Special thanks to Neil Hayward, Big Year record holder and
birding buddy, for pointing out the online photos of Baird’s Sparrow, which
helped me resolve last minute concerns about my identification of Baird’s
Sparrow discussed in my previous posting.
Today, December 17, I got up quite early to drive to Portal,
a trip of 1 hour and 34 minutes from my motel in Wilcox, AZ, taking the paved
highways—I-10 to NM 80 and then Portal Road.
By the time I picked up breakfast and some food and drink to carry for
the day, there was some dim light in the east indicating the coming sunrise. As I approached Portal Road on NM 80, I could
see that there was snow on the peaks where I was headed. Rustler Park, where one can find Mexican Chickadee,
is 8400 or 8500 feet in elevation depending upon the source and one must cross
Onion Saddle at 7600 feet. Consequently,
I was wondering if I could actually get high enough in elevation to find
Mexican Chickadee if the road up was snow or ice covered. My search for Juniper Titmouse, usually found
in or near Paradise, will probably not be restricted by snow, due to the lower
elevation, about 5500 ft. The only way
to find out if I could get to Rustler Park was to try. There was no snow in the valley and through
Portal. I started up through Cave Creek
Canyon and was surprised by a few places in Cave Creek Canyon at low altitude where
the road was still snow covered in shady areas under thick trees or along north
faces of the mountain. As I got up
higher, there was no snow, because most of the road got full sunshine, but I
knew that there were some sharp turns and switch-backs that would not get full
sun and these might be a problem. As I
continued up through the pine-oak woodlands, I kept an eye out for Montezuma
Quail along the road, because it was early in the morning and I saw no other
traffic on the road. Back in August, I
had met two women at Rustler Park who had seen Montezuma Quail along the
road. However, I was not successful in
seeing a Montezuma Quail in August or this time. I found
continuing small flocks of Yellow-eyed Juncos and several Acorn
Woodpeckers. I stopped for a while at
the wash just beyond where the road from Paradise joins the road from Cave
Creek to look and listen for birds for a while.
Neil Hayward had told me that he found Mexican Chickadee at this
location back earlier in the year; therefore, I decided to try my luck
here. I found a small flock of
Yellow-rumped (Audubon’s) Warblers and several Red-breasted Nuthatches with a
few Ruby-crowned Kinglets, but nothing unusual.
Just before and beyond this intersection, I started
encountering snow on the road in some shady locations and in sharp
switch-backs. However, these snowy and
icy areas had deep ruts worn down through the snow and ice to the dirt road
surface and these were not very deep, because the snow and ice layer was not
very thick. I concentrated on keeping my wheels in the ruts with exposed dirt and had good traction in the snowy sections of the road. The worst place was after
the wash and intersection for the road to Paradise at a north facing switch-back, because the road was
completely covered with packed snow and ice and without any ruts to the dirt
surface. However, the surface of the
packed snow and ice was coated with dirt from the traffic. Fortunately, the dirt surface provided enough
traction to negotiate the area. After Onion
Saddle, there was more snow on the road, but negotiable due to the ruts worn
through the packed snow and ice on the road.
See photos below.
 |
| Snowy Road above Onion Saddle |
 |
| Last curve and hill to the top to road to Rustler Park |
I parked at the “T” intersection where Barfoot Park is to
the right and Rustler Park is to the left and walked the road toward Rustler
Park. In my previous experience, the
road to Rustler Park has been a good place to find Mexican Chickadee. At first there was not much activity, but
eventually I found a flock of 10 to 20 Pygmy Nuthatches, a Hairy Woodpecker,
White-breasted Nuthatch and a few Yellow-eyed Juncos. I also saw a relatively large bird fly into
nearby trees and thought it was a either a Steller’s or Mexican Jay, but it was
a male Sharp-shinned Hawk, apparently attracted by all the bird activity that I
was causing. A pick-up truck passed me
as I walked toward Rustler Park and passed me again heading down the
mountain with a load of logs for firewood. I
found out later that the forest service was allowing local people to take
firewood from the downed trees that are a consequence of the recent Horseshoe 2
Fire of 2011. The standing trunks left
from the fire are dangerous, which is the reason that the campground is now
closed. The standing trunks are being
cut down to eliminate the danger caused by them falling. I was fortunate to be there when vehicles
were driving up to the park in the winter, causing the road to be more passable
for my rental vehicle. Luck does play a
role!
As I approached Rustler Park, there was more bird activity
with a lot of Pygmy Nuthatches calling in the trees and Yellow-eyed Juncos
feeding on the seeds of the masses of wildflowers that were in bloom in August
when I last visited this location. There
were also Yellow-rumped (Audubon’s) Warblers and one Townsend’s Warbler. Suddenly, I heard the end of the buzzy “chick-a-dee-dee-dee”
call of Mexican Chickadee on the downhill side of the road and just before the
last rise in the road to the parking lot of Rustler Park. A chickadee flew into a fir tree above my
head, and while I was looking at the chickadee above my head, another called to the
right. I saw the extensive black bib and
broad gray sides and flanks, which identified it as a Mexican Chickadee. Mexican Chickadee is the only breeding
chickadee in its range, but there may be some movement south of Mountain Chickadees
in the winter. Consequently, there is an
outside chance of a chickadee not being a Mexican Chickadee. Consequently, I took the time to see and
photograph the chickadee. I obtained two
reasonable photographs out of about twenty attempted showing the extensive bib
and broad gray sides and flanks of Mexican Chickadee and the lack of a white
eyebrow of Mountain Chickadee as verification that I did indeed see and hear a Mexican
Chickadee. See photos below.
 |
Mexican Chickadee
extensive bib |
 |
Mexican Chickadee
flying, landing
extensive bib, broad gray sides and flank |
When I was walking back toward my car, I found the very
cooperative male Sharp-shinned Hawk. See
photos below.
