Elegant Trogons and other birds of Arizona

this birding adventures episode is powered by Nikon your world leader and optics since 1917 this week on nikons birding adventures TV we're in the bird rich white sugar mountains close to Sierra Vista in southeastern Arizona this week we're going to be journeying up three of the most incredibly productive canyons looking for our golden bird the elegant program join us for one of our most epic birding adventures let's go birding [Music] [Music] what is day [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the 20-mile long Huachuca mountains straddle the border between the u.s. and mexico providing an enticing community of birds and animals with its roots in the sierra madre of mexico all major summits dominate the skyline here and we explored the three highest of these Ramsey peak Carr peak and the lofty Miller peak which tops out at nine thousand four hundred and sixty-six feet on this trip we hooked up with the guides from adventure birthing company John yoga and Jake Mullen to take advantage of their unbelievable local knowledge of birds in the beautiful Huachuca mountains tell me a little bit about this area John this is San Pedro house it's one of the birding hotspots in Cochise County it is yes this is part of the San Pedro River National Conservation Area it's managed by the Bureau of Land Management and it's an enormous area that has been protected they've removed all the cattle from the area and ended grazing here so the natural habitat is really coming back and you can really see it in the bird language the thing that's really great for me not having birds are a lot us to come to this place and Piedra house and see the great diversity of birds right here with impaction hummingbirds and then driving in to different species of trail in one flock with some scales 12 and Gambel's quail together that was quite unusual right yeah that's really neat you don't get to see that a lot and can really see the differences very easy when they forget out scale well with a nice pale topknot and in the gamble scales that beautiful dark bloom on top of the head while this is really interesting behavior John we've got a yellow woodpecker here that's brought a lizard and on sighs look good up to the top of the tree then he's just pecking at it trying to kill it or mash it up and look just blown up into the nesting hall look at that so what's probably happening here is that it's not traditional behavior for a Gila woodpecker to either listen but the skill of woodpeckers got babies up there and trying to get a lot of protein into those young and get them out of the nest as soon as possible what amazing behavior it's really cool I've never seen anything like that before one of the specialty albeit drab Warblers of the southwestern United States is the lucy's Warbler and we've got one calling on territory behind us share this bird is one of only two species of Warblers in the United States that nest in cavities increase the Lucy's Warbler and the other species being the personís evil black very cool drab Warbler of the southwest a drab Warbler but with a beautiful voice the Lucy's border [Music] Plus birding adventures episode is powered by an iconic your world leader and optics since 1917 and by Cochise County Arizona land of Legends and by the wings over Wilcox birding and Nature Festival and by pelagic polarized sunglasses pretty incredible we've got a northern goshawk on the nest or close to the nest site Jake's with it right now we're going to try and get some footage these birds are massive really really big aerial predators this is going to be pretty cool [Music] Jake and James are at down there right now watching the northern goshawk we have the largest subspecies of northern goshawk in the u.s. here actually called the Apache northern goshawk I think they're getting some pretty good views right now we're going to hang back a minute just to make sure we don't disturb the bird [Music] there were being a little cautious of how we approach this bird this is actually a very ferocious bird so now that sounds kind of funny but the researchers who actually go to investigate northern goshawk nests will often wear a hard hat because the birds will be mentally defend their nests by actually diving and and hitting people on the head with their sharp talons so this is clearly the male goshawk sitting in the tree keeping watch the female is sitting on the nest right now and this is the largest subspecies of goshawk in North America the Apache subspecies of northern goshawk and the male is quite a size but the female is going to be a whole third bigger than the male really bulky birds and they will attack just about anything that flies it's got to be one of the handsomest Raptors in North America this beautiful handsome black mask over the eyes and in this subtle coloration on the breast feathers that nice dark crown as nice red eyes what a spectacular bird I've been waiting a long time to see this this is incredible I never expected to find this bird in southeastern Arizona Iko chief Thomas awesome stuff Wow guys how's that Jake well played thank you thanks John that is awesome stuff man I've been waiting such a long time in northern goshawk in North America what a pleasure this afternoon we're at Miller Canyon looking for spotted owls John are the odds around here I don't know if we're in the right area take a look anywhere it's quite phenomenal that twelve species of owl can be found in the white sugars and it surrounds we were fortunate to find five of these from the diminutive elf owl of the foothills to the western screech owl that we found sitting outside stay roost in the Morning Sun to the lodge and rapacious great horned owl that is common throughout the area but one