Fun Birding Tours in SE Arizona with Birding Guide Richard Fray » sulphur springs valley

Sulphur Springs Valley

Richard — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:59:13 +0000

We planned to stop at the pond by Faria Dairy for a few minutes but it turned into a much longer visit. This pond is attractive to wildfowl including diving ducks and grebes and often has interesting birds. That was certainly the case today. Straight away I noticed a loon and a quick look through the scope confirmed it as a PACIFIC LOON, a rare bird in SE Arizona. [...]

Fun Birding Workshop Shorebird Special

Richard — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 06:33:59 +0000

Lake Cochise had no gulls, no terns, relatively few shorebirds and very few ducks. With some effort we recorded ten shorebird species: KILLDEER, SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, BLACK-NECKED STILT, AMERICAN AVOCET, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, WESTERN SANDPIPER, LEAST SANDPIPER, BAIRD’S SANDPIPER, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER and WILSON’S PHALAROPES. [...]

Willcox Gray Catbird

Richard — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 06:16:23 +0000

Max has a brilliant yard, full of birds. There were five or six WESTERN TANAGERS and an entertaining family of CURVE-BILLED THRASHERS amongst many other birds coming to the plentiful feeders. Before long, the GRAY CATBIRD duly arrived, giving nice views at the back of the yard and a couple of times briefly at close range. [...]

Birds of Fray Birdathon 2011

Richard — Sun, 01 May 2011 06:39:54 +0000

I ended on a total of 144 species. At Willcox, six CASPIAN TERNS, 18 RING-BILLED GULLS and three FRANKLIN’S GULLS were the obvious stars. On the shorebird front, single SEMIPALMATED PLOVER and WILLET were among hundreds of peeps. PRAIRIE FALCON and SWAINSON’S HAWK were overhead. [...]

Cochise Stronghold, Benson WTP

Richard — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 06:03:16 +0000

Highlights included several SCOTT’S ORIOLES, LAZULI BUNTINGS, PAINTED REDSTART, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER, GREEN-TAILED, SPOTTED and CANYON TOWHEES, BROAD-BILLED, BROAD-TAILED, BLACK-CHINNED and ANNA’S HUMMINGBIRDS and my FOS WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. [...]

Sulphur Springs Valley

Richard — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 06:15:12 +0000

We checked out Kansas Settlement and eventually found the ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK hunkered down six inches from the ground at the edge of the usual field. An impressive seven FERRUGINOUS HAWKS were with two RED-TAILS. Another FERRUGINOUS HAWK, a dark phase, was my second dark phase in two days. [...]

February Workshop: Crane Special

Richard — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 06:20:49 +0000

Many thanks to Andrew Core for emailing the news of the drake EURASIAN WIGEON at Benson WTP this morning. I can’t really add to what he said, other than to confirm that it didn’t exhibit any obvious signs of hybridization at long range and looked good for a ‘real’ one. [...]

Sulphur Springs Valley Again

Richard — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 06:08:19 +0000

I was back at Whitewater Draw with another bus load from Pleasurebent Tours. They were treated to an exceptional display from the SANDHILL CRANES. The full 20,000 were in attendance. Simply sensational. [...]

Sulphur Springs Valley

Richard — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 06:46:19 +0000

The ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was perched on roadside tumbleweed to the south side of Arzberger Rd. A newly plowed field was particularly productive, with four FERRUGINOUS HAWKS, five RED-TAILS, a MERLIN and 18 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS. [...]

Santa Cruz Flats, Willcox & the Chiricahuas

Richard — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:02:52 +0000

We charged around Lake Cochise in about ten minutes, seeing nothing of note except one shorebird. We puzzled over the ID for a while but came to the hasty conclusion that it must be a droopy-billed Baird's Sandpiper. I was slightly alarmed to discover there were no previous December records in SE Arizona, so I wanted to check the photos before I made a claim. [...]

Sulphur Springs Valley

Richard — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:01:30 +0000

Highlights included a couple of SAGE SPARROWS plus MERLIN, FERRUGINOUS HAWK, BENDIRE’S THRASHER, a couple of GREAT HORNED OWLS and 19 WHITE-WINGED DOVES. A pair of BLACK-CHINNED SPARROWS were in the Granites. At Whitewater Draw there were about 70 distant SNOW GEESE including one blue morph, plus masses of SANDHILL CRANES. [...]

Elfrida CBC

Richard — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 06:27:28 +0000

It’s an early start for the Elfrida CBC, the Christmas Bird Count in the center of the Sulphur Springs Valley. The count circle is divided into four and over the previous four years I have covered each segment of the count. This year I was honored to spend the day with Sheri Williamson and [...]

Chiricahua Mountains 2

Richard — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 04:56:32 +0000

We headed east on dirt roads, parallel to the Mexican border. Our destination was Slaughter Ranch, an interesting historical site which doubles up as a great birding locale. The avian highlight was a showy CRISSAL THRASHER. [...]

Chiricahua Mountains 1

Richard — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 06:32:43 +0000

As we pulled up at Cave Creek Ranch in fading light, someone was clearly watching something of great interest in a tree by the main house. We pulled alongside to ask what it was - a White-nosed Coati! [...]

Shorebird Special – August Workshop

Richard — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 04:06:39 +0000

Lake Cochise had 1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, 2 STILT SANDPIPERS, 1 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, c.10 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, 50+ LEAST SANDPIPERS, 2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, c.30 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, c.150 WILSON'S PHALAROPES, 2 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, 1 AMERICAN AVOCET and c.20 BLACK-NECKED STILTS. A few KILLDEER and 30+ LONG-BILLED CURLEW were by seasonal pools. [...]

March Fun Birding Workshop: Sulphur Springs Valley

Richard — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 06:16:01 +0000

The entire crane flock took to the air, honking like crazy, giving us a great aerial display. After a few minutes they settled down again, some of them a lot closer than previously. We headed back out to the viewing platform and got better views. [...]

Late again

Richard — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:48:54 +0000

Not for the first time I missed a major Arizona rarity by not getting in gear quickly enough. The bird in question was a Pacific Golden Plover, which had been recorded in the state only once before. It had been present at Willcox Lake for two days – but was nowhere to be seen on the [...]

Richard’s Photothon: the story

Richard — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:16:25 +0000

[click here for the full list and all the photos]

Having fed the birds in my new courtyard for a few months I decided to start “Richard’s Photothon 2009″ in my backyard at first light to try to get off to a good start.

It was slow going, though, and by the time I headed [...]

Wildlife spectacles

Richard — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:06:56 +0000

No, I don’t mean binoculars, or even Ed’s intriguing eye glasses with 2.8 x magnification, I mean the sort of wildlife spectacle that makes you gasp, such as close views of impressive raptors or great flocks of cranes.

My new friend Ed asked if I’d take him out birding somewhere, and his sister Jackie and [...]

Contrast

Richard — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:06:31 +0000

From Vegas to the Sulphur Springs Valley and Dragoon Mountains in Southeast Arizona… from the ridiculous to the sublime? Or the other way round? I don’t know.

Anyway, I headed out on my own, leaving Melanie and Val to meet me later. I started at Sweetwater Wetlands again and amazingly connected with my target bird immediately [...]

Dangerous!

Richard — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:02:53 +0000

I’d managed to wangle a day off and my original plan was to go to Patagonia again and try to see the wren, but in an attempt to inject a bit of success into my birding trips I changed my mind at the last minute and opted for a day of checking watery sites. I’m better [...]