Ramsey Canyon/ San Pedro House

Danny, Liz and I started the drive to Ramsey canyon at 5:30 am, but even after stop for coffee and bagels, we still arrived before the canyon preserve (owned by the Nature Conservancy) opened. So we did the only thing good birders know how to do. We parked illegally by the side of the road and birded the road leading up to the preserve. In addition to the typical MoDo’s and White-winged Doves, we saw Lesser Goldfinch, Bullock’s Oriole, Northern Mockingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, and Cassin’s Kingbird on this road.

Once we officially entered the park, we were warned of an active bee hive further up the trail. Since none of us truly wanted to get that close to the bees, we wandered very slowly up the trail. Beside which, it was already very hot at 8 am! Going slowly definitely had its benefits. We took the first side trail, called Grandview Loop and were treated to great looks at Western Wood Peewee, Bridled Titmouse, Mexican Jays, many Painted Redstarts, American Robin, and *Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (thanks to Danny’s good spotting). As we sat on a nearby bench watching the Peewee, a group of Bushtits flew into the oak tree above us. They flitted noisily from branch to branch for awhile while we had our attention on a small group of White-tailed Deer on the opposite side of the trail. We counted six (5 adults and 1 young) in the group and none of them really seemed to care that we were so close.

Leaving the bench, we again walked up the main trail where Danny spotted a hummingbird on its nest. After much debate, we decided it was a female Black-chinned Hummingbird. We also found a pair of *Northern Beardless Tyrannulet (again thanks to Liz’s good spotting) and a small family of Spotted Towhees. We also traversed another short loop trail where we saw a pair of nesting Hermit Thrushes and more Painted Redstarts. Before leaving, we sat by the hummingbird feeders for awhile and saw Black-chinned, Broad-billed, Broad-tailed hummers.

We were lured into a Mexican restaurant in Sierra Vista by a multitude of cars in the parking lot. Once inside, we were even more heartened by the sight of many Mexicans, oddly enough mostly young women. It soon became apparent that there was a bridal or baby shower going on and there was almost no one else in the restaurant. However, the service was quick and the food satisfying enough. From there, we decided we still had enough energy to check out San Pedro house just a few miles away.

San Pedro house sits on a long thin green strip of land along a stream or river, called a “riparian area”, a term I had never heard of since there are no such things back east. The San Pedro House is an organization that focuses on preservation and education about the San Pedro River and riparian area. I’d been there briefly in November, but failed to see the targeted Green Kingfisher. On this day, however, we were greeted by several birders on and around the feeders, including a beautiful Blue Grosbeak, several Barn Swallows and a ton of Brown-headed Cowbirds. The sun was getting hotter and hotter, so we quickly walked the trail down into the riparian area and its cooling shade trees. A short way into the trees, we interrupted a Great-horned Owl’s rest. We only spotted him as he moved noiselessly from one tree to another. He allowed us really good looks and even returned our quizzical glazes. In this spot, we also found Vermillion Flycatcher, Western Tanager, and Summer Tanager, Abert’s Towhee. After this, we pretty much fizzled out and returned to the entrance. The feeders this time yielded a Say’s Phoebe and a marvelous specimen of Barn Swallow waiting by the storeroom door.

Puerto Rico June 13-15, 2007

Spent just a few days on the lovely island of Puerto Rico earlier this week. It was more a tourist trip than a birding trip, but I did manage to drag my friend along for some birding. This marks the start of my official world birding list.

June 13 – Old San Juan
Of course, the first bird spotted was the ubiquitous Greater Antillean Grackle* – bright yellow eyes and black shiny feathers. Also spotted a Brown Booby and Brown Pelican fishing the bay near El Morro. Hundreds of Rock Pigeons were hanging out at el Parque de las Palomas (Pigeon Park). These birds have apparently been here hundreds of years and are fed by tourists and local school children alike. Other birds in the old city included Common Ground Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove and House Sparrow. Here as well as for the whole trip, there were many Turkey Vultures in the sky.

June 14 – Guanica
Most of the day was spent driving from Ponce to Mayaguez, but we stopped near Guanica in southwest Puerto Rico for a few hours to eat and visit el Bosque Seco or dry forest. This forest gets just a small amount of rain fall each year, but the forest does seem to survive. It seemed to me that it must have rained here recently as the trees were very green with lots of new growth and the mosquitoes were very active.

