Opposites - Glendale Ponds and Mt Ord

After my return from Texas, birding friend, Jason Morgan and I teamed up on Saturday and Sunday to do some birding in Maricopa County.  On Saturday we met up at the Glendale Recharge Ponds early in the morning knowing that this place is rather unforgiving in the summertime as there is no shade and when the
Arizona temperatures start rising, this can be a miserable place to be.  But there were some reports of some shore birds that had been migrating through and timing has to be right to find them before they move on.  We managed to find 2 new life birds for Jason, the Marbled Godwit and an unexpected Bullock's Oriole.

Bullock's Oriole

Marbled Godwit

We also found plenty of evidence of some of the resident birds already nesting.  We found 3 nesting American Avocets and 1 nesting Black-necked Stilt and one more pair of Black-necked Stilts preparing for the nesting process.

American Avocet - nesting

American Avocet - nesting

Black-necked Stilt - nesting

Black-necked Stilt - (Aren't they acrobatic???!!!)

We had made plans in advance to visit Mt Ord on Sunday as it was a new area for Jason, so we met up at 6:00 am the next morning and headed north on the Beeline Hwy to the Mt Ord turnoff.  The target bird that day for Jason was the Black-chinned Sparrow and this spot is one of the most reliable places to locate this much sought after Emberizid.  It was not long and we quickly found them and from there on, anything we found were going to be icing on the cake.  Gray Vireos seem to also favor the same habitat as the Black-chinned Sparrow and we found these as well.

Gray Vireo

Rufous-crowned Sparrows can also be found in this location as well and at least one of those showed itself in the open instead of hiding low to the ground in the in the grasses and shrubs.  An Ash-throated Flycatcher was also found in the lower areas of Mt Ord near the sparrows and vireo.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Ash-throated Flycatcher

As we moved up to higher elevations, the warblers became more common along with some flycatchers and a very colorful tanager and a gnatcatcher that was found everywhere and feeding some fledglings..

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

 Black-throated Gray Warbler

 Painted Redstart

 Olive-sided Flycatcher

Western Wood-Pewee

Western Tanager

Western Scrub-Jay

At the top, we found a mass of Ladybugs swarming a small clump of grass, which was really quite awesome.  I have never seen this many in one spot in my life.  We also discovered a baby Greater Short-horned Lizard, which are always a great find and on the 1688 road heading back to our car we found a very calm but stunning Gopher Snake crossing our path that was about 3½ feet long.

 Ladybugs

Greater Short-horned Lizard

 Gopher Snake

Gopher Snake

This was a great day to be out and enjoying nature at its finest; awesome selection of birds with a few cool insects and reptiles thrown in for good measure.  I believe Jason got 4 new life birds on this trip and coupled with the 2 from the day before it was a 6 new bird weekend for Jason.  It is always a pleasure and a lot of fun to find new birds for others and birding with Jason is always a great experience.

  

GWR with a Birding Pal

Earlier in March, I was contacted by Madison Creech who had found my listing in Arizona Birding Pals, http://www.birdingpal.org/az.htm.  She is a graduate student at ASU studying art with a focus on birds.  She wanted to have someone show her around and focus on birds so I gladly accepted and we made plans to meet at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve on March 23rd.  This place is always an excellent place to watch birds and their behavior and is usually a great place to capture photos for those that focus on photography.  We spent a great deal of time talking and discussing birds and the various species we were seeing.  In order to introduce Madison to many of the different species, I would try to point them out and talk about them briefly and encouraged her to take as many photos as she liked.  Of course I took a few photos along the way as well. 

The American Avocets were seen in good numbers and some were even performing their courtship rituals; this female appeared quite receptive while the male danced around her.  Note the very strong upturned bill of the female.  This is one way to sex these birds since their coloration and markings appear to be the same.  Females have a more pronounced upturned bill than do the males. 

American Avocet

In another pond we discovered a male Blue-winged Teal, which is not a rare bird by any means, but they are not that common in Arizona and always neat to see and add to the years's list for those that are listers.  The white mask on the drakes are usually the best identifying field mark.

