Tour Narrative
In Brief: The monsoon season was well underway by the time this tour began. Allowing all those participants new to the desert Southwest to experience the sight and sounds of brief but torrential monsoon rains throughout the upper Santa Cruz Valley. Hummingbirds were astounding with a count of 13 species including rarities like Berylline, a remarkable 10 Lucifers at one feeder as well as a single day count of 40 Calliopes. The lowland species, including the various grassland sparrows were in full song as was a Five-striped Sparrow in Montosa Canyon. Rarities on the trip included a juvenile Tricolored Heron at Wilcox and an Aztec Thrush in Madera Canyon. More adventuresome participants enjoyed seeing a Tiger Rattlesnake in lower Madera Canyon, most surely a rarity in the Santa Rita Mountains. Other highlights included close-up encounters with Elegant Trogons in Huachuca Canyon and prolonged views of a family group of Montezuma Quail next to the van in the Chiricahua Mountains. Although the fires had wreaked havoc in parts of SE Arizona earlier in the summer, our birding wasn’t much affected except at higher elevations where regrowth and recovery has been slower.
In Detail: Our tour began with an early evening visit to Madera Canyon for a picnic dinner and evening owling where we enjoyed great views of a family group of Whiskered Screech-Owls. A note here to say we also had the rare experience of seeing and having good views of a Black-tailed Rattlesnake on our way up the canyon.
We returned to Madera the next morning, stopping on the way up the canyon to enjoy a Rufous-winged Sparrow near Continental. Our main target this trip was the Aztec Thrush, present for a week or so, but it proved elusive, and we missed it. Still, we did get fine views of a Berylline Hummingbird at Kubo as well as Arizona Woodpecker, Dusky-capped and Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, Grace’s Warbler, and Painted Redstart. In the grasslands outside the canyon we compared the singing Botteri’s and Cassin’s Sparrows. Farther south in Montosa Canyon, we had superb views of a Five-striped Sparrow, a new location for this enigmatic species, and one that had been largely restricted in recent years to California Gulch. Other highlights of this day included the sighting of a stunning adult male Varied Bunting and a solitary Coati (Coatimundi) crossing the road in front of our van.
The next morning we chose to visit Madera Canyon again, with the group dispersing in to two groups, one led by myself and the other led by WINGS leader, Jake Mohlmann. My group went up the main canyon in search of the Aztec Thrush, where we had wonderful and easy views for over fifty minutes as it sat in a choke cherry tree. Jake’s group hiked Florida Canyon and lower Madera Canyon where they encountered a number of species including a migrant Virginia’s Warbler and a Tiger Rattlesnake. The Tiger Rattlesnake is a species that is perhaps largely unknown in the Santa Rita Mountains and a species that I have yet to see. After lunch we stopped at Rio Rico to watch an adult Tropical Kingbird feed two fledged juveniles with a “Mexican Duck” in the flooded field across the road. At the Roadside Rest on our way to Patagonia we saw the Thick-billed Kingbird and while in Patagonia, at a set of feeders, we saw numerous Violet-crowned Hummingbirds and an adult male Calliope Hummingbird, one of many that we would see throughout the course of this tour. (We tallied an incredible 40 Calliopes all in one day while in the Chiricahuas.) Late in the day we found a few Grasshopper Sparrows (endemic subspecies) in the grasslands east of Sonoita.
The next morning we went to Fort Huachuca where most of our group saw Buff-breasted Flycatchers in Sawmill Canyon. Other species encountered while on base included Grace’s Warbler, and for a lucky few, a Red-faced Warbler plus a Yellow-eyed Junco in full song. After lunch we hiked up Scheelite Canyon where our local guide located a roosting Spotted Owl. Later while gathered after dinner and at Casa de San Pedro, we had wonderful and clear studies of an adult male hummingbird which also showed the characters of an Allen’s. This same hummingbird was present again the next day as well.
The following morning we began at Ramsey Canyon where we saw at least ten Lucifer Hummingbirds, most of which were adult males and several Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. Later, some of us returned to Fort Huachuca where at Huachuca Canyon we had superb views of adult Elegant Trogons feeding youngsters in a nest cavity at the end of a sycamore limb. Another apparently unmated adult male Elegant Trogon was singing nearby. At Mary Jo’s in Ash Canyon we saw a female Costa’s Hummingbird (our only one) in addition to several more Lucifers.
We left the following morning for parts east and in the Sulphur Springs Valley we eventually found a pair of Crissal Thrashers. It was in Whitewater Draw that we watched a pair of roosting Great Horned Owls and in the marsh grass nearby we counted dozens of Lazuli Buntings, mostly adult males, a sea of sky blue to the grass tops! At Rodeo, New Mexico, we were able to locate two scarce Bendire’s Thrashers.
Our activities in the Chiricahua Mountains were limited due to the earlier spring fires, especially higher up where our birding was restricted to the Turkey Creek crossing. Here we found things slow, but had brief views of a single Mexican Chickadee. In the lower elevations we found a variety of migrants including Virginia’s, Nashville, Wilson’s and Hermit Warblers, as well as an Olive-sided Flycatcher. Two highlights stand out during our time in the Chiricahuas, a calling juvenile Goshawk near Herb Martyr campground and a family group of Montezuma Quail above the Southwest Research Station that remained for extended studies in the grass right next to the van. Other highlights in the area included a Western Screech-Owl and a Juniper Titmouse in Paradise. The hummingbird feeders at the Southwest Research Station and Portal were spectacular with numerous Blue-throated, Calliope and Rufous (still lots of adult males). We estimated some 40 Calliopes. Non- avian highlights included seeing another Black-tailed Rattlesnake and nectar feeding bats at a feeder near Rodeo, likely Long-tongued Bats.
Our final morning in the Portal area, we looked in vain for Mexican Chickadees, no luck. But we did find a feeding flock of warblers nearby that included Grace’s, Black-throated Gray, and Painted Redstart. We had good views of Rufous-crowned Sparrow and glimpsed Western Scrub-Jays. The pond near Willcox was full of shorebirds with numerous Baird’s Sandpipers, multiple Black Terns, three juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers and last but not least a juvenile Tricolored Heron which was a rarity.
A few closing comments. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen as many hummingbirds in southeast Arizona as we did on this tour, at least not in recent years. Perhaps the fires concentrated the gatherings. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen so few butterflies; maybe the current drought, along with a late hard winter freeze was responsible for their absence.
The 2011 tour was truly a “second spring”, complete with active monsoons and stellar birding plus a congenial group of participants all ingredients for a wonderful and productive bird tour to Arizona.
Jon L. Dunn
Updated: September 2011