire until I reached for my camera.

LEWIS'S WOODPECKER in Continental near the Feedlot Cafe.

Day List (70 species recorded):
Pied-billed & Eared Grebes, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Pintail, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Black & Turkey Vultures, Cooper's & Red-tailed Hawks, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Sora, Am. Coot, Spotted & Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, Rock & Mourning Doves, Lewis's, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied & Red-naped Sapsuckers, N. Flicker, Eastern, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray & Vermilion Flycatchers, Common Raven, Loggerhead Shrike, Mountain Bluebird, Am. Robin, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, Rock, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House Sparrow, Am. Pipit, Lawrence's Goldfinch, House Finch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Chipping & Rufous-winged Sparrows, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, N. Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackle and Brewer's Blackbird.

Monday, December 16, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Although there were plenty of other things that I could have been doing this morning, I returned to St. David Monastery. It's always a pleasant place to bird but far from a hot spot. My reason for going back stemmed from my sighting of Eastern Bluebirds there last Thursday. I was contacted by a well known local birder who questioned this sighting in a manner that I really didn't care for. I don't mind my identification skills being challenged (god knows I've made plenty of mistakes over the years), but I certainly don't like it when I'm accused of not checking thoroughly enough to eliminate other bluebird species. Nobody that I know does more grunt work on routine birds than I do (at least among those that report their findings), so it was particularly offensive.

To be fair to the individual concerned, Eastern Bluebirds are very rare away from the mountains in SE AZ and I should have made note of that in my report. In fact, I normally make a song and dance about out-of-habitat and out-of-season occurrences but on that day I was lazy.

Fortunately, I was able to relocate the birds again today and preserve my sanity. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to obtain a photograph. I arrived at the Monastery at 8:10am an started looking and listening specifically for the bluebirds without doing any general birding. At 9:15am I heard and then saw a small flock of 10 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS fly in from the north of the property and perch in the cottonwoods at the Hermitage pond. I tried to maneuver into a favorable sun position to get a photo, but the birds took off almost immediately and flew south away from Monastery property. I waited around for another hour without any further success. Apart from today and last Thursday, my only other Eastern Bluebird sightings at St. David were back in 1997 on December 5 (15 birds) and December 22 (8 birds). Bluebirds of any species are rare at the Monastery -- I have only 4 Western and 6 Mountain records.

Since I was more focused today, I recorded only 40 species (compared to 45 on Thursday) including COOPER'S and SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS, WOOD DUCK, 30 WHITE-WINGED DOVES, GRAY FLYCATCHER, GREEN-TAILED & ABERT'S TOWHEES, a small flock of LARK SPARROWS and a few YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS. Interestingly, the Yellow-heads were my first at St, David (although I've only birded here 70+ times). I spent a little time at the main pond trying to photograph a male Wood Duck that pulled a bluebird on me and disappeared into the marsh.

On the way home I stopped at Sierra Vista WWTP where the only bird of note among  18 species was a PEREGRINE FALCON.

Wednesday, December 18, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with Pat and Jane Bell from Louisville, KY who I've birded with once before. Winter arrived a little ahead of the calendar yesterday and last night I thought we might have to postpone, however, the day turned out okay. It was cold certainly, and a little blustery at times, but we avoided rain and snow. It was a wintry looking scene this morning with snow down to 5000 feet in the Huachucas. Snow was falling on the higher peaks when we returned in mid afternoon and a few flakes were falling even on French Fry Blvd in town.

Pat and Jane needed a handful of birds for 700 ABA and we set out to find a few of them today. The last few times that I have visited Paton's around midday have yielded poor results so I decided to start there first this morning which turned out to be a good move. We spooked lots of doves as we entered the yard at 8:00am, most of which were WHITE-WINGED, MOURNING and INCA. Fortunately, they gradually returned over the next 15 minutes and we saw at least 2 male and 2 female RUDDY-GROUND DOVES. A good start to the day. The only other bird of note was a male LAZULI BUNTING. We stopped by at 2:00pm on the way home and the yard was virtually devoid of birds.

It was quite chilly at Patagonia Lake when we started there a little before 9:00am. My strategy here was simple -- walk the marsh trail and listen for BRIDLED TITMOUSE, and it worked almost immediately. In with the flock in dense mesquite a little south of Nutting's Wash were the male and female BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS. We saw them again closer to the trail in bare willows at 11:00am.

