More of Sonora - Chapter 1

Recently I had the opportunity to make another trek to Rancho El Aribabi in Sonora, Mexico, and once again, this trip took place at a different time of the year than my previous trips.  It is always interesting to see what changes take place at different times of the year.  This was my third trip; the first one took place in July, and second one took place in November, and now this one was taking place in May.  This time we had a fairly large group of birders join us and it was nice to see all the enthusiasm.

First order of business when we arrived was for me to set up my tent, but before hitting the trails, I wanted to see if the Five-striped Sparrows were still as prevalent as they had been before.  Did not take long to find one singing and showing how handsome these sparrows can be.

 Five-striped Sparrow

It is always a joy to find Varied Buntings as they are so unique with their summer finest attire and this location in summer is a great place to find them and view them.  

 Varied Bunting

Some of the other birds that were found on that first day, include Dusky-capped Flycatchers, Black-chinned Hummingbird, and Common-ground Dove (which I erroneously identified as Ruddy-ground Doves at first). 

 Dusky-capped Flycatcher

 Black-chinned Hummingbird - Female

Common-ground Dove

As usual, I very rarely focus solely on birds, but also on other flora and fauna that intrigue my interest, and this trip was no exception.  Flowering thistles provide quite a feast for bees and other nectar loving insects.  These insects in turn, then provide a food source to arachnids and other creatures higher up in the food chain.

 Thistle with a crab spider waiting for an unsuspecting insect.

Slowly, I am becoming a bit more knowledgeable on butterflies as well and when I see some that actually sit still long enough to allow photos, then I attempt to capture a photo to ID later on.

I believe this is a female Marine Blue.

Probably one of the coolest encounters on this first day was a couple of White-nosed Coati that came running in and across my path while I was exploring the river area.  I have seen these awesome mammals several times in the past, but this time, their presence allowed for much better photos than I have ever had. 

 White-nosed Coati

Here are a couple of photos of the habitat in and around this area.

And of course the veranda at the hacienda was most generally the most popular spot to relax and enjoy.

The rest of the trip will be covered in Chapter 2 of this trip.  

     

Day 2 with Muriel & Tommy

After having such a successful first day of birding in SE Arizona, day 2 started early with a drive to Montosa Canyon which is on the west side of the Santa Rita Mountains.  Our goal at this location was to try and locate another rare bird that a few had seen for a couple of days, a specialty of Mexico, the Yellow-green Vireo.  From the sketchy reports, we knew it would not be an easy find and alas, it is one of the birds we missed.  There were probably another dozen birders also there looking for it and one gentleman had seen it briefly, but we were not so lucky.  We did catch a fleeting glimpse of another rare bird, the Black-capped Gnatcatcher which breeds in this canyon and a couple of other places in Arizona and no where else in the US.  The best bird that we found and photographed was one that we had all seen numerous times before, but it is not one that is easily photographed, the Varied Bunting.  It likes to hide in dense thickets most of the time, but we had some males at this location that were perching high and singing loudly. It unique coloration is also a bit difficult to capture the true colors without the right light.

 Varied Bunting

 Varied Bunting

Varied Bunting

From Montosa Canyon, we then headed to Florida Canyon which is a well known location to find the Rufous-capped Warbler.  Once again we missed this bird, but someone else had been there about 2 hours earlier and got good looks at it.  This is a spiffy little warbler with really good looks and one that I will have to return for in the future.  A great consolation prize, was a beautiful Gray Hawk along the road on the way to Florida Canyon.

Gray Hawk

We wanted to finish the day in Madera Canyon with some of its specialties.  Along the road to Madera Canyon, Muriel knew of a nice little side road to check out and so we checked it out and once again we had Botteri's Sparrows, but I also discovered an adult with a juvenile Rufous-winged Sparrow in the low part of the wash.  Was able to get photos of each and it is always nice to compare the differences between adults and juveniles.

 Rufuos-winged Sparrow, adult

Rufous-winged Sparrow, juvenile

At this same place a Spiny Lizard stuck its head out to check me out and with my zoom lens the photo kind of reminds me of something from Jurassic Park!

Spiny Lizard

One of the keys birds we wanted to find in Madera Canyon was the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher which is probably the most colorful and interesting flycatcher to be found in Arizona.  It was not a new bird to any of us, but I have never gotten a very good photo of one.  Amazingly, we found a whole family of them; 2 adults and 3 fledglings and even witnessed one of the adults feeding one of the fledglings.  For once I got some decent photos of this wonderful bird.  Their call sounds like a squeaky dog toy, so they are very unique.

 Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers

 Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, adult

Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, fledgling

The flycatchers were found just a short distance from Santa Rita Lodge, so it was almost certain that we would spend some time viewing their hummingbird feeders as a Lucifer Hummingbird had recently been reported visiting this place.  Sure enough, it did not take long for this stunning male to show up and make an appearance at the feeders.  We also observed several Rufous Hummingbirds at the feeders.

 Lucifer Hummingbird

Lucifer Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

This last photo of the Rufous Hummingbird also shows that the rain had started to fall, notice the couple of white lines in the background.  With that we bid adieu to Madera Canyon and headed for home.  We had all had a great weekend of birding and the trip home was quite enjoyable.  One last photo to share was a cactus within the shady trees at Montosa Canyon that was covered in blossoms ready to open.  The color was a nice stark contrast to the surrounding shady trees and the beads of dew gave it a cool and inviting look. 

       

Conquering a Nemesis Bird

This past weekend, I traveled south to the Tucson area and teamed up with fellow blogger/birder Chris Rohrer to do some birding in southeast Arizona.  Chris spent a lot of time and research on hot spots to hit with only about a day and a half to work with.  He did his homework very well as I came home with 8 new life birds as we explored the proper places and habitat to find some wonderful birds.  We spent most of the day on Saturday racking up the bird species, but I am once again going to post our Sunday adventure first as it turned out to be quite awesome.  

The Elegant Trogon is a bird that neither of us had the fortune of viewing before.  Both of us, and I think Chris more than I, has spent time trying to locate this bird.  It is a much sought after bird for birders who want to add it to their United States list.  It is a colorful tropical bird who's range reaches the extreme southern part of Arizona where breeding does occur in the U.S.  It is not an easy bird to find as it usually is found in higher elevations during breeding season which requires some hiking into higher elevations.  Some of these birds do winter in Arizona at lower elevations, but most migrate south into Mexico.  

The Carrie Nation Trail in Madera Canyon is well known for its nesting trogons and the nest is usually monitored and most serious birders know where and how to find it.  That was our game plan as we hit the trail early and started uphill to the nesting sight.  We had probably only traveled about ½ mile, far short of the nesting site, when Chris heard one calling somewhere near to us on the opposite side of the canyon.  So we decided to stop a bit off to the side of the trail and listen for it to see if we could pinpoint where it might be.  As we waited, it seemed to very slowly get closer to us as we waited quietly and patiently.  Then I spotted it by its bright red belly flying in and landing on a tree not far from us.  What a moment of inspiration for both of us as we relished the viewing, its calling and allowing us to capture some photos.  There was also a great bit of satisfaction for both us knowing that had actually found one without the assistance of others or staking out its nest cavity. As we were enjoying it another birder by the name of Nancy was coming down the trail after spending a long time near the nesting site without finding one, so she also had the privilege of joining in on the viewing.  Finally both Chris and I were able to add this bird to our life lists and the rest of the morning was like walking on clouds!  So without further ado, hear are my photos of the Elegant Trogon.

 Elegant Trogon

Elegant Trogon

The trogon was our main objective, but in the process of hiking up the trail to the trogon, I also added another new life bird to my list, the Swainson's Thrush. Very similar to the Hermit Thrush of which I have seen many, but enough subtle differences to be able to ID them with good looks in the field and also by its song.  

 Swainson's Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

From there we headed back down the canyon and made a stop at the Santa Rita Lodge, which is a great place to stay if anyone wants to plan a trip to Madera Canyon and spend a night or two.  They have a great set up of feeders out front with wonderful relaxed viewing in the shade.  While there I managed to capture a few photos of some beautiful birds.  There were lots of Black-headed Grosbeaks and they were easy to view and there was a lone Blue Grosbeak that wanted to feed in a feeder in the deep shade behind one of the cabins.  For one brief moment it flew up to a fence in the sun and I managed to get 1 photo.  Also captured photos of a Mexican Jay and a Pine Siskin.

 Black-headed Grosbeak

 Blue Grosbeak

 Mexican Jay

Pine Siskin

From there we headed even lower in elevation to the Proctor Trail.  On this trail we found many birds and the photos I have below are just a small sampling.  They include a Canyon Towhee, a Bell's Vireo, and a Varied Bunting that did not want to show off its beautiful colors in the sunlight.  

 Bell's Vireo

 Canyon Towhee

Varied Bunting

So much for the bird photos, but other photos of interest include a Clark's Spiny Lizard showing off its blue belly and throat, an Ornate Tree Lizard, a Gray Squirrel, and a Carpenter Bee on a white flower.

Clark's Spiny Lizard

Ornate Tree Lizard

 Gray Squirrel

Carpenter Bee

What a grand and wonderful ½ day of birding with Chris!