sbradfield
Well-known member
After successful DIY trips to Ohio and Florida, myself, Dave Rose and Simon Hitchen decided that Arizona was our next destination for “do it in half the time and a third of the price of the tour companies”.
Logistics
South-east Arizona was never going to be an area we could do justice to in a six night trip so we decided to concentrate on a small part. This did mean that some species such as Mexican Chickadee and Lucifer Hummingbird would be out of reach. We stayed in Tucson for 2 nights at La Quinta Inn (well placed for Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon) and 3 nights in Green Valley at a Best Western (to be close to Madera Canyon and more southerly sites). Both hotels were adequate and decent value for money.
We flew direct to Pheonix with BA. Quite an expensive flight (if you had time it would be probably be cheaper to fly to another US city with more UK flights and take a connecting flight). Car hire was with Alamo from Phoenix airport. The service was pretty quick and I would use them again.
I purchased the Tucson Audubon Society “Birding in South-east Arizona”. I recommend this to anyone planning a trip without a guide (it is worth paying the heavy postage cost from the States, the book itself is reasonably priced and cost less than the delivery!). We also had the birding in SE Arizona App. We used the book more and would recommend the book over the app.
Day 1/2
We knew that with a 17.30 arrival time and a 2 hour drive from Phoenix to Tucson birding opportunities would be limited on the first day. Unfortunately on arrival we were faced with the worst queue at immigration I have yet encountered in the USA. It took over an hour to get through which was disappointing as recent experiences at Miami and New York had been much much quicker. By the time we picked up our hire car it was already getting dark. We headed straight to the hotel and bed before an early start the next day.
Day 2 started like all good birding trips with a few species in the hotel car park. The most interesting was Gila Woodpecker, a lifer for all. This proved common throughout especially around Saguaro cacti. By 5.30 we were on our way up Mount Lemmon, this was a full day trip with many stops as we ascended the mountain heading for the summit. First stop was the snappily named Babad Do’ag View point a low elevation out look over the desert. It was not teeming with birds but we did have our first encounters with some of the commoner Arizona birds which we soon became familiar with, including the smart Black-throated Sparrow and the very active Verdin. The latter were particularly common and we soon got used to the call.
A little further up the mountain Molino Basin warranted a longer stop. Almost as soon as we were out of the car we saw a smart male Hooded Oriole. A small watercourse had attracted a smart male Wilson’s Warbler and we encountered our first Hummingbird, the Broad-billed Hummingbird which we generally found to be the most numerous Hummer. House Finches were everywhere around the campground.
A Summer Tanager posed nicely and one bush held both a Ladder-backed Woodpecker and a Myiarchus flycatcher. With three broadly similar species to consider we spent some time studying this bird and identified it as Ash-throated Flycatcher. Here we saw our first Phainopeplas another bird which was to prove common at lower elevations and Black-headed Grosbeaks which we encountered everywhere.
A little further up and another snappily named stop “The Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area”. This was a short stop as it was similar habitat to Molino with similar birds. We did see our first Greater Roadrunner, a key target species for us all.
As we ascended the mountain the desert and scrub gave way to pine forest and we stopped at Bear Canyon in the hope of picking up more targets. Almost immediately on leaving the car we picked up a Yellow-eyed Junco, a bird which went from exciting lifer to trash in about an hour! Several Grace’s Warblers were singing and we soon had “warbler neck” as they stayed very high in the trees. We soon found our first Painted Redstart, a stunning bird and one of our “most wanted”. They were reasonably common in the right habitat. Overhead a small flock of Violet-green Swallows were our first hirundines of the trip. A singing Spotted Towhee was the next to be seen. Several Acorn Woodpeckers were seen and in the right habitat they were numerous throughout.
Moving on to Windy Point for a very short stop we enjoyed spectacular views and saw our first Rufous-crowned Sparrow singing below the viewpoint. A pair of Violet-green Swallows were nesting in a hole in the cliff above the parking pull out.
At Rose Canyon campground there were many more Grace’s Warblers, a pair of Hepatic Tanagers, a White-breasted Nuthatch and our first Red-faced Warbler, a bird which became more common as went higher. Moving down to the lake we were unable to locate any Buff-bellied Flycatchers but had great views of another Arizona speciality, a Greater Pewee by way of compensation and saw our first Western Bluebird.
As the temperature rose things were getting noticeably quieter and we decided to drive up to the village of Summerhaven near the summit in the hope of finding more activity (and some lunch) rather than continue to stop at every pull in marked in the guide.
This proved a good move. A walk alongside the creek in Summerhaven brought great views of many more Red-faced Warblers along with Warbling Vireos, many Yellow-eyed Juncos, a couple of Steller’s Jays and House Wrens, an American Robin and many Acorn Woodpeckers.
Following a healthy lunch of crisps and ice creams we headed higher to the Iron Door Restaurant at Ski Valley to check out the Hummingbird feeders. These were quite quiet with only one species present, however that species was our key target here, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird. This was the only place we saw this species.
We began our descent stopping at Control Road and Inspiration Rock but neither produced any new species. The next stop at Palisades was more productive. The pines below the visitor centre produced 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers (or Audubon’s Warblers depending on your take on taxonomy), a Plumbeous Vireo, a Pygmy Nuthatch and a strangely elusive pair of Mountain Chickadees and many more Yellow-eyed Juncos.
Our next stop was Incinerator Ridge, where we failed to find our target species of Olive and Virginia Warblers. Some compensation was provided by a White-throated Swift and a Zone-tailed Hawk. We also saw our only Peregrine of the trip.
With light beginning to fade we made one last stop at Molino Canyon Vista. Here we saw a group of Cactus Wrens which proved common in desert habitat and a pair of Canyon Towhees. As the Turkey Vultures came into roost we headed back to Tucson and a fine Mexican meal.
