Huachuca Mountains -- 15 April 2013

After my first 2 days of birding down south, on Monday the 15th, I headed out of Tucson and drove to Patagonia to the Paton House, which is a well known birding spot as it draws a huge variety of birds and at the same time, birders from around the world can be seen here any day of the week.  Then on the positive side, the caretaker is a good friend and birder by the name of Larry Morgan and his hospitality is second to none.  Once he got his feeders filled, we then set out for Ft Huachuca.  (More about the birds at the Paton House on the next blog post.)  Once we got to the military post and checked in, we were given some vague instructions on where to go birding.  Unbeknownst to us, we ended up in the wrong canyon.  We ended up in Garden Canyon instead of Huachuca Canyon, but before we realized our error, we had traveled as far as the Upper Picnic Area and we decided to check out the birds anyway.  It was very windy and anything high in the trees was difficult to see and photograph, but birds near the ground were much easier to observe.  It must have been fate that brought us on a wrong road as we discovered a new life bird for both of us, a Buff-breasted Flycatcher, the smallest flycatcher in the Empidonax family, but actually one of the easiest to identify because of its warm orangish color to breast and belly.  This is a bird that can be found in the southeastern areas of Arizona and a few casual sightings have occurred in New Mexico and Texas.  There were actually 2 of them in this location and one of them was not particularly fearful of us as we watched it on a low perch and it eventually flew out to capture a small butterfly and then devour it.  Great for the photographer, sad for the butterfly!

 Buff-breasted Flycatcher

 Buff-breasted Flycatcher

Buff-breasted Flycatcher

What an amazing find and so glad we got lost and went to a wrong canyon!  From there, we backtracked to find Huachuca Canyon, and on the way we had a lone Pronghorn Antelope run across the road and it had traveled quite a distance before I could get the car stopped to snap a photo.

Pronghorn Antelope

Once we found Huachuca Canyon we got to relish and enjoy the drive to the 1.7 mile parking lot; mush have taken 30 minutes to travel that distance.  It is passable by a passenger car, but very slow going.  Wind advisories had been issued for that day and they were right.  While we did not have a lot of birds on this day, one of the American Robins stopped to pose for a photo and I also captured a photo of a male Springwater Dancer Damselfly. Then it was time for lunch in Sierra Vista and then on the Ash Canyon B & B.

 American Robin

Springwater Dancer Damselfly

After lunch, we headed to Ash Canyon Bed & Breakfast where Mary Jo has many feeders set up and they attract all kinds of birds.  For a meager $5.00 donation, one can sit down and enjoy the show.  Below are just a few photos of just a few of the many birds we watched and observed.

 Green-tailed Towhee

 Lazuli Bunting--still molting into its summer finest.

 Lincoln's Sparrow

 Mexican Jay

 Rufous Hummingbird

 Scott's Oriole--adult breeding plumage male

Scott's Oriole--first year male

What a great variety of birds and colors for the day. We then returned to the Paton House and arrived before the sun set and had a great number of birds come to the feeders before we retired for the night.  

Birding with Kathie - 14 April 2013

After such an exhausting day on Saturday, I met up with fellow birder/blogger Kathie Brown at the Agua Caliente Park in the eastern part of Tucson.  This was the first time we have met in person, but knew each other a little bit by our blogs.  I highly suggest checking out her blog site as she can present a different perspective that is always informative: http://kathiesbirds.blogspot.com/

We met at Agua Caliente Park with a goal of trying to locate a Northern Beardless-Tyrannlet which this location has been a good spot for many birders and evidently bred here.  Unfortunately for us, we were not able to locate this small flycatcher so we settled for some other birds and critters instead. it was a great spot for birds including a Rufous-winged Sparrow that made its presence by singing in some of the dry grassy areas.  

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Also nearby in the morning hours were a couple of Coues (pronounced cows) Deer, a small southwestern version of the White-tailed Deer.

