Gray, Black, Rose, and Flame

I get to bird with Betty once a year if I’m lucky, so I was excited to learn that she and her friend Rick would be visiting Tucson. We met up early this morning and headed north for a couple of targets, then south for a couple more. Our route made for long drives, but that was fine with me, giving us a chance to catch up as we covered the miles between birds.

Our first stop was the Dudleyville city park, always worth checking in spring for migrants. Lucy’s Warblers and Bell’s Vireos were firmly in command of the mesquites, and the songs of Yellow-breasted Chats echoed from every corner; one male perched high in a tree and launched himself into that crazy flight display every few minutes.

I never get tired of chats. When I first met Betty 30 years ago, the species still bred within hearing distance of my family’s house in southeast Nebraska. Now, though, Betty confirmed my sad suspicions that it is essentially extirpated from the eastern half of the state.

I kept us in Dudleyville too long, and it was getting warm already by the time we reached the famous pull-off south of Globe. Scott’s Orioles flashed across the hillside while Spotted Towhees and Black-chinned Sparrows sang from the manzanita. Gray Vireos were audible as soon as we stepped out of the car, but we had just the barest of glimpses of flying birds at our first site. So it was down the hill a few hundred yards, where one sang close and in the open for a couple of minutes, giving us the sort of views I always hope for and sometimes, sometimes, get up there.

We kept our eyes peeled as the road went up and then back down the Gila River. Nothing in the sky but Turkey Vultures, though, so we dropped down onto Winkelman Flats. We hadn’t even parked the car when Rick spotted a dark smudge upstream, which resolved itself nicely into a Common Black-Hawk.

All three of us had nice leisurely scope views before another park user got too close and the bird took off upstream, I hope in the direction of a nest.

Lunch and siestas: it’s that time of year! Rick and Betty picked me up again mid-afternoon, and this time we headed south for Madera Canyon. It was fairly quiet most places, though we did pick up a few migrants, one at a time, including a couple of Hermit Warblers. Our vigil at Madera Kubo was longer than I’d anticipated, but when the opening act includes Blue-throated Hummingbird and Rose-breasted Grosbeak, the audience is patient!

Soon enough, though, the star bestrode the stage. The male Flame-colored Tanager called quietly a couple of times from the trees above the road, then came down for his hourly dose of grape jelly. A colorful place right now, Madera!

When we had had our fill, and the tanager his, we moved up to the upper parking lot, where a distant Elegant Trogon was yoinking away. The real surprises, however, were an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk, followed an hour later by a Northern Goshawk that soared over our heads low. The Sharp-shin was either late or one of southeast Arizona’s rare summer residents; it turns out that there have been several sightings of the species, and probably of this individual, in upper Madera in the last couple of days, making me suspect that this may be a breeder. Goshawk is much more expected, but always a great bird to see at close range, and this one turned out to be our last diurnal raptor of the day.

Not our last raptor, though. The Santa Rita Lodge Elf Owls appeared right on schedule, despite some pretty shocking harrassment by a startlingly rude photographer. While we watched the little guys at their telephone pole home, a Whiskered Screech-Owl started to sing from the hillside. It’s starting to sound like May!