Mexican Spotted Owl, just chillin'
I hadn’t been to the Grand Canyon in over 40 years.
While living (briefly) in Phoenix, I made a day trip with friends one clear November day. It was lovely but it was cold AF and a couple of us might have been stoned. The time before that was a family road trip to the west coast. My 8-year old brother had to spit over the edge so he could say he could spit a thousand feet — the kind of thing that thrills 8-year old boys.
It was time to see the place with grown up eyes.
Would I be properly awed? It’s a truly astounding place, but I’d seen it before and its sheer timelessness is one of the defining features. It deserved better than “been there, done that.”
It did not disappoint.
Pictures just don’t do this place justice. There is literally no way to convey the vast expanse of the vista.
Unlike previous trips, we didn’t just drive up, look over the edge and head out; we had a walk along the rim from a little east of Mather Point to Grand Canyon Village, a little over two miles. We were going to continue on to Hermit’s Rest but a rain/hail storm as we neared the village changed our plans. That’s okay — it was a wonderful walk.
I did the correct thing and just experienced the condors soaring above us the first time. When we saw them again, I tried for a photo but they were never again that close.
One high point was not long after we started out; Friend Nancy and I saw some … vultures? No — bigger… CONDORS!! headed our way and shouted out appropriately. What was really great that others on the trail heard our gleeful shouts and wanted to see the birds as well. A pair of them passed right overhead and kept riding the updrafts along the rim. An unexpected moment, but happily not the only sighting — we saw a couple more during the walk. (The sightings were mostly near the geology museum.)
After the rain passed, we spotted another bird that was rarer (for me) than a condor. Tracking a call from in a tree, we eventually found the vocalist, an Evening Grosbeak. They show up in the Bay Area from time to time but I’m never in the right place at the right time; it’s probably been 10+ years since I’ve seen one.
Another unexpected treat along the Rim Trail — Evening Grosbeak.
The Canyon was a great side trip, but we had places to go and things to do! This was all just a warmup for the main event, all the way in the opposite corner of the state. We made one more stop in the park, and the Desert View tower (very cool) and then did a big loop back to our lodging south of the park, stopping at Wupatki National Monument to walk around the pueblos, and then to Sunset Crater to get one more stamp in our Park Passports before the day was over. (This is a bird blog, so I’m mostly focused on the birds here, but we did learn more about the communities that grew in the area, then collapsed about 900 years ago.)
The next morning we headed southeast toward the Chiricahuas… but had to stop for a few more stamps along the way. First stop was Tuzigoot National Monument, which featured a pueblo and — unbeknownst to us before our visit — a really nice marsh. We’re already making plans to return.
A pair of Common Black Hawks circled above Montezuma Castle NM. We could hear a begging youngster in the trees along the creek, but couldn’t get eyes on it. The adult pair were circling and calling above us when we first pulled up. So cool!
From there, we went a few more miles down the road to Montezuma Castle National Monument, another cliff dwelling. Once again we were surprised, this time by some lovely riparian habitat. But… duh. The people establishing these communities sought out locations near water. So, sure, nice for birding but also just nice for surviving in a dry land. (I’m a little slow on the uptake but I almost always get there.) We had a nice mix of warblers, flycatchers, vireos and sparrows during out visit.
Our last stop during the drive was at Saguaro National Park, this time to the Western Unit; we’d visited the Eastern Unit on a previous visit. The cactus were just starting to bloom so we didn’t get the incredible displays of our earlier trip, but it was beautiful desert nonetheless. From there we made a beeline to our next stop, Bisbee.
Don’t fence me in? We walked from one end of Old Bisbee to the other (a few miles) and there were sights to see on every step of the way. I’d return in a heartbeat.
The view from the outcrop — nice spot to have coffee.
Bisbee is the Cochise County seat, a little dot of brilliant blue in a batshit red county. Long known as an arts community, it has great inns, restaurants, bars, galleries, coffee roasters (2!), and a brewery that also distills an exquisite gin. Alas, our visit was too late for the Return of the Turkey Vultures, an annual festival held in early March. We’ll get there yet…
Our VRBO was created from an old ranch at the north end of town, with abundant bird life and a rocky outcrop which offered a great view of the town. We fell asleep to owls hooting (whiskered screech and another we weren’t sure of) and awoke to a very vocal Curve Billed Thrasher.
WAKE UP! WAKE UP! I’m not going to let you sleep through this wonderful day.
Bisbee is only about 20 minutes from the San Pedro House, with a visitor center and trails accessing the San Pedro River, a hugely important bird and wildlife area. The San Pedro is the only large river in the area that remains undammed. We visit almost every year, and spent the morning there.
Abert’s Towhee at the visitor’s center. I kinda had to get a photo when it was at the feeder, because when it’s on the ground it blends in so well with its surroundings...
There were Grey Hawks calling and soaring above the river, southwestern birds birds like Abert’s Towhee, Vermilion Flycatcher, Lucy’s Warbler and Gila Woodpecker. (so many Gila Woodpeckers!) It was also nice to see some other birds that are pretty widespread but uncommon in San Francisco, like Yellow-breasted Chat and Blue Grosbeak.
