Miller Canyon 12 July 2009

Jerry Bock, Morgan Jackson and I spent a splendid half day in Miller Canyon today. While we missed the Spotted Owls that have been so regular there, we enjoyed a number of other species of flora and fauna above and inside Beatty's Guest Ranch.

Most popular amongst birders are the feeders located at the Beatty's "Controlled Access Site." At these feeders, we were treated to multiple male White-eared Hummingbirds:




Also, of course, the highly sought-after Berylline Hummingbird:


This appeared to be the female, given that the green coloration in the throat was not completely solid. She didn't stay still for very long, and only showed up twice in the hour that we waited: once to gather nesting material from a ball of dog fur, and once to feed.


But our favorite was this female Broad-billed Hummingbird doing yoga poses in a bush to the left of the feeders. The best theory we came up with was that she was turning herself towards the sun in different ways to expose feather mites to the powerful UV light from the sun...but your guess is as good as ours:



Not to overlooked were some neat finds in the butterfly department. This Orange-edged Roadside-skipper (Amblyscirtes phylace) caught my eye. The trailing edges of the wings are very worn, but a hint of orange is noticeable. In other photos, the forewings looked fairly rounded (rather than pointed, as in Orange-headed Roadside-skipper):

North of the border, they are only found in the Chiricahua and Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona!


Also, a neat little Cassus Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes cassus):



Finally, not to be outdone, there were some curious plants as well. The neatest was an orchid that Jerry identified as "Huachuca Mountain Adder's Mouth" (Malaxis corymbosa). Only a very few plants were just starting to bloom:






Happy birding/butterflying/botanizing,
John Yerger
Adventure Birding Co.
www.adventurebirding.com

Pacific Golden-Plover, Willcox Twin Lakes 26 June 2009

birders-

Mark Stevenson found this adult Golden-Plover at Lake Cochise (Twin Lakes) in Willcox. Any Golden-Plover discovered at this time of year should be scrutinized at great length. Pacific and American Golden-Plovers share many similar characteristics which can make differentiating them without unobstructed point-blank inspection difficult.

This individual is a better fit for Pacific Golden-Plover. Gavin Bieber sums it up very well:

"Although this bird is in a transitional plumage state making some field marks (such as the extent of white along the flanks) harder to judge, the structure of the bird became quite evident with some close study. The long legs (especially above the joint), tertials that terminate very close to the tail tip, thick based and lengthy bill and overall brightness to the spangling are all excellent fits for Pacific Golden-Plover. In addition, when the bird flushed, I clearly noted the feet projecting past the tail."

Your input is welcome...

cheers,

Jake Mohlmann

Senior Guide

www.adventurebirding.com

Garden Canyon, Fort Huachuca - 20 June 2009

We started at Upper Picnic Area in Garden Canyon, where practically our first bird of the day was a lovely SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER sunning itself and preening on a snag. A stunningly bright male HEPATIC TANAGER delighted, too.

Just as we were preparing to leave, we heard an ELEGANT TROGON or two calling. In our attempts to track them down for a visual, we came up empty-handed but instead discovered a PLUMBEOUS VIREO singing from a nest, and a pair of HUTTON'S VIREOS building a nest (about 30 feet away from the Plumbeous).

We then made our way up to Sawmill Canyon, where several BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS awaited us. One called from the parking area; one was calling and seen up the old road starting behind the outhouses; and one or two more called and flew overhead as we walked up the main gated road to the left. An extremely cooperative RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW often perched only 10 feet away from the group, allowing for killer looks and photos. Best of all, we tracked down a calling ELEGANT TROGON and discovered a nest! Mark Sharon captured some amazing photos of the male at the nest entrance, which he has generously contributed for viewing by the general public:





We topped off our breeding activity discoveries when I stumbled upon a YELLOW-EYED JUNCO nest about 1.5 feet from the road under a big tuft of grass. I felt bad even though I had flushed the incubating adult by complete accident, but the 4 whitish eggs looked like they were doing quite well... GRACE'S WARBLERS finally became accommodating as we worked our way back to the cars.

Scheelite Canyon was our last stop. Although we didn't see the famous Spotted Owls, we enjoyed stellar close-up looks at CANYON WREN, DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, glimpsed ARIZONA WOODPECKER, PAINTED REDSTART, a calling adult GOLDEN EAGLE, and heard yet another ELEGANT TROGON about 3/4 mile up the drainage.

