My World Sabino Surprise

Upper Sabino Canyon 9-19-09

On Thursday, September 17th Jean, Peggy, Pam and I headed into Sabino Canyon for out final IBA survey of the year. Migration is in full swing and we saw over 40 species of birds. I have been participating in the Important Bird Area survey of Sabino Canyon for almost 2 years now and I have never been any farther than Tram Stop 1 where our survey transect begins. Now it is Saturday and Gus and I are meeting our son and his family at Mimi's cafe in Tucson for breakfast.

G and Xavier on the tram 9-19-09

G and his wife, Trish have recently moved to the Tucson area, which puts them much closer to us. It makes it much easier to visit them and spend time with them. I am so excited to show them the wonderful natural areas around Tucson. Gus has never been to Sabino Canyon either, so I propose a trip to Sabino after breakfast. Unfortunately Trish has to work, but G, Xavier, Gus and I drive up to the canyon and purchase our tram tickets. While Sabino Canyon is part of the Coronado National Forest, the tram is run as a separate concession and so costs $8 a ticket beyond the admission to the park. Since we have a National Park pass, all we have to buy is three tickets. Children under 3 are free. This is good since Xavier is soon fast asleep in his daddy's arms.

Gus on the tram at tram stop 9.

Though is is quite hot by now we ride the tram to the top of Sabino Canyon. I get excited as we finally pass tram stop 1. From here on out this is all new territory for me. The road winds up the canyon with rocky outcrops everywhere. It crosses several narrow bridges over the meandering creek. Willow, ash, and sycamore trees line the creek banks, along with a few cottonwood tree. Palo Verdes and mesquite cover the canyon slopes with Saguaros standing at attention inbetween. I must admit I thought the canyon would pass into more forested zones. I thought we would eventually reach the pine forests I have seen on Mt. Lemmon. I thought it would be shady and cool the farther we went into the canyon, but though we gain elevation, we remain in the Sonoran desert all the way to the top and it is sunny, bright and hot.

Looking back down the road 9-19-09

Gus is too hot to get out of the tram. Xavier is still asleep in his father's arms. I hop out to snap a few photos and then the driver honks his horn, a signal to those who want to reboard and head back down. We ride back down to tram stop 8 where there is a rest room and better access to the creek. I thought we could take Xavier to the creek edge to play in the water, but he is still fast asleep. As the tram heads back down the road without us we realize it will be at least 30 minutes before we can get back on the next train. It is far too hot to hike with the baby, and so we stand in the shade of a nearby tree. Gus decides to hike down to the next stop, while G and I stand and sweat.

What hawk is this? 9-19-09

Of course, I do have my bins with me and I quickly occupy myself with looking around for birds. Suddenly I notice a large raptor on a branch overhanging the creek. I focus in and try to figure out what species it is, but this is something new to me and I haven't got a clue. I quickly snap a few shots off so I will have something to look at when I get back to my bird books. For now I just look and look and try to take metal notes of what I am seeing. Streaked back, dark feathers, is that an eyeline? What hawk has an eye line? Could it be a goshawk? The streaks make me think it is a juvenile, but a juvenile what? My mind is racing.

Close up of the mystery hawk 9-19-09



Poised to pounce 9-19-09

Finally the bird turns so I can see its breast. Then is leaps into the crouch of a nearby tree and appears to be eating something, but my view is obstructed by foliage and after awhile I turn away. I think it is gone, but a look back at the creek shows the hawk in the water! In the water?

Hawk with frog (click to enlarge) 9-19-09

The only hawk I know of that hunts in the water is an osprey. Could this be a juvenile osprey? What do juvenile osprey look like? Since I don't have my books with me, I will have to look it up when I get back to the car. Meanwhile, I just keep watching and photographing. But it is so hot and I am sweating and excited, the photos are not quite as clear as I would like.

Juvenile Common Black hawk 9-19-09 at tram stop 8

I watch as the hawk jumps up onto the rock with another bit of prey. This time it is a fish I think. It gobbles up the morsel, then...

...jumps back into the creek for a bath!