Two targets seen in short order. We returned to the car to don wellies and headed out again to the creek trail in search of the Rufous-backed Robin trifecta. We checked the half dozen or so Hackberry trees along base of the hillside that parallels the creek without finding any fruit eaters other than HERMIT THRUSH. We didn't end up empty handed though because we stumbled into a CASSIN'S VIREO near the tire/white plastic bowl marker, a target bird that I thought we had very little chance of finding. Also in this area was the LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH. 

Next, we returned to the mesquite bosque in the vicinity of Nutting's Wash to check the Hackberry trees there, all of which have fruit. Again, no sign of fruit lovers except for Hermit Thrush. The only species of note here was EASTERN PHOEBE.

Our 3.5 hour focused session at the lake yielded only 45 species but was very successful with 3 target species seen. A couple of adult GOLDEN EAGLES working low over the grassland along the entrance road were a nice bonus as we left.

Over at Kino Springs we checked the trees in the Hackberry grove at the first pond, those at the first tee/sewage pond, and the hackberries and pyrancantha at the club house. The trees at the first pond were alive with MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, CEDAR WAXWINGS and a few AMERICAN ROBINS. The other trees had nothing of note. A very bright and colorful male VERMILION FLYCATCHER was at the club house pond.

Day list (72 species recorded):
Pied-billed & Western Grebes, Neotropic Cormorant, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, N. Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, N. Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Golden Eagle, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Virginia Rail, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Rock, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Eastern, Say's & Black , Phoebes, Gray, Dusky, & Vermilion Flycatchers, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, Hutton's & Cassin's Vireos, Loggerhead Shrike, Cedar Waxwing, Mountain Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, N. Mockingbird, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh & Bewick's Wrens, Verdin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Sparrow, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch, Orange-crowned &, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned & Chipping Sparrows, Green-tailed, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Lazuli Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle and Brewer's Blackbird.

Thursday, December 19, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
Today I had planned to start my annual winter circumnavigation of the state, something I normally do in January. However, with heavy snowfall expected in Northern Arizona over the next several days, I put my plans on hold. Maybe I'll just do the Colorado River portion or even go to Texas instead, since west and north look pretty bad weather wise over the Christmas period. Maybe I'll even cancel altogether. 

The winter storm of the past couple of days passed through and today was sunny and crisp. In the afternoon I spent a couple of hours near the San Pedro House, mainly to test a new camera. I've long been dissatisfied with my Olympus C700 for digiscoping purposes so I purchased a Nikon Coolpix 4500. I plan on keeping the C700 because it's a good general purpose camera. I'll write a review of the 4500 as soon as I've had a chance to use it for a while. 

Today was essentially my first chance to try the 4500 and, allowing for my complete lack of knowledge on how to drive it, I'm extremely pleased with the results. Initial comparisons with the C700 are very favorable despite the smaller zoom. The C700 has a 10X optical zoom, equivalent to 380mm (in 35mm terms) at full zoom. The 4500 has a 4X optical zoom, equivalent to155mm at full zoom, 2.45 times less than the C700. However, the 4500 has a resolution of 4 megapixels (compared to 2.1 with the C700) and first impressions are that this more than offsets the reduced magnification. I can enlarge images in Photoshop to produce equivalent or better quality than the C700 when both are used at full zoom.

All this aside, the main reason for purchasing the 4500 was for digiscoping, and my first experiments are extremely encouraging. I've ordered an adaptor from Eagle Eye optics in the UK but I won't receive that until January. Consequently, today's tests were performed by hand holding the camera to the scope. Furthermore, since I don't know how to use the various manual modes of the camera yet, I used auto mode and hoped for the best. The better results that I managed were of a GILA WOODPECKER and a GAMBEL'S QUAIL; and I was easily able to eliminate vignetting (the problem with the C700). However, from a digiscoping standpoint, there is a big downside versus the C700  -- it's necessary to use the monitor to locate and focus the image since the scope blocks the viewfinder. There are two problems because of this 1) washed out image in the viewfinder in bright sun (can perhaps be eliminated by a sun visor) and 2) I need to use my reading glasses to view the monitor, definitely a major inconvenience. 

I spent most of my time near the San Pedro House and made just a brief walk along the river and around kingfisher pond. Hardly anything was stirring in mid afternoon and I recorded just 25 species with only HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER of note. 

