Finally,

Teresa's recent report on her Feb trip to the Tucson area was a reminder
to finish my tardy report on the January "Sparrows Workshop" held in Sierra
Vist, AZ and led by Charles Duncan (Univ of Maine at Machias) and Jon Dunn
(Wings, Inc., and well-known ornithology consultant). I'll not repeat
Teresa's great list. We saw most everything she did plus with
professional instructors and carefully scouted-out field trips, we were
able to spot some wonderful specialties.

Sulphur Springs Valley and surrounds-hoards of Sandhill Crane and lark
buntings, cactus and canyon wrens, Bendire's thrasher, both eastern and
western meadowlarks (I struggle to distinquish these), several different
morphs of the red tail, a lone adult Bald Eagle!!! (rare for SE AZ),
furruginous hawk, bunches of kestral, rough-legged hawk and peregrine
falcon and great-tailed grackles. Mountain plover and black-tailed
gnatcatcher (lifers for me).

Sparrows seen here and in other sites include: vesper, black-throated,
lincoln's, white-crowned, zillions of Brewers, a very few Cassin's, savannah,
chipping, black-chinned (another lifer) and several morphs of song
sparrows plus a very rare sighting of the fox sparrow-see below. A
long look at verdin and pyrrhuloxia and phainopepla and roadrunner.

San Rafael Grasslands-so beautiful in morning light......sweeping waves
of horned larks and longspurs. We stood in a cow pasture for at least
four hours scoping the longspurs to distinquish chestnut-collared from
McKown's even without seeing the diagnostic tail patterns. A grueling
session to say the least, but we learned so much!

Sierra Vista Sewage Ponds/San Pedro Refuge/Ramsey Canyon-What can I say
except WOW for the entire day! Briefly special stuff: hoards of
yellow-headed blackbirds, Gambel's quail, flocks of lesser goldfinch, acorn
woodpecker, gray-breasted jay, red-naped sapsucker, several morphs of
song sparrows, prairie falcon, merlin, Abert's towhee, Townsend
solitaire, white-breasted nuthatch. And a gorgeous yellow-eyed junco
strutted its stuff for many minutes. The sewage ponds can be excellent
for many species of migrating shorebirds!!! No hummers at Ramsey; the San
Pedro Refuge has many species-thrashers, quail, cactus wren, etc-right
around the headquarters house. It's wonderful for hiking and horseback
riding, especially in the winter! Ramsey Canyon has some glorious hikes
though time constraints kept us to the lower 1/4 mile.

Pategonia/Sonoita Creek Nature Conservancy Preserve-another WOW day in a
series of wow days.........a lone individual 'zaboria' race of the iliaca
subspecies of the fox sparrow-very rare for this area (excellent scope
studies as bird sat in the understory bushes) plus canyon, Bewick's and
house wrens all seen close to one another. And, of course, many other
more common species...........

Pategonia Lake State Park-olivaceous cormorant, gray flycatcher, Hutton's
vireo, lesser scaup, eared grebe, Virginia rail, scads of great egret and
GBH's and more.

Paton House in Pategonia.....if you wait a while and it's a warmer than
normal winter, it will come to the feeder and it did, the violet-crowned
hummingbird (a lifer for many of us) and the sparking jewel-like green
backed Anna's hummingbird plus also long looks at the bridled
titmouse (another lifer) and bunches of cedar waxwings and lots of other
species.

Audubon Research Ranch-two subspecies of grasshopper sparrows plus Baird's
sparrows. We served as the "flush the birds into the mistnet" crew.
Observed these small and beautiful sparrows up close and personal. All
birds caught appeared to have no injuries and were amazingly tolerant of
being handled except they squawked and protested when held too close to
each other! The knowledge gained about the little-known life history of
these two secretive species is very important to protect the habitat
these birds need.

San Xavier Mission and big cactus region around Tucson on last
day: Rufous-winged sparrow (another lifer for most everybody); a tape was
used to call these birds. I have mixed feelings about using taped calls
to attract birds. I can only hope that the San Xavier sparrows are not
disturbed too frequently. We found the sparrows in the mesquite areas just
across the road from the cemetery. The mission itself is exquisite
architecture. A further search for the sage sparrow did not find any of
this species, but maybe we'll find it on a future trip.

I must say here that birdwatching etiquette in general was very much
observed and discussed during this workshop. We were reminded that most
nesting failures of SE AZ specialties, such as the trogans, were due to direct
interference by overzealous life-listers and photographers. We were also
reminded that future access to some prized viewing areas on private
property was being jeopardized by a some discourteous birders. SE
Arizona realizes the economic value of its birdlife, and does cater to
birding tourists. Our behavior needs to be exemplary in return!

I had never been to SE Arizona, and was just dazzled by the
vast-distanced scenery, the razor-edge morning light, the mind-boggling
numbers and diversity of birds, the book store at Ramsey Canyon (take
your credit card), the variety of habitats, the stars at night.

This was a well-designed workshop with morning field trips (one or two
all day) plus excellent afternoon/evening lectures. The academic level
of the presentation was appreciated as the majority of us were fairly
experienced birdwatchers. We were afforded the opportunity to become
promising beginning field ornithologists. We all learned how MUCH more
most of us need to learn. Gotta go back!

Maureen E Ellis
me2 at u.washington.edu
Seattle, WA