Hi Tweeters,

We have just returned from a wonderful Birding Elderhostel in
Southeastern Arizona. We flew to Tucson where we bicycled to
Sierra Vista, the location of the Elderhostel, taking four days
to do the bicycling and stopping at Green Valley, Madera Canyon,
and Sonoita before reaching Sierra Vista, thus allowing some
wonderful days of bicycle birding. We saw our first two lifers as
we proceeded to San Xavier Mission through the Papago Indian
Reservation, past huge copper mines with their gigantic mountains
of tailings, then downhill to Green Valley, a retirement
community. Their road shoulders have signs proclaiming "Golf
Carts and Bicycles only". The GILA WOODPECKERS showed their
propensity for the tall Sahuara Cactus as they worked at holes in
these rather numerous cacti in the Tucson area. The little
VERDIN, in a separate family all its own (Remizidae), reminded us
of a Bushtit but its beautiful full yellow head was easily
spotted as it rapidly flitted among the desert thorny bushes and
trees. Fluffing up his feathers to get a few more sun's rays into
his body, the Greater Roadrunner walked about his special picnic
area near the San Xavier Mission. Cactus Wrens were everywhere
among the several varieties of Cholla cactus while the
Phainopepla's habitat was among the desert mesquite bushes
covered with mistletoe. In one area the Phainopeplas were joined
by Townsend's Solitaire. Curve-billed Thrashers seemed to enjoy
the cactus too, perching and singing from the highest spike. On
the other hand, we did not see BENDIRE'S THRASHER until we
reached the farmland around Sierra Vista. We observed Loggerhead
Shrike in both places.
Bicycling up to Madera Canyon at 5500 feet was a bit of a
challenge for sea-level bicyclists but the effort was worth it.
Feeders of all kinds attracted birds by the hundreds and we
quickly added four more new birds to our list. Gregarious and
noisy, the MEXICAN JAY (formerly called Gray-breasted Jay) was
everywhere, dining on sunflower seeds at the many novel feeders.
BRIDLED TITMOUSES were a joy to watch as they landed on the
feeders for tidbits but also perused all the trees around the
cabins, seemingly oblivious of gravity as they hung upside down
and uttered their rather Chickadee-like calls. Several forms of
the Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed, Pink-sided and Oregon) joined
the striking YELLOW-EYED JUNCO, picking up seeds at the feeders
and on the ground around all the little cabins. Our cabin even
had its own feeder outside the window. The inn manager must go
through tons of seeds to keep all those feeders full. We finally
observed a MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD at one of the Hummy feeders.
Apparently a pair stayed at Madera Canyon all winter. We were too
early in the season to observe any other Hummingbirds. Other
birds seen at Madera Canyon visit #1 (we later visited it with
the Elderhostelers) included Acorn Woodpeckers, stuffing seeds in
holes in trees and light poles or perhaps retrieving them as
there were plenty of Oak trees in the canyon. White-breasted
Nuthatches also used the feeders but enjoyed climbing down and
around the many trees surrounding the cabins. Bewick's Wren,
Robin, Chipping Sparrow, Cassin's Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Pine
Siskins, and House Finch completed the first Madera Canyon visit.
Several days later we again visited the canyon and added three
more exciting birds to our list of birds observed. Absolutely
gorgeous was the PAINTED REDSTART, even more brilliant then the
pictures in the bird books--really stunning. He put on quite a
show for us, then flew off. A woodpecker with brown spots on a
white breast, brown back, tail, crown and cheek describes the
ARIZONA WOODPECKER (also called Strickland's Woodpecker but the
current name used is Arizona Woodpecker), a really handsome
fellow with a red patch on his head. The female, lacking the red
patch, joined her mate as they spent a few minutes among the rest
of the birds at the feeders. A short hike along the stream
through the canyon produced a quick but rather unsatisfactory
look at another new bird, the OLIVE WARBLER,an inhabitant of high
elevations. We felt lucky to have gotten a glimpse of him. Other
tree-top birds identified were Brown Creeper, Hutton's Vireo,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Orange-crowned Warbler.

