Recently, Craig Watson and Pam Ford visited Arizona and not only shared their eBird lists with SIB but wrote about their adventures.
Pam Ford and I had been to Arizona on two previous occasions, but this year we saw that several “life” birds and rare birds were being observed in the same place for weeks, and on the spur of the moment we were off to southeast Arizona. We had most of the rarities for southeast AZ, but this time we were going for the Rufous-capped Warbler, Flame-colored Tanager, and Plain-capped Starthroat. These birds were in the Patagonia region south of Tucson, so after we settled into our Airbnb atop a hill in Patagonia we headed to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds where the Plain-capped Starthroat had been observed coming to feeders. The Plain-capped Starthroat is a hummingbird of Mexico that occasionally visits Arizona yet is rare enough for birders far and wide to chase.
Although we didn’t see the hummingbird that evening, we met plenty of other birders looking for the bird and had great views of Violet-crowned Hummingbird and many other birds. We also observed a pair of Thick-billed Kingbirds nesting and observed thirty other species while waiting on the hummingbird, including the ever present Gambel’s Quail.
The next morning, we were up early to look for the hummingbird, and were treated to one of the most spectacular sunrises ever. Reports were that it visited the feeders before 6am, and first light in Patagonia was about 430am, so we returned to the Paton Center and sat for hours without any luck. We met more birders waiting for the hummingbird and we even met a world-renowned scorpion biologist who had discovered a new species in Arizona and being named after him.
It turns out the Starthroat was last seen the day prior to our arrival, however, this hummingbird story is not over yet (more later)! After 3 hours of waiting on the hummingbird we decided we would try for the Rufous-capped Warbler at the nearby Patagonia Lake State Park where this species was apparently nesting.
We traveled to the park and began our hike down the Birding Trail. We had coordinates for the location, so it was a matter of hiking in the building heat and trying to find the right trail to be on, as many cattle trails ran throughout the creek bottoms to the lake. We neared our point and came across a group of young birders from Camp Chiricahua and their instructor Michael O’Brien (of The Shorebird Guide, with Crossley and Karlson).
They had not been successful in finding the warbler and told us we were just short of the location, so we trudged on in the heat only to be confronted by a very large bull, so we turned back and decided to try for the bird on another morning when it was much cooler. We birded for a bit longer and got out of the heat, getting back out later in the afternoon. We birded up Harshaw Canyon and it was alive with birds. Elegant Trogons are known to nest here but we didn’t see any on our trip, but we did see Gray Hawk, Acorn Woodpecker, and many species of flycatchers (Cassin’s Kingbird, Black Phoebe, Vermillion Flycatcher, Western Wood-Pewee, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and more Thick-billed Kingbirds).
That evening a report of a Blue-black Grassquit surfaced and just a few hours away, being observed in a grassy area of Cluff Ranch Wildlife Area near Safford, AZ. The chatter was that this bird could be an escaped bird, yet many thought it to be a good vagrant from Mexico. There are NO American Birding Association (ABA) records of this species in the ABA area, so there was a lot of chatter on many social media sites regarding the provenance of this species. This would be a FIRST ABA record of the species if it was truly a vagrant. Pam and I decided not to chase the bird on Sunday and monitor if the bird was still being reported and what any further discussion might be.
So, on Sunday we headed out early to find the Flame-colored Tanager, again nesting at the lower reaches of Miller Canyon, just ½ mile above Beatty’s Guest Ranch, another prime hummingbird feeder site. We parked at the upper part of the Miller Canyon parking lot and began our hike up the trail, and as we approached the site, we came across birders from Connecticut who we had met at Paton’s looking for the Starthroat. They had seen the species and shortly after we left them and moved further up the trail we could hear the slower raspy call of the Flame-colored Tanager, in fact, we heard two.
One was calling upslope and I looked for it and it obligingly perched atop a small oak tree. We attempted photographs but the bird moved too much and was too far away for good photos. We continued to bird that area for an hour or so and heard the tanagers several more times, and again, one perched in a tree long enough for us to get a good look! Yay!
Some other great birds we found here were Painted Redstart, Plumbeous and Hutton’s Vireo, Ash-throated Flycatcher, and Scott’s Oriole.
