Target Birding

Kevin and I met at Proctor Road early this morning, where we decided to walk around on the off chance that the Black-capped Gnatcatchers might decide to re-materialize. Sometimes it happens, but not today, though we enjoyed the usual delights, among them a Crissal Thrasher, Varied Buntings, a juvenile Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and lots of Rufous-crowned, Botteri’s, and Cassin’s Sparrows. Two mild surprises were a Western Scrub-Jay and a singing Montezuma Quail, the latter the first I’d ever had at Proctor; it was across the road in the grasses, just where the oaks begin, so not at all out of habitat, just a little low.

But no catchers of gnats. So after a few minutes we left and headed to Montosa Canyon. This is my favorite place to look for black-caps, and not just because they tend to be there more often than not; it is also a beautiful, quiet, remote place, and after these weeks of heavy rain, the landscape is so green as to seem furry. We walked down the road and entered the canyon, accompanied all the way by Bell’s Vireos, and it wasn’t long before a gnatcatcher flipped across in front of us. We followed it to an oak branch, where it was feeding two still fluffyfledglings, and eventually watched both parent Black-capped Gnatcatchers attend to their young, a process composed of equal parts stuffing bugs down their throats and defending them from a trespassing Cactus Wren and a potentially predatory Crissal Thrasher. The adults were in heavy tail molt, giving them largely black undertail surfaces, but their long bills and mewling calls identified them as surely as their woodland habitat; the fledglings, on the other hand, had beautiful white tails, still a bit stubby but already revealing the tell-tale stairstep graduations of the outer rectrices.

And it was 8:00 am. What to do? Kevin had also been hoping to see Common Black-Hawk, so we looked at each, climbed into the car, and drove 150 miles north to the Gila River. It was hot down there, muggy and still, and the birding was slow. Every once in a while a gang of Turkey Vultures lifted up into the oppressive air, and we managed good looks at two Zone-tailed Hawks. We were ready to give up, and decided to eat our lunch at Winkelman Flats. A Belted Kingfisher greeted us, my first of the winter, and a Tropical Kingbird twittered from downstream. And an adult Common Black-Hawk flew out of the cottonwood shade and perched on a rock across the river from us! We watched it for a quarter of an hour, ate our lunch, and enjoyed the black raptor’s benediction when it flew over us again as we were leaving.

Some birders have all the luck!