We returned to Hereford Bridge first thing in pursuit of another Mexican rarity which had evaded us in the Lower Rio Grande valley – the easily overlooked Northern Beardless Tyrannulet. There were plenty of birds buzzing about along the river and then Neil heard the signature cascading song. It provided close views before we had to depart for canyon country. Miller Canyon was our first stop with a number of birds new for our trip list but we dipped on the main event – Flame-coloured Tanager. Then it was on to Ramsey Canyon where we had better luck with more ‘hummers’, a selection of warblers including Virginia and Hermit, both new for the trip and, best of all, two new flycatchers for our all-time America list –  Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and Dusky-capped Flycatcher.
We made the short transit to our overnight accommodation in Patagonia and spent the rest of our time at the Paton Hummingbird Centre, where we added more ‘hummers’ to the trip list and and a good selection of more local stuff. A long but excellent day of Arizona birding.

Two new ‘hummers’ for the trip list – this is Rivoli’s – a recent split of Magnificent I think

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!

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.

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.

I’m late writing this post because we’re still recovering from our marathon hike around Big Bend, looking for some very tricky species. In the end we were on the trail, from first light, for eight hours, walked a dozen miles or more and climbed and descended several thousand feet. Thankfully the temperature wasn’t quite as hot as the previous day but it was in the 90’s by the time we finished. When we’d finally recovered enough to go for supper the temperature at our motel was 109 degrees. So what did this herculean effort produce? Well a good list of interesting birds but alas not our target Colima Warbler, nor our back-up bird of Blue-throated Hummingbird. Both specialist Big Bend species – the warbler was obviously having a day off and, according to local birders, the hummer has yet to arrive. It certainly wasn’t a lack of effort which failed to add these special birds to our list – more likely the topsy-turvy world of global migration.

Today was a transition day – starting in Del Rio and ending in Study Butte, on the western edge of Big Bend National Park. Our coffee stop was in Marathon where we spent a couple of hours in the very birdy ‘oasis’ Gage Gardens. We had several warblers, including MacGillivray’s, Townsend’s, Wilson’s and Audubon’s, a probable Hammond’s Flycatcher (id still under consideration) tanagers, thrashers and 15 American Pipit. We then drove the remaining 80 miles to the park HQ and signed in before birding Sam Nail Ranch trail. We checked in to our motel, had supper at the Mexican food cart and turned in, ready for big day in the mountains tomorrow. A ten mile hike, 7000 feet of climbing in exhausting heat (it reached 103 deg today) and all in pursuit of one bird – America’s rarest breeding warbler!

We’re heading for Big Bend, which involves a lot of driving. Today we departed our overnight stop of Zapata after an early morning bird of the town park. Morelet’s Seedeater was a ‘no show’ but we did catch up with a nice flock of warblers which included: Nashville, Yellow, Magnolia and Black & White. Next stop was one of our favourite Rio Grande location – San Ignacio. Unfortunately it failed to deliver any of the target birds 😦 Next stop was the Las Palmas river trail in Laredo. This did us proud with Black Phoebe, Green Kingfisher and Mexican Duck. Not bad for a lunchtime stop-over. We arrived at our overnight accommodation in Del Rio, dropped our bags and headed out birding. This time a drive along Vega Verde Road, produced some unexpected duck species, including Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead and Gadwall, a couple of sparrow sp. and Bell’s Vireo. Tomorrow we have another long drive to reach Big Bend State Park.

Today we left the Lower Rio Grande valley behind us as we travelled west up river to Zapata. Our first stop was at ‘Sparrow Road’ north of La Joya. A dusty track with few pull-offs but we did manage to find a couple of things including Scaled Quail and Pyrrhuloxia. Roma Bluff, our next stop, was less productive. This over-look above the Rio Grande has been good in the past but only produced Blue-headed Vireo as an addition to our trip list on this occasion. On to Salineno next where the sports ground added Vermilion Flycatcher, Cactus Wren and Eastern Phoebe, but alas no river bird action. Falcon State Park added Ash-throated Flycatcher and Black-throated Sparrow. We arrived at our hotel in Zapata in time for a late lunch and siesta before heading out to do the local hot-spots. The town park produced an early nighthawk, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush and Lincoln’s Sparrow, whilst the road to Los Palmas held plenty of Common Ground Dove. After supper we did more night birding from the hotel, with five probable Lesser Nighthawk.