Sinaloa Wren

The Sinaloa Wren is a very rare visitor from Mexico to the United States. There was a confirmed report from the Patagonia Sonoita Creek Preserve in 2008 and again in 2009. But then not again from that location.

In the past three years two new locations have been reported:  1) Huachuca Canyon and 2) along the Juan Bautista de Anza trail between Tubac and Tumacacori. In each case the Sinaloa Wren doesn't wander far from the reported location and remains for months at a time. 

I have tried to find this little wren many times -- both at the de Anza Trail site and the Huachuca Canyon site. I have spent quite a lot of time in Huachuca Canyon. And, I am embarrassed by the fact that I had pretty much given up finding it, spending less and less time looking on each trip into the canyon.

On Sunday after the visit to Lake Cochise and the Black Bellied Plover, I went to Huachuca Canyon looking for the MacGillivray's Warbler. (I have photographed this little warbler before but am looking to get a better photo).

As I arrived at the entrance to Huachuca Canyon I found the gate closed which meant I could not get up the canyon to where I wanted. Since the Sinaloa Wren location was only about 250 yards from the gate I thought I'd give it a try while waiting to see if the gate would open.

And wouldn't you know, there was the Sinaloa Wren. Of all the times I went looking for it and didn't find it, the one time I actually didn't go with the intention of looking for it, I found it.

It was constantly moving around usually deep inside bushes. I took many photos nearly all of which were either out-of-focus or just the tail, the head, the back etc.

I am happy that I came away with a photo that provides a "Positive ID" -- the black and white streaks on the cheeks and neck:

Sinaloa Wren

Now I have renewed interest in looking again and getting a better photo. When is the earliest I can get away to Huachuca Canyon?

Black Bellied Plover

From a Bed and Breakfast point of view, I am trying to take advantage of the off-season before our busy season begins by taking wildlife photo trips as much as possible -- the "calm before the storm" perspective. However, it is Southern Arizona's Monsoon Season, so I am also limited to Mother Nature's "calm" between her "storms." 

I posted 10 days ago the difficulty in getting into Empire Gulch at Las Cienegas because of the flooding. I was thrilled with my photograph of a Yellow Billed Cuckoo. But it came at a price. The price was over 100 chigger bites on my legs (which are only now beginning to heal). 

Yesterday, I thought I'd go to Lake Cochise in Willcox, which is 75 miles east of Tucson. Just about every water bird that lands in Southern Arizona has at one time or another stopped at Lake Cochise. Since there was a report of two Black Bellied Plovers at Lake Cochise on Friday, I thought I'd give it a try. 

The Black Bellied Plover summers along the arctic coastlines throughout the world  (Alaska, Canada, Russia etc). They winter along the coastlines several thousand miles south. In North America, they winter along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts. They are rarely found inland. Yet, here were two reported sightings in Southern Arizona.  

I assumed that the plovers came from Alaska, headed to the Gulf Coast and were forced to the ground by our storms. If that thinking was correct, surely they would take to the air as soon as possible to continue their migration.

On my drive to Lake Cochise I thought about the realistic chances of seeing and photographing one of these two Black Bellied Plovers. In addition to the urgency of their migration, I considered, given that Lake Cochise now has several thousand shorebirds, the likelihood of finding one of two plovers among thousands of other shorebirds.

The following quote from Darryl Zero (The Zero Effect) comes to mind:

"Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them."

Many times I have gone looking for one thing, and found something else instead that I was quite pleased with. So, on whole, this isn't a bad thing.

But occasionally, as it was yesterday, I did find what I went looking for. In this case the Black Bellied Plover:

Black Bellied Plover

Birding Huachuca Canyon, continued

It's warbler time, and in addition to Mount Lemmon, Huachuca Canyon is an excellent spot. I went hoping to find and get a "great" photo of a MacGillivray's Warbler. I have seen and photographed them before in several places but really needed that "perfect" photo. And while I did not see a MacGillivray's -- thought I did once, but it turn out to be a Nashville -- I did find six different Warbler species:

Painted Redstart with "catch"

Nashville Warbler with "catch"

Townsend's Warbler

Hermit Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Black Throated Gray Warbler

Birding Huachuca Canyon

Next on my "Great Day Birding" in Huachuca Canyon, the Brown Creeper.

