Louise and I took another hike
classified as a Quetzal Quest Trek on Thursday
13th. We started at the
Amphitheater Parking Area and headed up the Four Springs Trail to Bogs Springs,
then across to Kent Springs, and then down past Sylvester Springs & the
Kent Springs Center back to the parking area.
While no Quetzals were found again, we did find some interesting
birds though. Above Bog Springs, the spring
itself not the concrete box, we found a Red-breasted
Sapsucker. The sapsucker was in an
area with many Madrone Trees and I was looking for something like a Varied
Thrush. This is the second known
Red-breasted Sapsucker in Madera Canyon, the first being the multi-year
returnee at the Whitehouse Picnic Area.
Between Kent Springs Center and the main canyon road, we first found
three Band-tailed Pigeons and
twenty-two. There seems to be a good
crop of acorns in the canyon, which may account for the late occurrence of these
birds or they could be foraging on Madrone berries. Before leaving the canyon, I stopped at the
Whitehouse Picnic Area so that I could have a two Red-breasted Sapsucker Day!
On Friday 14th I hiked & bushwhacked up Florida
Canyon. I personally had not seen the
Rufous-capped Warblers for several months and have not heard of any recent
reports. So this could be considered a
scouting trip for the Green Valley/Madera Canyon CBC. I still haven’t seen a Rufous-capped Warbler
in a while. It was good to be up in one
of my favorite places enjoying what was there.
I heard but did not see a Black-capped
Gnatcatcher and I found & photographed a White-throated Sparrow.
Sometime during the day on
Saturday 15th Louise decided she wanted to take a hike in the Grand Canyon before it
gets too cold. And she justified taking
me along so that I might get a California Condor on the year list. We finalized the decision on Sunday and began
making preparations to leave Monday morning.
I began researching what other benefits to year list I might able to
arrange while driving up. There were
reports of Winter Wren, Rufous-backed Robin, & Varied Thrush from
Hassayampa River Preserve somewhat on the way to the canyon. Two of the three would be year birds. Louise agreed to make the detour if we could
leave by 8am so that we could be at the Grand Canyon by sunset. All was going well until I check the
preserve’s operating hours and found that they were closed on Monday &
Tuesday, oh well. I also learned that
the condors seem to pull away from the south rim in the winter, another oh
well. I didn’t think I should ask to
drive another hour north to the Navaho Bridge or two hours to Vermilion Cliffs
where Condors are regularly seen. Then I
found a find that there have been two reports of Pine Grosbeaks near the east
entrance to the park, so something to look for.
We arrive at the Grand Canyon
Visitor Monday 17th
afternoon after a long and uneventful drive.
I quickly find entertainment with three species of nuthatches
simultaneously visiting a water bottle filling station near the visitor
center. Louise & I spend the next few
hours enjoying the scenery at Mather Point and at the Bright Angel Lodge. While at Bright Angel Lodge I learn that a
Glaucous Gull has been reported from Patagonia Lake. This is an incredible bird for southeast
Arizona and I find myself struggling to focus on the present moment. Later I learned that one observer saw the
gull and after he got decent photos, it was last seen flying away. No one else saw the bird. I also learned that an American Tree Sparrow
was seen & photographed at a feeder in Cochise County, another fantastic
bird for southeast Arizona.
The original plan for Tuesday 18th was to hike to
Dripping Springs but after hearing that this trial is unmaintained & rocky,
we decided to hike into the canyon via the Bright Angel Trail. We hiked in the shade most of the time and I
was keeping a watchful eye to the sky.
Every few hundred yards I would stop and scan for raptors. Several
hundred yards past the 1.5-mile rest shelter, I see what is obviously a California Condor circling a butte with
a bunch of Common Ravens and a Golden Eagle. I watch and take very distant photographs of
the Condor; it was probably more than a mile away. We continue hiking, getting closer to the
Condor, and the Condor eventually lands and perches wings spread on the closest
outcropping of this butte (actually the south end of Battleship
Formation). Several minutes later I
notice that there are two Condors perched on the rock and they remained there
for an hour at least. Any hiker on the
trail that expressed even the slightest interest got shown the Condors or the
pictures on the back of my camera. In
addition to the Condors, Louise and I saw two immature Bald Eagles, two Golden
Eagles, a few Red-tailed Hawks,
several Western Scrub-Jays, and a
flock of Bushtits. And we saw, no make that became one with some
spectacular scenery!
To begin our drive back to Green
Valley on Wednesday 19th
Louise & I started at Bright Angel Lodge and headed east along the South
Rim. Our second stop was the Yavapai
Geological Museum. Upon parking I notice
a small group of birds (Western Bluebirds, Cassin’s Finches, & Gray-headed
Juncos) vying for the opportunity to get some moisture from an ice cube dropped
on the pavement. Walking to towards the
museum, we see a Juniper Titmouse struggling to break into a Pinyon Nut without
having it stolen by nearby scrub-jays. I
noticed a mixed-species flock off to the side of the museum so I
investigated. While watching a Western
Bluebirds & Cassin’s Finches in the top of a small tree, a male Pine Grosbeak joins them! I am in shock. I stare at the grosbeak through my binoculars
at less than thirty feet, awed. The grosbeak along with the other birds flew
eastward along the rim and then down below the rim. I lost them a hundred or so yards out and did
not see if they came back onto the rim. I walked along the Rim Trail searching
but was not able to relocate this wonderful bird.
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