By this time Xavier has awakened and the tram is on here to pick us up. We board the tram and find Gus at tram stop 6. He has hiked quite a ways down by himself. After we are back at the car with AC running to cool us off I pull out my bird guide to look the hawk up. I happened to have Kaufman and Sibley's bird guide with me, but it is Sibley's I consult and only then do I learn that this is a juvenile Common Black Hawk and a *Life Bird for me! I had no idea that it was even possible for me to see a common black hawk in Sabino Canyon. Common black hawks are one of the trophy birds that people come to Arizona to see. I thought I would have to go to the San Pedro River or some other more remote canyon to ever get to see one and now, here is one in our own Sabino right at tram stop 8, across the creek from the restrooms!

Though there were other birds in the canyon this morning, I only counted 2 Wilson's warblers, a cactus wren, 3 Bell's vireos and a black-throated sparrow. I was too focused on the hawk. Gus thoroughly enjoyed his walk by himself and G thinks it would be a great place to ride his bike, so I think we will be coming back to upper Sabino once the weather cools off a bit. As for me, we are on break from our IBA surveys for the rest of the year, but we will be back again in January to for our first survey of 2010! Until then, you can scroll down to see my list from Thursday, which includes birds from the survey as well as what I saw on the hike in and back out again. And that's...

MY WORLD Tuesday

Sabino Canyon Bird List:

Location: Sabino Canyon Recreation Area
Observation date: 9/17/09
Notes: IBA survey hike from parking lot on upper sabino road to tram stop one then hike back along the creek trail with Jean, Peggy, and Pam. 63F to 90F. No clouds, no wind. We were seeing green-tailed towhees and sparrows everywhere!
Number of species: 39

Gambel's Quail 3
Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 2 1 in tre near dam, 1 flying below dam.
Mourning Dove 2
Greater Roadrunner 2
Great Horned Owl 1 In willow tree below dam
Broad-billed Hummingbird 8
Black-chinned Hummingbird 6
Anna's Hummingbird 1
Rufous Hummingbird 5
Gila Woodpecker 8
Gray Flycatcher 1
Cordilleran Flycatcher 3
Black Phoebe 1
Bell's Vireo 10
Plumbeous Vireo 1
Verdin 5
Cactus Wren 6
Rock Wren 2
Canyon Wren 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher 1
Curve-billed Thrasher (Western) 5
Phainopepla 1
Yellow Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler 3
Summer Tanager 4
Green-tailed Towhee 8
Chipping Sparrow 5 by themselves below dam
Brewer's Sparrow 6 in mixed flock
Black-throated Sparrow 1 on the trail back towards the parking lot
Song Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 4 in a mixed flock of sparrows
Northern Cardinal 3
Black-headed Grosbeak 3
Lazuli Bunting 3
Varied Bunting 1
House Finch 3
Lesser Goldfinch 3

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

*Life Bird: the first time a birder sees a species of bird. This gets added to their Life List, a list of all species of birds a person has seen.

Big January: Chestnut-sided Warbler Surprise

Chestnut-sided Warbler, Sabino Canyon 1-23-09 by Kathiesbirds

Friday morning I wake early and head for Sabino Canyon. It's been a couple of months since I have been here and today is the first Important Bird Area Survey of the year. I meet Jean, Pam and Peggy under cloudy skies near the visitor center and we begin our hike up the canyon. though the sky is lead wool, the air is only slightly cool, with that muggy, humid component to it. We take off our light jackets and overshirts from the exertion of the hike, then put them back on when we round a corner and encounter a light wind. Around us the normally noisy desert is silent, save for a few cactus wrens and thrashers. A bright red Cardinal sits atop a hackberry bush, unmistakable against the soft gray sky.

Clouds climb over the canyon's peaks and tumble down the canyon's walls. the creek swells with run off and I can hear the roar before I can see the water. We start our survey in the usual area near the first picnic sight, but no birds sing. We hike along the wet and grassy bank, but see, nothing. I am starting to think the birds are smarter than we are and they've all stayed home, but we trudge onward. Soon the swollen creek turns us back and we cannot go quite as far as we usually do. We head back to the paved trail, then descend along the cliff to the riparian area once again.


Down here by the creek the ruby-crowned kinglet flitter about. We hear their high-pitched voices before we finally spot one in the thick underbrush. Around us giant reed grows tall above us, transforming the creek banks to a jungle. These invasive plants are in the process of being removed by the forest service and a group of trained volunteers. We duck under their towering heights and wander among the willows by the dam. It has been reported that a rare chestnut-sided warbler has been spotted in the area. We crane our necks combing the treetops looking for the little bird.

