Amazing Arizona

It was great to return to Arizona after the rainy weather in the Pacific Northwest.  Oregon and Washington definitely have some great birds that cannot be found in Arizona and have even more that I was not able to add to my life list.  However, Arizona just happens to be an awesome state for birds and one never knows what might show up.  Such was the case of a White Wagtail that was discovered at the small southern Arizona town of Ajo.  Some sharp birders had found it on one of the 2 small sewage ponds that are enclosed by a chain link fence.  This species had only been reported once before in the state of Arizona back in 1985 in the Grand Canyon area.  In the United States, this Eurasian species breeds in western Alaska and most generally spends its winters in Southeast Asia.  They do show up on occasion in the United States, but are more common on the west coast and are usually near water.  To have one show up in Arizona is just plain weird.  But there it was and since Ajo is only about 2 hours away, I took off to look for it the day it was reported.  When I arrived, I was not disappointed and neither were the rest of the birders that had beat me to the location.  The only disappointment was that it favored the back pond and the best views were with a scope set up in the back of a pickup.  But long distance photos are better than none when it come to adding a new life bird to my list!

White Wagtail

Guess I am not the only 'bird nerd'.  Rarities can draw a crowd!

But even without these extreme rarities, Arizona has some species of birds that are hard to find in the rest of the US and are limited to very small isolated spots in Arizona.  In 2015, a pair of Tufted Flycatchers were found in Ramsey Canyon of the Huachuca Mountains and I joined forces with 3 other friends to search for this bird and we found it which made it a lifer for me at that time.  This year, not only are there reports from Ramsey Canyon again, making it 3 years in a row for this bird in Arizona, but another pair was discovered higher up in elevation at the Carr Canyon Reef Campsite.  So this year, I joined up with Barb Meding and we headed up the winding, twisting road filled with many switchbacks with some narrow sections and drop offs to the campsite.  This time the views were incredible and this bird was generally very accommodating to us.  This is another amazing bird for Arizona.  

 Tufted Flycatcher

While we were enjoying the Tufted Flycatcher the Buff-breasted Flycatchers were everywhere and very vocal as well.  This is a bird that can usually only be reliably be found in Arizona in the United States, although some can also be found in the Big Bend area of Texas.  So the Buff-breasted Flycatcher is another great bird for Arizona and there is no doubt that it is my most favorite of all the Empxidonax flycatchers that can be found in the United States.

 Buff-breasted Flycatcher

Yellow-eyed Juncos were also quite common at the campsite.  They are a bird of the higher elevations in the Sky Islands of the southwest.  

Yellow-eyed Junco

A very relaxing stop at Ash Canyon B & B, gave us great looks of many birds including several stunning male Scott's Orioles.

Scott's Oriole

Some butterflies that we enjoyed included a Mylitta Crescent, which was a new species for me and a Gulf Fritillary, both of which are pretty good looking if you ask me.

 Mylitta Crescent

Gulf Fritillary

A few hikes near home gave me some more butterflies and some cool reptiles.

Checkered White

Marine Blue

 Echo Azure

 Empress Leilia

 Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Western Patch-nosed Snake

The natural world is full of some amazing and awesome creatures and being able to observe so much of it in the amazing state of Arizona is a blessing.  It truly is an amazing place and hopefully it will continue to be amazing.  I do have concerns with what the future holds with climate change taking place and what politics might do to the nature around us.  Hopefully a 'wall' will not be built that will isolate and fragment some of our natural resources and flora and fauna.  Wall will isolate populations of animals for gene pool diversity and will also cut off some from their water and/or food sources.  Lets hope that mankind can prevail and help preserve this natural world around us.   

  

  

Arizona: The Chase is On

The Friday after my return from a pelagic trip to San Diego, a very rare bird was reported in Ramsey Canyon in Arizona.  A Tufted Flycatcher is an ABA (American Birding Association) code 5 bird which is one of the rarest birds to find in the United States and one was spotted in Ramsey Canyon not too far from Sierra Vista, AZ.  I have heard various comments from several birders that this sighting is only the 7th record of this bird in the United States.  I do recall one being reported at Boyce Thompson Arboretum about 3 years ago, but it was a one day wonder and was seen by very few birders.

