willner@cfa250.harvard.edu (Steve Willner P-316 x57123) (08/09/88)
This is a very late report on a trip to the Tucson, Arizona area the second week of April. Rather than species lists, it gives comments and information about birding spots. Thanks to several people on the network who gave advice before our trip. The first stop was Sonoita River Sanctuary in Patagonia. This was a fairly good time to go, as the summer residents had arrived, but the winter residents had not yet left. Most of the migrants, destined for areas farther north, had not arrived, however. There is now only one entrance, the former "Entrance 2". Other entrances have been permanently closed. A reliable resident was the Western Screetch-Owl. Walk about 30 feet to the right of the entrance and look directly in, perpendicular to the road. There is a very large, half dead tree with a large branch extending towards you and to the right. In an elbow of this branch there is a hole, and in the hole was the owl. As expected, the best time was early morning, and the second best was late evening, but there were birds around even during the middle of the day. We didn't see the grey hawks, though they were around, but the Black-shouldered Kites more than made up for it. These birds are supposedly "accidental migrants", but the nesting pair evidently hadn't got the word. Other good birds were Vermilion Flycatcher, Broad-billed Hummingbird, and the season's first sighting of Virginia's Warbler. If you go, definitely brush up on your flycatchers. We saw numerous species but didn't identify all of them because of lack of preparation (and lack of experience, of course). Also be prepared for towhees. They aren't at all hard to identify, but they didn't occur to us at first since we are not used to seeing them. Contrary to what our field guides say, the Curve-billed Thrashers have yellow eyes. (Not orange. Species identification was confirmed by preserve manager.) Is this local variation (How widespread?), or are the guides just wrong? Next stop was Madera Canyon. A friend owns one of the few remaining cabins in the National Forest, and we saw lots of birds just at his feeder. Unusual ones for us - common there - were Yellow-eyed Junco, Bridled Titmouse, and Scott's Oriole. We also saw one Acorn Woodpecker with a black stripe on his forehead between the white and red just as wide as the white stripe. Another individual had a black stripe about half as wide as the white. We were surprised to see so much individual variation, though maybe the locals wouldn't be. We didn't see the Elf Owl supposedly nesting near the lodge. We visited lots of other places, but there is little I can add to the local guide books. The Tucson Audubon bookstore has a large selection of guides, both local and distant (e.g. Florida and Texas). The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a "must"; the exhibits are interesting, and a good collection of wild birds are found on the grounds. Saguaro National Monument - East is worth seeing, but the - West area (near the Desert Museum) was pretty much a waste of time. The Tucson area is definitely worth a visit, and April seems to be an excellent time to go. I hope this note will encourage others to visit and will be at least a little helpful. -- Steve Willner Phone 617-495-7123 Bitnet: willner@cfa 60 Garden St. FTS: 830-7123 UUCP: willner@cfa Cambridge, MA 02138 USA Internet: willner@cfa.harvard.edu