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Southern Arizona in late March? (1 Viewer)

Swissboy

Sempach, Switzerland
Supporter
Switzerland
Hi, coming over from Switzerland for a family visit, I'm having a few days for birding in southern Arizona from 25 March to 1 April. My plans were following the ABA guide from 1995. Now I just read that it is somewhat outdated. So maybe I can get advice here?

We definitely will visit Organ Pipe NM and Saguaro NP just for the desert. Hoping to get some decent flowering. With a few birds of course.

But then, the following general areas are under consideration, planning to stick mainly to the lower areas due to the season.

- Buenos Aires NWR with the Arivaca road #22 for the yellow poppies.
- Patagonia: the Patons' place.
- San Pedro Valley
- Sulphur Springs Valley

I presume the Mountain Plovers will be gone by then. But they would be a prime target for me. Thus I'd be grateful for any recommendations there.

Any chances for Painted Buntings and Lawrence's Goldfinch?

It's been a while since my last (birding) visit to the area, just about ten years actually. Thus many species like roadrunners and Harris' Hawks and several thrashers will be enjoyed as well.


Thanks in advance for your comments.
 
Hi Robert,

I'd agree with your choice of sites although I'd still want to go up into the mountains at some point.

It seems to be an early spring this year in Arizona, with several species arriving earlier than normal. The same can be said for winter visitors like Sandhill Cranes which appear to be leaving early.

Buenos Aires: always a decent site
Paton's: definitely, it's open and the Violet-crowned Hummingbirds are back already. The Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, next door to Paton's, is also well worth a visit
San Pedro Valley: good choice, go to San Pedro House near Sierra Vista
Sulphur Springs Valley: a great site, on of my favorites, but it's much better in winter. I was there last weekend and many of the winter visitors have already left. Only a couple of thousand cranes left, so they will all be gone soon. We didn't see many raptors either, although we did see one gorgeous Ferruginous Hawk

Mountain Plovers have been tough in Arizona this winter. They're still possible at the end of March but the only place they've been seen this winter is the Santa Cruz Flats northwest of Tucson, and they've been difficult there. If you do get the chance to look, try the sod farm on the corner of Pretzer and Tweedy Roads.

Painted Buntings are rare in late summer and almost unheard of at other times of year, so that's one to forget about I'd say.

Lawrence's Goldfinch is irruptive and unpredicatable. We haven't had huge flocks this winter. There were quite a few last autumn but very few stayed on. You may get lucky but again, it's not that likely.

But there are load more birds to see down here so you should have a great time :D
 
......But there are load more birds to see down here so you should have a great time :D

Great! Thank you very much Richard. This is most helpful.

Any suggestions for going into the mountains? We'll have a small camper, so I'm not sure I want to take the narrow or steep roads to Ramsey Canyon or the road through the Chiricahua Mountains. Particularly since we don't have all that much time anyway. Also, we'll get into some higher ground later with the family when visiting Bryce Canyon etc. further north.

We were hiking into Madera Canyon and Scheelite Canyon on our previous visit. Both very successful as far as I'm concerned. But I'd like to get into some unknown (to me) places this time. (Aside from the repeats in the deserts further west, like Organ Pipe and Saguaro parks.) Actually, the Paton's place will be a repeat as well, but where else does one get the hummingbirds as comfortably as there?
 
The Paton's is a great place, and as Richard said the Violet-crowned is back. If you want to go a little more Southeast for hummers, try Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast. Mary Jo allows yard visitors from sunup to sundown. She gets a very nice variety of hummers (Lucifer's [might be early for this one], Magnificent's, Anna's, Broad-tailed, Broad-billed, Rufous, etc), and a large variety of other birds in her yard. You can find info here.

Lisa
 
Any suggestions for going into the mountains? We'll have a small camper, so I'm not sure I want to take the narrow or steep roads to Ramsey Canyon or the road through the Chiricahua Mountains. Particularly since we don't have all that much time anyway. Also, we'll get into some higher ground later with the family when visiting Bryce Canyon etc. further north.
Mt Lemmon would be easy in a camper but as you say you're limited for time and you'll be at higher elevations further north anyway, so stick to your original plan.