 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk
very rounded head, size of jay |
 |
Sharp-shinned Hawk
dark crown, rounded head, squared end of tail
He's watching me! |
I drove slowly and carefully down the mountain stopping to
photograph the snowy road above Onion Saddle and to bird a few places and take
photographs. See photos at he end of
this post. However, I had completed my
mission to see Mexican Chickadee, leaving only the Juniper Titmouse to try for
in Paradise. At the wash, I took the
road toward Paradise and stopped at the George Walker House to see if Juniper Titmouse
was coming to the feeders. Jackie Lewis
told me that Juniper Titmouse had been coming to her feeders, but switched to a
feeder up-hill when a friend started feeding.
I waited for a while at the George Walker House feeders, but did not see
a Juniper Titmouse. A Bridled Titmouse,
White-breasted Nuthatches, Dark-eyed Juncos (Oregon), House Finches and Acorn
Woodpeckers were coming to the feeders in the yard. There was one Inca Dove in the yard, somewhat
unusual according to Jackie. Outside the
yard, there was feeder attracting one Steller’s Jay, an unusual occurrence at this
low elevation, and a flock of Mexican Jays.
Jackie showed me the way to her
neighbor’s house up the hill, where the Juniper Titmouse had been. The neighbor was not home, and the feeders
were empty. I found very few birds at
the neighbor’s feeder, except one Bridled Titmouse that at first got me
excited, a Dark-eyed Junco and a small flock of Pine Siskins in the juniper
tree where the feeder was hanging. I
left the neighbor’s house and returned to the George Walker House to watch the
feeders again, but the only new birds found were a few Pine Siskins. Jackie suggested that I try the cemetery and
the cemetery wash outside of town, the roads in town and perhaps play a
recording of Juniper Titmouse. She also
wondered if I was going to northern Arizona near Flagstaff, where Juniper Titmouse
is likely to be more common.
Because I was in Paradise, I decided to try the local
strategies first and would consider the Flagstaff strategy later if I failed in
Paradise. I first went to the cemetery and
the cemetery wash where there was very little bird activity until I started
playing the raspy “tschick-adee” calls of Juniper Titmouse. I attracted a large flock of birds but all
Dark-eyed Juncos, Chipping Sparrows and a few White-crowned Sparrows
and House Finches. I returned to town
and decided that I would walk the streets to see if I could find the Juniper
Titmouse that was present according to Jackie Lewis’ reports. I stopped in town along 428 Forest Road, the
road from Portal, and not too far from the George Walker House. There was nearby house with a feeder in the
front yard. The man of the house had
been working at the George Walker House when I had arrived earlier. He asked me what I was looking for, and I
told him the Juniper Titmouse, the all gray one. He said that they come to his feeder and put
more seed out. However, nothing seemed
to be happening there. There were a few
American Robins, House Finches and a fly-by Acorn Woodpecker. I walked north a short distance and up-hill
on a poorly maintained lane called Sweeney Ave.
When I was up the hill the same distance from the main road as the Walker House, I started playing the
“tschick-adee” call of Juniper Titmouse.
Soon I heard a call in reply and a Juniper Titmouse flew in. It was all gray with lighter gray underparts. I tried to get a photograph, but was
unsuccessful. The Juniper Titmouse was very
active and difficult to photograph and seemed to be rather skittish in
comparison to the local Bridled Titmice and the Tufted Titmice that I know from
Ohio and the eastern part of the US. I followed
the Juniper Titmouse around for a short period of time until it disappeared. It seemed to be feeding down low in the pines
or near the ground with a flock of Dark-eyed Juncos, in this case both Oregon
and Gray-headed races. Perhaps, I was
looking in the wrong places earlier. I
was happy that I got to see and hear this bird after a search of 3 to 4 hours. I went back to George Walker House to tell Jackie
of my success using her suggestion of play-back. I noticed that she posted on Arizona Birds a
day or so later that a Big Year birder did not find a Juniper Titmouse at her
feeders but finally found a Juniper Titmouse by going out and searching for it!
I drove slowly to Portal enjoying the scenery, because I do
not get there very often. This year was
unusual, because I was in Portal and Paradise twice! I returned to Wilcox to stay the night. Tomorrow, I will try for Ruddy Ground-Dove at
Whitewater Draw. Below are photos of the
Chiricahua Mountains.
 |
The Road Below
View from below Onion Saddle to the southeast down mountain toward Cave Creek |
 |
| View to the east from below Onion Saddle |
 |
| View from below Onion Saddle, extension of view to east |
 |
| Cave Creek Canyon, late afternoon view from road to Paradise |
Mexican Chickadee and Juniper Titmouse raise the
total to 722 plus three provisional, White-cheeked Pintail, Common Redstart and
Eurasian Sparrowhawk as of December 17. (Note
that this is a follow-up for a previously missing post. The final total for the year is 733 + 2
provisionals reported on January 3, 2014.)
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