I hear talking and my eyes open. Caleb is telling me to wake up, but I'm still pretty tired and feel like I only slept for three hours. Oh, that's right. I did only sleep for 3 hours. We all begin walking along the main trail and stopped to listen - trying to ignore the constant snory trills of Mexican Spadefoots around us. We hear Whiskered Screech Owls right off. But there were two! And they were dueting with their bizarre morse code calls.
While we were watching the Whiskereds, a Western Screech Owl and Elf owl started calling! Then, we heard a very strange whistling sound. I had no clue what it was, but Caleb knew. It was a female Spotted Owl's contact call. I was amazed to hear this owl for the first time. We also started hearing Mexican Whippoorwills and Brown-crested flycatchers around that time. We made a pit stop at camp and I found some more interesting bugs.
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| A Sexton Beetle that is carrying tiny nymphs on its back. |
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| A Short-horned Walkingstick |
Moving on to the forest around camp, we had Wild Turkeys, Cordilleran Flycatchers, 4 Buff-breasted Flycatchers, Bushtits, an "albescens" Brown Creeper
(a potential split), Hermit Thrushes, a Yellow-eyed Junco, a Western Tanager and more.
We often would stop to listen (a good practice to adopt) and at one such pause, we heard a barking sound in the distance. It immediately hit me that I was hearing my first ever Elegant Trogon! We followed the sound and found the bird - a male - in a sycamore dominated riparian area. It was epic.
After we enjoyed our special time with the trogon, Caleb ran back into camp to tell the leaders and attendees what we found! Here's the best part: everyone at camp came over in a flurry and got to see the trogon. For many, it was their top bird of the trip. Soon afterwards, we all embarked on a trip down the mountain to the town of Portal which has some excellent birding. We visited Bob Rodriguez's yard to enjoy the feeders. In the mesquite 'woodland' on one side of the road, we had a Bell's Vireo and Blue Grosbeak. Gambel's Quail with young were also nice to see. This was my first time birding at someone's feeders. Bob had all sorts of nectar feeders, bird seed feeders, birdbaths, and even grape jelly and oranges for the orioles! It was a very neat set up. There were mostly Black-chinned and Broad-billed Hummingbirds at the feeders, but I also pointed out a Magnificent and a rare-for-season Rufous Hummingbird which was a highlight of the stop.
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| It's good to see that even these pampered Broad-billed Hummingbirds still feed on real flowers! |
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| One of my favorite hummingbirds ever, the male Rufous Hummingbird |
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| The female Magnificent Hummingbird that I located and Caleb identified. Kind of strange in lower elevations. |
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| The Yellow-nosed Cotton Rat- a rodent with a very limited range within Arizona. |
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| A male Hooded Oriole |
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| A Curve-billed Thrasher of the celsum subspecies - a potential split. |
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| A female Blue Grosbeak |
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| A cottontail - Desert or Eastern? I don't know. |
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| Guess what else came in?! |
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| A pair of Pyrrhuloxia! My first photos of the species. |
After spending 15 minutes at the feeders, our group decided to move on. On our way back to the car, I pointed out the calls of a Greater Roadrunner and also noticed a Lesser Nighthawk flying around in the daylight. Jennie MacFarland (trip leader and biologist) mentioned that it was still out foraging due to 'nest stress' from its young which compels the bird to continue providing food. We hopped into the cars and made our way back to the station for breakfast.
On our way back, we rolled down the windows to simply look and listen. I noticed a Loggerhead Shrike. Nice. Caleb outdid me with a head-only Rufous-winged Sparrow - my lifer! Very nice. Then, Caleb outdid himself with a distant Botteri's Sparrow which we saw and heard! (Another lifer!)
We were back at camp at 7 am. Meals at the station are served cafeteria style and I was familiar with this setup not because I went to school (I was home-schooled all the way through high school in case you didn't know) but because I attended a lot of Boy Scout camps. After a solid breakfast, the group made its way back down the mountain again to visit another feeder. But before we left, I was walking to our room to grab a few things when I noticed something beside me on a tree trunk...
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| My lifer Arizona Woodpecker - definitely one of my top birds of the trip |
This time, we were headed to Cave Creek Ranch, a very neat spot with an excellent feeder area zoned off with fences and well-stocked with food. I didn't expect one non-bird species to be so prevalent here:
Javelinas!!! They were just rooting around for whatever they wanted to eat and we just kept our distance. These things were like pets here and so was another animal:
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| The delicate White-tailed Deer |
Mammals aside, let's get to the main event....the birds!
