NORTHERN ARIZONA & SOUTHWESTERN UTAH

 

“The 2007 Arizona & Utah: Fall Migration in the Canyonlands tour marks the 20th year I have led a trip to this amazing portion of North America.

 

Our first day birding was at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, a lovely botanical garden where we encountered a variety of desert species and migrants. Clearly the best bird we had there was a juvenile Common Black-Hawk, and the Zone-tailed Hawk that gave us a close fly-by was a close second. Desert residents such as Abert’s Towhee, Gila Woodpecker, Curve-billed Thrasher, Verdin, and Phainopepla were fun, and such migrants as Western Tanagers and Warbling Vireos kept us busy. On the drive to Flagstaff we stopped in the pines for Grace’s Warbler, Western Bluebirds, Pygmy Nuthatches, and our first of many Mountain Chickadees.

 

North of Flagstaff we visited a wonderful oasis for migrants (Rimmy Jim), and were rewarded with a nice diversity of warblers, Empidonax flycatchers (including Gray), and loads of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, all feeding in the salt-cedars around the pond. Our favorite was a very tame Baird’s Sandpiper that walked right up to us! It was then on to Marble Canyon for lunch, then the Vermilion Cliffs in search of released California Condors. Our luck once again held, and we had a stunning near-adult condor fly right over our heads! What can one say about our visit to the Grand Canyon – it was the group’s favorite location for scenery, and we managed to find a few interesting birds as well – including wonderful views of American Three-toed Woodpeckers, several family groups of Wild Turkeys, and another Zone-tailed Hawk from one of the viewpoints. White-throated Swifts screaming overhead was quite a show as well!

 

Southwest Utah is simply stunning when it comes to scenery. Each park is “better” than the next, and our visits to Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and finally Bryce Canyon National Park were beyond impressive. Even the drives between the parks were spectacular. Birding was fun also, with Black-billed Magpie, Black-capped Chickadee, American Dipper, tons of Mountain Bluebirds, Townsend’s Solitaire, American White Pelican, Clark’s Nutcrackers, etc… We finished off the official scenery portion of the tour with visits to Antelope Canyon near Page, Monument Valley, and Canyon de Chelly, all amazing locations and wonderfully scenic!

 

As usual we spent the last several days of the tour birding extensively (and only occasionally looking at the amazing scenery!) at oases in N.E. Arizona and the White Mountains. Clearly one of the favorite birds of the tour was an adult Sabine’s Gull we found in a roadside pool near Many Farms. It is amazing that we have now seen this “pelagic” species on nearly 2/3 of the tours to this region! Some of the better “Rocky Mountain” specialties we encountered included Lewis’s Woodpecker, Pinyon Jay, Sage Sparrow, Sage Thrasher, Red-naped Sapsucker, Gray Jay, Bald Eagle, and Prairie Falcon. Migration was a bit slow this year – the weather was TOO NICE!! – but we did see a nice assortment each day of warblers, vireos, flycatchers etc… Lots of MacGillivray’s Warblers, a few Cassin’s Vireos, an Ash-throated Flycatcher, Blue Grosbeaks, and tons of sparrows everywhere.

 

Our journey back to Phoenix allowed us time to see a number of more southern Arizona specialties, including a stunning Painted Redstart, Mexican Jay, Hutton’s Vireo, Acorn Woodpecker, Bridled Titmouse, and in the desert Gilded Flicker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, and even a late pair of Brown-crested Flycatchers. One of the last birds of the trip was a stunning adult Harris Hawk sitting on a Saguaro cactus! All in all it was a fantastic trip for both scenery and birds (one of our highest species totals ever).” Gary Rosenberg.

Bird List:

 

This is a list of all the species seen during the last six tours.

 

Column A = Number of tours on which this species has been recorded.

Column B = Number of days this species was seen on the last tour.

Column C = Maximum daily count for this species on the last tour.

H = Heard only

 

A

 

B

C

 

 

1

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

 

 

 

Dendrocygna autumnalis

2

Greater White-fronted Goose

 

 

 

Anser albifrons

6

Canada Goose

6

100

 

Branta canadensis

6

Gadwall

2

12

 

Anas strepera

6

American Wigeon

4

100

 

Anas americana

6

Mallard

10

00s

 

Anas platyrhynchos

4

Blue-winged Teal

1

2

 

Anas discors

6

Cinnamon Teal

9

20

 

Anas cyanoptera

6

Northern Shoveler

6

500

 

Anas clypeata

6

Northern Pintail

8

100

 

Anas acuta

6

Green-winged Teal

4

50

 

Anas crecca

6

Redhead

3

12

 

Aythya americana

6

Ring-necked Duck

4

10

 

