GETTING A RED START ON MY WAY TO CA...

News of a Slate-throated Redstart came through just as I was leaving for home from San Diego. Really, I should be excited and grateful for any rarity turning up - the success of my Big Year is kind of dependent on the randomness of these guys. But with the excitement, there's a pit in my stomach - my much-anticipated - and requested - time at home is possibly going to be cut short. I'm not sure how much more of this Gerri and the cats will understand...

Slate-throated Redstart is a code 4 rarity that breeds from northern Mexico to southern Bolivia. For birders north of the border this is a good year for them: there was a spring record in the Chiricahuas, AZ. I was a week late for that bird (a combination of it not sticking around, and me being way too slow.) So - my chance at redemption.

I decide to rearrange my plans so I leave home almost as soon as I get back. I'll head to AZ on the way to my CA pelagic this weekend and the Mountain Quail chase with Bob Barnes on the 30th. Gerri understands some of this insanity although Sally cat doesn't...

What? You're going away again? But you only just got back?

Birds?! *That's* why you're leaving? Humans!

I land at Phoenix and immediately check for news of the bird. I have an email for the AZ listserv, the subject of which is, "Slate-throated Redstart - NO." Shit. As I'm cursing myself for not coming earlier, I scroll up and spot a message from the same guy that now says, "Slate-throated Redstart - YES." It apparently just reappeared. Phew! I could relax. If it was here this morning, and I had the whole afternoon and evening, I could pretty much tick this bird now. Woo-hoo!

Three hours later, I'm pulling into the military complex that is Fort Huachuca. At this point, I start to recall the comments from the rental car rep, who at the time I was just yessing - "watch out of the monsoon rains." Rain?! Really? I spent my whole life with rain. How bad could rain be? As I'm driving through the base, I'm actually starting to wonder...

Cue ominous music...

The road up here is bad enough, without the ..."eeeeeekkkkk." My phone's pretending to be a fire alarm. No - it's just a National Weather Service alert, "Dangerous Flash Floods in your area." And now the rain starts.

Even with my head 3 inches from the windshield, I can't see a thing. The rain is so thick, and the "road" looks like a river. It takes an eternity to navigate the 1.7 miles to the parking area. I can't go out in this - so decide to wait it out in my car.

"Beep, beep." It's the military police. Are you kidding me? Another speeding ticket? I'm not even moving! 

"The canyon's closed. You need to leave right, now." 

"Ummm...Slate-throated Redstart!!!!...Boston...just arrived...Slate-throated..."

"Now."

OK. So much for my guaranteed bird. I'll be the first person not to see the bird. I guess this is where my recent luck runs out. As if to confirm this, as I'm leaving the canyon...

Next morning starts better. It's dry. The river road to the canyon has reverted back to the bone-dry bone-rattler as if yesterday never happened. As I get to the dam(n) area, I meet Melody Kehl, who originally found the bird. "It was seen 5 minutes ago, above the dam." Great! It's still here! But nothing in the next 2 hours suggests this to be the case. And then it rains. What if if never stops? What if they close the canyon again? When can I have my guaranteed bird?? Is Gerri feeding the cats?

I'm standing under a bare pine tree realizing why I'm getting so wet, when Laurens Halsey arrives. OK. Now we have a pro (see Laurens' photo of the bird here.) And the rain finally stops - and the birds start singing. We're treated to Painted Redstarts, Red-faced Warbler and distant Elegant Trogons. There's about 10 of us all standing around the dam area. I then start hearing a high-pitched chipping noise. And suddenly someone shouts out, "I've got the bird!" And they do. We're all treated to 2-3 minutes of the bird flitting around. What a beauty!

Slate-throated Redstart.

This is the Mexican subspecies, with a red breast and belly. In Guatamala it's more of an orange, and south of Panama it's a bright yellow.

As we're moving uphill to relocate the bird, we run into this guy...

Bear! Presumably the same guy that ripped apart a car earlier in the week. 

And the reason for the subsequent canyon closures. 

Probably a good time leave...

So - I have the afternoon free. And what better way to spend it that looking for a bird that I keep missing - the Black-capped Gnatcatcher. I've tried at least 6 times this year at Montosa Canyon - allegedly the best place (and this year pretty much the only place in the country) for this bird.

As usual, the place is hopping with gnatcatchers - blue, white and gray birds with long, often cocked, tails. Only they're all Black-tailed Gnatcatchers...

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher.

Notice the extensively black underside of the tail feathers.