I expect to see the lovely chestnut sides of the bird indicated by the photo in my bird guides, but when I finally spot this tiny feathered gem in the African sumac by the dam it isn't what I expect. Jean, Pam, and Peggy are more experienced birders than I am and when I call them over they confirm it is the chestnut-sided warbler in non-breeding plumage. the little bird flutters in and out of the foliage, making it very hard to photograph. I barely get a bead on it and it's gone once again. One surprise to me was the way it holds its tail upright like a wren. A visit to the newly formed Arizona Field Ornithologist page gives me further information:

Chestnut-sided warbler photo by Kathie Brown 1-23-09

Even when it completely lacks any Chestnut on the sides, non-breeding Chestnut-sided Warbler is a distinctive bright yellow-green above and unstreaked grayish-white below. It also has wingbars and an eyering. No other warbler has this combination of features.

From AZFO Photo ID Pages-chestnut-sided Warbler.

We continue past the dam and along the creek. Though our list is small today, this one bird is worth it all. Over the dam the swift water tumbles roaring a song in our ears. The boulder strewn creek bed is evidence of its power. Gray sky above becomes life-giving water below.



Big January Update:

105. Chestnut-sided Warbler
106. Anna's Hummingbird

Also, check out Diane's Sabino Canyon Blog

Blogger's Note Update 1-29-09: I submitted my Chestnut-sided warbler photo to the AZFO Webpage where it was accepted and posted. This is a first for me.

My World: Sabino Canyon

It's My World Tuesday and, No, I am not hiding in a cave, I am out voting!

This picture was taken on September 14, 2008 on our monthly bird survey of Sabino Canyon for Tucson Audubon's Important Bird Areas Survey program. As a volunteer I usually have to get up 2 hours before sunrise in order to be on time, since Sabino Canyon is an hour north of where I live. It's always hard to get up early but I'm always glad once I'm there. Sabino Canyon is a magnificent place and one of these days I'm going to go farther than the mile and a half we hike in to do our survey! Even in that short distance the scenery is spectacular!

Scroll down or click on The Birds of Sabino Canyon to see some of the birds we have recorded there in the last two surveys.

The Birds of Sabino Canyon

Hermit Thrush by kathiesbirds
10-14-08

The summer birds are gone and the winter population is moving in. We counted this little bird near Sabino Dam in the thick of the brush.

Whitecrowned sparrow by kathiesbirds 10-14-08

Out in the sunshine a White-crowned sparrow looks over the land.

Hammond's Flycatcher 9-16-08 by Kathiesbirds


In September the last of the hummingbirds were still hanging around. Only a few linger now. Nearby this little Hammond's Flycatcher hunts insects in the brush.



Juvenile Cooper's Hawk 9-16-08 by kathiesbirds

Across the creek a juvenile Cooper's Hawk keeps watch for the slightest movement.


Clark's Spiny Lizard eats insect 9-16-08


We rarely finish our hike without seeing at least one lizard, but it was a real treat to find this Clark's Spiney Lizard with a mouth full of beetle beneath some brush. Burp!



Come back tomorrow for MY WORLD TUESDAY!

Sabino Canyon Bird Counts:

Location: Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

Observation date: 9/16/08

Notes: IBA Survey transect with Jean, Peggy and Pam. I counted all the way back to the car as well, a half mile farther than the transect.

Number of species: 28

Gambel's Quail 3
Turkey
Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk (Western) 2
Prairie Falcon 1
Mourning Dove 5
Broad-billed Hummingbird 4
Black-chinned Hummingbird 6
Anna's Hummingbird 3
Gila Woodpecker 3
Red-naped Sapsucker 1
Hammond's Flycatcher 1
Black Phoebe 1
Bell's Vireo 5
Plumbeous Vireo 2
Common Raven 1
Verdin 4
Cactus Wren 3
House Wren 4
Curve-billed Thrasher 2
Lucy's Warbler 2
Wilson's Warbler (Mountain West) 2
Green-tailed Towhee 1
Abert's Towhee 2
Northern Cardinal 1
Black-headed Grosbeak 1
House Finch 1
Lesser Goldfinch 20

Location: Sabino Canyon Recreation Area

Observation date: 10/14/08

Notes: IBA survey plus the hike in and out. 44F@ 7:00AM. No wind or clouds. We weren't seeing many birds until we were halfway through the transect. This is probably due to the cold temps and the construction going on at the beginning of the transect where 2 new restrooms are being built. Transect is along Sabino Creek. Once we were south of
the construction zone and the sun started to hit the canyon the birds came out in force.

