To begin our fourth day of camp, Michael O'Brian had promised us that we would return to the spot where we heard and briefly saw the Buff-breasted Flycatcher, so we walked back up that trail. We found the usual birds: Mountain Chickadees, Yellow-eyed Juncos, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, etc... We finally arrived at the spot, and we almost immediately heard it. It seemed fairly close, but not so close that we could see it. So we decided to very quietly climb up some rocks to have a panoramic view of the campground, and perhaps have a better view of the Empid. Once we were on top, we scanned the area, in hopes of finding something interesting. Suddenly, one of the campers yelled out that she saw a Peregrine Falcon perched on a branch about a quarter-mile away. I was the camper that probably got the most excited because this had been a nemesis bird of mine for a while now. There is a well-known Peregrine Falcon nest in San Francisco, on top of a building. There is a video-cam on it, people study the nest...it's pretty much famous. I however have never gotten around to going there and seeing it. My good friend Logan Kahle keeps on telling me of good spots for finding one, but I have always ended up falcon-less. So a sudden rush of excitement rushed through my entire body. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to point it out. Then, she said that it started flying, and all my hopes disappeared. But then I saw this dark silhouette shoot up into the sky and fly over us. It had sharp and pointed wings, so I immediately knew that it was a falcon, the Peregrine Falcon. I put my binoculars to my eyes, and saw the streaky stomach and wings. This bird is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of up to 200/mph, and I realized this. It was hard to get a nice, clean view of this falcon. I specify this bird as being a falcon, and not just a raptor, because recent studies shows that these birds, along with other falcons such as Merlins, or Prairie Falcons, are in fact more closely related to parrots than to hawks and vultures. Falcons are in fact carnivorous parrots, believe it or not. To learn more about this, click here.
But I digress, that main point is that I finally found my nemesis bird.... finally! Once it flew off into the distance, we returned to our flycatcher search. We would only hear the faint "whip" call every so often, which didn't reassure us at all. But then me and three other campers saw a little bird fly onto a snag 40 feet in front of us. This bird was the bird we were after: the Buff-breasted Flycatcher. Unfortunately though, it had its back turned on us, so we couldn't see the buffy tones on its breast. But we didn't complain, because we were the only ones that got good views of this bird. We finally headed back to the campsite and had breakfast. That day was our last day of camping so had to take down our tents after eating. Forty minutes later, we packed everything into the vans and headed down the mountain, but stopped at this one spot where Michael and Louise scouted before the camp. When scouting, they heard a Montezuma Quail, a furtive, secretive, and gorgeous bird. This bird has intricate and harlequin markings on its face, and it looks like it had been painted on. It is a truly unique bird. However, we didn't find this elusive quail, but I did get myself a lifer. As we were scanning the area, and listening for a descending trill (the Montezuma Quail call), Michael heard a Rock Wren not too far from us. Louise, who is a little further away from us said she was able to see two of them perched right next to an agave plant. We went down to where she was and Michael placed his spotting scope on the wren couple. I got awesome looks at this bird that was far too overdue for me.
We left this little pitstop, and headed towards Willcox, Arizona, where we stopped to run some errands and birded at another sewage pond (yay!). But before, we met up with Jennie (who had left earlier than us to scout the next spot) at this road just along Saguaro National Park, called Broadway Road. The roadside was obviously where we birded, for that was where the habitat was. Soaring in the sky, were several dozen Purple Martins, lifers for me. But then, several of them flew into their nest cavities in saguaro cacti, giving us great views. Other birds we saw were Gila Woodpeckers, Cactus Wrens, Rufous-winged Sparrows, Gambel's Quail, Western Kingbirds, and a single Greater Roadrunner. We all packed into the vans and prepared for the upcoming two hour drive. But we suddenly got walkie-talkied by the van behind us being driven by Louise Zemaitis, saying that they just saw a Harris's Hawk on top of a telephone pole. Michael immediately u-turned, and parked the car. The raptor (as this bird is in fact related to raptors, unlike the falcons) was perched atop the pole, just like Louise had said, completely oblivious to the fact that a whole camp was admiring it.
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| Harris's Hawk (notice the rufous tones on the wings and legs, and egregious yellow cere at the base of the beak) |
This species is known for being highly gregarious, meaning flocking and hunting in groups, but this one was solitary, and didn't seem to mind because it didn't budge when we all started snapping pictures. Then, Michael and a whole bunch of other campers were looking at a shrub, and they said that they saw two Black-tailed Gnatcatchers. I walked towards them, but then two small, quarreling birds began chasing each other. They were blue and had a black undertail, so I knew they were the gnatcatchers.
Unfortunately, it was time to leave the majestic hawk and move on. We headed towards the Willcox Sewage Ponds, a well-known birding hotspot for migrating sandpipers. After having lunch at Pizza Hut, we drove towards the ponds. We first stopped at this small marshy area, where we found American Coots, Mallards, a Ruddy Duck, and a Black-crowned Night-Heron. We then went to the actual ponds. Despite the appalling odor, this place was amazing. There were so many sandpiper-like birds, including Wilson's Phalaropes, Least, Western, Baird's, and the rarer and migratory Stilt Sandpipers. There were also both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, side-by-side, which made for an awesome comparison. There were American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Spotted Sandpipers. This place was perfect, except for the smell and the rising heat.
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| Wilson's Phalaropes and Lesser Yellowlegs (second one from the right) |
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| Wilson's Phalaropes |
Other noteworthy birds that we found here were our first Swainson's Hawk, Eastern Meadowlark, Great-tailed Grackles, and both Cassin's and Western Kingbirds.
Once we left the sewage ponds, we drove for two hours straight. We did however stop when we saw interesting birds or creatures on the side of the road. We saw two ravens perched on a telephone pole, and they turned out to be Chihuahuan Ravens. These are some of the hardest birds to identify in the entire country. The best way to tell them apart is by looking at the nasal bristles. If it has relatively long bristles, it is a Chihuahuan Raven, and if it has short bristles, it's a Common Raven. However, this field mark can be difficult to get a good look at, if it's flying, or perched too far away. Along the drive, we saw Black-throated Sparrows, Greater Roadrunners, kingbirds, and Curve-billed Thrashers. Other wildlife that we saw were Desert Cottontails, Jackrabbits, Black-tailed Deer, a Desert Tarantula, and we almost ran over a Western Box Turtle.
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| The Western Box Turtle that we saved! |
After two hours of driving, and braving car sickness, we finally arrived at Cave Creek Ranch, our home for the next four days. This area is universally known for its avian diversity and abundance. If you are a birder, you will end up here eventually. It is literally a birder's paradise. All the people that check into that hotel are birders. Like Luke Dempsey says in his book A Supremely Bad Idea: "If you're visiting Portal, you're either a birder, or you're lost." There were feeders hung everywhere, and had Lesser Goldfinches, Mexican Jays, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Northern Cardinals, Curve-billed Thrashers, and Acorn Woodpeckers, to name a few.
We were all pretty tired, so we all just unpacked in our cabins, and sat on the porch, waiting for birds to come to us, rather than look for them. We had dinner at the end of the day, and finally got a well-deserved night of rest.
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