Having woken up at 6:00 AM, flown for 3:30 hours, and waited about 2 hours during the layover, I was extremely exhausted. However, my incessantly increasing lassitude wasn't enough to quell the excitement growing within me. I was about to begin a ten-day birding camp in Southeastern Arizona, with ten other enthusiastic teen-birders, led by three amazing and knowledgeable leaders. This camp is called Camp Chiricahua (named after the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, where a large portion of the camp is spent), and has been going on for the last twenty years with Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT). Every year, young birders from around the country, and sometimes even around the world, gather together to participate in the unique and spectacular birding experience. This camp is set in Southeast Arizona, whose avifauna is truly one-of-a-kind in comparison to the rest of the country. There are birds there that are only found in this small corner of Arizona, and can't be found anywhere else in the country. For some of these birds, you would have to travel to Mexico or Central America to see them. But we were fortunate enough to explore this magical land and witness these restricted and beautiful birds.
I arrived at the Tucson airport at around 11:30 AM, and was greeted by one the camp's leaders, Michael O'Brian. Michael is a renowned birder and artist. He works as a tour leader for VENT, but also has an art company set in Cape May, New Jersey, that he runs with his wife Louise Zemaitis, also an artist and another leader at this camp. He brought me to where some of the other campers were waiting with Louise. This gave us a chance to get to know each other. We were truly an eclectic group of people, coming from all over and with completely different personalities. There were campers from Connecticut, Oklahoma, California, and even Costa Rica! Despite our different backgrounds, we all got along swimmingly.
Once everybody had arrived, we went to the hotel to drop off our baggages, and got ready for our first birding in Southeast Arizona! Michael O'Brian and Louise Zemaitis brought us to a local birding spot in Tucson called Sweetwater Wetlands. However, this wasn't just any type of wetland, it was a sewage pond. So it gave the entire pond and marsh area a not-so-pleasant odor, but sewage ponds are known for having amazing bird diversity, so nobody complained. As we arrived, White-Winged Doves flew over us, along with Mourning and Eurasian-Collared Doves. Verdins hung from the trees like Christmas Tree ornaments, and Lesser Goldfinches were everywhere. We were all so eager and excited to go out birding, that we all jumped out of the vans, and began to bird the vicinity. But Michael and Louise made us gather around so they can talk to us about this area, and what birds we can expect to find. Once they were done, we began birding. We looked around and found a couple Song Sparrows (but of the southwest subspecies that is much lighter in color than the ones found here in the Bay Area). Then we heard this loud and strong "CHIP", and Michael pointed out that it was an Abert's Towhee. We looked around the bush from where it called, and we saw this longish brown bird scuttle on the ground. It then hopped out into the open and we were able to get good looks at this black-faced emberizid. We continued around the trail and saw other birds such as Great-tailed Grackles, House Finches, and Turkey Vultures soaring overhead. We reached this spot where we had a view of a marshy area where myriad Mallards and Cinnamon Teals paddled on the water's surface. Red-winged Blackbirds were flying in the reeds around the ponds. Then Michael pointed out a bird and set up the spotting scope on it so everybody could get a good look at it. The bird was a Tropical Kingbird, a lifer for a good part of the campers. This bird can easily be confused with a Western Kingbird or a Cassin's Kingbird, but can be told apart by its massive bill in comparison to its head. It is a member of the tyrant-flycatcher family, meaning it feeds on insects, and especially dragonflies. It was really great to get good views of this extremely localized bird. As we continued forward, we came across a metallic boardwalk, that gave us a view of the entire marsh. We got good views of the American Coots and Common Gallinules, a Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Barn Swallows flying just above us. Then we noticed a little bird perched on a reed, and saw that it was fledgling Barn Swallow. This bird was absolutely adorable and extremely cooperative. It just sat there and gave everybody plenty of time to observe through the scope.
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| Barn Swallow fledgling |
You can tell that it's a fledgling by the yellow gape at the base of its mouth and relatively short tail, lacking a fork.
Then while everybody was admiring the young hirundinid, or looking at the various dragonflies zipping around, I noticed a small bird walking around in the reeds. I put my binoculars up to my eyes, and saw that it was a Sora! This is a species of rail that is known for being secretive and elusive, therefore hardly ever seen. Furthermore, this species is a migrant to Arizona, making it that much harder to see there. Everybody got excited when I pointed out the surreptitious rail. Soon after, a flock of 6-7 rowdy Yellow-headed Blackbirds landed in the reeds.
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| Male Yellow-headed Blackbird |
Once we left the boardwalk, we continued walking along the trail. There weren't any birds around once we walked off the boardwalk, but we did come across a dead and half-eaten Western Diamondback Rattlesnake.
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| Dead Western Diamondback Rattlesnake |
We continued walking around the loop, and refound the Tropical Kingbird, but it wasn't alone. It had caught a Blue-eyed Darner (a species of dragonfly). This kingbird mercilessly beat this insect on the branch it was perched on, until it had decapitated it. It then engulfed the entire dragonfly. It was quite a sight.
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| Tropical Kingbird with its beaten quarry |
We finally reached the entrance of the wetlands and were about to hop back into the vans, but we decided to scan the ponds a little bit more before leaving. Thank goodness we did, because we found a distant Common Gallinule, a Common Yellowthroat, a couple Black-chinned Hummingbirds, a Gila Woodpecker that landed in the tree above us, and an aberrant Costa's Hummingbird. Then a covey of Gambel's Quail quickly dashed across the trail in front of us. Michael then noticed two kingbirds perched on a wire 50 feet away from us. He put the spotting scope on them and realized they were in fact two different species of kingbirds: Western and Cassin's Kingbirds.
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| Western Kingbird (on left) and Cassin's Kingbird (on right) |
An easy way to tell these similar birds apart is by observing their malar regions (the malar region is the part below the bill that extends to the bird's cheeks). The Cassin's Kingbird has a very contrasting malar region, in comparison to its breast (the malar region being white and the breast being a strong shade of gray). The Western Kingbird on the other hand has a malar region that blends in with its chest and there isn't much contrast at all. This is a very good photo to compare these two similar species.
This trip to the sewage pond was a great way to introduce us to the Arizona's birdlife, and a great way to begin this camp. I was so excited for the rest of the camp after this introduction to Arizona birding!
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