June 3, 2005
AZ cleanup day 5 - Tucson
Having really cleaned up, we decided to have a lie-in (6am!) and to bird the nearby Santa Catalina Mountains. An unsuccessful search of Black-chinned Sparrow habitat around Molino Basin produced a few birds of note, including Crissal Thrasher, Mexican Jay,
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher,
and a soaring Zone-tailed Hawk.
Today's cool bird on a nest was Cactus Wren.
Coming in...
... and out!
Heading up to higher elevation was refreshingly cool, and we saw a few montane species not previously encountered (Audubon's Warbler, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Band-tailed Pigeon). This singing male Virginia's Warbler couldn't have been any more showy!
At the summit, Yellow-eyed Juncos were singing...
... and this Cordilleran Flycatcher sat around for long enough to be photographed.
After a much-needed smoothie and sandwich, we spent our last hour of birding at the Sweetwater Wetlands. Shortly after entering, we were treated to stunning, close-up views of this Bobcat and prey, which sauntered into the path in front of us.
Between this and the resident Harris's Hawks, this Ground Squirrel had good reason to be nervous!
Our run of good birding luck wasn't over yet. A bird flying into a tree-top caught my attention, and I was stunned when it turned out to be a pristine male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a vagrant to Arizona from further east and my 24th life bird of the trip! A walk around the ponds added a few waterbirds to our trip, the best of which was the long-staying but elusive Least Grebe.
Over the long weekend we notched up a respectable 155 species, including a superb array of rare and localised species. My ABA area list shot up to 537 - must get round to birding the east coast sometime!