Babs' Birding Experiences : Historic Canoa Ranch and Madera Canyon, Pima County, AZ

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

The best laid plans! One of the three of us setting out for Green Valley this morning had a malfunctioning alarm clock! Always worth a tease, but our plan was to allow plenty of time to start birding at Canoa Ranch by 8 a.m. - and we did. Sticking to the back route to I-10, we made good time leaving at 5:30 instead of 5 a.m.

The Raul M. Grijalva Canoa Ranch Conservation Park comprises 4,800 acres of the original San Ignacio de la Canoa Grant and is open to the public. I first stopped to check it out after its lake was in place about two years ago. It has continued to develop with smooth walking trails, benches and ramadas. The Ranch is well-signed along I-19 as the Historic Canoa Ranch, Exit 56 off of I-19 South. A left turn under the highway and another left turn to head back the way you came - on the access road this time, will get you to the entrance in ten minutes or less.

Hinde Silver, Roxy Squires and I spent about an hour there trying to identify the waterfowl with their heads tucked in...and those that didn't. With an overcast sky, light was not good for me with pictures, but in a bit over an hour, we identified 24 species. My favorites were the three female Costa's Hummingbirds that, as Roxy pointed out, may have been working on a nest in one of the trees. One came right up to us a couple times, looking at us as we returned the "greeting." A very yellow-washed Lincoln's Sparrow was also a joy to behold.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S83074527

Arriving at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, elevation approximately 5,000', we were glad to get a parking spot and noted fewer people than we would have dealt with there on a weekend. So many species at one time at the feeders!! Overwhelming at first, but then we settled down and looked at each bird. Roxy caught on so quickly, she was calling them by name by the time we left!!

Despite the great photo opportunities here, I had never been satisfied with the photos I took of the special birds. Today, I thought we might get to see the colors better under clouds than direct sunlight! Whoa! Did we ever!

The BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD (below) is common at Boyce Thompson Arboretum and it's possible it could stop by to visit feeders in our community. (I'm seldom home to watch my feeder.) Note its red bill with dark tip; blue throat, bluish-black tail with gray tips. Seldom have my photos caught the colors of this bird here - or anywhere else. It has to do the with the light, that on a cloudy day, appeared to be just right!!

Other birds were bopping around all over the feeding station and to the trees surrounding it,.

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (above)

SPOTTED TOWHEE (above)

ACORN WOODPECKER (above)

MEXICAN JAY. - photo by Hinde Silver

The MEXICAN JAY is neither a Blue Jay nor a Scrub Jay, the two species we are most likely to have seen at one time or another.

The photos I was able to get of a very special bird, RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD, thrilled me for a change instead of making me ask what I could do differently. Under sunny conditions, the following bird photos would have made the bird appear black all over. For you birders in the community, this has long been called the MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD but it's name has been changed to Rivoli's. Apparently, with the advent of eBird that works around the globe, there are other Magnificent Hummingbirds (that I suspect may top ours). Rivoli's was this bird's former name and I don't quite get the name-changing deal; just go with the flow.

The remainder of the photos are of the RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD, a very magnificent bird as you will see.