Another foray into Sierra Vista, Cochise County, AZ, plus stops in Santa Cruz & Pima Counties on drive home.

 Blog for 6/20 to 6/23/23. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, depart Friday

With another 500+ mile round trip visit to Sierra Vista this month, I was pleased to join Beca, a new birder with whom I’ve been birding locally.  She had rented a B&B along the San Pedro River within the Riparian National Conservation Area (RNCA) to include her two small dogs. We birded at the Lazy Dog Ranch, of course, with great success. Our lists for the B&B will appear at the end of the blog.

Owners (Cathy & Michael) of the Lazy Dog Ranch offered to look in on the doggies while we went out scouting the great birding sites in the area. Many thanks to them!

Having great birds right at the Ranch, we were not out early to visit the four well-known bird sites in the canyons along Highway 92. But faired well.

DAY ONE: Wednesday

SITE ONE:

Starting at San Pedro House, about 8 miles as the crow flies, from where we were staying, we drove around our elbow so to speak to reach it. I was delighted to find my target bird - BLUE GROSBEAK. Males were foraging on the ground around the house, drinking from the pond, flying to the platform feeders and chasing each other on the ground.

    Male NORTHERN CARDINAL were abundant there on the trails around the house, too

    Not the brilliant red of the NOCA, this male HOUSE FINCH above is really quite red for the breeding season.
    GILA WOODPECKER, males and females, were vocally and physically present flying from trees to the hummingbird feeders, then chasing one another around. It appeared to be play time.

Beca's photo of Male & Female GILA WOODPECKER (male with red cap)

ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER photo by Beca

WHITE-WINGED DOVE - photo by Beca

    Many WHITE-WINGED DOVE were foraging on the grounds and at the feeders. As you may recall, the timing of its arrival here in Southern Arizona aligns with the flowering of the Saguaro. So, it becomes a super propagator of that tall species.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142272718

SITE TWO:

To show Beca the EOP, (Environmental Operations Project),  I pulled in where we birded from the platform overlook. With limited success in identifying the birds in the reeds, we counted only the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs. Found some good birds in the nearby trees and grassy/weedy areas, though. Below are Beca's photos from the EOP.

VERMILLION FLYCATCHER above- young male

SAY'S PHOEBE

NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142343327

SITE 3

Miller Canyon CAS

    With Ramsey Canyon closed on Wednesdays, Miller Canyon was our next stop. The CAS area of hummingbird feeders was buzzing with activity. In a shady under-tall-trees location, I didn’t take very many photos but enough to show the variety that can show up there on any given day.

female BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD - by Babs

Her mate looks like this: (below)

Male BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD - taken the in Ash Cyn later, but shown here to put the male and female in an easier viewing comparison. Photo by Babs.
The bird above, VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD, was a surprise for me at Miller Canyon.
It behaved like a real stinker. Having seated myself next to Feeder #1 where, on a previous recent visit I had photographed the WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD, this Violet-crowned fiercely protected the #1 feeder. The WHITE-EARED ended up where Beca got the best photograph, below.

WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD

More of Beca's photos taken at Miller Cyn. are below:

The magnificent RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD

BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD

    Wrapping up at Miller Cyn after so many good visits by the busy Hummers, we were delighted to also have about six or seven Coues White-tailed Deer (small species) appear on the dirt road we walked toward the parking lot.

    Soon after that, I was disgusted with myself when I reversed out of the dirt lot. Without having pulled in far enough for my tires to touch the large railroad ties (with a spike hammered into it to keep it in place), I thought backing up would be smooth. Sheesch. The front grill of my CRV had latched unto it and lost the battle with the railroad tie. Beca keenly determined that no real damage had occurred (except that it was lying on the parking lot). We snapped it back in but I suspected it would not hold up on the roads we were traveling so we tossed it in the rear of the car. Thankfully, the doggies were not with us.  [Michael at the B&B and Beca by herself later, taped it all down to the point I'm still driving it around!  Good job!]. 

