Date: 5/1/25 12:09 pm From: henry detwiler (via aznmbirds Mailing List) <aznmbirds...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] SEAZ: Big Day - 29 Apr 2025
Greetings Birders,
I started my annual spring BIG DAY just after 1:00 a.m. at the Willcox Golf Course and Cochise Lake. VIRGINIA'S RAIL and SORA were my first birds of the day. On the way up and over to Portal, I had my best owling morning ever, hearing 8 species of these fine nocturnal creatures, including a late NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL. My only miss was Barn Owl. As the dawn broke over Cave Creek Canyon and Portal, I added lots of good birds, including BAND-TAILED PIGEONS, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHERS, and SCOTT'S & BULLOCK'S ORIOLES. At a couple of feeding stations I watched BLUE-THROATED MOUNTAIN GEM, goldfinches & siskins, lots of LARK SPARROWS and GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES, and my first two BRONZED COWBIRDS of the season. Back up the mountain, on the road to Rustler Peak, I called in lots of birds by imitating a pygmy owl: MEXICAN CHICKADEES, BUSHTITS, YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS, and BLACK-THROATED GRAY, TOWNSEND'S, & GRACE'S WARBLERS. Here I also saw what would be the first of several ZONE-TAILED HAWKS for the day. In the Pinery Campground area I was happy to watch a GREATER PEWEE and a beautiful RED-FACED WARBLER.
By 11:30 a.m. I was back where I'd started, at Willcox. In the daylight, I added lots of WILSON'S PHALAROPES and AMERICAN AVOCETS, a few waterfowl, swallows, sparrows, and my rarest bird of the day, a vagrant AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVER. A ZONE-TAILED HAWK was making passes at the shorebirds, but they weren't fooled by it's vulture mimicry, and bailed anytime he got too near. The Benson treatment ponds added a few more waterfowl, and then it was on to the Paton's Hummingbird Center. Here I got the beautiful VIOLET-CROWNED and ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS, as well as BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER and YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. At Patagonia Lake State Park I found NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER, and my first and only BLACK VULTURES for the day. Driving over to the Amado WTP I found the small flock of BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCKS had expanded to 15 individuals. And surveying the pond from the opposite bank was a flock of 22 AMERICAN AVOCETS. My last stop for the day was Madera Canyon, where the feeding stations at the Santa Rita Lodge and Madera Kubo were host to RIVOLI'S and BERYLLINE HUMMINGBIRDS. On the way back to Green Valley I spotted my last bird, a LESSER NIGHTHAWK. During the course of my 18-hour day I'd rounded up 151 species.
Yesterday morning (30 Apr) I walked a bit of the Anza Trail from Santa Gertrudis Lane. I was happy to hear my target bird, THICK-BILLED KINGBIRD, in short order. Both at Paloma Ranch, and at the Solar Pond, the invasion of LAZULI BUNTINGS continues. If you've been to the feeding stations at Ash Canyon or the Paton's lately, you know that scores and scores of these pretty little birds are coming in to feast. Two other birds which seem to have been here in unusually high numbers are VAUX'S SWIFTS (had over 25 one day last week) and earlier this spring, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS (generally uncommon to rare in Yuma County).
With the addition of a SWAINSON'S THRUSH at the Yuma West Wetlands this morning, my 2025 AZ Big Year total now stands at 332.
eBird report from 29 Apr with photos (unfortunately too rushed to take photos):https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/EdC0COJpWjf5RpMZruEf4fGuNVX?<domain...> trip report from 29 Apr with species list:https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/qX79CP6q0kCvGKPNAf0hpfxW9n9?<domain...>
Good Birding!Henry D. <Detwilerhenry_detwiler...>, AZ
Finding Birds in Southwest Arizonahttps://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/izTiCQArYlfBAkYl4SMixfGEUgT?<domain...> Birds at the Salton Sea and in Imperial County, https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/7RecCR8vZmtnmvx0PcOsqf1Lwik?<domain...>
