Rufous-capped Warbler

Danny and I left no leaf unturned this morning in Sycamore Canyon, where we had gone to seek the long-staying Rufous-capped Warbler. It was still dim when we arrived, with Montezuma Quail vocalizing from the hillside above the parking pullout at Yank and Hank. We walked down as far as Montana Canyon, listening intently for the hard, metallic tick of the bird or its dry, trilled song; to no avail, though we found Wilson’s and Audubon’s Warblers pretty much everywhere. The walk up to the grassy pool in Montana was similarly unrewarding, and we pretty much gave up and started walking down Sycamore towards Mexico. A male Elegant Trogon was honking away, and eventually gave great views; but we had a schedule to keep, and so turned back to Ruby Road.

At which point, naturally enough, the Rufous-capped Warbler popped up on the trail in front of us, just above the waterfall slightly above the entrance to Montana Canyon. Danny caught the movement first and got me on the bird; we followed it a hundred yards up the trail, with cripplingly excellent views down to just a few feet as the lovely creature fed on the wet ground, in the grass, and in the tangles above the stream. Used to searching for this species by sound, we were extremely lucky that it chose just the moment it did to flit, or we would have walked right past it again, as we certainly did on the way down the canyon earlier in the morning. Great bird, badly in need of a tail molt! Maybe a mate will show up, and we’ll have a repeat of the French Joe show that seems, sadly, to have run its course.