Arizona Weekend - Rufous-capped Warbler

Last weekend I took an opportunistic weekend of birding while I was in Arizona. I visited my friend Mark in Sierra Vista and he accompanied me on a weekend jaunt around southeastern Arizona. In addition to seeing a pile of birds I hadn't seen for a long time, I was interested in finding a few species I had not observed before.
One of the species that rose to the top of the list was a Rufous-capped Warbler that had recently been observed in Florida Wash. This is a bird that is very localized in the U.S., barely coming across the border from Mexico where it is more common. We had some discussions about directions to head on Saturday morning but after visiting a bit we decided to head to Florida Wash with a stop at the Patagonia Rest Area to see if we could also find a Black-chinned Sparrow along the way. We were running late by that point so we didn't think to look for any further directions to the warbler.
After a quick stop to find the sparrow (which we did), we headed off to Florida Wash, an area that Mark had not visited either. We found the parking lot at the research station ok, and headed up the main trail according to the directions from the list serve as we remembered them. We found another group of 3 people also looking for the warbler, but they actually had written directions. After consulting with them we confirmed our recollection that the bird had been found around the base of a lone Sycamore tree just past the dam. As we headed up the stream there were a number of small dams across the stream and a lone Sycamore. But no warbler. There were other markers right at the lone Sycamore that were conspicuously absent in the directions, like a large water tank, making us suspect that maybe there was another lone Sycamore further up the trail. After a moderate hike up some switchbacks it became very apparent that we were way beyond anyplace that looked remotely suspicious of being warbler habitat. We headed back down the trial and returned to the last Sycamore to try there again. No luck.
As we got down to the junction with the other drainage coming in from the right only a short distance above the parking area. Mark did a little exploring and suggested we head up the right fork. After a short jaunt we realized rather quickly that it was where we should have gone in the first place. There was the dam, the lone Sycamore, and a rather extensive patch of desert cotton (Gossypium thurberi) that appeared to have responded quite well to a fairly recent fire in that area. Perhaps most telling was the rather large lens and three humans perched on a rock overlooking the area. Apparently we just missed the bird by a half an hour. We hung around for a while but never found the bird.
I returned early on Monday morning on my was back to Phoenix and this time, armed with my past experience to find the place, was at the right spot fairly quickly after parking the car. And the bird showed up in the company of a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets shortly after I arrived. I was able to get a couple of other birders who showed up after me on the bird as well. They soon left and I spent the next 20 minutes or so watching the bird as it foraged through the cotton downstream. It was very unconcerned by my presence and foraged remarkable close to me.









These were the best photos of the bunch. Most of them looked like this:





I want to thank Mark and Jackie for their hospitality and letting me spend the weekend with them.

Warmer

It got quite a bit warmer for us last week which resulted in a few kinds of birds we haven't seen for quite a while.


Northern Mockingbird


Black-throated Sparrow

As you might have already guessed, the "we" in the sentence above was not the collective we of the residents of northeastern Montana, but just Laura and me. A week in the upper Sonoran desert in Phoenix for a rural healthcare conference was a nice change from the high plains snow and cold.


Verdin


Roadrunner

We were able to get out for a nice hike at the nearby Piestewa Peak Area one afternoon where Laura spotted this Roadrunner right in front of us. I was able to follow him for a while as he hunted along the edge of a ridge.


Cactus Wren


Anna's Hummingbird

We are now back to experiencing temps 60 degrees colder, but it was certainly nice while it lasted. Oh yeah, the conference was good too!

Arizona bird medley

Here is an assortment of photos from my recent trip to Phoenix.




Northern Mockingbird

Sage Thrasher

White-faced Ibis

White-faced Ibis

Black-necked Stilt

Female Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Black-throated Sparrow

