Canyon Wren, the voice of the craggy southwest, pauses in the shade. Photo: Gary Rosenberg
It’s just lovely in southeastern Arizona in late winter. It can be cold, but it’s usually just clear and cool, and the huge numbers of birds that winter in the benign climate are still around. The high canyons still have their hardy residents, but most of the big bird numbers are in the grasslands and around streams and other waterways. Our daily destinations are all well known, but what wonderful places they are: Lake Patagonia and the Patagonia/Nogales area, the stunningly lovely San Rafael Grasslands, the always birdy (sometimes spectacularly so) Sulphur Springs Valley, and a range of lower-elevation canyons and waterways such as Garden Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains and the Santa Cruz River.
As in all our “Weeks,” we’ll stay in one location, in this case a comfortable working ranch not far from Patagonia and close to most of the areas we’ll want to visit. It’s a beautiful site looking out over oaks and grasslands to the Santa Rita Mountains. We’ll eat some of our meals here and some in local restaurants, and anyone who might want to take a day off will find the place both relaxing and invigorating.
Day 1: The tour begins at 3 p.m. at Tucson International Airport. From here we’ll make the 45-minute drive to Sonoita and our ranch. Night near Sonoita.
Days 2-7: Our schedule will be flexible depending on weather and circumstance, but we’ll certainly visit Lake Patagonia State Park, where Black-capped Gnatcatchers have been regular and where species as disparate as Elegant Trogon and Louisiana Waterthrush have wintered in recent years. It’s also perhaps the best place for wintering Empidonax flycatchers in North America: Hammond’s, Dusky, and Gray are often common.
The San Rafael Grasslands are stunning, especially when first viewed as one breaks out of the oaks in upper Harshaw Canyon. The sudden vista of miles of grass stretching toward the Huachuca Mountains is breathtaking. Depending on the year and the natural food supplies, we often see flocks of Chestnut-collared Longspurs, sometimes Baird’s Sparrow among the much commoner Savannahs and Vespers, and occasionally Sprague’s Pipit, although given its solitary and reclusive nature, finding one takes some effort. White-tailed Kite has been regular in recent years as well.
The Sulphur Springs Valley was once a grassland, too, but agricultural development has changed its appearance—but not its attractiveness for birds. Agriculture, cattle ranching, and the presence of Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area combine to attract thousands of Lark Buntings and Brewer’s Sparrows, hundreds of raptors including Ferruginous Hawk and often Golden Eagle, and three to five thousand Sandhill Cranes, whose noisy passage from the waters of Whitewater Draw to the corn and other grain fields forms a wonderful backdrop.
Water is often the sine qua non in the desert, and we’ll look at water whenever we can: little ponds, lakes where available, streams and springs, even trickles. Near water we may see as many as 25 species of bunting—sparrows, towhees, and even things named “bunting”—along with raptors, flycatchers, warblers, and a host of others. Waterbirds are numerous, too, and could include Neotropic Cormorant and Black-bellied Whistling-Duck.
The high canyons are often quiet in the winter—it’s just too cold to support much life—but the lower reaches can be very active and include a number of species that are special to the place: Arizona Woodpecker, Mexican Jay, and Bridled Titmouse, for example. There are also often a few lingering Magnificent and Blue-throated Hummingbirds and a handful of Painted Redstarts.
On one day we’ll travel back to Tucson and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a place worth visiting on its own merits, but also a fine spot for Lower Sonoran birds such as Gilded Flicker and Harris’s Hawk.
Finally there is almost always a surprise or two, perhaps a Rufous-backed Robin or a Streak-backed Oriole or a copse full of Long-eared Owls. One never knows from year to year, but we’ve factored in enough time to be able to take advantage of the unexpected.
Nights near Sonoita.
Day 8: The tour concludes at 10 a.m. at Tucson International Airport.
Updated: 20 March 2008
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Notes
Maximum group size seven with one leader; 14 with two leaders