We had found one species we had come to find so we made our way back down the trail and headed over to Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary, another great site for hummingbirds. We added Lucifer, Anna’s, and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds to our list and observed some Black-headed Grosbeaks and Bullock’s Orioles. Next, we moved on to Ramsey Canyon. We had not visited this site in our previous visits, and when we arrived at the visitor center, we were immediately awarded with a Berylline Hummingbird on the nest, another Mexican species that is typically rare in Arizona.
On the back side of the building was a Violet-crowned Hummingbird on the nest! After finding some Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers near the parking lot, we headed back to our Airbnb on the hilltop for some evening birding. Catching up on the rare bird reports, the Blue-black Grassquit continued to be observed at Cluff Ranch in the same location, and the chatter had turned more now to it was a good vagrant rather than an escapee due to it being well photographed and studied by many very knowledgeable birders, some being on the Arizona Bird Records Committee. Pam and I decided that is where we were going on Monday, so bright and early we made our way over to Safford, AZ, with some spectacular views of the desert and mountainous landscape along the way.
When we arrived at the parking lot and kiosk, two birders came out of the area smiling, they had just seen the grassquit! Another gentleman was at his car getting a chair for his wife who was already on site, and it turns out she saw the bird while he was getting the chair! So, he, Pam and I walked to the site and began our vigilant observations. It was well over 100 degrees and there was no shade, so we were simply standing in place and suffering in the heat. After about 45 minutes I saw a bird pop up from the ground to an overhanging branch about 30 yards away and put up my binoculars.
It was small, like a grassquit, it was dark like this bird was supposed to be, it was the Blue-black Grassquit! I got the other birders on the bird, and we photographed the bird and after several minutes of being very cooperative, it flew down and across the small grassy field. WOW, an ABA first for us if approved by the AZ Records Committee! It was now 111 degrees and all of us left within 5 minutes of seeing the bird to get out of the heat. We celebrated at a local eatery and then drove to Wilcox where lots of waterbirds were being reported.
It was still very hot, but Lake Cochise had lots to offer. We were treated to lots of Baird’s Sandpipers, Eared Grebes, American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Curlews, Wilson’s Phalaropes, a Neotropic Cormorant, and a newly separated species, the Chihuahuan Meadowlark.
The next day we travelled to the Tubac area in search of the Rose-throated Becard. A former colleague in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service was doing a big year and happened to be in Arizona at the time so we met at the De Anza Trail in Tubac to search for the Becard. We followed directions the best we could and did not find the Becards. Later that evening we saw that some birders found the Becards at the same time we were there, but how, so we figured out we were on the wrong side of Bridge Road! Oh well, maybe another day. We headed back to Patagonia and stopped in at Paton’s just in case the Starthroat might show up, and it did not show.
We had found one lifer with the Flame-colored Tanager and lucked out to be in the right place at the right time to get a possible first ABA record of a Blue-black Grassquit, so now we’re trying for the Rufous-capped Warbler again. We met my friend at the trailhead of the Birding Trail of Patagonia Lake State Park and began the walk to where the bull and the heat had stopped our progress a few days ago. We made it to the area, no bull thankfully, and in short time we began hearing the warbler sing!
It would sing and chip and move around low, but we could never get our eyes on it. My friend moved downstream about 25 yards and shortly we heard, “I got the bird!”. We all rushed down to him, and he pointed to the bird perched out on a limb, high above the creek, rufous cap, bright yellow throat and breast, olive back, that’s our bird! Another lifer we had come to see, and I think my last remaining North American warbler outside of those found in Alaska.
We had lunch in Patagonia and while there an alert went out for a possible Hooded Grosbeak at the De Anza Trail in Tubac, at the site of the Rose-throated Becards, so off we went to find another ABA lifer Hooded Grosbeak and we might as well look for the Becards while there. Once we arrived there was a large number of cars parked at the trailhead, no doubt looking for the grosbeak. We came across one of the original observers of the grosbeak and found out it was a misidentification of an immature male Blue Grosbeak, oh well, so let’s find the Becards! We found the right trail this time, and the landmark was a tire wrapped around a downed tree, the nest being above it.
