Trogon Trip: Paton House

The Paton House deserves its own post. It was started by generous homeowners, Wally and Marion Paton who loved birds and set up feeders, a chalk board for sightings, and invited birders to their yard beginning in 1973. After their passing, the property was picked up by Tucson Audubon to preserve the scenic location as a haven for birds and birders alike. It warms my heart that such a place like this exists.

We made three visits in our five days in Patagonia and we saw 45 species, including lifers for all of us. And we closed the place down each time we went. It was that good.

At the Hummingbird feeders were Anna’s, Broad-billed, and my lifer Violet-crowned Hummingbird.

On the suet in the trees were gobs of Yellow-rumped Warblers,White-breasted Nuthatch, and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers. Sometimes all at once.

On the thistle was an out of season American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, and Lesser Goldfinch, including one of the “Texas” varieties with much more black on its back.

The seed feeders (surprisingly) attracted Lazuli Buntings.

And one evening, my lifer female Blue Grosbeak shyly came out for a visit.

In the brush piles below were White-crowned Sparrows, Lincoln’s Sparrows, Chipping sparrows, and Rufous-winged Sparrows.

That totally didn’t look like Chipping Sparrows. Nope, not at all.

Gambel’s Quail would call “pup waay pop, pup waay pop” as they scratched around in the dirt and perched on brush piles.

Like clockwork in the evening a female Pyrrhuloxia would cautiously join the other ground feeders for a snack. We spent enough time here to get to know some of the regular birds and their habits.

One time Sarah spotted a pair of Inca Doves near a brush pile, they are so tiny, they made the White-winged Doves look like behemoths.

In the skies above Max spotted (his and Sarah’s lifer!) a Gray Hawk circling above. (I’d seen one once before in Texas).

And on our last day, with no other expected life birds on the horizon, Max left to get something out of the car then came running back to alert Sarah and I because he thought he’d seen a Zone-tailed Hawk mixed in with the Turkey Vultures in the sky! Sure enough!

Life bird for all of us! It was a very lucky sighting. And a very lovely time at Paton House.

Thank you Wally and Marion.

Tweets and chirps,

Audrey