Let's Go South!

So far, it has been a very nice winter in Arizona with a more-than-normal abundance of rainfall in the lower elevations and snowfall in the higher elevations.  Hopefully this moisture will result in some incredible wildflower displays come springtime.  All this precipitation sometimes brings on some challenges to the birding.  Decided to head south to the Tucson area to spend a couple days of birding with good friend Chris Rohrer.  The first day was spent at various sites in and around Tucson itself and this is where the rain was a bit of a challenge.  It rained off and on all day.  We still got in some great birding, but photographs were a bit limited as we left cameras in the car for protection from the rain, while we birded with umbrellas.  

 Cooper's Hawk in the rain

 Snowy Egret in the rain

Female Vermilion Flycatcher in the rain

On Monday, we headed to Patagonia Lake State Park which is a great spot for birding and about an hour from Tucson.  The first surprise came when we drove up to the pay booth to pay our day fare for visiting.  Today it was FREE!  It just happened to be Martin Luther King holiday and all the state parks in Arizona were designated as free admission on that holiday.  I even made a comment in the car, 'This is going to be a great day of birding!'.  That statement turned out to be so true.  We had an incredible time at this location with some incredible birds. We even ran into some familiar faces from the Phoenix area that were birding there as well; Caleb Strand, Joshua Smith, and Laura Ellis and her husband.  So we got to share all of these incredible birds with them.

One of the reasons for coming to this place was to look for the Green Kingfisher, a species that I have seen in Sonora, Mexico, a few times, but never in the United States. Adding it to my Arizona list is pretty sweet.

 Green Kingfisher

Also on the radar was the wintering male Elegant Trogon which is always a thrill to observe.  Incredibly, when we originally saw him he had his back to us on a tree branch which allowed the chance to get a photo of its coppery colored tail.  Then it swooped down to the ground and into the grass and came up with a katydid in its beak.  It then proceeded to perch on a log facing us, and gave us quite a show as we watched it devour its morsel.  What an incredible moment to share with this elegant bird that gave me a chance to capture a pretty neat sequence of photos!

 Elegant Trogon with a katydid

We knew a Gray Catbird had also been reported in this spot and sure enough, we were able to find it when it flew into a brushy tangle in front of us and then laid low in hiding.  Finally it worked its way up into the tree and made itself visible to all of us.

 Gray Catbird

A Hermit Thrush was a nice bird to find as well, although they are not at all rare in Arizona.  But a bird that I always enjoy seeing.

 Hermit Thrush

Caleb was quick to point out a couple of Swamp Sparrows as well.  Not a rare bird by any means, but not super common and sometimes hard to locate.

 Swamp Sparrow

We were also lucky to locate the Winter Wren that had been reported by many in the past couple of weeks.

Winter Wren

This visit was an awesome visit with lots of special birds and with very good company.  A place I relish the thought of returning to.  

Rancho El Aribabi, Sonora, Mexico - Part 2

Saturday morning I awoke before the sun had even risen and what woke me was the multitude of bird songs all around us outside the ranch house.  Of course I was excited and headed outside and heard the Buff-collared Nightjars calling their last calls before they went to rest for the day.  Those nocturnal birds are hard to get visuals, but once you learn their calls, you know they are out there.  We had already been told by Jim Rorabaugh that the hillside to the west of the ranch house would have Five-striped Sparrows singing in the morning, he was absolutely correct.  This is a bird that is very hard to find in the United States as it is only found in a couple of very remote canyons of southern Arizona, so it was one of my target birds on this little trip.  We found several singing all over the hillside and they were being especially cooperative and allowing several photo opportunities.  It is another one of those handsome sparrows.  So, Saturday started out fantastic as I got my first new life bird of the weekend!  (But things were going to get even better fairly quickly.)

 Five-striped Sparrow

Five-striped Sparrow

As we were standing there looking up a small draw at the Five-striped Sparrows, I heard a rattle call and saw a bird fly in and onto some dead branches just below some Saguaro Cactus.  That call immediately made me think of a kingfisher and low and behold, a Green Kingfisher had landed on those dead branches.  I was almost afraid to call out the ID on it because it really did not belong here; should have found this bird down in the stream bead and the trees and heavy shade.  This was a female and it sat there for several minutes allowing all of us to get some good looks and of course some photos.  This bird does show up occasionally in Arizona, but it is far from being common and not easy to find when it is present.  Another new life bird for me and one that I had secretly hoped to find, but thought it was going to be harder to find.

Green Kingfisher

What a way to start the day!  Also during all of this our resident pair of Barn Swallows took a rest in this area as well.  It is not often one gets photos of them on vegetation as they love to perch on power lines and fences.  This pair has a nest on the patio portion of the ranch house, so they were our constant companions along with a couple of Canyon Towhees that kept the patio free and clear of a lot of insects.  Even a Black Phoebe flew in to snack on a few flying insects once in a while.

 Barn Swallow

 Canyon Towhee

Black Phoebe

Other birds that were seen constantly in and around the ranch house were red and blue, such as the Blue Grosbeak and the Summer Tanagers and Northern Cardinals.  Yes, these birds can be seen in Arizona, but here they were constantly all around us.

Blue Grosbeak

 Summer Tanager

Summer Tanager- Male and Female

 Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

During my wanderings on Saturday, I finally got around to photographing some of the many flycatchers located at this place.  Dusky-capped Flycatchers were abundant as were Brown-crested and Ash-throated Flycatchers.  We also had kingbirds, Cassin's Western, and Thick-billed Kingbirds.  I was really pleased to see the Thick-billed Kingbirds as it was a bird that I had only seen fleetingly in early June, but this time I was able to capture photos of this huge billed kingbird.  No doubt where it got its name.

 Thick-billed Kingbird

Thick-billed Kingbird

 Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Western Kingbird

Of course we also had both species of vultures.  The Black Vulture is one that is usually a bit harder to find and capture in a photo, so I took advantage of this one perched on an electrical pole.  Another bird that was seen in abundant numbers was the Common Ground Dove.  They are found in Arizona as well, especially in the south and occasionally they do stray as far north as the Phoenix area as I have seen them at a couple of places in the urban areas.  

 Black Vulture

Common Ground Dove

 A person never knew what to expect flying in the canopy of trees and even though we had heard them a few times, finally a Yellow-billed Cuckoo flew from right to left and actually landed on a branch for good viewing.  This is another one of those secretive birds that one hears a lot and gets an occasional glimpse.  Still not the best photos that I would like of this elusive bird, but much better than any I have captured before.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Anytime anyone wanted to take a break, we could sit around on the patio and watch the hummingbirds.  For the most part only 2 species were making regular visits; the Broad-billed Hummingbird and the Violet-crowned Hummingbird.  (A third species made an appearance on Sunday, but that will be on my next post.)

 Broad-billed Humingbird

 Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Must have been lunch time to find all of us together in the daylight.

This was the full crew, minus myself in this photo

Finding out how long this post turned into, I have decided to stop and continue on the 3rd and final post which will include a photo of the only snake we found.