Good Day of Birding in Pima and Santa Cruz Counties, Arizona

Friday, June 15, 2018
With an early start (5 a.m.) from my place in AJ, Lois Lorenz and I tackled a 7-hour birding day with gusto. Due to the forecast of Pacific Hurricane Bud bringing us some much-needed rain (and wind) on Friday evening into Saturday, I had canceled our plan for an overnight to bird more extensively along the I-19 Corridor and over to Patagonia.

A good 7:00 a.m. start at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson under a dark overcast sky provided us with 33 species in an hour even though we saw zero Kingbirds. (surprising to me) 

To be greeted by a GREATER ROADRUNNER gave us a good vibe for how our walk might go.

Distant GREATER ROADRUNNER 

Under a very light drizzle that felt good on our summer shirts, we walked to the gazebo and around the ponds. Waterfowl was scarce but we spied one drake RUDDY DUCK, for which my photo doesn't do justice to its sharp blue bill and white cheek. Quite the dude!

RUDDY DUCK

At the same pond, Lois spotted a COMMON GALLINULE hanging close to the marsh grasses.

COMMON GALLINULE

An abundance of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs made me abandon my field-notebook chit marks in favor of an estimation.

A bright red male SUMMER TANAGER, several VERMILION FLYCATCHERs (family of male, female, young), and the sound of a minimum of six (6) COMMON YELLOWTHROATS kept us feeling good about birding under the dark sky.

eBird checklist link for Sweetwater: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46575109

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Two hours later we began birding at the Tubac deAnza Trail with our target bird being the ROSE-THROATED BECARDs nesting there. While I thought I had researched its location thoroughly, after we crossed the road before the bridge and walked across a narrow waterway on the planks, we continued following the deAnza Trail signs - most likely in error. I need to study up on GPS coordinates and how to use them!  

Since we kept seeing nifty birds, I was disinclined to return to our starting point, although that might have proven helpful. When we had walked the trail next to the train tracks for way over 3/4 of a mile - to the GRAY HAWK, past the golf course to some wild horses, Lois convinced me that we might benefit from re-tracing with more attention to the detail of the trail! 

GRAY HAWK keeping us company during much of our amble

Unfortunately, some of our best sightings were too distant for photos or just didn't turn out with such dark sky. That would be two separate COMMON GROUND DOVE, TROPICAL and CASSIN'S KINGBIRD and the ever-present YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT and BELL'S VIREO. Is there a symbiosis between the Chat and the Bell's Vireo?  Almost each time we heard the Chat on one side of the trail, a Bell's Vireo would sound off on the other side. Found that interesting.

Two birds I did manage to photograph at the start of the trail were: GREATER ROADRUNNER AND VERMILION FLYCATCHER, below.

GREATER ROADRUNNER (above and below)

VERMILION FLYCATCHER

Assumed Wild Horses - unrestricted in any way and came into the forest where we were walking

eBird Link for Tubac deAnza Trail: View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46575570

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Next stop was Amado Waste Treatment Pond along I-19.  Easily accessible off the Access Road, we stayed only a short time to find a handful of birds, including two BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS that I had missed time and again this year at other spots in the West Valley of Phoenix.

BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKs
Note its red/orange bill, white eyeing, gray face, black belly and long pink legs

Driving farther north on I-19, our next stop was Madera Canyon's Santa Rita Lodge bird-feeding station. After our 2.5 mile walk on the deAnza Trail, it felt good to sit for awhile!

Male BLUE GROSBEAK

Here, the gray-colored sky gave us great views of some very colorful birds that often get washed out in sunlight.

VARIED BUNTING - male

WILD TURKEYs that come to the feeding station like all the other birds

BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD

eBird link for Santa Rita Lodge:  https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46575902

Not yet finished with our target bird search, we then hiked up Carrie Nation Trail just to the first bench where we sat and listened . . . and listened . . . to the light breeze through the trees.  Not a single bird song reached our ears. Mid-day...so, I used playback (very infrequent user) for the squeaky toy bird. The SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER makes its way up into southern Arizona from Mexico just about every year.

Its voice sounds very strange in the middle of a quiet forest. After a 30-second play, I put my phone away and waited. Ha..ha. We heard them coming - two of them. One perched in the open distance. My photo is just plain lousy but I post to show I saw it. Its lemony belly contains fine dark-brown streaks; its tail is very rufous; its large head is streaked with white above and below its wide dark eye line. . .barely visible in photo below.

I took this photo below of a SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER last year, also along Carrie Nation Trail in Madera Canyon.

As we drove back down the canyon, we continued to hear the ELEGANT TROGON calling near its usual location for being observed - the Madera Canyon Picnic Area. Am not sure Lois was onboard for more walking but she proved pivotal in our sighting. We had not walked terribly far down the trail when I commented that the bird was very close by. I, however, continued forward. She stopped to look. She found it!!  I went back and also viewed the bird that flew when I laid eyes on it!  So, she stayed put; I again went forward on the trail.  

Next thing I heard was Lois calling gently, "Babs, it's right in front of me!"  So back I went, slowly, quietly.  

With no birds left on our list to top the ELEGANT TROGON, we headed for home, arriving around 5 p.m. - twelve hours after our 5 a.m. departure.  Great day!!

eBird links for Madera Cyn:   https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46575950
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46576045

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S46576156

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