#MISSISSIPPI KITE BIRDS OF PREY DELAWARE FULL#

It may not look like much but the trees that border it are a magnet for birds. The San Pedro River runs through here and provides much need water for the wildlife in the area. I stopped at this location multiple times during the trip.

Present with the dove is a House Finch and a Black-headed Grosbeak. The surprise in the above picture is that there is only one White-winged Dove as they may have been the most common bird on the trip. The first bird to greet me was this very “tame” Curved-billed Thrasher.Ī few steps further and I was able to checkout one of the bird feeders. Once the ranger opened the gate I drove to the parking lot and first walked to the rear of the San Pedro House which is the visitor center on the property. Before sunrise I could also hear the call of a Cassin’s Kingbird, which are very common in the area. Prior to dusk I could hear Common Poorwills calling as well as Great Horned Owl. The mountains shown above are the Huachuca Mountains which are famous in birding lore. The desert and the mountain ranges in the region make this area the most bio-diverse area in the United States. For this reason the Museum of Natural History has a research station located in the Chiricahua Mountains near Portal, Arizona which is near the Arizona/New Mexico border. It should be noted that much of the area is Chihuahuan Desert with large mountain ranges that rise up from the desert floor. This was my view from the entrance road at first light. The following morning my first stop was The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.

I wanted to spend some time there but my better half was very tired so while she took a short nap in the car I took quick walk around the visitors entrance and the parking lot. I saw Cactus Wrens, Brewer’s Sparrows, Phainopepla and Pyrrhuloxia as well as a few other common species. When we left the restaurant we drive over to Sabino Canyon. On the way to the restaurant we saw many White-winged Doves (yes Stevie Nicks fans, the bird mentioned in the hit song Edge of Seventeen – “just like the White-winged Dove, Sings a Song, Sounds like she’s singing…”). Upon arriving in Tucson a little before lunch my wife and I headed to a restaurant in town (Wildflower, highly recommended) to have lunch before heading down to our hotel in Sierra Vista. I have no regrets as I saw 163 species, 70 of which were life birds. I tried to time the trip when I thought most breeding species had returned, but also not to late to miss western species that were still migrating through the region. There is not a bad time to visit the area as there is something special to see in all seasons. My wife and I went there for ten days in 2013 starting at the end of April and leaving on May 4th. I was fortunate to see, or hear, all of these with the exception of the kingbird and the nightjar. Birds such as Thick-billed Kingbird, Elegant Trogon, Buff-collared Nightjar, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Arizona Woodpecker and Whiskered Screech-Owl are just a few of these species. Because of this there are many bird species that can only be found in the United States in this region.

Like the Rio Grande area in Texas this region borders Mexico.

I can say, however, many other well traveled birders have mentioned to me that if they had to pick one location in the country to bird, Southeast Arizona would be that location.

#MISSISSIPPI KITE BIRDS OF PREY DELAWARE FULL#

I must in full disclosure mention that as of this writing I have not been to either the Rio Grande region 0f Texas or to California. I have not traveled through the country as extensively as others, but I have made a few trips that involved birding, and hands down my favorite was to Southeast Arizona.

Mississippi kite birds of prey delaware