Scientist and Soldier Birds

One of the reasons I was excited to go the Phoenix this March was the opportunity to look for a couple of bird species I had not run across yet. Despite birding for better than 25 years, mostly in the states west of the Mississippi, there are still a few species I have missed finding here and there. This time it was two thrasher species and fortunately there was one spot where I might find both species a bit west of Phoenix.
The two species were the LeConte's and Bendire'sThrashers. The LeConte's Thrasher was named after John Lawrence LeConte, a noted entomologist who specialized in beetles but also was a well-rounded naturalist interested in birds (the LeConte's Sparrow was not named after John Lawrence but instead was named after his cousin John). Bendire's Thashers were named after Charles Emil Bendire, a German-born United States soldier naturalist who became interested in natural history a bit later in his career but amassed a large collection of eggs and bird specimens obtained while stationed in various stations throughout the west. The LeConte's in particular was a species I had missed a couple of times in other places and really wanted to see.
Early Friday morning found me navigating through Phoenix traffic heading west on I-10. After one missed turn in the dark I found the junction of the Salome Highway and Baseline Road - the spot I was directed to to look for both of these species. About 10 minutes before sunrise (0630 in Phoenix) I headed into the saltbrush and mesquite to see what I could see. LeConte's Thrashers are know for being hard to find because they tend to run through their saltbush habitat and are not often found perched where the might be easily found. However, during the breeding season in February and March the males become much more conspicuous when singing on their territories. This year the spring rains came early and my local contact thought they might be done singing by the time I arrived. He was right. I only heard one thrasher singing in the mesquite as the sun came up and it didn't seem right to me to be a LeConte's. Then, in the gathering light there was movement - a streak across the ground to my left towards the rising sun.


It certainly looked like a LeConte's to me but having not seen one before and after reading all the accounts of how difficult they were to find when not singing, I wasn't quite sure. I had found the bird without finding a singing bird first and it seemed too easy for it to be the elusive LeConte's. I followed the bird as it foraged among the saltbush and as the light got better I could tell it was indeed the bird I was after. As I watched the thrashers scoot across the open ground with their tail cocked in the air looking for a quick bite of spider, scorpion, or whatever was on the menu that morning, they reminded me of a Roadrunner or a prehistoric bird whose wings seemed a bit superfluous for much of the day. The only time I saw one use their wings was when they dashed into the lower branches of a satlbush, only to emerge on the far side, running again.







The bird I had originally heard singing in the mesquite in the near dark was still singing and had now been joined by a Northern Mockingbird. It was time to find out what it was. As I got close I could see the bird singing in a dense patch of branches and what-do-you-know - it was the other thrasher I was looking for - a Bendire's.



I watched this bird for a short while too and then wandered around a bit more hoping for more looks at the LeConte's. By the time I left to head back to town and catch my flight I had found two LeConte's and one Bendire's for sure. There may have been as many as four LeConte's running through the saltbush at this site though and at one point I had both LeConte's and Bendires in my binoculars at the same time.
I would love to come back to this spot and work at getting some better photos of the LeConte's Thrashers and spend some more time watching them dart over the ground as they foraged through the saltbush.

Trading Places

As the birds start to move north this spring I have had the privilege to move south for a short while for work. Now I am enjoying some nice weather and a much different ecosystem (both natural and man-made). The difference between Fort Peck and Phoenix on the human level is probably greater that the difference between northern mixed grass prairie and the northern part of the Sonoran Desert (where is still occurs in the greater Phoenix area). In a few short hours I went from 300 people to over 4 million, Horned Larks and Canada Geese to Gambel's Quail and Anna's Hummingbirds, and Silver Sage to Saguaro Cactus. Although I am still spending most of the day indoors working in front of a computer and soon a camera, I have been able to spend a few hours in the evening at one of the local parks near the hotel where I am staying - shorts and Tevas time!


Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail calling

Curve-billed Thrashers

Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird

Back to Montana

Fort Peck, MT - I am back in Montana and back to work in the office. My time in Arizona was great and humbling. The bird monitoring course I took was taught by some very good birders - did you hear that chip note? It sounded more cheep than chip so it is species x. I knew about 3 species each morning and the rest were all new. It was quite frustrating but I certainly learned a number of new species and it was really good practice. I would need at least a week in that area to feel even moderately comfortable doing any sort of survey where I would rely on my ability to ID birds by sounds. Other aspects of the course included survey design and data analysis. These sections were excellent and I wish I would have had the instructor for any of my introductory stats courses or even my grad level grad courses. Here are a few more photos from my time in Arizona.


Canyon Towhee


Canyon Towhee

Curve-billed Thrasher


Desert Grassland Whiptail



White-eared Hummingbird (best I could do).



Two-tailed Tiger Swallowtails



Sycamore Bark



Pyrrhuloxia male


Pyrrhuloxia female


California Sister


I can't remember what we wound up calling this one.


Lucifer Hummingbird. This is probably my favorite species of the trip. This was one of those instances when I could have used a bit more light or a tripod or an image stabilized lens. The female was quite pretty too with a really nice buff collar. I wish I could have gotten a photo of her too.

More Arizona photos

Arizona Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake
Immature Yellow-eyed Junco
Anna's Hummingbird building a nest
Elegant Trogon

Red-faced Warbler
Another one
And another
My favorite
!