Pinal Mountains, July 16, 2019

Fr. Charlie, Dave, and I went to the Pinal Mountains on Tuesday, July 16. It’s nice to get away from the Phoenix heat and up to the cool mountains. We left at about 7 am, and it’s a two hour drive to the peak.

We stopped first at a spot between Russell Gulch and Sulfide Del Rey camp ground, where there were reports of a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, which is rare for this location. We didn’t see the Flycatcher, but the Painted Redstarts were a highlight.

I’ve photographed Painted Redstarts before. Their range in the U.S. is limited to the Southwest, and we see them at higher elevations. They are pretty birds, but they are difficult to photograph because they are very active and always moving. The nice thing about this trip was that they were hanging around one spot for a long time. Just before we left we figured out why: they had a nest nearby. But not in a tree – we saw one go into a nest on the ground. I didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out that Painted Redstarts build their nests on the ground.

Next we went higher up the mountain to Ferndell Spring. The spring was flowing. Last time Mary Ann and I were there when the spring was flowing we saw a lot of birds, but not nearly as many this time.

We then went up to the peak, which is an elevation of about 7800 ft. There are some cabins there, and one had hummingbird feeders out. We saw 4 species of hummingbirds. It was fun to see the Rivoli’s Hummingbird (previously known as the Magnificent Hummingbird), but I wasn’t able to get a photograph of it.

We left at about 1:00 for the 2 hour trip home. It was great to get out into the woods and the cooler weather.