Tubac de Anza Trail
Tucson Audubon Field trip Report
By Clifford A. Cathers (AZCliffy@Q.com)
Today (October 17, 2010) I led the Tucson Audubon Society field trip to Tubac where 26 enthusiastic birders scoured the jungle both north and south of the bridge over the Santa Cruz River. Our route was the trail north of the bridge all the way to the corral near the golf course, back along the golf course and roads to the bridge and then south into Morris Park from 7:30 AM to 10:50 AM. It was initially quite cool with a south wind and temps in the upper 50's.
It was very, very quiet in the early morning north of the bridge. It seems as if we're trapped between seasons right now and resident and migrant activity was low. It wasn't until we walked back along the edge of the golf course that things perked up. I was thankful for lots of friendly faces because the lack of birds, the cold breeze, the very wet grass and predator seed pods made it a challenging morning!
Our best birds included a small flock of CEDAR WAXWINGs, both CASSIN'S and PLUMBEOUS VIREOs, a sapsucker which photos may prove to be a Yellow-bellied, VERMILION FLYCATCHERs on the golf course, a lingering DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, one each of SUMMER and WESTERN TANAGER, and a lone RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. GREEN-TAILED TOWHEEs were in big numbers (12-14 perhaps?), but were impossible to see in the dense vegetation.
Other birds included SHARP-SHINNED and COOPER'S HAWKs, TURKEY VULTUREs, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER, BLACK and SAY'S PHOEBEs, CASSIN'S and WESTERN KINGBIRDs, BRIDLED TITMOUSE, VERDIN, BEWICK'S and HOUSE WRENs, lots of ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERs, NORTHERN CARDINALs, BLUE GROSBEAK, LAZULI BUNTINGs, ABERT'S TOWHEEs, BREWER'S BLACKBIRDs and RUFOUS-WINGED, CHIPPING, LARK, SONG and loads of LINCOLN'S and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs, among others. We ended with 52 species or so on the day.
See the Field Trip listings to join one of these exciting birding trips!
By Clifford A. Cathers (AZCliffy@Q.com)
Today (October 17, 2010) I led the Tucson Audubon Society field trip to Tubac where 26 enthusiastic birders scoured the jungle both north and south of the bridge over the Santa Cruz River. Our route was the trail north of the bridge all the way to the corral near the golf course, back along the golf course and roads to the bridge and then south into Morris Park from 7:30 AM to 10:50 AM. It was initially quite cool with a south wind and temps in the upper 50's.
It was very, very quiet in the early morning north of the bridge. It seems as if we're trapped between seasons right now and resident and migrant activity was low. It wasn't until we walked back along the edge of the golf course that things perked up. I was thankful for lots of friendly faces because the lack of birds, the cold breeze, the very wet grass and predator seed pods made it a challenging morning!
Our best birds included a small flock of CEDAR WAXWINGs, both CASSIN'S and PLUMBEOUS VIREOs, a sapsucker which photos may prove to be a Yellow-bellied, VERMILION FLYCATCHERs on the golf course, a lingering DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER, one each of SUMMER and WESTERN TANAGER, and a lone RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. GREEN-TAILED TOWHEEs were in big numbers (12-14 perhaps?), but were impossible to see in the dense vegetation.
Other birds included SHARP-SHINNED and COOPER'S HAWKs, TURKEY VULTUREs, RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER, BLACK and SAY'S PHOEBEs, CASSIN'S and WESTERN KINGBIRDs, BRIDLED TITMOUSE, VERDIN, BEWICK'S and HOUSE WRENs, lots of ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERs, NORTHERN CARDINALs, BLUE GROSBEAK, LAZULI BUNTINGs, ABERT'S TOWHEEs, BREWER'S BLACKBIRDs and RUFOUS-WINGED, CHIPPING, LARK, SONG and loads of LINCOLN'S and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs, among others. We ended with 52 species or so on the day.
See the Field Trip listings to join one of these exciting birding trips!
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