Waders and Wacky Races

Left early doors and drove in darkness back to civilisation and drove to Willcox where we surprisingly found Twin Lakes & Cochise Lakes quite easily. Well, what a great place this was to bird and I only wish we had more time as these two lakes were choc full of birds. The good thing is you can drive right the way around and make the best use of the light as the sun was still quite low and in our eyes to begin with. But as soon as we pulled up we could see Wilson’s Phalaropes everywhere and I guesstimated around 100+ with birds spinning in circles literally everywhere you looked. But do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a photo of this bird spinning 360 degrees at 90 mph...? There were also a few Red-necked Phalaropes mixed in with them as well....

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

Red-necked Phalaropes 

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

It’s a bit tricky to get good pics here as you’re not that close to the birds but they are feeding up avidly on their northward migration and really should be left alone. So here’s a few photo’s from our brief visit as I’ve still got 400+ miles to go to get to the Grand Canyon for an early evening visit… Crazy huh..?

Yellow-headed Blackbirds

We also saw flocks of Yellow-headed Blackbirds here, Western Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Western Kingbird, Brewer’s Sparrows etc. 

American Avocets

Shorebirds were amazing and we racked up Long-billed Dowitchers, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated, Least and Western Sandpipers, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer, Wilson’s Snipe and Willet. 

Long-billed Dowitchers

Willet

There was also Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Shoveller, Mexican Mallard, and a female scaup that had the right headshape for a Greater Scaup……

We literally had to tear ourselves away from here and hit the road, a long journey via Tucson and Phoenix before driving through the desert before getting to Flagstaff. And then on to the Grand Canyon, arriving around 5pm where we found it to be a bit on the chilly side but the views were worth all the driving. 

The majestic Grand Canyon

The forecast was for heavy rain tomorrow so this was our best shot and seeing the canyon in all its glory. And what a place huh? So that's pretty much my story of my first visit to Arizona. The following day we nailed Pinyon Jay before heading to the airport and flying home. 

As for me, well it's Canada and the migration spectacle up next....

A Day at Portal

Daybreak saw us trundling along Stateline Road that borders New Mexico which traverses excellent desert habitat and we picked up our first Scaled Quails quite easily here. Our other major target bird was Bendire’s Thrasher, and as luck would have it we bumped into another birder along here who gave us some valuable info. In fact as we were talking to this birder, a Bendire’s Thrasher hopped up onto a wood pile and onto our life lists! 

Scaled Quail

Bendire's Thrasher

We got really nice views of this bird before driving on a little further and seeing Brewer’s Sparrows, another Greater Roadrunner, American Kestrel, Loggerhead Shrike, Bell’s Vireo, Verdin and others.

The Road to Portal in the Chiricahuas

After breakfast we head up to the mountains and birded around Onion Saddle and Rustler Park with the intention of finding the elusive chickadee and Olive Warbler. Well, despite the strong wind we found several Olive Warblers after a couple hours of walking around in really cold conditions. What a great little bird, and apparently not a warbler and not olive – go figure! 

Olive Warbler

We also saw Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, Western Bluebird, Steller’s Jay, Brown Creeper and a few Red Crossbills.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

So it looked like and I felt resigned to the fact we weren’t going to get Mexican Chickadee we visited a feeding station at the edge of the desert. Sitting in some chairs in the shade of a large tree we watched Lazuli Bunting, Green-tailed Towhee, Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay and other commoner species feeding just a few metres away. At one point a Cooper’s Hawk flew in and scared everything to death, so we left and drove back into New Mexico to top up with fuel. 

Lazuli Bunting

Green-tailed Towhee

Afterwards we drove back along Stateline Road to Willow Pond, a recently established little reserve that holds the only water for miles around. There had been a number of good reports recently but the only shorebirds on offer were Killdeer and Least Sandpiper, but there was a flock of Mexican Ducks as well. But there were lots of Violet-green Swallows, and a Bank Swallow (Sand Martin for us Brits). Driving back through the desert we found a Crissal Thrasher, Western Meadowlark,  Say’s Phoebe and at dusk flocks of Barn and Cliff Swallows flew over.

I did make a visit back up to Rustler Park but no owls were ever going to be calling in the cold wind so I gave up after an hour and drove back, but did see another Ringtail Cat on the way down.

Arizona Day 7: Hunter Canyon to Portal

Today we were heading to Portal in the Chiricahua Mountains, but not before calling in to Hunter Canyon where a Rufous-capped Warbler had been reported. It was a bit tricky to find this place as its not signposted off the main road out of Sierra Vista but we got there eventually and then began walking up the trail. It was quite a rough trail and took a while to reach the trees where the bird had been reported the day before. We were really feeling the altitude this morning for some reason but it was just around 6,000 feet so not too high but we were battling a high wind and uneven and in places steep trail. Well, within a few minutes the Rufous-capped Warbler appeared in the creek below us and began singing and what a beautiful vision of red, yellow and olive it was. No photos unfortunately but just go look in the Sibley Guide to see what a cracker it is. Not a lifer, as I’ve seen one in Texas but a really cool bird. The same spot also had another Buff-breasted Flycatcher, as well as Cassin’s Finch, Cassin’s Vireo, Greater Pewee, Dusky Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Virginia’s, Black-throated Grey and Townsend’s Warblers and other common Sky Island goodies.

Buff-breasted Flycatcher

So that was us done here and we walked back to the car, seeing a few Bell’s Vireos along the way. From here we headed to Portal, a journey of a couple of hours and one thing I noticed was the wind seemed to be picking up with gale force gusts once we reached the open plains. I screeched to a halt at one point as some movement along the fence adjacent to the road looked interesting. There’s absolutely no traffic here so a quick turnaround and we were looking at a bunch of Lark Buntings – a bird I haven’t seen for many years. A little further on we pulled in to look at one of those Historical Markers that are dotted around the country – this one marked the place of Geronimo’s surrender.

Anyway, we drove on to Portal, checked in to our cabins behind the café, ate lunch and then had to drive some 20 miles to fill up with gas. Along the way a few White-throated Swifts flew over but we were soon back in Portal and despite the wind headed up the road to check out the area. We stopped at Paradise and then up to Barfoot Park, which is just under something like 10,000 feet but there was a distinct lack of Mexican Chickadees (a bird we were fated not to find) although there was a dearth of any kind of bird due to the foul weather apart from a few Violet-green Swallows.

So on returning to the cabins we had dinner and then walked around after dark, seeing a Great Horned Owl perched at the top of a large tree. A drive up the road resulted in two different Ringtails (also known as Ring-tailed Cat), a member of the raccoon family, a Striped Skunk, and a cute Gray Fox. But no owls were calling so we called it a day and returned to the cabins.