LIFER ON THE MEXICAN BORDER—Sycamore Canyon Rufous-capped Warbler
Southeast Arizona Birding—August 10-16, 2025
In early August I brought Bjorn down to spend a week at his grandma’s farm in Illinois. But instead of making the 18-hour round trip drive twice in seven days, I instead flew from Peoria to Tucson for some monsoon season desert birding.
It was a bizarre pre-dawn drive on the rough Ruby Road to get to the remote Sycamore Canyon. The only cars that I saw were 7(!) Border Patrol trucks. Obviously this is a commonly used route for migrants.
Connor and Alex, grad students at Texas A&M had arrived just before me, along with a couple Border Patrol agents on foot. They took off at a quick pace while I took my time along the trail…or maybe I should write “trail,” since it was often barely perceptible which way one should go. It is a fairly flat trail but the heat, lack of signage and uneven substrate make it a challenging journey.
Alex and Connor gave me a GPS location and a good habitat description on their way out, but Google Earth was not connecting in this remote valley and I overshot the spot. I knew it was like 1.75 miles int the canyon but I “overthunk” it and ended up doing some risky boulder scrambling to get around a steep dry waterfall slope and rock cliff.
Then suddenly a Border Patrol helicopter popped over the cliffs above and buzzed down the canyon and over my head. I know they are used to occasional birders so ignored me. Odd feeling to be in such a remote place all alone and have a helicopter check you out.
But I get it…this must be a well-used crossing point. I saw much sign of folks traveling through this canyon: abandoned canteen with home-sewn bluejean cover, tuna packets, random clothes, Red Cross blanket.
Finally I turned around. It just didn’t feel like this was the spot Alex and Connor had described. They also said it was singing so I was listening for the song and its call chip note, which to me sounds like that of a Junco. After another sketchy rock scramble and a half mile hike back up down the canyon I heard the call note.
There it was! A male in all his glory…lemon yellow with a stout bill and namesake rufous cap. I got to spend a grand total of 37 seconds with him before he flitted off through the wash-side brush. ABA area lifer number 658! (or so…I need to redo my checklist).
Rufous-capped Warbler is a Mexican species that only rarely shows up in the U.S. and when it does, almost always in SE Arizona.
I plopped down on a rock on the hillside and just waited and watched for another 45 minutes or so, but the Rufous-capped did not show again. The Border Patrol agents did pass by but evidently did not see me only 20 yards away.
It was now getting quite hot. I met a few other die hards on their way in to find the warbler. I helped one young guy who had gotten off the trail and was a bit turned around (easy to do here!).
Other highlights: Rock Wrens, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, singing and close-up Canyon Wrens, Clark’s Spiny Lizard, Elegant Earless Lizard, and a very unexpected Black Vulture(!), an eastern species that I learned has a tiny outpost in SE Arizona including Sycamore Canyon. Also a sad but interesting find…Road-kill Hognosed Skunk.
**I am working on my YouTube videos about this Arizona trip, so stay tuned!
September 5, 2025
Sparky Stensaas
Leave a comment
thesparkygroup@gmail.com
