Fort Huachuca and the San Pedro River

The Huachuca Mountains and the upper San Pedro are hallowed ground on the North American birder’s pilgrimage route: it was here that many of our “southeast Arizona specialties” were discovered, by soldier-ornithologists in the 19th century, and birding there today always makes me feel the happy weight of tradition behind me.

Denis and I started our day at the San Pedro House, the primary access point for the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. As the first Globally Important Bird Area identified in North America, this 40-mile stretch of the river is significant not only to the history of birding and ornithology but also to the history of conservation, and everything from Yellow-billed Cuckoos to beavers have benefited from its really exemplary management over the last dozen years.

No cuckoos yet today (they are exceptionally late arrivals here in the southwest), but we did come across a passel of great birds. Vermilion Flycatchers and Cassin’s Kingbirds were noisy and conspicuous in the open fields between the house and the river, and did not mask their interest in the Swainson’s Hawk that had the ill grace to fly through “their” airspace. Barn Swallows are feeding young under the house eaves.

The magnificent cottonwood gallery along the river was cool, even a bit chilly this morning, but bird activity was great. Obvious migrants included Wilson’s and 2 tardy Townsend’s Warblers, along with a few Western Tanagers and a startling female Hepatic Tanager, the first of her species I’d ever seen in the Arizona lowlands (they breed just above Sierra Vista in the Huachucas). Song Sparrows of the lovely race fallax were busy in the riverbed, many of the adults already pursued by importunate fledglings. A wonderful and extremely vocal Tropical Kingbird made up for the usual absence of kingfishers at Kingfisher Pond.

Time moves fast when you’re birding, and so it was off to Fort Huachuca. The long road across the grasslands to Garden Canyon was not particularly birdful, though we did have great looks at 2 Scaled Quail and an adult Zone-tailed Hawk. A quick pause at the upper picnic area produced 2 singing Elegant Trogons; we heard another 1 or 2 later in Sawmill Canyon.

Scheelite Canyon is one of the most beautiful localities in southeast Arizona, and it’s a good thing, because there really aren’t that many birds in there. The one constant voice as we made the steep hike was Spotted Towhee, with the occasional Bushtit and Painted Redstart for variety. We ended up walking farther than I’d planned, about 3/4 mile up the canyon. We paused to look for a nearby Canyon Wren buzzing at us from the slope, but when Denis hissed “I’ve got him,” it was clear he wasn’t talking about just the cheeky troglodyte: and sure enough, there, just off the trail, perched a Spotted Owl, happily snoozing in the shade, unaware (I hope) of its status as one of the most eagerly sought and most happily watched birds in the world.

The wind caught up with us in Sawmill Canyon, and that, the lateness of the hour, and the warmth (only about 80F, compared to 103F when we got back to Tucson!) kept the birds quiet. Grace’s Warblers serenaded us as we climbed the easy path, and a Brown Creeper reminded us how much he loved “trees, trees, oh how he loves trees!” And not far along the upper road, we heard the comical little plerping sounds we’d come for: Buff-breasted Flycatchers. In all we saw about 7 of this smallest and most beautiful of the Empidonax (notice how every bird is “the most beautiful” if you happen to have seen it that day?); several of them were perching and feeding, as is their wont, low to the ground and just a few feet from us. Amazingly enough, this bird was first collected north of Mexico in northern, not southeastern, Arizona, but nowadays it’s found at only a couple of sites in the Arizona sky islands, Sawmill perhaps the easiest.

Now all I need is an excuse to go back: guess it’s a good thing we missed Greater Pewee!