As for new places to try, there are so many great birding sites here that it's hard to know where to suggest. Your 1995 ABA guide will have a few outdated sites but the majority of them are still the same/similar. The bigger changes are probably in the species bar graphs. For example, you won't find Eurasian Collared Dove mentioned as they hadn't been recorded by 1995, but they're fairly common now in agricultural areas and small towns.
 
Mt Lemmon would be easy in a camper but as you say you're limited for time and you'll be at higher elevations further north anyway, so stick to your original plan.

..... For example, you won't find Eurasian Collared Dove mentioned as they hadn't been recorded by 1995, but they're fairly common now in agricultural areas and small towns.

Thanks again Richard. I'll check the Mt. Lemmon part in the book at least as an alternative place to consider.

As for Eurasian Collared Dove, I have it almost daily in my yard in Switzerland. Thus not that eagerly searched for in the US. ;)
 
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..... If you want to go a little more Southeast for hummers, try Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast. Mary Jo allows yard visitors from sunup to sundown. She gets a very nice variety of hummers (Lucifer's [might be early for this one], Magnificent's, Anna's, Broad-tailed, Broad-billed, Rufous, etc), and a large variety of other birds in her yard. You can find info here.

Lisa

Thank you very much Lisa. This sounds like an attractive addition to the San Pedro Vally part of our trip. From Richard's comments, I take it that we might not necessarily want to go to the Sulphur Springs Valley. In that case we would have the time to add Ash Canyon. My wife is particularly fond of hummingbirds anyway, so going to a second location for them would probably suit her perfectly. It's a group of birds we don't have in Europe.
 
.....And back to your original post and Mountain Plovers, about a dozen were seen yesterday on the Santa Cruz Flats "in the circle NW of Tweedy & Pretzer, and the circle
west of that". Santa Cruz Flats is to the south of I-10 just south of Eloy (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&i...85,-111.585989&spn=0.028439,0.055575&t=h&z=15)

Thanks Richard, I was actually going to ask you about the location of the sod farm you had mentioned earlier whether I was correct with my thinking that it was near Eloy. It had taken quite a bit of effort to find it, as I thought it was on the other side of the I-10. But finally, thanks to google earth, I found the place. But whether there will still be some by the time we'll get there, is rather doubtful. As the place is kind of on the way back from Tucson towards Phoenix at the end of our tour. So we'll give it a try anyway.

I made myself a map with the road names.
 
Species list

I finally compiled a short list of species that would be new for me, and that I think just might be around when we visit. Thus I omitted Varied Bunting for example.

Mountain Plover - probably already gone
Whiskered Owl
Flammulated Owl
Western Screech Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
Whip-poor-will
Lucifer Hummingbird - probably too early
Williamson's Sapsucker
Arizona Woodpecker
Gray Flycatcher
Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Gray Vireo
Olive Warbler
Virginia's Warbler - probably too early
Lucy's Warbler
Baird's Sparrow
Black-chinned Sparrow

I have no intention to just concentrate on these. There are so many other exciting species that I will enjoy. So I don't mean to get instructions of how to find all of them. But I would very much appreciate to get information for those that you think might be realistic within the planned places stated earlier. It's obvious that there are some rather common species as well, but as they are nocturnal, I just have not had any luck with them so far. In the case of the Whip-poor-will, I have heard it but never managed to see one.

One species, aside from the Mountain Plover, that I find particularly intriguing, is the Black-chinned Sparrow. So that is one I would particularly love to find.
 
Robert,

Seriously, if I still have my black-chinned sparrows hanging out at the end of the month, you can see them at my house (that is if you come down to the Sierra Vista area). Shoot me a pm if there will be a way to get in touch with you - or if you will be able to get on the forum.
 
A couple more interesting snippets of news in the past two days...

Mountain Plovers: c.50 at the sod farm at Pretzer/Tweedy in the Santa Cruz Flats

Lawrence's Goldfinch: 20 just north of the bridge on the De Anza trail about 60 yards north of the gate (maybe we'll see more birds that headed further south for the winter as they head back north again)

And a few notes on your other targets:

Mountain Plover - probably already gone (worth checking for as they do continue to be seen until the last week in March/first week in April)
Whiskered (Screech) Owl (mountains)
Flammulated Owl (mountains - difficult)
Western Screech Owl (lowlands/desert)
Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (I've been here for almost eight years and still haven't found out the last few sites for this endangerd bird. They've definitely gone from the Tucson area according to my contacts with Tucson Audubon)
Whip-poor-will (mountains)
Lucifer Hummingbird - probably too early (maybe not - check for the latest at Ash Canyon B&B)
Williamson's Sapsucker (mountains)
Arizona Woodpecker (mountains - they're positively easy around the Kubo Cabins in Madera Canyon)
Gray Flycatcher (easier in winter when they are the only empid, but they are still around so you may get one)
Buff-breasted Flycatcher (high in the mountains, one or two traditional sites such as Sawmill Canyon in the Huachucas)
Gray Vireo (very scarce - one or two traditional sites such as Redington Pass and sites north of Tucson in the lower San Pedro Valley)
Olive Warbler (mountains, such as Madera Canyon)
Virginia's Warbler - probably too early (maybe but they might be just arriving, again in the mountains)
Lucy's Warbler (arriving now, will be everywhere in lowland desert by the end of the month)
Baird's Sparrow (San Rafael Grasslands only, probably too late and would require an full day to give it a proper go)
Black-chinned Sparrow (uncommon in specific habitats at mid-level - if you can't get to Lisa's, I know a few sites in the Dragoon, Santa Catalina and Chiricahua Mountains)
 
Some more latest news:

Mountain Plovers are still being seen at the sod farm at Pretzer/Tweedy in the Santa Cruz Flats.

Lawrence's Goldfinches are turning up on their northward migration, having wintered further south this year. They are being seen regularly on the San Pedro river at Tubac and there were a couple at the Paton's house in Patagonia today.
 
Some feedback

Hi all,

Thanks for your most appreciated help! I'm now back in Chicago at my son's place before returning to Switzerland. But I'd like to report a bit already about the trip. First of all, like actually expected, I packed in more than I should have. Yet, I don't think I should have left anything out. Rather a few more days should have been added. ;)

- We did get the Lawrence's Goldfinch in California, west of Joshua Tree NP.
- I "think" I saw two Mountain Plovers at the sod farm near Eloy. The reason I say I think is that it is an ID more or less by exclusion. We were there in the afternoon of March 31 with rather bad heat waves till the evening. Then spent the night at the Eloy RV park (the only place where I had Inca Doves, by the way) and went back to the sod circles in the morning of April 1.
There were lots of Killdeers and Horned Larks as well. The former in the irrigated parts. On the 31st, I originally thought I had a shorebird without any black bands running in the distance, but a similar observation on the next day brought some doubts as the Horned Larks tend to run in similar fashion at times. And the heat waves may have done the rest. However, I later had two rather small shorebirds flying off together on the 31st, and both were clearly all white underneath. They were far away, but I had them in the scope. And I think nothing else would have that color that would be possible there. But it was clearly not how I like to ID a life bird. Nothing was seen of these the next day. So the birds may have taken off to head north that previous late afternoon.
- We did add Madera Canyon to the trip as had been suggested. And that stop at Kubo's Cabin was most productive. Not only for the Arizona Woodpecker (which I had again at Ash Canyon), but also for a Flame-colored Tanager, a Hepatic Tanager, and a Painted Redstart. All of which I did not get anywhere else.
- Many, even supposedly common species, like Verdin or Caracara we did not see on the trip. Others, we only got by sheer chance like the only Roadrunner we had was at the edge of the sodfarm circles. Certainly due to the very limited time which did not allow for being a the right place at the right time very often. But we had a fine selection of hummingbirds. Though Lucifer and Costa's were missing in the end. Magnificent were at Ash Canyon, Violet-crowned at the Patons'.
- Lucy's Warbler were best at Arivaca Lake, but also Arivaca-Cienega; there with yellow bellies from willow pollen and thus almost looking like Virginia's.
- The most unexpected (aside from the Flame-colored Tanager) observation was probably the Gray Vireo we had at the Arivaca RV park where we spent the night. Clearly a bird on migration, using the shrubs around the propane tank. I was even able to take a short though not very good video.

Again many thanks, especially to Richard for the detailed suggestions!
 
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