Birding the Border

I met Linda and Alan in downtown Tucson on a cold, almost raw morning, and we headed south, looking for “Mexican” specialties between Nogales and Arivaca. The wind and the chill kept bird numbers low all day, but when we did run across a pocket of activity here and there, it was exciting indeed–as it always is down on the border!

Cold as it was, we decided to start with a drive through the astonishingly birdful trailer park at Continental, just up the road towards Madera Canyon. Gila and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers were drumming and shrieking (well, whinnying in the case of the ladder-backs), and there were plenty of Eurasian Collared-Doves moaning and hooting; a single White-winged Dove may have wintered locally or just may have been pushing the calendar with an early arrival.

It wouldn’t be a day afield without a stop at a sewage pond, so we pulled off the road at Amado, where a small number of individual ducks represented a great variety of species, among them Redhead and Canvasback. A few Northern Rough-winged Swallows were sheltering out of the wind beneath the high banks of the pond, but passerines were otherwise scant and skulky.

Encouraged by the waterfowl diversity at Amado, we checked out the Rio Rico ponds on our way south; this is very much a breeding-season hotspot, but once in a while the stock tanks and flooded pastures draw a bird this time of year too. It worked well this time. Not only did we add several waterbirds to our day’s list–Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher–but we also encountered the day’s biggest surprise in a juvenile Crested Caracara hunting the fields just east of the railroad tracks. Strictly speaking, this bird was out of range, too far south for the population on the lower Santa Cruz, too far east for the usual border birds; if only I were a county lister!

After such good luck en route, I was a mite disappointed to find Peña Blanca Lake quiet–quiet as far as birds, a little noisy as far as human fishermen. Alan spotted a fine male Common Yellowthroat, and there was a flurry of Ruby-crowned Kinglets flashing their crowns at each other. A couple of Black Vultures and a few Turkey Vultures rose as the sun finally winked through the clouds, but most of the birds I’d been hoping for just didn’t show.

On the leeward side of the lake road, though, we ran across a great little flock of passerines, including Canyon, Spotted, and Green-tailed Towhees; a handsome pair of Black-throated Sparrows; and perhaps my “best” bird of the day, a very snazzy Black-chinned Sparrow. A big flock of Chipping Sparrows at the Lower Thumb picnic area had 4 juncos with it–4 juncos of three races! A bright male Oregon and an incredibly lovely Pink-sided were joined by a brace of Gray-headed Juncos, a bird I usually associate with higher elevations during the winter. A good-looking female Red-naped Sapsucker was pecking away in the oaks, too, one of the area’s signature species in winter.

Our scheme was to drive Ruby Road to Arivaca, making stops along the way, but we found few birds and much road damage, so ended up doing more driving than stopping. Rock Wrens were the most frequent roadside birds, while a quick lunch break at the top of Sycamore Canyon produced a few Acorn Woodpeckers and a Red-shafted Flicker. A Turkey Vulture was moving north over the Arivaca Library, promising warmer temperatures and more summery birding when the three of us meet again on Monday!