Thursday, July 26, 2012

Foothills of the Santa Ritas

Last week Pops and I embarked on a birding excursion to southeast Arizona that had the potential to be marvelous, with a chance of becoming epic, and that ended up being legendary for Butler birding. With only half a day at our disposal in the Santa Rita Mountains, we had to hit the ground running. We planned to check out the Montosa Canyon on the southwest side of the mountains first, and then explore the Kent Springs trail before moving to the upper Madera sites. It was a complicated itinerary with little room for error--clearly a two-man job. 

We reached Montosa Canyon by 6 am, optimistic that we might find a lingering Plain-capped Starthroat seen visiting a feeder near the canyon wash. The Plain-capped Starthroat is not as excitingly colored as the name implies, but it is one of the rarer Hummingbirds to stray into Arizona. 

We drove a ways into the canyon seeking out this oddly placed but well-attended feeder. It was moved from its original location, and so Pops and I had to do some splorin' (isn't life hard sometimes?). Before we found the feeder, we were treated to some excellent views of Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Canyon Wrens, and Cardinals. We were also pleasantly surprised to see Varied Buntings off and on throughout the morning, though only the drab females stopped for a picture. 


The songs of various rufousy desert Sparrows echoed in the morning air, interrupted by the occasional outburst of Mexican Jays. Although the canyon was very birdy, we did not locate the feeder by 7 am, and I began to get antsy. We needed to see the Starthroat and get up to Madera before it got too late in the day, or so went my worrying. To add to my anxiety, this little female Black-chinned Hummingbird landed nearby and tempted me to turn her into a female Lucifer. Nice try Black-chinned, but you're too big and gray-cheeked! Plus the throat's wrong. Really I don't know what she was playing at...


The hummingbirds weren't the only little birds playing mind tricks. With its more gradual inclines and thick scrub, Montosa Canyon is one of the most reliable areas in the U.S. to see Black-capped Gnatcatchers. Pops and I spent a fair amount of time, really at all of our stops, trying to turn Blue-grays into Black-capped. The best way to ID a Black-capped, especially a silent female, is by the underside of the tail, but even there they look very similar to female Blue-grays. I am afraid the Black-capped Gnatcatcher still eludes me.


Apart from the no-show Gnatcatchers, the day was a great triumph. Pops, who is far more patient than I, found the feeder farther east of our original area, but by that time some other birders and beaten us to the good spots. After about fifteen minutes of waiting and a few twitches brought on by other Hummingbirds, the Starthroat finally made an appearance. It stayed only for a moment and as far as I'm aware did not reappear that day. While hovering near the feeder, Pops and I had great views of the bird's white back, and this blurry photo helped us note of the the proper facial markings. Oddly enough, the other birders in our little cul-de-sac convinced each other that they had, in fact, only seen a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. I don't really see Broad-tailed at all in this bird, and I'm not one to make declarations too soon. I guess some folks are just hard to please. Truth be told I was ready to leave Montosa before Pops found the feeder. I'm very glad that we stuck it out and the virtue of patience was once more reinforced for me.


From Montosa we drove north again, up Madera Canyon road to the Bog Springs campsite. From Bog Springs we took the steep rocky trail towards Kent Springs, hopeful of a few more new birds, some of which were common to the area and others not so much. Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers were one of my 'must-see' birds this summer, and they did not disappoint. The first half of our ascent was fairly quiet and fairly hot. While we did get some great looks at a family of Arizona Woodpeckers in the scrub oak, the initial trek was on the unenjoyable side of arduous. But as we approached the Kent Spring intersection we were ambushed!

The Flycatchers flew back and forth across the trail, shrieking their battle cries with great temerity and daring us to fight them for their territory. We were lucky they did not unleash any face-curdling, sulphur-tinted belches (from which these birds obviously get their name), because they're pretty face-meltingly beautiful already. Arizona's version of the Great Kiskadee, these magnificent flycatchers shown brightly even in overcast weather.


Though the Flycatchers were a definite highlight, they were not the primary objective of our Kent Springs excursion. This semi-obscured House Wren wasn't the primary objective either; it's just cute.


No, the main attraction of Kent Springs this summer is a half-mad half-insane Scarlet Tanager that has been living near the Kent Springs/Bog Springs intersection since the end of May. It had been my hope to see my first Scarlet Tanager this year, presumably when visiting family in Pennsylvania this past June. I did not expect that my first Scarlet Tanager would be in southeast Arizona in July, about 1,200 miles west of its normal range.


Lunatic birds are some of my favorite birds, and the Scarlet Tanager was no exception. As one might expect, this canopy dweller was a real lame-o about getting his picture taken, but the sensory overload when that Scarlet caught some sunlight...it's seared in my brain forever. Every summer Madera Canyon pulls in specialty Hummingbirds, Flycatchers, and Elegant Trogons, but a Scarlet Tanager too? Truly this must be one of the best birding sites on the surface of the sun (Arizona).


