Tex-Az – Day Twenty

*Undisputed ‘bird of the day*‘ *– Rufous-winged Sparrow*, *a rare bird of southern Arizona*

We’ve spent the day birding various riparian woodland sites along the San Pedro River. We started at Charleston Bridge and Escapule Wash before moving on to the excellent San Pedro House conservation area. We finished off the morning session with a visit to the Sierra Vista poo ponds. An afternoon walk, taking in the sights of Tombstone, was followed by our final birding session of the day at Hereford Bridge. We managed to see some excellent birds and added five new ones to our trip list – one of which, Rufous-winged Sparrow, was a US tick!

*One of two new ‘peckers’ for the day – Gila Woodpecker. The other was Gilded Flicker, another South Arizona speciality*

*Wilson’s Warbler – the default warbler of the day*

*Lark Bunting on our way to the Sierra Vista poo ponds*

Tex-Az – Day Nineteen

May3

*Elegant Trogon – perhaps the star bird of the Portal area*

When we planned this itinerary we knew we wanted to show Neil and Nicola the birds around Portal, Az – arguably the most famous of all American birding sites. The trouble was that because of other considerations we were starting the day nearly 200 miles away and ending it with another 100 miles to our overnight stay at Tombstone – leaving us less time than we’d ideally like to do the birding. As it turned out the day worked out fine. We arrived in the village of Portal just after nine, took a stroll around the village before heading off to nearby Cave Creek Canyon. We had a late lunch at the general store in Portal before checking out the various open bird gardens around the village. We eventually arrived at The Sagebrush Inn, our overnight stop, at sunset. Highlights of the day included: a Black Hawk feeding on a dead rabbit with Turkey Vultures on the approach road to the village, Blue-throated Hummingbird (now Mountain-Gem) missed at Big Bend, Painted Redstart, Lucy’s and Grace’s Warbler and the top prize of Elegant Trogon. We’re now over 300 for the trip and it does feel like we are back on track again after our disappointing day at Big Bend.

*Record shot of Blue-throated Mountain-Gem*

*American Robin – our first of the trip*, *seen in Cave Canyon creek*

*Gray Flycatcher – one of the hard to identify empi – doughnuts*

*Too close to photograph properly – Grace’s Warbler*

Tex-Az – Day Eighteen

May2

*Chihuahuan Meadowlark – only our second US tick of the trip*. *White malar stripes, range and song being the keys to identification*

Today we see only our second new US tick of the trip. We took Highway 118 north, heading for the Texas New Mexico border, with our first stop at the Lawrence E Wood picnic area just 20 miles or so from our overnight stop at Fort Davis. This excellent wooded valley produced Hepatic Tanager, Western Bluebird and White-breasted Nuthatch – all new for the trip list. It was then a long drive to El Paso and lunch. It was on this stretch of road, before we joined the 10, that I glanced a couple of familiar birds out of the window. They were meadowlark – but which one? I executed a quick u-turn and we got grab shots from the car. Jane was running Merlin as the birds helpfully called. Chihuahuan Meadowlark conclusively identified – our second US tick of the trip. In truth we’ve probably seen it before but as a recent split, which is difficult to identify on plumage alone, it’s the first time of being conscious we’d seen it. A city park in El Paso at lunch added a couple more trip ticks before we crossed the State line and arrived at our motel in Las Cruces. We ended our birding day with a visit to Mesilia Valley Bosque SP which was unfortunately closed for the night but did see some lovely birds along this stretch of the Rio Grande.

*White-breasted Nuthatch was new for the trip*

*We ended the day with an evening stroll along the Rio Grande – some lovely shorebirds including Wilson’s Phalarope*

Tex -Az – Day Seventeen

May1

*Our target bird at Christmas Mountain – Lucifer Sheartail*

There are good days and bad in birding. Yesterday was bad – well in terms of seeing our target birds that is. Today was good. We continue to steadily make our way west towards Arizona. We left our overnight accommodation at Study Butte after a makeshift breakfast and arrived at Carolyn Olh-Johnson’s oasis reserve at just after eight. It’s a small property, lost in the Christmas Mountains, where she started creating her fabulous sanctuary in 1996. Access is by invitation and is located at the end of a rough track ten miles from the highway. It’s perhaps the most reliable spot in America to see Lucifer Sheartail – or hummingbird as it was formally known. We spent three hours there watching a constantly changing cast of species. We saw over 40 including our target bird and two warblers that were rare for the site. Cape May – only seen once before – and Black-throated Grey, with less than a handful of records. An extraordinary experience. We then headed for Alpine where lunch at MacDonalds was accompanied by an overhead Zone-tailed Hawk chased by an American Kestrel. Johnsons Pools (no relation as far as I’m aware) is another birding oasis only this time in the suburbs. Still, some excellent birding including Northern Waterthrush – our first since we left the Gulf – and Western Tanager. A brief stop at the lakeside pull-off north of the town produced Green Kingfisher, Mexican Duck and Gadwall before we arrived at our overnight stop of Fort Davis. A quick visit to the Davis Mountains State Park interpretation centre produce good intel on our next target and a second shot at Elf Owl. The Montezuma Quail duly obliged at the look-out blind before supper as did the Elf Owl after. A captivating display of nighthawk on the road home rounded off a very productive and satisfying day. The rollercoaster that is birding – I love it!