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AZFO FIELD EXPEDITION
Upper Eagle Creek, Greenlee County
18-20 May 2012
Marceline Vandewater, Scottsdale
Nancy Rivera, Tucson
Mark W. Larson, Scottsdale
(click here for the PDF version of the report)
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| Morenci Copper Mine, looking southeast |
This was an initial foray into Greenlee County as part of a larger effort to explore and document the avifauna of lesser known and under-birded portions of Arizona. The expedition was based at No Bar Ranch, a part of the historic Double Circle Ranch, which is a cattle operation now encompassing almost 40,000 acres of mixed conifer forest, pinion-juniper hills, extensive grasslands, and well-watered riparian habitats. We birded elevations ranging from just under 5,000 feet to a little more than 6,000 feet above sea level.
Our group of three birders arrived in the mid-afternoon after a long journey. The No Bar Ranch is about twenty miles north of the copper mining town of Morenci and is surrounded by the southernmost portion of Apache National Forest. After a mild winter and an early spring, migration has been accelerated this year. As a result, relatively few migrants were encountered during our three days along Upper Eagle Creek.
Indeed, most of the breeding birds were singing on territory and either nest-building or attending nestlings.
We sampled the birdlife in four areas: the vicinity of No Bar Ranch, an upper elevation site called Smith Canyon, a mid-elevation riparian area in Juan Miller Canyon, and the broad floodplain of Upper Eagle Creek and its tributary, Bee Canyon. Noted below in Tables 1 through 4 are bird lists for these areas.
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| No Bar Ranch House | Stream in Smith Canyon |
Table 1 |
Table 2 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
No Bar Ranch and Vicinity Habitat: Pinion-Juniper and Riparian |
Smith Canyon Habitat: Mixed Conifer and Riparian |
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| Species | # Recorded | Species | # Recorded | |
| Turkey Vulture | 5 |
Turkey Vulture | 1 |
|
| Mourning Dove | 8 |
Mourning Dove | 8 |
|
| Black-chinned Hummingbird | 1 |
Broad-tailed Hummingbird (including one f. nesting) | 5 |
|
| Broad-tailed Hummingbird | 1 |
Acorn Woodpecker | 3 |
|
| Acorn Woodpecker | 2 |
Hairy Woodpecker | 1 |
|
| Ladder-backed Woodpecker | 1 |
Northern Flicker | 1 |
|
| Western Wood Pewee | 1 |
Cordilleran Flycatcher | 5 |
|
| Say's Phoebe | 2 |
Dusky-capped Flycatcher | 1 |
|
| Vermilion Flycatcher | 1 |
Ash-throated Flycatcher | 1 |
|
| Ash-throated Flycatcher | 1 |
Plumbeous Vireo | 12 |
|
| Mexican Jay | 5 |
Warbling Vireo | 4 |
|
| Bewick's Wren | 1 |
Steller's Jay | 9 |
|
| Rock Wren | 1 |
Mexican Jay | 6 |
|
| American Robin | 1 |
Violet-green Swallow | 2 |
|
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 |
White-breasted Nuthatch | 5 |
|
| Yellow Warbler | 2 |
Canyon Wren | 2 |
|
| Hepatic Tanager | 1 |
Bewick's Wren | 5 |
|
| Western Tanager | 1 |
House Wren | 1 |
|
| Spotted Towhee | 1 |
American Robin | 1 |
|
| Canyon Towhee | 2 |
Virginia's Warbler | 1 |
|
| Black-headed Grosbeak | 2 |
Black-throated Gray Warbler | 7 |
|
| Blue Grosbeak | 4 |
Townsend's Warbler | 2 |
|
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 1 |
Grace's Warbler | 7 |
|
| Orchard Oriole (probable male) | 1 |
Wilson's Warbler | 1 |
|
| Hooded Oriole | 1 |
Painted Redstart | 13 |
|
| Lesser Goldfinch | 2 |
Hepatic Tanager | 3 |
|
| Summer Tanager | 1 |
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| Western Tanager | 5 |
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| Spotted Towhee | 4 |
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| Chipping Sparrow | 3 |
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| Black-headed Grosbeak | 5 |
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| Riparian Vegetation at No Bar Ranch |
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| Upper Eagle Creek Uplands and Pronghorn |
All deciduous trees were fully leafed out and there was a scattering of wildflowers on the powdery dry ground. Temperatures ranged from highs in the mid-80s to a low of 40 degrees on Sunday morning. Winds were blustery (gusts of 25+ mph) out of the west on Friday afternoon, but returned to normal light upslope breezes on Saturday. There was little to no cloud cover during our stay, but residual smoke from forest fires lingered most of the weekend.
This area of Arizona is remote, but it is deserving of considerable additional study, at other seasons and with many additional skilled observers. There was considerable evidence of a rich wildlife environment in the vicinity of Upper Eagle Creek, including elk and pronghorn.
Table 3 |
|
|---|---|
Juan Miller Canyon Habitat: Sparse Ponderosa Pine, Pinion-Juniper and Riparian |
|
| Species | # Recorded |
| Turkey Vulture | 1 |
| Acorn Woodpecker | 1 |
| Dusky-capped Flycatcher | 1 |
| Brown-crested Flycatcher | 1 |
| Plumbeous Vireo | 1 |
| Warbling Vireo | 1 |
| Hutton's Vireo | 2 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| Canyon Wren | 1 |
| Bewick's Wren | 1 |
| Painted Redstart | 3 |
| Hepatic Tanager | 1 |
| Black-headed Grosbeak | 3 |
We would like to acknowledge the gracious hospitality of the owners of Double Circle Ranch, Wilma and Doug Hughes, as well as their nephew Derek. They worked hard to give us opportunities to find the birds and cheerfully provided early breakfasts and superb cowboy cuisine for our stay.
 |
| Bee Canyon |
Table 4 |
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|---|---|
Upper Eagle Creek and Bee Canyon Habitat: Riparian and associated Scrub-Shrub Grassland |
|
| Species | # Recorded |
| Mallard | 1 |
| Green Heron | 1 |
| Turkey Vulture | 12 |
| Gambel's Quail | 2 |
| Common Black-Hawk (nesting) | 2 |
| Zone-tailed Hawk | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 |
| Mourning Dove | 65 |
| Black-chinned Hummingbird | 5 |
| Gila Woodpecker | 5 |
| Northern Flicker | 1 |
| Western Wood-Pewee | 10 |
| Black Phoebe | 1 |
| Say's Phoebe | 3 |
| Vermilion Flycatcher | 4 |
| Ash-throated Flycatcher | 1 |
| Brown-crested Flycatcher | 1 |
| Cassin's Kingbird | 9 |
| Western Kingbird | 3 |
| Plumbeous Vireo | 13 |
| Warbling Vireo | 2 |
| Mexican Jay | 16 |
| Common Raven | 2 |
| Violet-green Swallow | 29 |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow | 1 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 1 |
| Bewick's Wren | 1 |
| House Wren | 2 |
| Western Bluebird | 3 |
| American Robin | 1 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 |
| European Starling | 3 |
| Lucy's Warbler | 2 |
| Yellow Warbler | 19 |
| MacGillivray's Warbler | 1 |
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 |
| Wilson's Warbler | 4 |
| Yellow-breasted Chat | 8 |
| Summer Tanager | 2 |
| Hepatic Tanager | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 2 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 10 |
| Black-headed Grosbeak | 3 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird | 18 |
| Hooded Oriole | 3 |
| Bullock's Oriole (nesting) | 6 |
| House Finch | 12 |
| House Sparrow | 2 |
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