pachyramphus aglaiae
Tubac, Arizona — De Anza Trail
Monday, May 9, 2022 — 9:52 am
This Rose-throated Becard is another bird that’s been on the rare bird report for months. They nest annually in the tall sycamores along this section of the Santa Cruz River, although this year, nobody has seen a male. The female, however, is busy building a nest about 50 feet away from last year’s nest. The spot is so well known that it’s actually on Google maps. Becards are generally migratory, but the ones at this location have begun hanging around all year. They look somewhat like flycatchers, but eat mainly fruit. The wide-necked, black-capped, large-headed look sets them apart.
I parked further south than I needed to and had a two mile walk north along the trail to get to the bird. It wasn’t hard to find the nest — there were seven or eight birders standing around staring up.
The nest was a huge clump of leaves and sticks, about the size of a beach ball. It hung high in the canopy of sycamores.
The nest in the photo above can be seen again in the lower right of this photo. The clump in the upper middle-left is last year’s nest.
I joined the group of birders, and we stood around chatting. After maybe 15 minutes we saw a grayish bird fly out of the nest and into the woods. Twenty minutes later, it reappeared with a six inch strip of bark in its bill. It perched on a nearby branch for about a minute, flew briefly to another, closer branch, then flew to the nest and disappeared.
A few minutes later, one of the birders said, “on to the next bird,” and walked off. All the others followed obediently. I had unknowingly inserted myself into a guided bird walk. I stuck around another five minutes but didn’t see the becard again.