There are also Varied and Indigo Buntings to enjoy while I'm looking. But it's getting very hot and very insecty, so I decide to leave. I'll just walk up to the bike trail sign and turn around. And that's when I hear it. The rising and falling buzz that I've been listening for. My pishing brings in 2 birds - and both have white undertails (so not Black-tailed) with distinctly long bills and graduated white undertail feathers. It's them! Black-capped Gnatcatchers! Finally!

Black-capped Gnatcatcher! 

White under tail and long bill.

Wow! I came back here more as a kind of ritual than with any expectation of actually finding this bird. In fact, I'd pretty much written off this bird for the year. Clearly the monsoon gods were being kind to me today!

I ended the day at Madera Canyon with one of my favorite, and lazy, birding activities - sitting and watching hummingbirds at feeders. I missed the Lucifer that had been reported today, but did see Violet-crowned and lots of lovely Broad-billed Hummers...

Broad-billed Hummingbird. Sana Rita Lodge, Madera Canyon.

Despite the rains, bear, closed canyon, once again AZ is still my favorite birding place. I'd love to spend a couple more days here watching the buzzing hummers, but my next flight beckons. It's taking me back to California. This time tomorrow, I'll be on a boat.

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BIG YEAR LIST: 690

NEW YEAR BIRDS (2): Slate-throated Redstart, Black-capped Gnatcatcher

SNAKES ON THE PLAIN - (AND WHITE-EARED HUMMER!!)

Today was my last day in AZ on this trip. It was a bit of a mopping up day - trying again for some birds that have so far eluded me.

I started at Madera Canyon, this time driving up to the amphitheater (yes, it really is an amphitheater way up the middle of a heavily-forested canyon.) Following up on a tip from Laurens Halsey, I was going to walk a trail that - supposedly - is good for Montezuma Quail. Montezuma Quail are noteworthy for 3 things: they are tiny, the males have a black-and-white clown face, and they are impossible to find. Actually - the latter isn't entirely true (otherwise they wouldn't be in my bird book - although Atlantic Puffin is, which I believe *is* entirely fictitious.)  Which reminds me of that Monty Python sketch where a man goes into a bookstore and asks for the field guide (Olsen's Standard Book of British Birds) that has Gannet removed - the "expurgated version"...

Anyway...back to my story: the Montezuma Quail. They're impossible to find *only* if you're actually looking for them. The best way to find them is to not look for them. This seemingly oblique and helpful advice is, of course, entirely useless. I don't look for them when I'm on the coast, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to find one floating on the ocean. So - it's a good idea to know about reliable places where you can go and *pretend* you're not looking for them. Today, I was going to pretend to not look for them near the amphitheater.

The quail like steep hillsides, often slightly rocky with short grass. They don't run away when you approach - they stand completely motionless, and only fly if you almost stand on them. Oh - and that clown face helps make them blend into the surroundings. Maybe looking for Puffins might have been a better idea...

The wind was howling from the previous day's storm as I ascended up the rocky path. I imagined the quail would be out walking about on the same path that I was. They were not. I did not flush any. Twenty minutes later, and still no quail, I was getting desperate. Maybe if I scanned the nearby slopes I could spot one camouflaged against the ground? I stopped, looked uphill, and immediately heard the buzz of wings behind me as a bird exploded into the air. A quail! I only saw the brown back, short tail, and rounded wings, as it landed further up the hillside. Did I just imagine this? Moving closer to where the bird landed, I flushed another (or same) bird, which flew much further up the hill. That was it. The quail show was the back of a bird flying away from me - but it was enough. One day I'll actually see them sitting on the ground. But not today.

Driving back down Madera, I passed the Santa Rita Lodge, and the morning Turkey Parade, as the hungry birds head for breakfast at the feeders.

Down at Proctor Road I walked the loop, and heard a bird I'd been listening for. "Psee-yeet", a rising, slurred call. The Pacific-slope Flycatcher! This is an Empidonax flycatcher - the genus where they all look very similar (Hammond's and Dusky were the other two new ones I got on this trip.) Pacific-slope used to be called Western Flycatcher until it was split into Pacific-slope (west coast) and Cordilleran (breeds in AZ at high elevation.) Unless you have a male calling, at this time of year, you can't reliably separate them. It's thought that most of the yellow-bellied Empids in AZ at this time of year are Pacific-slopes migrating through. (The Cordilleran arrive later and stay.) This bird was a rich yellow-green, with an entirely orange lower mandible, and a lovely tear-drop eye ring.

