S E Arizona in January
Dendroica@aol.com
Sun, 24 Jan 1999 14:05:25 EST
I just returned last Thursday, Jan 14th. to freezing rain on the Dulles
Parkwy, after an enjoyable week of birding in S.E. Arizona, where afternoon
temperatures reached into the 60s and 70s after morning lows in the 30s. It
was much warmer and dryer than the trip I took two years ago February, when
temperatures were lower and it was much wetter. Two years ago the desert
areas around Portal were blue with bluebirds and robins were everywhere. This
year I did not see a single Mountain or Western Bluebird and not a single
robin, except at Central Arizona College in Casa Grande, where I finally met
up with a Rufous-backed Robin at the base of a leaky drinking fountain along
the fence enclosing the tennis courts, also frequented by American Robins.
Life birds for the trip were the Rufous-backed Robin and at long last, Red-
napped Sapsuckers, of which I saw four at the Arivaca Creek. When it rains,
it pours! But lifers are only a small part of birding this area in the
wintertime. Birds are plentiful. Walk thru scrub land and you might be
challenged to identify twelve or more sparrow species and four Towhee species.
Pyrrhuloxias, Gila Woodpeckers and flickers seem to be everywhere. At sewage
ponds and wetlands adjacent to them, waterfowl abound. Three species of
Wrens--Rock, Bewick's and Marsh are common. And you never know when your
binoculars might focus on a rarity.
I arrived at the San Pedro Inn in Hereford in late afternoon on Jan 7. My
quest was the Rufous-capped Warbler and Rufous-backed Robin which had been
sighted but I was too late to find either--they had been absent close to a
week before my arrival. Nonetheless the grounds and pasture land at the Inn
have an abundance of birds. The inn provide access to an excellent birding
section of the San Pedro River, which I explored early the next morning,
seeing a lot of Audubon Yellow-rumps, but no Rufous-capped Warbler. There
were a lot of other bird species around--Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Ladder-backed
and Gila Woodpeckers, Bushtits, Verdin, Loggerhead Shrikes, and many sparrow
species. Two Ruddy Ground Doves frequented a large pond in the wash area.
But a sleepy Great Horned Owl, perched on a low branch across the river
excited me the most. It's not often that I see them this well.
My next stop was Cave Creek Canyon, no lifers were to be found here, but it's
my favorite spot in Arizona.