This morning we wake up to a deluge outside. It is raining and there is lightning and it feels quite scary. And today we have booked a tour to find becards in Tubac which is about an hour south and we have to get there with our car, this is not a minibus tour leaving from the hotel. We have to decide whether to go or not, like that is an actual choice of course we will go. Halfway there we receive a call from the guide asking us whether we are coming as he would be interested in cancelling but sufficient people arrive in the parking lot for the tour to go ahead.
With some luck the rain stops right when the tour starts and it doesn’t restart during the tour. Still the Santa Cruz river is almost overflowing and all birds are wet and sitting in the open to dry. Oh wait, that is good we have more chances to see them!
The usual trail near the river to the becards is flooded so we take another trail, higher up, that leads to the nearby golf course and hopefully we can descend to the becard nests and see them. Our guide has seen them the day before so we are hopeful of this approach. And we enjoy the birds on the way especially the beautiful wet cardinals.
Next we pass near the golf course and try to find a good descent to the trail. However each time we make the trail it goes only a short distance before it gets washed off by the flood. However in the end we descend in the right spot and find the becard nest but even after waiting for minutes the becards do not return to it, maybe it was abandoned after the area below it flooded.
And it is a very serious flood we are happy that we can walk on higher ground while returning back to the parking. On the way we find a brushy area which is very birdy and we spend some minutes just looking for birds around it.
There is a gaggle of chats and a few Lucy’s warblers enjoying the brush and we watch them flitting around or just sitting and drying themselves in the sun.
With the weather improving the birds are also starting to explore and we see a few more interesting birds including a group of ground doves and a summer tanager. And then we are back at the parking after a nice hike where we didn’t see our target bird but saw many other fun and interesting birds.
