Date: 8/12/26 3:09 pm From: Steven Tracey (via aznmbirds Mailing List) <aznmbirds...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] SEAZ: San Pedro House Birding Walk
Hi Birders,
This morning things were looking ominous as I drove through a rainy Sierra
Vista on the way to San Pedro House, but by the time I got there I had come
out from under the rain. In the end we had pretty nice weather for the
walk. Unfortunately, it was also apparently nice weather for the
mosquitoes along the river, so bring your repellent when you join us on
future walks. Five locals managed to find 37 species in between feeding
mosquitoes on a slightly shorter than usual path. With the rain overnight
the San Pedro River became a raging torrent completely flooding kingfisher
pond and its surrounding trails. The estimate of river height was about
10ft which was quite impressive. Likely spurred on by rains we got some
good views of Mexican Spadefoots and along the main trail a Western
Diamondback Rattlesnake coiled up and gave us a few rattles before we moved
on.
Oh yeah... the birds. Along Del Valle road we had nice flocks of moving
Lazuli Buntings as well as Botteri's and Cassin's Sparrows competing for
high count on the walk. Botteri's won. Most of the summer usuals were
still around. Chats, Blue Grosbeaks, N. Yellow Warblers, and Summer
Tanagers all made multiple appearances. No cuckoos this morning, though.
By the next walk we expect to see some migrating warblers, so think about
joining.
The Friends of the San Pedro River leads birding walks the 2nd and 4th
Wednesday of the month. For the month of August, the walks leave at 6:00a
from the BLM’s San Pedro House south of State Route 90 just west of the San
Pedro River. We walk about 2 to 3 miles and are out for about three hours.
Bring your own binoculars, a hat and water.
The next San Pedro House birding walk is on Wednesday, August 26 at 6:00a.
