In Search of The Uncommon —
Finding a Rarity
By Ed Keenan, Author of Nature and the Southwest,

Spring birding is always special—a special season, special places and special birds. Southeast Arizona fits all of those specials in a special way.

It’s the first week of April and here in the Santa Cruz Valley, the early morning air is downright chilly. The crispness of the dry desert air has a special feel. At sunup it’s about forty-nine degrees and in just in three or four hours the day warms up to the mid-nineties… a forty-five degree change in temperature!

I decide to walk the split-rail fence along the Santa Cruz River, as it runs through the mesquite and across the well manicured Tubac Golf Course and Resort. The river varies with the rainy seasons and is often dry. Though shallow, today it is running about thirty feet wide. The sycamores and cottonwoods are old and gnarly and inviting to both the birds and me.

Western and Cassin’s Kingbirds seem tethered to the fence rails and low branches. Darting and sweeping up and out and even landing on the turf, they catch flying insects and maybe even challenge each other, and then return to their favorite perch like they were pulled back by an invisible string. The Cassin’s Kingbird clearly tells the Western to ‘ski-doo, ski-doo’ and the Western Kingbird retorts, ‘nit-wit’!  I never tire of these most pleasant sights and sounds.

I looked back and gleaming like a ruby in the sun, I spot a Vermillion Flycatcher (see pictured above). It’s like it had been following a safe distance behind me on the fence line. I paused and it came closer and perched on a fence post close enough for me to get a decent photo of this scarlet beauty. It had a mind of its own and so flew around me and landed on the fence ahead of me, and posed again. For about a half an hour we flirted with each other. From the fence to the weeds and low cottonwood snags, we played, “let’s see how close you’ll let me get.” I would say, “Ok, that’s good, now pose for me.” It’s a Vermillion Flycatcher’s game of chicken that afforded me numerous photographic shots and a memorable experience. Suddenly he flew up like a skylark and fluttered like a butterfly, higher and higher. Like a red jewel on blue velvet, he performed his mating sky dance and disappeared.

As you might expect, the morning passed quickly but I was also able to observe other Arizonan’s like, Gambel’s Quail, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Bewick’s Wren, Plumbeous Vireo, Gila Woodpecker, Rusty Blackbird, Summer Tanager, Lark Sparrow, Green-tailed Towhee and the Say’s Phoebe.

Next on the docket, I’m looking forward to tomorrow when I will venture up in the Santa Rita Mountains and Madera Canyon, in search of some uncommon specialties. From our cabana porch we watched the orangey evening sunset spread its glow across the Santa Rita’s, pleating canyons like vertical blinds and casting long shadows of granite spires on the western slopes. I have heard that fishermen have good days and bad days, but there is no such thing as a bad day of birding.

After early breakfast it’s off to Madera Canyon. In a travel distance of about fifteen miles, the geography leading up to the canyon goes from the mesquite covered desert floor, across the Santa Rita River bed and up in to sparse brush and grassy slopes with natal yucca and dry rocky washes. The rapid change in elevation and habitat also changes the species of birds to be seen. On the grassy slopes near the Florida Wash one might hear and see the uncommon Botteri’s Sparrow in the early morning. This sparrow is very secretive so it is generally more often heard than seen.

This morning I am focused on a rendezvous with the uncommon Elegant Trogon. At least, that’s according to my optimistic desire. What makes me optimistic is this; I received a little inside dope from another birder who had seen the trogon the day before. He even defined the old sycamore tree that he thought the bird is nesting in. The colorful Elegant Trogon is a slender parrot-size bird that nests in the hollows of sycamore trees. Its brilliant iridescent colors, of greens and copper-reds, are a sight to behold! It prefers canyons of running water, at altitudes of 4000 to 6000 feet. Madera Canyon fits the bill.

So, I drive all the way to the top, past the Santa Rita Lodge, Kubo’s B & B and the Chuparosa Inn, up to the trailhead. Walking the ascending trail about a mile, along Madera Creek, I find the Vault Mine Trail and veer left. About one hundred yards up the creek I was told to look for a tall sycamore tree with a large protruding dead limb that is broken off. It is thought that one pair of Elegant Trogon’s were nesting in this hollow limb and so could be nearby. Elegant Trogon’s are secretive this time of year but they travel up and down the canyon, so they might be heard or seen just about anywhere in the canyon.