Another well-known birding place that the Elderhostel took us
to was Ramsey Canyon. It was rather disappointing but blame it on
the weather, it was a very wet and cold day when we visited
Ramsey Canyon. We saw only two rather unusual birds as we walked
the trails, a male Northern Harrier flying along the cliffs and a
Peregrine Falcon flying over the canyon. It was just too
inclement for other birds.
In the sunny farmland of Sulphur Springs Valley east of Sierra
Vista we saw many birds of all kinds, including Ferruginous Hawks
using the big traveling circular irrigation paraphernalia as
perches. Numerous Red-tailed Hawks perched on telephone poles,
while Northern Harriers flew along pastures and wetlands. One
Prairie Falcon perched on a power pole while many American
Kestrels used the power lines for their observation posts. A
truly perfect view of an immature Golden Eagle occurred as it
soared the updrafts. A Say's Phoebe seemed quite upset by the
presence of Western and Mountain Bluebirds along his fence, while
a huge flock containing Yellow-headed, Red-wing, and Brewer's
Blackbirds worked the ground of a harvested cornfield. At a small
settlement called Elfreda, we stopped to view a Great-horned Owl
in a grove of trees and were fortunate enough also to see a pair
of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers and a male and female Pyrrhuloxia. A
wetland with a good sized pond produced a surprising number of
ducks, including Northern Pintails, Cinnamon Teals, Northern
Shovellers, Gadwalls, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks,
plus Pied-billed Grebes and American Coots. Small flocks of
White-fronted and Canada Geese flew over but the whole valley was
filled with flying and calling Sandhill Cranes getting ready to
head north to breeding grounds, according to our leader Bill
Stocku, one of the Nikon Team members heading back to Cape May,
New Jersey for the World Series of Birding on May 12, 2001.
Killdeers gave their call as they flew around the edges of the
pond while a streak of gray-blue (male Merlin) picked off a
sparrow from a small flock in the wetland and sat on a fence post
devouring his catch. We saw Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks but
did not see them in action like the Merlin.
Our trip along the San Pedro Riparian Area was most
interesting. We could see where the flood of November 2000 caused
by 12" of rain in just a few days had gouged banks out and
deposited silt and flotsam high in the bushes on the fields
alongside. It had also caused the desert area to bring forth
colorful flowers, including blue lupine, orange and yellow
poppies, yellow desert primroses plus small clumps of other
flowers that were not identified. Desert Ocotilla showed red buds
at the end of green thorn-covered spikes, just a bit early for
full flowers. Two new towhees were identified along the San
Pedro, the GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE amd ABERT'S TOWHEE. We also saw
the gorgeous Vermillon Flycatcher, red Cardinals, Common
Yellowthroat, Mexican-Mallard mix duck and Northern Sawwhet Owl.
Mixed flocks of sparrows included Vesper, Brewer's, White-
crowned, Savannah, and one flock included the Arizona specialty
RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW, singing no less. Both Eastern and Western
Meadowlarks occur in Arizona but unless you get a chance to hear
them we were never sure which one we were seeing. Male LARK
BUNTINGS, still in their dappled black and white plumage were
able to be separated from their female counterparts by the white
wing patches as the large flocks perused the desert floor.
Patagonia Lake provided another spot for ducks and the
different ones included Common Mergansers and American Wigeons. A
Great-blue Heron, one Great Egret, several Olivaceous Cormorants,
plus a few Eared Grebes almost in to breeding plumage enjoyed
Patagonia Lake. Belted Kingfishers also put in an appearance
while just a few of us at the end of the line along the lake
trail were lucky enough to get a rare good look at a Virginia
Rail.
A visit to a Golf Course on the way to Patagonia produced
several birds that we had not seen at any other stop. These
included Tree Swallows, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, a small
flock of Red Crossbills, a Black Phoebe, a male Bullock's Oriole
in all his brilliant orange and black, Northern Flickers, Great-
tailed Grackles, and a GRAY FLYCATCHER (an empidonax that can be
identified by the way it is always lowering its tail).
The visit to Patton's Place in Patagonia was absolutely
fabulous. Again we were too early in the season to see many
Hummingbirds, but we did get a fleeting glimpse of the VIOLET-
CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD. Mourning Doves and White-winged Doves vied
with Gambel's Quail for space on the ground underneath the
feeders. Other birds seen were Steller's Jays, Pyrrhuloxias, GILA
WOODPECKERS, Acorn Woodpeckers, Cassin's Finch, House Finch,
White-crowned Sparrow, Song Sparrow and House Sparrow.
We had a chance to see and hear a Canyon Wren as we traversed
Box Canyon. Even a CANYON TOWHEE obligingly put in an appearance
while both Common and Chihuahuan Ravens flew over, the latter
definitely smaller with a higher pitched and different voice.
Both Turkey and Black Vultures flew around Box Canyon.
One other canyon that we drove into (I don't remember its
name) produced several nice sightings, including a good sized
flock of SCALED QUAIL, several Western Scrub Jays, and an Anna's
Hummingbird plus a small herd of White-tailed Deer.
Back in Tucson we spent a morning and early afternoon at the
Sonoran Desert Museum, quite a spectacular place, definitely
recommended for a visit. We saw our last life bird at this
special place in the desert of Arizona, a PLUMBEOUS VIREO, a
fitting conclusion to a wonderful birding trip in Southeastern
Arizona.

Erin

Bill and Erin Woods Woods Tree Farm Redmond, WA U.S.A.
<wwwbike at halcyon.com>