Some Part-time Guiding

With a big trip planned in the very near future, I have been staying close to home recently, but have had the opportunity to guide a few out-of-state birders to find birds in and around the Phoenix area.  It has all been a lot of fun and it is interesting how different birders have different goals.  Some just wanted to see birds, ANY birds, but some wanted to hone in on some target birds.  I had the pleasure to assist Geruza from Texas, Barry from British Columbia, Susan from Colorado, and Marvin from Nebraska.  Was a lot of fun meeting these intrepid birders and enjoying their excitement when they locked on to something new.  

First person was Geruza from Texas and we took in 2 days of birding; first along the Salt River and Kiwanis Park and day 2 was spent at the Gilbert Water Ranch and Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  She was new to Arizona birding and just wanted to see as much as possible.  Here are a few of the photos I managed to capture during those two days. 

 American Robin

 Bald Eagle

  Lesser Golfinch

 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

  Rosy-faced Lovebird

Vermilion Flycatcher

The biggest shock came at Kiwanis Park in Tempe while we were checking out the Rosy-faced Lovebirds and we found this incredibly beautiful Rose-ringed Parakeet and it is a blue mutation.  It is a popular cage bird and the normal color is green, but pet breeders have a knack in developing color mutations and I have always loved this color mutation of this bird, but have never owned one.  I know this is an escapee, and I did post this to several Facebook lost pet sites.  Not sure if the original owner was found or if a local pet bird breeder may have captured it for safety sake.

  Rose-ringed Parakeet - Blue color mutation

 American Avocet

 Cinnamon Teal

 Northern Cardinal

 Orange-crowned Warbler

 Ring-necked Duck

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Next visitor was Barry from British Columbia, and he has been to Arizona in the past and has done a fair amount of birding on his own and for this trip he was hoping to find the hard-to-get Le Conte's Thrasher.  This bird is kind of a Maricopa County specialty.  While it is found in other parts of southwestern Arizona, the famous 'Thrasher Spot' west of Buckeye is well known.  We did find the Le Conte's Thrasher and Barry also learned how difficult this bird can be to find and observe.  We also got some other birds that were new to him as well.  It was a great outing!

    Burrowing Owls

 Sagebrush Sparrow

White-faced Ibis

Number 3 was Susan from Colorado and her goals were a bit similar to Barry's; get the Le Conte's Thrasher.  So it was back to the same location.  And once again, I was able to help Susan get on a Le Conte's Thrasher.  Plus we got Bendire's and Crissal as well.  

 Bendire's Thrasher

 Crissal Thrasher

 Gilded Flicker - male and female

 Gila Woodpecker

The final birder was an 86 year young gentleman from Nebraska and his enthusiasm for birds has not diminished at all and being able to show him some birds up close that were relatively calm around humans was a delight for him at the Gilbert Water Ranch.  

 Abert's Towhee

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 Gambel's Quail

  Pied-billed Grebe

Song Sparrow

Have an out-of-state trip planned in the very near future.  Hope to come back with some photos of some new life birds.  Stay tuned for more.

  

  

Red Mountain Park - 12 Feb 2013

The day after returning from Rocky Point, I just could not sit home all day, so ventured out to Red Mountain Park in Mesa, AZ with one bird in particular that I was looking for.  This was the Bendire's Thrasher, which is not a new bird for me, but since it is not that common in Maricopa County, it is always nice to see one.  I found the target bird right where others had been seeing it, on the east side of the lake and near the restrooms.  This is a heavily used park, so this bird is used to seeing humans and did not flee.  This bird has a straighter and a bit shorter bill when compared to the similar Curve-billed Thrasher.  Also note the triangular spots on the chest, whereas the CBT has round spots.

Bendire's Thrasher

While walking the sidewalks, a Cooper's Hawk flew in from the right not more than 25' from me and made an attempt to capture a Mourning Dove.  This time the doves were lucky, and the hawk stood on the ground looking around wondering what went wrong before it took to the air again and headed to the island.  Another couple was nearby and witnessed this event and wondered what kind of hawk it was and it was enjoyable to share the experience with them and visit with them about it.

 Cooper's Hawk

 Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

And here is a photo of one of those Mourning Doves that were everywhere in this park.  Probably a great place for the Cooper's Hawk to hang out with a bountiful food supply at hand.

Mourning Dove

This park also has its regular human providing hand outs for the birds because right in this area the Mourning Doves and Gambel's Quail were congregating and sure enough, the seed was being scattered and the birds were flocking in.  This photo shows several doves and quail and a lone House Sparrow.

Feeding Frenzy-Gambel's Quail, Mourning Doves, and House Sparrow

Abert's Towhees are very common in Arizona, but very rare outside of this state, but oftentimes are difficult to photograph as they like to scurry into the shade and brush on the ground.  But this one preferred to perch in full sun on a branch for me.

Abert's Towhee

And then to add some mammals to the post, we have 2 different ground squirrels.  I think I have them identified correctly, but could be mistaken.  We have a pair of Rock Squirrels that was pretending that February 12th was actually February 14th.  (♥)  And we also have a couple of Round-tailed Ground Squirrels sticking close to their den.

 Rock Squirrels

Round-tailed Ground Squirrels

If someone reads this and can give me a better ID on the squirrels, please let me know.

Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve - 26 Nov 2012

Took a trip straight from work in the afternoon on November 26 to see if I could find the Winter Wren that had been seen out there by so many birders, and yes, I did get to see it, but it was a brief viewing and then in dove for cover and alas, I did not even have time to get my camera up for a photo.  This tiny bird has found itself a winter home at a specific spot at GWR.  There will be more about this little bird in a future post!  The spot it likes to hang out in is a small camping area with benches so as I was patiently waiting for it to make another appearance that day, a couple of other birds tantalized me into taking their photos instead.  Two of these birds are very common at this location, but not always easy to photograph.  The Abert's Towhee is bird almost found exclusively in Arizona.  Its range extends to the extreme southern point of Nevada, the eastern Colorado River edge of California and about 3 canyons in extreme southwestern New Mexico.  The rest of its range is all across southern Arizona.  Although they are numerous and can be seen quite frequently, they seem to prefer posing in shady areas and are quick to dart into the thick underbrush of a nearby tree.  The 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler (aka Butter butts) are typical of warblers, constantly flitting about in the trees and not spending too much time in any one place.  Both of these birds landed on the ground in the camping area and seemed oblivious to me and allowed me to capture some of my best photos of these two species that I have ever been able to obtain.

 

 Abert's Towhee

 

  Abert's Towhee-Showing off its most colorful side!

 

'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

The wren never did make another appearance that day, so I settled for taking some photos of the other birds I could find.  This place is never lacking for bird photography.  A Gila Woodpecker, as well as a Curved-billed Thrasher, also made an appearance in one of the nearby trees.  And on one of the many paths some Inca Doves were quite accommodating as well.  The photo below shows a hint of the red wing that is most noticeable when in flight.

 

 Gila Woodpecker

 

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 

Inca Dove

 



Naturally being at a spot with ponds, one is bound to find wading birds and I found a couple species to add to my photographs for the day.  The Least Sandpiper is very common here and if one has patience sitting quietly along a shoreline, they will probably work their way up fairly close to you for a close up view.  Might be a brown and white bird, but they are always a joy to watch their very active probing and feeding.  Also found a Wilson's Snipe, but it was on the opposite shore of a pond and they are not quite as friendly as the Least Sandpipers. 

 

 Least Sandpiper

 

Wilson's Snipe

 

There is always something good to see and photograph at this wonderful spot.

 

 



Gilbert Riparian Water Perserve - 21 Oct 2012

With my car in the shop for repair, I stayed close to home this weekend with a birding excursion on Sunday only, and I opted for the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve which is probably the best place for racking up a lot of species of birds in one spot in the suburban area around Phoenix.  It is easy access for just about anyone and with the constant changing of water levels in the 7 ponds, you never know what you might encounter when paying a visit.  Many rarities have been seen here throughout the years and this spot is well known to just about every birder in the state of Arizona.  When I arrived at about 6:30 in the morning I quickly found another birding friend, Bernie Howe, so we then completed our adventure together.  And in the process of our birding together we did find a bit of a rarity in the birding world.  We had found a fairly large flock of Inca Doves in the plowed under sod of Pond 5 and while scanning the many doves, I discovered one that stood out as being a bit different. We had found a Ruddy Ground-Dove which is not a new bird to either of us, nor the state of Arizona, but they are quite uncommon.  Their normal breeding range is much further south in Mexico, but occasionally a stray shows up in the American southwest.  When checking on the eBird web site, for the year 2012, there has been a sighting in Texas and about a half dozen in the state of Arizona, all of them in the early part of the year.  To many people it is not a dramatic bird to view, but for those that are listing birds, it is always a nice bird to add for the year.  Below is a photo of the Ruddy Ground-Dove and also a photo of an Inca Dove, which often gets ignored (but shouldn't) by many birders.

 

Ruddy Ground-Dove



Inca Dove

 

This area of upturned sod in the south part of Pond 5 must have been a great place for feeding for the birds.  Even while we were checking out the doves, we had various sparrows flying in for visits and scavenging in the dirt for seeds and maybe even some insects.  We had a huge number of White-crowned Sparrows along with a Song Sparrow, some Savannah Sparrows, a Dark-eyed Junco, and some Abert's Towhees.  (Yes, the Junco and the Towhee belong to the Sparrow family!)  The Junco seemed a bit out of place as I normally see them in higher altitudes in pine forests.  All the birds were having a merry ole time feeding until a Northern Harrier flew over and then they all took cover in the nearby trees.

 

 White-crowned Sparrow

 

 Song Sparrow

 

 Savannah Sparrow

 

 Dark-eyed Junco

 

Abert's Towhee

 

Now on to some of the water birds that we found.  Needless to say, I saw many more birds than the number of photos I have, but that is usually the case.  While we were scanning the many ducks a Black Phoebe flew onto a sign in the pond right in front of us and posed for a couple of shots before it realized that there were people close by and then off it went!  So along with the phoebe's photo we also have photos of an American Wigeon, a Mallard drake, and an American Coot.  OK, so the Mallard is probably one of the most common ducks in the US, but that green head in the right light is still stunning.  And the coot is quite handsome when you get to see them up close.

 

 Black Phoebe

 

 American Wigeon

 

 Mallard

 

American Coot



The final photo is one of the many Anna's Hummingbirds found in this location.  It is a resident all year in parts of Arizona and is probably the most common hummer in Arizona.  What a feisty little hummer and quite amusing to watch.   They have no fear and if one is wearing red, it is not uncommon for one of these little hummers to fly to within a couple of feet of your head and check you out from several different angles.  It can be quite an experience.

 



Anna's Hummingbird