Birding in Woods on a Snowy Afternoon

It’s a good thing the Santa Catalinas are so beautiful, because a long walk over snowy trails this afternoon was a bit short on birds.

Darlene and I trudged out the road to Rose Canyon Lake, hoping, assuming even, that there would be a flock or two of high-elevation goodies to enjoy. At the end of the first mile and a half, we had heard a single Red Crossbill high in the pines. And that was it. Fortunately, on the way back, we encountered a group of Mexican Jays, at pretty much the limit of their elevational range; nearby were as many as four Hairy Woodpeckers and three Red-shafted Flickers, all of them working the snowy pine needles. The trees sheltered a couple of noisy White-breasted Nuthatches and two uncharacteristically reticent Pygmy Nuthatches busy among the cones.

Middle Bear Canyon was better. A small flock of Bridled Titmice wandered through, though without any notable hangers-on. Another Hairy Woodpecker called in the distance, and a nice Arizona Woodpecker tap-tap-tapped high in a pine above our heads. A Red-naped Sapsucker joined the Arizona, and as they fed pacifically on opposite sides of the tree, a female Williamson’s Sapsucker blew in, turning this into a very good woodpecker day indeed.