Madera Canyon - second day

After a siesta and a cup of tea on Saturday May 24th, I drove Fanta down to the Proctor Road Parking area and hiked back up the canyon. I detoured en route back to check out Proctor Road, walking as far as campsite six where Buff-collared Nightjar had been reported. The road was a bit too rocky for us to drive after dark but campsite six was only half an hours walk. Arriving back at Santa Rita my wife and I then headed back down, stopping to see a Gray Hawk in the nest over the road by the picnic area. We got to Proctor Road at 7:30 where we ran into someone who said the bird had been at campsite one the night before, and within minutes the Buff-collared Nightjar began singing. this was a life bird for me. We drove back to Santa Rita in Fanta soon afterwards.

An hour later we drove to the end of the road hoping for Whiskered Screech Owl and Mexican Whip-poor-will and found both birds. The latter was another life bird for me!

I began Sunday May 25th with a walk up to the Kubo and back finding Greater Pewee, Dusky-capped Flycatcher and bird-of-the-day Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher. I saw a pair of these birds across the road from the Kubo - the same spot where David and I had seen them years earlier when this bird was a lifer for me. A Scott's Oriole was at the cut oranges back at Santa Rita Lodge.After breakfast we took one last hike along the creek where we saw a large group of Blue Grosbeaks and a couple of White-tailed Deer.

White-tailed Deer

 We made one stop in Tucson after leaving Madera Canyon - a short visit to Sweetewater where I added Common Gallinule for the year but failed to find Harris's Hawk.

 

Yellow Warbler

Madera Canyon - first day

We arrived at Madera Canyon at 6pm on Friday May 23rd and found a birding tour group looking at a bird through scopes and binoculars.Botteri's Sparrow is not easy to find unless it is singing after the monsoons begin and this was an unexpected bonus bird for the trip. We continued on to Santa Rita Ldge and checked into Cabin 1 which we had reserved just two or three weeks earlier. Half a dozen male Wild Turkeys were just leaving the feeders as we left; a brief visit to the feeders produced Broad-billed, Magnificent and Balck-chinned Hummingbirds and a couple of Canyon Wrens searched for insects around our balcony.

Lesser Nighthawks flew around the feeders at sunset and my wife and I headed down to the Proctor Road parking area where we heard a Common Poorwill calling and managed to see the eye-shine of an Elf Owl as that bird called.

On Saturday Morning, May 24th, I arose early and took my tea to overlook the feeders. Things started slowly and close to 6am only Mexican Jays, Acorn Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Lesser Goldfinches and House Finches joined the hummers. As time moved on Blue Grosbeaks, an immature Scott's Oriole, an Arizona Woodpecker and some White-winged Doves joined the feeding group.

Arizona Woodpecker

At 10am we left our cabin and drove to the end of the road. Our plan was to hike in hopes of seeing an Elegant Trogon. In contrast to my success a year earlier, although we heard one bird call we did not get to see one. The hike did deliver many House Wrens and Plumbeous Vireos and a few Hermit Thrushes but Olive-sided Flycatcher was my only new bird for 2014.
 

Hermit Thrush

Next stop was lunch and we headed out of Madera Canyon to eat, stopping on the way at Rio Rico for Black-bellied Whistling Duck and finding Common Ground-Doves in the same area.

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Common Ground Doves

Heading back after lunch we had the highlight of the trip - a Gila Monster on the road just three or four miles after Continental Shool.

Little Rock, Arkansas

On Sunday May 18th I visited Two Rivers Park in Little Rock, AR. Having done my homework on eBird's BETA 'Explore Hotspots', this appeared to be my best bet for a couple of hours. I took a trail from a parking area down to the river and back, a trail then went through a swamp, through patches of forest and also across some grassy areas.

The latter proved to be the highlight and I had a Mississippi Kite immediately fly over on my arrival at this habitat - and 4 of these birds throughout the morning. Many Indigo Bunting were feeding in the grasses and both Eastern Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers were hunting insects from the grass and small shrubs. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was a life bird for me - my 8th of 2014 - and a spectacular one.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Mississippi Kite

Eastern Kingbird

North American Migration Count - The I-40 Strip

On Saturday May 10th I met Anita at the Holbrook WTP at 6:30 to begin my familiar route on the NAMC in Navajo County. The water level on the first pond was high and so no waders (shorebirds) were to be found. Summer Tanager, Western Wood-Pewee and Black-crowned Night Heron were among the best birds, and I finally caught up with Rock Wren in 2014.

Blue-winged Teal

Rock Wren

Driving beyond the locked gate we had a small flock of Brewer's Sparrows, Northern Mockingbird and a singing Eastern Meadowlark.A walk around the reservoir yielded several Spotted Sandpiper, three Franklin's Gulls and a good variety of ducks. And we were lucky to find a few Scaled Quail.

Scaled Quail

We had no luck on a couple of stops at Joseph City, and La Posada in Winslow was disappointing. We finished our route at McHood Park where we added a couple of species to the day's list. The highlight there was a basking Collared Lizard.

Collared Lizard

Code 3 Bird at Rimmy Jim

On Wednesday May 5th Jason found a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (a Code 3 ABA bird) at Rimmy JIm Tank. I was busy at work and then had to attend a retirement dinner for a colleague and so I did not look at the AZ birds listserve until 9pm.  Some birders had been out to see it at dusk and I thought I was out of luck.

But Shaun posted a positive sighting at 5:35 on Thursday and I raced out to see the bird meeting BB, Vic, Sam and Brooks while there. The bird was very cooperative but a bit far for my camera.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

I had seen many of these birds at the Port of Brisbane in 2009 but this was an ABA bird for me. The bird remained in place on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday May 9th I went to Snowbowl to add Clark's Nutcracker to my year's list. (I did not manage this bird in 2013; I was bitten by a dog in one effort). This time I heard the bird but also saw an American Three-toed Woodpecker. This gave me the full set of the woodpeckers since September 21st 2013.  

NAAS Field Trip along Schultz Creek

On Saturday May 3rd I joined 7 other birders on a NAAS trip led by Jodi along Schultz Pass Roas as far as the tank. After stopping to see a couple of Lewis's Woodpeckers at the junction with Elden Lookout Road, the morning began slowly with few birds singing but picked up as the morning wore on and we had good views of both Grace's and Red-faced Warblers. Everyone also had their first Western Tanagers of the year. The highlight for me was a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers visiting their nest hole in an aspen close to the road.

Against the Wind

With string winds blowing from the north on Wednesday April 30th I decided to head to the Kachina Village Wetlands to see if anything had decided to take refuge on the ground. The winds were terrific and it was hard to walk into the wind and to stand still and try to focus on the birds. I did find 3 Willets among the regular birds.

Willets