After coffee at Java Posada - a fantastic find, and the best coffee within 20 miles of the canyon (almost the *only* coffee...) I headed to Montosa canyon to try for Black-capped Gnatcatcher. I'd missed this bird back in Jan. Montosa Canyon has been reliable in the past (but not for me in Jan!), so I thought I'd give it another go. Don't worry, there's not another long quail story here - I didn't get the bird. I didn't really expect to get it, so wasn't too disappointed. I did, however, find some nice birds here - the highlight of which was a a MacGillivray's Warbler on the side of the road. I heard a soft chipping noise, and immediately recognized it from hearing this back in Boston (we've had two birds in also as many years.) After the 2 hour vigil at San Pedro House, I found one in less than 5 minutes without even looking for one - a scenario that will be familiar to any birder. I also had another Pacific-slope Flycatcher (also calling to confirm it's identity) and a lovely purple-gorget Costa's Hummingbird. Although there were no gnatcatchers, there were lots of immigrant-catchers - the border patrol were out in force on this road this morning.

I headed down to Patagonia to try for the Thick-billed Kingbird again (it had been reported at Spirit Lodge.) After lunch at the awesome Gathering Grounds I tried the area around the Lodge. Apart from some Dusky-capped Flycatchers, and *another* Pacific-slope Flycatcher, I couldn't find a Kingbird. What I did find was this...

Important - when looking up at birds, also look down while walking.

Bullsnake - Spirit Inn, Patagonia.

I almost stepped on this guy. It's amazing how the stripes just blend into the ground. If there had been anyone around (there wasn't - this is the middle of nowhere, remember!) they would have seen me leap up, swear, mildly freak out, and then turn around to make sure no-one witnessed this embarrassing spectacle. As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, as I was walking back along the path, the same exact thing happened again.

The snake is a Bullsnake - which has a very similar look to a Diamondback Rattlesnake - minus the rattle on the tail, and the flat head. They capitalize on this similarity by pretending to make a rattle sound, flattening their head, and rearing up like a Rattlesnake. Although this works quite well for animals that are scared of rattlesnakes, it doesn't work well with humans, who fall for the bluff and kill them. Apparently, even rattlesnakes fear them - so it's good to have these on your property.

Anyway - back to birds. No Thick-billed Kingbird. This bird is going to make me work for it - like the Gray Kingbird in Florida.

Talking of birds earning their tick, I went back *again* to Huachuca Canyon for the third time looking for the Northern Pygmy-owl in the parking lot. I followed the now standard protocol with this bird: hand over ID to army guards to gain access into the base, drive through base, drive up crappy canyon road, park in parking lot, get out of car, look for owl, don't find owl, get back in car and repeat in reverse order. Here's the tree where I believe they're nesting (and seen by others sitting in)...

Inside this tree is a Northern Pygmy-owl.

As I was leaving Fort Huachuca, I checked the AZ listserv for bird news - and there was big news: a male White-eared Hummingbird had been seen from 11am today at Beatty's B&B in Miller Canyon. That's 30 mins away!

White-eared Hummingbirds are similar to Broad-billed, but have a shorter bill, and an obvious white line extending back from the eye through the "ear". Although extremely rare in the US, they used to be fairly regular summer birds in the Huachucas, although in 2011 none were seen. Last year, there was a single male at Beatty's. I arrived at 4pm, hoping that I wasn't too late, and that the bird was still here and hadn't passed through. I was in luck - it was last seen about 20 minutes ago. I waited, and after seeing all the other hummers there (including a lovely female Blue-throated) it finally came in, calling continuously with its distinctive (warbler-like) chip notes. It settled onto a feeder and filled up with sugar water...

White-eared Hummingbird (male)

Beatty's B&B, Miller Canyon

And that was the last bird on this trip. An unexpected addition, and a great way to end my travels here. I'd missed some important birds: Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Northern Pygmy-owl, Thick-billed Kingbird and Mexican Chickadee - that will bring me back at some point (as well as the later-arriving Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and Varied Bunting.) But I'd also seen some amazing birds. Favorites included: all the hummers (for their personalities, zipping around buzzing at each other); Pacific-slope Flycatcher (lovely subtle coloration and tear-drop eye-ring); Virginia's Warbler - for keeping me waiting so long; and the Five-striped Sparrows - for not having to go back to California Gulch!

Thank you Arizona!

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BIG YEAR LIST: 547

NEW YEAR BIRDS (3): Montezuma Quail, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, White-eared Hummingbird.