Number of species: 19

Gambel's Quail 15
Mourning Dove 6
Gila Woodpecker 3
Black Phoebe 1
Common Raven 1
Verdin 5
Cactus Wren 7
Rock Wren 4
House Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Hermit Thrush 1
Northern Mockingbird 4
Curve-billed Thrasher 2
Phainopepla 5
Abert's Towhee 4
Song Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1
House Sparrow 10

The Rain, the Birds, and the Horse Lubber

Horse Lubber Grasshopper taeniopda eques

It’s 4:15 a.m. on Monday morning and I am sitting here in the dark outside on my patio trying to wake up. This is bird survey morning and it’s been so long since I have gone. We took the first part of the summer off, and then I was unable to attend July’s survey. Now, as I sit here sipping my tea waiting for all the circuits in my brain to start firing I listen to the haunting sound of great-horned owls hooting in the distance. The earth is still and dark and scented with the sweet smell of creosote. It must have rained at least a little during the night. A waning moon is playing hide and seek with the clouds and the clouds are winning, for very little of the soft pearl light is making it to earth. I finish my tea and head inside.

It’s starting to sprinkle by the time I head out the door. Rain drops spatter on my windshield. We rarely get this kind of rain here in Tucson. Usually it is the downpour of a thunderstorm. I drive in and out of showers all the way to Sabino Canyon. The clouds are snagged on the jagged peaks of the Catalina Mountains. Now a steady, but light rain is falling as I park the car and walk over to meet my companions. Peggy, Pam and Jean are already waiting for me with umbrellas. Though it is raining it is still warm and I am dressed in a light cotton sweater and shorts. My wide-brimmed birding hat protects my face from the rain as we hike a mile and a half into the canyon. I did not bring my camera and I am glad, for it would have been difficult to keep it dry in this steady rain.

Sabino Canyon 3-5-08

Everything has grown so much since I was here last. The canyon slopes are covered in lush green vegetation. Red rocks jut from green mounds of life, but the birds are few and far between. Usually we are serenaded by bird song as we hike in. Today I have not seen one yet. We finally arrive at our start point and there sitting atop a velvet mesquite tree a varied bunting is waking up the dawn with its song. It is our first bird of the day. As I raise my bins to get a better view I realize what will be a perpetual problem for the day-my lenses are speckled with rain drops, and though I wipe them dry, the lenses soon fog from the warmth of my eyes. I try a strategy of covering the eye pieces with my sweater, which I have removed because I was too warm, but this only partially helps. We hike through knee-hi wet grass on the lookout for snakes and start our survey.

The lesser goldfinches are out in force, but the rest of the birds all seem to be hiding from the gentle rain fall. As we stumble over boulders along the creek bed the towering trees are silent. All the rocks glisten from the wetness reveling their myriad colors and tints. We’ve seen a cardinal or two, an Abert’s towhee, and then a Cooper’s Hawk, but we’ve only seen one white-winged dove and Jean speculates that they are already starting to migrate. Down by the dam where the humming bird feeders are set up for the humming bird monitoring station we find Broad-billed Hummingbirds and some sparrow species we are unable to identify as it skulks about in the deep vegetation. Giant reeds have overgrown here creating the feeling of a jungle. These are an invasive plant and an eradication plan is scheduled for this area soon.

South of the dam we reach our finish point. I stumble on the Bermuda grass covered dunes when I step in a hole hidden by this invasive grass. It has rained for most of the three and a half hours we have been out here and everything about me is wet. My feet are wet. My shirt is wet. My arms and legs and face are all dripping. It’s muggy and steamy and I just want to be dry again, but we still have at least a half a mile hike out of the canyon. As we head down the dirt trail and we draw near the visitor center we see the power lines pegged with doves. I count at least fifty of them strung across the sky, but most of them are mourning doves with a couple of white-wings thrown in. We part ways at the visitor center and I hurry to my car where I have dry shoes and a dry shirt to change into. Then, it’s a 30 mile drive back home.

