There are no photos with my posting, but if there were, you would see a Zone-tailed Hawk, Common Black Hawk, Gray Hawk, and in one frame both a very light and a very dark Red-tailed Hawk. The images are embedded in my brain. Thursday was the best ever Tubac Hawk Watch Day. So many birds!  There were too many for me to keep a tally. Common Black Hawks were overhead all morning, mostly in small groups. We would watch them approach, soar overhead, then continue across the sky heading northward. What a thrill! We birders often complain about “warbler neck” from looking high into the trees. “Raptor neck” is almost as bad, but a malady I accept for the grand rewards it brings.

On the drive to Tubac:

Mourning Dove

Rock Dove/Pigeon

Gila Woodpecker

Red-tailed Hawk

At Ron Morriss County Park:

Zone-Tailed Hawk

Common Black Hawk

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Gray Hawk

American Kestrel

 Sharp-shinned Hawk

Common Raven

 Anna’s Hummingbird, 

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Vermillion Flycatcher

On to Tumacacori to eat picnic lunch and walk part of the De Anza Trail.

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Verdin

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Hutton’s Vireo

Black Phoebe

Turkey Vulture (4)

Red-tailed Hawk

White-crowned Sparrow

Gray Hawk (heard in Cottonwoods)

Hermit Thrush

Northern Cardinal

Curve-billed Thrasher

Western Kingbird

So there you have it. A happy amateur’s bird list for one wonderful day!  

If you want an excellent book to practice your raptor identification skills, I recommend The Crossley ID Guide, Raptors . 101 color plates, species descriptions, maps, comparison photos and self-testing photos galore.