I had a great day yesterday (Saturday, April 23) with my birdathon team of Moe Bell of Scottsdale and Mark Cassidy of Seattle who very capably got on birds and did a great job of keeping track of the bird list and timing of stops. The final species tally for our was 174 species, one short of the target. Only three of the birds (1.7%) were seen by one person only, well short of the 5% rule for big days. Our team also raised about $1000 for the Tucson Audubon Society.
Our first bird of the day was LESSER NIGHTHAWK at a stoplight just as we were about to ascend the Mount Lemmon Highway. After completely dipping on Northern Saw-whet Owl and Spotted Owl, we decided against spending too much time to see the FLAMMULATED OWL that was calling so persistently at Rose Canyon but got luckier with a WHISKERED SCREECH-OWL that flew between Mark's and my faces in response to my whistles. A WESTERN SCREECH-OWL farther down the road was nearly as cooperative. We heard at least 3 ELF OWLS right at dawn, just in time as the diurnal birds had already begun to sing – BLACK-THROATED SPARROW, CANYON TOWHEE, CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, and the season's first BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER.
The Bickel feeders were a bonanza, with our only BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD and MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, and a migrant TOWNSEND'S WARBLER. RED-FACED WARBLER at Bear Wallow was a lifebird for at least one of the guys, so we paused to enjoy them before dashing off. We couldn't buy a Plumbeous Vireo at Bear Canyon, but we did get lucky with ARIZONA WOODPECKER, BRIDLED TITMOUSE, and VIRGINIA'S WARBLER there. If I had known about the Evening Grosbeaks that Scott and Erin found, I would have definitely detoured for such a great county bird.
All of the Tucson-area waterfowl were there there and happily added bonuses – Lakeside Park's GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE (digibinned above, using my iPhone held against my binoculars), Reid Park's SNOW GOOSE and ROSS'S GOOSE, and Kennedy Park's CANADA GOOSE. A NEOTROPIC CORMORANT and a few BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS at Reid Park were also stakeouts.
Benson Sewage Ponds had our only LESSER SCAUP, FRANKLIN'S GULL and a late BELTED KINGFISHER.
Willcox was good, but had apparently been better in the past couple of days – no gulls, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew, Sanderling, Black-necked Stilt OR yellowlegs of any kind. But we did get a surprise drake NORTHERN PINTAIL here, and the WILLETS, WILSON'S PHALAROPES, AMERICAN AVOCETS, and WESTERN GREBE were good stakeouts.
The wind picked up in the afternoon and destroyed our chances for grassland birds, so Grasshopper Sparrow and Cassin's Sparrow were unfortunate misses.
The VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD and a female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD were at the Paton's, but we didn't linger to see if the Calliope would show up.
The Rio Rico pond had the increasing flock of BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS, just one WHITE-FACED IBIS, and our only GREEN HERON.
The flooding fields between Palo Parado Road and Tumacacori were extremely birdy, and AMERICAN PIPIT there was a nice surprise.
A brief stop at the Amado Sewage Pond is always worth the detour, and this resulted in a drake GADWALL which had not been there in past days – making for a clean sweep of the dabbling ducks (except the Wood Duck). The two Snowy Egrets I had seen there just two days earlier were gone.
The fruiting mulberry trees at Continental (which had Cedar Waxwing for us two years ago) this time provided our only WESTERN TANAGER and (surprise) CURVE-BILLED THRASHER (we would have spotlighted the nest in my yard if we had missed it during the day).
We ended right on schedule with an hour and a half stroll at Sweetwater Wetlands, which added a whopping 9 birds to our list. The reported Solitary Sandpiper and Black-necked Stilts were nowhere to be seen, but we had good views of a SORA, VAUX'S SWIFTS with the swarms of swallows, GREAT EGRET, two SNOWY EGRETS (maybe the two missing from the Amado sewage pond?), and a NEOTROPIC CORMORANT. While scanning the swallows for the first arriving martin, I spotted two WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS, which we had missed in the Catalinas as well as at the Roadside Rest. Our final species was the WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, which others had apparently seen, and which we would have missed were it not calling. We gave another shot for the Harris's Hawk before enjoying the LESSER NIGHTHAWK spectacled (400-500 birds) from the Camino del Cerro Bridge.
