On the way to some appointments
in Tucson on Wednesday 10th Louise & I stopped by McCormick Park
to see the Red-breasted & Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Mark & Molly had
been following much of the fall. Neither
species was needed for the year list but I wanted a photo of the Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker. I walked the park alone once
without finding any sapsuckers.
Separately, both Molly & Mark showed up and with Louise we walked
the park. I eventually found the
immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
and got some recognizable photographs.
It really did not want its picture taken.
On Friday 12th I guided a couple from
Tennessee. After a quick futile search
for the Harris’s Hawk in Green Valley, we head toward Madera Canyon. We had a very nice walk along the Proctor
& Whitehouse Picnic Area Trails. The
highlights for the visiting birders were many, though the standout had to be
the Red-breasted Sapsucker just off
one of the parking slots and at eyelevel.
At the Santa Rita Lodge we found three Magnificent Hummingbirds (high count for time of year), two Hepatic
Tanagers, and a “Slate-colored” Junco
(rare form for Arizona). At Madera Kubo
we found another Magnificent Hummingbird. We took another walk, from the Madera Picnic
Area we followed the trail down canyon.
Just a few yards into the walk, we ran into a wonderful mixed-species
flock with included two Olive Warblers,
five Townsend’s Warblers, a Painted Redstart, and a Hammond’s Flycatcher. Finally we headed over to Florida Canyon and
walked the trail to the large water tank.
On the way, another couple had just turned around after seeing a male Elegant Trogon. This was the first I had heard of a trogon
in Florida Canyon this winter. Last
winter there were three (at least). A
few minutes later we heard and then almost immediately see the trogon and get
some good documentation photographs. We continued past the trogon a hundred
yards and heard the Gray Catbird
that has been reported hear recently.
Apparently this bird enjoys the company of two Spotted Towhees and the taste of dried hackberries. We enjoyed this
bird for several minutes while it fed and perched up, I got some decent
photographs.
On Saturday 13th I headed up to Tucson hoping to do some
scouting for the Christmas Count. I
convinced myself that getting muddy today would not improve our bird finding
abilities tomorrow, so I went to Sweetwater (paved or hard pack trails) to try
again for a photograph of the Baltimore Oriole. Again, there was no oriole for
me.
Sunday 14th was the day of the Tucson Valley CBC. I was teamed up with Larry Norris & Pam
Baum. Since I was the supposed leader of
the team, I developed a strategy that had us not backtracking. We left a vehicle at the Crossroad Regional
Park (outside of the circle), started birding around the Ina Road bridge and
then down the river to the north. When
we reached the edge of the circle we put our binocular down and walked to the
vehicle, and then drove to the Orange Grove Pond, left a vehicle there and
birded our way down the river back to Ina Road where my vehicle was left
earlier. We found the Louisiana Waterthrush upstream from the
Ina Road Bridge early. I saw it briefly
and Pam & Larry heard its distinctive chip notes. Also of interest at the
bridge was a female Wood Duck in
amongst a flock of Northern Pintails.
Several days ago when I scouted this section of the area, the river upstream
from the bridge was dry. Today, it was
flowing very nicely in the morning with the flow dimensioning all day so that
by the late afternoon, the riverbed upstream from the Ina Road Bridge was a
string of pools. Our walk downstream
along the river was uneventful however we were able to secure a few good birds
for the count; namely Rock Wren, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, & Wilson’s Snipe. At the Orange Grove Pond, the first surprise
was water. The second surprise was a
basic plumaged American Avocet
swimming with the few ducks, several American
Coots, and two Pied-billed Grebes. I believe the avocet was the only one for the
entire count. Just north of the pond, we
came across a flock of at least three Lazuli
Buntings. While trying to get an
accurate count of the buntings a flock of Chipping
Sparrows appears with a Clay-colored
Sparrow. And then a Virginia’s Warbler appears in my
binocular view for a few seconds. The
Virginia’s Warbler is the first ever for the Tucson Valley CBC and maybe the
only one in the country. Clay-colored
Sparrows seem to be everywhere this fall.
We probably spent more time than we should have trying to get better
views of these two rarities as well as getting some documentation. The last part of our count day was driving
the desert-residential neighborhoods was of Silverbell Road. We found nothing exciting but did add a good
number of species we did not previously find in the river bottom areas. We all had a nice birding and enjoying each
other’s company.
Though there was some good birds
this past week, none were new for the year.
So the year list stands at 412.
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