Sahuarita Road looking west 8-25-08

The farther south I travel the clearer the skies get until soon I am driving in bright sunlight. But gray clouds still billow overhead, threatening still more rain. As I turn onto Sahuarita Rd I keep my eyes open for these large black grasshoppers Gus and I encountered yesterday on our way to town. We were driving out of our neighborhood when I saw them moving across the road. All I knew then it that they were large and black and I wanted to know what they were, so, though we were anxious to eat I made Gus turn around and go back. I had to know what they were.

Gus stopped the car and I jumped out, but before I could cross the street I had to wait for other traffic to pass. By the time I got to the insects they were all dead, crushed by the tires of the other vehicles. Then, I saw movement farther up the road and I ran up there to see these large black grasshoppers with orange stripes bisecting their heads. Misty green wings lay along their backs and they were walking! Simply walking across the road. They did not hop and they did not fly, despite the obvious wings on their backs.

Horse Lubber devouring its dead kin

Well, I didn’t have the camera with me and our stomachs were starting to growl, so we headed off to eat breakfast in town, but we decided if the creatures were still there when we returned we would get the camera and come back to photograph them. Imagine our surprise when we turned onto Sahuarita Rd. and saw a wave of these insects walking south across the road! There were hundreds, if not thousands of them! Most were crushed by the steady traffic on this prominent east-west road. Yet, still some of them kept on coming, trying to cross this black ribbon of asphalt to get to the other side. Yesterday, when we finally returned from town we were hoping to take a photo of the grasshopper littered roadway. To our horror the road had been scraped and cleaned by the road crews in preparation for today’s rain. But now, as I drive past the same spot a few hundred of the grasshoppers are marching to their death once again. Though I am tired from hiking in the rain and being up since 4 a.m. (it is now almost 11 a.m.) I hurry home to get my camera. I loop back and pull off onto the sandy shoulder of the road and start snapping.

Dead grasshoppers litter the roadway

One of the first grasshoppers I photograph is devouring its dead brother. Grasshopper carcasses litter the roadway, though not in the numbers I saw yesterday. I follow various grasshoppers around the side of the road. A few wisely turn back into the desert and climb the steep gravel ridges created by the scrapers to clear the road of monsoon debris. Then, as I pursue one hopper it finally takes wing and flies revealing bright pink underwings! I am not able to get a shot of that because the flight was so brief and I was caught by surprise but I have the image in my head to enjoy.

Horse Lubber escaping back into the desert

When I get home the photos reveal a very tribal looking insect. While the basic structure is the same for all the grasshoppers, their bodies are patterned differently, as if some in some secret grasshopper ritual they painted their black bodies with fire, sun, and cactus. Now they march out in an army to accomplish what? But, though their bodies are large for the insect world at 3 inches or more, still, their frames are fragile when compared to the crushing weight of a thousand plus pound vehicle. I can’t help but wonder if they will survive this onslaught in, what I am assuming, is their native grounds. Will they march like this forever until they are extinct?

I do not know if these creatures are beneficial or not. I only know that I am captivated by their wild and tribal beauty. They seem to be a fierce creature with those huge mouth parts (sorry Doug, I don’t know what they are called and I am waxing poetic here!) and their ginourmous legs. Their bulging eyes seem to pierce right through me. I don’t think I would like then in my yard, but I am glad to know they exist in the wild. It makes me feel as if we have not quite tamed the earth, yet.

Perhaps the tribal chief?

A bit of research reveals that these grasshoppers are called Horse Lubber Grasshoppers. Everything I have experienced has been documented by others. To read an excellent but brief article about this species go to the Firefly Forest.

Birds Seen in Sabino Canyon today:
Location: Sabino Canyon Recreation Area
Observation date: 8/25/08
Notes: Most of the doves and all of the cactus wrens were seen near the Visitor's center. Part of this count is Tucson Audubon's IBA survey but I include the hike to and from the survey transect.

We had 4 unidentified sparrow species, 1 unidentified grosbeak sp. and 1 unidentified tanager species.

