Red faced Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Grace's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Virginia's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Lucy's Warbler, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ, Jun 9, 2025
Wilson's Warbler, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ, Jun 9, 2025
Yellow Warbler, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ, Jun 9, 2025
Lucy's Warbler, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ, Jun 9, 2025
I took a brief trip out to Arizona now that things have settled back to the typical routine back home and I could be away for longer periods. June is one of the hottest times to be out there but I have never been there that time of year and I hoped to catch the end of warbler migration and have resident species singing. I did have any warblers that I have never seen before but I did have one species of warbler I have not seen in the United States and that was a Red faced Warbler. I previously saw the species on a trip to
Guatemala in 2018. I also had a few targets to get photos and possible recordings of including Grace’s Warbler and Virginia’s Warbler. I arrived late and got a little birding in despite the extreme heat. One of the first species I got my eyes on when I arrived was a late Wilson’s Warbler and I took that as a good omen. I added a couple more species before making it to my lodging.
Black throated Gray Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Red faced Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Grace's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Grace's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Virginia's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Virginia's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Yellow rumped Warbler 'audubon's', Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Townsend's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Hermit Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Lucy's Warbler, Agua Caliente Park, Tucson, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Olive Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
Looking south toward the Santa Rita Mountains, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 10, 2025
With my body still on east coast time and having been getting up early for weeks now I was awake before 3AM on Tuesday and headed out well before the sun came up as I took the drive up to the high elevations of Mount Lemmon. Once it got light enough to see I started looking and listening for warblers. It was a bit chilly to start with temps in the 50’s but it heated up as the sun warmed up the day. I spent several hours covering various locations on Mount Lemmon (Incinerator Ridge and Bear Wallow being the main spots) and had some fantastic luck with warblers including all my targets as well as a few unusual species. I got great looks, photos and recordings of Red faced Warbler, Grace’s Warbler and Virginia’s Warbler plus others. It was so cool to have all of these species around in good numbers. The Red faced Warbler was a new one for my United States list which now stands at 48 species. Among the unusual warblers were one each of Townsend’s Warbler and Hermit Warbler. I made my way back down the mountain by mid morning into the heat of the valley around Tucson. Despite the heat I stopped at a few locations and added multiple Lucy’s Warblers and Yellow Warblers for the day. Overall I ended the day with nine species of wood warbler (plus Olive Warblers which are not true wood warblers despite the name but are great looking birds nonetheless). Among these species several new ones for me for the year.
Red faced Warbler, Madera Canyon, AZ, Jun 11, 2025
Hermit Warbler, Madera Canyon, AZ, Jun 11, 2025
Black throated Gray Warbler, Madera Canyon, AZ, Jun 11, 2025
Lucy's Warbler, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson, AZ, Jun 11, 2025
On Wednesday I decided to head off to the south with the eventual destination being the always impressive Madera Canyon. After making a number of stops before dawn and then immediately after looking for a number of target species I made it to Madera Canyon a little after 6:30 and started birding the area. I stuck mainly to the road and a few of the lodges. I got Painted Redstart fairly quickly and then added several more warbler species over the next three hours or so. The most unusual species I found were two different Hermit Warblers (one a bright male and the other a ratty looking female). Hermit Warblers should have already moved through the area but multiples seem to be lingering a bit. Once I was done at Madera Canyon I headed up to Sweetwater Wetlands to the west of Tucson. I had good numbers of Lucy’s Warbler, Yellow Warbler and Common Yellowthroat including multiple juveniles. The best bird there was a rare Chestnut sided Warbler that allowed me a brief look before it disappeared. The individual has been seen on and off in the area for several days. Despite a lot of looking to try to find it again and get a photo I failed in the quest. With the time getting past noon and the heat at over a hundred degrees I headed back to my lodging to relax a bit after a very busy morning. Overall for the day I had eight species of warblers.
Black throated Gray Warbler, Madera Canyon, AZ, Jun 12, 2025
Painted Redstart, Madera Canyon, AZ, Jun 12, 2025
With my full last day available on my all to brief getaway I was torn on where to spend it and I finally decided to head back south in the hope of finding another life bird with a Five striped Sparrow. I didn’t have any more likely warblers to find on this trip so any I came across for the day would be incidental. With this in mind I only had three species of warblers for the day but did have some good looks at a few of them. I started my morning seldom travelled Montosa Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains as it is a place I have never been before and it sounded like a place that doesn’t get a lot of traffic. I was up before two and then headed south where I spent the morning. After Montosa Canyon I spent the rest of my morning in Madera Canyon. The temps continued to rise and topped out a bit over a 100 in the valley. It was another great day even without too many warblers.
Black throated Gray Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 13, 2025
Red faced Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 13, 2025
Grace's Warbler, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 13, 2025
Painted Redstart, Mount Lemmon, AZ, Jun 13, 2025
On Friday I had most of the morning available before I had to head to the airport for an early afternoon flight back home via Dallas/Fort Worth. I decided to head back north to Mount Lemmon. I was up way before dawn once again and then started looking for warblers once it was light enough to see. On the way I had fairly decent looks at a Ring tailed Cat as it crossed the road in front of me and then stayed on the side of the road before disappearing...a life mammal for me. I started my walk at Bear Wallow as I wanted to spend a little more time at the location than I did a few days ago. I was perhaps 3/4 of a mile in on my walk and got a message from American Airlines that my flight was delayed and I would then not be able to make my connection in Dallas. I was lucky to get the message as cell service is very spotty up in the mountains. I cut the walk short and started looking up other options to get to Dallas earlier and saw a flight at 11:30. After a talk with the airline I got rebooked on the earlier flight. The change cut off a couple hours of available birding time but worth the change to make my flight to Dallas. Without as much time I decided on walking again at Incinerator Ridge and then down at a lower elevation to get Painted Redstart for the day. My few hours of birding produced half a dozen species of warblers. My new earlier flight got out on time but then my flight home from Dallas got delayed and I never got home until almost 2AM.
Overall for the short trip I had a a lucky 13 species of warbler. Of those five were new for me for the year and two of those were new for me in Arizona (Red faced Warbler and Chestnut sided Warbler). My Arizona warbler list now stands at 18 species. I also added one new warbler species to my United States list with the Red faced Warbler bringing my United States warbler list to 48 species.
