Madera Canyon and Patagonia Lake

Spent the day birding with Mitchell; Mitchell’s company is always enjoyable, whatever the birds, and getting together with him always reminds me of how wonderfully small the birding world is: his uncle, Sol, was a genial fixture of my mornings in Princeton’s Institute Woods back in the 80s.

We set out to chase rarities, but the lasting impressions of the day are of the great views we had of some more common species. We walked from Proctor Road to the Santa Rita Lodge feeders, at a pace greatly slowed by Black-chinned Sparrows, Arizona Woodpeckers, and Painted Redstarts, each requiring our full attention. A Northern Goshawk soared over the canyon, and the junco show at the feeders was as good as ever, with Gray-headed, Oregon, and Pink-sided Juncos feeding with Yellow-eyed Juncos.

We finally tore ourselves away for the drive to Patagonia Lake. The place can be incredibly, inexplicably quiet sometimes, and we were almost getting discouraged (birders, discouraged?!) when we heard the buzz we’d been listening for. Some hard searching through the trees found a Black-capped Gnatcatcher, and we eventually got great views of the diagnostic tail structure and brown-tinged upperparts; this individual was also noticeably long-billed. Humbling how easy it is to walk right past that bird and never know it’s there if it doesn’t call.

A couple of days afield with old friends from New Jersey, Marcia and Charles. It was all fun, but as usual this time of year, some of the best birding was down the Santa Cruz Valley between Tucson and Arizona City. The raptor show was unparalleled, with multiple Merlins, Prairie Falcons, and—my favorite—Ferruginous Hawks. We didn’t come across any Mountain Plovers, but Charles and Marcia have a couple more days, so might run up there again or head to the Sulphur Springs Valley, where they’ve also got a good chance.

Charles was especially eager to see Ruddy Ground-Dove and Bendire’s Thrasher, and we managed both: a single male ground-dove at the Red Rock feedlot (where the rest of the flock was hiding is still a mystery), and a nice total of four thrashers along Baumgartner Road. Still not a peep out of them, though—seems to me they should be in full song by now.

Alison was able to join us for only bits and pieces of the birding, but she was well regaled tonight with tales of triumph over dinner at El Charro!

Doug wrote a great article in my Birding magazine department, “Sources,” a little while ago; I’d really enjoyed working with him, and was delighted when I found out that he and his fiancée, Elizabeth, would be in Tucson. So we met up and headed out to the sewage beds; our morning together confirmed everything our e-mail exchanges had led me to believe about him, and we had a great time birding and talking about Roger Tory Peterson, the subject of a forthcoming authoritative biography Doug has completed.

Bird diversity seemed a bit low to me, spoiled local that I am, but it was a pleasure to watch Doug and Elizabeth connect with a few southwestern specialties they hadn’t seen for a while: Greater Roadrunner, Vermilion Flycatcher, Abert’s Towhee. I was especially glad to see a Ross’s Goose on the north pond; white geese don’t often stay around very long, so you have to be lucky enough to show up when they do. And it’s always a great day when you see 15 Bufflehead! I’m a sucker for a puffy white duck, no matter how “common” it is.