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142293506

SITE 4

     It was afternoon by the time we made it to Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary. Very birdy with a large area to cover, Beca and I birded separately. My photos are the five below:

BEWICK'S WREN

LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER 

BLUE GROSBEAK

CURVE-BILLED THRASHER

BULLOCK'S ORIOLE

Beca took the next five photos:

MEXICAN JAY

SUMMER TANAGER - immature male

BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

    WILD TURKEY

      By the time we departed Ash Canyon, we were satisfied birders. It had been a good day with reasonable temperatures, mild breezes and hungry birds.

SITE 5

    As we drove back to the B&B, I spotted a GRAY HAWK perched on a high clear branch (no leaves for a change)!! Neither of us managed a photo as we had tucked our gear away. With banded tail and obvious beak, the gray bird left little else to mark its ID. Lucky us! The dead tree was located at Escapule Wash along Escapule Road!  We didn't notice until a bit later, the dirt road before our turn was called Gray Hawk Road.

DAY TWO, Thursday.    

SITE 6

RAMSEY CANYON  Known worldwide, Ramsey Canyon has always had its share of Mexican migrants and other rare birds to locate. My target bird here was the BERYLLINE HUMMINGBIRD. Size: 4.25". Having caught a glimpse of it at Madera Cyn once, it flew before I could call it for others to see and verify for certain. So, I had yet to take it as a LIFE BIRD. Today, I saw it- a LIFE BIRD! But it was on its nest in a very leafy tree. Neither Beca nor I came away with a useful photograph, but the woman behind/beside us, Jan with her ten-pound camera saved the day. Thank you, Jan.  Her photo, below:  

 BLUE-THROATED MOUNTAIN GEM was our second target bird at Ramsey. On previous bird outings, this bird was reliable over in the Chiricahua Mountains. To have it so close to our home territory made it a special sighting. It did, however, like the shadow of the leaves. My photos below of this 5" hummingbird.

    We had more birds, of course, as we walked the trail and the Grand View Loop. Fascinating to us were more White-tailed Coues Deer. (in all sightings, they were doe or young)

    

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142543216

   

    Leaving Ramsey Canyon, we immediately saw dark smoke off in the not-too-distant field.

Moving out of the way from oncoming fire trucks, I still turned right as if to continue up Hwy 92, but we were soon turned back by police. About that time, a wind gust hit the fire and it exploded into a huge cloud of white smoke. I had no problem turning away from that. Having spent enough time in Sierra Vista, I knew the best way to avoid Highways 92 & 90. 

SITE 7.

It was along N. Monson Road that we had a SWAINSON'S HAWK fly overhead.  

Beca jumped from the car to get the photo!

SITE 8

    We returned to Lazy Dog Ranch where we relaxed and began to organize for our departure the next morning. Before that, though, here are the bird lists from our B&B that is, of course, private.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142261429

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142395700

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142449978

We were able to keep tabs on the fire by iPhone.There had been a "soft" evacuation at Ramsey Canyon--many people live in cabins out there. But the fire was contained or under control by the end of that day.

DAY THREE: Friday, 6/23/23

SITE 9

Las Cienegas National Conservation Area is a treasured grassland to me. The last time I visited, however, I was disturbed by so many cattle. What a good way to ruin a grassland!

It seems that Empire Ranch within the area has become a working ranch again. Hopefully, we'll be able to continue birding there for what it's worth. Today, it was very worth our time as we entered from Route 82 on its south. We drove through to Route 83 to head on home.

Finding 16 species was fine with us for a mid-day drive through the area.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142497392

SITE 10

Since my former "short-cut" from home is in the midst of more development, it is no longer a pleasant drive. Tiring of I-10 West by the time we reached Red Rock, I exited there to give Beca a preview of the east side of the Santa Cruz Flats.  (15 species).  

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S142497388

    Until next time, Happy Birding!!

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