Exploring Patagonia, Santa Cruz County, AZ

March 11 & 12
Using Route I-19 south off of I-10 for our trip, I suggested we stop off to stretch our legs for awhile at the Peter Collins' Hawk Watch in Tubac. When I got a positive response from the other four in the car, I was elated . . . until these Toronto folks saw the Coffee Shop in the Arts area. Decision was made to drop me at the Hawk Watch at 8 a.m. while they all went back for coffee and a second breakfast since their Rise & Shine hour of 4 a.m. seemed long past.

At the Hawk Watch, when I told Peter Collins my birders went back to the coffee shop, he laughed and called them golfers. (!!)  Among them, though, Chris and Kathie were good birders but definitely not early risers.

 Peter reported that someone had seen a Short-tailed Hawk down at Clark's Crossing so we should stay alert for that one to fly over. That would have made my day! Instead, our first and second sightings were of Black Hawks circling and flying north.





Next hawk up was a Red-tailed, our most common hawk in the USA. With various color variations in various parts of the country, this one had the traditional markings with the dark leading edge of the underwing, the red head, sketchy belly band of dark feathers and reddish tail. 

We saw a Cooper's Hawk perched on a pole; we spotted an American Kestrel perched at the tippy top of an evergreen tree; and non-hawks all around us in the form of Vermilion Flycatchers and Say's Phoebes.

 After an hour of watching, over thirty birders were on hand and I would have stayed had my friends not remembered to return for me in 60 minutes!  With Lynne driving, we then continued south while Chris navigated her across Ruby Road to Rt. 82 north to our destination at Patagonia Lake State Park.  

 For me to start out on the Birding Trail there at 10:55 would have been unheard of; I'm an early birder. But I've learned to listen to the energy around me and know that when we're all comfortable with one another, we'll see good things. And, so our late morning walk progressed. After pausing at the hummingbird feeders, we continued out along the trail to where it began to open up near that end of the lake where the first waterfowl we spotted were Bufflehead.
One male; three female Bufflehead

Vermilion Flycatcher in the bullrushes
After spotting the Vermilion Flycatcher near the lake, we birded some of the forest around us and I found this "walking tree".


With my friends wilting under the noontime sun, I went on alone toward the wash to see if I could find the Trogon. Came up with a First-of-year (FOY) sighting instead:--Cassin's Kingbird.



Then I thought I heard Sharon calling my name so I turned back quickly, realizing I had yet again left the "group".  Little did I know that my friends who had turned back were on the T-BIRD!  Unknown friendly and excited birders had gathered them into the bosque to show them the location of the Elegant Trogon. WOW! The "golfers" found the bird! They spent an hour with it as it flew to three different locations. I was able to spend thirty minutes with it and it was still perched when we left. Last year, I had heard many but seen none. I've seen this species before but never with such an opportunity for photos. It was fantastic! 

Elegant Trogon-Patagonia State Park Birding Trail


Elegant Trogon-rear view  -- Photo by Lynne Eaton

Elegant Trogon - photo by Lynne Eaton

After feasting our eyes on our target bird, we opted for eating our lunch in a ramada at the Day Use picnic area near the lake. Nice!

 Fed and rested, we moved on to Paton's Hummingbird Center in Patagonia to see what might be scratching on the ground and flying to the feeders in mid-afternoon. This location is famous for its consistently seasonal Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Wouldn't you know? The one that came to the feeder first was female, not quite as photogenic as the male. 

 But the Broad-billed Hummingbirds where stunning.
Broad-billed Hummingbird


And, the Lark Sparrows scratching around on the ground with their strikingly contrasting head pattern definitely caught my eye in the distance.
Since the male Violet-crowned Hummingbird didn't show up during our visit, I returned the next morning with much better luck.
Violet-crowned Hummingbird (above & below)


Hummingbirds are only part of the story at Paton's; Green-tailed Towhee, Pine Siskin, Lesser Goldfinch, Song Sparrows and Northern Cardinals and other song birds made themselves known.

Female Northern Cardinal
Our main focus for birding on Day #2 was the Nature Conservancy property beyond Paton's yard known as Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve where we did some good birding.

 In addition to more commonly seen birds like Say's and Black Phoebes, we heard and saw at least a half dozen Bewick's Wrens, White-breasted Nuthatch, Gray Flycatcher and my best call -- a Dusky Flycatcher.  American Kestrel liked to perch high above the open fields and a couple Black Vultures soared overhead.

Dusky Flycatcher
Sonoita Creek Trail  [Photo by Chris Zehr]
American Kestrel


 By the time we began birding Harshaw Canyon and Creek Roads, birds had quieted so we turned for home with memories of a wonderful get-together with Jennifer, Woody and Sandy at Velvet Elvis for dinner the previous night -- friends from our RV Resort who were camping for several days in Patagonia SP.