Within minutes of entering the forest, we were greeted by a number of small birds. The first one spotted was the Puerto Rican Tody*. This little bird looks like a cross between a hummingbird and a kingfisher. It had a mechanical sound that I thought might be an insect of some sort at first. He sat in a tree for a while and let me get good looks as well as a couple of shots with the camera. The picture above is one I took myself.

Also in the trees that afternoon were Bananaquit*, Puerto Rican Flycatcher, Puerto Rican Vireo* (being quite vireo-like in his annoyingly constant singing and excellent hiding places!) and Adelaide’s Warbler*. There were probably many more, but the mosquitoes were also numerous and we hadn’t armed ourselves with any insect repellant. We practically ran for the car and the Benedryl it contained.

We stopped at a small inlet on the Guanica Bay and spotted a Magnificant Frigatebird* flying among the Turkey Vultures. There was also a youthful Little Blue Heron molting to adult plumage and stepping carefully on the clumps of water plants. At the restaurant, a Pearly-eyed Thrasher* checked out the patrons and foraged for scraps under the tables.

June 15 – Cabo Rojo

Just south of Mayaquez is Cabo Rojo and it was recommended as one of the best birding places in PR. When we got to (what we thought was) the entrance, the sign indicated that the gate did not open until 7:30. So we scouted around for somewhere to eat breakfast and found (what else) McDonald’s. At 7:30 we headed back and as we drove down the access road, a Gray Kingbird* was flycatching from the wires. He allowed me to get some good looks at him before we drove off to find the parking lot.

We had our choice of places to visit and decided to first explore the “dry bird” area which I took to mean as “land birds” and opposed to the “wet birds” of the opposite direction. Lots of Bananaquits here as well as great views of Yellow Warblers, a bird I haven’t seen a quite a few years. Also got good views of Puerto Rican Woodpecker* and Lesser Antillean Peewee* here and a fleeting look at a Black-faced Grassquit. Interestingly, there were lots of Eurasian-collared Doves here, but they aren’t listed on my Puerto Rican bird listing, so I guess, here as elsewhere they are extending their range.

As for the “wet birds” we found lots of Blue-winged Teal family groups, although the babies looked almost full grown; Great Egrets, Black-necked Stilts (who were obviously nesting and quite agitated by our presence); Common Moorhen; and American Coot. Someday, I think I would like to go back and bird this island seriously to find more of the specialties.

Lower Santa Catalina Mountains

This was one of the largest turnouts I’ve ever seen on a TAS trip – over 30 people in 10 cars. It’s great to know there is so much interest in birding, but the crowd made for a noisy and mostly unproductive day even though our leader, Barbara, split the group into two. Our first stop was at the Molino Basin camping area. Here our group saw a pair of Ash-throated Flycatchers feeding young in a dead tree stump and a couple of Canyon Towhees.

Old Prison Camp was the next stop. We had a little more luck here and saw Black-headed Grosbeak, Bewick’s Wren, Summer Tanager, White-throated Swift, and Wilson’s Warbler. Three Cassin’s Kingbirds gave an exciting chase to a Cooper’s Hawk. Then on to Bear Canyon picnic area where we saw Painted Redstart, Grace’s Warbler, Hairy Woodpecker, Mexican Jay, Acorn woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, and Bridled Titmouse. We also heard a Western Wood Peewee, but he was not very cooperative.

Finally, we made the trip up to our leaders cabin near Willow Canyon and hit pay-dirt at her feeders. Even with thirty some people on the porch and around the house, the feeders were very active with Lesser Goldfinch, Pine Siskins, White-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches. Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, Broad-billed and Magnificent Hummingbirds populated the hummingbird feeders, while *Mountain Chickadee, Bridled Titmouse, Grace’s Warbler, Hepatic Tanager, and American Robin were seen slightly beyond the feeders.

Boyce-Thomspon Arboretum

Arlene and I met at Danny’s house to carpool up to the Boyce-Thomspon Arboretum near Superior, AZ. Danny provided a wonderful traveling breakfast of western-omelet sandwiches (on his famous homemade rolls) and tea. At BTA, we immediately heard a lot of birds singing, but had a difficult time finding them. We were about to give them up as invisible when we spotted a beautiful Northern Cardinal male singing from the tree-tops, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet and two Bell’s Vireos (adult and young) chattering incessantly among the bushes. We also saw Broad-billed and Costa’s Hummingbirds in the flower beds. We stopped for a while at a small fountain and sat quietly for a few minutes. We were rewarded by a Western Tanager coming in for a drink. Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches had also found the water source. As we slowly made our way to the pond, we saw a singing Abert’s Towhee, Phainopepla, and Turkey Vulture. At the pond, we sat for a long time under the shade of the viewing platform. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of activity and it was starting to get very hot even though it wasn’t yet 10. In addition to the many Great-tailed Grackles, there was a female Pied-billed Grebe with her young. Five stuck very close to her, but one more seemed to have been ostracized from the family. We guessed it would be either raptor or turtle food within a day or so. We also found a Common Yellowthroat and Violet-green Swallows here.

