Chasing the White-Throated Thrush: A Birdwatching Adventure in Southeast Arizona
“What are we up to this weekend?” This is the common question that comes up around Thursday each week. You see, Julie is the planner of our marriage. She keeps our calendar and 99 times out of 100, I’m totally cool with whatever goes on it. Volleyball? Cool! Dinner with friends? Awesome! Happy hour? Birding? Hiking? Count me in! But this time, I had an agenda. Word had just gone out that there was something new lurking in the scrubby-brushed hills in southeast Arizona, and it might be worth a look! When the answer came back that there was absolutely nothing on the calendar, my not-so-subtle follow-up question was, “Road-trip?”
Here’s a little background— I’m a self confessed bird nerd. I’ve been watching and appreciating birds since I was eleven or twelve years old. In fact, I actually studied them in college and have been working as a biologist for over twenty years. And I’m not alone! According to recent census data, there are nearly 60 million birdwatchers in the United States! You’ll rarely see me without binoculars and a camera nearby. They may not be around my neck, but rest assured, they are within reach!
“So Where Are We Headed?”
When the suggestion of a road trip was floated to Julie, she immediately knew something was up. As it turns out, a birder in Arizona made an amazing observation just a few days earlier. A White-throated Thrush, a bird closely related to our American Robin normally seen south of the border, was seeing skulking about in the berry-laden shrubs of Madera Canyon, Arizona. This is about an hour or so south of Tucson. And what makes this so remarkable is that it is the first time this species has ever been reported in Arizona, with the scant other records in the United States reported from Texas. Julie and I are no strangers to this area. We make the annual pilgrimage to the area to see other avian rarities, but normally during the monsoon season when the glittering hummingbirds and croaking green and red trogons normally nest.
Truth be told, there wasn’t much arm-twisting required. Julie has developed a passion for birding as well, and we love the adventure of a road trip! After a few quick calls to book our hotel, and a call to coordinate a meeting spot with our fellow bird nerd emeritus, Tim, we hit the road on Friday afternoon with fingers crossed that the bird would be there in the morning.
“Really? People will go to find ONE bird?”
There’s good news and bad news when it comes to a bird this rare showing up. Starting with the bad news, everyone with the birding itch is going to want to come from near and far to see it. And when I say far, I mean it. It is not unusual for folks from all over the country to hop on a flight for a chance to see “the” bird.
The bad news is that it is likely be crowded. And as with every crowd, there are usually some unpleasant characters who don’t adhere to the “birders ethics”. In a nutshell, these guidelines are: be respectful of the bird, its environment, and other birders. There are, unfortunately, a litany of examples of overzealous folks who got too close and spooked the bird, preventing others from seeing it. So, when we go on a bird chase, there’s always a possibility that the bird could be gone, either naturally or avoiding unwanted attention from birders. The good news is that the vast majority of of birders are friendly and helpful, ready to give directions and tips for finding the prize, and, with that may extra eyes looking, chances are pretty good that if the bird is still there, someone will see it!
It was a healthy dose of nervous excitement that we met up with Tim at our hotel the following morning and headed to the canyon to try our luck! Tim has been a friend and birding co-conspirator for many years and we’ve put in lots of miles all over the country (and beyond!) together looking for birds, so it’s always fun to be “on the hunt” with him! As we filled our cups with human antifreeze (aka coffee), Tim told us the good news — the bird had been re-found late the previous afternoon! The odds tipped ever so slightly in our favor to re-finding it today. Like us, this was Tim’s first trip to the area in the winter, and the first thing we all realized was that it can get cold in Arizona! The temperature was in the 40’s. Fortunately, we had the appropriate layers and prepared for whatever the day threw at us. The large group of vehicles from several states told us we were in the right place, and we began our search just after eight o’clock in the morning.
“You think we’re in the right place?”
The area where the bird had been seen the previous few days was along the canyon bottom in an area thick with green-needled junipers, dense hackberry, and a few stately white-trunked sycamores. The bird had been ranging in an area roughly a half mile long and a few hundred feet wide, either foraging on the ground or in the hackberry bushes nabbing what was left of last year’s berries. As we passed fellow birders on the trail, the same questions kept coming up. “Has anyone seen it?” “Is this where it was seen yesterday?” After an hour of slowly pacing the trails, it was time for more coffee, so we retreated to the car for a warming sip, and then back to it.
Once back on the trail, everything changed. A young lady we had seen earlier reported that she’d seen it perched in a juniper tree, about an eighth of a mile down the trail. We were off! Not running, but definitely walking with purpose! It wasn’t hard to tell when we were in the right spot. Forty to fifty birders were all there admiring it from a respectful distance with binoculars, spotting scopes, and cameras. Oh boy, the cameras! Every shape and size, from iPhones to $10,000 telephoto lenses, everyone was eager to capture a souvenir photo of this bird. As we hustled up, we were offered a view through the spotting scope belonging to a gentleman we’d met in the hotel lobby earlier that morning. And there it was, the white-throated thrush! A tan version of our American Robin with a white throat (surprise!) and black streaking above a tidy white collar. It also boasted a thin yellow eye ring. It’s these subtle details that allow birders to differentiate each species. It sat deep in the shelter of a dense juniper bush, quietly preening itself, seemingly indifferent to the humans ogling it.
After getting a good look, it was time to try and get my own souvenir photo, but alas, just as I got it in the viewfinder, it decided it was time to go find breakfast! We joined the mob in trying to keep an eye on it, but it was moving quickly through the brush and all of the excited followers seemed to make it even more wary. Except for a few quick darting glances, a good photo just wasn’t in the cards this morning!
“What other birds and wildlife are being seen in the area?”
The best part of seeing the bird this early in the weekend was that now we had the rest of the weekend to explore one of our favorite areas in the U.S. And just because it was winter, didn’t mean there was a scarcity of other birds to see! We stopped at one of our favorite places to stay when we are in the area, the Santa Rita Lodge. This affordable lodge offers comfortable casitas and cabins for visitors and they provide a bountiful harvest of feeders for the wildlife to enjoy. Hummingbirds dart to and fro taking a quick sip from the numerous feeders. Seed eaters such as nuthatches and jays busy themselves at the feeders while turkeys and juncos mop up the scraps dropped to the ground. In the evening, the night-shift takes over. From owls to bats to the comical coatimundi, there’s always something to see when we come here! While I’m partial to the birds, this area is a favorite of hikers and is especially popular when the temps are much cooler than the low desert!
We spent the next day and a half exploring this amazing area before retreating home Sunday evening. We even made another stop on Sunday morning to try to get another glimpse of the thrush, and this time we saw it and I was able to capture some good photographs! We arrived home a little road weary but excited that our trip had been such a success! So keep a few days open in your busy schedule and maybe you’ll find yourself on a weekend travel adventure, too!
Looking to do some birding? Call Bob and Julie at 562-433-3841 if you’d like a private birding tour in Southeast Arizona or Southern California. We can help you find and identify birds if you want help!
