Where the Birds Are

This year’s VENT Camp Chiricahua took place, as you may have guessed, in the Chiricahua Mountains and many other great birding spots in southeastern Arizona. The easiest way to describe my experiences was to plainly say, “that was an amazing trip!” but that’s not much fun to read. On this camp I had the chance to met other young birders who shared the same interests (birds), have a great leader who (although he might not like this) was very much like us campers, observed much of the amazing avifauna of the American southwest, including many Mexican species, and had the chance to see other interesting animals there as well (although nearby Painted Redstarts or Red-faced Warblers often distracted us from those). I have to say that it was a little disappointing not to see a single rattlesnake, but I’m not so sure if that was a shared feeling amongst us.

Once we got of the plane in Tucson I immediately decided two things: first, I would ignore unpacking my things and immediately start birding around the hotel, second, what in the world was I thinking? It was so hot I felt as though I could cook up a chicken on the sidewalk! While waiting for the shuttle to come pick me up I pondered this and noticed that there was in fact a bird on the sidewalk, but it wasn’t a chicken. It was a female Great-tailed Grackle, “shoot” I said, I had been hoping that my first lifer might be something more attractive, oh well. When I got to the hotel I picked up my first taste of Arizona’s avian life while waiting for Dave (the leader) to come pick us up for a little birding. Black-chinned Hummingbirds, Verdin’s, Bell’s Vireo, Cactus Wren, White- Winged Dove, and Western Kingbird all put in their show for a good variety of birds I can’t find back home. I soon met the other kids (only 4 this year, all guys), avid birders themselves, and all unique in their own ways. Dave really wanted to get out of the city, so we didn’t hold him back to get going on our first day of birding. We visited the Sweetwater (although, probably not so sweet) Wetlands, which are actually sewage ponds. For the past few years a Least Grebe has taken up residence, a very rare bird in Arizona, but quite regular in southern Texas. Most of us got very good looks at this small dark grebe, and we picked up other great species such as Harris’s Hawk (our only one’s of the trip, 1 juvenile and 1 adult I believe), Black Phoebe, Lucy’s Warbler (although they were very hard to tell from all the Bells Vireos around, because they were all immature), Cinnamon Teal, among others. Today also brought us to a local park (sorry, don’t recall the name) where, much too all our surprise, we found a Neotropic Cormorant, thanks to Chris’s quick ID. Gila Woodpeckers were common, and we called in two Canyon Wrens and a male Black-capped Gnatcatcher at Tucson Mountain Park, right before the first Lesser Nighthawks appeared in the sky.

The next day we spent as little time as possible around Tucson, but still visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the St. David Monastery. At ASDM we picked up many desert birds such as Phainopepla and Pyrrhuloxia, and most importantly learned how to say their names. Also had a female Costa’s Hummingbird. Our goal at the St. David Monastery was to find a Mississippi Kite, a bird that I had long wanted to see. No sooner had we got out of the car that both Mike and I spotted the adult Kite go into a steep dive above our car. Luckily, it did come back and swooped and dove right above our heads in the perfect light, providing great looks at this amazing bird of prey. Last stop near Tucson was at the Wilcox (right, below) Sewage ponds, where we picked up many great water birds. An unexpected treat was an immature (I think, but someone said it was an adult later, but I recall and immature, oh well) Reddish Egret, very rare in south-eastern Arizona. Although most others had seen Wilson’s Phalaropes, Long-billed Curlews, American Avocets, and Black-necked Stilts, I had only seen them briefly or not at all, so I marveled at their odd bills, legs, plumage, and unique feeding methods. And how often do you see Avocets swim around in the water in Michigan? Despite that they weren’t Mexican novelty birds, they remained some of my favorite birds the whole trip. I think that one thing that I enjoyed very much about our time around Tucson, was the Saguaro’s, the huge cacti that surrounded the area like a forest. At any time while in the car, you could look out the window and see hundreds of Saguaro’s and huge mountain ranges in the distance, it was all very scenic. The Saguaro’s did not reach as far south as Portal, so once we left, we did not see any until we were heading back.

