picoides (from picus, a woodpecker, and eidos, appearance) scalaris (ladder)
Sunday, April 1, 1984 — 12:15 pm
Patagonia, Arizona — Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Sanctuary
I spotted two Ladder-backed Woodpeckers climbing about on the trunks of the cottonwoods right at the edge of the creek. We watched them for a few minutes until they flew across the creek and disappeared into the woods.
parus (titmouse) wollweberi (given in 1850 by Charles Lucien Bonaparte for Wollweber, a 19th-century traveler and collector of birds in Mexico)
Sunday, April 1, 1984 — 11:55 am
Patagonia, Arizona — Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Sanctuary
The Bridled Titmice were foraging rapidly about in the small trees and bushes along the creek. They looked just like Tufted Titmice except for the striking black and white head pattern.
accipiter (hawk) cooperii (in honor of William Cooper, of New York, who shot the bird which Charles Lucien Bonaparte described for science in 1828)
Sunday, April 1, 1984 — 11:45 am
Patagonia, Arizona — Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Sanctuary
This sanctuary is one of the “can’t miss” birding spots in North America, but my first impression was not overwhelming. A dinky, muddy little creek winds through scruffy woods. It looks a lot like a Cook County forest preserve. But it is one of the only patches of this type of habitat left in southern Arizona, and it is a magnet for birds. A serious flood had swept through the valley the previous year and things were looking scruffier than usual. Near an old bridge abutment, the creek widened out into a little pool. We were enjoying the view when we saw two hawks zip through the cottonwoods, one chasing the other. The chaser was a Cooper’s Hawk. It flew to a limb of a tree and sat for a few minutes, calling loudly. It sat upright on the branch and gave us a good view. I suspect the chasee may have been an immature Gray Hawk. (I saw three there a few minutes later.)
elanus (kite) leucurus
Sunday, April 1, 1984 — 11:00 am
Sonoita, Arizona — Route 82, just south of town
We were driving away from Sonoita when Mom suddenly yelled, “What’s that?” She pulled the van over to the side of the road and pointed at a large white bird. It was flying buoyantly over a grassy, hilly field that was scattered with brush. At first glimpse, it looked like a gull. It was a White-tailed Kite (called a Black-shouldered Kite at the time). It was flitting low over the grass, hovering occasionally in one spot. It stooped briefly to the ground once.
tyrannus (monarch) vociferans (to cry out)
Sunday, April 1, 1984 — 9:50 am
Pima County, Arizona — Road from Continental to Sonoita
We came down out of the Santa Rita Mountains onto flatter pastureland. We spotted a couple Cassin’s Kingbirds in one of the fields. One was perched on a weed stalk, the other was perched on the top wire of a roadside fence. Mom stopped the car, and I got out. As I approached, the one on the fence flew away from me and landed lower down on the fence further away from me.
