The amazing Anza Trail – near the historic settlement of Tubac (seen below – photo from the internet), with shed-loads of interesting birds

Although our direction of travel now is generally north, we decided this morning to return to a couple of sites along the Juan Bautista De Anza trail – nearer to the Mexican border. In particular we were looking for Rose-throated Becard, the nest of which we’d found, or so we thought, a couple of days ago. We arrived at the site, yomped the half mile or so to the nest-site and waited. We’d been there nearly an hour with no success when a couple of birders came past us on the trail. ‘You looking for anything in particular?’ they enquired. We casually explained that we we’re on a ‘stake-out’ for the Becard – keeping the nest under constant observation. ‘Oh, they said, we’ve just been watching them further up the trail’. Turns out that the little blighters were in the process of constructing a second nest! We hot-footed it up the trail and were eventually treated to superb views of both the male and female. On our last visit to Texas, in 2009, we’d gone to the Santa Ana reserve to look for several rare birds – Black-throated Magpie-jay and Rose-throated Becard in particular. I got to see the first but then became distracted by photographing Red-capped Parrots. When I returned to the party I discovered that they’d seen the Becard. Ten years later and it’s a ‘grip-back’ of epic proportions! Later we went on to see Thick-billed Kingbird at another point along this superbly ‘birdy’ trail and got better views of the Rufous-backed Robin. The afternoon was spent at the Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, adding another half-dozen new State ticks. Tonight we’re staying at the excellent Red Lion Inn & Suites – where ‘happy hour’ consists of free food & drinks – certainly made Bob and me very happy!

Grip-back – Rose-throated Becard. It’s been ten long years…

The other GABRAT tick and American List addition – Thick-billed Kingbird

Also, better views of the Rufous-backed Robin, along the ANZA trail

and, in the afternoon, at Sweetwater Wetlands, several State ticks, including this much missed favourite – Ruddy Duck

Tomorrow we’re making the 35 mile ascent (driving of course) of Mount Lemmon (9,159 feet) – which receives over 200 inches of snow annually, stopping at various locations for what we hope will be another hat-full of new birds.

Elegant Trogon – our target species for the day. Securely UTB (under the belt) by lunch-time

We spent today in Madera Canyon, situated on the northwestern slopes of the Santa Rita Mountains, which reach their highest point in Mount Wrightson, at 9,456 feet. Madera Canyon is considered to be amongst the top three birding sites in the whole of America –  over 256 species have been recorded here. Our target species was Elegant Trogon which, although I’d seen in Ramsey Canyon, the others still needed. We enjoyed an early morning stroll up the Carrie Nation trail and, on our return, heard the unmistakable ‘barking’ call of Elegant Trogon. At one point we had a pair directly in front of us with another, territorially challenging male, close by – fantastic. By the afternoon temperatures had reached 95deg so we spent our time in the shade at Santa Rita Lodge, watching the feeders, or walking slowly around the Proctor Road loop. Excellent birding at both spots. Tomorrow we head north to Tucson.

New for the trip and our America List – Lucy’s Warbler

Other warbler interest included this challenging female – possible Townsend x Hermit? Any comments on id gratefully received

No doubting the identification of this ‘bad boy’ but, wow, what a weird bird they are! These are of the Mexican race – Gould’s Wild Turkey

Top bird today – Rufous-capped Warbler

We returned early this morning to Hunter Canyon, in a second attempt to locate Rufous-capped Warbler – another rare immigrant from Mexico. We covered the steep, one mile climb, in good time but as I arrived at the site the birding group, who were already on station, said that the birds hadn’t been seen since first thing. Just at that moment a bird flew up the canyon, revealing itself to be the target species! There was a good supporting cast in the area, including Red-faced Warbler, Painted Redstart, Northern Flicker and Olive-sided Flycatcher. We left the eastern facing canyons of the Huachuca Mountains and Sierra Vista, our base for the past couple of days, behind and headed for Green Valley, via Patagonia and the border town of Nogales. At the former garden of the Paton family, now an Audubon Hummingbird Centre, we added a much sought-after ‘hummer’ – Violet-crowned, which only just gets into southern Arizona from Mexico. Then it was on to Santa Gertrudis, in search of three more cross-border specialities. Here we had rather mixed success, finding Rufous-backed Robin with relative ease, whilst dipping on Thick-billed Kingbird. It was mixed fortunes for the third species – Rose-throated Becard. We did manage to find the nest but by the time we did so, the adults had probably gone to bed. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

