Off the top of your head, could you list the three rarest birds you've ever seen in your life? Before Spring Break, I only had two genuinely rare birds on my life list, but then we made our trip to Florida Canyon in the Coronado National Forest, situated approximately an hour south of Tucson, I added number three.
Knowing we weren't going to be far from Tucson, I thought it would be great to call our friend Jennie Duberstein, one of the co-leaders for Camp Chiricahua. Jennie works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, but volunteers as a youth representative for the ABA (American Birding Association), serving as a connection between young birders and potential scholarship or internship opportunities. She is a wonderfully delightful and generous person, and she let us spend the night at her house, which was something I didn't think I would appreciate as much as I did. Of course I was grateful of her hospitality, but what made it even better was access to a bed (for Kyle anyways, I landed myself a comfy futon) and a warm shower. Sooooo nice after having spent the night in an uncomfortable vehicle in the middle of a cold and frigid desert Unfortunately, because of our plans to go owling, we had to leave her house at 4:00 AM and therefore couldn't see her in the morning, so we had to say our goodbyes that same night.
We awoke two hours before the sunrise, which gave us an hour to arrive at our destination and then another hour to listen for some owls. Once we arrived, we immediately heard a couple Western Screech-Owls, but that was all we had. We then drove on over to our location of interest for the day: Florida Canyon. At Florida Canyon, we were hoping to find a gorgeous, neotropic ABA Code 4 bird.
This bird was the Rufous-capped Warbler, a dapper gray bird, blazoned with olive wings and tail, a bright yellow throat, and a striking rufous and white striped head pattern. Three individuals of this species had been regularly seen at this location for the past few months. However, the day we arrived, the birds weren't seen the day before, which only increased our desire for these birds.
We arrived at the entrance of Florida Canyon at around 7:00 AM. Yellow-rumped Warblers flitted in the trees above while Bridled Titmouse called further away. Both pert species, but not the species we were after. As we walked down the trail, we saw some wonderful birds including Pyrrhuloxia, Painted Redstart, 2 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulets and Costa's Hummingbirds, species I hadn't seen since Camp Chiricahua. Then, as we were about to cross the wash which was going to lead us to the Rufous-capped Warbler spot, we heard a very warbly and buzzy song that I immediately recognized. This species had eluded me since Camp Chiricahua, when I made the wrong decision of looking at a Broad-billed Hummingbird, rather than this bird: a Bell's Vireo. This species is as widespread denizen of the southwest, commonly found in riparian habitat. However, the subspecies in California (the 'Least' Bell's Vireo) is a threatened one, which means it's more difficult for me to find one in California. When I heard this bird singing, I immediately knew that I had to locate it. Kyle had already seen them (because he didn't waste his time with a hummingbird we almost got tired of seeing by the end of our trip), so he wasn't as anxious about seeing this bird. Because we were pressed on time, I didn't want to spend to much time looking for this bird. Then, I noticed a smaller bird hop from one branch to another, and I finally got my lifer Bell's Vireo!
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| Bell's Vireo |
A wonderful bird indeed, but not the bird we had driven so far to see (we only seriously decided to go to Arizona about a week before our departure, so this wasn't even part of our original itinerary). We continued down the trail a little while more, and we finally ran into a group of birders looking up a ravine: we had arrived. Unfortunately, none of them had seen them yet, and given that they hadn't been seen since two days before, the odds certainly weren't in our favor. We stood around the general area and pished a little for a good 25 minutes to no avail. Kyle and I realized that this standing around didn't serve us any good, so we decided to walk a little further down the trail, where no one had yet walked out to. We pished a little more, and Kyle decided playing a quick little call couldn't hurt. He began playing the recording, and suddenly I heard him shout: "Cédric, look behind you!".
I turned around to see our sought-after target of the trip: Rufous-capped Warbler! This beauty was within fifteen feet of us and offered spectacular views, which was remarkable given I was hardly expecting any views at all.
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| Rufous-capped Warbler |
I was in absolute shock by the stark radiance emanating on this gorgeous bird. Based on photos and illustrations, I knew this bird was beautiful, but it was a completely different experience to witness this bird in real life. We then noticed the second individual, which cavorted its way into view. It was that much more incredible to see two individuals of this species socializing together in an area where they are only accidentally seen.
We called over the other birders, who followed by praising us and saying that the 'young birders' saved the day. We were just happy that everybody was able to see the stunning celebrity. In spite of the fantastic views we earned of this species, we had to head on out because we had a jam-packed day of birding in store for us. We bid farewell to our neotropic visitors and walked on back to our car. We high-fived each other as we walked back, to celebrate our successful hunt! It was indeed a successful hunt!
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