Difficulty: Moderate. May involve walking a narrow rocky trail in Florida Canyon with uneven surfaces and some increase in grade. Drive time to location about one hour on paved and gravel roads. No bathroom on-site.
These two canyons are just north of the more famous Madera Canyon and offer fabulous birding in riparian areas flanked by upland desert and grassland. We’ll bird mostly from the road in Box Canyon looking for the rare Five-striped Sparrow, nesting Gray Hawks and Thick-billed Kingbirds, singing Rock and Canyon Wrens, and Bullock’s, Hooded, and Scott’s Orioles. Perhaps we’ll catch a glimpse of the soaring resident Golden Eagles. From the Florida Canyon parking lot we’ll keep our eyes open and ears alert for Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Black-chinned and Rufous-crowned Sparrows, along with Varied Bunting. Depending on water levels and bird activity we could work our way up higher along the creek as well. Limited to 9 participants.
Thick-billed Kingbird, Martin Molina