Number of species: 17

Gambel's Quail 5
Cooper's Hawk 1
White-winged Dove 7
Mourning Dove 60
Greater Roadrunner 3
Broad-billed Hummingbird 6
Gila Woodpecker 2
Common Raven 2
Verdin 2
Cactus Wren 4
Canyon Wren 1
Abert's Towhee 2
Rufous-winged Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 3
Varied Bunting 1
House Finch 10
Lesser Goldfinch 23

Photographers Note: All of today's Photography is by Kathie using the Nikon D80 and the 70-300mm lens. Grasshoppers and the Sahuarita road photos taken on Monday, August 25, 2008. Sabino Canyon and Cardinal photo taken in Sabino Canyon on March 5, 2008. As always, click on photos to enlarge for the best view.

Virga Sky Over Sabino on Tuesday's Bird Survey

(Sky Watch Friday)

It is survey time again in Sabino Canyon. On Tuesday, April 29th, I arrive at 6:30 a.m. under blue skies with clouds that look like wispy kites. The weather man tells me these are virga, or rain that doesn’t reach the ground. I just enjoy them for the ephemeral beauty they offer. It’s a kite flying sort of day, with light winds and sunny skies.

White-winged doves are everywhere in the canyon today. As we start up the trail I see one perched atop a blooming saguaro alongside the tram road. Jean, Pam and I hike the mile and a quarter in to our starting point. We pass people already heading out of the canyon from their morning walk. Many people arrive at 5 a.m. to hike before work. Sabino is such a beautiful place to be.

We stop alongside the road when we see a Cooper’s hawk perched in a mesquite tree. As we creep closer we realize it is eating prey. Whatever the hawk clutches in its talons is already too ripped up to identify, but this Coopers is certainly enjoying a hearty breakfast today. This is good as Jean informs me they have 2 nesting pairs of Cooper’s hawks here at this end of the canyon. Well, this bird doesn’t appear to be sharing as it gulps down bit after bit of torn flesh. It is undisturbed by our presence as we stand and watch, and I snap of shot after shot of the feeding bird.
We finally arrive at our starting point for our survey. Here under the tree canopy a few Sacred Daturas are blooming with huge white bell-shaped flowers. I am told these flowers are hallucinogenic if I were to eat one. No chance of that happening with me! I’ll just enjoy looking at them, thank you! Since it is peak migration we hope to see some new birds today. It hasn’t rained in quite awhile and I can tell the creek level has definitely fallen since the last time we were here. It is rattlesnake season, however, and we keep a close lookout for where we place our feet as we head down the transect route along the riparian area. While we don't find any rattlesnakes, we do find this cone shaped depression in the sand which indicates the presence of an antlion larva's den.

We hear and see lesser goldfinches everywhere. Hummingbirds whizz by our heads, sometimes landing in the trees long enough for us to identify them. We count broad-bills, black-chins and one Costa’s. To our surprise we spot a black-headed grosbeak, though it is well hidden in the thick of the trees and I am unable to get a good shot of it. White-winged doves call out from both side of the creek and wing their way over our heads. The Gamble’s quail are calling to us also, first from one side of the canyon, then the other. Jean identifies the tumbling notes of a Canyon Wren. We never get to see it, but we do hear another farther down the survey route.

As we scramble over rocks and boulders Jean points out a beautiful rock that is indicative of the geology of Sabino Canyon. This rock is called gneiss and is composed of feldspar, quartz, garnet, mica, and magnetite.

We round a corner in the creek and discover a male mallard in a quiet pool of the creek. Then we spot the female up on a sand bar blending in perfectly with the sand and rock backdrop. As we look through our binoculars at the ducks a discussion develops about whether these are Mexican mallard hybrids. Here in the southwest the two species interbreed frequently and most mallards are hybridized. The male Mexican mallard looks similar to female mallards but according to Sibley’s Bird Guide they are 10% smaller and darker overall. This male has an olive colored bill as compared to the true yellow bills of pure northern mallards. The female we see has an olive-orange bill and it is decided that these two are Mexican-mallard crosses.