Aythya collaris

2

Lesser Scaup

 

 

 

Aythya affinis

1

Bufflehead

 

 

 

Bucephala albeola

1

Common Goldeneye

 

 

 

Bucephala clangula

6

Common Merganser

1

20

 

Mergus merganser

1

Red-breasted Merganser

 

 

 

Mergus serrator

6

Ruddy Duck

7

00s

 

Oxyura jamaicensis

1

Dusky Grouse

 

 

 

Dendragapus obscurus

6

Wild Turkey

5

25

 

Meleagris gallopavo

6

Gambel's Quail

3

15

 

Callipepla gambelii

1

Pacific Loon

 

 

 

Gavia pacifica

6

Pied-billed Grebe

6

10

 

Podilymbus podiceps

6

Eared Grebe

4

50

 

Podiceps nigricollis

6

Western Grebe

4

100

 

Aechmophorus occidentalis

6

Clark's Grebe

1

2

 

Aechmophorus clarkii

6

American White Pelican

2

20

 

Pelecanus erythrorhynchos

1

Brown Pelican

 

 

 

Pelecanus occidentalis

6

Double-crested Cormorant

5

3

 

Phalacrocorax auritus

6

Great Blue Heron

9

10

 

Ardea herodias

6

Great Egret

3

2

 

Ardea alba

6

Snowy Egret

2

4

 

Egretta thula

1

Reddish Egret

 

 

 

Egretta rufescens

4

Cattle Egret

 

 

 

Bubulcus ibis

2

Green Heron

 

 

 

Butorides virescens

4

Black-crowned Night-Heron

 

 

 

Nycticorax nycticorax

6

White-faced Ibis

5

30

 

Plegadis chihi

6

Turkey Vulture

11

30

 

Cathartes aura

6

California Condor

1

2

 

Gymnogyps californianus

6

Osprey

1

1

 

Pandion haliaetus

6

Bald Eagle

2

1

 

Haliaeetus leucocephalus

6

Northern Harrier

4

2

 

Circus cyaneus

6

Sharp-shinned Hawk

7

2

 

Accipiter striatus

6

Cooper's Hawk

5

2

 

Accipiter cooperii

1

Northern Goshawk

 

 

 

Accipiter gentilis

1

Common Black-Hawk

1

1

 

Buteogallus anthracinus

2

Harris's Hawk

1

2

 

Parabuteo unicinctus

4

Swainson's Hawk

 

 

 

Buteo swainsoni

3

Zone-tailed Hawk

2

1

 

Buteo albonotatus

6

Red-tailed Hawk

11

4

 

Buteo jamaicensis

1

Ferruginous Hawk

 

 

 

Buteo regalis

6

Golden Eagle

1

4

 

Aquila chrysaetos

6

American Kestrel

11

12

 

Falco sparverius

6

Peregrine Falcon

1

2

 

Falco peregrinus

5

Prairie Falcon

2

1

 

Falco mexicanus

3

Virginia Rail

 

 

 

Rallus limicola

5

Sora

1

2

 

Porzana carolina

6

American Coot

9

5000

 

Fulica americana

5

Semipalmated Plover

 

 

 

Charadrius semipalmatus

6

Killdeer

4

6

 

Charadrius vociferus

6

Black-necked Stilt

1

1

 

Himantopus mexicanus

6

American Avocet

2

40

 

Recurvirostra americana

3

Greater Yellowlegs

1

2

 

Tringa melanoleuca

5

Lesser Yellowlegs

2

2

 

Tringa flavipes

4

Solitary Sandpiper

 

 

 

Tringa solitaria

4

Spotted Sandpiper

3

2

 

Actitis macularius

3

Long-billed Curlew

 

 

 

Numenius americanus

1

Marbled Godwit

 

 

 

Limosa fedoa

1

Sanderling

 

 

 

Calidris alba

5

Western Sandpiper

 

 

 

Calidris mauri

5

Least Sandpiper

 

 

 

Calidris minutilla

6

Baird's Sandpiper

2

20

 

Calidris bairdii

2

Pectoral Sandpiper

 

 

 

Calidris melanotos

4

Stilt Sandpiper

1

4

 

Calidris himantopus

2

Short-billed Dowitcher

 

 

 

Limnodromus griseus

4

Long-billed Dowitcher

 

 

 

Limnodromus scolopaceus

5

Wilson's Snipe

1

1

 

Gallinago delicata

5

Wilson's Phalarope

2

25

 

Phalaropus tricolor

5

Red-necked Phalarope

2

2

 

Phalaropus lobatus

2

Franklin's Gull

 

 

 

Larus pipixcan