List of Birds Recorded Sorted by Area
Hoyer's Voyeurs Birdathon Team
Rich Hoyer, Moe Bell, and Mark Cassidy
April 23, 2011
2:30 a.m. - 7:15 p.m.
411.5 miles driven
Catalina Highway and Houghton Road
1 Lesser Nighthawk
Rose Canyon
2 Flammulated Owl
General Hitchcock
3 Common Poorwill
4 Whiskered Screech-Owl
Gordon Hirabayashi
5 Western Screech-Owl
6 Cassin's Kingbird
7 Great Horned Owl
8 White-winged Dove
9 Canyon Towhee
Soldier Canyon
10 Elf Owl
11 Abert's Towhee
12 Brown-crested Flycatcher
13 Mourning Dove
14 Black-throated Sparrow
15 Gila Woodpecker
Mount Lemmon Short Road
16 Bell's Vireo
17 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
18 Cactus Wren
19 Rufous-winged Sparrow
20 Pyrrhuloxia
21 House Finch
22 Green-tailed Towhee
23 Lazuli Bunting
24 Gambel's Quail
Babad Do'ag
25 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Molino Overlook
26 Lesser Goldfinch
27 Rock Wren
28 Costa's Hummingbird
Molino Basin
29 Cooper's Hawk
30 Black-headed Grosbeak
31 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
32 Spotted Towhee
33 Broad-billed Hummingbird
34 Violet-green Swallow
35 Hooded Oriole
36 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
37 Ash-throated Flycatcher
38 Bewick's Wren
39 Hermit Thrush
40 Black-throated Gray Warbler
41 Wilson's Warbler
42 Gray Flycatcher
43 Scott's Oriole
44 Bushtit
Seven Cataracts Area
45 Canyon Wren
Willow Canyon
46 Band-tailed Pigeon
47 Acorn Woodpecker
48 Mexican Jay
49 Pygmy Nuthatch
50 Townsend's Warbler
51 Grace's Warbler
52 Painted Redstart
53 Pine Siskin
54 House Wren
55 Broad-tailed Hummingbird
56 White-breasted Nuthatch
57 Olive Warbler
58 Yellow-rumped Warbler
59 Yellow-eyed Junco
60 Magnificent Hummingbird
61 Hairy Woodpecker
62 Northern Flicker
63 Hutton's Vireo
64 Hammond's Flycatcher
Bear Wallow
65 Steller's Jay
66 Mountain Chickadee
67 Red-faced Warbler
68 Red-breasted Nuthatch
69 Brown Creeper
70 American Robin
Windy Ridge
71 Turkey Vulture
72 Red-tailed Hawk
Bear Canyon
73 Arizona Woodpecker
74 Bridled Titmouse
75 Hepatic Tanager
76 Virginia's Warbler
77 Common Raven
Below Babad Do'ag
78 Gilded Flicker
Tucson Driving
79 Verdin
80 House Sparrow
81 Rock Pigeon
82 Great-tailed Grackle
Reid Park
83 American Wigeon
84 Mallard
85 Ring-necked Duck
86 Lesser Scaup
87 Pied-billed Grebe
88 Neotropic Cormorant
89 Black-crowned Night-Heron
90 American Coot
91 Snow Goose
92 Ross's Goose
93 Ruddy Duck
Hardesty Pond
94 Black Phoebe
95 Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Lakeside Park
96 Greater White-fronted Goose
97 Killdeer
98 Northern Mockingbird
99 European Starling
100 Yellow Warbler
101 Black-chinned Hummingbird
102 Lark Sparrow
103 Vermilion Flycatcher
104 Brewer's Blackbird
105 Brewer's Sparrow
S Kolb Road
106 American Kestrel
I-10 Eastbound
107 Swainson's Hawk
Benson Sewage Ponds
108 Western Kingbird
109 Eared Grebe
110 Tree Swallow
111 Bank Swallow
112 Barn Swallow
113 Eurasian Collared-Dove
114 Cinnamon Teal