We had to force ourselves out of the shade, but continued along the path to the next ramanda. There we again sat for a while to cool off. A brilliant male Summer Tanager kept us company for a while. We hurried a bit to get to the herb garden which was a wonderful respite. There’s a little 2-room stone structure in the garden that was the original house on the property, but was then turned in to a playhouse for the grandchildren. By the time we reached the end of the trail, we were too hot and thirsty to think about birds anymore, so we quickly buzzed the gift shop after deciding that the Dos Hermanos restaurant up the highway a bit would be the perfect place to satisfy our hunger and thirst.

Hummingbirds for Beginners

This week’s TAS trip was led by John Higgins and promised visits to three hummingbird hot spots. I rode with John, Louise, Danny, and Jason (from Vancouver, BC) to Paton’s in Patagonia. There we saw Broad-billed, Violet-crowned, Black-chinned, and Anna’s hummingbirds. The feeders also brought in Bronzed and Brown-headed Cowbird, Black-headed Grosbeak, House Finches, Lesser Goldfinch, and Mourning Dove. On our way out of Paton’s, we got great looks at the *Thick-billed Flycatcher that inhabits the area.

Next we headed to Beatty’s Bed and Breakfast in Miller Canyon. There we found Costa’s, Magnificent, *White-eared and *Broad-tailed Hummingbirds. Some of the others saw the Blue-throated, but I did not. We eat lunch here and watched the hummers buzz around the feeders while Violet-green Swallows buzzed around the pond.

At Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast, we added Lucifer Hummingbird to our list as well as White-winged Dove, and something else which I don’t remember at the moment. The trip ended on a good note with a refreshing stop at Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream.

Northern Arizona

My aunt and I spent the past few days in northern Arizona, specifically in Sedona, Page and the Grand Canyon. Since it was more a vacation for us both, there was little in the way of formal birding trips, but we did see some good species. During a rafting trip down the Colorado in Page, we saw two adult Golden Eagles soaring above their nest and also heard several Canyon Wrens. At the Grand Canyon, we were honored to be able to watch eight *California Condors come in to roost at the South Rim near Bright Angel Lodge. This was a special thrill for me as I remember not having much hope as a child that I would ever see this magnificent bird in the wild. Their rescue from near extinction is certainly one of the few ecological celebrations we have these days. In addition to the condors, we also saw quite a few Common Ravens (who seemed almost tame no doubt due to the food associated with humans) as well as *Clark’s Nutcrackers. Pictures from this trip can be seen at http://iwhipple.multiply.com

ASDM/ Mount Lemmon

My aunt who is visiting from Pennsylvania and I took a morning trip to the desert museum and participated in the daily bird walk at the museum before the heat of the day. The docent led the eight participants to some of the best birding sites, including the desert garden and the Otter/Big Horn Sheep exhibit areas. Besides the usual suspects, Cactus Wren, Verdin, Cooper’s Hawk, Gila Woodpecker, MoDo, White-winged Dove, and Gilded Flicker; we also got some pretty decent looks at a Bronzed Cowbird*, Hooded Oriole*, and a Scott’s Oriole.

Once I drug my aunt away from the museum gift shop, we went to lunch at Guilin’sand then headed to Mount Lemmon (or Lymon Mountain as it is sometimes now known – sorry, inside joke!) where we explored several outlooks. Rose Canyon Lake was particularly interesting with its Ponderosa pines. I heard quite a few American Robins, but didn’t see any. We saw a few Turkey Vultures and a raven sp. who scavenged a Dorito dropped, no doubt, by a fisherman or a child. As we ascended the mountain, it became noticeably cooler, or, better said, less oven-like. Only bird seen toward the top was a single Yellow-eyed Junco who responded to pishing. I was hoping for a Red-faced Warbler, but perhaps another day…