Blue Goose ~ Day 308

March 31, 2015 ~ Sierra Vista, AZ

A day of change in plans but first we went back to Mary Jo's and sat in the morning sun for an hour, quietly chatting with the half dozen other birders who showed up. This time Mary Jo was there but harried as she had car problems and was trying to figure out how to get to Tucson in a car that wouldn't start.

What we had returned for specifically was the Lucifer Hummingbird. It had been seen recently at Mary Jo's but, as it turned out, not between March 30 to April 1, or at least not reported. Birding is a treasure hunt but sometimes there are no jewels or gold at the end, but the Lucifer would have been a jewel with it's long curved bill and "vividly purple throat."

Scott's Oriole at Ash Canyon (Mary Jo Ballator) - AZ

It was a fresh and sunny Arizona spring morning, as good as it gets for a person who perseverates on weather. We made a short stop at Casa de San Pedro before going on to the San Pedro River House. The Casa is another lovely peaceful birding B and B in the riparian habitat of the SP River. As we slowly drove through the circular drive, we spotted a pair of Greater Roadrunners madly dashing/running back and forth across the road with nest-building material. Was this DHC's first roadrunner sighting? I think so, although we also saw one running across a city street in Sierra Vista that day. But these stayed in the vicinity and she got some decent photos.

The San Pedro House is one of the access points for the SPRNCA (San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area) managed by the BLM. Volunteers staff the former ranch house, a sweet little sun-worn place filled with information and things to buy, like books, shirts, cards, pins, earrings, a few food items.... There were truly gigantic cottonwoods in the yard and a short trail through open fields down to the river. On the way, we began seeing Vermilion Flycatchers and, while we didn't see many other birds, we did see several brilliant males and less conspicuous females with an orange-apricot blush on their bellies.

Vermilion Flycatcher - San Pedro RNCA - Sierra Vista, AZ

If Vermilions are present, they are often easy to see as their behavior is typical of flycatchers which fly out to catch insects and return to an exposed branch, repetitively. The river had water but not much and the woods were quiet. But it was the middle of the day, often not a good time to search for birds.  We walked around down there, under huge trees in filtered sunlight for 45 minutes, only seeing a very occasional bird flit by or sing in the distance.

We ate last night's leftovers on a picnic table in the shade back and DHC watched the hummingbird feeders in hopes of seeing an Anna's but without luck. It was now early afternoon and, while our specific plans were loose, we did have the general idea to head to Patagonia and the famous Paton yard. But why not drive to Ft. Huachuca and Garden Canyon first...which we did. As DHC says, the roads through this military base were "spaghetti" and it took concentration to navigate to the canyon but we eventually found it. We had to go through a checkpoint and show IDs but then were allowed to drive by guys on their bellies shooting at far-off targets and past fields with possible unexploded ordinance, etc. there were warnings all over to basically stay in one's vehicle in these areas. DHC was surprised we were even given permission to move through the shooting fields. Garden Canyon had a gate across the entrance with "Bear Activity" warnings, but I also think there was construction and road improvement activity precipitating the closure.

And it was about this time, while driving back six miles and while DHC was out of the car taking photos, that I found out from eBird that Elegant Trogons were in Huachuca Canyon and were being seen regularly, which was way too enticing to not try for.... We were in the middle of a short but intense rainstorm as we drove to the canyon, not far, but through the "spaghetti" again.

Ft. Huachuca - AZ

We knew the rain would pass as the skies showed dramatic clouds but bright clearing to the west. And by the time we found the beginning of the canyon, the sun was out and the air was fresh as it is after a brief cleansing rain. We had a general idea of where the trogons were but not specifically. I decided to email a local birder for more precise directions. We stopped at a gorgeous little creek at the base of the canyon and saw a Black-throated  Gray Warbler (life bird for both of us), a Townsend's (life DHC) and then a Hepatic Tanager popped into view in the high branches above us. There were dozens of Audubon Yellow-rumps all over and titmice, wrens, finches, woodpeckers, flycatchers...a pair of Gray Hawks flying overhead.

We started up the very very rough road, still not exactly sure where we were going, and after a mile we turned around. Our highest speed was 5 mph as we dodged rocks and ruts, moving carefully so as not to puncture a tire or bottom out. But, soon I got great news: a detailed description of where to find the trogons. They were best seen in the morning and we would have to drive up the canyon another mile or two, so we stayed a second night at the same motel (Sierra Suites), ate another meal at Olive Garden and made plans to get up early and find these elusive gorgeous exotic birds.

Ft. Huachuca - closing in on the Elegant Trogons