Hamhed
Well-known member
This report is enormously long. You have been warned! |=o|
May 16-
For birders looking for some unique western U.S. birds, there are few locations better than southeastern Arizona. The “sky island”, desert topography and proximity to Mexico makes for a wide range of exciting species. Our experiences there in previous visits have all been productive so my wife, Liz, and I found ourselves revisiting the area in the second half of May.
The encompassing term “southeastern” for us means the area directly surrounding the city of Tucson and the region south to the Mexican border and east to the New Mexico state line. We were focused mainly on the Santa Rita mountains nearly due south of Tucson, the Huachucas, the next range to the east and finally, further eastward, the Chiracahuas, the last set of hills before leaving the state. Surrounding these higher elevations is mostly desert habitat, though there are a few exceptions, such as, grasslands or river corridors. This section of Arizona is very dry; Tucson’s average annual rainfall is only 12 inches (30C). The scarcity of water can be a resource for birders; a canyon with a year-round stream or any surface water becomes a bird magnet.
Flying into Tucson from our home in western North Carolina, we picked up a rental car at Enterprise, shopped for groceries and camp fuel, got briefly lost in the city and drove a long hour south to Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita mountains, pitching our tent in the hard, dry ground at Bog Springs Campground, elevation just shy of one mile (1.6K) high. Tucson airport is at 2600 feet (792M) but the upward change is gradual until the last mile. The canyon was not unfamiliar to us as this was my third and Liz’s second visit, that trip being 10 years in the past.
Birding and traveling in the west has great appeal to us. After a number of these jaunts over the years, we were not likely to see a great deal of new birds but we did have a few rare species we were hoping to see. To keep track of what species were where we used the Rare Bird Alert (http://tucsonaudubon.org/go-birding/southeast-arizona-rare-bird-alert/) and eBird (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/). I used a section of eBird called “Manage My Alerts”, where settings can be made to keep us posted on daily reports of rare species.
Speaking of rare birds, our chosen timing was too late to catch the Lewis’s Woodpecker that had been seen by many on Mount Lemon, just outside Tucson or the Streak-backed Oriole visiting a fruit feeder in Portal. There will always be the ones that leave just before we arrive so no tears for those missed birds.
In the Santa Rita’s, we had several species we hoped to find, many of them were birds of the night hours. As the light faded in the campground that night, while Liz succumbed to the long day that had started at 4 am, I found the energy of the walking dead to stay awake just a bit longer. And good that I did. In the still night air and quickly dropping temperatures, I first saw a Nighthawk, likely a Lesser, flying low over the road and threading it’s rapid flight through the campground trees. A Common Poorwill began calling though from a distance and the funny, high pitched barking sounds of an Elf Owl. Then there was two Elf Owls very close, a shadow flitted nearby and I heard the quick “poo-poo-poo-poo” of a Whiskered Screech Owl. I was joined by Mark from Sedona, Arizona, as a Mexican Whip-poor-will started its repetitive phrases. The number and diversity of calling night birds was far beyond any experience I’d ever had. Could it get any better? Far up the mountain, a Mexican Spotted Owl called! I didn’t know the sound but Mark was familiar with them and identified it. Elated but walking on wooden legs, I left Mark, trying to see one of the still calling Elf Owls.
May 16-
For birders looking for some unique western U.S. birds, there are few locations better than southeastern Arizona. The “sky island”, desert topography and proximity to Mexico makes for a wide range of exciting species. Our experiences there in previous visits have all been productive so my wife, Liz, and I found ourselves revisiting the area in the second half of May.
The encompassing term “southeastern” for us means the area directly surrounding the city of Tucson and the region south to the Mexican border and east to the New Mexico state line. We were focused mainly on the Santa Rita mountains nearly due south of Tucson, the Huachucas, the next range to the east and finally, further eastward, the Chiracahuas, the last set of hills before leaving the state. Surrounding these higher elevations is mostly desert habitat, though there are a few exceptions, such as, grasslands or river corridors. This section of Arizona is very dry; Tucson’s average annual rainfall is only 12 inches (30C). The scarcity of water can be a resource for birders; a canyon with a year-round stream or any surface water becomes a bird magnet.
Flying into Tucson from our home in western North Carolina, we picked up a rental car at Enterprise, shopped for groceries and camp fuel, got briefly lost in the city and drove a long hour south to Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita mountains, pitching our tent in the hard, dry ground at Bog Springs Campground, elevation just shy of one mile (1.6K) high. Tucson airport is at 2600 feet (792M) but the upward change is gradual until the last mile. The canyon was not unfamiliar to us as this was my third and Liz’s second visit, that trip being 10 years in the past.
Birding and traveling in the west has great appeal to us. After a number of these jaunts over the years, we were not likely to see a great deal of new birds but we did have a few rare species we were hoping to see. To keep track of what species were where we used the Rare Bird Alert (http://tucsonaudubon.org/go-birding/southeast-arizona-rare-bird-alert/) and eBird (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/). I used a section of eBird called “Manage My Alerts”, where settings can be made to keep us posted on daily reports of rare species.
Speaking of rare birds, our chosen timing was too late to catch the Lewis’s Woodpecker that had been seen by many on Mount Lemon, just outside Tucson or the Streak-backed Oriole visiting a fruit feeder in Portal. There will always be the ones that leave just before we arrive so no tears for those missed birds.
In the Santa Rita’s, we had several species we hoped to find, many of them were birds of the night hours. As the light faded in the campground that night, while Liz succumbed to the long day that had started at 4 am, I found the energy of the walking dead to stay awake just a bit longer. And good that I did. In the still night air and quickly dropping temperatures, I first saw a Nighthawk, likely a Lesser, flying low over the road and threading it’s rapid flight through the campground trees. A Common Poorwill began calling though from a distance and the funny, high pitched barking sounds of an Elf Owl. Then there was two Elf Owls very close, a shadow flitted nearby and I heard the quick “poo-poo-poo-poo” of a Whiskered Screech Owl. I was joined by Mark from Sedona, Arizona, as a Mexican Whip-poor-will started its repetitive phrases. The number and diversity of calling night birds was far beyond any experience I’d ever had. Could it get any better? Far up the mountain, a Mexican Spotted Owl called! I didn’t know the sound but Mark was familiar with them and identified it. Elated but walking on wooden legs, I left Mark, trying to see one of the still calling Elf Owls.