Happily, this is the last blog from my vacation to Arizona in January. It feels odd still blogging in the middle of March about birding that took place in January. I have new experiences to share so it will be nice to finish January and return to my birding experiences in Illinois. However, I do want to share these experiences and pictures. In one week in Southern Arizona, I saw a total of 83 species of birds, which is more than I have seen in two and a half months in Illinois this year. Also, in that one week, I added 45 new species to my life list. So a week of birding in Southern Arizona is worth sharing in four blogs.
On Wednesday, January 26, the third day of my vacation, I went to the farmer's market with Carrie and her parents in the late morning after doing some birding around the golf course, which I reported in my first blog of this series. Carrie, Laura, and I decided to drive up to Madera Canyon in the afternoon. We got out at the Nature Trail and began our hike. As we were walking across a bridge at the beginning of the trail, I heard and then saw a bird I had very much wanted to see on this trip--an Acorn Woodpecker. There were two of them in the trees by the bridge. The male shown on the right has more red on the top of his head than the female, who has black feathers between the red ones on her head and the white ones on her face. Carrie and Laura caught up with me to see this amazing bird. Acorn Woodpeckers gather acorns and store them for the winter in holes they peck out in trees. As the acorns dry, they shrink and must be moved to smaller holes, leaving the original holes open for new acorns. Therefore, much of their lives are spent moving acorns from one hole to another.
As we continued on our hike up the mountains, we saw some beautiful landscapes and scenery, but no birds. Below I have posted not only pictures of the landscapes and scenery, but also one of Laura, my mother-in-law and my wife Carrie from the hike.
On Wednesday, January 26, the third day of my vacation, I went to the farmer's market with Carrie and her parents in the late morning after doing some birding around the golf course, which I reported in my first blog of this series. Carrie, Laura, and I decided to drive up to Madera Canyon in the afternoon. We got out at the Nature Trail and began our hike. As we were walking across a bridge at the beginning of the trail, I heard and then saw a bird I had very much wanted to see on this trip--an Acorn Woodpecker. There were two of them in the trees by the bridge. The male shown on the right has more red on the top of his head than the female, who has black feathers between the red ones on her head and the white ones on her face. Carrie and Laura caught up with me to see this amazing bird. Acorn Woodpeckers gather acorns and store them for the winter in holes they peck out in trees. As the acorns dry, they shrink and must be moved to smaller holes, leaving the original holes open for new acorns. Therefore, much of their lives are spent moving acorns from one hole to another.
As we continued on our hike up the mountains, we saw some beautiful landscapes and scenery, but no birds. Below I have posted not only pictures of the landscapes and scenery, but also one of Laura, my mother-in-law and my wife Carrie from the hike.
As I said above we did not see any birds on the way up. On the way back down, however, I walked up on at least three Mexican Jays alongside the trail. I was ahead of Laura and Carrie so I motioned them to catch up. They were able to see the Jays as well. While I was taking pictures of the Jays, a Woodpecker of possibly a Flicker flew in for a moment, but I was so focused on photographing this Jay, I was not able to identify it before it flew away. After we returned to the car we headed back down the canyon, but stopped at the feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge before going home. We found many more Mexican Jays along with Lesser Goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows at the feeders. Carrie and I also saw a Gray-headed Dark-eyed Junco on the ground as we approached the feeders. I did not spend long at the feeders, but wondered off to take pictures of Acorn Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches in the woods on the other side of the road. When I returned to Laura and Carrie, who had remained patiently at the feeders, I was disappointed to hear I had missed not only Acorn Woodpeckers close up at the feeders, but also an Arizona Woodpecker, which can only be found in Arizona and Mexico. I was happy that Laura and Carrie had seen an Arizona Woodpecker, however, and I hoped for another opportunity to see one when I returned to the Canyon with Dale the following day.
The next morning, Laura and Carrie dropped me off at a shopping center on the outskirts of Green Valley out toward Madera. Dale Birkenholz was waiting there to pick me up and take me back to Madera Canyon. I hoped I would see more this time with Dale's expert guidance, and I would not be disappointed. Dale started out by showing me desert birds on the way to the Canyon. He told me to let him know if I saw something, and when I let him know, he stopped to let me take a picture. The road was not too busy so we were able to stop quite a bit without interfering with traffic. The first new bird he showed me that I was able to get a good look at was this Brewer's Sparrow, identifiable by its very pale color. We also saw a female Ladder-backed Woodpecker and a Black-throated Sparrow shown below and several other birds including a male Phainopepla.
Dale stopped at Proctor Road before we reached the Canyon. There were trails to check out there, and Dale was hoping I might be able to see a Canyon Towhee, which I had not yet seen at this point in my vacation. I think he also hoped we might see a Crissal Thrasher, which Les Allen and Dale had seen at this location some time ago. As we got out of the car we saw several sparrows including a Lincoln's Sparrow and some Chipping Sparrows. Very early on in our hike, we came across this Hermit Thrush wagging its tail up and down. Only certain species of birds wag their tails up and down; therefore, this behavior can help with identification of certain birds. For example, if you see a flycatcher wagging its tail up and down in Southern Arizona, it is a Gray Flycatcher, and if you see a Thrush wagging its tail, it is a Hermit Thrush. If you see a bird wagging its tail on a power line in central Illinois, it is probably an American Kestrel.