Full list and more pictures by Mark Sharon below. Hopefully our most enthusiastic participant, Jules Wyman, will help me out if I've missed anything in this list!

Good birding,
John Yerger
Tucson, AZ
john@adventurebirding.com


(ALL pictures seen in this post were generously provided by Tucson Audubon trip participant Mark Sharon.)

Buff-breasted Flycatcher, a much sought-after AZ specialty:


Western Wood-Pewee, at a high angle for comparison:


Plumbeous Vireo nest discovered at Upper Picnic Area in Garden Canyon:


Hutton's Vireo nest discovered at Upper Picnic Area in Garden Canyon:


Very cooperative Rufous-crowned Sparrow! Almost certainly this bird had a nest nearby, but didn't seem terribly concerned with our presence:


Beautiful male Hepatic Tanager:


Grace's Warblers are often very difficult to see because they forage and sing high in the canopy of pine trees, but this one came down to give us a personal show:


Dusky-capped Flycatcher, unfortunately only seen by a few folks:


Scheelilte Canyon is a great place to see Canyon Wren, as you can tell from this photo:




Total group list, not all birds seen by all birders, 47 species:

Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Golden Eagle
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collard-Dove
Greater Roadrunner
White-throated Swift
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Magnificent Hummingbird
Elegant Trogon
Hairy Woodpecker (heard only)
Arizona Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Acorn Woodpecker
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Western Wood-Pewee
Cordilleran Flycatcher (heard only)
Cassin's Kingbird
Common Raven
Chihuahuan Raven
Mexican Jay
Stellar's Jay
Bewick's Wren
Canyon Wren
Plumbeous Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Bridled Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch (heard only)
American Robin
Grace's Warbler
Painted Redstart
Hepatic Tanager
Western Tanager
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towhee (heard only)
Black-headed Grosbeak
Great-tailed Grackle
Eastern Meadowlark
Brown-headed Cowbird
Scott's Oriole (heard only)
Bullock's Oriole (fly-by)

Red-eyed Vireo - Sweetwater Wetlands - 6/23/09

birders-

At about 8:00am this morning I was passing by the 'Towhee Pond' at Sweetwater Wetlands and heard a vireo that seemed out of place. Much to my delight it was a singing RED-EYED VIREO. It was in the largest willow (there are 3) at the northwest corner of the 'West Settling Basin'.

a map of Sweetwater can be seen here at Tucson Audubon Society's website:

http://www.tucsonaudubon.org/birding/sweetnames.htm

I stayed on the bird after the initial sighting for about 45 minutes until Jerry Boch, Mark Stevenson, and Thomas Staudt arrived and heard the bird singing immediately. It took a good 30 minutes or so before looks were had by all. This location is where we left it at about 10:00. It was singing from the south side of the island in the middle of the 'Overlook Pond'. It was seen while standing at the hand-railed section of the overlook area.

A discussion for the possibility of Yellow-green Vireo:

I've posted 4 pictures. There never was a good photo opportunity, for this bird never really left the tops of the trees until a brief look at the Overlook Pond. The pictures could be better (always) but enough features are seen to talk about.

The flight shot shows the nice yellow-wash on the breast sides well. This is in contrast with the underwing coverts which appear paler. They were actually very white in person. Yellow-green should have lemony yellow underwings. (The Sibley Guide to Birds). This pic. also shows a nice long white supercilium. The color on the back reflecting the sunlight is the mostly olive color of the back contrasting with the greyish head, good for Red-eyed. There was little yellow in the back color.

The shots from underneath show how there's very little contrast between flanks, chest-sides, undertail coverts, and belly. On Yellow-green Vireo I've noticed some brighter colors extending into the auricular region as well as across the chest. It's quite noticable at times. This is described well in Peter Pyle's Identification Guide to North American Birds. Peter also describes a Yellow-green as having a dusky eye line. A couple of the pictures show a pretty obvious blackish eye-line very noticable in the field as well.

This is all great, however the bird was singing it's head off for nearly 2 hours straight which helped a lot in keeping track of it for others who might be on their way. At no point did it's song strike me as odd for anything but Red-eyed. However I have a bias growing up in Pennsylvania and hearing a ridiculous amount of these birds. This I felt was the most diagnostic part.

