Day 41 - Number 500 Is The Becard

We wanted to make one more try for the rarities that were supposed to be in the Tubac-Tumacacori area. We had a better idea of where to find the Rose-breasted Bacard and figured we'd give the wren and robins another try as well. So...it was up before sunrise once again.

We stopped at Tubac first to try to find the becard. As we were starting down the trail, we met another local birder who was waiting for friends in order to show them where it was. She gave us a couple of more hints as to the location, so off we went...and went...and went. The two eBird posts that had any distance data said .3 miles and .5 miles. At one mile down the trail we had found neither of the landmarks we'd been told about, but we did find an old nest.

The Rose-breasted Bacard builds an enormous hanging nest, It is like an oriole nest on steroids, but the birds enter from the bottom and they build a new nest every year. The one we had found was obviously on old one.

As we were pondering what to do...we'd come much further than we'd read...along comes the woman we talked with at the trailhead with her two friends. She said to follow along. So we did. Another quarter mile down the trail we came to the three tires she'd mentioned. We turned left and there it was, a fresh Becard nest...but no birds.

So we waited and looked around for the birds. We saw several other species, even a nice look at our second Zone-tailed Hawk of the trip. It circled around above us and we had a good look at this big hawk. Eventually, the male Becard arrived carrying nesting material. They were not finished building yet. For Steve, it was life bird number 500. We watched it for a while and then thanked our impromptu guide and headed back to try to find the wren. We would have never found that nest without help. It was a full mile and a quarter from the trailhead.

After a stop for a coffee at the Tubac Deli, we moved on to Santa Gertrudis Lane. It was about mid-morning by this point. We searched for about an hour without success. Neither the Sinaloa Wren nor the Rufous-backed Robins were making an appearance. It finally got too warm to just poke around.

It was time to move on to Buenos Aires NWR. After a stop for a couple of grocery items and lunch in Arivaca, we arrived at the refuge just about mid-day. The new Visitor Services manager and volunteer coordinator, Josh Smith, arrived at the same time. He figured out who we were without even an introduction. Who else would be arriving in a Roadtrek from Massachusetts.

We spent about an hour with Josh, getting an update on the refuge programs since we'd been here last, especially the quail program. We also spoke to Paula, the breeding technician, on the phone. We worked with her when we were here last and will most likely spend the week working with her and the quail. We will be going over to the breeding facility in Arivaca tomorrow. We had hoped to not start until Monday, but maybe we will start tomorrow. We do need at least Sunday to go into Tucson and shop, as Speedy's larder is getting pretty low.

We also went over to see Ann, the refuge biologist. They are still looking at the hydrology of Arivaca Cienega, a project we worked on. With the drought they have been having, the under ground water levels have dropped significantly, such that several of the test wells are dry. There is no surface water at all in the cienega (supposedly a wetland).They plan to drill some deeper wells and install data loggers that measure the depth on a nearly continuous basis.

After all that we drove Speedy over to The Outpost, the volunteer compound, set up in an empty site, cleaned up the volunteer trailer a bit since it hasn't been in much use since the winter volunteers left last month, did laundry and had a nice dinner complete with fresh baked muffins...the volunteer trailer has a full kitchen.

Tomorrow it is off to see the quail.