Ed Tobin, Jenise Porter and I took a half day trip to the Huachuca Mountains to look for hummingbirds.
There were plenty of birds at Ash Canyon B&B around lunchtime, but hummingbird numbers were very low for the first week in August. We struck out on Lucifer but only spent a short while looking. Mary Jo’s yard looks stunning right now and birds like BLACK-HEADED and BLUE GROSBEAK, BUSHTIT and WILD TURKEY added to the splendor.
  Things were equally quiet at Beatty’s Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon, with surprisingly few hummingbirds for the time of year. The species were impressive though – WHITE-EARED was regular, a BERYLLINE made a brief appearance to grab a huge chunk of nesting material, whilst BLUE-THROATED, MAGNIFICENT, BROAD-TAILED, BROAD-BILLED, BLACK-CHINNED and ANNA’S made it eight species in total. Near the parking area we stumbled upon a small flock which included LAZULI BUNTING, PAINTED REDSTART, WESTERN TANAGER and BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.
  My friend Marie called this afternoon to say there was an owl in her pine tree. And so there was – a recently fledged juvenile GREAT HORNED OWL. It was clearly naive, roosting in an open location during monsoon and being harassed by the local Cactus Wrens and mockingbirds. This ‘teenager’ is presumably from a local nest and is trying to establish a territory for itself, having been ‘kicked out’ by mom and dad. I was able to get a few reasonable photos as it glared down, not at me and my camera but at Marie’s kids playing in their playhouse next to us.
 July 26th, 2010  Tags: phoenix, rarities  Aware of the fact that mid-afternoon in July is perhaps not the best time to look for thrashers, I was passing close to the traditional thrasher spot at the intersection of Baseline and Salome near Buckeye, west of Phoenix, so I thought I’d give it a go. I’d never been there before and consequently had never seen Le Conte’s Thrasher. I didn’t hold out that much hope.
Well, it’s probably not a normal experience, so don’t count on it, but to my amazement it took me only 12 minutes to find a calling LE CONTE’S THRASHER, see it fairly well and get a reasonable record shot. It was nothing more than dumb luck, presumably. I got several more views over the next hour or so but saw almost no other birds at all – a brief thrasher which was likely a BENDIRE’S and a couple of Mourning Doves, that was literally it.
I was joined by Susan, Clare, Jenise and Flory in a quest to see hummingbirds in the Huachuca Mountains, and we weren’t left disappointed. On the way a PRAIRIE FALCON flew by near Benson and a pair of SCALED QUAIL prompted an emergency stop near Sierra Vista.
We started at Ash Canyon B&B where we soon racked up BROAD-BILLED, ANNA’S, BLACK-CHINNED, RUFOUS, COSTA’S and a couple of visits by a female LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD along with a nice variety of other birds at Mary Jo’s feeders, including ARIZONA WOODPECKER, BLACK-HEADED and BLUE GROSBEAKS, SUMMER TANAGER and lots more besides.
At Beatty’s Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon we added BERYLLINE (male and female), WHITE-EARED (male and female), BLUE-THROATED (multiple), MAGNIFICENT and BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRDS, plus the leucistic hummingbird thought by most to be a Black-chinned. The feeders were really buzzing as the rain started to fall. SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER also put in an appearance.
Eleven species of hummer on a thoroughly enjoyable day spent in fine company. As always, many thanks to Mary Jo Ballator and Tom Beatty Snr. and Jnr. for their dedicated work, bringing the wonderful birds of the Huachucas to us lucky, lucky birders. We truly appreciate it – thank you!
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Things were equally quiet at Beatty’s Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon, with surprisingly few hummingbirds for the time of year. The species were impressive though – WHITE-EARED was regular, a BERYLLINE made a brief appearance to grab a huge chunk of nesting material, whilst BLUE-THROATED, MAGNIFICENT, BROAD-TAILED, BROAD-BILLED, BLACK-CHINNED and ANNA’S made it eight species in total. Near the parking area we stumbled upon a small flock which included LAZULI BUNTING, PAINTED REDSTART, WESTERN TANAGER and BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER.
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