Birders Discover a Broad-winged Hawk in Arizona
Tucson Group Scores with a Rarely-Seen Bird in Peppersauce Canyon
Sep 30, 2009
On a recent Saturday, Tucson Audubon Society field trip leader Doug Jenness took a group of 16 local birders to the Coronado National Forest campground in Peppersauce Canyon. Approaching the parking area at 7:00 A.M., Jenness called a quick stop to check a bird perched high over the campground, its white feathers brilliantly reflecting the morning sunrise. To everyone's ultimate delight, it proved to be a Broad-winged Hawk, a bird previously recorded in Arizona just 20 times.
The Broad-winged Hawk and its Range
The Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) is the smallest U.S. buteo, a genus that includes Red-tailed and Red-shouldered hawks. The mature bird's length is 15-16 inches, and its wingspan about 34 inches. By comparison, Red-tailed Hawks are 19-22 inches in length, with a wingspan of 50 inches. The Broad-winged Hawk is a forest-dwelling bird that hunts from a perch.
South America is the bird's usual winter ground, and it commonly migrates in large flocks. In summer, the hawk nests and breeds in the eastern half of the United States and in a swath of southern Canada that stretches west to British Columbia. The summer and migration range in the U.S. essentially runs east from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana, with some overlap into states bordering this line to the west. Winter migrants are very rare in coastal California, and exceptionally rare in other western states, including Arizona.
The Tucson Audubon Society and Field Trip Leader Doug Jenness
The Tucson Audubon Society, located in the heart of one of the richest birding areas in the U.S., has been involved with conservation, education and recreation programs for more than a half-century. The society hosts monthly meetings, publishes a monthly newsletter, and conducts free field trips open to the public every Tuesday and Saturday. These field trips are led by 34 highly-qualified volunteers, whose biographies are quite impressive.
Doug Jenness, who led the trip into Peppersauce Canyon and identified the Broad-winged Hawk, has lived in the Tucson area since 2002. Jenness moved to Arizona from Minnesota, where he contributed to the Journal of the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Jenness observed thousands of Broad-winged Hawks during his time in the east and mid-west, but never expected to find one in Arizona.
Identifying the Broad-winged Hawk Found in Peppersauce Campground
Peppersauce Campground is nestled in a compact canyon on the north side of Mt. Lemmon in Pinal County. It is located at the base of a 4-wheel drive road that climbs nearly 4,000 feet to join the Catalina Highway, a paved road that links Tucson with Summerhaven, a village near the mountain's peak. Like the eight campgrounds on Mt. Lemmon, Peppersauce is a Coronado National Forest site. The forested area, consisting of Arizona sycamore, Velvet ash, Alligator juniper and oak, has long been a choice spot for birders, and September 26 was no exception.
After Jenness spotted the hawk, sixteen binoculars and a spotting scope were quickly trained on the bird, high in a tree 300 feet from the observers. Many in the group were experienced birders, but no quick and sure identification followed. Most of the group thought they looking at a young Northern Goshawk (an accipiter), but Jenness was troubled by this identification, particularly since the bird's tail appeared to be much shorter than a Goshawk's. Four different field guides, including one devoted solely to hawks, were consulted, but no comfortable consensus was reached. The bird did move twice within the area, remaining in sight, although its flight could not be observed clearly.
After 20 minutes of observation and debate, the group continued birding in other areas. The mystery hawk was no longer visible when the group returned four hours later. Having seen a separate, flying Goshawk during the walk, Jenness and the other birders concluded that the first bird must have been one, as well. However, Jenness was still uneasy, and once he reviewed cropped digital photographs taken at the site, he concluded that he had actually seen a completely unexpected visitor, a Broad-winged Hawk. Jenness submitted the photographs and opinion to expert associates, as well as to Arizona Field Ornithology, where this rare sighting was confirmed.
Discovering Extraordinary Birds on Ordinary Field Trips
The experience on the Peppersauce Canyon field trip should encourage and excite birders everywhere. Tendencies are to think within the box of the known and expected, but notable surprises sometimes await those, like Doug Jenness, who break out of the box and challenge their first impressions.
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