This was our final day of birding at Camp Chiricahua. The next day, everybody had to fly back home, some to the west coast, some to the midwest, some to the east coast, and one to Costa Rica. To begin our final day, we all put our bags into the vans and drove towards a certain area, in search of two specific birds. But we got a little side-tracked on our way there. As we were driving, we came across a wildlife park called Las Cienagas National Conservation Area. The name intrigued us, so we drove in and looked to see what we could find. There were Eastern Meadowlarks, Botteri's and Cassin's Sparrows, several kingbirds, and even a Lark Bunting. These buntings are only migrants in Arizona, and it was a little early for this bird to be in Arizona that time of year. It unfortunately wasn't in breeding plumage, for it was overall brown, with big, white patches. These birds are all black with white wing patches in breeding plumage, and are striking. The most common birds by far were Grasshopper Sparrows that were singing from all over the place.
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| Grasshopper Sparrow |
Once we left, we resumed our drive to the Patagonia Rest Stop. This is an extremely well-known spot, and even has a phenomenon named after it. The picnic table effect is when a rare bird is sighted, and throngs of people go to find that bird, but as they are looking for the rare bird, another rarity is discovered. The Patagonia Rest Stop got its fame when a Rose-throated Becard's nest was discovered, and attracted myriads of people. In search for the becard, these people then discovered a Thick-billed Kingbird nest. We went to this rest stop in search for that kingbird, because it breeds there yearly now. The becards on the other hand remain rarities, that infrequently visit Arizona. Once we arrived, it didn't take long for us to find a Thick-billed Kingbird fly and perch on top of a tree. This bird is very similar to a Tropical Kingbird, except that its bill is massive in comparison to its face. Differentiation between the two species is fairly simple thanks to this. However, as we were looking at the kingbird, we heard three PEEs: "PEE, PEE, PEE". This was the call of a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, a southewestern flycatcher and another bird we were after. It didn't take long for this bird to fly out onto a perch in the tree. It was surprisingly cooperative as it perched there for several minutes, letting us get exceptional views of it.
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| Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet |
As we were about to leave, we found a little green bird perched in a clump of branches. It was female Varied Bunting on its nest. The reason why it was a Varied Bunting and not a Lazuli, or a Painted was because it didn't have any wing bars, which eliminated Lazuli, and had a downward-curved bill, which eliminated Painted. These are very important features to remember when identifying female Passerinas.
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| Patagonia Rest Stop picnic table "The Picnic Table Effect" |
Our next stop was at the Paton's feeders, some very well-known feeders, where the first two ABA (American Birding Association) records of Cinnamon Hummingbird were sighted. When we arrived, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was calling from the tree above from where we parked. We sat down, and watched all the feeders. The majority of the hummingbirds were Broad-billed and Black-chinned Hummingbirds, but the occasional Violet-crowned Hummingbird would pop out and land on a feeder.
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| Violet-crowned Hummingbird (notice the violet crown, brown back, white throat and belly, and pink bill) |
Other birds in the area were Gila Woodpeckers, Bridled Titmouses, Common Ground-Doves and Abert's Towhees.
We then went to Patagonia Lake, in the town of Patagonia, to have lunch. The majority of the birds there were Great-tailed Grackles, but in the lake were Neotropic Cormorants and Double-crested Cormorants. The best way to tell these two species apart is by looking at the tail. Neotropics have smaller bodies and much longer tails. Double-crested are bigger and have shorter tails. This was a very good time to compare the two species, while they were swimming side-by-side. Suddenly, a big, brown bird flew and landed in the water. This bird took us all by surprise and we all started jumping with joy. It was a Brown Pelican! An extremely rare bird for Arizona. Somebody took out their iPhone to eBird this sighting. Unfortunately, we were disappointed to find out that this bird had been there for the past month, and we weren't the discoverers of this rarity. It was still exciting to see this bird nonetheless. Coming from the Bay Area, Brown Pelicans are very common on the coast. But it's interesting to find one swimming in a lake in the middle of the desert.
This was our last stop before heading to the hotel in Tucson. I thought that we were done with finding any more cool birds, but right when I thought that, a Greater Roadrunner popped out of nowhere and began running in the parking lot. It ran two feet away from some of the guests at the hotel, and even they were interested by this bird. It was surprisingly tame.
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| Greater Roadrunner (notice the the race car striped auriculars, and the long tail) |
This was an amazing week where I met some incredible birders, saw some wonderful birds, and had a great time. I would like to thank Michael O'Brian, Louise Zemaitis, and Jennie Duberstein for showing us the amazing birds, teaching us invaluable information, and being a blast to spend time with. I highly recommend this camp to young birders of any skill level. Whether you're a novice birder, or an expert birder, this camp is unlike any other, and I would do this camp again if ever I had the possibility.
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