June 16th
At around 6 PM on the 16th after picking up our Volkswagen Jetta, Jason, another birding friend, and I began the long drive to the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. We crossed Pennsylvania, a sliver of West Virginia, and Ohio.
June 17th
We continued on into Indiana and passed through Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and into New Mexico. Near dusk, we saw a Badger, a Long-billed Curlew, and a Swainson's Hawk.
June 18th
We finally arrived at the John Hands Campground in Arizona at around 2:30 AM. We snoozed a couple hours in the car until first light and then began looking for the Eared Quetzal, which had been reportedly roosting somewhere in that general area. The area around the campground provided views of Brown-crested Flycatchers at a nest, a pair of Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers, and Hairy Woodpecker.
Other notable birds in that area included a calling Mexican Whip-poor-will, Western Wood-Pewee, Plumbeous Vireo, and Brown Creeper.
We spent most of the morning looking for the Quetzal while walking down Herb Martyr Road, which paralleled the stream. During our search, I was able to get looks at my 'life' Berylline Hummingbird, which was perched near Cabin #4.
It eventually visited a nearby feeder along with Black-chinned Hummingbird and Blue-throated Mountain-Gem. Additional birds found in that area included Dusky-capped and Cordilleran Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo, Mexican Jay, Bridled Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-eyed Junco, Spotted Towhee, Painted Redstart, and Black-throated Gray Warbler.
We left there and headed up to Pinery Canyon Campground, which was the last place the Quetzal had been seen. New birds found in the area included Mexican Chickadee, Bushtit, Pygmy Nuthatch, House Wren, Red-faced Warbler, Western Tanager, and Hermit Thrush.
The real bonus was getting to see a pair of Spotted Owls that were preening each other at a daytime roost.
We continued down Pinery Canyon and then headed back up to Morse Canyon where the Crescent-chested Warblers had been reported. I had seen one of these in the Santa Rita Mountains back in February of 2008, but the other two guys hadn't. As we were nearing the end of the road, Jason spotted a Zone-tailed Hawk overhead. We quickly got out of the car and discovered three of them calling and dive-bombing each other.
At the parking area at the end of the road, we saw Arizona Woodpecker and Hepatic Tanager.
We struck out on finding a Crescent-chested Warbler. Interesting birds that we did find along the trail included Rivoli's Hummingbird, Grace's Warbler, Painted Redstart, Western Tanager, and Yellow-eyed Junco.
Near sunset, we headed back out the road and headed north on Kansas Settlement Road. Birds seen along the road included Scaled Quail, Greater Roadrunner, Common Nighthawk, American Kestrel, Loggerhead Shrike, Northern Mockingbird, and Eastern Meadowlark. In the town of Willcox, we got something to eat and a motel room for some much-needed sleep.
Thanks for the excellent write up of your Arizona birding trip. That was one hell of a ‘twitch’ as we used to call it in the UK. I think my longest was a 500mile trip to see a Grey-tailed Tattler in Scotland in 1994. These days I’m nowhere near as hard core as I used to be and mostly bird in my backyard and nearby sites in Central PA. I don’t do too bad in the backyard. Photographing Orange-crowned Warbler and Lincoln’s Sparrow were both new yard birds for me this year.
ReplyDeletehttp://mikes-photographs.blogspot.com/2020/05/at-waterfall_8.html
Now I’ve rediscovered you blog I’ll check it often for your next twitch.
Cheers
Mike