Trip Report — Arizona's Second Spring I 2026

July 25-August 3, 2026 with Chris Benesh & Alex Sundvall

Cave Creek Canyon forms a dramatic gateway into the Chiricahuas as seen from Portal in this image taken by Chris Benesh.

To borrow a theme from Forest Gump, Arizona’s Second Spring tour is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get. That was certainly true at times on this tour. While the monsoon had done a good job of greening up parts of southeast Arizona, the tour happened to fall on a bit of a heat bubble, with temperatures several degrees above normal. On top of that, the relative humidity was higher than normal for the area, meaning that overnight temperatures stayed high. Despite that, we did well with the birds and other critters over the course of the tour.

The recently re-minted Coppery-tailed Trogon proved elusive for us for much of the tour. We missed it in the Chiricahuas and Huachucas and had quick flight views in Harshaw Canyon. Thankfully Madera Canyon came through for us, and we had fantastic views of this male. Photo by Chris Benesh.

One of the first things noticed on the tour was that Elegant Trogon had gone missing, replaced by something called Coppery-tailed Trogon. First described in 1835, the first name given to this species was Coppery-tailed Trogon. This persisted for decades until 1983 when it was determined that Coppery-tailed was best considered a subspecies of the Elegant Trogon found much farther south in Central America. So for much of our birding lives, Arizona birds have been known as Elegant Trogons. However, some researchers have recently considered splitting northern birds based on subtle differences in vocalizations, and in 2025, the Coppery-tailed Trogon was resurrected as a full species. Elegant Trogon is once again restricted to parts of Central America. What was perhaps more relevant on this tour was the difficulty we had tracking one down. It wasn’t until the tour was nearing its end that we really, really connected. Our experience earned this species top spot in our voting during our final dinner.

The Southwest Research Station was hosting a couple of locally rare hummingbirds including this stunning male White-eared Hummingbird taken by Donna Pomeroy.

Another highly sought after species on the tour is Montezuma Quail. It is not always easy to see, and birders can go years between sightings. Fortunately, we spend a good deal of time in ideal habitat for this species, and fortunately we had Marsha along who deftly spotted a pair with chicks on our way back from the George Walker House! Much celebration was had! We had a nice showing of screech-owls in the Chiricahuas with a pair of Whiskered Screech-Owls and a Western Screech-Owl. We also got to hear some Mexican Spotted Owls hooting along South Fork late one evening while we lit up a couple local species of scorpions with UV lights. Special mention must be made of the American Barn Owls seen near Willcox first found by my son’s good friend Jacob shortly before our tour.

Donna also captured this image of a female Berylline Hummingbird at the same feeders.

Hummingbirds were a treat on the tour with each new location seemingly providing something new. A few slipped through the cracks, but smashing views of the ones we saw made up for it. Having White-eared and Berylline hummingbirds coming to the same feeders at SWRS was fantastic. Rick Taylor came through for us with Lucifer Hummingbird, a species that can be tricky to track down at times. The impressively big Blue-throated Mountain-gems and Rivoli’s Hummingbirds were a sight too!

This male Lucifer Hummingbird showed nicely for us at a private feeder in Whitetail Canyon. Photo by Chris Benesh.

Flycatcher and flycatcher-adjacent species played well. A female Rose-throated Becard was great to see in Harshaw. This species is on another downward spiral in southern Arizona, its populations fluctuating over the decades. We connected with four species of kingbird, each of the Myiarchus, the splendid Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, and the diminutive Buff-breasted Flycatcher. Greater Roadrunner was an iconic cuckoo to see, but we were also thrilled to see a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos at Lake Pena Blanca. Hawks presented well too. A trip up Mount Lemmon in the hope of seeing Short-tailed Hawk paid off quickly with a couple of flyover views. It also proved a good spot for Red-faced Warbler and the monotypic Olive Warbler. We had several good Zone-tailed Hawk sightings, and a pair spent the entire morning screaming high above Miller Canyon during our time there.

When seen in the right light, Varied Bunting lives up to its name, Passerina versicolor. This male was photographed by Donna Pomeroy.

Another magical moment was during our walk along Santa Gertrudis Lane to the sloppy bank of the Santa Cruz River. And against all odds, a male Green Kingfisher appeared and perched in view of our scopes. Fantastic! Other favorites not already mentioned included the Five-striped Sparrow we enjoyed in Montosa Canyon, the flashy Painted Redstarts seen in most of the oak filled canyons, the dainty Black-tailed Gnatcatchers seen on our first afternoon in the Tucson Mountains, the versicolored Varied Buntings, and the eye-popping Violet-crowned Hummingbirds at the Paton’s Center for Hummingbirds. Notably rare from an Arizona perspective was a young Yellow-crowned Night Heron seen in Willcox, one of very few records in the state.

Looking a bit like a mini-trogon, this flashy Painted Redstart photographed by Donna Stumpp was a treat!

Mammals seen on the tour:
Bat (spp.)
Robust Cottontail (Sylvilagus holzneri)
Desert Cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)
Black-tailed Jackrabbit (Lepus californicus)
Antelope Jackrabbit (Lepus alleni)
Cliff Chipmunk (Neotamias dorsalis)
Harris's Antelope Squirrel (Ammospermophilus harrisii)
Common Rock Squirrel (Otospermophilus variegatus)
Mexican Fox Squirrel (Sciurus nayaritensis)
Arizona Gray Squirrel (Sciurus arizonensis)
Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis)
American Hog-nosed Skunk (Conepatus leuconotus)
Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu)
White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Some other critters seen on the tour:
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox)
American Bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus)
Chiricahua Leopard Frog (Lithobates chiricahuensis)
Clark’s Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus clarkii)
Yarrow’s Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus jarrovii)
Chihuanhuan Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis exsanguis)
Sonoran Spotted Whiptail (Aspidoscelis sonorae)
Desert Grassland Whiptail (Aspidoscelis uniparens)
Black Witch (Ascalapha odorata)
Terloo Moth (Proserpinus terlooii)
Cash’s Scorpion (Vaejovis cashi)
Stripe-tailed Scorpion (Paravaejovis spinigerus)
Pseudouroctonus apacheanus
Southern Bee-killer (Mallophora orcina)

See iNaturalist list for a more complete rundown on critters.

Alan Leeds’s shot of this Cliff Chipmunk demonstrates the length they will go to get an acorn.

Thanks to all of you for making this such as easy tour for me and Alex. You handled the heat well and were troopers throughout. I hope that our paths cross again and that you stay well and healthy and enjoy bird-rich days.

You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/555788

You can see my iNaturalist report of non-avian taxa at this link: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/field-guides-arizona-second-spring-tour-2026

You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/azs26aTRIPLIST.pdf

-- Chris