115 Green-winged Teal
116 Orange-crowned Warbler
117 Common Yellowthroat
118 Northern Shoveler
119 Least Sandpiper
120 Franklin's Gull
121 Vesper Sparrow
122 White-crowned Sparrow
123 Spotted Sandpiper
124 Belted Kingfisher
125 Say's Phoebe
I-10 Eastbound/Willcox
126 Chihuahuan Raven
127 Loggerhead Shrike
128 Lark Bunting
Lake Cochise
129 Savannah Sparrow
130 Blue-winged Teal
131 Wilson's Phalarope
132 Willet
133 Western Sandpiper
134 Long-billed Dowitcher
135 Western Grebe
136 American Avocet
137 Horned Lark
138 Northern Pintail
139 Great Blue Heron
Sonoita Grasslands
140 Cliff Swallow
141 Eastern Meadowlark
Patagonia/Patons
142 Northern Cardinal
143 Gray Hawk
144 Brown-headed Cowbird
145 Anna's Hummingbird
146 Rufous Hummingbird
147 Violet-crowned Hummingbird
148 Chipping Sparrow
149 Lincoln's Sparrow
Blue Haven Road
150 Summer Tanager
151 Lucy's Warbler
152 Black Vulture
153 Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Roadside Rest
154 Phainopepla
Rio Rico Pond
155 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
156 White-faced Ibis
157 Green Heron
158 Red-winged Blackbird
Palo Parado Fields
159 American Pipit
Santa Gertrudis Lane
160 Song Sparrow
161 Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Amado Sewage Ponds
162 Gadwall
Continental Mulberry Trees
163 Curve-billed Thrasher
164 Western Tanager
Kennedy Park
165 Canada Goose
Sweetwater Wetlands
166 Warbling Vireo
167 Bronzed Cowbird
168 Sora
169 Common Moorhen
170 Vaux's Swift
171 White-throated Swift
172 Great Egret
173 Snowy Egret
174 Western Wood-Pewee
Species Missed
1. Wood Duck
2. Scaled Quail
3. Wild Turkey
4. Least Grebe
5. Double-crested Cormorant
6. American White Pelican
7. Northern Harrier
8. Northern Goshawk
9. Harris's Hawk
10. Short-tailed Hawk
11. Zone-tailed Hawk
12. Golden Eagle
13. Peregrine Falcon
14. Black-necked Stilt
15. Solitary Sandpiper
16. Greater Yellowlegs
17. Lesser Yellowlegs
18. Long-billed Curlew
19. Marbled Godwit
20. Sanderling
21. Ring-billed Gull
22. California Gull
23. Inca Dove
24. Common Ground-Dove
25. Greater Roadrunner
26. Barn Owl
27. Northern Pygmy-Owl
28. Burrowing Owl
29. Spotted Owl
30. Northern Saw-whet Owl
31. Mexican Whip-poor-will
32. Blue-throated Hummingbird
33. Calliope Hummingbird
34. Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
35. Greater Pewee
36. Dusky Flycatcher
37. Cordilleran Flycatcher
38. Dusky-capped Flycatcher
39. Thick-billed Kingbird
40. Plumbeous Vireo
41. Cassin's Vireo
42. Western Scrub-Jay
43. Purple Martin
44. Marsh Wren
45. Black-capped Gnatcatcher
46. Golden-crowned Kinglet
47. Western Bluebird
48. Crissal Thrasher
49. Cedar Waxwing
50. Nashville Warbler
51. Hermit Warbler
52. MacGillivray's Warbler
53. Yellow-breasted Chat
54. Botteri's Sparrow
55. Cassin's Sparrow
56. Grasshopper Sparrow
57. Yellow-headed Blackbird
58. Bullock's Oriole
59. Red Crossbill
60. Evening Grosbeak
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