Coppery-Tailed Trogon

 Before my most recent trip to southeastern Arizona, I'd previously seen six trogons: (1) My first was the black-tailed trogon on February 10, 2009 along the Madre de Dios River near Puerto Maldonado, Peru.

(2) My second was the slaty-tailed trogon near the Panama Canal in Panama on March 17, 2022. 

(3) My third was both a male and female masked trogon in Tatama NP in Colombia on March 21, 2023.

(4) My fourth was a collared trogon, also on March 21, 2023 in Tatama NP, Colombia.

(5) My fifth was a gartered violaceous trogon on March 19, 2026 in Tikal NP, Guatemala. 

(6) My sixth was a black-headed trogon, also on March 19, 2026 in Tikal NP, Guatemala.

My seventh, a coppery-tailed trogon, was on May 29, 2026 in Madera Canyon, in the Santa Rita Mountains of southeastern, Arizona. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a good photo. I was with a guide, Jake Thompson, who was following the calls of a number of them. Jake finally located one in a nearby tree and I was unable to see it. I saw it just as it took flight from the tree and flew some distance into another tree and wedged itself behind a branch so that all that was visible was its tail. We waited quite a while for it to make more of a presence, but it didn't. 

This tail shot is the unsatisfying conclusion of our encounter. It barely makes it into the U.S. Between 1993 and 1995 there were an estimated 76 individuals in Arizona. It would love to get back to Arizona and get a better photo. 

Mississippi Kite

The biggest surprise of my trip was the sighting of a Mississippi kite in Patagonia, Arizona. My guide, Jake, lives in Patagonia and indicated that one was nesting in a residential area in town. We drove by and saw it in a large tree and I got a few photos. Now that I look at its distribution I am surprised to see how patchy it is. It is a bird of the southeastern U.S., at least in the U.S. for the most part, where it breeds, but its range does extend down through eastern Texas in a band along the Caribbean Coast through Central America and then quite deep into portions of South America.

Mississippi kite in the yard of a home in Patagonia, Arizona.

I first heard of this bird after seeing a plumbeous kite in Tikal NP in Guatemala earlier this year. They look quite similar. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Illustration flying from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World.

Zone-Tailed Hawk

The zone-tailed hawk is another species I'd never heard of prior to planning for southeastern Arizona. Birds of the World notes that it is "widely distributed...[but] uncommon and patchily distributed, for reasons that are not well understood...Its habits and distribution is best understood in the northern part of the range and south of the U.S. and northern Mexico it is poorly known. It is one of the least known birds of prey in North America...[and] remains relatively unstudied." 

I first saw it in Miller Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. My guide, Jake, noted that it looks a lot like a turkey vulture on the underside and it often mixes with turkey vultures, which are scavengers, as a disguise to get close to prey. There were lots of turkey vultures in the trees in lower Miller Canyon. Studies have shown that it has a higher success rate in hunting among turkey vultures compared to when it hunts alone. 

This zone-tailed hawk was flying above Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary in the Huachuca Mountains. 

Bridled Titmouse

I'd never heard of a bridled titmouse prior to going to southeastern Arizona, but once I saw a photo of one before going, it became a much wanted photo. My first stop was at Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon. When I first pulled up I saw a small white bird creeping along some branches in a tree on the side of the road, and thinking it was a titmouse, I quickly dispatched a bunch of photos trying to capture its likeness.  Unfortunately, I determined it was a white-breasted nuthatch and there were also a lot of them at the feeders. However, I did see a couple of bridled titmouses, but they quickly flew in and moved about in such a hurry that I could not get any decent photos. I quickly determined this was not going to be an easy photo and I wasted lots of shots trying to capture it. I finally got my best photos at Ramsey Canyon, in the Huachuca Mountains. 

After multiple times spent at the feeders at Santa Rita Lodge, these were the best photos I got. The gray patch on the black pointed crown is spectacular. It reminds me of a flame. 

The pointed crest from behind.

Jake and I spent about 30 minutes at the feeders at Madera Kuba B&B, a little bit up-canyon from Santa Rita Lodge. This titmouse kept flitting in and out and I had a dickens of a time getting photos. This one was the best I got. 

