Madera Canyon Birds and Beasts

 Celeste in Upper Madera Canyon 9-20-12

It was long past noon by the time Celeste and I drove up White House Canyon Road to Madera Canyon. I decided we should start at the top of the Canyon and work our way down with the sinking sun. We parked our car in the upper parking lot and headed up the Mount Baldy Trail. We already knew we would not go far as we were both wearing flip-flop type sandals but I hoped we would see at least a few birds on the lower part of the trail. Instead, we saw butterflies.  

This California Sister is just one of the several species we saw.

 

Can you find the bird in this photo?

Yes, there is a hummingbird in this oak tree! I am not sure what kind it is.

 Acorn Woodpecker near the Santa Rita Lodge

With little luck birding the upper canyon we headed down to the Santa Rita Lodge parking area and gift shop. The Santa Rita Lodge has graciously set out bird feeders for birder to sit and watch birds in comfort and ease. We sat on the benches provided and ate our snacks while watching birds. With the sun sinking beyond the ridge the sunlight was right in our eyes at first, then the canyon fell into deep purple shadows. In the meantime, we were treated to a positive feast of birds!

Wild Turkey feeding

 

A wild turkey tries to figure out the feeder.

 

 Hummingbirds at feeder with bat cage protector.

There are numerous hummingbird feeders set up and many had wire cages around them to keep the nectar feeding bats from draining them overnight. as a person who formally fed both bats and hummingbirds when I lived here before I can verify that nectar feeding bats can drain your feeders faster than you can make nectar! Below are just a few of the photos I took of the hummingbirds we saw while sitting there for an hour and a half! I will readily confess that I cannot indentify all the species but I have done my best. If you disagree with an identification please let me know and tell me why. During migration many species of hummingbirds are molting and often they look similar to the females of many species.

Immature broad-billed Hummingbird

 

Rufous Hummingbird (upper right)

 

Possible female Anna’s

 

Male magnificent Hummingbird (right side of feeder)

 

Rufous Hummingbird

 

Male Broad-billed Hummingbird

 

Molting broad-tailed Hummingbird?

 

Broad-tailed Hummingbird (female or sub-adult)

 

Anna’s Hummingbird (male)

 

Possible Costa’s Male seen from back

(note dark feathers of helmet on top of head)

 

Community Feeding

 

 

Rock Squirrel drinking from fountain

And while we were all distracted by hummingbirds a rock squirrel climbed the rocks to the fountain and got himself a drink!

Madera Canyon is an east-west canyon transected by the boundary between Pima Country and Santa Cruz County. As such it has several distinct eBird Hotspots since some spots are in Santa Cruz County and some are in Pima County. When collecting eBird data it is very important that you designate your bird counts for each area so as to keep the correct data with the correct county. There are several signs posted throughout the canyon with information regarding your submission of checklists to eBird. The Santa Rita Lodge is in Santa Cruz County and is just one of the several eBird Hotspots throughout the canyon. Here is a list of all the birds we saw while watching birds at the

Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon:

1. Wild Turkey
2. White-winged Dove
3. Mourning Dove
4. Anna’s Hummingbird
5. Broad-billed Hummingbird
6. Broad-tailed Hummingbird
7. Magnificent Hummingbird
8. Black-chinned Hummingbird
9. Rufous Hummingbird
10. Blue-throated Hummingbird
11. Costa's Hummingbird
12. Acorn Woodpecker
13. Mexican Jay
14. Common Raven
15. Bridled Titmouse
16. White-breasted Nuthatch
17. Painted Redstart
18. Hepatic Tanager
19. Black-headed Grosbeak
20. House Finch
21. Lesser Goldfinch

But we were not done yet! Though the sun was getting even lower and the shadows even longer, I really wanted to take Celeste one last place to one of my favorite places to bird. So we got in the car and headed down the road to the Proctor Trailhead Parking lot. We had no idea what was waiting for us there…(Please come back on Monday to read the full story!)

• Birding Rio Rico (the first past of this story)
• Proctor Trailhead and What we Found There (part 3)