This is a very belated report.
I was invited to visit friends in Tucson Arizona for Memorial Day weekend. This was highly exciting to me, as I had never visited there before. Both friends are birders as well.
I flew from Indianapolis to Tucson on Thursday afternoon before the holiday, and with flight delays, didn't arrive until after dark. So with the drive to the apartment at night, I saw little of the desert, nothing of the mountains, and no birds.
I arose quite early on Friday morning, and when peeking out of the window, saw my first Gambel's Quail, hopping down from the complex's retaining wall, skittering across the driveway and onto the patio, where they eagerly fed. Gila Woodpeckers started drilling on nearby telephone poles and Curve-billed Thrashers could be hear whistling loudly from the open area beyond the retaining wall. As the sky brightened and I got outside, I got my first glimpse of the Santa Catalina Mountains -- this apartment complex lies in the foothills on the east edge of the city. A couple of female Anna's hummingbirds came by for their morning food. We ate a quick breakfast ourselves and piled in the car to head for our first stop -- the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, an hour's drive away to the west of the city.
I'd never visited this area before, so seeing the desert as we drove through the hills west of the city was a revelation. As we turned in the drive to the museum, a Gilded Flicker flew right in front of the car, angled so those bright golden feathers were unmistakable. What an exciting start to the morning!
We toured as much of the museum as we could before the heat of the day -- which was not long. We arrived shortly after the 7:30 opening time and spent an hour or so with a docent, then wandered on our own. The heat reached about 100F by 10 a.m., and with the additional heat radiating from the cement and asphalt paths, it was draining, to say the least. After lunch, we spent a about an hour in their hummingbird enclosure, sitting and watching many species flitting about our heads. One nest (never did figure out which species) was in a low tree branch just inches from the path.
I don't have my complete list of birds with me as I write this; I'll append it later. But we did pick up a Scott's Oriole while there, and several other birds, not to mention a coati. I would love to be able to include the Elf Owl, a tiny thing, but he lived in an enclosure. Still, a lovely bird to see.
Once the heat became too fierce for us, we left the museum and drove through the hills south to San Xavier del Bac, the desert cathedral built a few hundred years ago by the Papago Indians. What an amazing -- and unairconditioned -- place! Whirring fans at least kept the air moving inside, but the heat was still terrific. We lasted about an hour.
At this point, I telephoned Kitt Peak, the astronomical observatory to the southwest of Tucson. We had made reservations for a viewing night there. It was unfortunately canceled, with heavy weather predicted for the night. This was very disappointing, as we had hoped to perhaps pick up Caracaras along the way.
One of our group had developed a heavy headache, so we headed back to the apartment for a rest. By the time we left again for dinner out, the sky had blackened and the wind had picked up. While we were eating, a regular Midwestern-style thunderstorm blew through, with drenching rain, rolling thunder and lightning. With this weather, there was no fabled desert sunset to be seen this night.
Saturday was another early morning, and we were on the road about 6:30, heading for the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, and to Patagonia. It was a gray morning, and there were no birds to be seen along the way. That was disappointing, but the landscape, to me at least, made up for that. Love those desert mountains!
We drove directly to the TNC Sonoita Preserve in Patagonia, and the first bird we spied after parking was my first Vermilion Flycatcher. What a completely impossible red!
While we waited for a volunteer tour guide to arrive, we watched Black-chinned hummers (another first) feeding on the many hummer feeders at the visitor's center. The Vermilion Flycatcher became even more brilliantly red, if that's possible, as the sky cleared. Some goose-like shapes flying through the sky some distance away turned out to be Black-belled Whistling Ducks (another first). We got a couple of terrific scoped looks at them when they finally settled into a huge sycamore tree along the creek.
The guide led us along the paths for about an hour, during which I picked up a lovely Bridled Titmouse. We'd been hearing something, and it took a minute to locate the source, which, of course, was only inches from my head! This little guy gave us a couple of minutes of lovely looks.
Further along the trail, we found a lone pine tree in a clearing being worked by several woodpeckers. Not only were there some familiar Downys, there were also a couple of Acorn Woodpeckers! One of my 'target' birds for the weekend. I love that clown face! Very impressive bird.
