June 2 -- A Rare Bird Finally Spotted -- Slate-throated Redstart

I've waited about 2 years to see this bird...The Slate-throated Redstart is a warbler that is widespread in the American tropics south of the border with Mexico. It's wandered north of Mexico into the American southwest only a few times, mostly in spring. It's related to the Painted Redstart, a bird that's a specialty of the desert southwest borderlands. Here's a photo of the Painted Redstart, taken a few years back during a trip to the Chiricahuas ---

As you can see, it's a pretty spectacular-looking bird. It flashes its outer tail feathers when looking for food, which apparently helps to flush insects which the Redstart then pursues and captures. They're common here in summer, and as the Slate-throated Redstart also flashes its tail in pursuit of food, and is at first glance similar-looking to Painteds, they're hard to spot, even when you know there is one in the area. And it's almost never seen on this side of the border. But one was seen on the other side of the Chiricahuas, so I took the trans-mountain road west, and...

I've had a frustrating history of trying to see a Slate-throated. One time, when I was at Barfoot Lookout, looking down at Barfoot Park, I saw an SUV belonging to some folks who I'd passed up earlier on the road.  I waved to them (right, they'll see me -- duh) and though they had left by the time I came down, another group of birders said they'd found a previously unreported Slate-throated right there at the Park. And that's what the SUV folks were looking at while I was waving at them from atop the lookout. I never was able to see it at that time. But this recent one was being seen right off the main road for the past 2 weeks, so my odds were better this time around. A few days before I went to see the Slate-throated with some Portal friends, and they saw it momentarily -- yet once again I didn't. So this time I went by myself. When I arrived at the spot where it's been seen, there was only a bird guide and her client, but after about 10 minutes she put us on the bird -- and I got my Lifer. But no photos, which is an important part of my seeing birds. And I had my 500mm lens with me, as I wanted to get a good quality shot of it. As it foraged on the hillside, I fired away with my camera. I got about 10 shots of it out in the open -- good!  Except --

In every single shot, the bird's head was hidden by a leaf. Argh!  And they would have been good, clear shots, too. The bird guide and her client left, as he saw the bird and that was all he wanted, so I waited for the next opportunity. The guide had said the bird did the same circling route about every half hour -- and she was right. The Slate-throated popped up out of the thicket of branches, and this time there was nothing between me and the bird --

Well ok, maybe the occasional branch --

As you can see, there is a bit of a difference in appearance between the Slate-throated and Painted Redstarts. But there was something else -- there were reports of TWO Slate-throateds there, and a possible nest. As of today (June 5) it hasn't been verified photographically that there are 2, or a nest, but expert birders on the scene have said yes on both counts. Now that I live in Portal, I can go and check up on the Slated-throated drama whenever I please; it's only around 20 miles RT at most from Faranuf.

I've always thought the trans-mountain road over the Chiricahuas is one of the great unpaved road trips in all of the desert Southwest, if not the United States. The vistas are wide-ranging and spectacular; mountains and valleys as far as the eye can see. Here's the view looking east, into New Mexico ---

To cap off a successful day, the sunset was spectacular. We've been having monsoon-y clouds without the rain --

And I leave you with Yellow Columbine, which I saw in the drainage where the Slate-throated Redstart may possibly have found a mate, and be setting up home for awhile..