Blue-winged Teal

As we walked the pathways between the ponds, various birds were being seen including one of my favorites, the Curve-billed Thrasher.  Maybe not considered the most colorful bird, but once you see that orange eye and that huge curved bill, one takes notice of this bird.  Not only that, but this bird can sing as well as a Mockingbird and this one was singing up a storm right above us.

Curve-billed Thrasher

We also found a few Brown-headed Cowbirds, which many birders do not like very well due to the fact that they are parasitic birds.  They do not build nests of their own; the female searches out other bird nests that are left unattended for a short time and then lays an egg in the nest.  The result is the foster bird then incubates the egg and hatches it and feeds it along with it own clutch of babies.  One of the problems in this, is the fact that many times, the parents real chicks are much smaller than the Cowbird chick and many times only the Cowbird chick survives.  Interesting bird behavior.  

Brown-headed Cowbird

The critter that first gave us a lot of photos was one of the resident Coyotes.  As we were standing in a clearing of Pond 7, this animal can wandering out into the mud flats probably with an original focus on trying to catch some waterfowl for breakfast.  It gave us some looks of interest, but then sauntered away and then double back and started walking towards us before disappearing into the underbrush along the edge of the pond.

 Coyote

 (No, this was not a growl, more like a yawn.)

On our way out of the preserve, we passed by the fishing pond where the Ring-necked Ducks congregate.  These ducks are fed by many of the locals and with the boardwalk over the north end of the fishing pond, they can swim by quite close and that view helps to show why they were named Ring-necked Ducks instead of ring-billed ducks.  That neck ring on the males in not very noticeable at a distance, but the ring on the bill is much more noticeable.  Many think this duck is misnamed.

 Ring-necked Duck

Ring-necked Duck

And one last bird that I photographed on the way out and not one that I photograph very often, the most common House Sparrow.  It came to me a few weeks ago that I have never posted a photo of this most common and widespread bird to any of my blogs, so now for the sake of adding a photo of this species to my list of bird photographs on my blog site, I give you a female house Sparrow.

House Sparrow

A 'Wedgie"???

Had a day of birding that was wedged between 2 CBC's, and could not think of a better name than a 'Wedgie'.  On my previous posts I covered the CBC in Carefree on January 2nd and also the CBC in Payson on January 4th, and that day in the middle, January 3rd, just happened to be another day of birding on my own.  I started the day out early at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve and finished the day in Payson, Arizona. 

 

I had not been to the Gilbert 'Water Ranch' for sometime and I got there early and as the sun rose in the southeast, it enhanced the photography opportunities much more than I could have hoped for.  This is a magical place for photographers and the birds.  I arrived just a few minutes before the 200+ Canada Geese took flight and they took off in small flocks, some before the sun arrived, and some after the sunlight washed everything in a warm gold tone.  Obviously, my photo came later instead of earlier!

 

Canada Goose

 

A stop at Pond 5 was where I ran into another Facebook birder friend, Pam Barnhart and some birds that really did not care that we were standing on the side of the pond and they practically attempted to get as close as possible to us, almost like 'Pick me, Pick me!' for our photos, specifically, American Avocet, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great-tailed Grackle, Green-winged Teal, Mallard, and of course the elegant Northern Pintail.  In fact a Great Egret was so close, that my zoom lens could only focus on its head!

 

 

 American Avocet

 

 Black-crowned Night Heron

 

 Great Egret - close up

 

 Great-tailed Grackle

 

Green-winged Teal

 

 Mallard

 

Northern Pintail

 

Other birds that presented themselves well, were Anna's Hummingbird, Red-winged Blackbird, and the European Starling, which is a much despised bird by many people since it is not a native species to the United States.  But one does have to admit that their iridescent plumage does have a bit of a wow factor to it.

 

 Anna's Hummingbird

 

 European Starling

 

Red-winged Blackbird

 

After returning home and packing the car I headed for Payson so I could be there early on Saturday morning for the CBC.  On the road up, I decided to make a stop at Sunflower a favorite birding spot in the summer.  This place was practically overrun by American Robins.  Growing up in Nebraska, these birds were always a good omen every spring as the winter started to fade.  In Arizona, they are a winter resident except in the northern and higher elevations where they also breed in the summer.

 

American Robin

 

Another winter resident that we see lot in the lower elevations is the Dark-eyed Junco.  Technically, this species is made up of several sub-species and they can and do hybridize from time to time.  The various sub-species can be a bit tricky for those that are interested in identifying them, and I have seen at least 5 of the sub-species in Arizona, but after this visit to Sunflower, I can add a 6th sub-species to the list.  My first reaction at seeing this bird, was to quickly ID it as an 'Oregon' Dark-eyed Junco, but when I started looking at my photos at home, I quickly decided it was not quite right for an 'Oregon'.  A few posts on some Facebook ID pages and the general consensus came back that this was a 'Cassiar' Dark-eyed-Junco.  From what I have read, it is a hybridized bird of the Oregon and the Slate-colored sub-species and it breeds primarily in Alberta, British Columbia and as far north as Alaska, so finding one in Arizona is a bit unusual.

 

'Cassiar' Dark-eyed Junco

 

To finish out my day of birding, I stopped in Payson at their ponds and actually had a good time with some birds there as well.  Birds included a quizzical female Brewer's Blackbird, a Song Sparrow, a vocal female Redhead, and just before leaving an adult Bald Eagle high on the ridge above surveying the entire scene below.

 

 Brewer's Blackbird - female

 

 Song Sparrow

 

 Redhead - Female

 

Redhead - Female

 

Bald Eagle

 

An overall great day of birding with a lot of different habitats and different birds in each place.  This was a day that will not soon be forgotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

California: Day 2 and the Bay Area

Sunday was a new day with new destinations.  Our group on this day was being led by a couple of members of the Sequoia Audubon Society and our target locations were spots along the San Francisco Bay area instead of the coast this time.  We had talented guides, Al and Leslie, that made the most of our birding a success.  We started out at Coyote Point and one of the first birds we saw was the California Towhee.  This was not a new bird for me as I had seen them in Southern California once before, but have never gotten photos.  Typical for towhees, they spend a lot of time scratching and foraging in the underbrush in deep shade and do not pose well for photos and the first ones we saw did just exactly that and my photos from the first spot were nothing to be proud of.  It wasn't until later while we were observing other birds, that one flew up in front of me and posed in the sunshine less than 15' away.  Sometimes I get lucky.

California Towhee

While we were near the picnic table area, one of our guides Al, was quick to spot some Golden-crowned Sparrows.  This species is fairly rare in AZ, but I had seen one before, but definitely not in the plumage of showing off its golden crown.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

We also had birds that were fairly common to me such as the Dark-eyed Junco.  This one is the 'Oregon' type of this species and in my opinion, the most striking of all the sub-species.  

'Oregon' Dark-eyed Junco

The next stop was Foster City Shell Bar where we were treated to hundreds of shore birds.  Some were fairly tolerant of our group and allowed us to get fairly close views of them.  A Semipalmated Plover was one that was hidden among all the Willets and Dowitchers and Godwits.  This bird is pretty small and was not easy to detect among the larger birds.  But when they took off, it stayed behind and allowed us to get even closer.  Marbled Godwits were quite numerous as well.  Both of these birds are uncommon in Arizona, but are spotted from time to time, especially in migration.

 Semipalmated Plover

Marbled Godwit

The American Avocet is a bird that is common in the right ponds in Arizona in the winter as many spend their winters there.  But they were equally plentiful in the Bay Area as well.

American Avocet

Many terns were also resting on the mud flats until the tide came in and then they all took flight.  My photo shows the differences in plumage and also in size of the 2 species that were at this location; the Elegant Tern and the Forster's Tern.

Elegant Tern on the Left - Forster's Tern on the right

So far we covered only 2 of several stops on this day and the other stops will be covered on the next blog post and it includes some more new life birds.