2008 Tour Narrative
In Brief: Birding our way across some of the most glorious landscapes in the US, we saw nearly 200 species of birds in eleven days. Some of the highlights included Rocky Mountain specialties such as Dusky Grouse, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Plumbeous and Gray Vireos, Gray, Western Scrub-, and Pinyon Jays, Mountain Chickadee, Juniper Titmouse, Pygmy Nuthatch, Grace’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Western Tanager, Green-tailed and Spotted Towhees, and Brewer’s and Vesper Sparrows. Add to that a nice variety of western migrants, plus unusual birds such as Sabine’s Gulls on inland lakes, and once again this tour provided something for everyone.
In Detail: We began the trip with a visit to the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, where we saw a variety of lowland desert specialties and a scattering of migrants. Some of the nice birds there included White-winged Dove, Broad-billed and Anna’s Hummingbirds, Gila Woodpecker, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Bell’s Vireo, Canyon Wren, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Black-throated Sparrow, and Abert’s Towhee. A brief drive-by of Roosevelt Lake produced hundreds of Western Grebes, and a stop in the cooler pine forest on the way to Flagstaff produced Western Bluebird, Pygmy Nuthatch, Plumbeous Vireo, and Grace’s Warbler, not to mention the hundreds of Elk at Mormon Lake.
Continuing north, we crossed the mighty Colorado River at Marble Canyon, then on to the Vermillion Cliffs, where we again saw a number of the released California Condors; it’s always fun and impressive to see real California Condors circling over the stunning red cliffs! It was then on to the indescribable beauty and vastness of the Grand Canyon. We spent the afternoon and next morning visiting the various viewpoints accessible from the North Rim—in my opinion, the more interesting rim. Although the canyon dominated our attention, we still managed to see some fun birds, including Wild Turkey, Zone-tailed and Swainson’s Hawks, White-throated Swift, Clark’s Nutcracker, Black-throated Gray Warbler, and Green-tailed Towhee. One of the favorite birds of the trip was the Greater Roadrunner we saw on the way to the canyon; a Kaibab Squirrel with its glorious white tail was also a big highlight.
Southwest Utah is stunningly beautiful: there’s just no two ways about it! We visited Zion National Park in the late afternoon and in the early morning, allowing us the best of both, very different lighting conditions in the canyon. A walk along the Virgin River to the Narrows produced incredible views of the cliffs, several hundred feet high, as well as two American Dippers feeding in the stream. Another highlight was close views of a group of Bighorn Sheep. We saw our only Black-capped Chickadees and Downy Woodpecker of the trip here, too.
Bryce Canyon offered another type of scenic beauty, totally different from Zion, but incredible nonetheless. We spent a wonderful morning visiting the several vantage points along the rim of the canyon, and although the scenery once again dominated our morning, we did see a close Dusky Grouse along the road, and some saw a stunning male Williamson’s Sapsucker. Our main birding was conducted outside of the parks themselves; some of the more interesting birds we saw in Utah included a wide variety of ducks, Eared and Western Grebes, American White Pelican, Golden Eagle, Black-chinned and Rufous Hummingbirds, Black-billed Magpie, Pinyon Jay, Mountain Bluebird, Virginia’s Warbler, Vesper Sparrow, and Yellow-headed Blackbird.
We next traveled through Navajo Country and extreme northeastern Arizona, visiting several scenic birding locations. We began with a visit to Antelope Canyon at Page, a simply stunning slot canyon that is nearly impossible to describe: no birds to speak of, but it’s always one of the true highlights of the trip! Another scenic treat was our drive through Monument Valley, which conjured up images of old Westerns (and new car commercials). Canyon de Chelly was one of our favorite canyons of the trip, its beauty and vastness a complete surprise.
A drive through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert finished off our visit to northern Arizona. Although these locations were again incredible scenic highlights, we actually did spend most of our time looking for birds in between devouring the “eye candy.” We visited several lakes and ponds, and scattered groves of trees that form oases for migrants. The weather was “a little too good” for major fallouts of migrants, but we saw a wide variety of waterbirds and passerines that made our visit to this remote region more than worthwhile. Some of the highlights from this portion of the trip included Greater White-fronted Goose, Clark’s Grebe, White-faced Ibis, Prairie Falcon, Baird’s Sandpiper, Red-necked and Wilson’s Phalaropes, four different Sabine’s Gulls, Common Tern, Willow Flycatcher, Black and Say’s Phoebes, Juniper Titmouse, more Pinyon Jays, MacGilivray’s and Wilson’s Warblers, Spotted Towhee, and lots of Brewer’s Sparrows.
We finished the trip with a three-night stay in the beautiful White Mountains of eastern Arizona. We had nice walks in riparian habitat along the Little Colorado River, spent time in the high-elevation coniferous forests, and visited a number of high-elevation lakes covered with ducks. Some of the better birds we encountered included Common Merganser, an adult and an immature Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, a nice male Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Western Scrub-Jay, Mountain Chickadee, Bushtit, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Rock Wren, Townsend’s Solitaire, Green-tailed and Spotted Towhees, and Eastern and Western Meadowlarks. Every stop produced a scattering of migrants.
On the way back to Phoenix, where the trip ended, we spent the day spot-checking a number of different habitats as we dropped off the Mogollon Rim and ventured back into southern Arizona. We did very well, adding a number of interesting birds including Acorn and Hairy Woodpeckers, Gray, Cassin’s, and Hutton’s Vireos, Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Painted Redstart, Hepatic Tanager, Black-chinned Sparrow, and Scott’s Oriole. We ended at some ponds in Gilbert, where we saw lots of Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Dowitchers, and a few new passerines such as Northern Mockingbird and Song Sparrow.
In all, the trip was a great success, traversing some unbelievable country where we saw some of the most scenic landscapes in the United States. And on top of it all we saw nearly 200 species of birds, including many of the Rocky Mountain specialties.
- Gary Rosenberg
Updated: September 2008