Sunday, December 22, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Even though I don't have to work again until Dec 27, and I have a few contiguous days to play with, I decided to forgo my planned trip to Northern Arizona. I couldn't motivate myself to brave the cold and snow to go work on Black-capped Chickadee, now promoted to top of my state nemesis bird list. They show up sporadically in winter in places like Colorado City and Teec Nos Pos. Maybe next year, which is not too far away now.

Instead, I braved the cold and snow in Sawmill Canyon! Actually, much of the canyon floor was clear, although there was plenty of ice and up to 2 inches of snow in many places. The first full day of winter was pretty cloudy, cold, dreary and somewhat windy in Sawmill. Not surprisingly, the canyon was very quiet bird-wise and I recorded only 11 species in three hours. Light snow was falling when I left at 11:30am. As I write these notes in mid afternoon, it's very bleak and hailing in town.

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun, but apparently it's MOURNING DOVES and Englishmen that go to Sawmill Canyon on cold winter mornings. Mourning Doves are pretty scarce here in spring and summer so why on earth would my first winter record choose to be here on such a nasty day? Beats me. Once again, fact is stranger than fiction.

Brightening this dreary day was a beautiful male OLIVE WARBLER, a hardy bird that stays around in small numbers in winter. Also braving the elements was a flock of BUSHTITS, a tiny bird that is regular in Sawmill in winter. A small flock of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS were nice to see; they have been scarce in the canyon this year. Other than that it was regular fare including ACORN WOODPECKER, BROWN CREEPER and YELLOW-EYED JUNCO

Monday, December 23, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Today was a diabolical weather day with rain, wind and snow and poor visibility. I'm sure glad that I didn't have to work on finding any target birds. 

In the early afternoon I ventured out to Sierra Vista WWTP where I lasted just 40 minutes. A biting wind numbed my fingers such that I could hardly focus my binocular. Definitely not fun. Bah, humbug. I saw very few birds with only MERLIN and YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS of note.

Tuesday, December 24, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
The temperature was barely above 20 degrees when I left home this morning at 6:30am and I had to do some pretty serious ice scraping before I could get started. I headed out through the west gate of Fort Huachuca into the San Rafael Valley where I spent a couple of hours then followed that with 3 hours at Kino Springs, a quick stop at the Roadside Rest area. and finished up with a 90 minutes session at the Paton's.

It was bitterly cold in the San Rafael Valley starting at dawn and remained so until I left at 9:30am. Much of the grassland that I normally walk was covered in snow and locations that normally have lots of sparrows had nothing at all. Highlights were a few SHORT-EARED OWLS still hunting, 3 MERLINS, a PEREGRINE FALCON and a large (>200) flock of CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS.

Continuing west towards Nogales I could see heavy fog lying in the Santa Cruz Valley. Kino Springs was very foggy until 10:30am, after which it turned into a pleasant, albeit chilly day. The area was very birdy although I didn't see anything of real note from over 50 species recorded. Continuing at the first pond (where there's a good hackberry crop) are many MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS, CEDAR WAXWINGS and AMERICAN ROBINS. All four regular towhees were at the second pond and a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER was near the club house. Two male VERMILION FLYCATCHERS worked the club house pond; GRAY FLYCATCHERS were at both ponds.

Heading back to Patagonia I decided to stop at the Roadside Rest area to see if the Hackberry trees there had attracted anything (no action). However, the surprise of the day came here with a PAINTED REDSTART in with a flock of BRIDLED TITMICE. This is the first time that I've seen one here. As if that wasn't enough, a couple of GOLDEN EAGLES were soaring overhead. Perhaps the pair that I saw down the road near the lake last week.

I finished up in the Paton's Yard where I practiced digiscoping with my new camera and kept an eye on the comings and goings. I saw four species of doves, but no Ruddy Ground-Dove. Actually, COMMON GROUND-DOVE is probably more scarce here, especially in winter. The highlight was a GOLDEN CROWNED SPARROW that briefly came to pick up seeds under the feeder at the south end of the yard. A lone male LAZULI BUNTING continues but didn't appear during my visit.