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Birding 3 locations along the Salt River, Mesa, Maricopa County, AZ

Monday, March 7th
In five hours of birding with Lois Lorenz at Granite Reef Recreation Area, its nearby "East Pond" (more fondly called, Moorhen City Marsh) and Coon Bluff we managed to observe 62 species. 

 Neither of us had birded at Granite Reef since New Year's Day so were curious as to what we might find. With the picnic area quiet at 6:50 a.m., we scanned the river. Even my naked eye could pick up a Bufflehead three-quarters of the way across the Salt River. Many other ducks were out there so I returned to the car for my spotting scope. 

Bufflehead


Ah! A female Common Goldeneye was out there, more or less alone, but hanging loosely with a couple Ring-necked ducks and a Greater Scaup.
Common Goldeneye as first seen

Common Goldeneye (GRSC on left)

One of the Bufflehead decided it was time to preen

Meanwhile, high over Red Mountain (turning red now with the rising sun) we saw what appeared to be Black Vultures flying in wide circles. E-bird's data base filter folks have challenged me in the past for that sighting and we were seeing so many, we thought better of listing unless we got better looks. Later, they dropped down into a tree on tribal land across the river.



Black Vultures in far distance (lots of morning haze)


While we were up on the berm around the water catchment area, Lois spotted a Bald Eagle flying upriver. Yay!  It had been a while since I had spotted one.

 Ambling through most, but not all, of the rec area, our best find was the early-arriving LUCY'S WARBLERS. I heard two of them long before we laid eyes on one that enabled me to get a quick photo. Lucy's is one of our smallest warblers, a very plain light gray bird wth a light breast that sings a short sweet little song.
Lucy's Warbler
From Granite Reef, I drove just a short distance to a backwater area of the river that several of us birders named "Moorhen City Marsh" for its abundance of Common Gallinule (the updated name of the moorhen that doesn't have quite the same buzz to it). Surprisingly, the still backwaters had much more than gallinule.
Cinnamon Teal (3 males; 1 female) and a Common Gallinule rear view
Common Gallinule

Distant Canvasbacks
After our brief visit there, we headed for Coon Bluff rec area where we would spend the remainder of our time. Aside from the two people setting up to rappel down the bluff that precluded finding any Bald Eagles in their usual territory, the place was birdy. It is consistently, year after year, full of wintering Phainopepla and in springtime, the Vermilion Flycatchers are quite visible in their courtship.

Phainopepla

Vermilion Flycatcher (male)

Coon Bluff is also a likely spot to see wild horses; we spotted three out on a small island in the river and I rather liked this young one.


A Belted Kingfisher was busy working the river (a male); we saw it several times hovering and diving successfully.

 Yellowlegs - both Lesser and Greater were out in force. The Lesser are smaller and have a straighter bill than the Greater.




We saw only one cormorant, this Neotropic:



And, one Red-shafted Northern Flicker: 



With Wilson's Snipe, Bewick's Wrens, more Lucy's and Yellow-rumped Warblers, we were seeing birds everywhere we looked. Perhaps, my favorite from Coon Bluff was this handsome female Common Merganser.


It was an awesome day,
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Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, Maricopa County, Arizona

Saturday, March 5
Under the waning crescent moon in a vanishing dark sky, I arrived at Gilbert Water Ranch to the sound of howling coyotes and crowing roosters. House Sparrows were awake and singing but starlings remained quiet in their saguaro cavity nests.  
Ducks are a sure sighting at an early hour so a look into the ponds delivered some exciting birds. At the far end of Pond 7, many handsome spring-plumaged American Avocets were foraging together -- too dark and distant for photos at this hour, though. A handful of Canada Geese, a number of Black-necked Stilts and gobs of Northern Shovelers shared that end of the pond with them.

Farther along on the mud flats of Pond 1, a flock of Least Sandpipers flew in.
Least Sandpipers

Walking the trail between ponds, I spotted a distant Green Heron facing me from Pond 7.


Along the trail, White-crowned Sparrows began to emerge.


Other birds that came into view as I strolled a few paths:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (above and below)

Southwestern subspecies of Song Sparrow checking out a small stream (above and below)
Song Sparrow checking me out as I also scoured the stream

Brown-headed Cowbird
As more visitors began arriving, I knew it was time to check out the birds on Pond 7 once more now that the sun was warming everything.  It was delightful. Black-necked Stilts are the first series below with the top one being so close I couldn't catch its reflection!
Black-necked Stilt

Note the pink legs



The wintering population of avocets could be counted on one hand. Not today! The striking breeding-plumaged birds had discovered the water ranch! 
Distant flock of American Avocets

The following photo is also distant and not very good, but is included to show the very angled up-tilt to the end of its bill...indicating it is a female. The bill on the male is also up-curved but not so dramatically.
Female American Avocet
Male American Avocet
When I reached the parking lot, I realized that the natural sounds that prevailed on my arrival had been replaced with that of a weed whacker and lawn mower in a nearby housing development. The sounds of groups of children arriving with a few adults to lead them on walks or projects within the park were great -- just not conducive to continued birding. During my two-hour walk, covering less than half the ponds, I met and talked with other birders and photographers and managed to spot 43 species of birds.