After the guide returned to the visitor's center, my little group chose to go further along the trails. When we got to one end of the trail, we could hear a couple of birds working in the bushes just below us (we were on an old railroad embankment). The sky was clouding up again, so the light could have been better, but we were determined to figure out what this bird was, so we waited. It was worth it. In one of the last bursts of sunlight that morning, a gorgeous male Varied Bunting worked his way to the edges of the bush, the light bringing out the deep plum of his plumage to perfection.
After returning to the visitor's center, we decided to head back into Patagonia for lunch. The break was welcome, because the heat was getting to us again -- already in the high 90s by noon. Our only disappointment was not seeing Gray Hawks, known to be nesting on the preserve that spring. We kept hearing them, but never saw them. But the disappointment was certainly lessened by the nearly constant presence of those Vermilion Flycatchers!
After lunch we stopped at Patton's for the hummers, and were not disappointed. Although the numbers were low, we all picked up a couple of lifers, but the high point was definitely the Violet-Crowned Hummingbird that make a lightning appearance. Wow! As we walked back to our car, a cute little dog ran out from a outbuilding along the driveway. "Oh, don't let him bother you! That's Eddie and he's very friendly." He was was, and that's how we got to meet Mrs. Patton, the owner and a lovely lady. We happily stuffed some money in her hummer food donation bucket.
We next drove to the fabled Patagonia Road Side Rest Stop, where a Rose-breasted Becard had been reported in the last couple of days. We spent quite a bit of time scouring the roadside for its location, taking breaks to listen to its call from my birdsong CD, but had no joy. But I was amazed at the color of the rock walls there, so red! -- and would have loved to have seen them in daylight. But the sky was darkening and the rain started.
We headed back through Patagonia and the Sonoita grasslands to Sierra Vista in the rain (this is the Arizona desert?), where we had made reservations for Saturday night. Welcoming us to our lodgings were our first Chihuanhan (sp) Ravens, flying from lightpole to lightpole, looking the size of 747s! What a magnificent bird! Several seemed to like the motel parking lot and we saw them every time we left our rooms.
We awoke to weather conditions on Sunday morning that made it feel as if I were back in Indiana -- temps in the 60s and high humidity! Ick! It turned out to have been a stormy night -- we heard later in the morning that Tucson had gotten an inch of right Saturday night, and there were heavy storms north of Sierra Vista, although we missed the rain.
We drove south of Sierra Vista to Miller Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains and Beatty's Guest Ranch under cloudy skies. The road up the canyon to Beatty's is quite rough, which made for slow driving, which made for good birdwatching. Among other birds, we picked a group of Mexican Jays foraging for breakfast. We also saw a heavily armed (body armor and all) group of Border Patrol. Made us realize how very close we were to the border.
We sat in the parking lot at Beatty's for quite a while, chatting with Tom Beatty and admiring his hummers. They were everywhere, with feeders on every fence pole along the parking area -- it was hard to keep track of them all. But what a nice man -- plus it was his birthday. Delightful man.
We then trekked to his three feeder stations further up the steep canyon walls. For someone with arthritis in the hips, this was quite a challenge, but with my handy turquoise cane, I made it! (Actually, the walk/stumble back down the canyon was harder!) And it was worth it, too, for all the hummers we saw, including the Magnificent-Berylline hybrid that's been around for a couple of years. And the view from the highest station down into the San Pedro Valley, our next destination, was stunning (if hazy became of the humidity, still high).
Our next stop was the San Pedro River Inn, near Hereford, in the San Pedro Riparian Area, where we planned to spent the rest of the day. (This is NOT the San Pedro House, but a different B&B). I fell in love with this place and its owners, wonderfully nice people who welcomed us to their property even if we were not guests. No sooner had we pulled into the parking area than the owner ran out, telling us to look at the telephone wires overhead. Thick-billed Kingbird! Then he invited us into his backyard (picked up a Bewick's Wren along the way) to look through a scope he had set up under some trees, aimed at a nest box in a huge sycamore. A look through the scope and voila! Baby Barn Owls, not yet fledged, peeking out! Wow! Mama Owl was roosting in another nearby tree, but the sighting of her has to go on the Bird Butt Only list. But that was made up by the ever-present Vermilion Flycatchers perching along the clotheslines in the back yard.
There is a fabulous view of the Huachuca Moutains to the west from this property. This view alone is worth visiting again!
