Back South again in the morning to a spot between Sierra Vista and the Mexican border where we visited another canyon. When the group was near the top of the canyon we met two Border Patrol Agents who had hiked up after us to have a look at what we were up to. They were both very friendly as it was immediately evident that we weren't exactly smuggling illegal immigrants or weapons of destruction over the mountains into the US! Two cracking species were added here - Arizona Woodpecker and Rufous-capped Warbler. Both were seen distantly and the warblers (max. two at any given time) in particular were rather brief and elusive but were stunning looking birdswhen they did show. The thick extensive thorn bushes at this location made actually seeing birds very challenging.
We had a lunch break on the way back North at Benson where we had stayed the previous two nights. We had been seeing presumed Chihuahuan Ravens now for the last few days. All had been from the bus as we drove quickly by. Given the views I had not ticked them up to this point as I just hadn't got "tickable" views up to now. This is a southerly based species that tends to favour more arid habitats but even in these areas Common Ravens still live up to their name. They are both extremely similar to one another. As we were leaving Benson a few ravens appeared around the truck stop where we just had lunch. I was running around the lorry trailer park like a mad man trying to get views/shots of them but not succeeding at all really given the extremely harsh light and limited time we had. At the time I thought they looked ok for Chihuahuan Ravens however looking at the shots now I'm not so sure. The nasal bristles on all photographed birds doesn't extend as far as I would expect for Chihuahuan. The bills look a bit too long also...
On our way back to Phoenix we had another go at the Mountain Plovers at the Santa Cruz flats. I honestly didn't hold out much hope for them as there had been no recent reports of them from the area for a few weeks now. We had previously put a good bit of effort into searching for them here a few days ago without success. James came good yet again though when he scored with a distant flock of about 18 birds. They always remained distant unfortunately but again were great birds to rescue from the "dip box".
We had a lunch break on the way back North at Benson where we had stayed the previous two nights. We had been seeing presumed Chihuahuan Ravens now for the last few days. All had been from the bus as we drove quickly by. Given the views I had not ticked them up to this point as I just hadn't got "tickable" views up to now. This is a southerly based species that tends to favour more arid habitats but even in these areas Common Ravens still live up to their name. They are both extremely similar to one another. As we were leaving Benson a few ravens appeared around the truck stop where we just had lunch. I was running around the lorry trailer park like a mad man trying to get views/shots of them but not succeeding at all really given the extremely harsh light and limited time we had. At the time I thought they looked ok for Chihuahuan Ravens however looking at the shots now I'm not so sure. The nasal bristles on all photographed birds doesn't extend as far as I would expect for Chihuahuan. The bills look a bit too long also...
On our way back to Phoenix we had another go at the Mountain Plovers at the Santa Cruz flats. I honestly didn't hold out much hope for them as there had been no recent reports of them from the area for a few weeks now. We had previously put a good bit of effort into searching for them here a few days ago without success. James came good yet again though when he scored with a distant flock of about 18 birds. They always remained distant unfortunately but again were great birds to rescue from the "dip box".
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| Male Arizona Woodpecker |
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| Female Arizona Woodpecker |
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| Mexican Jay |
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| Rufous-capped Warbler |
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| Rufous-capped Warbler |
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| Spotted Towhee |
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| Phainopepla |
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| Phainopepla |
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| Raven sp. |
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| Raven sp. |
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| Raven sp. |
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| Mountain Plovers |
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| Mountain Plovers |
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| Killdeer |
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| Killdeer |
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| Killdeer |
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| Killdeer |
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| Apache |
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