Day list (73 species):
Pied-billed Grebe, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, N. Shoveler, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, N. Harrier, Golden Eagle, Am. Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Gambel's Quail, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Rock, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Common Ground-Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Acorn, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Red-naped Sapsucker, N. Flicker, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray & Vermilion Flycatchers, Mexican Jay, Chihuahuan & Common Ravens, Loggerhead Shrike, Cedar Waxwing, Mountain Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, Am. Robin, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatch, Canyon, Marsh & Bewick's Wrens, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, Horned Lark, House Sparrow, House Finch, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Painted Redstart, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Song, Lincoln's, White-crowned, Golden-crowned, Savannah, Chipping, Vesper & Lark Sparrows, Green-tailed, Spotted, Canyon & Abert's Towhees, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Eastern & Western Meadowlarks, Great-tailed Grackle and Brewer's Blackbird.

Wednesday, December 25, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Merry Christmas to all my readers. Okay, enough of the festivities, back to the birds. Bah humbug! This afternoon I visited Willcox to check if the recent inclement weather had brought in anything good. Thankfully, the weather was much better today, still cold to be sure but I was able to get by without a sweater in mid afternoon. 

There was snow on many of the mountain ranges visible from Willcox and even Dos Cabezas looked attractive. (The "two heads" in this shot are roughly 16 miles away.) The real white Christmas, however, came in the form of 14 ROSS'S GEESE on the main pond. It was a mixed flock of mostly adults and just a few immatures with dusky facial and neck areas.

The water level on the pain pond is now approaching normal (i.e. high) and the only shorebird I noted was a single LEAST SANDPIPER. Even the duck species diversity wasn't much to write home about and, as usual, RUDDY DUCKS and NORTHERN SHOVELERS were most numerous. Also present were a few EARED GREBES,  22 BUFFLEHEADS including 7 males, 3 COMMON MERGANSERS (two males), NORTHERN PINTAIL, CANVASBACK and RING-NECKED DUCK. 

More than 100 AMERICAN WIGEON and the hybrid American x Eurasian were on the grass at the golf course pond. Off to the west, several hundred SANDHILL CRANES constantly milled around in the sky.

Thursday, December 26, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
Another ice scraping morning -- 22 degrees when I left Sierra Vista at 6:00am. I spent the morning in Green Valley with the intention of checking on a few birds there for upcoming work. I also wanted to photograph the rare-in-AZ Red-shouldered Hawk that has been around for a couple of weeks. There are a "resident" pair near Wickenburg, although I've never made the journey to tick them for Arizona. 

Of course, first of all I had to find the hawk and that didn't happen. To make matters worse, not only did I not find it, I spent way too much time not finding it. Dumb! Hopefully, that'll teach me to not to chase birds for a while. Even though the Red-shouldered was a no show during my (and several other folks') time in the area, raptors were generally quite plentiful. Most were RED-TAILED HAWKS, including one HARLAN'S, and I also saw COOPER'S HAWK, NORTHERN HARRIER, KESTREL, MERLIN and this PEREGRINE FALCON that had the audacity to sit on the "Red-shouldered pole" near the fire station on Abrego.

Mercifully, I didn't fritter away all my time and I was able to confirm the continuing presence of a few species -- YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER at the old Pima County maintenance yard, LAWRENCE'S GOLDFINCH in a couple of locations, and the LEWIS'S WOODPECKER in Continental. I watched the woodpecker near the Nutworks for some time as it removed Pecans and returned to the top of a power pole to work on them.  

Friday, December 27, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Out today with leader Peter Dedicoat and 8 participants of an Avian Adventures (UK) tour. We spent the morning at Patagonia Lake State Park and ventured out again into the Huachucas for some evening owling. Although it was much warmer today, it was downright chilly by the edge of the lake about 30 minutes after sunrise. By 1:00pm it was like a spring afternoon.

We started out by birding at the west end of the lake where we saw some regular winter waterfowl. Not so regular here in winter, however, were 4 BARN SWALLOWS that were roosting under the eaves of the visitor center. This was my first December record at the lake (although I do have a few records in January). INCA and WHITE-WINGED DOVES were also hanging out at the visitor center. SPOTTED SANDPIPER is uncommon here in winter and was only my second December record at the lake.  

Shortly after we started the marsh trail, we heard the calls of the BRIDLED TITMOUSE flock led which us straight to the pair of BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS. They were foraging in the mesquite bosque close to the trail, about level with the "third wash".

Further along the trail we spotted what was in all likelihood a RUFOUS-BACKED ROBIN. Although the bird was perched in the clear, it was completely backlit making viewing very difficult. I was unable to detect an eye ring on the bird and I have high confidence that it was a Rufous-backed. 

