Big Day (Bird Race)
27 April 1999
by Steve Ganley
Roy Jones and I just returned from a trip into southern Sonora. We visited the Alamos/Navojoa area with a side trip to Yavaros on the coast. While we were down there, we decided to try our hand at a Sonoran Big Day. We had not been to the coast in that area before and were not sure how many species of waterbirds would still be around at the end of April. We figured out a route and went through with the Big Day and were pleased with our first attempt. We ended the day with 180 species and had missed 17 species that we saw the day before in the same areas.
Some of the species that are near their northern limits [west coast] in southern Sonora include: Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Crane Hawk, Mexican Parrotlets, Squirrel Cuckoo, Purplish-backed Jay, Sinaloa Crow, Social Flycatcher and Orchard Oriole. We had two good shorebirds with a Stilt Sandpiper and a Piping Plover and good migrants with Vaux Swifts, a Franklin's Gull and a Northern Waterthrush.
Roy and I would like to throw out a challenge to all of the Sonoran birders to do some Big Days in Sonora and post your results.
SONORAN BIG DAY LIST
Missed = seen the day before only
Eared Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Neotropic
Cormorant
Missed
Magnificient Frigatebird
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
White-faced
Ibis
Missed
Roseate Spoonbill
Fulvous
Whistling-Duck
Missed
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mallard
Blue-winged
Teal
Missed
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed
Kite
Missed
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Crane
Hawk
Missed
Common Black-Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Gray Hawk
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Rufous-bellied Chachalaca
Elegant Quail
Clapper Rail
Common Moorhen
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
Wilson's Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
American Oystercatcher
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black
Turnstone
Missed
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's
Phalarope
Missed
Laughing Gull
Franklin's Gull
Heermann's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Yellow-footed Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Elegant Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Least Tern
Black Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Common Ground-Dove
White-tipped Dove
Mexican Parrotlet
White-fronted Parrot
Squirrel Cuckoo
Lesser Roadrunner
Greater
Roadrunner
Missed
Groove-billed Ani
Western Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Least Pygmy-Owl
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Elf Owl
Mottled Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Vaux's Swift
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Berylline Hummingbird
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Plain-capped Starthroat
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Elegant Trogon
Belted Kingfisher
Green Kingfisher
Gila Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Gilded Flicker
Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet
Western Wood-Pewee
Gray
Flycatcher
Missed
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Ash-throated
Flycatcher
Missed
Nutting's Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Social Flycatcher
Tropical Kingbird
Cassin's Kingbird
Thick-billed Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Mangrove Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff
Swallow
Missed
Barn Swallow
Black-throated Magpie-Jay
Purplish-backed Jay
Sinaloa Crow
Chihuahuan Raven
Common Raven
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Canyon Wren
Sinaloa Wren
Happy Wren
Black-capped Gnatcatcher
Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Rufous-backed Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Blue Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
Phainopepla
European Starling
Bell's Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Virginia's Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow-breasted
Chat
Missed
Summer Tanager
Western Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Yellow Grosbeak
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Lazuli
Bunting
Missed
Varied Bunting
Green-tailed Towhee
Chipping
Sparrow
Missed
Brewer's Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Five-striped Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Song Sparrow
White-crowned
Sparrow
Missed
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Black-vented Oiole
Orchard
Oriole
Missed
Hooded Oriole
Streak-backed Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
Steve Ganley
sganley@Primenet..com
Mesa, Arizona
Roy Jones
Barbet@Primenet.com