 Coues Deer

Coues Deer

We left my car there while Kathie and I explored Mt Lemmon and later in the day when we returned we also  found a few more discoveries.  A Harris's Hawk came in for a landing and I have to thank a Lark Sparrow for being so cooperative and allowing some decent photos.  What a handsomely marked sparrow!  Kathie also discovered a Vermilion Flycatcher nest, and I am convinced I must be losing my eyesight as it took a long time for me to find it.  However, the nest was hard to see and we did not want to interrupt the birds by getting too close.  The photo says it all.

 Harris Hawk

 Lark Sparrow

Vermilion Flycatcher and nest

From there, Kathie drove, (thanks again for offering to drive Kathie), and we then headed up the road to Mt Lemmon.  We made several stops on the way up and found birds at each stop.  One of the stops while still in the desert habitat included a Rock Wren and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  What was neat about this stop was that we had 2 different species of gnatcatchers and 3 species of wrens, (unfortunately, I was only able to get 2 photos out of those 5 species of birds).

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Rock Wren

One of the most exciting stops was at Rose Canyon Lake and we hiked the south trail and got some wonderful birds, including a Yellow-eyed Junco that decided it liked us because when it saw us taking photos of it down lower on the ground, it decided to fly up into the tree right beside us and pose for our cameras.  What a dynamic looking bird with that awesome bright yellow eye!

 Yellow-eyed Junco

  Yellow-eyed Junco

 Yellow-eyed Junco

Also seen at this location was an Osprey, a Mexican Mallard, and a Pygmy Nuthatch and its nesting cavity.

The Mexican Mallard is not considered as a separate species at this time, but a sub-species of the common Mallard.  At one time it was a separate species.

 'Mexican' Mallard

 Osprey

Pygmy Nuthatch

Also at this location we found a nest in progress of a Broad-tailed Hummingbird, thanks to another couple that advised us where to look.  But even then it was almost impossible to find, but thanks to Kathie's eyes we finally spotted it.  The nest is pictured below, but the photo of the female Broad-tailed hummingbird was actually taken at almost the top of Mt Lemmon.

 Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Broad-tailed Hummingbird nest

Once we reached the top we enjoyed a small pizza and a LARGE cookie and found that the Yellow-eyed Juncos were everywhere at the top.  What a great day of birding and seeing some great birds and having a great guide really enhanced the trip.  Hope to do more birding in the future with Kathie and maybe we can persuade another birder/blogger, Chris Rohrer to join us.

Sweetwater Wetlands - 13 April 2013

After my visit to Sabino Canyon and my 10 miles of hiking, I decided to check into my motel and rest up and then check out Sweetwater Wetlands in the afternoon.  Located just off the I-10 freeway in northwestern part of Tucson, this place is known to be a hot spot for birding and many rarities have been seen by many in the past.  Although I was not able to find any rarities on this day, I did manage to have a couple of birds that apparently wanted to make my day by giving me long looks and allowing a lot of photos.  

The first was a Cooper's Hawk that decided it was bath time and chose the small stream near the parking lot.  Apparently this is a resident bird and it has put on this show for many other birders before me.  It has both legs banded; the right with a green band and the left with a silver band. When your camera is set up to auto-shoot, it is quite easy to have dozens of photos before you know it and this was the case here.

 Cooper's Hawk

 Feels good to reach that itch!

 "Let's see what I can find under the water!"

"Time for a breath of air."

 "Can you hear me?"

"Time to dry out and look pretty!"

The other bird that made my day was a Sora, which belongs to the family of Rails.  Most Rails are very secretive and rarely show themselves by hiding in the dense reeds along waterways.  They can quickly disappear once they feel threatened.  I spotted this one peeking out of the reeds and so I just froze and let it come out on its own and slowly it waded along the water's edge and gave me a great view and I was captivated for at least 10 minutes of observation and photo opportunities.  At one point it stretched its wings and then ruffled its feathers.

