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 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.
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!)
- Pied-billed Grebe
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Neotropical Cormorant
- Snow Goose
- Mallard
- Northern Pintail
- Gadwall
- American Wigeon
- Northern Shoveler
- Green-winged Teal
- Redhead
- Lesser Scaup
- Common Goldeneye
- Ruddy Duck
- Turkey Vulture
- Northern Harrier
- Ferruginous Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Harris’ Hawk
- Golden Eagle
- Crested Caracara
- American Kestrel
- Gambel’s Quail
- Great Egret
- Great Blue Heron
- Sandhill Crane (See post here for story on this)
- Sora
- American Coot
- Mountain Plover (See post here for story on this)
- Killdeer
- Common Snipe
- Rock Dove
- White-winged Dove
- Mourning Dove
- Eurasion Collard Dove
- Long-eared Owl (See post here for photo of this)
- Northern Flicker (Gilded race)
- Ladder-backed Woodpecker
- Cassin’s Kingbird
- Black Phoebe
- Say’s Phoebe
- Gray Flycatcher
- Horned Lark
- Barn Swallow
- Chihuahuan Raven
- Bridled Titmous (A lifer for Steve as well)
- Verdin
- Bewick’s Wren
- Cactus Wren
- Rock Wren
- Northern Mockingbird
- Curve-billed Thrasher
- American Robin
- Black-capped Gnatcatcher (A lifer for Steve as well)
- Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Loggerhead Shrike
- Starling
- House Sparrow
- Western Meadowlark
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Brewer’s Blackbird
- Great-tailed Grackle
- Brown-headed Grackle
- Pyrrhaloxia (which would make an awesome Scrabble word)
- House Finch
- Lesser Goldfinch
- Vesper Sparrow
- Black-throated Sparrow
- Chipping Sparrow (See post about this one)
- Song Sparrow
- Chestnut-collard Longspur
- Phainopepla
Trips with 1 or 2 lifers are exciting enough, but 11 must be off the scale!
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Thank you Kathleen! I think because I’m relatively new to birding (only about 6 years now) I tend to get more lifers than those who have been birding for awhile. So as it begins to slow down here in the U.S. I’ll just have to continue to go around the world. 🙂
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It is a beautiful place! I just loved the bridled titmouse (I may have already told you that) and I like saying phainopepla. Ecuador is very high on Tim’s list of places to go birding. Drink lots of water! Can’t wait for your report!
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Hi Gayle! So good to hear from you. We are SO excited about Ecuador and we’re really only going to a limited area (I like the slower pace that way.) Stay tuned!
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Glad to hear you had a great time. We had some really great time birding in SE Arizona also. Can’t wait for your next blog on Ecuador. It’s a great place for retirement also.
Lynn
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Hi Lynn,
Thanks for popping in. I’m afraid I might fall in love with the retirement idea in Ecuador too. My husband says that every place we travel I want to retire there. 🙂
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That’s quite a good list. Jealous of your trip to Ecuador, you should pick up “just a few” lifers there. Have a wonderful (and safe) trip.
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Thanks Sue! You’re right. I suspect I’ll see loads of lifers in Ecuador. Can hardly wait!
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That’s a prodigious list Lisa!
Sharp shots too; you especially rocked that Rock Wren.
I agree, you must return for the other Sparrows, and also so next time I can meet up with y’all!
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Thanks Laurence! And of course, next time we’re in the area we’ll have to meet up.
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Goodness, you must have sharp eyes.
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I think it’s my husband with the sharp eyes, though I’m not so bad. It usually goes like this: “Hey, there’s something moving around there,” and I point and my husband ID’s it. I’m still such a novice. Still very accidental. 🙂
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That must be so exciting!
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Thanks Zest. Yes, always very exciting.
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Congrats on the lifers!
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