This is my favorite of my photos, taken at Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains. There are four subspecies and this is ssp. phillipsi, found in southeastern Arizona, south of the Gila River, south to western Chihuahua and southern Sonora. It is grayish olive, the rump a greenish yellow and the belly a washed yellow. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. It catches a little bit of New Mexico and goes deeper into Arizona than some, but it is still primarily a Mexican bird. 

Grace's Warbler

As I've expressed previously, I'm not very good at small birds. Even when I've got a good guide to find them for me, I have a hard time getting photos of the darn things as they flit around and blend into the canopy of overlapping leaves. So I have to relish each one. Each one is a victory over poor hearing, poor eyesight and slowing down reaction time. Grace's warbler is such a victory. It is not a pure southeastern Arizona bird. Its range extends into Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, in addition to Mexico and Central America. I was at Miller Canyon, in the Huachuca Mountains, and per our agreement, when Jake spotted the warbler, I handed him my camera and let him take the photos. This saved wear and tear on my aching shoulder and gave someone with a better eye and reflexes a chance to get better photos. At the end of  the day I was somewhat reassured by some of the horribly poor photos taken by Jake. He also was struggling to get some of these birds into focus, like I was. But he could keep up with the bird coming and going, better than I could. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

It is a pine specialist, which my photos confirm. It is one of the smallest warblers and "an active forager, hopping and flitting rapidly among the outer foliage of high branches, perching on twigs and needles in search of insects and spiders, and occasionally fly-catching or hovering to obtain its prey...[It] prefers open stands of mature pines, a habitat that has declined over time through forestry practices of logging and fire suppression..." Its population declined by 52% over a 45 year period from 1970 to 2014. 

Plumbeous Vireo

I had a fondness for the plumbeous vireo before I saw it. I knew it was a bird I might see in southeastern Arizona. In March I saw a plumbeous kite in Guatemala and now knew what plumbeous meant. I knew it would be gray, but the term "gray" can't compare to "plumbeous" for pomposity and lack of clarity. And vireos and I don't really get along. They are small, dart about and are hard enough to see, let alone photograph. My guide, Jake, mentioned the term "plumbeous" quite a few times when I was with him. Tiny gray birds that he mentioned that I sometimes saw, but mostly didn't. When I got home I prayed for some sort of miracle that I may have captured one in a photograph somewhere along the way. The first breakthrough came in a post on iNaturalist where I put in some photographs of red-eyed vireo. One identifier noted that I had inserted the face of a plumbeous vireo among them. I was thrilled to remove that photo and insert it on its own - my first plumbeous vireo. 

This tiny, beautiful , hard to see face, ringed by verdant green, was my first introduction. It was high up in Madera Canyon. 

But later I struck paydirt. In Ramsey Canyon Reserve I'd commissioned Jake to take my photos. My left shoulder was irritated and raising the heavy camera upward and shooting photos of birds in the sky and trees was causing my shoulder great pain and irritation. I asked Jake if I could hand him my camera and let him take the photos, and he consented. Fortunately, a plumbeous kite was a benefactor of this hand-off and Jake got some good photos for me. 

I've fallen in love. Isn't this a gorgeous bird? Suhk kind, gentle eyes, dainty little features. An inquisitiveness to it.

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Unlike many of the other birds we saw, this one ranges further north than southeastern Arizona. 

Arizona Woodpecker

I first heard of the Arizona woodpecker when my son, Sam, visited southeastern Arizona. He specifically mentioned seeing them near the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon, the first I'd also ever heard of it. When I visited southeastern Arizona in late May I was disappointed to see only one Arizona woodpecker, a female, and it was at the Santa Rita Lodge. It is brown and white and only the male has red on the head. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

The article in Birds of the World notes that the Arizona woodpecker can be hard to locate while nesting. It also indicates it  is one of about three dozen species of Mexican bird species that reach their northern breeding limit in the southwestern U.S. These birds share the same habitats with the blue-throated mountain-gem, Rivoli's hummingbird, coppery-tailed trogon, sulphur-bellied flycatcher and others. I think these are the birds that I primarily saw on my recent trip and made it such a wonderful adventure.