Birding Saguaro National Park and our final bird count

It was the last day in Southeast Arizona and all weekend all I could think about was Saguaro National Park. We had been there before and I was eager to return. I love the open feeling of the park and there is just something about it that makes it feel accessible. Perhaps it’s because there are no high rock walls surrounding me or maybe it’s because it feels like it’s just part of the neighborhood. Locals are often seen going for a morning walk or run or just cycling through it and I suppose they do this pretty much every day before they head over to Starbucks.

Saguaro National Park Entrance

Saguaro National Park is actually in two different sections and we were at the east section or Rincon Mountain District. We were there to do some birding before we caught our flight back to Salt Lake City and besides just looking for some more birds, I wanted to commune with the Saguaro cacti. I’d venture to guess that when most people think of Arizona or even the Southwestern part of the U.S. they imagine the Saguaro cactus—the mascot of the Sonoran desert. Besides, it was President’s Day in the U.S and what better way to spend the holiday than at one of this country’s National Parks?

Here’s a little photo essay of our morning at Saguaro National Park.

The famous Saguaro Cacti

Northern Mockingbird

Gila Woodpecker

Phainopepla

Rock Wren

The beautiful Sonoran desert.

I was a little sad to be leaving Tucson. It’s definitely high on my list to live when we retire. (It’s #2, in fact. Panama is #1 right now.) Our weekend in Southeastern Arizona was a perfect respite from the awful winter we had been having in both Salt Lake City and in Calgary. Finding the Mountain Plovers was very exciting, the visit to Patagonia Lake State Park was certainly a highlight and the Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw was absolutely memorable. We’ll definitely have to return, if not just to find the Rufous-winged Sparrow.

Below is a list of all the birds we saw over the weekend. But before you start looking through that list, I just wanted to let you know that the next post you see from me will be in Ecuador! We’ll be birding in Ecuador, focusing really only on two areas. I’ll fill you in more about it next week.

Until then, happy birding!

Lifers for me are in bold. (I got 11 new lifers, folks!)

1. Pied-billed Grebe
2. Double-crested Cormorant
3. Neotropical Cormorant
4. Snow Goose
5. Mallard
6. Northern Pintail
7. Gadwall
8. American Wigeon
9. Northern Shoveler
10. Green-winged Teal
11. Redhead
12. Lesser Scaup
13. Common Goldeneye
14. Ruddy Duck
15. Turkey Vulture
16. Northern Harrier
17. Ferruginous Hawk
18. Red-tailed Hawk
19. Harris’ Hawk
20. Golden Eagle
21. Crested Caracara
22. American Kestrel
23. Gambel’s Quail
24. Great Egret
25. Great Blue Heron
26. Sandhill Crane (See post here for story on this)
27. Sora
28. American Coot
29. Mountain Plover (See post here for story on this)
30. Killdeer
31. Common Snipe
32. Rock Dove
33. White-winged Dove
34. Mourning Dove
35. Eurasion Collard Dove
36. Long-eared Owl (See post here for photo of this)
37. Northern Flicker (Gilded race)
38. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
39. Cassin’s Kingbird
40. Black Phoebe
41. Say’s Phoebe
42. Gray Flycatcher
43. Horned Lark
44. Barn Swallow
45. Chihuahuan Raven
46. Bridled Titmous (A lifer for Steve as well)
47. Verdin
48. Bewick’s Wren
49. Cactus Wren
50. Rock Wren
51. Northern Mockingbird
52. Curve-billed Thrasher
53. American Robin
54. Black-capped Gnatcatcher (A lifer for Steve as well)
55. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
56. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
57. Loggerhead Shrike
58. Starling
59. House Sparrow
60. Western Meadowlark
61. Red-winged Blackbird
62. Brewer’s Blackbird
63. Great-tailed Grackle
64. Brown-headed Grackle
65. Pyrrhaloxia (which would make an awesome Scrabble word)
66. House Finch
67. Lesser Goldfinch
68. Vesper Sparrow
69. Black-throated Sparrow
70. Chipping Sparrow (See post about this one)
71. Song Sparrow
72. Chestnut-collard Longspur
73. Phainopepla