The first thing one has to do is to listen carefully for the repeating, soft, but penetrating calls of coo-ah or coo-ar. Their call is ventriloquil so it is often hard to pinpoint. If they turn their head its call is one direction, and then another. I heard it up ahead and then on the right and then I heard it on the left and then bingo! It was right above my head! Trogons can act somewhat docile and oblivious to the presence of people. But this one was more wary, staying high up in the chartreuse leaves, giving little more than peek-a-boo glimpses to my binoculars. Its iridescent colors catching some rays of dappled sun dazzled my eyes and brought me great satisfaction, but no cigar for a photograph. However any birding day is a good day, even as I experienced the unusual joy of observing the uncommon Elegant Trogon…a Madera Canyon specialty!

Descending the canyon I keep my eyes open for a Red-faced Warbler, but ‘ol Dane Fortune didn’t do me right this time. And then, about half way down, a real surprise shows up. A black bear with a cub! Right in the middle of the trail! She stops… and we stop. It quickly became a case of who is going to move off the trail. It appeared that we were being forced to give her and her cub the right-of-away, but there was nowhere to go except up or down the very steep canyon wall. As it happened, I was walking with another birder, and we both got a bit anxious. Almost automatically, we both managed to pick up a hefty stick or club and my instant partner said, “make some noise, pound on the log or tree…just make noise,” which we did. He said, “hold the club over your head or outstretched to increase the size of your silhouette.” The she bear kept her cub behind her and it was evident, she was not moving.

Suddenly with a loud snort, she lunged forward and quickly stopped. My newfound partner exclaimed, “don’t move… that’s a false charge!” It became obvious that our not moving caused her second thoughts. She started slowly climbing the embankment up the mountainside. She paused with her cub about fifty feet off the trail and looked down on us with menacing eyes, as if to say, “Ok, git! Git outa here! My partner who seemed to know a little black bear psyche said, “Start walking at a steady pace and don’t look at her… don’t stop, don’t look back and don’t run.” I didn’t want to be in the lead but I didn’t want to be in the rear either. That’s the trouble when there are only two persons. But, then I could have been alone, which meant I would have to cover both front and rear. So with unsteady confidence I took the lead. I never turned my head to look at her, but for the whole time, my eyeballs pulled out of the sockets looking sideways. It tested my peripheral vision to the max!

Well, we passed her and her cub without incident, but I will never forget that rare birding experience! Nor, will I forget the stranger that gave me some sound advice on psyching out a black bear on the trail.

I finally descended to the community and stopped at the Kubo’s Gift Shop where she hangs out a number of feeders over a babbling brook. She keeps a posted list of birds that are seen in the canyon throughout the whole season. On the list was a “Flame-colored Tanager!” Now that captured my attention. I had never seen this extremely rare beauty. As it turned out, some folks were saying that they heard it in the sycamores and silver-leaf oaks, across the road, over Madera Creek. I checked it out, and sure enough, sounding much like a Black-headed Grosbeak I tracked the call. The tanager moved a few times and I finally got a muddled binocular view. It was a long-distance observation through the leaves of the oaks. I waited and it moved again and I got a clean view of this rare, Flame-colored Tanager! It has the distinct likeness of a Western Tanager. This rarity that does not even appear in the most popular field guides before 2003, became a life-lister for me! Though it was out range for my 300 mm lens, I managed to get an identifiable photo.

I went back to the feeders at Kubo’s Gift Shop, and a number of birders were ogling over a Cassin’s Finch moving about in the surrounding trees. Now the Cassin’s Finch is also a bit uncommon here on the mountain. I got a few photos of this bird and it’s mate, but it was difficult to catch them in sunlight.

