Part 5: Patagonia to Mount Ord

Bob's Gone Birding on Mount Ord!

Abert's Towhee

After seeing the Lucifer Hummingbird at the Ash Canyon B&B, I had some thinking to do.  I spent a chunk of that evening looking at the list of birds I had seen thus far and thinking about the options I had the next day.  I knew I had to end up in Scottsdale, but where I went along the way was pretty flexible.  My list of targets I had failed to see was shorter than I expected, but long enough to give me some direction.  In the end I decided on a fairly direct route.

I left Sierra Vista early the next morning and drove directly to the Paton House in Patagonia.  I had read that their feeders often hosted an Abert's Towhee,  a bird very high om my most wanted list.  I arrived to find a small group of birders already in place including one guy who held a small camera just inches from one of the hummingbird feeders.  He was remarkably patient and remarkably motionless.  Sure enough, after a few minutes a hummingbird flew to that feeder and the guy snapped away.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

It was a large yard with feeders everywhere I looked.  On one end of the yard there were White-winged Doves, House Finches, and Lesser Goldfinches.  In the center of the yard, suet feeders attracted Gila and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers.  On the other end near a water feature there was seed on the ground with an Inca Dove enjoying its meal.  And within a few minutes the dove was joined by an Abert's Towhee.

I sat under the tents and watched the feeders for a couple of hours.  I saw Violet-crowned, Broad-billed, and Black-chinned Hummingbirds.  A Phainopepla dropped by as did a family of Gambel's Quail.  A Blue Grosbeak joined the House Finches at one feeder and a White-breasted Nuthatch crawled around on a stump near the Inca Doves.  Then a Curve-billed Thrasher joined the White-winged Doves at the west end of the yard.

I left the yard thinking I had seen everything that Paton House had to offer.  I was wrong.  I sat in the car in the parking lot munching on a snack when I saw motion just a foot or two away from the hood.  It was a small gray bird with an indistinct eye ring, maybe a soft wash of color under the tail, and a little chestnut colored spot popping up on the head.  It was a Lucy's Warbler!  I nearly spit my lemonade all over the dashboard.  I reached for my camera and got two quick shots off through the tinted window before the bird disappeared.  You can see the pictures here and below.  I wish they were better photos -- but it's a gosh darn Lucy's Warbler!!  Yes, I was thrilled.

My next stop was the fabled Patagonia Roadside Rest.  Almost as soon as I arrived I got my third lifer of the day when I heard a group of immature Thick-billed Kingbirds. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Rose-throated Becards that have nested there in the past.

Lucy's Warbler through a tinted window.

My final birding destination for the day was a return to Madera Canyon.  Along the way I reached a Border Patrol Checkpoint somewhere north of Nogales.  I was really tempted to yell out the window and ask if I could pet their dog who was sniffing around my car, but that probably wouldn't have been a good idea.  Still, he looked just like Rin Tin Tin and I actually was in Apache Country ...  Anyway, I expected it to be a long delay, but the officers handled things very quickly and I was soon on my way.

On my first visit to Madera Canyon I had dipped on one bird I really wanted to see, so I stopped near Florida Wash and walked along the road a little.  I scanned the tops of the bushes until I heard the call I was hoping for - a Rufous-winged Sparrow.  I pulled out an iPod and played the song for myself to be sure I was correct.  The songs matched.  I followed the repeated song and finally found the bird.  It was the fourth lifer of the day.  After that I decided to spend the balance of the afternoon at Santa Rita Lodge munching on a Klondike bar and watching the feeders.  I had another look at a Plain-capped Starthroat and the more typical feeder birds like Lesser Goldfinches and Black-headed Grosbeaks.  In all, it was a wonderful day.  I was at 51 lifers for the trip and one day to go.

Perhaps if I was following a traditional itinerary my final stop would have been Mount Lemmon, but I like to look for places that are off the beaten path.  So instead I spent my final day on Mount Ord, an under-birded spot northwest of Scottsdale.  The road up the mountain is narrow and rough with just a few pullouts for safe birding.  Nonetheless, I had some luck almost immediately.  Within the first quarter mile I had a quick but definitive look at a Gray Vireo, lifer #52 for the trip.  A moment later while watching a Zone-tailed Hawk fly directly over head, I heard another of my target birds singing quite close to me.  After a quick search I located a Black-chinned Sparrow, another lifer.  One of the sources I had read in preparation for this trip had asserted that both of these species were almost guaranteed in the first part of Mount Ord, and here they were!  How cool is that?

A textbook look at a Zone-tailed Hawk

Farther up the mountain, a gray bird popped out of the grass, ran along the road and immediately disappeared again.  It was a Scaled Quail!  I had searched for this bird on nearly every one of the previous nine days, and finally I had seen one.  At that point I was completely satisfied and would have been content if the day ended right there.  However, I continued up the mountain, pulling off where the road forked.  I birded around the area and stumbled on the final lifer of this extraordinary trip, a Juniper Titmouse.   I was a little disappointed that all of the day's lifers had successfully avoided being photographed, but how could I complain?  I ended the day where the road reached a closed gate that led to some cell towers just above me.  I ate my final picnic lunch while I looked out over a stunning view.  It was a fitting end to an idyllic trip.


That was where my trip ended, but not where this blog series ends.  During the ten days I wandered around southeast Arizona, my greatest joy - of the many I experienced - was watching hummingbirds.  So the final entry in this series will center on the twelve species I saw and the many photos of them I took.  I hope you enjoy it.

Another View of a Lucy's Warbler

Immature Thick-billed Kingbird

Border patrol Checkpoint on US 19

Female Phainopepla at the Patagonia Roadside Rest