Our Arizona trip was productive so far but, of all days, we probably had the highest hopes for our last full day in Arizona. And, as you'll see, our hopes were realized.
The day began with an early rise from camp and a drive towards a very famous birding spot. The Patagonia Rest Area is a tiny pull-off on a highway where a rarity was seen decades ago. People kept checking this non-descript spot and kept finding rarities as a result. As such, the "Patagonia Rest Area Effect" was named to describe any random birding spot that ends up getting popular due to birders simply continuing to check it. There are reasons to stop there, though. One bird we really wanted to see, the Thick-billed Kingbird, is seen most reliably there and so, this was our first stop.
We pulled into the rest area and found a whole lot of nothing. We honestly couldn't believe that it was even a good spot. Some birders were leaving and told us that they had seen the kingbird in a nearby snag. We went there and looked. Nothing. We saw a few people walking across the busy highway, though, and they looked like they'd seen something. We scrambled across the highway, went down a very faint trail, and joined a small group of birders. All had their eyes trained to the top of a sycamore and it was soon apparent why. An obvious Thick-billed Kingbird was sitting at the top, affording us excellent views of this distinct flycatcher. Heather had wandered off and, when she was walking back, the bird flew away. We couldn't count it! Thinking our chance had passed, we walked further down the trail to see what else we could find. Other than hearing a Yellow-billed Cuckoo call, which is quite rare in this part of the country, we came up short.
We walked back to the tree and waited. In a matter of seconds, a bird flew in and, lo and behold, it was the Thick-billed Kingbird! Heather got a great look and all was well.
The next stop promised to be a good one. We planned to watch the feeders at the aptly-named Paton Center for Hummingbirds. Several other birders were there already, clearly from around the world, and we joined them on the comfortable benches. Before us was a spectacle. Hummingbirds seemed to be everywhere. Broad-billed, Black-chinned, and Anna's were nearby, but we really came for a much more rare species: the Violet-crowned Hummingbird. We waited patiently to see it after being assured that it would eventually show up. A gorgeous Hepatic Tanager got us excited, as did our first Bewick's Wren that hopped around the base of a tree. But still no Violet-crowned.
House Finches, a Song Sparrow, a Yellow-breasted Chat...all were cool but nothing crazy. Then, a Ladder-backed Woodpecker made an appearance. As a self-proclaimed woodpecker nut, I was pumped to see this. And it wasn't long after that when we were told to turn around. Behind us, only a few feet away, was a magnificent Violet-crowned Hummingbird hovering in the air. This species really is something. I think all of our jaws hit the floor.
After this, we decided to hike over to the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, a short distance away. En route, a strange flycatcher caught my eye. We followed it to where it was perched in a tree and, after some lively debate, settled on it being our first Dusky-capped Flycatcher!
The preserve itself was pretty awesome. A trail climbed up out of the riparian forest and onto an arid hillside. It was HOT. In fact, it had become too hot for most birds with a couple of notable exceptions. First, we stumbled upon a Cassin's Kingbird, which meant that we had now closed out on all kingbirds except for the Couch's, which we hope to see in South Texas. The other bird, though we had seen it before, really blew us away. We look over at the top of a tree that was eye-level with us, due to it being lower in a creek valley and us being up on a ridge. A shape caught our eye, so we put our binoculars on it. There, looking straight at us, was a Gray Hawk! I've seen several, but have never had such a great view of one. All of us were thrilled to see such a cool bird in such a cool way.
We had a drive ahead of us after this hike, so we scrambled back to the car, wolfed down some food, and took off to the Huachuca Mountains. Here, one spot promised some interesting birds with potential for some mega-rarities. This was the Reef Townsite Campground in Carr Canyon.
A winding road up the mountain delivered fabulous views and got us to the campground in no time. The campground sits in a high elevation area overlooking Fort Huachuca. The habitat consisted of tall pines over a rocky, grassy area. We hiked out to a lookout that Alex was familiar with (she grew up nearby) and were wowed by the view. Few birds were appearing, however, so we decided to take a walk around the campground one itself. Here, our luck improved. Acorn Woodpeckers and Mexican Jays began to appear, as did Yellow-eyed Juncos. Our first new bird was a Western Wood-Pewee posing nicely on a snag. While looking for him, Heather noticed another bird. We scanned the shrubbery searching for it when a flash of color appeared. A small patch of yellow on a gray warbler with a black throat confirmed our first Black-throated Gray Warbler! They are such neat-looking little birds.
We were hoping for a Buff-breasted Flycatcher but that wasn't in the cards. However, a strange vireo made an appearance and we were able to confirm it as a Warbling Vireo, a bird I wasn't sure we'd see this year. As always, the beautiful new spot made up for the lack of target birds.
Time was running out and we needed to get to the Chiricahuas. We descended the mountain and drove nearly two hours to our first stop, Willow Tank. This small pond is now an ecological reserve right at the base of the Chiricahuas. Many good birds were reported there, but we saw nothing new, unfortunately. We were close to a feeding station that Colin and I had good luck at on a previous trip, so we decided to stop there next.
We walked quietly up to the feeders and our quietness paid off with a group of Gambel's Quail staying put in an open area. Woohoo! We sat down and observed the feeders where we got a brief look at yet another new hummingbird of the trip, the Blue-throated Hummingbird, also known as the Blue-throated Mountain Gem! We gave the feeders some more time without much of a result. There was only time for two more spot and so we headed up to the tiny community of Paradise to the yard of George Walker. En route, we got phenomenal looks of Elegant Trogon sitting on a telephone wire, giving Heather her first looks of this stunning species. We also made a quick stop at the Southwestern Research Station, where we observed our first Black Phoebe of the year. At the Walker House, George wasn't home but his wife was. She generously showed us around and took us to her feeders in the side yard.
Hummingbirds were in abundance and one of the most common was the large, showy Rivoli's Hummingbird. What a treat it was to see these at such close range. All of us were so wowed by the beauty and grace of this bird. Nothing else new appeared, and so we took off to set up camp.
We decided to camp in the Sunny Flat Campground, right in the heart of the Chiricahuas. Several interesting nocturnal birds were reported from the area, so we went on a night hike to look and listen for them. Nothing. However, back at camp, things got interesting. We heard a distant, but distinct, call from across the road. We listened and played different calls from the Merlin App. Within moments, we identified our bird: Western Screech-Owl! And then, only moments later, something even more exciting happened.
Everyone but Heather, who was away finding the restroom, heard scratching in the brush behind our tents. We sat on the picnic table and waited. Then the source of the scratching emerged. It was a skunk, but it didn't look like any skunk any of us had seen. The Chiricahuas have four skunk species, so we had to look carefully at this one. The big, pale nose and solid white back told us that we had a species I'd always wanted to see...the Hog-nosed Skunk! The skunk stayed near our camp for several minutes, giving us amazing looks the entire time. Right before Heather returned, it was gone.
Heather LOVES skunks and was super-bummed that she missed it. Believe it or not, she had never even seen a wild skunk before! We decided to walk around the campground to see if anything else was moving around. We heard more rustling and some patience paid off with yet another Hog-nosed Skunk!!! Heather was thrilled and we all couldn't believe our luck. All this excitement, and the fact that we birded from pre-dawn until 10:00 PM, exhausted us and we were all ready for sleep when it finally came.
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