The birds of southeastern Arizona are always enjoyable. Our recent trip was a success, we tallied about 160 species without even touching shorebirds or waterfowl!
I managed 7 ABA lifers. They were (in order):
Black-capped Gnatcatcher
Sinaloa Wren
Lucifer Hummingbird
Buff-breasted Flycatcher
Bendire's Thrasher
Scott's Oriole
Black-chinned Sparrow
I also SAW several species that I had never visually "seen" before:
Montezuma Quail
Elf Owl
Whiskered Screech-Owl
Western Screech-Owl
Red-faced Warbler
We had great luck with quail! We saw broods of both Scaled and Gambel's. What's more exciting was how frequently we stumbled on Montezuma Quail (at least 5 times)!
Here is a SCALED QUAIL near Madera Canyon:
We also had decent luck with raptors. We tallied:
Red-tailed
Swainson's
Zone-tailed (4)
Short-tailed (1)
Gray (5+)
Harris's (1)
Cooper's (3)
Am. Kestrel
Our most interesting find was a ZONE-TAILED HAWK in Aravaipa attending young! Below is that Zone-tailed:
One of my favorite birding spots near Tucson is Catalina State Park. After dark, we had this nice look at a WESTERN SCREECH-OWL:
A definite highlight of this trip were the hummingbirds. We tallied an amazing 12 species (not bad for the US, huh?). I managed photos of all 12 kinds:
One of the rarer species we saw were the WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRDS (2-3) in Miller Canyon:
Below is a VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD at the Portal Store. We also saw this species at the Patton's house in Patagonia.
A personal highlight for me was seeing the LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRDS at Mary Jo's feeders in Ash Canyon. The picture isn't great but that's not what matters! Here's the male:
One of the harder hummingbirds to find during our stay was Calliope. However, this male CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD was at the Portal Store:
A tricky guy to photograph, below is a BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD in Miller Canyon. This individual proceeded to bathe in the rain:
ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS were also pretty common. This male was at Miller Canyon:
And lastly, it's been a very good year in se AZ for BERYLLINE HUMMINGBIRDS. There are multiple birds in Miller Canyon. Here is one of those birds:
Many birders enjoy the ELEGANT TROGONS found in southeastern AZ. We came across this species many times during our trip (Madera, Sawmill, and Scheelite Canyons):
We also saw quite a few species of woodpeckers. Here is an ARIZONA WOODPECKER:
Flycatchers of all different varieties can be found while birding AZ. Here is a NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYANNULET below Madera Canyon:
A highlight for me was seeing 10+ BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHERS in Sawmill Canyon! There were a couple family groups and I watched as adults fed young, etc:
Another highlight was seeng a long-time nemesis bird of mine: the BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER. This female was at Florida Canyon in the Santa Ritas:
Since the ID of gnatcatchers can be a challenge, it was helpful to have a clear look at the undertail (note the mostly white tail and the graduated tail feathers). The bird cooperated stuningly:
Below is a BRIDLED TITMOUSE, a common species in southeastern AZ:
The MEXICAN CHICKADEE only occurs in the US on one mountain range, the Chiricahuas. We had great looks at this species at many locations during our visit:
As far as thrashers go, we had good looks of a BENDIRE'S THRASHER near Rodeo. Note the yellow iris, straight bill (compared to Curve-billed), and the pale base of the bill:
Below are two of the target warblers we found. First a RED-FACED WARBLER near Pinery campground:
Other warblers we saw included:
Olive
Hermit
Black-throated Gray
Grace's
Virginia's
Yellow
C. Yellowthroat
Some sparrows and things we saw also included this VARIED BUNTING below Madera Canyon:
Many of the grasslands there this time of year have singing CASSIN'S and BOTTERI'S SPARROWS. Below is a BOTTERI'S below Madera Canyon: