Sulphur-Bellied Flycatcher

 In March of this year I was with Judy and a bird guide, Rony, in Tikal NP in northeastern Guatemala. It was quite dark and Rony identified a sulphur-bellied flycatcher. It was dark and I could only faintly see a yellow breast on the bird directly above me. I was quite disappointed later to put my photo through Lightroom and find that I'd photographed a yellow-throated vireo instead. Fast-forward to the end of May and I was with a guide, Jake Thompson, on a hike up a trail at the end of Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains in southeastern Arizona and Jake identified a sulphur-bellied flycatcher. My heart raced a little bit. I really wanted to see this bird, to see the bird that had disappointed me months earlier. Fortunately, I got a good look and was surprised to see brown steaks flashing down the breast into the belly, not a clean yellow front like I'd imagined. 

This illustration, from Birds of the World, seems even more incongruous than the bird that stood before me. So much brown streaking that beautiful yellow breast and belly and brown dominating everywhere else. 

Like so many of the birds I've already posted on from southeastern Arizona, this bird is far more familiar to the south, from deep into South America, up through Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and yes, Guatemala, Mexico and nudging into Mexico. 

I was so disappointed to miss this bird in Guatemala and now so happy to have a good view in Arizona. Such an unusual catchy name. The namers of birds have captured the mystery of color. I had to look up plumbeous, as in plumbeous kite, another Guatemalan bird, to learn that it contains lead or has lead-like qualities, such as being heavy or dark gray in color. My new found knowledge helped me in Arizona with the plumbeous vireo, which I saw. I've lived 69 years without encountering the word plumbeous and have now run into it twice in a few months in my birding. In Guatemala I also saw a slate-throated redstart, another mineral color. Slate blends gray, blue and sometimes hints of green or purple. And here, sulphur, another mineral, described as "bright, vibrant, lemon-yellow" is marred by impurities, these brown impurities streaked through it. 

I don't know why this formatting has gone haywire, but I've given up trying to correct it. However, this beautiful bird is worth looking at despite the impurities on its belly and the impurities on this page. 

Buff-Breasted Flycatcher

The buff-breasted flycatcher was a bird we found at a high elevation, well over 6,000 feet, in Miller Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains of southeastern Arizona. My guide, Jake Thompson, spent quite a bit of time whistling for it and brought it in. Birds of the World notes that it is known as "a rare 'southeastern Arizona specialty,'...[but it] occurs quite widely south of the United States in Mexico and Central America." There are only about 20 to 40 individual birds known in the U.S. on an annual basis. 

In Arizona it is found between 6,400 and 9,400 feet in elevation. It is considered uncommon and very local in Arizona. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Note the very small sliver of range in Arizona. 

Dusky-Capped Flycatcher

I got photos of a couple of dusky-capped flycatchers in southeastern Arizona. It is primarily a Central American/South American bird with a small range reaching into southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. There are 13 subspecies recognized. I saw ssp. olivascens which breeds in Arizona and New Mexico into northwestern Chihuahua to the mountains of eastern Sinaloa, western Durango and northern Nayarit. 

The first one I photographed was quite high in Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains. 

I got a much better view in the more deserty Rock Corral Canyon in the Tumacacori Mountains. 

Illustration of ssp. olivascens from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Gray Hawk

I'd never heard of a gray hawk until I started planning to go to southeastern Arizona. However, when I saw a photo, I really wanted to see one. It is a very handsome bird. We visited the partly above-ground and under-ground Santa Cruz River between the Santa Rita Mountains and Tumacacori Mountains (closer to the latter) and I got very excited when my guide, Jake Thompson, said one was flying overhead. I barely got my camera up for a photo and got only one photo as it disappeared from sight by the tall trees above us. 

It appears to eat mostly reptiles and forages mostly in mesquite woodlands adjacent to forests of cottonwood and willow that occur along streams and rivers which are used for nesting. In southern Arizona its nests are concentrated along the streams and rivers of the Gila river watershed and in Texas along the Rio Grande watershed. It is not common in the U.S., probably numbering fewer than 100 nesting pairs. However, it can get high densities in favorable habitat. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Its range is limited to portions of Arizona and Texas in the U.S., but much more extensive than some other species I saw. 

Mexican Duck

When I arranged to visit southeastern Arizona I told my guide, Jake Thompson, that I wanted to see a Mexican duck. He arranged for a short visit to Patagonia Lake to see that one species. He parked the car, walked down a little path to the lake and pointed them out immediately. Very quick and easy. Birds of the World notes that it is the "least known and most misunderstood of all North American waterfowl...It...is the only North American puddle duck to have been listed as an endangered species...[and] its overall population size may be among the smallest of any North American waterfowl." It is well named as about 98% of the total population are found in Mexico. It does interbreed with the Mallard and the first one we saw had a whitish head that Jake said was likely a Mallard/Mexican duck mix. 

She was quite handsome and I liked her better than the pure Mexican ducks. 

It is mainly brown with a blue speculum edged with white. The male has a brighter yellow bill than the female. 

There are concerns that it may ultimately disappear because of hybridizing with mallards. It was listed as an endangered species in the U.S. for about 11 years, but was removed in 1978. They can be tricky to distinguish from mallards. The male mallard has a bright green head and dark chest. Both sexes of the Mexican duck have dark, mottled-brown color with a buff-colored head and neck. The male Mexican duck has a solid, bright yellow-olive bill. The female mallard has a mottled orange and black bill. Mexican ducks lack the white-bordered tail feathers and curled black feathers on the tail that male mallards have. 

Unlike the other species I've looked at so far, it ranges further north in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico and into west Texas. 

Violet-Crowned Hummingbird

The more I learn about the birds I recently saw in southeastern Arizona the more I begin to appreciate what an amazing place it is. The violet-crowned hummingbird is another bird species that is mostly a Mexican and Central American bird with a small overlap in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is readily identifiable because of its white underparts, a red bill and a violet-blue crown. It is considered migratory, but increasing numbers are staying in Arizona year-round. I saw my first one up Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains at the hummingbird feeders at Madera Kuba B&B. I later saw several of them at the Paton Center for Hummingbirds in Patagonia. 

In Madera Canyon at Kuba B&B. 

I saw several at the Paton Hummingbird Center and this is probably my best photo. 

This photo best captures the violet-blue crown. 

An old timer in Patagonia told me that he had been watching them for four or five hours that day. There had been four. One we saw was just a youngster and had hardly any violet-blue on its crown. He said the nest was behind the feeder high up in a tree, but it is so full of foliage that the nest can't be seen. 

There are two subspecies. I saw ssp. ellioti which is found in small portions of Arizona and New Mexico south to northweestern and central Mexico (to central Michoacan and Hidalgo). 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Buff-Collared Nightjar

Toward the end of May I was in southeastern Arizona with a guide, Jake Thompson, who works for Arizona Bird Guides. I signed up for an evening of owling and we headed up Box Canyon, on the edge of the Santa Rita Mountains, at what they refer to as the first bridge, a steel and cement bridge over a large ravine. As with so many birds we were looking for, the buff-collared nightjar is a Mexican and Central American species that is only sparsely found in the U.S. in southeastern Arizona. In fact, it has been found at fewer than 20 locations in the U.S. Birds of the World notes, "Because of its nocturnal habits and limited distribution in the United States, the "Buff-jar," as this bird is known colloquially, is a difficult species to see or study there. In recent years, a short stretch of McCleary Wash (usually referred to as Florida Wash by birders) below Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains of southeastern Arizona has been the mecca for birders seeking this species in the United States. Other than at this one heavily visited location, encounters with Buff-collared Nightjar in the United States are very infrequent." Well, that last quote describes my situation exactly. My optimism for a photograph, was misplaced, as evening shadows turned to pitch black night (I'd previously seen a jungle nightjar (December 15, 2025 post) in India and a lyre-tailed nightjar (May 9, 2022 post) in Ecuador). A group of about 10 or 15 people were there, all looking for the same thing. Jake is phenomenal at knowing bird calls and we separated from the group and walked back down the road toward our vehicle when he heard its call zooming past us up the canyon. We walked back to the group and periodically heard it again. At the end of our evening, it made its presence known, up-canyon, and Jake put his heavy-duty flashlight on it and we got its eye-shine staring back at us. We called it a night and headed back to the car. No photos of this bird for me, but I now am one of the people that has visited the buff-jar mecca and heard it and saw its eye-shine. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.