Dateline: 14 September 2024

Beautiful weekend at Presque Isle State Park: sunny, warm, dry; trails in good condition. Warbler/migratory activity has definitely ticked up (anecdotally) relative to recent past visits. Of note, lots of Yellow-billed Cuckoo activity as seen by BirdingPI.com staff along the Pine Tree Trail (PTT), + other reports on eBird elsewhere. Following shots from Saturday on the PTT of “other birds:”

Medley 1 of juvenile Yellow-rumped Warbler x Northern Parula:

Probably immature male Northern Parula – note the hint of chestnut breast band, broken white eyering, & white wingbars (see below):

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Probably Chipping Sparrow x probably Pine Warbler:

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Eastern Phoebe x more Chipping Sparrow:

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Dateline: 14 September 2024, Presque Isle State Park

The Pine Tree Trail was on fire Saturday afternoon. Not literally. That would be bad. Bird-wise, rather. Especially an amazing and very surprising encounter w/ two Yellow-billed Cuckoo. First BirdingPI.com sighting of this species outside Arizona, first BirdingPI.com sighting of “more than one at the same time/location.”

Note the black-and-white bands visible on the underside of the tail:

Yellow-billed Cuckoo are known for hunting caterpillars = great to see here:

Awful/blurry shot, but just for the record – one individual @ far left, another @ lower right (very blurry):

Looks like a nice (sunny/mild) weekend for birding at Presque Isle State Park. Recent reports show good conditions at Gull Point (e.g., low water level = mud = good for shorebirds) + interesting/uncommon sightings like Red Knot & American Golden-Plover. (More on this in upcoming posts.) To get the weekend off to an ok start, here are some okay/cloudy shots of a Great Egret in flight, etc. last weekend at Leo’s Landing:

Took a while, but finally able to lure a beautiful Common Raven (or three) into close photography range with a strategically placed bust of Pallas. All shots at Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site (a.k.a. Prison Camp) half-way up (more or less) Mt. Lemmon, outside Tucson, AZ.

The photographer in the eye of the beholder:

Coming from Erie, PA where Common Ravens are very uncommon and mostly transient, encounters like this are a very happy occasion!

From a day in late July, it’s lots of Tucson-area suburban Sonoran Desert birds outside the BirdingPI.com Regional Desert Southwest (BIRDS) field station in Casas Adobes, AZ. Perhaps Tucson’s “best” & “most exclusive” location for quality birding within 10 meters (20-30 feet) of air conditioning & a cold beverage (e.g., ice water).

All hummingbird pictures Purple Shooting Star (a.k.a. Costa’s Hummingbird):

Here’s a medley of Lesser Goldfinch (female or juvenile) x Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (m):

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Two of White-winged Dove w/ nice lighting:

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Medley of Purple Shooting Star x Juvenile Verdin:

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Very cool picture of the setting sun through evening monsoon rains:

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Finally, lots more Purple Shooting Star from earlier in the afternoon:

Fun facts: Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps) is the only species in the genus Auriparus and the only representative of the old-world family Remizidae (penduline tits) found in North America. “Penduline tits:” all but the Verdin make elaborate bag nests hanging from trees (whence “penduline”, hanging), usually over water. (That being said, even Verdin make fairly elaborate spherical hanging nests out of sticks and twigs.)

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This was the Presque Isle weekend of “events for people in really good shape,” which sadly excludes the entire BirdingPI.com staff: Erie Marathon on Sunday, & Barber ‘Beast on the Bay’ on Saturday. Due to the commotion + other logistical issues, unfortunately no Gull Point content again this week. However, ‘the game’s afoot’ (migration-wise), with some nice shorebird sightings Saturday afternoon (after the rain but cloudy) at Leo’s Landing:

It’s Gray Catbird! x more Caspian Tern (carrying a stick apparently):

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Trail conditions: locally muddy at usual locations, e.g., Duck Pond Trail & west end Long Pond Trail.

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Coming up soon, more Great Egret!

It’s the final “Gull Point photo adventure” from June, featuring ‘misc. bird,’ mostly Yellow Warbler except where noted.

Kind of think of this area as Avra Valley, though the ‘official’ Avra Valley is south of here. Anyway, these shots are from the south end of the agricultural area (e.g., open farmland) running roughly along the Santa Cruz River, SE-to-NW paralleling I10 on the west, between Red Rock and Arizona City, and west of Picacho Peak. Specifically, near where E. Sasco Rd. (heading west out of Red Rock) crosses the river. (This is a regular spot on at least one of the SE AZ Birding Festival field trips.)

Might have seen 4-5 Greater Roadrunner either together or in close proximity just east of the river crossing:

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Good location for Inca Dove. (Several were heard at this spot; following individual was perched by the road.) ID tip: note the scaled appearance on the back of the neck.

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The ‘bird of the outing,’ a very lucky sighting, west of the river crossing (open mesquite scrubland), of Bendire’s Thrasher:

Note the relatively short, straight bill compared to, e.g., this Curve-billed Thrasher at Paton Center:

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Heading west from the river eventually leads to Ironwood Forest National Monument. Territory changes from agriculture/riparian to open mesquite scrubland to Sonoran Desert w/ Saguaro and Desert Ironwood (Olneya tesota), for example.

White-winged Doves landing on a power line:

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The word that best describes the 100+ year-old Boyce Thompson Arboretum outside Superior, AZ is an unironic “Wow!” Beautiful rock formations/desert scenery, interesting history, an extra-amazing collection of desert plant life, & diverse wild birds taking advantage of the oasis-like conditions. First ever BirdingPI.com visit to this location (despite many times in Tucson), & very highly recommended.

Visitation tips: min. travel time from Tucson: 90 minutes, from Phoenix: 60 minutes; summer hours 6AM-3PM; summer conditions – very hot (38+ deg C, 100+ deg F) = get as early a start as possible + bring water. (Several water filling stations are located around the grounds.) Note: the ‘main trail’ (highlighted in green below) is doable in the heat, but the more exposed desert-y exhibits (e.g., Wallace Desert Garden) are best visited early AM or in winter.

Some selections of probably Brown-crested Flycatcher x a very nice sighting of what’s definitely Canyon Wren:

ID on the flycatcher is tough = very similar to Ash-throated Flycatcher. However, note the large/thick bill, and from picture analysis, it appears to lack dark colouration across the entire tip of the tail (or outer tail feathers), which would indicate Ash-throated.

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Here’s an unusual (for this location) sighting of Orange-crowned Warbler, along with a Lark Sparrow:

ID tip on the warbler: olive/yellow overall, w/ broken yellow eye ring + eye line.

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Couple shots of the amazing/thorny Boojum Tree, at the entrance to Boojum Grotto. Tall ones could be 100+ years old. At the top are active blooms = very popular with local insects.

Here’s Picket Post House, the old residence of William Boyce Thompson. Boyce Thompson founded the arboretum in 1924 from copper mining money:

This is Summer Tanager (m) x Phainopepla (m):

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Next time on BirdingPI.com, more bird!

Back to Presque Isle State Park, mostly near the east end of Budny Beach, w/ a medley of American Goldfinch (m), beautiful Eastern Kingbird, & Yellow Warbler:

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Coming up next time, an ‘extra-large’ post from the amazing Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, AZ!