Logistics
South-east Arizona was never going to be an area we could do justice to in a six night trip so we decided to concentrate on a small part. This did mean that some species such as Mexican Chickadee and Lucifer Hummingbird would be out of reach. We stayed in Tucson for 2 nights at La Quinta Inn (well placed for Mount Lemmon and Sabino Canyon) and 3 nights in Green Valley at a Best Western (to be close to Madera Canyon and more southerly sites). Both hotels were adequate and decent value for money.
We flew direct to Pheonix with BA. Quite an expensive flight (if you had time it would be probably be cheaper to fly to another US city with more UK flights and take a connecting flight). Car hire was with Alamo from Phoenix airport. The service was pretty quick and I would use them again.
I purchased the Tucson Audubon Society “Birding in South-east Arizona”. I recommend this to anyone planning a trip without a guide (it is worth paying the heavy postage cost from the States, the book itself is reasonably priced and cost less than the delivery!). We also had the birding in SE Arizona App. We used the book more and would recommend the book over the app.
Day 1/2
We knew that with a 17.30 arrival time and a 2 hour drive from Phoenix to Tucson birding opportunities would be limited on the first day. Unfortunately on arrival we were faced with the worst queue at immigration I have yet encountered in the USA. It took over an hour to get through which was disappointing as recent experiences at Miami and New York had been much much quicker. By the time we picked up our hire car it was already getting dark. We headed straight to the hotel and bed before an early start the next day.
Day 2 started like all good birding trips with a few species in the hotel car park. The most interesting was Gila Woodpecker, a lifer for all. This proved common throughout especially around Saguaro cacti. By 5.30 we were on our way up Mount Lemmon, this was a full day trip with many stops as we ascended the mountain heading for the summit. First stop was the snappily named Babad Do’ag View point a low elevation out look over the desert. It was not teeming with birds but we did have our first encounters with some of the commoner Arizona birds which we soon became familiar with, including the smart Black-throated Sparrow and the very active Verdin. The latter were particularly common and we soon got used to the call.
A little further up the mountain Molino Basin warranted a longer stop. Almost as soon as we were out of the car we saw a smart male Hooded Oriole. A small watercourse had attracted a smart male Wilson’s Warbler and we encountered our first Hummingbird, the Broad-billed Hummingbird which we generally found to be the most numerous Hummer. House Finches were everywhere around the campground.
A Summer Tanager posed nicely and one bush held both a Ladder-backed Woodpecker and a Myiarchus flycatcher. With three broadly similar species to consider we spent some time studying this bird and identified it as Ash-throated Flycatcher. Here we saw our first Phainopeplas another bird which was to prove common at lower elevations and Black-headed Grosbeaks which we encountered everywhere.
A little further up and another snappily named stop “The Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area”. This was a short stop as it was similar habitat to Molino with similar birds. We did see our first Greater Roadrunner, a key target species for us all.
As we ascended the mountain the desert and scrub gave way to pine forest and we stopped at Bear Canyon in the hope of picking up more targets. Almost immediately on leaving the car we picked up a Yellow-eyed Junco, a bird which went from exciting lifer to trash in about an hour! Several Grace’s Warblers were singing and we soon had “warbler neck” as they stayed very high in the trees. We soon found our first Painted Redstart, a stunning bird and one of our “most wanted”. They were reasonably common in the right habitat. Overhead a small flock of Violet-green Swallows were our first hirundines of the trip. A singing Spotted Towhee was the next to be seen. Several Acorn Woodpeckers were seen and in the right habitat they were numerous throughout.
Moving on to Windy Point for a very short stop we enjoyed spectacular views and saw our first Rufous-crowned Sparrow singing below the viewpoint. A pair of Violet-green Swallows were nesting in a hole in the cliff above the parking pull out.
At Rose Canyon campground there were many more Grace’s Warblers, a pair of Hepatic Tanagers, a White-breasted Nuthatch and our first Red-faced Warbler, a bird which became more common as went higher. Moving down to the lake we were unable to locate any Buff-bellied Flycatchers but had great views of another Arizona speciality, a Greater Pewee by way of compensation and saw our first Western Bluebird.
As the temperature rose things were getting noticeably quieter and we decided to drive up to the village of Summerhaven near the summit in the hope of finding more activity (and some lunch) rather than continue to stop at every pull in marked in the guide.
This proved a good move. A walk alongside the creek in Summerhaven brought great views of many more Red-faced Warblers along with Warbling Vireos, many Yellow-eyed Juncos, a couple of Steller’s Jays and House Wrens, an American Robin and many Acorn Woodpeckers.
Following a healthy lunch of crisps and ice creams we headed higher to the Iron Door Restaurant at Ski Valley to check out the Hummingbird feeders. These were quite quiet with only one species present, however that species was our key target here, the Broad-tailed Hummingbird. This was the only place we saw this species.
We began our descent stopping at Control Road and Inspiration Rock but neither produced any new species. The next stop at Palisades was more productive. The pines below the visitor centre produced 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers (or Audubon’s Warblers depending on your take on taxonomy), a Plumbeous Vireo, a Pygmy Nuthatch and a strangely elusive pair of Mountain Chickadees and many more Yellow-eyed Juncos.
Our next stop was Incinerator Ridge, where we failed to find our target species of Olive and Virginia Warblers. Some compensation was provided by a White-throated Swift and a Zone-tailed Hawk. We also saw our only Peregrine of the trip.
With light beginning to fade we made one last stop at Molino Canyon Vista. Here we saw a group of Cactus Wrens which proved common in desert habitat and a pair of Canyon Towhees. As the Turkey Vultures came into roost we headed back to Tucson and a fine Mexican meal.