Black-Vented Oriole

In May of this year I was in southeastern Arizona with a birding guide, Jake Thompson. We were walking up Miller Canyon and Jake was scouting out a flame-colored tanager, whistling to it, when a very distinctive call came quite loudly from the ravine we were above. Jake perked up, put his phone on recording, and said, I think that is a black-vented oriole, and he got very excited. It called again and he mentioned he was shaking, he was so excited. He went to Merlin and confirmed the call and looked up the only previous sighting of a black-vented oriole in Arizona which took place in 1991. He got on the phone and called a few people and then sent out a rare-bird alert. He'd worked in Sonora, Mexico previously and was very familiar with this bird. I didn't realize until later that he saw the bird fly by at a distance and confirmed it was an oriole. Eventually he said lots of birders would be descending upon us, from as far away as Tucson. Later, after we went as far up the canyon we would go, after seeing buff-breasted flycatcher and red-faced warbler, and turned back, we ran into another very prominent birder, I don't recall his name, who had been in the ravine below us and heard the call. He wasn't sure what the bird was. He had set some sort of record for birding on a bicycle. Jake told him what had gone on, played the recording, and this other birder stayed with us the rest of the way down the canyon. Jake obviously would like to have stayed in the canyon, focusing on trying to see and photograph the black-vented oriole, but he hung with me. As we were leaving the canyon, he stopped the vehicle and talked to several carfuls of people, from as far away as Tucson, coming to try and find the black-vented oriole. He mentioned, that guy has written guide books on birds and that woman has written guides on hummingbirds and that guy is on some ABA (American Birding Association) committee. It was fun to have a first-hand experience experiencing a rare bird sighting. At the end of the trip Jake provided me with his eBird checklists he submitted for each one of our destinations. This is the following that was inserted in the checklist for Miller Canyon:

"Originally heard a single nasally "yurp" call and immediately recognized it as possibly [black-vented oriole] from extensive experience with this species in Sonora, MX. Immediately started recording while standing on trail near here: (31.4101002, -110.2834771) and was able to pick up 2 more "yurp" notes (heard at 4 sec mark in recording) as it emerged from the riparian canopy and flew past us heading up canyon. Immediately noticed orangey oriole color and dark face/head. 1 previous state record from Patagonia Lake on 4/18/1991." 

It was fun to be with Jake, who has seen over 500 species of birds in Arizona, add two new lifers for his list in Arizona (we previously saw the red-eyed vireo up Madera Canyon which I posted on yesterday). I note that the first sighting in Arizona in 1991 was on my birthday when I was 34 years old. I'm more than double that now. 

This is an illustration of a black-vented oriole from Birds of the World.

This is the range from Birds of the World. Note that it falls far short of Arizona. 

Red-Eyed Vireo

I was with my guide, Jake Thompson of Arizona Birding Guides, in upper Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains.  He saw a small bird high in a tree and Jake got very, very excited. He said it was a red-eyed vireo, the first one he'd ever seen in Arizona. He'd been guiding at some big event earlier in the year, I think in Ohio, where red-eyed vireos were all over the place. He was so excited he was shaking and he got on his phone and posted a rare bird alert on eBird. Jake has seen more than 400 species of birds in a year in Arizona on multiple occasions and I believe he has seen over 500 species of birds in Arizona overall. He got to add another species this day to his total. He provided a trip summary at the end which included all of his eBird reports. This is what he noted about the red-eyed vireo: "Rare vagrant. Originally heard singing. Vireo larger than WAVI, with dark eyeline, red eye, and gray cap with dark outline. Olive green wings lacking wing bars. Scrutinized for YGVI. Seen near here 31.70461, -110.87691. Photographed and recorded." 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

You can see from the range, from Birds of the World, that it was quite a bit out of its normal area. The closest it normally gets is far eastern New Mexico. 

Varied Bunting

The varied bunting is found along portions of the southern borders of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and goes south as far as little piece of Guatemala. They inhabit deserts and prefer thorny brush thickets, thorn forests, scrubby woodlands and overgrown clearings. They are not found in residential areas. I saw this one in Rock Corral Canyon in the Tumacacori Mountains in southeastern Arizona which was very far removed from a residential setting. It was quite a distance away and my photo is very poor. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Western Wood-Pewee

The western wood-pewee and eastern wood-pewee were at one time considered the same species. Then they were divided into two species. I happened to be in Manizales, Colombia where the two ranges overlap and I saw an eastern wood-pewee and arguably a western wood-pewee, but the two species are very difficult to tell apart, except by vocalizations, and no one has confirmed my previous sighting as a western wood-pewee. I was recently in southeastern Arizona in Rock Corral Canyon in the Tumacacori Mountains when I definitely saw a western wood-pewee. So I am counting this more recent bird as my lifer. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

My guide, Jake Thompson, took me up into the very deserty Tumacacori Mountains, south of Green Valley on the I-19, southwest of Madera Canyon and the Santa Rita Mountains and southwest of (although much closer to) Santa Gertruda Lane and the Santa Cruz River. We drove several miles into the mountains over a pretty rough dirt road and eventually parked at the top of a hill. In a grouping of trees just off the dirt road Jake started to call a northern beardless-tyrannulet and I got some decent photos of it. 

Most flycatchers have bristles at the base of the bill which are referred to as the "beard." The "beardless" tyrannulet is lacking those bristles and thus, "beardless." 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. Another primarily Mexican and Central American bird with some inroads into southern Arizona. AI notes that they are small and have non-descript gray plumage and, thus, difficult to spot. They are usually located by their song, rather than by sight. 

Thick-Billed Kingbird

My guide, Jake Thompson, took me for a short visit to Santa Gertrudis Lane along the partially above-ground, partially submerged Santa Cruz River, just south of Tumacacori National Historic Park near Tubac in southeastern Arizona. I believe the two species he was wanting me to see, or at least the two lifers I did see, were the gray hawk and the thick-billed kingbird.  

Range from Birds of the World. It is basically a Mexican bird with a little blip into southeastern Arizona and extreme southwestern New Mexico. It is typically found along perennial or intermittent streams and rivers with broader floodplains, near riparian woodland edges and clearings with large sycamores. This describes Santa Gertruda Lane perfectly. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Scott's Oriole

On May 31, 2026 I was at Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary near the Huachuca Mountains in southeastern Arizona and saw my first Scott's orioles. My guide, Jake Thompson, pointed it out to me, but it took me a little while to realize it was a bird I'd not seen before, a lifer. I only saw a couple of females, not a male. 

It is named after General Winfield Scott from the Mexican war. It is sometimes called the mountain or desert oriole, and it is actually both, as it is most common in elevated arid habitats, particularly the desert-facing slopes of mountains, or semiarid plains between mountain ranges, which is exactly where I was when I saw them. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. I was surprised to see it could be found so close to my home in Redlands. I asked AI where the best place to find it would be for me locally and it suggested Big Morongo Canyon Preserve and Covington Park next door to it; Joshua Tree NP, such as in Black Rock Campground which is among Joshua trees and yucca shrublands, where they like to breed; and desert-facing slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains such as Phelan and Pinon Hills at mid-elevations in pinyon/juniper woodlands and Joshua Tree stands.