While we were waiting, a VENT birding tour came along, guided by a friend of mine, so we caught up for a while, and in about an hour a male Rose-throated Becard flew in and perched directly above us! We had seen the bird before, yet it was still awesome to see this beautiful bird.
We travelled back to Patagonia and to the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. A monsoon rain had just come through the area, so it was much cooler. We were treated to singing Cassin’s and Botteri’s Sparrows, Montezuma Quail, Common Nighthawks, Black-throated and Lark Sparrows, and we even found a Burrowing Owl hunting near the roadside, and Pronghorn Antelope dotted the landscape. We left there with one of the most beautiful sunsets ever.
The next day we decided to hike Hunter Canyon based on eBird checklists from the day before. It was loaded with so many species we hadn’t seen on the trip, so we started the hike. It was only about a mile up the trailhead parking lot, but it seemed like it was straight up, and it seemed like we would never get there, and the temperature was climbing, probably 100 degrees. There were no other cars in the parking lot, we were beginning to suffer slight dizziness and ill feelings, so we decided to head back to the parking lot. This was a case where we could have seriously done harm to ourselves if we had continued. We had plenty of water and when we made it back to the car it was 106 degrees in the shade! We took it easy for a while and recuperated. In the meantime, a Plain-capped Starthroat was being reported at a private residence in Rio Rico, AZ, only a few miles from the Rose-throated Becard site. We didn’t know quite what to do about this as we really didn’t want to just show up at a house, but that’s what we did! We rationalized they would not have put their address on the eBird checklist if they didn’t mind birders coming, and that was the case. We arrived at 3pm and began walking to the front door, and there were two hummingbird feeders out front. We looked and the very first bird we saw was the Pain-capped Starthroat! Seriously!
The homeowners were not home so we went for a cold drink nearby and returned and parked outside the residence. In just a few minutes one of the homeowners drove up and asked if we were looking for the hummingbird, we said yes, and were promptly invited in and made welcome like it was our own home. A bit later the husband came home, and we all sat on the back porch and watched birds from their wonderful back yard. It turns out these two folks are volunteers at Paton Center for Hummingbirds, and how weird for that bird to be last seen at Paton’s the day before we arrive, show up in Rio Rico less than a week later, and Pam and I go here and find that hummingbird, with folks who work at Paton’s!! Paton’s is about 10 miles away and along Sonoita Creek, which empties into the Santa Cruz River near this house, so there is a corridor in which birds can travel here, same hummingbird, who knows? We stayed for a few more hours and made plans to come back early in the morning. We did so but the hummingbird had already left and gone for the day, we stayed about 7 hours waiting. Many other birders showed up as well, and there was a porch full of birders throughout the day. Their house was located on a mountain top overlooking Rio Rico, with basically a cliff in front of the house. While the hummingbird didn’t show this day, we had great views of Greater Roadrunners, Pyrrhuloxia, Hooded and Scott’s Orioles, and eye level and top views of two Zone-tailed Hawks, plus 30 other species. What a great story, a great yard, great birds, and great hosts!
It was nearing the end of our trip and we had seen the three main species we had come to see: Rufous-capped Warbler, Flame-colored Tanager, and Plain-capped Starthroat! AND we likely observed a first ever ABA record of a Blue-black Grassquit. What a trip! We found several “lifers”, ran into old friends and made new friends. Although we were not in AZ to maximize our species totals since we were targeting just a few birds, we did have 124 species and 42 checklists. While I didn’t say much about birding at our Airbnb, we have stayed there twice on our past visits and I highly recommend staying here (Las Colinas de Patagonia), it is a very birdy place. We had a yard list of 43 species, most of which are the southeastern Arizona specialties. Some of our favorites here were Varied Bunting, Lucy’s Warbler, Rufous Hummingbird, Black-throated Sparrow, and Says Phoebe.
Here is a link to our Trip Report on eBird: https://ebird.org/tripreport/144991. Pam and I are happy to advise anyone on local accommodations, eateries, birding sites, etc. Happy Birding!
Submitted and photographs by Craig Watson and Pam Ford
SIB 