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| An Acorn Woodpecker; our views were fantastic! |
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| This female Ladder-backed Woodpecker was also nice to see. |
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| Black-backed Lesser Goldfinches |
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| A male Black-headed Grosbeak at the suet feeder |
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| Another Arizona Woodpecker! |
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| My first good photo of a Mexican Jay! |
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| Several White-breasted Nuthatches were at the feeders also |
Other birds of interest that I did not photograph were Band-tailed Pigeons, Magnificent, Blue-throated, Black-chinned, and Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Western Wood Pewees, a Black Phoebe, Dusky-capped and Brown-crested Flycatchers, Cassin's and a Western Kingbird, and a Summer Tanager. In an hour of birding there, Caleb, Dorian, and I had 35 species.
Moving on from the pleasant Cave Creek Ranch, we group made a quick stop at the South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon. It was here that I saw my first Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher although I technically had my heard only 'lifer' while we were driving. This strange flycatcher was one of my top lifers of the camp! If you haven't heard their "rubber ducky" calls, then check them out
here!
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| This flycatcher's reddish tail is one of its best field marks! |
While we were walking around, we found a Cooper's Hawk, some Bewick's and Canyon Wrens, and a Painted Redstart among other species. I also heard an Elegant Trogon calling and most of the people in our group got to hear it! Around that time, the weather took a turn for the worse and heavy thunder came rumbling through the canyon like I've never heard before. We decided to leave early.
On the road back to camp, I watched as one of our cars made a quick detour off the road and then stop. We also stopped and asked what happened. Well, apparently, someone saw a pair of Montezuma (Mearn's) Quail run into the nearby grass. We set up a little perimeter and walked slowly hoping to flush this secretive gamebird into sight. We all noticed the birds at the same time! A male and female. They ran quickly through the grass and then disappeared beyond our scope of view.
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| If you can find one in this photo, I'll be surprised! |
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| The female Montezuma Quail |
Now that I had seen my first Montezuma Quail, all three of Arizona's native quail species were under my belt. I had also seen California and Mountain Quail in California. Now, the only ABA quail I need is the Northern Bobwhite which I could get in Texas. Back at camp, we had nothing to do for a few hours, so Caleb, Dorian, and I decided to walk around camp for even more birding. The only new bird for the trip we found was a Zone-tailed Hawk. However, we did find a lot of Striped Plateau Lizards! They were stocky fence-lizard types that could be easily found running into the grasses when disturbed. They weren't particularly fast, so we managed to catch a few.
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| My lifer Plateau Striped Lizard |
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| The orange blotch on its throat is quite unique |
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| Here's a younger individual |
Once it started getting dark, we headed back to our room so Caleb and I could gather our speaking materials as we were both giving presentations tonight. I also had a chance to photograph more bugs around the rooms...
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| An unidentified longhorn beetle |
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| A very large root borer |
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| A massive fishfly |
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| A Carolina Wolf Spider |
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| These False Bombardier Beetles were fairly common |
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| A possible Lophocampa moth |
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| A Noctuid moth |
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| A cockroach of the genus Arenivaga |
While waiting in line at dinner, we noticed a bit of commotion. Turns out that a fledgling Northern Pygmy Owl was in the process of branching and was attempting to climb a tree. It was just dark enough that my camera didn't operate well, so no good photos were taken. I found it absolutely fascinating to watch this sort of behavior for the first time. After maybe 10 minutes, one of the owl's parents flew in with a snack for the weary chick. After we finished dinner, we headed off to the meeting room for the presentations. Several knowledgeable young birders spoke before us and Caleb was second to last. He spoke on the state of Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owls in Arizona. He shared his photos and experiences with the species at an undisclosed location in the state. After Caleb finished his speech, I began mine. I spoke for 10 minutes concerning websites for birding and citizen science - a topic that I am eager to share with others. In my speech I presented 4 different online resources to the audience, briefly described the function of each, demonstrated how to use each sit, and then closed by handing out the information that I had just presented all summarized on a sheet of paper. I hope at least someone joins eBird because of me! For those of you who are interested in the websites I spoke of, here they are:
After the night's speakers concluded their presentations, we geared up for another short owling venture. Before we left, the leaders had set up a surprise for us! One of the biologists who was working at the research station decided to give us a little show-and-tell with the companionship of a little Whiskered Screech Owl that he and his colleagues had recently netted!!!
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| The owl was surprisingly unafraid of us |
While owling that night, we heard two Whiskered Screech Owls and heward four Elf Owls. We were even able to call one of the Elvies in for a look...
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| Probably my best shot of an Elf Owl to date. |
Staying up later to talk with Caleb and Dorian, I went to sleep somewhere around 11 pm. What a day! I never expected birding in the Chiricahuas to be this easy...or so good! We still had a half-day of birding left the next day. So keep an eye out for my next post!
Today's Accomplishments: 6 Lifers!
1. Elegant Trogon 2. Rufous-winged Sparrow 3. Botteri's Sparrow 4. Arizona Woodpecker 5. Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher 6. Montezuma Quail.
Bringing my life list to...343
Godspeed and good birding,
- Joshua
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