From there I birded the Madera Creek Nature Trail down to the Picnic Area and observed the Painted Redstart. Interestingly it had a nest hidden inside some Buffelgrass hanging on an embankment. I also observed the brown Arizona Woodpecker, Acorn Woodpecker, Bridled Titmouse, Broad-billed Hummingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Mexican Jay, Gray Vireo, Black-throated Gray Warbler and Hermit Thrush. One unusual find was a Black-throated Green Warbler. I spotted it at the top of, a very tall budding Sycamore tree after recognizing its repeated calls of buzzy-zooz and zweets. Being a transient, it is very uncommon to rare to see here. So when I returned to Kubo’s Gift shop, I told her where I saw it and she put it on the list for this season.

On the way back up the trail to my vehicle, I noticed a pair of Cassin’s Vireo’s (formerly, Solitary Vireo) carrying food to their nestlings. I waited and searched and found the nest in a sliver-leaf oak. It is very spherical and made as a deep round cup about the size of a baseball, softball. The outside is covered with soft-cottony plant down and spider webs over which are attached moth cocoons. The nest is creamy colored and has a shiny soft lumpy look. 

The male and female were going back and forth feeding their young. And then I noticed what I think was a female Anna’s Hummingbird coming to the nest when the Vireo’s were gone. Upon careful observation, lo ‘n behold! The hummingbird was taking the soft nesting material from the Vireo’s nest! The Vireo’s would come to feed the young and the hummingbird would back away and wait. When they left to go get more food, she would come back and carefully collect some more nesting material for her nest! A real opportunistic entrepreneur, living off the fat of the land! There has got to be a bird-brain lesson in this somewhere. Is it opportunism or biotic synergism? Is it thievery or sharing the bounty of the natural world?

Well, the next stop on the way home was a week in Palm Springs. I managed to buy out some time to wander around the desert mesquite and I enjoyed re-connecting with the local species, such as the Verdin, Bewick’s Wren, Cactus Wren, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Black-throated Sparrow, Prairie Falcon and a late Virginia’s Warbler. 

Considering that I was birding in the hot and dry Colorado Desert, I even came upon an unusual find. A shore bird! The Tahquitz Wash (Creek) at the southern edge of Palm Springs comes out of the San Jacinto Mountains as a refreshing running creek, cascading over a very rocky bottom. Where the shallow headwaters pond up around the rocks and grasses, I was surprised to find a pair of Lesser Yellow-legs wading and bobbing their heads and rumps. Because they are very wary I could only get few long-distance views and photos from the high creek bank above them. Nevertheless, they were a surprise sighting in the hot dry desert.

Now here’s the kicker. After I get home and download my photos I get a major surprise on my screen!  Remember that Cassin’s Finch that the birders were talking about near Kubo’s Gift Shop, in Madera Canyon? Well on closer look the photos revealed it was not a Cassin’s Finch, but a Purple Finch (see pictured)! 

Because of the similarity of the two finches, they are easy to misidentify. In fact, the checklist from the Tucson Audubon Society that I purchased from the gift shop says not to attempt ID without consulting them. One reason is because Purple Finches are uncommon to rare in the Santa Rita Mountains.

According to my trusty field guides, the critical ID marks, that separate the two species, are conclusive in my photos. For instance, the Cassin’s Finch usually displays a puffy red topknot like a wool sock-cap, but this one did not. The reddish color of Cassin’s crown does not extend beyond the nape but stops abruptly at the back. However the strawberry wash of the Purple Finch spreads over the head, nape and back, including the wings and flanks. My photos effectively show these differences. So here I am at my computer detailing my search for the uncommon, and I get another surprise rarity right on my screen! And, another first on my life list!

Yes! Spring birding is always special—a special season, special places and special birds. Southeast Arizona fits all of those specials in a special way—especially the Santa Rita Mountains and Madera Canyon.

Ed Keenan © 04-08

COW CHIP/COWBOY POETRY: For a poem, click here.
Cow Chip Poetry - Lies, Lingo and Lore by Southwest Cowboy Poet, Ed Keenan. This is an entertaining collection of cowboy poetry with an extensive 'Glossary of Cowboy Lingo'. Great gift - perfect for trail rides, cookouts, campouts. Contact Arroyo Press, (888) 784-8282, PO Box 1028, Vista CA, 92085. For more about Ed Keenan, click here.