The birds received most of our attention, but they were not the only attraction. With its different elevations and ecosystems, Madera Canyon is also a herpetological powerhouse. This Yarrow's Spiny Lizard served as a reminder that superb coloration isn't just the domain of birds and butterflies. If only the birds had this guy's mellow attitude.


Kent Springs wasn't the last stop of the day. Pops and I still had a score to settle with the Elegant Trogons of upper Madera. We backtracked to our vehicle and drove further up the canyon towards the Super Trail (a fitting name for an epic showdown eh?). The stage was set for a great reckoning, like the kind of reckoning that must be immortalized in a special-effects laden, over-the-top Michael Bay movie, but more on that later.

14 comments:

  1. Scarlet Tanagers have an odd habit of showing up when you're least expecting them. I glimpsed my first mid-way through a 10k (and of course I had to stop and look for it). Arizona though -- that's impressively out of the way. Congrats on a legendary outing and some pretty fantastic birds

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    1. Why thank you Sir Nicholas. How do you feel about "The 10K Birder" being your birding moniker?
      That's a pretty rad 'first' sighting. Tanagers must respond to your energy.

      I guess in this case I was expecting it, as I had read the listservs about this bird for some time with growing excitement, but what I didn't expect was the Tanager I saw in the bathroom later that day, photo excluded for obvious, tasteful reasons.

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  2. Nice finds Laurence! Those tanagers are something special. I was in Montosa Canyon yesterday and had a really great time. No Starthroat but lots of bug bites!!:)

    Yesterday we viewed a juvenile Broad Bill, several Broad Bills, and the female Black Chin. I believe I also spotted a female Broad Tail zipping between bushes.

    Love the Yarrow's shot and the SB Flycatcher is excellent catch!

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    1. Thanks Chris. You, sir, must have an indomitable spirit to come away with just bug bites from a Starthroat hunt and call it a great day! Sounds like you still had some excellent sightings. I'm also glad we can be Sulphur-bellied buddies now, having both seen and photographed those exquisite birds this summer.

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  3. That Sulphur-belly is a real beauty. I'd love to see one.

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    1. There's nothing quite like em' Ken. I'd love for you to see and photograph one too. Arizona beckons...

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  4. Love that Sulphur-bellied, wow.

    You have the most amazing adventures Laurence!

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    1. Thanks Mia! I mean, it's no epic Montana trip or anything, but still it was a great day : )

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  5. Haha, that hummingbird is a Broad-tailed huh? How embarrassing! Southeast Arizona has some astoundingly bad birders, bust most of them arent local.

    Congrats on 2 excellent birds. Nice flycatcher shot too, I love those things.

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    1. : ::sigh:: : yes, it was a very cringe-worthy moment.

      Luckily some other cool birds took the cringe away. Sulphur-bellies are too cool for school. I would like very much to know how they produce that call, and then maybe also make it my cell-phone ring, just in case anyone thought I wasn't very annoying already.

      Thanks for stopping by Seagull.

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    2. Is it a Broad Tailed or a juvenile Broad Bill? Madera is full of them now. I just did a shoot on several of them last weekend. We've been tracking them since they've been in the nest. Anyhow, I went over my photo records today to see if this was the guy flying around the area yesterday and he appears to be the same fellow. I didn't want to say anything and destroy the dream. We all spoke about that yesterday and had a good laugh. Sometimes you look so hard for something that you make it look like what you want it to be....in your mind:) However, he's still out there somewhere.

      And as you say, the SBF, Tanagers, and the Blue Throated(grrr:)are all spectacular catches. I've become a bit neurotic with hummingbirds if you can't tell:) There's a festival tomorrow at 8 up on Pinetop but that's 5 hours aways and I am not driving all that way up to drive back down again. But I could have found my Calliope and Rufous for sure:) Have a good weekend. I'm still on that hunt:)

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    3. Good hunting to ya Chris. I still need those Hummingbirds too, but will probably have to wait until next spring/summer : (

      Yeah the bird pictured above at the feeder is the Starthroat, and immature broad-billed does look similar (apart from the size). It was very strange that these folks settled on Broad-tailed, as that's just farfetched. Maybe they misspoke, I know I've done it from time to time. Seeing the white on the rump (observed but not pictured) was very helpful for us. I wish the bird had stuck around for some better-lighted photos but cooperation is never a strong point for unusual birds.

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    4. Oh my goodness. I am itching STILL from that Montosa visit. It's no wonder that the gnatcatchers love this place:) I didn't bring the bug spray and should have worn jeans. Now the Miller canyon is reporting 10 species at the CAS! but the road is terrible. Ugh! It's fun but there is definitely a time limit on several of these hummers. August and maybe September with October being the last opportunity until the next year. Very tricky stuff. I think the Starthroat has flown away. It hasn't been spotted for awhile. Or the agave blooms have kept the one or two of them occupied:) Hope you got some rain last night:)

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  6. Wow, great birds and photos. I love the Sulphur Bellied. And all the hummers are wonderful. Great shots.

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