We have been in Patagonia a few times prior but this is the only time we were able to book a birding tour at the Sonoita Creek Preserve. There is no additional cost, you have only to pay the entrance to the preserve. And we never entered the preserve before so this is the first time we will pay the fee and explore the preserve. As a positive surprise we find out that the entrance fee is valid for a week and also at a sister site in Ramsey Canyon so we change our plans for the next day to make as much use of the entrance fee as we can.
But for now we are here for the birding trip and everyone is here and we are ready to explore the preserve. We even get two guides which is quite nice and on we go.
The group contains surprisingly many out of state visitors and everyone is quite excited of seeing as many Arizona birds as they can on the trip.
Almost immediately we see some special birds, turkeys. Lots of them with the male displaying and trying to convince the deer behind them to leave them alone. Which it doesn’t want to do and it makes for some interesting nature watching. There are also a few typical flycatchers to see already like the Vermillion and Ash-throated ones just sitting out in the open.
After walking around the perimeter of the preserve we take a side route via the Sydney Dye Spring Trail which goes through a small forest fed by a small spring. It is a nice cooler area that we enjoy and plan to maybe return later.
We then exit on the other side in a huge central meadow which is where most of the deer and turkeys hang out but in this section we do not see any.
Here at the edge there are some interesting birds like a Lucy’s Warbler and some common ones that most have already seen like a beautiful House Finch.
And then we reach the end of the trail we are walking on. Or the trail in the preserve it seems it might continue outside, as we soon find out that we are walking on the railroad grade and here there was a bridge that was since destroyed by floods from the perennial stream.
It is now time to say goodbye to the railroad trail as we are descending from it onto the River Trail that we are going to take back to the entrance.
Along the way we see multiple times the famous Grey Hawks that many people come here to see. They are a relative rarity in the US though they have become more common after first becoming established on this preserve.
We also see a few interesting birds on this section of the trail including a Black-throated Gray Warbler and a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet that we enjoy watching even though they are quite elusive.
We follow the trail ringing the central meadow enjoying the shadow and watching the many birds along the way. At this point many of the group are tired but still quite a few are enthusiastic so we continue on exploring and searching for new birds.
And in one section near the river we find the most special bird for most of the visitors, a beautiful Hepatic Tanager pair hiding in a small bush. And nearby, quite exciting for us even though not for the majority of the tour, we find a group of Arizona Gray Squirrels, really cool!!
Nearby we get a great view of the displaying Gould Wild Turkey male we saw initially. Gould Turkeys are the subspecies native here, quite rare and in fact they have been reintroduced after being killed off by the early settlers.
Back at the visitor center we use the facilities and then stay a bit to watch hummingbirds at the feeders. There are quite a few of them and we enjoy them for a while before moving to see even more hummingbirds at the nearby Paton Center for Hummingbirds.