We spent some time along the creek trail where we came up empty-handed on the Trogon, back for another winter, but we did find the LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH upstream from the fork on the north side of the creek.

Despite the good conditions, flycatchers were scarce today and we saw only one each of GRAY, DUSKY and ASH-THROATED.

We recorded the following 63 species at the lake from 8:00am-1:00pm:
Pied-billed, Eared & Western Grebes, Neotropic & Double-crested Cormorants, Ruddy Duck, Am. Wigeon, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, N. Pintail, N. Shoveler, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Virginia Rail, Am. Coot, Wilson's Snipe, Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Belted Kingfisher, Gila & Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray,  Dusky and Ash-throated Flycatchers, Common Raven, Hutton's Vireo, Phainopepla, Hermit Thrush, Rufous-backed Robin, N. Mockingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh, Bewick's & House Wrens, Verdin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Barn Swallow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Finch, Orange-crowned & Yellow-rumped Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, Song, Lincoln's, Chipping & Lark Sparrows, Spotted Towhee, N. Cardinal, Pyrrhuloxia, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Winter is not the best time to go night owling and, as I expected, we struck out completely. It was a crystal clear night with calm winds and a temperature somewhere in the high 20s. Despite working a number of regular locations, I failed to elicit a response from either of the resident screech-owls. Although they don't go anywhere, I consistently have little success with them in winter.

Saturday, December 28, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
First of two days of "light target birding" with Paul and Anita Kallman from Chicago, IL. The weather continued excellent today and after a fairly mild start (by recent standards) it was a sunny, calm and quite warm in the afternoon. We spent the morning in Sulphur Springs Valley and visited Scheelite Canyon in the afternoon.

After driving from Bisbee with some initial birding along Double Adobe and Frontier Roads, we started to get serious on Coffman Road where we easily saw a very cooperative BENDIRE'S THRASHER (and 3 more on the day). SANDHILL CRANES seemed to be all around us in the air.

During a quick visit to Whitewater Draw we saw a soaring GOLDEN EAGLE, a possible ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (perched too far away to be certain), 4 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, 2 LEAST SANDPIPERS, a beautiful male VERMILION FLYCATCHER (our target here), BLACK & SAY'S PHOEBES and EASTERN & WESTERN MEADOWLARKS.

On Lee Road we flushed a group of SCALED QUAIL, saw another BENDIRE'S THRASHER, struck out completely on Crissal, and watched a large flock of MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS working the fields along with HORNED LARKS and AMERICAN PIPITS.

Next, we turned our attention to MOUNTAIN PLOVER on Central Highway.  Unbelievably, we found only one! Fortunately, one is all that it takes. The bird was in the same field where I saw a small group on December 5 (see that date for location details). Seeing only one is like seeing just one Bushtit. Also in this area were a couple of FERRUGINOUS HAWKS.

We continued north to get better looks at the hawks (a least a dozen were soaring near Essary Hay) and picked up another GOLDEN EAGLE near the S curve.

Later, over in the Huachucas while driving through Garden Canyon, our third GOLDEN EAGLE of the day was soaring near the middle picnic area. It will probably be some time before I see 3 separate Golden Eagles on the same day again.

Although it was only 2:00pm as we started up Scheelite Canyon, the sun had already set as far as the canyon was concerned. It was chilly in places but a nice warm breeze wafted down now and again from the upper canyon. The trail above 3/8m was snow packed and I was dreading not finding an owl in the lower roosting area because I knew that the snow situation would be much worse higher up. It seems that whenever a situation arises when I hope not to have to go high in the canyon, that's just what happens. Today was no different and Murphy wouldn't have it any other way.

Despite some diligent searching, I was unable to locate an owl in the lower area, so we braved the snow and ice in the upper area which was very treacherous, especially coming back down. Fortune favors the brave (or stupid!) so they say and our reward came in the form of not one, but a pair of SPOTTED OWLS, well concealed in a regularly used tree off the beaten path. A good end to our day.

Sunday, December 29, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day
Out again today with Paul and Anita. Not quite as good a weather day -- cloudy in the morning and windy in the afternoon. We birded a loop through Santa Cruz County visiting the Paton's yard, Patagonia Lake, Continental and Madera Canyon, returning home via Box Canyon..

