Birds of Sinclair Wash; Trail junction to Willow Bend

As in most of Flagstaff, the most common year-round bird species in this canyon are pygmy nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, mountain chickadee, Steller jay, house finch, northern flicker, and hairy woodpecker. From May through August, common breeding birds include Black-headed grosbeak, house wren, western bluebird, pine siskin, American robin, and dark-eyed junco. Although most of the dark-eyed juncos that breed here fly south for the winter, the Black-hooded race of dark-eyed juncos (which breed far to the north) replace them here in winter. During May-August, this canyon is one of the few places in Flagstaff where one can regularly see lazuli bunting, yellow warbler, MacGillivray’s warbler, and (in most years) blue grosbeak.

In 2018 and 2019, a male gray catbird sang here from mid-May to mid-July, but apparently did not find a mate (the western edge of the species’ normal range is in New Mexico). During migration, you can find ruby-crowned kinglets, Bullock orioles, and many other birds. If reclaimed water creates a perennial flow, we can expect even more birds to use this canyon for breeding or for migratory stopovers. Many of the rare birds in this canyon are attracted to the willows. Willows thrive here because of a combination of 3 factors: frequent water flows, canyon walls that provide the shade that keeps the soil moist, and a lack of elk. A mile east of there (across I-40) elk eat the willows down to the ground. But on this side of I-40, urban developments replaced the grasslands that elk also require. Although urban development in many ways degrades natural diversity, in this case it combines with other factors to support native plants and birds that would otherwise likely be absent.