species in particular was on our radar in the upper elevations of the one took amount the sky islands of southeastern Arizona are really a hot spot for owls here we are in Miller Canyon looking for spotted owls and on the way up we've got a northern pygmy owl right at the nest hole [Music] seeing the northern pygmy owl was a welcome diversion and break from the steep climb but we still had one target owl species that we just had to see without doubt the most endangered owl in all of the United States is the spotted owl and Muller Canyon hasn't failed to deliver because two of these phenomenal creatures are right behind me we've hiked a little over one mile and James is getting some great shots of a pair of Mexican spotted owls most people have heard of the northern spotted owls in California a lot of controversy with the habitat loss from old growth logging this population resides in the steep canyons in southeastern Arizona in object we were here in January were at chiricahua national monument and we were looking for spotted owl and the ranges to their new of a loose sight they couldn't tell us because it was so secret and here we are in miller canyon today and you guys have just shown us the most incredible pair of ours what a spectacular sight I mean look at these birds if there's any form of love between birds this is the real-life demonstration of love between birds because the way that they allow cleaning each other right now I mean look at that look at that's incredible charleen there is very difficult to get this intimate with birds and they're just so relaxed I mean these spotted owls are probably what 40 feet from us yeah absent agonizing and they just totally relaxed it almost falling asleep some of the time yeah living best pairs by else to say in southeast Arizona [Music] I'm zoomed right in on the eyes knowledge that bright yellow bull and see how sharp the boy is looking straight down what a beautiful bird nose eyes are doc doc doc you know you often think of owls as having those bright yellow eyes you know a lot of the pygmy owls and even think of burrowing owls and live with these bright piercing eyes but spotted owls have got these nice dark dark eyes look at that the Owls preening its foot and look how razor-sharp the talons are perfectly adapted for having small mammals while Jake can really see how camouflage they are sitting in that Arizona mat drawing tree you can look they've got that subtle marking on the underbelly and it almost blends in with the bark of the madrone tree really interesting so that's their tactic for being camouflaged in made a roost Wow I mean you really have to be pretty determined to see these birds don't you it's quite a hike to get up here we've probably hiked about a mile and a half straight up the canyon we're at about what 7,000 feet on just under 7,000 feet so quite high elevation quite rough going but boy is it worth it to be able to get that close to one of the most charismatic and iconic birds of southeastern Arizona the spotted owl I don't want to leave I could stay all day just another day birding in Cochise County [Music] this birding adventures episode is powered by an iconic your world leader and optics since 1917 and by Sierra Vista Arizona extraordinary skies and common ground and by belated polarized sunglasses [Music] for those birders that want to get off the beaten path car Canyon is a great option is a beautiful road that goes all the way to the top of the mountain here with some high elevations specialty birds like buff breasted fly catcher painted red stars and possibly even yellow eyed juncos sub Jake is fondest a buff breasted fly catcher nest and what the female is doing right now is she's coming in with feathers and soft lining material and lining the inside of the nest and you'll see her come and place the material in and then she'll tamp her body down in a circular fashion around the inside of the nest so she's obviously in the end stages of her nest building process the buffer supply catchers are a pretty rare bird in the United States and they just barely get here Northland Mexican border and Huachuca mountains this is the best place to find them they are in a few of the other border ranges but they're not very common there and some of the prevailing thinking is that these birds actually do better with natural wildfires in the ecosystem so the many years that we've gone through with lots of fire suppression the birds have declined and that's because these birds like pine forests that's very open very open understory and the wildfires that used to occur here naturally actually clear out that understory and make for really nice habitat for buff breasted fly catchers so we found a painted red start nest right by the side of the road pretty unusual location for them painting red starts our ground nesting bird so they always build their nest on the ground so this particular case right back to the side of the road normally they like to take nesting sites on the sides of stream banks things like that and they like to find a little overhanging clump of grass or a rock ledge or route something like that to kind of protect the nest this nest is really unusual there's just sort of a mass of dead pine needles covering it not very well sheltered it's probably one of the poorer nests I've seen in this case we happen to know the female is the one that spends the most time on the nest so we happen to know she was sitting on the nest but the two birds the male and the female are absolutely identical otherwise they both have that same red belly the black back white wing pass and little white eye arcs below the eye so there's no way to tell them apart really painting red starts are really unique in that they do all kinds of different things they'll