February 27, 2022
I’ve been spending a lot of time at Tubac recently. There has been a run of decent birds. Northern Parula, White-eyed Vireo, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Gray Catbird, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Winter Wren, White-throated Sparrow, and rare this year – Pine Siskin.
This bird was first reported several days ago and the report was greeted with some skepticism. I made several trips and did not see it, but I was not specifically looking for it. Others looked also, with the same results. Then, on 2-25-22, Leo Miller and Jenny Vogt reported it along the west side of the river adjacent to the Tubac Nature Center. I was at Lower Florida Canyon at the time (nothing worth noting) and decided to give the Vireo a go. Arriving at the site, I ran into Nolan Walker who told me that the bird had been there earlier, and had made its way across the river. He had crossed the river and photographed it. His shoes and trousers showed the effort. So I drove around to the opposite side and crashed through the brush to the spot that Nolan’s coordinates indicated. After an hour of looking I gave up. As I got back to my SUV a message came through that the bird was back at its spot on the west side. Arriving, I found a small group of birders stalking the elusive bird. Finally found it deep in the thicket.
Last November a Brown Thrasher was spotted along the east side river trail, at the north end. Several birders, myself included, searched several times without anything to show for our efforts. last week I chanced by the same spot and got a brief look at a thrasher in the thicket. I tried again the following day, and saw nothing. Again, on 2-25-22 I checked the spot out and bingo! There it was. I got a perfectly good look at an obvious Brown Thrasher and some horrible photos that I will not publish. So they next day I stubbornly returned, no thrasher. But I did take a look through my bins at a flicker and WTF! – a Yellow-shafted. it sat there in one spot for ten minutes until flying off, giving a look at its magnificent yellow under tail and underwings. I really didn’t need that look to determine that it was a YS – the red on the nape, minimal gold on the crown and wee bit of yellow on the wing-edge was enough. Oddly, this bird had first been seen south of the Tubac bridge in November, and it was seen just north of the bridge by Cathy Beck 3 weeks ago.
These little flycatchers are being seen in decent numbers along the river at Tubac.
This warbler has been hanging our northof the Tubac bridge since late October. Always hard to find.
This bird has been hanging out near feeders south of the bridge since November. Like the B&W Warbler, hard to find unless you stake at area out for hours. I found it in a flock of WCs sunning itself early.
I went up to McGee Ranch Road for the first time on 2-27-2022. Cathy Beck found a Red-Naped X Red-breasted Sapsucker on 2-26-22. So I tried today, 2-27-2022. I found the bird in exactly the spot she described, at several new sap wells. No pics. But this buck caught my attention. Would this be a 4-point or 8-point? I think 4-point.
