The murmuration of blackbirds stretched out for more than a kilometre. The birds’ joint movement looked like a long ribbon fluttering and twisting in the wind. This was one of the many wonderful sightings we had on our February 2016 birding trip to Arizona, USA.
We started our trip in Phoenix. A friend took us out to Buckeye for the morning, to search for two of my target birds. On the way there, we found the first bird, a Ferruginous Hawk, the largest buteo in North America, perched on a telephone pole. We had a long look at it, before it took off and flew out of the area. When we reached Buckeye, we searched for Le Conte’s Thrasher. There were other thrashers singing, so we had more of a challenge to find the right bird. We finally saw it perched on a low shrub. We had a quick look before it hopped off the bush and ran away.
In Tucson we met up with our guide for three days in southeast Arizona. At Catalina State Park, a Rufous-backed Robin in the parking lot was quite tolerant of all the activity around it. We also saw Pyrrhuloxia and Abert’s, Green-tailed and Canyon Towhees. In feedlots at Santa Cruz Flats, enormous flocks of blackbirds included Brewer’s and Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Lark Bunting. In the fields we found a solitary Sprague’s Pipit and 25 Mountain Plovers. In ditches near the farms, there were Burrowing Owls perched outside their burrows.
Rufous-backed Robin
At Florida Canyon (pictured at top of article), we found a Black-capped Gnatcatcher, a rare bird found only in that area. In Madera Canyon, a family of Mexican Jays joined us for lunch. Our guide tossed them nuts, to keep them away from our food. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the feeders at one of the lodges. Even if my husband said we were being lazy, that easy birding was lots of fun. Some notable birds were a pair of Arizona Woodpeckers, a pair of Hepatic Tanagers, Acorn Woodpecker, Bridled Titmouse and Magnificent Hummingbird.
Acorn Woodpecker
On our final guided day, we went to Pena Blanca Lake. Our target bird was another rarity, a Rufous-capped Warbler, which we quite easily found. It gave us quality looks and the little guy even sang for us. Like so many of the places we visited, the mountain scenery was magnificent. The weather was wonderful, too. We were lucky to arrive after more than a month of cold. Every day was sunny and in the mid to high 20s Celsius.
Rufous-capped Warbler
On our last day in the Madera Canyon area, our guide gave us directions to find a male Elegant Trogon. We spent a lot of time waiting in one spot, until some hikers told us it was farther up the trail. We hiked to the spot and still no trogon. We were heading back to the car, when a long-tailed bird slipped into a nearby grove of trees. We saw a flash of red, too. I figured that had to be our quarry. We followed the bird and had quality looks at the male trogon. This bird made us work the hardest on our trip, but he was worth the effort. Although we were at the very start of spring migration, we saw 123 species in four days of birding.
Note: Acorn Woodpecker and Rufous-capped Warbler photos taken from Pexels, an online source of copyright-free photos. Other photos by the Kinrys family.
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