August 5, 2021
A few fall birds are beginning to trickle through the area. Today a Nashville Warbler was seen in Montosa Canyon and a few Wilson’s Warblers have been seen along with Warbling Vireos. There is a bird festival just beginning and there are many birders from distant lands in the area. An Eared Quetzal and Plain-capped Starthroat were reported yesterday. Both birds were quickly transmogrified into more common species. A Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Swainson’s Thrush were reported also – unlikely birds for early August.
So, pretty much the same better birds are being seen easily locally – Five-striped Sparrow, Lucifer Hummingbird, Ruddy Ground- Dove, and Rose-throated Becard. The Berylline Hummingbird is still being seen sporadically at Santa Rita Lodge. A few Yellow-billed Cuckoos are skulking around also.
Yesterday there was a report of a Violet-crowned Hummer at Box Canyon and another at a private residence in Green Valley. So I drove the Jeep up to Box Canyon this morning and found two. One at the Five-stripe Sparrow spot busy at the blooming agave that often attracts the continuing female Lucifer. Another at an agave just downslope from the parking area at the dam at the east end of Box Canyon.
Violet-crowned Hummingbirds are resident at Paton’s Center for Squirrels, Mosquitos, and Chiggers in Patagonia, and have shown up at the same spots in Box Canyon the last several years.