Arizona is such a wonderful place to bird and this trip was no exception. With a group of friends we drove the 13hr drive to South East Arizona and the Chiricahua's, Tucson and Phoenix, with lots of birding stops in between. Our goal was to find some of the species that winter there. Some of them are Mexican species while others are very localized, found in just one or two spots and requiring many miles of driving to find them.
The temperatures were cold at night, around freezing point with light snow on some of the highest peaks in the mountains, but warming up to a very pleasant and sunny mid 70's during the afternoons.
Our target birds included - Ruddy Ground Dove, Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Rufous-backed Robin, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Le Conte's, Crissel and Bendire's Thrashers, Pinion Jay and Red-naped sapsuckers, all off which we were were very pleased to get and 6 of which were lifers for me, which I will mention next...
The first target bird we got was the Black-capped Gnatcatchers in Patagonia St. park - two of them, which had been reported in this area for a few months. So after we had all spread out and followed their calls we were able to locate these two difficult to find birds by scrambling up the side of a hill!
Next came the Lawrence's Goldfinches at the "Pima Co. department of Transport maintenance yard" in Continental - beautiful little birds that cooperated with us very well for some great views immediately on getting out of the car!
Then the Rufous-backed Robin. This one had been coming to a water trough in Santa Rita and along with American Robins and lots of Hermit Thrushes, came down to drink and gave us great views.
Those birds were all found on the first day there. One bird we tried for but missed the first day was the Ruddy Ground Dove. However we had another chance at seeing it and the next morning we were back at the "Pattons Feeders" in Patagonia to try again. This time we were rewarded, Phew! Just the one, very alert and wary, feeding with the Inca doves. Also there was a Violet-crowned Hummingbird as well as a few Anna's Hummers.
We then had a long 3hr drive that evening to get to Phoenix where we hoped to get our next bird, the Le Conte's Thrasher, the next morning. We found it at a well known "Thrasher spot" in Buckeye, just west of Phoenix, on "Baseline Rd." There were a couple of them singing which helped us locate one of them as it sat on top of a sage bush for good scope views. We then had another long drive to the Tucson area were we were able to locate some Guilded Flickers among the saguaro cactus and some other desert birds.
The last day in AZ was spent in the Sulphur Springs Valley and Chiricahua Mtns. This was an amazing day for large flocks of birds. Among these were approximately 20 Ferruginous Hawks among the fields, a few hundred Lark Buntings, at least a 1000 Yellow-headed blackbirds perching on an electric station, several thousand Sandhill Cranes with hundreds of Snow Geese and I think the most beautiful flock of all - around 300 turquoise Mountain Bluebirds swarming over a field! Just amazing.
The final morning we were back in Texas in the Davis Mtns where we located a flock of around 200 Pinion Jays which had been present for a few months! This was the icing on the cake for me as it was a bird which I had tried for but missed for quite a while and it was just a wonderful way to finish off the trip.
There were so many wonderful birds, ones that I don't get to see that often, including Olive Warbler, Painted Redstart, Clarks Grebes, White-winged Scoters, cute little Bridled Titmice and Yellow-eyed Juncos. It was a very successful and well led trip with lifers for everyone!
Here's a few photos from this wonderful trip. Not all photos are clear as they were taken in a low resolution due to memory space as well as some being a good distance away or taken through a spotting scope. I've edited them as best as possible to get the best view.

Saguaro Cactus.
Tucson, Saguaro National Monument

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