I've seen Brown Creepers over the years. They aren't abundant, they are solitary. And they live pretty much in old mature wood forests. They fly to the base of an old tree and zigzag up the trunk looking for insects in the bark. (Always up the tree, seldom if ever down).

Because of their camouflage it is difficult to find them unless you see them flying to a tree. And because of their small size and camouflage photographing them is a challenge.

In order to get a good photo you really need to get a side view which means moving around and potentially scaring them off.

So I have been looking for them this summer hoping to get that "perfect" photo. And the news is that while in Huachuca Canyon I came close:

Brown Creeper

As you can see, not a great photo. I needed to move away and to the side without disturbing him:

Brown Creeper

Much Better!

A Great Day Birding

So what constitutes a "Great Day Birding?" For me it is a wide variety of birds, flocks that make it difficult to know what to photograph first, some close ups, and last but certainly (not for me) the least, very good detailed photos.

Where do you go to have a "Great Day Birding?" Well, of course this is Southern Arizona so there are many places to go. I have raved about Mount Lemmon so many times. But yesterday, one of my favorite places in the Southern Mountains: Huachuca Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains.

There's been a Sinaloa Wren that frequents the stream bed near the picnic areas just as you enter on the dirt road. But I usually start 1.7 miles up the canyon and look for the Sinaloa Wren on my return. But, yesterday the birding was so good up canyon that I didn't have time to stop and look for the Wren.

Okay, so what did I find? Well, I'll make several posts of the next couple of days with photos, but I'll start with, none other than the Elegant Trogon. I got my first really good look and photo of a Juvenile Elegant Trogon as well as an adult Male. Here are the photos:

Juvenile Elegant Trogon from behind

Adult Elegant Trogon from behind

Adult Elegant Trogon from the front

Yellow Billed Cuckoo!

I have wanted to photograph a Yellow Billed Cuckoo for all 13 years we've live here in Southern Arizona. 

The YBC is listed as endangered in the west with populations only of fraction of what they were a hundred years ago. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has designated areas of Southern Arizona as critical habitat for them. 

Over the past 13 years I've gone out looking for them many times; often after reading about a sighting. They are migratory birds that enter the US during our summer, then migrate as far south as Argentina (to enjoy their summer).

Yesterday, I went looking again. I arrived at Empire Gulch in the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area just after dawn. However, the gulch had been severely flooded and there was still mud up to my ankles. It was impossible to get into the gulch. Hugely disappointed, I decided to check out the area above the gulch, behind the old bunkhouses. Although the "Nature Trail" had all but disappeared under thick new growth I "bushwacked" my way though and got to some extremely large cottonwood trees. The area was quite birdie: yellow breasted chat, warbling vireo, black headed grosbeak, cardinals, hepatic and western tanagers to name a few I spotted and/or photographed.

I was standing (still) under one of those cottonwoods photographing a female Hepatic Tanager when to my surprise a Yellow Billed Cuckoo flew into a small tree directly in front of me. Although he was partially covered I was very close and was able to get some nice photos. I wanted to get a full frontal photo but was afraid to move for fear of causing the YBC to fly away. So after a few photos, I just stood and admired him.

Verdin

Today's photo is not of a particularly rare bird. Although only found in the southwest, the Verdin is fairly common. We see them everyday here at our Bed and Breakfast. So I have lots of photos. But sometimes whether it is the composition or the detail a photo is memorable. Sometimes both. Yesterday I went over to Sweetwater Wetlands and came home with one of those photos. Here it is, the Verdin:

It's a young male Verdin