Mt Lemmon Summer Summit Birding Aug 10 2013

My friend Kendall and I decided to take a drive up to the top of Mount Lemmon for some mountain birding.   Mount Lemmon starts at 2500 feet of elevation in the desert, but by the time you reach the summit at just over 9000 feet the habitat and weather has the feel of Canada.   The peaks in the region are called "sky islands," because in order to reach similar habitat you need to go over to the next peak, which means crossing desert for land animals such as bear.   This causes some animals to be semi-restricted in their range.   The sky islands add to the diversity of the southern Arizona desert, creating the possibility of seeing or hearing about 200 species of birds in a single day.  The purpose of this trip for me was to see species not usually seen in the lower elevations.



Olive-sided Flycatcher

Kendall is a great birding partner.   His  relaxed zen-like personality and knowledge of plants as well as birds creates a  great learning environment as well.  He is the unofficial captain of our birdathons, guiding us in decisions with his analytical thought process.   



We drove without stopping most of the way up.   As we traveled through the pine woodland we pulled over to view some Western Bluebirds, American Robins, and Pygmy Nuthatches.  We made another stop at Ski Valley, the southernmost Ski Area in the US.  Broad-tailed Hummingbirds were at some feeders, and a migrating Olive-sided Flycatcher made sallies from a distant treetop perch. 







Zone-tailed Hawk

We decided to travel the road to the summit, which was fortunate.  The birds were active in the moist conifer forest. Our list included Steller's Jay, Mountain Chickadee, Hairy Woodpecker, House Wren,  Pygmy and White-breasted Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, Brown Creeper, and Hermit Warbler.   If you are a reader from the northeast some of these names may be familiar, and attest to the Canadian feel to the habitat.  On the way back to the car a Peregrine Falcon added excitement as it soared over the summit. 

On the drive down I spotted a Zone-tailed Hawk perched in a snag just off the road.  We stopped to enjoy the rare event of seeing this raptor actually perched, and I recorded the event in photos.   I noticed a feather falling from the other side of the road.  I looked up to see the source and saw about a dozen Turkey Vultures perched in the trees up the hill.   It is interesting that these two birds look so similar in the air, yet so different up close.  

Turkey Vulture

We finished our tour with Grace's and Black-throated Gray Warblers, and a Spotted Towhee.   It was a great leisurely bird trip which only took a few hours to go to "Mexico to Canada."   Thank you for appreciating our diverse natural ecosystems.