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Buenos Aires NWR--Arivaca Cienega, Pima County, AZ

Wednesday, March 2nd
Hoping to see a particular Life Bird for the past three years, I began to wonder if I would make the find this year. LONG-EARED OWLS had been reported for weeks on our local listserv (rare bird alert) as being seen at a distant wildlife refuge along Arizona's southern border with Mexico.

 This past Saturday when Louis Hoeniger joined a few of us other birders at B & M Wildlife Area, he mentioned having been down to see it. Immediately, I started asking pertinent questions about what kind of vehicle I'd need. . .exactly what part of the wildlife refuge the owls were using for their roost. . .etc. His helpfulness motivated me to check out the site as soon as possible and I was fortunate to recruit birder friend, Jeanne Burns, to go with me.

 From our meeting spot at 4:30 a.m., we arrived just two hours later at the McD's in Green Valley--our rest area.
Arivaca Road was not much farther south from I-19 to take us on over to the Arivaca Cienega. [Cienega is usually described as a marshy area but more specifically means a spring at the foot of a mountain or in a canyon or anyplace that groundwater bubbles up to the surface. It's more likely to evaporate than drain into another body of water.]

Standing at entrance parking lot


The well-marked loop trail at the wildlife refuge gave us pause. . .which direction do we go first?  Considering that our target Long-eared Owl would be finished his nighttime feeding and back to a tree to roost, it didn't seem overwhelmingly important one way or the other, so we turned right to begin birding at 7:15 a.m. Some of the large leafless cottonwoods, desert shrubs and grassy areas were bursting with birds: flickers with wide yellow underwings (Gilded); two kestrel in the same tree; several species of sparrows, wrens, and more. One male Vermilion Flycatcher was enough to bring a smile, but then there was another and another. A suspected Northern Cardinal turned out to be even better -- a male Pyrrhuloxia bouncing around from the ground into a mesquite tree and back, hiding as it checked us out. Its yellow beak on its very red face gave it away!



Knowing we had a target bird, I kept urging Jeanne along. But birding was so good, she suggested I just go on. A strikingly handsome Green-tailed Towhee kept me glued there momentarily.




A Bewick's Wren called from the understory; a Gray Flycatcher perched high in a distant tree. While Yellow-rumped Warblers and Abert's Towhees seemed to be found in small flocks, Loggerhead Shrikes were definite "loners" calling from their positions. A Great Blue Heron flew overhead.  

And, finally, we were at the spot. We knew it; we could feel it in our bones, but where the dickens was the owl? The photo Louis had taken of the Long-eared Owl showed how its belly feathers looked just like the trunk of the tree facing us from the path. But this tree was full of tangles -- Jeanne spotted it first.  See if YOU can spot it!





As a child, I used to love the hidden pictures in Children's Highlight magazines in the dentist's office; it made that awful trip worthwhile. These owls reminded me of how I used to consider this a fun thing! See how you get better at it after a while.

But how to photograph it? If I would take time to learn to use my camera as it can be used, my "good" photos below would be better (perhaps), but I also like to show "how I see the birds in the field". Zooming in on this delightful Long-eared Owl whose facial disc became more and more highlighted by the morning sun was a challenge.




When I tried for a full-length photo, the sticks prevailed but it shows from ear to tail in the following pic.


Who couldn't love this face?


After spending a half hour with this LIFE BIRD, I noticed that two Pipevine Swallowtails had landed on top the owl tree.


Since Jeanne had never visited Florida Canyon, we decided to leave the Cienega and do that on our way home. Wanting to beat afternoon commuter traffic, we wouldn't stay long but what a good visit it became! Jeanne was eager to head up the trail.

First, a woman showed us a butterfly she had just picked up on the dirt road; it was the same as posted above, pipevine swallowtail. The underside of it was also beautiful.


Our best sighting here was unbelievingly easy. In shrubs along the trail, within 100 feet of the stream crossing, two very gray Black-capped Gnatcatchers were showing off their (mostly) white tails as they flitted about. We caught their white eye rings and their bills, definitely longer than Black-tailed or Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. I assumed they were female since the black cap was missing but two birders coming down the trail confirmed our sighting and mentioned that the gnatcatchers hadn't yet transitioned into breeding plumage. So, their flitting about together may have been the beginning of a courtship.
The gnatcatchers were way too active for photos, so we settled on another good sighting at Florida Canyon - Greater Roadrunner. (Photo by Jeanne Burns)


After a successful 400-mile round-trip drive to the lower reaches of the state to find a Life Bird, I was still fired up with excitement when I arrived home at 3 p.m. Another very good day in the field.


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