Part 5 of 7 - Birding Cave Creek Canyon - Portal AZ

So, I had only gotten to Cave Creek Cayon at around 5pm on Thursday Aug 1st - and I was a little amazed at how nice the place was, but also, how remote it was. There were no gas stations, no cell phone service, it was very , very remote. There was one restaurant!

I didn't realize this until I was there - but the canyon walls have giant cave holes - hence the name of the canyon.

A nice place to stop in this area is the Cave Creek Ranch - which has accommodations, a nice lobby with lots of nature, history and artwork, wifi, and best of all, amazing feeders and habitat.

My time at Cave Creek Canyon was brief. I only had about 4 hours on Friday morning. My approach to birding the area was to walk up the south fork pathway, drive to the research station, and stop occasionally on the road to followup on bird song.

One bird that I really wanted to see here was a Mexican Chickadee - but I was late in realizing that this bird is only found at some of the higher elevations in the Chiricahua mountain range. Its not really found in Cave Creek Canyon itself.

This pretty well sums up the 3-day trip to Arizona. I was able to see about 50 new species of birds, and about 20 new species of butterflies (featured in my next posting) which was a pretty good run in my opinion.


Friday Aug 2nd 2019
11. Cave Creek Canyon, (Portal) Arizona 85632, USA
 Western Screech Owl 453
 Scaled Quail 454
 Graces Warbler 455
 Painted Redstart 456
 Yellow Eyed Junco 457
 Blue throated Hummingbird 458
 Elegant Trogon 459

Good birding!
Arizona is absolutely wonderful!

Dwayne

PS: A few Bonus Videos... Amazing...

Part 4 of 7 - Birding Miller Canyon, San Pedro House & Chiricahua National Monument

My third day in Sierra Vista started off by looking at Brown Canyon & Miller Canyon in the early morning, then moving towards the San Pedro House Riparian Area and then taking the long drive towards the Chiricahua mountains in the deep southeastern corner of Arizona.


At Miller Canyon, there was a cottage with hummingbird feeders (and bleachers set up!) and there were about 5 species of hummingbirds. The one new species for me was "Broad Tailed Hummingbird" which looks like a Ruby throated Hummingbird. One neat feature about this hummingbird is that when it flies, it makes a loud, buzzy sound with its wings. Most other hummingbird species have a silent wingbeat.

As I was leaving Miller Canyon, I noticed a hummingbird perched on a Palmer's Agave plant and as I went to photograph it - the bird took off. I was disaapointed but then elated to see a Grey Hawk flying low through the canyon - almost as you might see a Cooper's Hawk.



8. Miller Canyon, Sierra Vista Southeast, AZ 85615, USA
 Grey Hawk 446
 Broad tailed Hummingbird 447

9. San Pedro House (Riparian Preserve), Sierra Vista, AZ 85650, USA
 Albert's Towhee 448
 Gilded Flicker 449

10. Chiricahua National Monument (https://www.nps.gov/coro/planyourvisit/maps.htm)
 Sulphur-bellied flycatcher 450
 Chihuahuan Raven 451
 Cassin's Kingbird 452

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Part 3 of 7 --- Birding Box Canyon in Arizona

I had never actually heard of Box Canyon when I was researching birding hotspots in Arizona, but this little area blew my mind. It was beautiful to drive through, and every few hundred meters, I would just stop and look at what was on the road. Some birders that were at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds suggested I go check it out... and I did!

I was sold on going after one of the birders mentioned above told me that Varied Buntings were easily seen where the canyon transitions into flatter lands. This area gave me three new sparrow species (Five striped, black throated & Rufous crowned) withing a few KM's of each other.... Amazing. 

The Five striped Sparrow is perhaps one of the rarest, most local birds in the US. It was nice to see one!

Varied Bunting was one of my top three target species for the trip so it was nice to see them as well!

A common desert plant named Palmer's Agave offers hummingbirds in Arizona a nectar treat - and it was quite common to see Hummingbirds nectaring along the canyon road. This is there more natural and dignified habitat, (as opposed to observing hummingbirds at feeders) but its extremely difficult to photograph them and ID them from a great distance due to their tiny size. 

Box Canyon (East of Madera Canyon)

 Five-lined Sparrow 442

 Ruffous capped Sparrow 443

 Black throated Sparrow 444

 Varied Bunting 445

Wow,,, this guy was crossing the road at one point. I did not pick him up :-0

GOOD BIRDING!

Dwayne

Southeast Arizona Birding Day 2 - Brown Canyon Ranch, Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

Day two of my Southeast Arizona birding trip was great. I was able to go to Brown Canyon, which is only a few minutes away from Sierra Vista AZ. I also went to Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, and the "Paton Hummingbird House" which was pretty amazing. I also went to Box Canyon which will be the topic of my next posting.

3.5 Sierra Vista Highway
 Harris's Hawk 427

Wednesday July 31st 2019:
4. Brown Canyon Ranch, Sierra Vista, AZ 85650, USA
 Dusky Capped Flycatcher 427
 Acorn Woodpecker 428
 Ladder Backed Woodpecker 429
 Canyon Towhee 430
 Botteri's Sparrow 431
 Montezuma Quail 431 (Heard only)
 Anna's Hummingbird 432
 Pyrrhuloxia 433
 Mexican Jay 434

5. Ramsay Canyon, 27 E Ramsey Canyon Rd (Nature Conservancy), Hereford, AZ 85615, USA

Brown Canyon and Ramsey Canyon are basically adjacent to each other. Driving up to this area was pretty amazing! I was there at 6am, just after sunrise, but it was easy to see Ladder-backed and Gila Woodpeckers on the telephone posts along the road.  Pyrrhuloxia (which looks like a cardinal) was seen, along with "Mexican Azure Bluebirds" (a subspecies of eastern bluebirds), various flycatchers, kingbirds, sparrows, Acorn Woodpeckers... its was pretty amazing. At the Brown Canyon Ranch, I had heard Montazuma Quail (pointed out to me by another birder), Botteri's Sparrows (common), Says Phoebe, Vermillion Flycatcher, Anna's Hummingbirds, and Cayon Towhee.

Not Western Bluebirds ! These are "Mexican Azure Bluebirds" - A subspecies of Eastern Bluebirds!

6. Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve Visitor Center, 150 Blue Heaven Road, Patagonia, AZ 85624, USA (And Paton Hummingbird Center)

 Violet Capped Hummingbird 436

 Black Phoebe 437

 Inca Dove 438

 Gambels Quail 439

 Cassin's Sparrow 440 (grasslands between canyons)

 Phainopepla 441

Patagonia-Sonoita area, with the Paton Center for Hummingbirds,  was surprisingly awesome. Upon arrival, I had seen Gambels Quail (with chicks), Violet crowned Hummingbird, Black Phoebe, Inca Dove. On the way to this site, while driving though grassy habitat between mountains - I stopped along the side of the road for a quick break (I had lots of coffee that morning) and I noticed a singing sparrow. To my amazement, the sparrow would sing and take flight in a brief skylarking show. It was pretty cool to see this ... because this behavior is unique to Cassin's Sparrows!

I actually went to a place called "Box Canyon" after I went to Patagonia-Sonoita but I will push that into its own posting because ... it was that good. 

Good birding!

Dwayne