fly catch they'll forage just like videos and then they have their own unique strategy which is they fan their tail and their wings and flash those white patches and what that does is that scares up camouflaged insects that they wouldn't ordinarily see so when they see the motion of the insect and they can turn around and capture that insight [Music] Jarett rock jumper we deal in the spectacular from the iconic animals of Africa to the bizarre birds of paradise in New Guinea to the beaches of Brazil to the grand state of Alaska we help you reach your dream destinations with over 300 tours to over 100 countries Rock jumper leads the pack in adventure travel and we want to travel with you we also specialize in private tours if you have a group of friends you're traveling with or want to see the seven natural wonders of the world with your family contact us today our friendly fun professional guides excel in producing riveting wildlife experiences that's why rock jumpers birding tours and Wildlife safaris are so popular and we offered dazzling photographic tours and unique cultural substitute roll with rock jumper and see the world [Music] this birding adventures episode is powered by an iconic the world's leader an optic since 1917 and by Hobie Mirage Drive kayaks enjoy nature effortlessly and sponsored in part by Manfrotto complete solutions for photographers and videographers visit Manfrotto us if you think that Cochise County is just about the birds you're so wrong there's so much more to see in this incredible place today we're with the Rangers from cotton Academy State Park and we're about to go in this bunker like structure to see what's inside let's go caving well we've got some cave bacon up here and I want to reach out and grab it try it but they strictly no touching in cotton or Kevin's it says Canadian bacon it's the real stuff it's the real stuff giant sized slivers of delink table bacon from the case yummy here Carter it is a very horizontal cave unlike other caves that have multiple layers you'll go through tunnels to get into the cave but eventually you'll be exposed to select tight to like might we have electives tons of variations and formations draperies columns like you see behind me Kubla Kahn largest known column and Arizona to date 58 feet tall yeah that you've seen what's hidden beneath the surface let's go up and go find some birds yeah go ahead got it let's go [Music] indisputably the best site in the Huachuca mountain range is the nature conservancy 300-acre Ramsey Canyon preserve this is the preserve that attracts 30,000 visitors every year and is a hotspot for a variety of summer birds just like I've heard the trogon further down these guys are pros my legs are connected with radios and the whole tooth so now we're getting up into the really good area for elegant trogon we're into some really nice big thick mores here lots of big tooth maple really nice mountain right area and habitat for them but I'm calling John yeah just called once far away so it's just up the hill here through these oats which is a little unusual I'm waiting for this call again see if we can track again the remake of the movie the waiting game children burning [Music] as I'm calling [Music] we started I guess you get from that branch right across the trail right opens yeah nice like on it evolved her oh this is awesome okay power hey great like it was go Oh what beautiful light in it magnificent elegant progam a beautiful male this is the northernmost occurring species of trogon in the Americas they start occurring from Guatemala all the way from Central America through Mexico and they reach the northern part of their range yeah and the sky islands of southeastern Arizona what a beautiful bird a male elegant program look at that beautiful red belly and at nice bright iridescent green on the back and these turning his head nine you can see the bright yellow bull and the word trogon is actually a Greek word that means Noah and it's because these birds gnaw on fruit and insects with that knife hook shapes but wide bull it's a beautiful bird you think is a female around you oh there has to be here because yeah they strive yeah they're nesting right now so she has to be nearby somewhere so where's the mist oh it's right there I mean okay so you see that broken-off piece of a sycamore trunk right there makes a nice little cavity I think they're right in there this way that flower looks like it's broken off right yeah exactly I just believe in just assume there's a female physically now look look look sitting area beautiful you can see totally sexually dimorphic Rogen's where the males are the bright bright colors and the females are very very drab not only do we get to see an incredibly rare bird for the United States of America but we've got a pair feeding young in a nesting cavity pretty spectacular that don't want a life down going wow you guys are really tweeted this week that's our golden bird for this week all right elegant Drogo three see you next week so we have quite a history with losing drones on birding adventures tbh this is our fourth drone and I flew all the way over that Ridge over the top of that mountain over onto the other side and we lost contact with the drone and then John and Jake said they're going to run up there quickly and go and try find it look all others know where they'll find the drone no way can't believe you guys got this thing that's incredible you

Channel: A WILD Connection

Views: 15,204

Rating: 4.8130841 out of 5

Keywords: elegant trogon, spotted owl, painted redstart, buff-breasted flycatcher, cochise county, arizona, birding, birds, birding adventures, batv, james currie

Id: cu_PzOOfEPE

Length: 23min 2sec (1382 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2017