As certain Flycatcher species from the Empidonax genus are extremely difficult to tell apart in the East--namely Willow, Alder, and Least, certain Flycatcher species from the same genus are difficult to tell apart in the West--namely Dusky and Hammond's. Dale and I saw this Empidonax Flycatcher. It is either a Hammond's or Dusky. As I understand it, the best way to distinguish between birds of the Empidonax genus is to learn their calls. Of course if we had seen an Empidonax wagging its tail, we would have known it to be a Gray Flycatcher. Behavior can also be a good way to tell the species apart.
At Proctor we were seeing mostly sparrows and were just about to give up when a flock of White-crowned Sparrows mixed with Towhees flew in ahead of us and quickly flew further ahead and dispersed. They were moving so fast in the brush, it was hard to tell for certain what we had seen, but I thought I had seen a Canyon Towhee or something different that Green-tailed. We continued to search the area and finally found a few Green-tailed Towhees and this Canyon Towhee shown below. Another day full of lifers for me. Little did I know, I would see another Canyon Towhee and an Abert's Towhee later that afternoon back at Dale's place. The only Towhee I missed on my trip was the Spotted Towhee. I think it must have been too early in the year, but as my father-in-law said, it's good to save some birds for my next visit so I will have something to do when I come back. Another bird I will be looking for when I return to Arizona will be the Crissal Thrasher. Although we found the Canyon Towhee, we did not see a Crissal Thrasher here, but having obtained the prize, we left Proctor Road and headed up the Canyon.
We stopped at the picnic area and walked through the woods to the feeders. When we first got out of the car we saw a bird up in a tree, but we could not get a good look at it. Dale did not need a good look to identify it, however. He said it was a Painted Redstart. Wow! I would have loved to have gotten good looks and a picture of that one. As we walked by the creek toward Santa Rita Lodge, we saw this Squirrel, but no birds . . . until we saw the Wild Turkeys. There were 20 of them in all, and the two shown below walked right up to us to get a drink from the creek. Once these two finished drinking, all of the Turkeys started walking away from us and then running across the street. But there was a straggler--a lame Turkey. He slowly hobbled up to the road to cross, but then he saw us and hobbled back the other way. Someone needed to invite this poor Turkey to Thanksgiving dinner, but Thanksgiving was and still is a long way away.
At the feeders, I instantly saw another lifer--Pine Siskin, or should I say many Pine Siskins. Some of them had very bright yellow on their wings. I'm not sure how we missed them on Wednesday, but there sure were plenty of them on Thursday. These little guys are in central Illinois, but they can be very difficult to find in McLean County. Of course the Mexican Jays were at the feeders again in abundance. I was able to take several shots of them as well.
Dale and I got back in the car and drove further up the Canyon to the first Kubo, where there were several feeders out front. Not long after we arrived, we saw this Hepatic Tanager eating from the feeder. Then as I hoped, I saw an Arizona Woodpecker fly in and land on a tree branch at first and then on the suet feeder. He ate there for quite some time allowing me to move around until I found the best position to take pictures.
After the male Arizona Woodpecker left, we drove up to the Chuparosa Inn to check the feeders there. There was a Hummingbird and a Bridled Titmouse at the feeders as we were driving up, but when we stopped, they both flew away, and we were not able to identify the Hummingbird. Dale let me wait there while he parked the car, but I only saw some White-breasted Nuthatches and more Pine Siskins. We headed on up to the upper canyon. When we got out of the car, it seemed there were Acorn Woodpeckers everywhere. I couldn't resist taking more pictures of them.
As we began our search for Yellow-eyed Juncos, I saw what I thought was a Juniper Titmouse. I called out to Dale, "It's a Juniper Titmouse!" Then I saw her scraggly crest and red eye and knew I had been mistaken--a female Phainopepla, which just a couple of days ago I would have been just as happy to see. How quickly we lose interest and move on to something else. This was a beautiful bird, but not a Juniper Titmouse, which would have been a lifer for both of us.
Dale and I hiked further up the canyon looking for Yellow-eyed Juncos in the grassy areas along the path. We passed a married couple, who were hiking back down. They had not seen any Yellow-eyed Juncos, nor had they seen anything else. We did see another Acorn Woodpecker shown below, but that was all we saw--no Yellow-eyed Juncos. On the way back down, I thought I saw something else, and Dale said he thought he heard a Flicker. I spent a good amount of time chasing what I thought was a Flicker. I wandered off of the path while Dale patiently waited, but I could not get a good look at the bird so I returned to the path and we continued until we reached the paved path.
Then it happened. A pair of Yellow-eyed Juncos flew in and landed on the sunlit paved path just a few feet in front of us. When we had given up on finding them, they came to us. The couple we passed had missed them, and if we had not chased after a Flicker for so long, we would have come down the canyon too early and missed them ourselves. I do not believe in coincidence even when it comes to birds. In Matthew 10:29, Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will." Shakespeare must have had this verse in mind when his Hamlet said, "There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow." Seeing this Yellow-eyed Junco was a special gift from God. It was "Providence." The word comes from the Latin "provideo," which means to see before or see ahead. God saw ahead and planned ahead. He brought the birds to us and guided us to the birds. Proverbs 16:9 says a man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps." Often when I go birding, I pray to the Lord, "Father, show me what you want to reveal to me from your creation." Every time I see a bird, it is a gift from Him. So praise the Lord for the Yellow-eyed Juncos!
As we walked back to the car we saw another Acorn Woodpecker beside the path. On the way back to Dale's place, we stopped to take some shots of the Common Raven shown below. All in all, I had 12 lifers either at Madera Canyon or on the road to Madera Canyon from Green Valley, not to mention the beautiful mountain scenery. It was a wonderful place to hike and bird.
Written and published on March 7, 2011
