2008 Tour Narrative
In Brief: This tour offers an incredible variety of habitats—both cultivated and natural. From agricultural fields to glorious vistas, we had in only eight days an amazingly high diversity of avian species (264), combined with continuous superb weather.
The unique feature of the California and Arizona trip is the diversity of specialties that is an annual highlight of this tour. This year’s tour included good views of Mexican “strays,” with four such species seen: Northern Jacana, two Ruddy-Ground-Doves, an exceedingly cooperative Rufous-backed Robin, and two pairs of Black-capped Gnatcatchers.
In Detail: Progressing from California east to Arizona, some of the highlights from this year’s tour in San Diego included Black-vented Shearwaters, California Gnatcatchers and other coastal scrub specialists, Tricolored Blackbirds, rocky shorebirds, Clark’s Grebes, an unexpected Pacific Golden-Plover, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, and a Hermit Warbler.
The Salton Sea produced a huge number of waterfowl (including thousands of Ross’s Geese) and shorebirds, rails, desert passerines, Western Screech-Owl, a most unexpected Pomarine Jaeger, Neotropic Cormorant, and two Lesser Black-backed Gulls. As we entered western Arizona we saw Le Conte’s and Crissal Thrashers and Sage Sparrows; and in the Tucson region we found Rufous-winged Sparrows, Lawrence’s Goldfinches, Mountain Plovers, Lewis’s Woodpecker, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Bendire’s Thrasher, and a single group of 4,000+ male Yellow-headed Blackbirds.
Our travels in the fabled Southeast Arizona canyons, streambeds, and grasslands found a veritable horde of raptors, thousands of Sandhill Cranes, a day-time site with a dozen Barn Owls, two Long-eared Owls, and Great Horned Owls sitting out in the open, Arizona Woodpeckers, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Painted Redstart altercating with a Red-naped Sapsucker, Olive Warbler, multiple wrens and Empidonax flycatchers, a detour for low-elevation Mexican Chickadees, and a surprise American Dipper and stop-sign-perching Gray Hawk.
Paul Lehman
Updated: February 2008