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SE AZ info wanted (1 Viewer)

njlarsen

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Hello all,
a few questions:
I will be in Tucson and SE AZ from May 7-16. Which locations if any warrant a 4wd, and what birds can not be had without one?

I could not find any recent (couple of years) sightings of 5-stripe sparrow in SE AZ. Are they suppressed, or have there not been any?

Anyone know of anyone doing owling for visitors? I would love to at least hear Spotted Owl, N Pygmy Owl and Flammulated Owl (and Western Screech Owl if available).

Is Williamson's Sapsucker available in May? (and I think 3-toed Woody is much further north)

How about Varied Bunting?

Another person has some separate questions in this thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3387719

Niels
 
When I lived in Tucson I saw Five-striped Sparrow at California Gulch in May 2013, and I think I recall seeing reports from 2014 - I don't have any more recent gen, having moved since then. California Gulch is reached via a narrow, rough dirt road but I was able to reach the spot with my regular car. If going there I would recommend at least a mid-sized car with some clearance (I think my Saturn has higher clearance than many modern compact cars), but 4WD shouldn't be needed for it or for any other species.

Your time frame is late for Williamson's Sapsucker and a bit early for Varied Bunting, but a few will likely have trickled in so it would be worth searching for them.
 
Not recent(2014), but there were stake outs for spotted and mountain(northern) Pygmy owl in Miller canyon, aswell as a goshawk nest, had great views of all three plus white-eared hummingbird there. Five-striped sparrows have been reported in California gulch this year. Flammulated owl I think is present up mt Lemmon. I saw a varied bunting in Montosa canyon on 17/5 so you may have an outside chance with that
 
Again not recent, but if you're going to California Gulch, presumably you'll pass through Arivaca? Might be worth looking for Varied Bunting in the scrub round the Cienega at the junction at the start of the rough road to the gulch from Arivaca. Also westwards from there along Arivaca Creek for Varied Bunting and Western Screech Owl (of the birds you mentioned). But neither are/were common, and that's very old gen!

Why not Madera Canyon for all the owls you mention (plus others)??
 
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Thanks all.
I hope to use some time in Madera, but I also know that chancing on a pygmy owl without specific info can be really hard (this is not my first visit to the area).

I was thinking, specifically for the owls that a guided tour of a good area might be a good option, even though I think I did well a few years ago with some of the other owls.

Niels
 
Hi Niels, we have a forum member named Richard Frey he is a guide in SE Arizona. You might want to give him a PM about the owls and 5 striped sparrows.

Lisa
 
Thanks Lisa! Hi Niels, I've sent you an email about the owls and my guiding services.

To answer the other questions...

Some sites are best reached by a high clearance vehicle, but 4x4 is rarely required as it's usually dry and rocky conditions you're dealing with, not slippery mud. The only time I ever got stuck was in sand, and that was in a 4x4 anyway.

The main site that is best by high clearance vehicle is California Gulch, although the road is much better than it used to be and can be accessed with care in any vehicle. It is quite rough, but if you're brave enough you can do it in a regular car. It helps when it's not your car!

***IMPORTANT*** It should be noted that this is not the case in the monsoon season (July-August) or after it has rained, as some of the dirt roads get very muddy, especially in the valleys in winter. During the monsoon season, California Gulch, and one or two other sites, can be completely cut off. It is never safe to cross fast flowing water during the monsoon season, flash floods kill people every year (not normally birders!)

Other sites that definitely require high clearance include Chino Canyon, French Joe Canyon and Rock Corral Canyon, plus some of the more obscure places you can find in SE Arizona.

On to the other birds... Williamson's Sapsucker is quite rare in SE Arizona even in winter, and very unlikely in May. Likewise, there's no chance of American Three-toed Woodpecker in SE Arizona (never recorded) but it does occur in Northern Arizona, where it is also rare and hard to find.

As mentioned above, Varied Bunting typically arrives in the third week of May, or thereabouts, so you might get lucky with one of the first returning birds. Most of them are down south where I live in Santa Cruz County - I'm lucky enough to have it as a yard bird! Sites to check include California Gulch, Peña Blanca Lake/Canyon area, Kino Springs, Patagonia Lake area, and Patagonia Roadside Rest. They also occur as far north as Tucson, but the highest concentration is towards the border. They can be quite common and easy in the right habitat, but not usually until June.

Five-striped Sparrows occur regularly at a few sites, but none of them are easy to get to. Chino Canyon has a few pairs but the road is horrible and I've never dared take my 4x4 SUV in there because I need it for work. Montosa Canyon occasionally gets a pair or two, but isn't reliable. There's a population at the bottom of Sycamore Canyon, but that's a brutal six miles of hiking/climbing and I wouldn't recommend it (I've never got further than a particularly tricky spot of rock climbing and rope swinging two miles along).

That leaves California Gulch, which is by far the best place to see them. See note above about access. Finding the right spot is the hardest part, so follow the instructions carefully. It's easier than it used to be as the roads are vaguely signposted now, and it's easier to tell which is the 'main' dirt road than it used to be.

The classic hike down Heartbreak Hill will give you access to the main gulch, where there were at least 20 pairs last year. 2015 was a good year for the sparrows, and I saw several pairs further south, at the confluence of California Gulch and Warsaw Canyon, and even a couple of pairs had spilled over the ridge into Warsaw Canyon itself.

The sparrows are probably mostly resident (despite what it says in the field guides) but extremely hard to find until the breeding season. They don't nest until just before the monsoon, timing the hatching of their young with the abundance of insects the monsoon brings in July and August (like Botteri's and Cassin's Sparrows). From May onward they become increasingly easy. By July they can appear to be the commonest bird in the canyon, with males up and singing away. Knowing the songs and calls is important.

California Gulch is a great place, and I go there frequently with my clients. I highly recommend it, but you do have to take it seriously from a safety point of view. It's remote, with no cell phone service, it's known as a smuggling and immigration route (although in reality this has never caused me a problem) and the flash flood risk is very real. Make sure you have a good spare tire, plenty of water and a full tank of gas. Increased numbers of Border Patrol agents make it safer, so attract their attention if you have any problems.

Good luck!
 
Neils just an FYI - Flammulated owls readily call back to playback but in my experience rarely fly in, so if you are using calls you may have do some leg work to see one.
All the other owls you mentioned respond to playback.
 
Dear all,
thanks for all the answers. I took the info generated here and integrated with what I found elsewhere and overall had a good trip to SE AZ.

Lucifer Hummingbird and Buff-collared Nightjar probably were the two biggest hits among the birds I saw.

Niels
 
Dear all,
thanks for all the answers. I took the info generated here and integrated with what I found elsewhere and overall had a good trip to SE AZ.

Lucifer Hummingbird and Buff-collared Nightjar probably were the two biggest hits among the birds I saw.

Niels

Where did you see the Lucifer? The only place I've ever seen one was at Mary Jo Ballatter's Ash Canyon B&B. They are one of my favorites.
 
Dear Lisa, we had both male and female lucifer at Mary Jo's place (together with e.g., Bronze Cowbird). There probably was another female in the middle of a bush in Florida Canyon, but that remains uncertain due to all the branches in front of it.

The nightjar was in California Gulch.

Niels
 
Thanks, Niels. I'm lucky to have 16 species of hummingbirds on my life list, all but one from SE Arizona. And the outlier is from Southwest Texas. That is one of the things I miss about living in AZ the great diversity of birds.
 
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