Taking advantage of a work assignment in Phoenix, I borrowed my cousin's Honda Civic and drove east on I10 to spend the long Labor Day Weekend in the Huachuca Mountains southeast of Tucson. I established my base in Sierra Vista, Cochise County, AZ. For three full days, I birded Huachuca Canyon, Ramsey Canyon, Carr Canyon, Ash Canyon and Hunter Canyon. On the last day, I returned to Phoenix via Patagonia and Madera Canyon in Santa Cruz County, catching an evening flight back to Colorado.

I tallied 128 species (38 species shown here), including one life bird (Lucifer Hummingbird) plus a half-dozen ABA-area life birds that I had seen previously in Mexico/Central America. The ABA lifers are all represented in the photos below: Plain-capped Starthroat, Tufted Flycatcher, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, Sinaloa Wren, Rufous-capped Warbler and Slate-throated Redstart.

I also contributed 38 audio recordings to www.xeno-canto.org. You can listen to them at http://www.xeno-canto.org/contributor/ODAYZINCOA. Some of the best birds were heard only, including Montezuma Quail, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Mexican Whip-poor-will, Common Black Hawk, Louisiana Waterthrush, Crissal Thrasher and Botteri's Sparrow. All of these, except for the nocturnal species, were audio-recorded.

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