 

Since the report came in on Friday, through a series of several text messages, 4 of us planned a crazy trip to head to Ramsey Canyon on Saturday to try our luck at locating this bird as it would be lifer for all 4 of us. I met up with Magill Weber and Tommy DeBardeleben very early on Saturday morning and we headed to Tucson and met up with Chris Rohrer to chase this bird.  Since we arrived in the area almost an hour earlier than Ramsey Canyon's Visitor Center opened, we opted to drive to the campground at the end of Carr Canyon and then walk down the back way. I have never been to either one of these places before but after this trip, I know I want to check them out sometime in the future.  This is absolutely stunning scenery and the birds were awesome and numerous.  However our objective was the Tufted Flycatcher so we focused on getting to the spot where it had been seen the day before.  An awesome 3 mile hike later and we came upon the spot and it was not hard to find as you can see by the following photos that others arrived before we did.  Guess it was a popular spot in this very remote area that day!  Gives you an idea how special this bird is.

 

The crowd that had already gathered.



 

Another awesome and respected birder, Andrew Core, was there and he reported that they had seen it about 45 minutes prior to our arrival.  About 15 minutes after our arrival, Tommy was quick to exclaim that he just heard it and within a few seconds, this magnificent little bird flew in and gave almost all of us brief views of it.  Unfortunately, it did not stay long and it disappeared again.  But birders are a crazy lot, most of them stayed around hoping for another appearance and about an hour and 5 minutes later it reappeared and for those that hung around, this visit was much better and I was able to get better photos this time and those that missed it the first time got it on this visit.

 

Tufted Flycatcher

 

 

To this day the bird is still being seen and there is talk from several that claim to have seen a nest so if that is the case, this would most likely be a US breeding record.  A very reliable and respected birder in our group insisted there are 2 of them as he heard two of them calling from different spots in the canyon.  This is a species whose normal northernmost range is southern Sonora, Mexico where is breeds in highland forests.  This is an awesome bird and one that I derived a great pleasure in seeing in the United States.

 

Another rare bird is nesting lower in Ramsey Canyon and many birders are 'flocking' there to add it to their life lists.  And I was the only one of the 4 that had not seen this second bird before.  Tommy, being the gentleman that he is, was so kind to offer to hike back up the way we came and drive the car to the visitor center at the Ramsey Canyon entrance while Magill, Chris, and I all headed on the down the trail towards the nesting site of this second species: the Flame-colored Tanager.  This bird is only an ABA code 3 bird, but it is one that is absolutely stunning to look at.   

 

The 3 of us started down the trail towards the visitor center and quickly discovered that this trail was also very steep and it would have a been a tough climb accessing the TUFL spot from this direction.  Even the trek down was taxing on the legs.  The Flame-colored Tanager has a confirmed nest and the staff from Ramsey Canyon has very wisely fenced off the area around the nest to give the birds and their nesting attempt some space.  Nest is very well concealed and for the longest time the only view of this bird was that of the tail of the female on the nest.  Not a view that I wanted to claim as a life bird.  But with patience and perseverance, the male finally paid a visit to the area and we quickly got what photos we could.  I later saw the female in a distance tree and got better looks at her as well.

 

Flame-colored Tanager

 



 

Getting life birds in Arizona is becoming more of a challenge for me, so getting 2 in one day was pretty amazing.  At the end of the day we took a group photo and dubbed ourselves the 'Tufted Angels'.  Birding with this group of people turns this hobby and passion into a lot of fun and is something that I cherish and look forward to as long as I can continue to keep up with them. Very happy that they agree to allow me to join in on their adventures! 

 

'Tufted Angels'

 

Here a few other photos from the day of birding and some great fun with some great birding friends. 

 

Arizona Sister Butterfly



Unidentified Butterfly



Unidentified Moth



Painted Redstart



Unidentified Butterfly - a Skipper of some sort



 Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

 

And Chris, we have a very big adventure coming up this summer!  Looking forward to adding dozens of new life birds to my list.