Madera Canyon

This is a birding hotspot, found at the northern end of the range for some birds, such as the Elegant Trogon, and the Arizona Woodpecker.

On the Florida Trail in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona

We met a couple of birders who saw the female trogon on the Florida (pronounced Fluh-REE-duh) Trail, just a few minutes after they had been watching her by the stream. Unfortunately, we were not lucky enough to see her ourselves. Another group of people saw the rufous-headed warbler before we arrived, but we did not see that one, either. We did see a couple of ruby-crowned kinglets (Ron saw the ruby crown on one of them); I saw a pine siskin and a gnatcather, and possibly a mockingbird.

View towards Tucson (to the north) from the Santa Rita mountains, Florida trail

After that, we had a picnic at the Madera Picnic area. I saw some titmice in the trees overhead. We saw some other birds across the creek and up the hillside, but couldn't see them well enough to identify. Maybe jays.

Finally, we stopped at the Santa Rita Lodge, and guess what!? That's where the small crowd of people was watching an even larger crowd of birds. Of course - they had feeders out. Following are some of the pictures I was able to get.

Bridled titmouse

Mexican Jays

Lesser Goldfinches

Spotted Redstart

Wild Turkey

Arizona Woodpecker - male

Acorn Woodpeckers

Arizona Woodpecker Female

We also saw a female hepatic tanager, Lincoln's Sparrow, several types of dark-eyed juncoes, pine siskins, and house finches.

It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the 60s, but feeling much warmer in the Arizona sun. It was lovely to be at a slightly higher elevation than the desert floor for a change in the scenery, too.

---Mari