A New Set of "Keys"

Recently, I haven't had much time for blogging, but I have had some awesome highlights over the last month and a half.  These have been key species that I have enjoyed.

The best was an adult male Ruby-throated Hummingbird that showed up at Hassayampa River Preserve on July 12th, 2018.  Luckily, I was off that day and didn't go after the Five-striped Sparrows that I was thinking about looking for.  I was sitting at home and being lazy when a report came through that Mary McSparen and Laura Ellis were looking at a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  Once pictures came through to Caleb that the bird was good, I decided to chase the bird, and I was fortunate to have great looks at it.  In the history of Maricopa County birding, this record represents the first for Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and it is officially the 461st bird for the county list.  Fun stuff!

It wasn't long after that I decided not to make a trip for Five-striped Sparrow that my buddy Walker Noe called me up and suggested an evening jaunt down to Box Canyon to look for Five-striped Sparrows.  We succeeded!  This was only the second time I've seen Five-striped Sparrow, after my first brief sighting was of an individual in Montosa Canyon in 2012.

I recently went up to the White Mountains with my sister Talia and brother-in-law, Tom.  We hiked both Baldy Trails to equal out a 17 mile hike.  Some of those epic White Mountain birds were included in the hike.

On July 25th, I was looking for odes in southeastern Arizona, when a report came in that a Fulvous Whistling-Duck had been found at the Green Valley WWTP while I was close by.  The report came in later in the afternoon, and with the WWTP closing at 4 PM, it didn't give birders too much time for a chase.  My location from Empire Cienaga would put me to the spot at 3:40 P.M.  I was excited to attempt seeing this bird again.  Prior to this chase, I had missed the Whistling Duck four times in Maricopa County, with each one being by a day or less.  When Google Maps took me to the wrong spot this time, I was almost positive it would be the fifth miss in five tries.  I got my crap together and managed to find the right entrance to the WWTP with minutes to spare.  Thanks to Andrew Core, Molly Pollack, Mark Stevenson, and Dave Stesjkal, I was pointed in the right direction while in the fence.  I was able to take one one minute distant look at the duck at 358 PM, and I ran out of the WWTP to be out of the exit gate by 4.  It was frustrating because I really wanted to see the bird longer.  But it was good to finally see this species.  And an official lifer at that!

Another trip to southeastern Arizona was taken because of a Yellow-green Vireo down along the Santa Cruz River.  For the third time in my birding life, I struck out on Yellow-green Vireo.  A Green Kingfisher flying along the river was an awesome consolation.  On my way back, I got to stop at that Green Valley WWTP again and enjoy the Fulvous Whistling-Duck for 40 minutes.  This observation was much longer, and better too...

Five Stripes of Joy and a Heartbreaking Aztec

Hello everyone,

Jim Kopitzke and I explored the areas of Montosa and Miller Canyons today 

on August 12th, 2011 to see some of southeastern Arizona's amazing birds 

and hopefully stake out some of the rarities.

We headed in the direction of Montosa Canyon first.  Along the way, we 

could hear RUFOUS-WINGED and CASSIN'S SPARROWS singing.  

As we arrived in Montosa Canyon by the stream crossing, FIVE-STRIPED 

SPARROW was the first bird we heard singing as we got out of the truck.  

There were a lot of people looking at it, as we quickly got on it 

ourselves.  This bird was certainly the crowd pleaser, who flew around to 

different perches in the entire two hours we birded in the canyon.  It was 

a lifer for me and the second sighting Jim has ever had of this species.  

A lifer doesn't get much more cooperative than this bird was for me, which 

was the main highlight of the day!  Several hundred yards west of the 

first sparrow, we were able to locate a second Five-striped on the south 

side of the road.  Besides the Five-striped, male VARIED BUNTINGS also put 

on a great show, a species I haven't seen often either, especially 

perched.  Other highlights included PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, WARBLING 

VIREO, YELLOW WARBLER, three male WESTERN TANAGERS (in one mesquite), and 

a SCOTT'S ORIOLE singing on a hillside.

Five-striped Sparrow

Next, we went to the upper part of Madera Canyon in search of the Aztec 

Thrush.  Jim has seen Aztec Thrush once before, Tommy, zero.  I have a 

heartbreaking story to tell, you'll all feel sorry for me after this one.  

Jim and I arrived at the Aztec Thrush spot to find out it hadn't been seen 

yesterday (thursday), or prior to the time we arrived on site at about 

10:30 A.M. today.  Nothing was coming into the berry bushes and the spot 

felt dead.  We waited for about two hours until we decided to head back at 

12:30.  RIGHT at 12:30.  The thrush hadn't been sighted in at least a day 

and a half, so we figured it had probably located another delicious cherry 

plant and made it's home there.  The other parts of Madera had awesome 

birds we didn't want to miss either, so we left.  Turns out (see previous 

report) that the thrush was located at 12:35 until 2.  We missed it by 

five minutes.  Enough said, I'm a sucky southeastern Arizona rarity chaser.

On a very positive note, the birds were amazing that we abandoned the 

thrush for.  At Madera Kubo, we had a nice hummingbird show with seven 

different species in a short amount of time.  The star was the continuing 

BERYLLINE HUMMINGBIRD, who came into the feeders very often.  I couldn't 

see enough of that bird.  A single VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD was also 

present.  Several MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRDS were also present as well as 

single BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD.  Numerous BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRDS were 

also present, as well as a few BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRDS and a female 

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD.  Before we got to the hummingbird spot, a BAND-TAILED 

PIGEON was a nice surprise.  A juvenile PAINTED REDSTART put on a good 

show and seemed like it was starting to learn how to sing.  The last bird 

here at Kubo observed was a great look at a SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER in 

a sycamore.  

Berylline Hummingbird

Our last stop of the day was the Proctor Road area, which was birdy even 

at the hotter time of the day.  VARIED BUNTINGS put on a nice show here, 

as one was hoping on the ground literally a few feet away from Jim.  I 

then spied the YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO lurking in a mesquite that has been 

present in the area for quite some time.  Another cool highlight was a 

HUTTON'S VIREO singing in an oak above us.  The surrounding area was 

filled with the songs of CASSIN'S and BOTTERI'S SPARROWS, which seemed to 

be everywhere.

It was a great day to be in the amazing southeastern Arizona, we recorded 

62 species during all of our stops.  Special thanks to the Five-striped 

Sparrows!