We spent some time roaming about his property, looking (again) for the Gray Hawks known to be nesting there. But the owner said they were on the nest, so sighting them would be iffy. He was right; no joy, again.
He suggested we might try the golf club at Kino Springs, near Nogales, about 80 miles back to the west. Sightings there are nearly guaranteed. So we debated. Stay in the San Pedro as planned, or head toward Nogales. San Pedro? Nogales?
Nogales it is, we decided. We stopped for lunch in Sierra Vista and drove again through the Sonoita Grasslands (so gorgeous, in sunlight this time!), and Patagonia to Kino Springs. We stopped at a large pond/lake before getting back to the golf club and were rewarded with Mexican Mallards, Black Phoebe and nesting Ravens.
Pulling into the golf club, we asked a man in the parking lot who might know about the Gray Hawks and were directed to the golf pro. We found him and he told us to go look at the tree in the lake. There is a small lake directly in front of the clubhouse, with a small 'island' in the middle. There are a couple of large trees on this island. We could see a nest, but didn't see any birds. And the light was starting to go; it was clouding up (again!). We waited for a few minutes, then suddenly, with a cry, both Gray Hawks at the nest (we hadn't seen them in the shadows), took to the sky and circled directly overhead for several minutes before returning to the nest. WOW! This was definitely worth the 2-hour drive to get here!
It had been a long hot day, so we headed back to Tucson for the night.
Monday was our last full day. It was another early morning; by 6:00 a.m., we were headed up the Catalina Highway to Mount Lemmon above Tucson. This is designated a scenic highway for very good reason -- the views of Tucson from some of the lower vistas is spectacular! And who knew you could still see saguaro cactus at 7,000 ft? I certainly didn't!
We stopped at several places along the way, including a closed Bear Canyon picnic area. The highway had a lot of construction going on and Bear Canyon was the equipment staging area, apparently. But we needed to use the restrooms, and besides, we could hear birds . . . and managed to get Spotted Towhees and Pinyon Jays before being 'chased' away by a kindly Park Service volunteer, who even took a picture of the three of us before we left.
A stop at Rose Canyon on the way gave us lovely looks at a Painted Redstart -- such a lovely bird!
There were terrible forest fires in the Catalinas about 2 years ago and the evidence could be seen in many areas the further we drove up the mountain. But in the areas that hadn't been burned, everything was wonderfully green and piney -- and much cooler than Tucson! By the time we stopped for lunch in Summerhaven (which had been completely destroyed by the fires but is now being resuilt), the breeze was stiff and chilly, with the temp perhaps 65. Bright sunshine, tho!
After lunch, we stopped at another vista, looking to the east, just below the summit. As we walked up to the retaining wall, a form whizzed past -- Peregrine Falcon!
A last stop on the mountain was along Bear Wallow Road, where we walked up the road for about a half-mile. Another walk that was worth it, with Red-faced Warblers and the Yellow-eyed Junco. We heard Stellar Jays, but never did spot them.
Back down the mountain for the final stop of the trip, the east unit of Saguaro National Park -- and to a blistering 97F. After having been in the mid-60s about 2 hours before, on the mountain, the difference was astonishing -- and punishing! We drove the loop, but the heat seemed to be keeping the birds down, just like us. We drove the roads just outside the park, hoping for Harris's Hawks, known to perch on the telephone poles, but no joy.
We were too hot and tired at this point to go out and eat, so we picked up some chicken and beer and retired to the apartment patio to watch the quail and hummers at the feeders there. At last -- a male Costa's hummer! I think this brought our hummer species total to 8 or 9 for the trip -- I'll have to consult my list tomorrow.
Tuesday was another early morning, to make 7:30 a.m. flight back to Indianapolis then drive back to Fort Wayne. All these flights were on time, but seemed full of crying babies . . .
What a fabulous trip -- and I still haven't seen a Roadrunner, a Harris's Hawk or the Grand Canyon! Guess I'll have to go again!
Great report, Beverly, brought back memories of when Brenda and I were out in southeast Arizona several years ago. We went to many of the same places which you did. We did get the Roadrunner, Elegant Trogan, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Elf Owl, etc. But we also "dipped" on the Harris's Hawk!
Bev,
Great report and glad to hear from you again! We also visited that area two years ago and found it a wonderful birding area, and like you, will have to return for the Harris's Hawk!