Even on a grey day, the Chat provides a little splash of sunshine.
After a quick stop back in Bisbee to pick up some of the aforementioned gin and grab lunch, we headed to Chiricahua National Monument for (you guessed it!) another stamp, then on to our final destination, the Southwestern Research Station (SWRS) via a drive over the top of the mountains, through (maybe you guessed it?) Onion Saddle.
The road we’d planned to take was off to the right...
Unfortunately for us (but fortunately for the mountains) it was raining, hard. The road over Onion Saddle to SWRS is only 20 miles, but drive time on a good day is more than an hour even without stopping for birds. We weighed the prospect of taking a narrow dirt road with steep sides, winding up and down a remote mountain with zero cell coverage in the driving rain and… nope. The Saddle would have to wait.
We made it at last. Let’s get to the fun stuff!
So all of that stuff was just a warmup for the real purpose of the trip, our annual Earthwatch trip - Following Forest Owls. We spend a week helping out on various research projects related to the small owls in southeastern Arizona, and it is every bit as awesome as it sounds.
South Fork of Cave Creek Canyon. There’s owls in them that hills. Also trogons. (but not trogon pix)
The first day is focused on training. Though Friend Nancy and I have done this for a few years now, most people are coming into this with little or no experience. The training is thorough, but not tedious — we learn to ID trees and which species are most likely to host owls; we learn the calls of the different owls we study and get a sense of how they sound at different distances; we practice setting up nets in the daylight so we know what we’ll be doing at night. This sets everyone up to be a useful member of the research team, not just a passive observer.
During the day, we’d help with things like site surveys — checking for cavities in specific areas where cavities might be located based on results from night time surveys (more about those in a minute), looking into promising cavities with a special camera designed to fit into the tiny openings, and other monitoring of the habitat.
Prepare to launch! The team gets in position to lift a camera into place using painters poles, fully extended and taped together for extra length. Threading a wobbling 20 foot pole through branches and into an opening that’s just a couple of inches wide takes some skill.
More often then not, we find empty cavities of varying quality. But sometimes the effort pays off with a good look at an owl on its nest — in this case a Western Screech Owl.
After a break of a few hours with some dinner and downtime, we head out in the evening to do audio surveys for owls. The locations are chosen for a variety of reasons — some are known territories, others are areas where someone has heard hoots, and still others are promising-looking areas, or filling in the gaps along a road that has been surveyed in the past.
The protocol calls for listening silently for 3 minutes, then playing recorded calls of each owl for a short period and listening for responses. (We couldn’t survey in Cave Creek Canyon because there’s a rule against using playback there, even for research. That’s thanks to years of birders and guides playing for owls, trogons and others.) If there is a strong response to a call, we would most likely try to trap it. Time is of the essence when setting up for a responsive owl, so that daytime practice really pays off.
To give you an idea of how tough finding the owls can be, this is a photo taken after we had given up trying to trap an Elf Owl who lives at SWRS. We had tried for 45 minutes and he wasn’t buying it, even though he was RIGHT THERE and responding. He can be seen just left of, and slight above, center.
On past trips, we’ve had Whiskered Screech Owl, Western Screech Owl, Flammulated Owl and Elf Owl. This years, we only had Whiskered, but we had 7 of them, so no complaints! The best was our first night out, when we caught both the male and female of a pair within minutes of each other. (We went back in following days to try and locate a nest cavity.)
Whiskered Screech Owls — female on left, male on right. Her color is a little more tawny than his.
The same pair from the back — now female is to the right. You can see that she’s a bit larger than he is.
Now you know why they’re called *Whiskered* Screech Owls.
Nights also brought us sounds of the other owls, including Great Horned and Spotted Owls, along with the relentless trills of the Mexican Whip-poor-wills. The mountain air was bracing, as were the dark skies and quiet forests. Nothing personal, fellow humans, but it was really nice to get far away from masses of people.
During our downtime, we took walks around SWRS and its trail network. One of the subtle treats was watching a family of Say’s Phoebes growing in the eaves of one cabin. We watched nonstop foraging trips by the adults to find the nest.
A growing family, tucked safely out of the elements.
Mexican Jays used to be all around the dining hall. The shutdown during COVID disrupted their habits, so now they’re not hunting scraps the way they used to. There are still plenty to be seen.
Yellow-eyed Junco, aka Zombie Junco. A favorite sighting — it means we’re in Arizona.
We saw some great herps (I’m really going to have to start learning them), insects and good wildflower displays. There’s just so much to see at SWRS and elsewhere in the Chiricahua. One happy surprise was that one of our afternoons of field work took us up to and over… Onion Saddle! We didn't get to stop and bird, as we’d hoped to on the way over, but it was still a worthwhile trip. The field site we went to just down the road was where we saw the Spotted Owl at the top of this story. The Saddle did not disappoint!
We’ve already booked our return trip next year. Maybe someday we’ll match the record of one of our fellow participants — this was his 19th Earthwatch trip, though his first time with the owls.
Bye SWRS — See you again next year!
What’s your birding news and adventures to share?
