July 19-28, 2025 with Chris Benesh & Alex Sundvall
Our Arizona Second Spring tour is designed to fall right in the middle of the monsoon season, typically with convective afternoon thunderstorms bringing much needed rain to the region and triggering some bird species to begin nesting. This year’s monsoon was patchy and sporadic. During the first three days of the tour, the monsoon was on and we witnessed some decent rains and even a heavy downpour. But as we left the Chiricahuas behind, the monsoon shut down for the remainder of the tour. As a result, a few species were uncharacteristically absent or undetectable in the drier conditions. It was remarkable to see so few grassland sparrows, but I feel fortunate that we managed a Cassin’s, a species missed by many this season.
Our tour began in Tucson with an afternoon visit to the Tucson Mountains where we tracked down the saguaro nesting Gilded Flicker. We then headed to Desert Meadows Park for a few desert species and our first hummingbirds. After dinner we headed into Box Canyon where we managed to hear Buff-collared Nightjar and Common Poorwill and black light a few scorpions while we listened.
The next morning, we headed back to Box Canyon, sighting a nice Varied Bunting along the way as well as a Botteri’s Sparrow. Birding in a light rain, we managed nice looks at a Five-striped Sparrow and others. We then headed east to Willcox, stopping to view our first Chihuahuan Ravens. After lunch we birded Lake Cochise and the Twin Lakes Golf Course. We tallied 35 species in this small inland sea, including a couple of Stilt Sandpipers, Baird’s Sandpipers, and a Chihuahuan Meadowlark. Then it was on to Portal, our destination for the next three nights. We decided to take advantage of the weather and do some owling our first night. We were rewarded with great Whiskered Screech-Owl and Mexican Whip-poor-will. We then spotted Western Screech-Owl right in Portal before calling it a night.
The next morning, we headed out into the desert east of Portal and were rewarded with a Scaled Quail perched. Then we had a nice encounter with a Bendire’s Thrasher near Four Bar Cottages. Later that morning we headed into Cave Creek Canyon and up South Fork where we were super fortunate to connect with a pair of Elegant (soon to be Coppery-tailed again) Trogons at the end of the road. Activity was good with some 32 species recorded here. We watched hummingbirds at the Southwestern Research Station and then headed to Bob Rodrigues’s yard to watch feeders before lunch. The afternoon included a trip to the George Walker House in Paradise where a male White-eared Hummingbird, Calliope Hummingbird, and a Juniper Titmouse kept us entertained. We returned to SWRS where a Berylline Hummingbird joined the ranks of hummers. And on our way back to the lodge, we connected with a pair of Montezuma Quail!
Tuesday included a trip into the high country of the Chiricahuas. Our destination was Pinery Canyon and two Mexican Spotted Owls (parent and fledgling) softened the hassle of dealing with a flat tire thanks to a recent road grading. The active monsoon soon drove us out of the high country, quite a downpour for so early in the day. That afternoon we paid a visit to the Chiricahua Desert Museum shop, and then headed to Bob Rodrigues’s yard once again. This time we were rewarded with great views of a young Crissal Thrasher. We then tracked down a Thick-billed Kingbird in nearby Portal to finish off the day.
Still missing some high elevation species, we headed back up into the high country the following morning. We connected with Mexican Chickadee, Greater Pewee, Western Flycatcher, Grace’s Warbler, Black-chinned Sparrow, and Olive Warbler (whew!). Then it was time to leave the Chiricahuas and make our way to Sierra Vista and the Huachucas. This started with an afternoon visit to the Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary. A male Lucifer Hummingbird put in an appearance.
Thursday morning was spent up in Miller Canyon. We connected with a Red-faced Warbler at last, and finally had good looks at the Flame-colored Tanager pair present there. Watching feeders at Beatty’s, we were surprised to see a Berylline Hummingbird put in an appearance, the first of the year for this location. A Violet-crowned Hummingbird was also present off and on. That afternoon we headed to the San Pedro House where we spent some time watching hummingbird banding being carried out by Sheri Williamson, Tom Wood and others. A great experience. We then walked out to the San Pedro River for a bit of birding. After dinner that night we headed back to Miller Canyon for a bit of nightbirding. We had a terrific Elf Owl here.
We decided to head up to Carr Canyon on Friday morning, still needing Buff-breasted Flycatcher. They provided, with as many as seven seen. Grace’s and Black-throated Gray warblers were among the other highlights. Then we left the Huachucas for Patagonia. Our first destination was up Harshaw Canyon where we connected with a pair of Rose-throated Becards that were nesting in the area. Gray Hawks were an added treat, as well as an apparent Big Brown Bat. We then headed to the Paton’s Center for Hummingbirds for much of the remainder of the afternoon.
We started the weekend birding along the Anza Trail near Tubac. Here we had Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Gray Hawk, a family of Zone-tailed Hawks, our first Tropical Kingbirds, and more. Then off to Santa Gertrudis Lane for a nice mix of birds including Rufous-winged Sparrow. That afternoon, we headed back into the Patagonia Mountains and managed to track down Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet. Back in Patagonia we found the Mississippi Kite pair and had great views of them.
Our final morning found us doing a bit of cleanup. We stopped in at the Amado Ponds for Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and Neotropic Cormorant. We visited the grasslands below Madera Canyon and managed to track down a single Cassin’s Sparrow. A stop at the historic Canoa Ranch provided a Double-crested Cormorant and Pied-billed Grebe. We decided to head to the hotel to escape the heat for a bit before heading out to Sweetwater Wetlands that afternoon, where we had a nice Greater Roadrunner and Common Gallinule. Our final activity of the tour was a nighttime visit to the Gilbert Ray Campground where we enjoyed the spectacle of several Lesser Nighthawks foraging around the lights there.
Some of the other critters seen on the tour:
Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)
Antelope Jackrabbit (Lepus alleni)
Cliff Chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis)
Harris's Antelope Squirrel (Ammospermophilus harrisii)
Common Rock Squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus)
Round-tailed Ground Squirrel (Zerospermophilus tereticaudus)
Mexican Fox Squirrel (Sciurus nayaritensis)
Arizona Gray Squirrel (Sciurus arizonensis)
Coyote (Canis latrans)
Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu)
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Northern Black-tailed Rattlesnake (Crotalus molossus molossus)
Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus)
Desert Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus magister)
Clark's Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus clarkii)
Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii)
Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis exsanguis)
Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis sonorae)
Zebra-tailed Lizard (Callisaurus draconoides)
Sonoran Desert Toad (Incilius alvarius)
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Desert Blonde Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes)
Arizona Bark Scorpion (Centruroides sculpturatus)
Stripe-tailed Scorpion (Paravaejovis spinigerus)
Cash’s Scorpion (Vaejovis cashi)
Apache Scorpion (Pseudouroctonus apacheanus)
Thanks to all of you for coming along on our southeast Arizona adventure, and special thanks to Alex who flew out last minute to drive a second vehicle for us once we learned of the Ford Transit recall. We wish the best to all of you and hope to meet up again on some future adventure. Good birding!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/425315
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/azs25aTRIPLIST.pdf
-- Chris (and Alex)