 Sora--Just starting to come out of the reeds.

 Wow!  Look at those feet that we almost never see.

 Time to pose and reflect

 Let's stretch those wings.

And a final ruffle of the feathers.

At one point on the pathway, I did encounter a Rattlesnake, but only got to see the last 12" or so of it slithering into a brush pile.  Just a reminder to always watch where you are walking when you are enjoying the great outdoors.  Other birds that caught my eye were a Cinnamon Teal, a Ruddy Duck, and a Red-winged Blackbird.  All 3 were males and showing off their finest colors to attract the ladies.

 Cinnamon Teal

 Ruddy Duck

Red-winged Blackbird

The last photo is paying tribute to one of the beautiful females in the avian world, the female Vermilion Flycatcher.  I found this lovely lady in the parking lot of my motel.  Always nice to stay where the birds also like it.  (Can't say that I enjoyed the 1:15 am wake-up by someone pulling a fire alarm though!)

Vermilion Flycatcher--Female

This is how day one ended and the next day was something totally different with some different habitats and I had the pleasure of birding with another blogger, Kathie Brown.

  

Sabino Canyon -- 13 April 2013

Many of you probably think that I have stopped blogging, but that really is not the case.  I had a week off from work and during that week I planned a couple of mini-vacations to do some birding outside of local Phoenix and Maricopa County.  Now that the week is over, I have a lot of blogging to catch up on.  Those mini trips were wonderful and I got to see a lot of great birds.  

First off, is Sabino Canyon located near Tucson, Arizona.  This was the first day of my 4 day trip to the southern part of the state and Sabino Canyon is a spot I had never been to.  It has a tram that one can purchase a ticket for and one can ride the tram from the bottom to the top with various stops along the way. Unfortunately, the ticket booth did not open until 9:00 am and I arrived at 6:30 am, so I decided hiking would be good as the road is paved all the way.  Of course I took a detour on the way to the top by checking out Sabino Dam and by the time I arrived at the top I had already hiked 6 miles uphill!  But without the detour on the way back, it was another 4 miles to the start, so it was a long haul, but very worthwhile.  This is a very popular spot for hikers and on the weekends even arriving at 6:30 am the parking lot was filling up quickly.  

One of the first birds I encountered was a Pyrrhuloxia.  This bird is the desert southwest cardinal and they are related.  However there are differences and I was able to photograph 2 different males in 2 different settings.  This was a good start to this wonderful hike.

 Pyrrhuloxia

Pyrrhuloxia

Also located in the lower desert areas was another one of those birds with a 'ph'unny name that starts with the letter 'P'.  The Phainopepla is also a bird with a crest, but not at all related to the Pyrrhuloxia.  

 Phainopepla--Male

Phainopepla--Female

The White-winged Doves (of Stevie Nicks fame) have returned for the summer and are a nice sight to see in the springtime.  These birds also frequent the lower desert areas as do the Northern Mockingbirds, Gambel's Quail. and Black-throated Sparrows.

White-winged Dove

 Northern Mockingbird

 Gambel's Quail

Black-throated Sparrow

In the area of Sabino Dam, I found a Cassin's Vireo along with many singing Bell's Vireos and Lucy's Warblers.

 Cassin's Vireo

 Bell's Vireo

Lucy's Warbler

Many spots along the road to the top were inhabited by Northern Cardinals including one at the top of the trail that allowed some great looks and a photo.

Northern Cardinal

On the trip back down and near the bottom I ran across one of those 'difficult' Empidonax Flycatchers.  I have decided that this is probably a Hammond's Flycatcher based on the longer projection of the primary feathers.  

Hammond's Flycatcher

I also took some photos of some flowers and some butterflies along the way.  Sorry, but I have not had time to figure out which species of butterflies I have here, but will so some research in the future to see if I can figure them out.

Nice start to a wonderful week off.