Since the water in the creek is frequently too high for us to follow its course along the bank we walk as far as we can, then backtrack to the road where we hike down to the bluff trail and take up the survey again. At the point where we reconnect with the road is a restroom where we often take a rest stop. It is in this restroom that I have had frogs fall out of the toilet paper roll or leap out of the sink on suction toes that cling to the side of the sink only to crawl back in to the wet center once I am done washing my hands. Today there are no frogs but right outside the rest room Jean and Pam call me over quickly to see a Gila Monster that is slowly lumbering across the ground. Finally I have my camera with me! I hastily start snapping photos as the creature crawls off into the cacti and scrub. I want to get a good picture of him of course, but he is heading away from me and most shots are of its backside!

With such a thick tail, it’s almost hard to tell which end is which, but you can clearly see the eyes in this head shot. I have been told that seeing a Gila monster in the wild is a rare occurrence but though I have only lived here a year, I have seen three of them in the wild!

As we head down the dusty Bluff Trail we pass a graythorn bush ripe with its blue berries. The berries are eaten by white-winged doves, Gamble's quail and other bird species. The bush also provides nesting sites for birds.

Farther down the trail we spot a yellow warbler in the top of an ash tree. It performs feats of high acrobatics in the top of the tree as it gleans insects from the new green leaves. Once down along the creek again we find more hummingbirds and some Wilson’s Warblers. A female black-chinned hummingbird alights briefly on her spider-web woven nest beneath a large tree that holds a Cooper’s Hawk nest. Research by the hummingbird survey group has revealed that Black-chinned hummingbirds are 50% more successful in raising their broods when they nest beneath a Cooper’s hawk nest. The interplay of species never ceases to amaze me.

It was still a bit cool when we first started our survey, but the rising sun has raised the temperature considerably. I shed my light sweater and sip water from my camel pack on a regular basis. Our dew points have been running in the single digits lately with a few dips in the negative category. Yes, I have seen dew points of -9 degrees posted on the local evening news. This means our air is extremely dry which makes the fire danger extreme also. According to the news, we are experiencing the highest fire danger in 26 years!

By the time we finish the survey we have counted 29 species of bird, though my personal count is higher since I count birds all the way into and out of the canyon. I end up with 31 species of birds on this day. As we walk out of the canyon Jean takes us by a thrasher’s nest deep in a cholla cactus. The bird and nest blend in so well that most people would never notice them. We pass a couple of women as we near the parking lot. They excitedly tell us that they have seen a Gila monster today in the canyon. One woman has lived here for 15 years and has never seen one in the wild before. As we stand there talking I notice some movement alongside the path. A little round-tailed ground squirrel gazes cautiously up at us from behind a bush, its dark eyes questioning and liquid soft.

Hints of Springtime In Sabino Canyon

The alarm rang in the pitch black of a moonless morning at 4:30 a.m. One of the cats jumped up on the bed to investigate if I was really going to get up. It jumped down as I rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. Today is the day I volunteer to at Sabino Canyon for Tucson Audubon’s Important Bird Area, or IBA Survey. Sabino Canyon is about an hour north of me and we have to start the survey within a half an hour of sunrise. Since we hike a mile into the canyon and then do the survey on the hike back, I have to get up this early to arrive on time. I hurry about making my tea and some oatmeal. I feed the cats and move laundry around. Bonnie decides she needs to barf on the tile floor in the hallway, so I hurry to clean that up. Since today is trash day I take the bag outside into a black silk night. It’s so dark I have to turn a light on so I can see my way back to the front door, but once around the corner of the garage a light breeze caresses my face and I pause in all this hectic hurry to gaze upwards at the star-studded sky.

The drive to Sabino canyon is long. Though I am early the traffic is already thick on the roads. As I pull into the parking lot the sky is turning to gray. A desert cotton tail nibbles on greenery near the visitor center where I wait for Jean and Peggy. Any day that starts off with a cute little bunny will be a good day.

We start our hike up the tram road. Already we are seeing cactus wrens, curved-billed thrashers, and phainopeplas. The sun starts to rise between the canyon walls. Saguaros are silhouetted along the ridgeline. Then a sunbeam breaks through flooding the canyon with light.

Down in a gully three white-tailed deer grazed without fear.

Along the roadway we see cardinals and a canyon towhee. Usually shy and secretive, this one hopped up on a twig and posed for me.

So did this male and female cardinal!

I can hear the roar of the creek below me in the canyon. Up here on the road the sunlight is hitting and the birds are starting to sing, but when we get down into the canyon it’s still in shadow.

