A very pleasant day of birding at some of the hottest sites in SE Arizona, with 72 species.
Tubac:
A morning walk along the Anza Trail, around the bridge and in Ron Morriss Park produced excellent views of GRAY HAWK, plus ‘MEXICAN’ MALLARD, NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULET, VERMILION FLYCATCHER, CASSIN’S KINGBIRD, PLUMBEOUS VIREO, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED and BARN SWALLOWS, LUCY’S and YELLOW WARBLERS, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE, and SUMMER TANAGER.
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Peña Blanca Canyon:
Our main target was ELEGANT TROGON and we managed to find a couple of males and a female.
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Even though we didn’t arrive until late afternoon, there was still some good bird activity, including BLACK VULTURE, GRAY and ZONE-TAILED HAWKS (the latter with a nest), GREATER ROADRUNNER, ARIZONA WOODPECKER, HAMMOND’S, DUSKY-CAPPED and ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERS, BUSHTIT, ROCK and CANYON WRENS, AMERICAN ROBIN, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, PAINTED REDSTART, RUFOUS-CROWNED and RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS, and ‘GRAY-HEADED’ form DARK-EYED JUNCO.
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Continental:
The fruit on the mulberry trees by the railroad crossing are ripening, and starting to attract birds. There was a huge flock of PINE SISKINS, and a bunch of PHAINOPEPLAS, as well as several WESTERN KINGBIRDS, my first of the year.
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Madera Canyon:
The feeders at Santa Rita Lodge and Madera Kubo Lodge still had birds coming in, despite the mid-afternoon timing, including WILD TURKEY, MAGNIFICENT, BLACK-CHINNED, BROAD-TAILED and BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRDS, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO, HEPATIC TANAGER, and SCOTT’S ORIOLE.
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It was fun to watch a PAINTED REDSTART repeatedly feeding from a hummingbird feeder at Madera Kubo.
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As we drove back out of the canyon, we had great views of a GRAY HAWK at the side of the road.
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Florida Canyon:
We ended a fine day by spending a few minutes around the parking area, finding GRAY HAWK, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, and BELL’S VIREO.
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I quickly checked on the Black-capped Gnatcatcher nest that had been built right next to the trail. As I speculated a few days ago, the nest has been abandoned and has started to be picked apart, possibly by the gnatcatchers themselves, recycling the material as they build their new nest.
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