Target birding around Tucson

The Biggest Twitch day three already and we are again birding with Moez Ali so already we know it is going to be a good day! But we didn’t realise just how good. We began by visiting the amazing home of Liz and Jean Payne in the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains. A stunning place set in classic desert habitat complete with lots of ancient cactus. The back garden was set out with lots of feeders and birds to match. We didn’t have to wait long before we got our first new bird, Costa’s Hummingbird. What a stunning little gem of a bird and point blank views. We walked the draw behind the house and soon found Black-tailed Gnatcatcher amongst the cactus what cute birds. Back to the garden and we scored male Broad-billed Hummingbird, another crippler! A huge thank you to Liz and Jean for their hospitality, inviting total strangers into their home and not only showing us birds but providing tea, cake and fruit, it doesn’t get better! What we would give to have a place like this.

We reluctantly dragged ourselves away from the Paynes and headed downtown to the local park. Within moments of getting out of the car, we had our target bird: Lewis’ Woodpecker, a particularly striking bird, at one point even sitting out on top of a metal pylon in full sunshine. From here we went just down the road to the Tucson University Experimental Farm where the director, Steve, kindly invited into the grounds to bird. Brown-headed Cowbird was quickly secured, and we enjoyed great looks at American Pipit. Next we met up with Darleen, from Tucson Audubon, who kindly showed us a stake-out site for Western Screech Owl. Sadly the owl didn’t realise that it had the chance to be famous and wasn’t receiving visitors today.

The afternoon was spent birding an area of flat farmland north of Tucson. Here we cruised the dirt farm roads and encountered a great selection of raptors. Crested Caracara and White-tailed Kite were new for the year and we also had amazing views of Prairie Falcons. But perhaps the highlight here came in the last half hour of daylight, when we chanced upon a roadside Burrowing Owl which stood its ground and glared back at us from just a few metres away. This was quickly followed by a flock of no less than 23 Mountain Plover. Again we enjoyed incredibly close views of this charismatic and much-wanted wader. Sadly this was our last day birding with Moez in and around Tucson so we had a farewell meal with him and his wife Beth, while we counted up our tally for the first three days. We leave Arizona with 161 species under the belt, what a great start! We can’t thank Moez enough for his expert guidance around the area and his superb bird knowledge and good humour – he brought us some fantastic birds, including a good number of lifers for both of us – thanks a million, Moez! So if you fancy experience amazing birds in the striking landscape around Tucson, get in touch with Moez at moezali15@hotmail.com, or telephone 520 820 3499, he comes highly recommended!

Next stop Mexico, bring it on…..

3.1.08 Posted 9.30pm local time, Tucson, Arizona