May 10-16, 2025 with John Coons
Our group of Tampa Audubon-ers enjoyed a week of birding in Northern Arizona based in Flagstaff. We gathered on our first afternoon and went to nearby Picture Canyon to get an intro to some of the local birds. Amongst the Steller’s Jays, Violet-green Swallows, and Chipping Sparrows we had nice views of a male Hepatic Tanager and Blue Grosbeak before heading off to dinner. The next morning, we birded the lower elevations and slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona. After seeing Mountain Bluebirds along the drive, we spent some time on foot in the mixed-conifer forest and an open meadow, where we encountered Williamson’s and Red-naped sapsuckers, breeding Dusky Flycatchers, many displaying Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Clark’s Nutcrackers, singing Vesper Sparrows, and singing Green-tailed Towhees, and a locally uncommon Olive Warbler. We did a nearby picnic lunch where a Grace’s Warbler joined us. In the afternoon we visited a forest burn from 2022 and located an American Three-toed Woodpecker that was still going after bark beetles in the burned trees. We had an outdoor dinner on our deck that evening where Pygmy Nuthatches, Western Kingbirds, and Bullock’s Orioles entertained us.
The following day we headed north to Grand Canyon. Just outside the national park we found our first Rock Wren atop a roof of a house and a Black-throated Gray Warbler at our pit stop. After arriving at Grand Canyon and enjoying spectacular views of the mesa inner gorge and pieces of the Colorado River, it didn’t take long for a strong wind to pick up as we watched White-throated Swifts rocketing past as we looked through the Turkey Vultures and Common Ravens for a California Condor. We struck out on condors here and made plans to catch up with them a couple of days later. Near the east end of the Canyon, we birded an old road and ended up with nice views of Gray Vireo, Black-chinned Sparrow, Scott’s Orioles and some Pinyon Jays up on the hillside. Pinyon Jays have suffered huge declines over the last 10-12 years throughout the west and we were fortunate to find a group of them. A stop at the water treatment pond at Cameron was profitable as we had a nice group of American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts, Wilson’s Phalaropes spinning in the water, Cinnamon Teal and White-faced Ibis. In this arid landscape all ponds are major attractants to migrating birds.
The next morning found us driving south and dropping off the Mogollon Rim into a more desert-like habitat. We visited the property of long-time friends where we walked a trail along Oak Creek, one of a very few permanent streams in the area. We had great views of a number of riparian species including Yellow-breasted Chat, Abert’s Towhee, Brown-crested and Vermilion flycatchers, Gila Woodpecker, Verdin, Lucy’s Warblers, and Summer Tanagers. A surprise Zone-tailed Hawk made several passes. We found several of these same birds again at the fish hatchery just up the road along with Wood Ducks, Black-chinned and Anna’s hummingbirds, Phainopepla, and Northern Cardinals. After getting views of the inspiring Red Rock country around Sedona we stopped for lunch before heading up Oak Creek Canyon. Along this higher elevation riparian stretch we found Bridled Titmice, Acorn Woodpeckers, Plumbeous Vireo, Western Tanager, and Painted Redstart. A bit further up we connected with our first Red-faced Warbler as it dazzled in a ponderosa pine.
With California Condors on our minds, we drove north on Wednesday morning armed with a morning snack of Lynn’s breakfast burritos. After a pit stop, we made our way to Navajo Bridge spanning the Colorado River at Marble Canyon. We had great luck with seeing six individual condors perched on the cliffsides and on the girders of the two bridges. We spent a good amount of tine with these birds, watching them making flights across the canyon and even soaring right overhead. We recorded the wing tags from each bird and the history of these birds can be found below. We also had great views of a Canyon Wren on the clifftop just below the bridge. Stopping for lunch in Cameron, we birded the trees around the lodge where a fruiting mulberry tree was attracting migrants including Bullock’s Oriole, Western Tanager, a few Black-headed Grosbeaks, and two males and a female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a rare but regular species in Northern Arizona. We got back to the motel in the afternoon and had a chance to clean up before heading to dinner with a stop at a nearby pond on the way that yielded a Neotropic Cormorant, several ducks including very late Ring-necks and a Bufflehead, Ospreys at a nest, and a good number of swallows feeding over the water.
On our final birding day we decided to head south again where there was the opportunity to see more new species that anywhere else. We started with great looks at a singing Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Gray Vireo, Black-throated Sparrow , Ash-throated Flycatcher, and we chased an uncooperative Crissal Thrasher. We made our way to Montezuma Well NM, where a quite cooperative Bell’s Vireo was singing, and a Common Black Hawk circled over the trees. Yellow Warblers and Summer Tanagers were vocalizing at the Well, a sinkhole with cliff dwellings near the rim, while that Common Black Hawk appeared again, along with a quite close Canyon Wren and oddly, a pair of Canada Geese. Heading back north we stopped on the slopes of the Mogollon Rim where we finally tracked down a Gray Flycatcher, and heard some more Gray Vireos. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at Stoneman Lake where there were a good number of Eared Grebes, and adult Bald Eagle, a Snowy Egret, and a few more ducks. We were back into the pine forests at this point and made our way to a series of lakes that are about 15-20 miles outside of Flagstaff. Along here more ducks were spotted, we heard a few Soras, and finally saw some Purple Martins to finish up the day before heading back to the motel. We enjoyed a nice dinner and re-lived some of our highlights of the week.
It was great fun birding with you, and thanks to Mary for organizing this private trip. Also, thanks to Lynn for the wonderful dinner at the house and many of the snacks we had each day in the field.
California Condors seen at Navajo Bridge on 14 May 2025
57: Male, hatched 16 May 2022 at Peregrine Fund Center, Boise, Idaho
43: Female, hatched 1 May 2022 at Peregrine Fund Center, Boise, Idaho
Y9: Male, hatched 16 May 2019 in the Wild, in adult plumage
32: Male, hatched 13 April 2022 at Peregrine Fund Center, Boise, Idaho
*: Sex unknown, hatched 1 May 2024 in the Wild
O: Sex unknown, hatched 17 May 2024 in the Wild
Mammals encountered during our trip included:
Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)
Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus)
Cliff Chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis)
Gray-collared Chipmunk (Neotamias cinereicollis)
Common Rock Squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus)
Gunnison Prairie Dog (Cynomys gunnisoni)
Abert's Squirrel (Sciurus aberti)
Wapiti (Cervus canadensis)
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus)
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/370688
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/azg25pTRIPLIST.pdf
-- John Coons