On Saturday January 18th I met Sandy and Ed at Paton's in Patagonia. I ran into longtime Flagstaff residents Sandy and Ed at Walnut Canyon the CBC and heard they were snowbirding in Patagonia for the month of January. We spent the best part of two hours at Paton's and enjoyed the large number and large variety of birds at the feeders there. The highlight was Paton's first Violet-crowned Hummingbird of 2014, a bird that showed up at hummingbird feeder #3 at 9am only to find it still frozen! We also had a Plumbeous Vireo that was not on the list of recent sightings. And I caught up with one bird that had eluded me in 2013, a Green-tailed Towhee.
After Paton's and an aborted trip to Patagonia Lake that was obviously busy, and a decision not to try for the skulky Sinaloa Wren at Tubac, we headed for Florida Canyon in search of Rufous-capped Warblers. I had tried for these and failed in 2012. When we arrived at the parking lot the news was good - two, perhaps three birds had been seen just past the dam and Ed & I hurried up the trail. Just past the dam two people were just leaving and showed us the exact spot where the birds had been. We sat and waited patiently and had lunch, but no luck. We then decided to head up the trail when a single Rufous-capped Warbler found us and scolded us from just 6 feet away. This was my first life bird of 2014 and a gorgeous one too!
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| Rufous-capped Warbler |
I then said my goodbyes to ed and Sandy who headed back while I went to Madera Canyon. I was confident of finding Wild Turkey and Mexican Jay and hopeful of finding Arizona Woodpecker. I actually added all three of these birds at Santa Rita Lodge as well as my first Chipping Sparrows of 2014 and an unexpected Hepatic Tanager. I had another surprise while walking to the Kubo, the call of an Elegant Trogon! At the Kubo itself I saw a rather scrawny male Magnificent Hummingbird but just failed to properly see a Yellow-eyed Junco as it flew from a feeder and over the roof!
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| Wild Turkey |
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| Mexican Jays |
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| Arizona Woodpecker |
Arriving back in Tucson at 4:45 I decided to take a stab at the Pine Warbler in Reid Park. I had been too tired to chase this yesterday but I heard that Tom & BB had found the bird after half an hour of searching. Arriving at Reid Park I found hundreds of people picnicking and playing ball with boomboxes blaring! I tried for half an hour but really couldn't hear any warbler chips and I left empty handed. I did luck out and found a Summer Tanager that I had heard about earlier in the day.
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| Summer Tanager |
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