A new ‘hummer’ for the trip and my America List – Violet-crowned (grab-shot) 

Last of todays crop of cross-border invaders – Rufous-backed Robin (another grab-shot)

Probable ‘bird of the day’ was Flame-coloured Tanager, but it was a close-run thing

We spent six happy hours in the Nature Conservancy reserve of Ramsey Canyon today, one of the hottest birding spots in the Sierra Vista area. After paying our entrance fees, the volunteer ‘meeter & greeter’ told us about two rare birds currently on the reserve – Tufted Flycatcher and Flame-coloured Tanager. We paid insufficient attention to the ‘briefing’ and, as a consequence, strode off in the general direction but without any specific details of the birds whereabouts. As it happens we found one site by accident and got taken to the other by some friendly passing birders. We eventually connected with both the flycatcher and the tanager – both until recently ‘level 5’ rarities, and saw a good supporting cast of other canyon specialities. Our afternoon birding got off to a late start due to having to replace our navigational equipment, after a slight mishap. We did a walk in Hunter Canyon but came away with only one new species, Olive-sided Flycatcher, as our prize.

Grab-shot of nesting Tufted Flycatcher

Finally, after scrambling up a near-vertical hillside – ‘eyes on’ an Elegant Trogon

Along the trail, better views of Red-faced Warbler 

and improved views of Painted Redstart

View of ‘Main Street’, Tombstone

We decided to take an early morning stroll around Tombstone before heading off birding. There were few people around and the low angle of the sun added to the atmosphere of this quintessential ‘wild west’ town. After a breakfast of coffee and ‘bear claws’, at the Charleston bridge – which spans the San Pedro River, we headed for Escapule Wash and then the San Pedro House reserve. At the latter we enjoyed a delightful walk, with plenty of birding interest. After a snack lunch, over-looking the bird feeders, we went to Miller Canyon, stopping off at Beatty’s Guest Ranch to view their hummingbird feeders. Nothing new species-wise but a pleasant walk all the same.

Gilded Flicker a new addition to our GAMRAT list – restricted to Arizona and south Nevada

Broad-billed Hummingbird – male, at Beatty’s Guest Ranch feeders this afternoon

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake – a (too) close encounter!

Todays excitement came in the form of two close encounters with snakes! The first was on the dirt road between Cochise College and Double Adobe – possibly a Coachwhip. The second was almost a step too far for Jane as she, unknowingly, came within a few feet of a ‘rattler’ – probably a Western Diamondback! Any American snake experts reading this blog, who can specifically identify the photos, please do leave a comment. Away from  Herpetology, the birding in Cave Creek Canyon first thing this morning was excellent –  we heard Elegant Trogon, our target bird, on this our third attempt, but failed to see it.  Our best find was a Northern Pygmy Owl. At Whitewater Draw wildlife refuge, owls again took star billing with a nesting pair of Great Horned Owl and their three youngsters. They were flooding the fields at this latter site, which proved attractive to ducks, waders and other water birds – a rare occurrence in arid Arizona. Tonight we are staying at The Sagebrush Inn, in Tombstone – one-time home of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday!

Possible Coachwhip snake

First of two owl species seen today – Northern Pygmy Owl (with prey), Cave Creek Canyon

Grab shot of three young Great Horned Owl, Whitewater Draw wildlife refuge

Our over-night accommodation..

Undoubtably todays star bird – the rare and rather striking Slate-throated Redstart

We spent the whole day birding the Chiricahua Mountains, visiting most of the significant sites around the Portal loop. We saw a great range of birds typical to this area of south east Arizona – a number of which have only a toe-hold in the USA, including Mexican Chickadee, Yellow-eyed Junco and Hepatic Tanager. But the best birds today all seemed to have the colour red in common. First we saw Painted Redstart, at the start of the Cave Creek South arm trail. Further up the trail we came across Red-faced Warbler and this afternoon – much against the book, since it is considered to be a ‘morning bird’, the well-twitched US rarity Slate-throated Redstart.