Once we finished up around Tucson, we headed straight out to Portal, a very small town with the downtown smaller then our local Wal-Mart, which had a restaurant/hotel/store (all one place) and a few houses. Portal was located right below Cave Creek Canyon, the great and legendary bird spot that holds South Fork. While here we stayed at Cave Creek Ranch, which I can very safely recommend for those who like nice owners, birds (including such goodies as Mexican Jay and Elf Owl) right outside your room, and a very nice and comfortable room (which, of course we spent no time in except to sleep, just too many birds outside). While staying here, we hiked up Cave Creek Canyon, visited Dave’s feeders (he lives there and keeps up the reputation of one of the best places to see Crissal Thrasher, and boasts a huge yard list), birded the desert thoroughly, and did our share of night birding. Highlights are hard to pick up but Elegant Trogon must be near the top with truly amazing looks at a stunning adult male sitting on a telephone wire only about 20 feet away in Cave Creek. We finally got to see some local warblers which included the brilliantly colored Painted Redstart, the yellow-throated Graces Warbler, and just great looks at the neatly patterned Black-throated Grey Warbler. Local feeder birds such as Acorn Woodpecker (above, left), Arizona Woodpecker, and Juniper Titmouse all were very neat to watch up close. Sub-species were all interesting here as well with the dark-backed version of the Hairy Woodpecker and the reddish Mexican sup-species of the Brown Creeper. Desert birds were very neat with Crissal and Bendire’s Thrasher, Burrowing Owl, Greater Roadrunner, Swainson’s Hawk (right), Scaled and Gambels Quail, Cassin’s Sparrow, and Inca Dove. All three Myiarchus flycatchers put in their show at one time or another, which were some of my favorite birds of the trip, don’t know why. Night time adventures for Owls were my favorite part of the day, and we managed to pick up Elf, Western and Whiskered Screech, Spotted (although heard only briefly, later seen), Great-horned, and Northern (mountain) Pygmy and Burrowing Owls during the day. I’d have to say that seeing the Elf Owl feed a young one in a nest in Cave Creek was one of the cooler experiences I’ve had while birding. Other great birds were Buff-breasted Flycatchers, Lazuli Bunting, Magnificent and Blue-throated Hummingbird, and many others I neglected to mention. A Blind Snake was found one night as well as a spar-footed (or something like that) toad. Lizards were always found somewhere, but I do not know the species right off the top of my head. The best mammal, I would have to say, was the young Coyote, something that I and the others haven’t seen many of. Our time at Cave Creek was the best time I had on the whole trip, mostly because of the huge diversity in avian (especially owls) life and other animals, but I was still looking forward to Rustler Park (our next spot).

Dave had told us all about the huge storms that pass through Rustler Park, but we only witnessed one, which nearly drowned us out and almost sunk the rain fly. Just to give you an idea of what camping was like there; if you woke in the middle of the night, you could hear a Flammulated Owl above your tent, then when first light came the musical Hermit Thrush started to sing it’s fluty song, Cordilleran Flycatchers (left) called explosively, Pygmy Nuthatches called loudly from their large forging flocks, Western Tanagers called “Benedict!”, Steller’s Jays came to finish of leftover scrapes of food, and it all got drowned out by the raucous made by the local juvenile Common Ravens. Other birds here were great and we got to pick up higher elevation species, such as the beautiful Olive Warbler, stunningly beautiful Red-faced, and not quite as impressive Virginias Warbler, large Greater Pewee, abundant and noisy Pygmy Nuthatch, quite a few of the Chiricahua specialty birds Senor Chickadee (known better as Mexican Chickadee), the colorful (at least in comparison to other empids) Cordilleran Flycatcher, a few Zone-tailed Hawk, almost stepped on about ten zillion Yellow-eyed Junco, and countless others. We tried very hard here to call in a Flammulated Owl, but only succeeded when we drove partly down the mountain to Pinery Campground. For years, a Short-tailed Hawk (maybe even two of these Florida specialty birds) has taken up residence somewhere near Barfoot (or was it Barefoot?) Park, which is adjacent to Rustler Park. The best place to see it was from the Barfoot lookout, which we spent a great deal of time at, but because of rains and the wrong wind direction, the hawk never appeared. One time while hiking near our campsite, Mike and I happened across a hawk that had a different gizz about it. Cleary wasn’t a Turkey Vulture (white underside and not in a dihedral) and wings were flat except at the very tips, where they were upturned. Red-tailed Hawk was still a distinct possibility, but the white seemed just way to clean and the bird seemed (to me) small compared to the adjacent vulture. We could not reach a verdict, because the bird was far away and quickly disappeared, despite us calling it to come back, oh well. Rustler Park had in previous years had problems with Black Bears, yet this year the most we found was evidence of them being there. The only lizard I can recall coming across was a Bunch-grass Lizard (right), probably pregnant, and we saw lots of butterflies (not sure what kind).

