A striking Lewis’s Woodpecker watches for passing insects, a regular sight somewhere on Deserts in Winter. Photo: Chris Wood
Mid- to late January is a wonderful time to visit the low deserts of the Southwest. Although nights and early mornings can be cold, days are pleasantly mild and wintering birds are everywhere. Our short tour will begin in the coastal habitats around Los Angeles, then move over the Laguna Mountains through Anza-Borrego to the Salton Sea and Imperial Valley. Crossing into Arizona, we’ll explore the Yuma and Phoenix areas and then travel south to the Lower Sonoran Desert and mountain canyons near Tucson. We’ll conclude by visiting a corner of the Chihuahuan Desert just west of the Chiricahua Mountains before returning to Tucson. The great variety of habitats visited will produce an extensive list of birds—over 240 species are usually recorded.
Day 1: The trip begins at 6:00 pm in Los Angeles. Night in Los Angeles.
Day 2: We’ll spend the day in coastal Los Angeles and Orange Counties exploring the tremendous diversity of habitats, from rocky coastlines and tidal mudflats to marshes and coastal sage scrub, looking for Pacific coast species and California specialties such as “Black” Brant, Black-vented Shearwater, Pacific Loon, Clark’s Grebe, Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants, Black Oystercatcher, Surfbird, Wandering Tattler, Heermann’s Gull, Hutton’s Vireo, Wrentit, California Thrasher, Townsend’s Warbler, Tricolored Blackbird, and the endangered California Gnatcatcher. A number of winter rarities are almost always present here, too. Night in Oceanside.
Day 3: After a final morning in the coastal lowlands looking for the last of the regional specialties (and perhaps an over-wintering rarity or two), we’ll drive inland over the mountains, stopping in pine-oak forest to search for Nuttall’s, Acorn, and possibly Lewis’s Woodpeckers; Band-tailed Pigeon; Steller’s Jay; Mountain Chickadee; Oak Titmouse; and Western Bluebird. In the late afternoon we’ll visit the southern shore of the Salton Sea. Night in Brawley.
Day 4: We’ll spend the entire day around the bird-rich south end of the Salton Sea, a huge desert lake created when the Colorado River overflowed in 1906, pouring into the Imperial Valley for the next two years. Along the edge of the sea we might see as many as a hundred thousand waterbirds including Ross’s Goose, White-faced Ibis, and Yellow-footed and possibly Thayer’s Gulls. In adjacent agricultural lands we should find Mountain Plover, Long-billed Curlew, and Burrowing Owl, while the fringing scrub holds Greater Roadrunner, Phainopepla, Abert’s Towhee, and “Large-billed” Savannah Sparrow. The town of Brawley is usually worth a look, too, as Costa’s Hummingbird and other wintering passerines frequent gardens and Western Screech-Owl is resident. Night in Brawley.
Day 5: We’ll leave early for Arizona, stopping in the Mohawk Valley east of Yuma, an area good for Le Conte’s Thrasher, as well as Prairie Falcon and other raptors, Vermilion Flycatcher, and Sage Sparrow. West of Phoenix we’ll again search for Le Conte’s Thrasher (if need be) as well as Bendire’s Thrasher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, and Black-throated Sparrow. In the Phoenix area we’ll search for the most interesting of the local rarities. Night in Tempe.
Day 6: The Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior is a lush and fascinating area with desert plant species from around the world. In winter, the abundant and easy-to-see birds include Red-naped Sapsucker, Hutton’s Vireo, and Canyon Wren. There is almost always something unusual at the arboretum at this season: in recent winters the list has included Williamson’s Sapsucker, Cassin’s and Plumbeous Vireos, Rufous-backed Robin, Varied Thrush, and several eastern vagrants. The nearby Oak Flat Campground supports Juniper Titmouse, Crissal Thrasher, and occasionally “Slate-colored” Fox Sparrow. We’ll then drive south through Tucson, stopping to look for a possible staked-out rarity or two, Harris’s Hawk, Bronzed Cowbird and, in some years, Lawrence’s Goldfinch. We’ll finish the day at Green Valley, where we’ll search for many desert species including Rufous-winged Sparrow, Gambel’s Quail, and Gilded Flicker. Night in Green Valley.
Day 7: The number of wintering birds in southeastern Arizona depends to a great degree on seed production. In good years, waves of sparrows and other seed eaters rise from the roadside in mind-bending numbers. In poor years, birds can seem scarce in places, but certain well-watered areas have food every year. A morning visit to the oak forest and feeders of lower Madera Canyon can be surprisingly productive, combining such residents as Arizona Woodpecker, Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, and Yellow-eyed Junco with wintering birds possibly including Magnificent Hummingbird, Painted Redstart, and Scott’s Oriole. We’ll also concentrate on other spots such as Kino Springs, Patagonia Lake State Park, and the Patagonia area, which nearly always have large bird populations. Here we should see Hammond’s, Dusky, and Gray Flycatchers and Lazuli Bunting—and possibly something unusual. We’ll also visit the scenic San Rafael Valley or the Sonoita grasslands, where Sprague’s Pipit, Baird’s and Grasshopper Sparrows, “Lilian’s” Eastern Meadowlark, and Chestnut-collared Longspur winter. Night in Sierra Vista.
Day 8: The well-watered intermontane valleys of southeastern Arizona support large—at times even enormous—wintering populations of birds. The Sulphur Springs Valley is perhaps the best known, and we’ll spend part of the day visiting our favorite haunts there: fields with thousands of Sandhill Cranes and hundreds of Lark Buntings and Brewer’s and Vesper Sparrows, irrigated plots with perhaps several Ferruginous Hawks in sight at one time, coveys of Scaled Quail, and daytime roosting Barn and possibly Long-eared Owls. Even in poor years, the Sulphur Springs Valley is awash with birds. We’ll also visit the San Pedro River, one of The Nature Conservancy’s “Last Great Places,” where Green- tailed Towhee winters in some numbers. In the early evening, we’ll try for Whiskered Screech-Owl in canyons of the Huachuca Mountains. Night in Sierra Vista.
Day 9: We’ll leave this day intentionally flexible. Almost every year, southeastern Arizona hosts one or more unusual strays, possibly among them such Mexican species as Ruddy Ground-Dove, Rufous-backed Robin, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, or Streaked-backed Oriole, and we will likely detour to observe such species if they are present. Past tours here have recorded such rarities as Northern Jacana, Eared Quetzal, Nutting’s Flycatcher, Blue Mockingbird, and Crescent-chested and Rufous-capped Warblers. In any event, it’s hard to imagine a disappointing day at this season. Night at Tucson airport.
Day 10: The tour concludes at 9:00 am at the Tucson airport.
Updated: 16 March 2010
Prices
- 2011 Tour Price $2,690
- Single Occupancy Supplement $440
Notes
Group maximum seven with one leader.