Wrenegades Wrap up 174 Species! – Birdathon 2016

(by Sara Pike and Matt Griffiths)

From first bird to last (Franklin’s Gull to Harris’s Hawk), our Birdathon this year was a whirlwind of movement and great bird sightings. The Wrenegades found 174 separate species in about 21 hours of birding all over southeastern Arizona!

With some last minute route wrangling, we decided to start this year in the late afternoon on Saturday, April 30th in Willcox, and boy did it pay off. The lake outside town was filled with birds we don’t normally get on our Birdathons: gulls and shorebirds, and a cool looking Long-billed Curlew, not to mention the flocks of swooping Lesser Nighthawks as the sun set.  The surrounding grasslands and marsh area provided many more species, including a family of Scaled Quail, and we left town with 71 species (with a last light look at a Great-horned Owl flying across the street in town) and full bellies (Thanks Isabel’s South of the Border!)

Our plan now called for us to tour some Tucson water reclamation ponds and Tucson city parks at night, a task that required spotlights and possibly switchblades (or at least our guards up!) Our safety aside, we managed to see and rile up a few more birds but thankfully none of the local riff raff we had expected.  Maybe parks at night are not as creepy as we thought! Or, maybe we were the creeps, walking around the parks at night with flashlights and binoculars and making funny bird calls....hmmm.....

We knew Columbus Park had trees full of roosting cormorants, but the late night fisher people enjoying bon fires on the shore was a new sighting for us, and hey it looked like they were having some fun!

After a short rest break from 11:30pm – 1:30am (thanks Matt Brooks for the loaner house!) we started up again in the wee hours joined by our leader, Jennie, who had to pull a late shift and sadly missed our Willcox trip. She started off at 2am with a Rockstar drink…

Now we were back to familiar territory as we motored up most of Mt. Lemmon’s 9000 ft of cactus to forest life zones. Knowing it'd be cold at the top, we planned to bundle up on the way up, and de-layer on the way down.  (Thanks Elizabeth Lawrence, for the bright red long-underwear!)  We picked up five of our seven owls, but surprisingly no nightjars (what?!?! We always get those birds on Mt. Lemmon!), and plunked down in the doug firs to await the dawn chorus. Steller’s Jays,House Wrens, Red-faced Warblers and American Robins defy logic and once again start their songs at the faintest glimmer of light.

We spot a Zone-tailed Hawk nest after their cries echo through the trees and then head to Summerhaven with hope of seeing the uncommon for us, Common Grackle. After grackle-less bagels, we hit a few stops on the top of the mountain, and despite the multitudes of forest campers, manage to find two birds our Birdathons have missed recently: Virginia’s Warbler and Arizona Woodpecker.  High-fives all around!

On the way now to the grasslands of Las Cienegas, we pick up most of the classic Sonoran desert species, except perhaps the most-classic, Greater Roadrunner (we dip on that bird too many times!)  The grasslands aren’t the revelatory experience they were last year (maybe we got there during the wrong time of day?  Maybe it was just the weather…) but rest assured we found some cool sparrows and a pair of White-tailed Kites!

We were excited for our next stops in the funky town of Patagonia. It was great fun to sit in the quaint backyard of the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, chatting with visitors from around the US and seeing the Paton’s bird de jour, the Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Those same visitors must have thought it strange when, instead of relaxing more with the amazing variety of birds, we bolted out of there after a few minutes with a “Good birding!” to all within earshot.

With a Thick-billed Kingbird but no Rock Wren from the Roadside Rest, we rolled downhill to the Santa Cruz River in Tubac. Always a good time in the cottonwoods and willows along the water, this is where we meander after 21 hours of birding catches up with us, and we don’t mind! Birding by ear becomes important here as many of the birds hide in the brush or high up in the trees. A kingfisher is heard off in the distance, Gray Hawks fill the air with tropical cries, and MacGillivray’s Warblers give their harsh calls but are never seen.

The clock is ticking down now. We search fruitlessly for that roadrunner but instead find a Costa’s Hummingbird in the desert of Green Valley. Hooray!  This is one we typically miss so it was nice to see.  And what, no Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at Amado pond?!

There are always the “easy” birds that get away during every Birdathon. No Pie-billed Grebes this year, when usually every pond you visit has at least a couple of these common birds. We should have also seen Black Vultures at some point.  We must’ve all gotten cricks in our necks in the last 6 hours of our time turning our heads to the skies every chance we got to look for them!  We continue to scan the skies on the way to our last stop, a Harris’s Hawk nest we have been hipped to. Even after we see one hawk perched up in the giant eucalyptus tree it calls home, we still scan the skies on the way home.

No Black Vultures ever turn up, but 174 other bird species do! We have hope, and are already planning, that with a little more luck 180 species is easy and will be our goal for next year!

Thanks to all my Birdathon supporters this year and other years! Thanks to the Wrenegades: Jennie, Tim, Matt, Corey and Chris!

Donations are still being taken this week. See you next year!

If you'd prefer to donate cash or check, please contact me directly and we can work out a plan.  And thank you!

Birds have a unique, special, and different meaning to each of us. So too is each of our connection with Tucson Audubon Society personal and distinct. During Birdathon, we combine the love of bird watching during spring migration with support for bird conservation.

Birdathoners are birders and social fundraisers, joining together to make a difference for the birds and habitats of southeast Arizona. Birdathoners continue a tradition that has held strong for over 25 years. 

Each Birdathoner's personal network of supporters is what helps makes Birdathon possible. 

This April and May, I'm going birding for the birds!