It's not the third but the fourth time that's really the charm. At least that's the case when it comes to spotting an elegant trogon in Madera Canyon. Since I was bitten by the birding bug, I've made four trips to this area of the Santa Rita Mountains in southern Arizona with hopes of finding this tropical relative of the quetzal. Two years ago I succeeded in finding one in neighboring Florida Canyon, but until this week, I hadn't found him in Madera.
He’s quite uncommon in the state, let alone in a park that lies at the very northern edge of his geographic range. He’s really a Mexican bird, with a southern range that extends to Costa Rica. In the summer he’s known to come into southeastern Arizona for breeding, and Madera Canyon might be as far north as this guy ever actually gets.
A solitary male very frequently winters in the Santa Ritas, waiting for female partners to return in late spring. It was just the case this year, when this attractive fellow was heavily photographed along the lower trails of Madera Canyon all season long.
I arrived at the park a little after 8 am, when the sun was just starting to fill the forested canyon. There were quite a few fellow birders also on the prowl of the trogon - not to mention a very rare tufted titmouse - when there was a reported sighting around 10 am not far away on the lower creekside trail. Nevertheless, it still took me until close to 1:30 in the afternoon to find him. Thanks to a lot of luck, the bird spending most of his time along the popular lower paths, consistent communication with other birders and plain perseverance, I was able to photograph the elegant trogon over a glorious span of fifteen minutes in a few different trees.
Judge for yourself, but I think he's a beautiful bird deserving of an amateur wildlife photographer's infatuation.
He’s quite uncommon in the state, let alone in a park that lies at the very northern edge of his geographic range. He’s really a Mexican bird, with a southern range that extends to Costa Rica. In the summer he’s known to come into southeastern Arizona for breeding, and Madera Canyon might be as far north as this guy ever actually gets.
A solitary male very frequently winters in the Santa Ritas, waiting for female partners to return in late spring. It was just the case this year, when this attractive fellow was heavily photographed along the lower trails of Madera Canyon all season long.
I arrived at the park a little after 8 am, when the sun was just starting to fill the forested canyon. There were quite a few fellow birders also on the prowl of the trogon - not to mention a very rare tufted titmouse - when there was a reported sighting around 10 am not far away on the lower creekside trail. Nevertheless, it still took me until close to 1:30 in the afternoon to find him. Thanks to a lot of luck, the bird spending most of his time along the popular lower paths, consistent communication with other birders and plain perseverance, I was able to photograph the elegant trogon over a glorious span of fifteen minutes in a few different trees.
Judge for yourself, but I think he's a beautiful bird deserving of an amateur wildlife photographer's infatuation.
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