We began at a fairly quiet Paton's where the action took a while to get going. Our patience was rewarded at 9:00am when a male RUDDY GROUND-DOVE appeared. Unfortunately, no sooner had I got the scope on it for Paul to take a look when a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK swooped in and scattered all the birds  We stayed another 15 minutes but not a single bird returned.

While waiting for the Ground-Dove I  recorded 26 species including ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (generally scarce in SE AZ during winter and the first one that I've seen at the Paton's in any season), LAZULI BUNTING and GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE.

A later than usual start at Patagonia Lake State Park proved problematical and it took some time and effort to track down the BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS, but track them down we did courtesy of the BRIDLED TITMICE flock. Thanks are again due to these little guys! The gnatcatchers were foraging in the Mesquite bosque at the northeast corner of the lake.

Our time at the lake was limited and focused, and we didn't walk the creek trail or spend time much time checking the water, so a total of 40 species was reasonable. Among them were BALD EAGLE, EASTERN PHOEBE, ASH-THROATED & GRAY FLYCATCHERS, CASSIN'S VIREO and SWAMP SPARROW.

Before and after visiting Madera Canyon we looked unsuccessfully for Lewis's Woodpecker in a very windy Continental. 

Conditions around Santa Rita Lodge were less windy and we had reasonable success. Birds at and around the feeders included ARIZONA WOODPECKER, MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, PAINTED REDSTART, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO, PINE SISKIN and 2 male CASSIN'S FINCHES (side by side with HOUSE FINCHES for a nice comparison).

Day list (66 species recorded):
Western Grebe, Neotropic & Double-crested Cormorants, Ruddy Duck, Green-winged Teal, Common Merganser, Black & Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagle, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Am. Kestrel, Gambel's Quail, Virginia Rail, Am. Coot, Killdeer, Mourning, White-winged & Inca Doves, Ruddy Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Magnificent & Anna's Hummingbirds, Acorn, Gila, Ladder-backed & Arizona Woodpeckers, N. Flicker, Eastern, Say's & Black Phoebes, Gray & Ash-throated Flycatchers, Mexican Jay, Common Raven, Hutton's & Cassin's Vireos, Phainopepla, N. Mockingbird, Curve-billed Thrasher, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh & Bewick's Wrens, Verdin, Blue-gray & Black-capped Gnatcatchers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Bridled Titmouse, House Sparrow, Pine Siskin, Cassin's & House Finches, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Painted Redstart, Dark-eyed & Yellow-eyed Juncos, Song, Swamp, White-crowned, Chipping, Brewer's & Black-throated Sparrows, Green-tailed Towhee, N. Cardinal, Lazuli Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird and Great-tailed Grackle.

Tuesday, December 31, 2002    Previous Day    Next Day  
A gorgeous weather day to close out 2002; a clear blue sky and warm enough for shorts when I left home at 9:30am for a later than usual start. I headed down to the San Pedro river to look for the Louisiana Waterthrush that was found there last week, a bird that I've yet to see on the river despite their presence on a few occasions.

My plans changed when a tour group arrived at the San Pedro House at the same time that I did; and I decided to forgo the search and take the trail north of the highway 90 bridge to get some solitude. This is an underbirded (and less productive) area and one that I have birded on less than 5% of my visits over the past 10 years. As things turned out, it was a very fortuitous change of plan since I stumbled into the NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH that's been around for a while. The bird was a little further north than where I last saw it on November 29; today it was several hundred yards north of the wash that meets the river 0.9 miles north of the highway 90 bridge. This is only my second December record for AZ (previously in Ramsey Canyon) and my first December record on the river.

The trail was generally devoid of birds with only ABERT'S and GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES and the usual GILA and LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKERS being conspicuous. So far, sparrows are virtually absent from the river this winter.

On the way home I stopped at Sierra Vista WWTP where I was greeted by a GREATER ROADRUNNER at the main gate and this male CINNAMON TEAL at the viewing platform. Amazingly, I later discovered that this was my first December record for Cinnamon Teal at the sewage ponds. I tried some handheld digiscoping with my makeshift Styrofoam adapter and managed one fairly decent shot despite the fact that the bird wouldn't keep still! I recorded very little else of note except for the always nice to see YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS.

This log is in chronological order and the most recent entries are at the bottom of the page.
The last update was onTuesday, December 31, 2002.

Species List

Stuart Healy Journal - December, 2002 If you use the contents of my journal for commercial purposes, please acknowledge the source to your clients - thanks.

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