Date: 3/7/25 9:48 am From: henry detwiler (via aznmbirds Mailing List) <aznmbirds...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] SEAZ: Santa Rita Mts. & Sonoita Grasslands
Greetings Birders,
On 4 Mar I left Yuma before sunrise and arrived in Patagonia in the late morning. I headed half a mile down Blue Have Road, past the Paton's Hummingbird Center, to the site where an American Woodcock had been visiting for several weeks. I spent an hour looking for the woodcock, scanning intently with my scope, looking in vain for a somnolent head or back sticking out of the leaf litter. I decided to come back in the late afternoon, when it was last reported from this site. After checking out the Paton's, I headed over to Harswhaw Canyon, a spot I haven't birded in years. I hiked up one of the small side canyons, and was rewarded with Rufous-crowned Sparrow and two Dusky Flycatchers. On the way back, as I was pishing in some towhees, a small flock of Montezuma Quail exploded from the hillside ten feet in front of me. If they'd stayed put, I never would have seen them! At 5:00 p.m. I headed back to the woodcock. Sabra was there, and were joined by another fellow later. We re-scanned the grassy areas and leaf litter. Nothing. By 6:30 p.m. I was the last soldier standing. By 6:50 it got too dark to use my binoculars, so I decided to make a final sweep of the creek using my spotlight. And there it was, feeding/probing as if it had been there all day! So I got great views, and then ran back for my camera. Unfortunately I had it set wrong, and as I set about changing the speed, the bird vanished. My initial first photo looks like a bad impressionistic painting.
Early on Wednesday (5 Mar) I started at the Sonoita Grasslands. When I visited Smith Canyon Tank in January I saw almost nothing--just got blasted with cold wind. But this time it was awesome. Five of us had great views of both Chestnut-collared and Thick-billed Longspurs. I was also lucky to spot a Baird's Sparrow, and even got a few backlit shots when it landed in one of the scraggly trees. From there I drove over Box Canyon to Madera Canyon, and connected with the Berylline Hummingbird at the Santa Rita Lodge. Hiking up Florida Canyon proved successful, too, with nice views of the Rufous-capped Warbler.
Yesterday morning (6 Mar) I drove up Mt. Lemmon to look for a few missing forest birds. Not a good idea. The wind was relentless and it was cold! But I persevered, and along Mt Bigelow Road I called in a large flock of chickadees and nuthatches. Almost all were Pygmy Nuthatches, but at least two Red-breasted were honking among the throng. Soon thereafter, a forest service worker asked me to leave, since he wanted to close the access gate to the road, due to predicted snow. Fortunately, at the Rose Canyon Lake turnoff, I ran into a calling Olive Warbler. Next it was down the mountain and over to the U of A Community Gardens. A Yellow-throated Warbler is now being seen with regularity there, primarily in the afternoons. I searched in vain for an hour, but did have wonderful views of a Gray Flycatcher and my first Lucy's Warbler of the season. As I was about to leave, Nate Peterson arrived, and after a few more passes, he found it for me perched in a tree. It called several times, and even sang softly!
It was a very productive three days, with 13 new year birds, and 110 species overall. My 2025 AZ total now stands at 262.
