Sunday, December 14: Patagonia CBC, AZ

This is great circle with an amazing history of rarities (Blue Mockingbird, Crescent-chested Warbler, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Towhee). Yet since Dan Jones, the only local birder, moved to TX in the mid-90's, it's lost momentum. Only in the last couple of years have some new local birders begun putting more energy into it, and I was happy to participate for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. I covered the trail-accessible portion of the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Nature Conservancy preserve with Dave Stejskal. We were split up, covering opposite sides of the creek, for most of the morning, and Dave found all the good birds: Black-throated Gray Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, and "Western" Flycatcher. I did have a covey of Montezuma Quail. Best bird of the count was a singing Gray Vireo found by John Yerger and Morgan Jackson. The most surprising sighting Dave and I had was of this small tarantula that may have been disturbed from his hibernaculum by a road grader.