Arizona's “Hawk Alley,” the famous Sulphur Springs Valley on the west side of the Chiricahua Mountains, provides a winter home for 14 species of raptors, including both Bald and Golden Eagles, and Harris's, Ferruginous, and Rough-legged Hawks. It also affords approximately 40,000 Sandhill Cranes a safe haven from the snows that blanket the northern United States. This is just one of the treats that awaits participants as we explore one of the great avian wintering areas in our country. There is also a pronounced pattern of Mexican bird vagrancy at this time of year.  Regular but rare species such as Ruddy Ground-Dove, Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Green Kingfisher, and Rufous-backed Robin are not unexpected. More unlikely but possible, recent years have seen the first  U.S. winter records of Eared Quetzal, Nutting’s Flycatcher, Aztec Thrush, Blue Mockingbird, and Crescent-chested Warbler.  They join some of the most sought-after wintering birds in all North America. Here the list includes Mountain Plover, Sprague’s Pipit, Baird’s Sparrow, and both McCown’s and Chestnut-collared Longspurs. Irruptive species that may number in the hundreds or only a handful, depending on wild food crops and the severity of the season, include Sage Thrasher, Mountain Bluebird, Cassin's Finch, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, and a host of sparrows. More reliable are Crissal and Bendire’s Thrashers—already in full song, Eastern and Western Bluebirds, and American and Lesser Goldfinches, as well as Green-tailed and Abert’s Towhees, and virtually the full complement of Sonoran Desert breeding birds.  If awakening on a sunny winter morning to the chortling of Cactus Wrens, the whistled Whit-wheet! of Curve-billed Thrashers, and the variegated coos, calls, and songs of Gambel’s Quail, Inca Doves, Anna’s Hummingbirds, Gila Woodpeckers, Pyrrhuloxias, and the familiar Cheery-cheery-cheery of scarlet red Northern Cardinals—all initiating courtship and nesting—sounds like a refreshing way to greet the coming of spring, we cordially invite you to join us in Arizona this February.

Leader: Rick Taylor

Cost of Hawks & Cranes, Arizona includes all meals, accommodations, and transportation from Tucson, Arizona—$1995.

Photo:  Costa's Hummingbird

Photo by: C. Alan Morgan

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