Grab shot of another of the red brigade – Red-faced Warbler

Finally, the last of the ‘gang of three’ – Painted Redstart

Lark Bunting – one of the species seen better in Arizona than Texas

We left El Paso early and, soon after, crossed the State line from Texas into New Mexico. Two hundred miles later and we were in Arizona for an outstanding afternoons birding around Portal, in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains. We added a few ticks and saw some species we’d already seen in Texas, only much better. A truly memorable end to the day came when we were invited by Maya Decker to enjoy her yard birds – which included Magnificent Hummingbird, an America tick, a flock of 15 Lazuli Bunting and a supporting cast of  Hummers, Orioles, Sparrows and Towhee! Supper at the Portal Stores & Cafe was a perfect conclusion to a great first day in South East Arizona.

Unfortunately the WiFi is too weak to upload any more photos at the moment – more to come later!

Post-script – now, with better internet, a couple more photos.

First of two American ‘ticks’ – Harris’s Sparrow

then Magnificent Hummingbird in Maya Decker’s back-yard

The quaint Portal Stores & Cafe

Gambel’s Quail – seen at the bird-blind, Franklin Mountains State Park

Today we said goodbye to Jake at El Paso airport and said hello to Bob & Sue – a very smooth change-over. This pretty much marked the end of our Texas odyssey – the first leg of our Great American Birding RoAd Trip. We’d started the day with an early morning trip back to Davis Mountains State Park in an attempt to find Montezuma Quail. We heard several calling along Skyline Road but, predictably, failed to see any.  After dropping Jake off we did spend the afternoon easing Bob & Sue back into American birding, by visiting Franklin Mountains State Park. This proved reasonably productive, with twenty or so commoner species and two much needed additions to the Texas list – Gambel’s Quail and Steller’s Jay (interior west race).

Steller’s Jay (interior west race) – West Cottonwood Springs Canyon. A much welcomed addition to my Texas list

So turning to the numbers – in the 16 days we’ve actually birded in Texas, our State list finished on a provisional 310 species – with a couple still to check, we’ve travelled over 2,650 miles (Texas is a pretty big state!) and my all-time American List has risen to 403.

Much of the credit for such a good list goes to Jake who did a great deal of research before we set off and whose keen powers of observation and persistence produced many of the best birds. Jake, we’ll surely miss you on our continuing journey. It was a pleasure sharing so many good birding moments with you. Travel safe.

As a reminder of the good times, here are a few of our trip ‘catch phrases’ picked upon from a variety of characters met along the way:

‘They’re killing Americans in El Paso’

‘I hear they do pretty good chicken wings in this place’

‘Chestnut-sided Warbler – went thata way’

‘Gotta TV here John’

Till the next time…

The remarkable Carolyn Ohl-Johnson and her equally remarkable Christmas Mountain oasis reserve

Today was our last full days birding with Jake in Texas, before driving to El Paso to drop him at the airport and, hopefully picking up our long-time birding friends Bob & Sue. We’d read on the internet before we travelled about the amazing desert oasis reserve, created by Carolyn Ohl-Johnson, at Christmas Mountain. The reserve lies on the north west edge of the Chisos Mountains and was first created in 1996. It is a magnet for migrating birds as well as home to some very special hummers – Lucifer Hummingbird. It’s not an easy place to find, the final four miles being up a rocky dirt track and you have to book well in advance with Carolyn – but the effort is worth it. Our visit coincided with their ‘Big Sit’ and by the time we came to leave they were up to 43 species – shooting for 50. It didn’t take us long watching the feeders to glimpse our first Lucifer, as it darted in to feed, but it took us another couple of hours to manage even a grab shot. We left Carolyn’s oasis, with several new additional species, and headed for Fort Davis and the splendid ‘old colonial’ Hotel Limpia. An afternoon of birding brought us, what I suspect will be, one of the highlights of our Texas tour – a mini twitch to find a superb Lewis’s Woodpecker. This north-west and central States species winters in small numbers as far south as Texas but this individual kindly decided to wait around for us to see it.

The star bird of Christmas Mountain, Lucifer Hummingbird – a rare breeding Mexican overshoot, with it’s distinctive iridescent purple frilled throat-patch

Other good birds seen at the oasis included Black-headed Grosbeak

In the afternoon a ‘mini twitch’ delivered us one of our Texas highlights – Lewis’s Woodpecker, at Prude Ranch

A touch of ‘old colonial’ luxury, in marked contrast to our usual motel accommodation, the Hotel Limpia at Fort Davis – ending our Texas leg of GABRAT in style!