Finally seeing the becards at Tubac

Highlights Map

Trip Description

This is our n-th trip in the area trying to see the becards. We have been too late, too early, on the wrong side of the river and who knows what other reasons there were to not see the becards during our previous visits. But this time we are sure it is the right time and we know which side of the river to look for so we really hope we are going to see one. But first we stop at a nearby park for a short look at birds and we find a beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher just watching us carefully.

Other birds in the area are House finches and Cassin’s Kingbirds, one very common and the other one quite rare but both fun to see.

We then continue over the bridge to the start of the trail that leads to the becards. On the way we catch a glimpse of the river, it is quite swollen but not that bad as we have seen it previously.

We soon find the trail and start on it for the half mile to the becards location. The reason why we always have trouble seeing the becards is that the vegetation here is quite lush and luxuriant making it difficult to see the birds. That is not true for cardinals though as their red makes them easy to see among the sea of green.

Even with this challenge we have a good day today seeing birds left and right with a brown-crested flycatcher giving us a good luck from a perch. All around us we hear leaves rustling but whenever we check it is a Sonoran Spotted Whiptail going about its business..

The trail becomes more wild as we approach the becard site, it seems the monsoon season really did a number on the trails in the area. In this area we also start to see some water near the trail with the requisite birds that need some water like Black Phoebe.

We arrive at the first two nests and look around but there is no activity so we continue on to the location of the third nest. However that one we cannot find so we circle around and find a new nest and start taking photos of it.

And here at the new nest we notice some movement so we wait a bit and there it is!!! Our first female rose-throated becard who is working really hard at the nest with some brief pauses where we are sure she is considering her life choices that led her to be the only one working on a nest this big.

Excited we watch her for some time before returning towards the car while birdwatching along the way. There are quite a few summer tanagers but we manage also to see an Abert’s Towhee which are usually so skulky that it makes seeing them so in the often a big victory.

Now it is time for the celebratory meal at Elvira’s Restaurant, our preferred restaurant in Tubac. We really like the decorations this time and start to wonder if they were this wild also last time before remembering that last time we ate outside so probably that is why we never noticed them.

The food as usual is quite good with the mole being just right and the Caribbean Treat being quite special even though we are so full afterwards that we can barely move.

With the Tubac portion of our trip done and after baking in the heat for a couple hours we are ready for high elevations so towards Mt Lemmon we go. We decide to drive at higher elevations and do some birdwatching there. And on our first stop we already have a lot of luck as we see a rare red-faced warbler in the trees. It is quite a fleeting glance but still we are happy to see it and continue on higher and higher on the mountain.

Next we stop for a short walk on the Bigelow Trail but nothing is moving and it is quite popular so we decide to continue even higher.

Actually we don’t go that far only a few hundred feet to the Palisades Visitor Center. It is closed already for the day but we decide to explore the grounds a bit to see if anything interesting is around.

And already under the building we see something fun, a rock squirrel that seems quite surprised to see people at this time but doesn’t seem inclined to run or do anything. Or maybe it just assumes we cannot see it, who knows.

Other birds in the area are Robins and lots of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds and we watch them for a while before continuing on.

Next is our goal for this area, Summerhaven. It is more or less at the top of the mountain and a good place to relax, eat and even birdwatch. It seems to be growing even though wildfires almost burned it a few years ago, hopefully they have better fire control guidelines this time around.

We birdwatch for a while in the area seeing yellow-eyed junco, always fun to see, and black-headed grosbeaks at the feeders. But as we see the rain coming and we feel a few drops we decide to return to the car so we can avoid the worst of it.

As we approach the car we notice some activity in the ground near some planted flowers so we approach the site and notice a snout exiting and entering repeatedly from a hole. It is a Botta’s Pocket Gopher, quite beautiful and very very active. In fact it doesn’t even mind when a yellow-eyed junco walks in front of it searching for any insects that he might have thrown away with the soil.

As we descend we stop at a few viewpoints just to look around at the beautiful scenery and the rain that is happening all around us but luckily not right on top of us.

The sunset is beautiful with the clouds and we stop a few more times to take photos from the parking spots that were full we went up but are quite empty now. And then it is time to return to Phoenix and our luck runs out and we drive through the middle of the storm with lightning all around us, quite scary. But we make it back safely and in the end all we care about is that we finally saw the becards in Tubac!!!