Date: 8/26/26 1:50 pm From: dpsiminski (via aznmbirds Mailing List) <aznmbirds...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] San Pedro House Birding Walk
This morning, five birders participated in The Friends of the San Pedro
River’s Birding Walk. From the San Pedro House, we birded the main San Pedro
House Trail south, plus Garden Wash. Although the trails are mostly dry now,
some of the ancillary trails are a bit overgrown, and there are many
mosquitoes near the river and the ponds. The trails are all within the BLM’s
San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. We saw 48 species of birds for
the morning.
No rarities today, but the seasonal changes were quite noticeable. Gone are
the breeding birds of the dry-summer season including Brown-crested
Flycatchers, and the once abundant Lucy’s Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats
are now few to be seen. Here now in abundance are the wet-summer breeding Blue
Grosbeaks (33!), Cassin’s Sparrows (9) and Varied Buntings (3). Fall migration
was evident with 35 Lazuli Buntings feeding in the Johnson Grass, plus several
migrant Black-headed Grosbeaks, MacGillivray’s Warblers, and a Western
Warbling Vireo seen here and there along our route.
A bird of note was one singing Inca Dove. Not a rare bird, but we have not
seen or heard one on the San Pedro House Birding Walks in over two years! Who
knows what that is about.
The Friends of the San Pedro River leads birding walks on the second and
fourth Wednesday of each month. For the months of September, October and
November, the walks leave at 7:00a from the BLM’s San Pedro House south of
State Route 90 just west of the San Pedro River. We walk about 4km, and we
are out for about three to three and one half hours. Bring your own
binoculars, a hat and water.
The next San Pedro River birding walk is on Wednesday, 9 September, at 7:00a.
NOTE the NEW START TIME for the autumn months.
See you there.
Pete Siminski
Friends of the San Pedro River
Sierra Vista AZ