Birds are birds and these 2 species have been confused in the past. I'm going with Red-eyed. Hopefully someone will be able to record it and/or get some better pictures so this can be investigated further if need be...

cheers,

Jake Mohlmann

Senior Guide

www.adventurebirding.com

Las Cienegas National Conservation Area and the Patagonia Roadside Rest- 16 June 2009

Arising to a shockingly cool June morning, Jake Mohlmann and I departed for Patagonia with hopes of invoking the fabled "Roadside Rest Effect," i.e., the peculiar situation in which the discovery of one rarity leads to another and another. The rarity in this case was a male Scarlet Tanager reported on the 14th. White-throated Swifts overhead greeted us as we stepped from the car. Brown-crested Flycatchers, Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Summer Tanagers and Northern Beardless Tyrannulets were quite vocal as we birded the rest stop and along the creek across the road. Despite some searching we didn't manage to turn up the tanager, however; several nice consolations were to be had including a silent Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher along the creek (neither of us had observed this species here before), a Band-tailed Pigeon calling from the tree tops, a few Thick-billed Kingbirds including a pair at their nest, and up-close views of two Montezuma Quails-- a male and a female. Always a worthwhile stop with good birds and the rugged beauty of the lichen covered spires towering above.

A stop at the Patagonia Roadside Shrine afforded us with great views of Northern Beardless Tyrannulets and Costa's and Broad-billed Hummingbirds. This is a location that one feels that something unusual could be skulking unseen, and indeed, several interesting species have been found here. Maybe next time!

From the shrine, we drove to Las Cienegas NCA, a 45,000 acre site north of Sonoita with a perennial stream with riparian corridors containing towering Fremont cottonwoods, hackberry tangles, a small marsh (cienega), juniper-oak woodlands, and mesquite grasslands. Such diversity of habitats, particularly the riparian areas surrounded by a sea of high desert grasslands makes this location particularly attractive to migrants and breeders alike. We took the South Road Entrance (EC-900) from AZ 82 so that we could survey the small ponds while en route to 49ers Wash-- a seldom visited riparian strip. This is to the northeast of the better known Empire Gulch. The ponds were dry, but Grasshopper Sparrows entertained us as they crossed the road in front of us. From the"Cottonwood" parking lot at Empire Gulch we traveled northeast to the road signed on the left to 49ers Wash. (Note that there is a left fork immediately off the main road, stay right. We drove to a good-sized pullout on the left with the remains of an old campfire. From here we continued about 20 yards towards the wash and were surprised to hear a Northern Parula vocalize from a large cottonwood on the right hand side of the road near the now dry wash. We were able to photograph the sharp-looking male bird as it preened and sang, seemingly oblivious to our presence. This is about 4.4 miles from the "Cottonwood" parking lot at Empire Gulch. A pair of Gray Hawks at their nest peered down at us. We walked about another 100 yards and watched a male Hooded Warbler fly up from the root tangles and perch directly in front of us on a branch above the wash. I was able to obtain sound recordings, but photos eluded us as the bird withdrew shortly after giving us stunning views. Two very nice warblers in close proximity!

With time slipping away from us, we stopped off at Empire Gulch. This site has been host to a good number of rarities recently including the White-eyed Vireo Jake and I found and photographed earlier this month, two Yellow-throated Vireos Gavin and I observed, Gray Catbird and Hooded Warbler. We decided to sit where the water begins to see what would turn-up. Right after settling in, we heard at least one late Pacific-slope Flycatcher. Shortly after that the male Hooded Warbler found by James McKay came in and entertained us for the better part of twenty minutes, alternating between getting chased and chasing a Common Yellowthroat, getting bullied by Song Sparrows and getting spooked by a Desert Grassland Whiptail! A Hooded Oriole, numerous Yellow-breasted Chats, Blue Grosbeaks, Western Pewee, Northern Beardless Tyranulets, Yellow-billed Cuckoo were among the riparian breeders noted. With time pressing, but many more unexplored riparian strips, it was hard to tear away!

Good Birding,
Keith Kamper
Adventure Birding Company

PICTURE DESCRIPTIONS:  top to bottom

1) male Northern Parula in 49ers wash

2) Thick-billed Kingbird guarding nest at Patagonia Roadside Rest

3) continuing male Hooded Warbler at Empire Gulch (1 of 2 for the day!)

4) Gray Hawk nest in Las Cienegas

5) Bewick's Wren at Roadside Rest unable to resist an imitation western screech owl

cheers,

Jake Mohlmann