We count no birds at all at our first stop for a point count. Usually we do a Transect Survey which for us is a one mile walk in one direction counting all the birds within 100 meters of our trail. But, every now and then we have to do Point Count Surveys. This involves five stops along the way where we stand at one point and count birds for 10 minutes. Then we move down the trail to the next point and do it again. In between we don’t count birds, though I do my own personal count for eBrid.

We climb over rocks and we trek through sand. We duck through brush as we head downstream. Peggy finds a raccoon track in the soft creek sand. I keep hoping to see a coati but so far, no luck. Then we find an ant lion trap, a conical indent in the sand where, if an insect wanders in it has a hard time getting out and usually the ant lion gobbles up the victim before it can escape. Along the creek the willows drop their shaggy bark. Some branches have fine green leaves and yellow catkins in flower and along with the cottonwoods’ new lime green leaves it gives the impression of a green mist along the treetops. One willow is such bloom the branches were humming with drunken bees. A Morning Cloak butterfly joins them sipping nectar far at the top out of reach of my camera. I gaze at its dark brown wings edged in cream through my binoculars. Its head is buried deep in the tree’s flowers, hidden from sight.

A ruby-crowned kinglet comes to check us out, then, uncharacteristically deices it needs to preen right in front of us. These busy little birds are often so hard to photograph simply because they are in constant motion, but today I was able to snap of 10 to 12 good shots!


We finish out point counts just south of the Sabino creek dam. I see the old road washed out from previous flooding. The creek cascades over the cracked cement and meanders on its way in a gentle fashion today. At our last stop we see the most birds, including a broad-billed hummingbird and a ladder-backed woodpecker, but it is on our walk back to the parking lot that we make our best discovery. I am constantly scanning the trees, brush, cacti and skies for motion. Suddenly I see something gray moving in the thick tangle of a mesquite. Gazing through my binoculars I’m delighted to discover a nesting pair of phainopeplas! The male flies out to a tree near a saguaro, but the female sits on the nest rearranging the twigs to better suit her taste. Her silky gray body blends perfectly with the mesquite bark. If it weren’t for her red eyes, she would disappear completely with her camouflage.


Jean has taught me an interesting thing about phainopeplas. One of their favorite foods is mistletoe berries. The phainopeplas eat the sticky red berries and excrete them onto the trees they use as perches. Since the birds tend to go back to the same perches frequently and since the seeds are still sticky when they are excreted, they stick to the tree branches in clumps until the mistletoe can take root on the branch and start its parasitic cycle all over again!

While I had seen the clumps of mistletoe hanging from trees in the desert I had never yet seen the ripe berries. Today we finally found some, as well as the seed clumps clinging to a branch.

All along the trail we see spring wildflowers blooming. Miniature lupine pokes up its blue spikes no more than 10 inches high. After having lived in Maine where the lupine can top five feet tall, this new variety amazes me. I suppose it doesn’t have time to get that tall here. It’s never wet enough or cold enough! Still, the bluish-purple blossoms have a delicate beauty.

We see yellow primrose along the trail, globe mallow and Mexican poppies, but it is not warm enough yet for them to be open. A few more hours of sun will coax their petal wide, but for now we only see their tightly wrapped buds pointing skyward. We see other flowers in bloom that we don’t know the name of, but we enjoy their beauty nonetheless.

An antelope ground squirrel gazes at us from atop a rock, then hurries away as we pass by. We stop to check out the Cooper’s hawk nest in a tall cottonwood tree a bit off the trail, and then continue on our way to the parking lot. It’s almost noontime and I’m tired and hungry as I drive back home to Sycamore canyon. As I head up the road with my head full of today’s birding expedition I suddenly notice a large black bird with its wings held in a “V” gliding over the desert. I was wondering when they would return! It’s my first sighting of a turkey vulture here in Sycamore Canyon this year. Now I know that spring is almost upon us! And then, as I round the bend onto my road I see a patch of bright orange on the side of the road. I pull over and park the car and clamber out with my camera to capture the beauty of Mexican poppies growing wild right here in Sycamore Canyon. As if that is not enough to finish off my day, a lovely jewel green insect flies right into the orange cup just in time for me to snap this picture!