Rufous-Winged Sparrow

One of the marvelous things about hiring a birding guide is that they get paid to know things about rare and unusual birds, such as where they can be found. For someone like me, hiring one of these people is the only way I will ever get to see one of these. 

Per Birds of the World, the rufous-winged sparrow was "[o]ne of the last bird species in the United States to be discovered and described...[It] is an uncommon resident of local distribution in the Sonoran Desert region from south-central Arizona to northern Sinaloa, Mexico. The first specimens of the species were taken" in 1872 near Tucson and between that date and 1886 the "numbers of this species...declined, and one last specimen was taken" in 1886 "before the species seemingly disappeared from Arizona until 1915...The sparrow's preferred habitat of thornbush and mixed bunchgrass is limited, and grazing appears to have diminished its numbers and distribution."  Wikipedia notes it is "is considered uncommon throughout its range."

My guide, Jake Thompson, met me at Veterans Memorial Park in Sierra Vista. There at the chain-link fenced lined edge of the park was some original desert of the type preferred by this sparrow. Jake was listening for its call and soon heard it and finally pinpointed its location in a tree. Something so unassuming and plain turns into a treasure in a birder's eyes.

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Five-Striped Sparrow

My guide, Jake Thompson, took me into the fairly rugged and sparsely vegetated Tumacacori Mountains, up into Rock Corral Canyon, over some roads that my sedan would have had difficulty with. Down at the bottom of a relatively steep hill, in a jumble of desert trees, he began his imitation of the five-striped sparrow call and kept it up for what seemed like 15 or 20 minutes. He would get a view of the sparrow, call me over for some photos, and kept trying. This sparrow is quite distinctive and handsome. It appears to be a tree Jake has visited often as a reliable spot for this species and his lifer seeking clients. 

The five stripes are the two supercilia above the eye, the white stripe under each ear covert and the white stripe down the middle of the chin and throat. The white stripes are separated by black. It has a black spot between its gray chest and white belly. Sexes look alike. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

It was first discovered in Arizona in 1957, the year of my birth, and it is not known if it was a result of recent range expansion  or observers searching appropriate habitat. It is a very small population in Arizona, only about 47 to 54 singing males were annually detected in surveys during the early 1990s. Like many of the rarities in southeastern Arizona, it is a Mexican bird that just happens to have crossed the border into similar surroundings. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Botteri's Sparrow

My guide, Jake Thompson, knew right where to find this bird. We were looking for Botteri's sparrow. We were in Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains of southeastern Arizona and drove out of the canyon a ways and turned on to the dirt road to Box Canyon in what Jake referred to as Florida Wash. Jake walked over into some bushes at the edge of a large grass field and a minute or two later called me over. It is a common bird in its range, but it is a rarity in the U.S. because its range is so restricted. It is found in a small section of southeastern Arizona and a small section of southern Texas. Otherwise, it is predominantly a bird of Mexico. It was not found in Arizona from the 1890s to the mid-20th century because of excessive livestock grazing which ruined the grasses it liked to live in. Since efforts have been made to restore the grasslands, even though it is not the native preferred grass, it has returned due to introduced non-native grasses, although at lower population densities. 

Range from Birds of the World.

In Arizona it breeds in small, isolated colonies in semidesert grassland. It is abundant in pockets of healthy un-grazed or lightly grazed grasslands, fragmented by agricultural pressures. 

Jake had me come over by him, he had me line up facing a small tree, then pointed straight ahead into the center of the tree, and there it stood, very cooperative for my photos. If only some of the other birds would be so cooperative. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Red-Faced Warbler

The red-faced warbler is a bird I really wanted to see in southeastern Arizona. It has a black band on the crown that extends down the sides of the head and reminds me of an old friar. A truly spectacular and distinctive looking bird. I saw it up Miller Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains.

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. This range looks like the ranges of lots of other birds we saw. Heavy in Central America and Mexico and up into Arizona and New Mexico. 

 

Painted Redstart

The painted redstart is a gorgeous bird that moves around so fast it is hard to photograph. It flits around, wings and tail whirring, jerking, in constant frenzy. They are insectivorous and apparently this behavior stirs up the insects. I saw a redstart up Madera Canyon and was unable to get a decent photograph. The photographs below were taken up Miller Canyon, in the Huachuca Mountains.

 

Another Arizona/New Mexico extension of a Central America and Mexico bird, but it extends further into the U.S. than a lot of the other southeastern Arizona specialties. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

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.