Once we finished off as many high altitude birds as we could, we headed down the mountain in a different direction than when we came up, and headed to our cabins at the San Pedro River Inn. The San Pedro Inn was a great place to stay, with very comfortable cabins, owners who sure knew their birds, and Tropical Kingbirds living around the cabins. Our first night there we picked up 4 new birds on our list, including a very cooperative Botteri’s Sparrow (below) that, instead of us chasing it, it chased us. There was also a family of Barn Owls in nest box right in the grounds that hunted over the fields at night and sat in the box during the day. While staying in the Inn, we visited the famed Tom Beatty’s hummingbird feeders, San Pedro River, Ash Canyon B&B, Shetlite Canyon in Garden Canyon, and Sierra Vista Sewage Ponds (essentially nothing new here). Beatty’s and Mary Joe’s (Ash Canyon B&B) proved to be the only places on this trip that we saw significant numbers and diversity of hummingbirds. All together we saw eleven hummers, including the three (in my opinion) most beautiful hummers in North America. The Broad-billed Hummingbirds diverse colors were unmatched (at least until we saw the White-eared) and its red bill just made it an overall stunning bird every time that we saw it. One time on the way down Miller Canyon, I split off from the group to grab my scope that I had left behind, and by going that way I passed by the feeders and the others did not. Much to my surprise, one of the feeders held the most beautiful hummingbird that I have ever seen before. Its distinct white eyebrow told me immediately that it was none other then the White-eared Hummingbird (left), a full adult in breeding plumage, and the only one known to be in North America at that moment. I watched with awe for about twenty seconds then, knowing that the group would not believe me, snapped off a few quick pictures before it flew off. That hummingbird’s multi-colors contrasting with that distinct eyebrow and red bill made even the Broad-billed Hummingbirds look dull. Luckily, the next day the whole group saw this stunner. That same day I saw the white-eared, we headed to Ash Canyon B&B where we (except our fearless leader, who had gone to the car, sorry) all got either great or mediocre looks at an adult male Lucifer Hummingbird. The Broad-billed and White Eared Hummers intense colors and the Lucifer’s striking magenta throat were not given justice in any of our field guides, and I have to say that to truly appreciate these amazing birds, you just have to see them.

On our last day staying at the San Pedro, we hiked up Shetlite Canyon, which is known for a pair of very cooperative Spotted Owls. It so happened that the time we hiked up the canyon, the two adult owls (actually, we only saw one, but others said the second was near-by) had two fluff balls sitting near one of them. The two fluff balls turned out to be apparently recently fledged immature owls, which were very curious and, for lack of a better word, cute. Also while staying here (Anna’s Hummer, left), we saw the apparently far-less-common-than-before Rufous-crowned Sparrow, an interesting Berylline/Magnificant Hummingbird hybrid, very large numbers of Lesser Nighthawks skimming the water at the Inn, our third Northern Pygmy Owl of the trip, abundant Vermillion Flycatchers at the Inn, and many others. All together, our stay here was very successful and enjoyed by all of us (fare well sunset, right).

Our last day of group birding proved to be a long and successful day birding. We got up very early, packed, and said our farewells to the inn. Our plans today to first visit Paton’s feeders were unexpectedly halted by the river flowing over the road, so we couldn’t get past it. Instead, our first stop was at the famous Patagonia Roadside Rest Stop. Here we all got great looks at the local Thick-billed Kingbirds (bad picture, left) and a Rose-throated Becard quickly came through, but I think Dave was the only one to get his binoculars on it, I wish I hadn’t missed that one, oh well. We next headed to Patagonia Lake, which held a large flock of White-faced Ibis flying overhead, amazing looks at a flying and calling Grey Hawk, great views of the plain, but interesting, Northern Beardless Tyrannulet, and beautiful colored Varied Bunting in the sunlight giving us great looks. Patagonia Lake this year held a pair (and recently two(?) fledglings) of Black-capped Gnatcatchers, one of the birds I wanted to see the most on this trip. We tried a little bit by playing the tape, but really couldn’t do much else because of the fact that the rain had recently (by washing cow poop down the hills) turned the area into cow poop marsh. I would have been willing to wade in there (most of it seemed easy to avoid, and clothes can be washed), but the others were reluctant, so no Black-capped Gnatcatchers for us. We also later came across a very cooperative Grey Hawk later on the side of the road on the way to Kino Springs. When we got to Kino Springs, we saw two Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, my 400th ABA lifer. The last new bird of the day was a Rufous-winged Sparrow, being very cooperative. We also failed to relocate the Flame-colored Tanager that was staked out at Madera Canyon, because it rained and it seemed no one else wanted to wait out in the rain, oh well. The next morning I woke up at six, quickly packed for my way home, and then birded a bit around the hotel finding my last western birds such as Western Tanager, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (above, right), and Gambels Quail. We all said our final farewells, and left for home in Texas, New Jersey, or Michigan.

I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for going on this trip. I don’t know if it would have been possible to go if it hadn’t been for the ABA scholarship and the people who helped me receive it, so thanks a lot. I can safely recommend this trip to anyone who enjoys birds or any animals, since I don’t know my butterflies and such very well, I can’t go into detail on what we saw exactly, but I know I saw many that were different and that Dave mentioned were special to the area. I think the best part was seeing all the owls. After this trip I only have a few tough owls to see before I have seen all the regularly occurring owls in North America, and the looks we got of the local owls were spectacular. This camp was also a great way to find out that you’re not the only “bird boy or girl” in the whole entire world, and that others share the same interest as you.