Wisconsin - Part 3

When I first set out making blog posts on this trip to Wisconsin, I had no idea how many posts it was going to take, but I think I can safely say, there will be more than I anticipated.  This third day, Chris and I, headed north to the Green Bay area and the first stop was Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.  This was a great place with a lot of birds.  The waterfowl area provided us with Trumpeter and Tundra Swans and my first ever American Black Duck. 

 American Black Duck

 Trumpeter Swan

Tundra Swan

Of course there were many other birds to be found at this location and some were birds that I had not seen for sometime and it was fun to observe and try to get some photos as well.  

 American Goldfinch

 Brown Thrasher - Doing what it does best; hiding from the camera!

 Purple Martin

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey with 3 chicks (one in the lower left corner in the grass, hard to see)

Next stop was the University of Wisconsin Green Bay Arboretum - Lambeau Cottage.  The place did not offer any new life birds for me but I finally was able to get a photos of a Great-crested Flycatcher.  My first sighting was not a great one and definitely no photos.  This bird is a member of the Myiarchus flycatcher family and is the eastern version of some of the Myiarchus flycatchers found in the western part of the United States  Some times they can be hard to identify, but their call notes are all very different, so learning those calls is vital to identification many times.  

 Great-crested Flycatcher

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is probably the most recognized species of hummingbird in the United States, as it is the only species seen on a regular basis throughout the eastern part of the US.  In Arizona alone, we have 15 species of hummingbirds; some are easier to find than others, but most are reported at least once a year.  This was not a life bird as I had seen a female in Texas two years ago, so being able to finally see a male and get photos was a great success in my opinion.  This bird and the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker below were visitors to the back yard of Chris's grandmother.  

 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

More to come on future posts.  Just too many birds to include all on just a couple of posts.  And there is going to be about a 3 day break from future posts due to an upcoming trip to a place with cooler temps!  

  

Meandering in the Valley of the Sun

Last weekend, I had a 3 day weekend and of course I went out birding all 3 days, but this time it was all local with a variety of sites to visit.  I first started off on Friday by meeting good birding friend Tommy DeBardeleben and we headed to Lake Pleasant which is located on the northwest edge of the Valley of the Sun.  This is a fairly large lake in Arizona and in fact parts of it lie in two different counties, Yavapai and Maricopa.  This spot is a great spot in the winter for some of the more uncommon winter migrants and some have been reported there in the last month.  And as with viewing birds on most lakes, most of the viewing is done by spotting scopes with very little chance of good photos.  We started out in Yavapai County where I was able to add 5 new species to my Yavapai County bird list.  From there we headed to the Maricopa County area where one of my target birds would hopefully be found after it had been report there sometime ago, the White-winged Scoter.  This is not a life bird for me as I had very distant views of some at Lake Havasu a couple of years ago and then the views were only through a scope.  Being able to see one a bit closer and in Maricopa County would be great.  Tommy was quick to find it in his scope about 2 coves away on the lake with a fairly large flock of Common Goldeneye.  So we took off on foot to see if we could get any closer, and we did, however as soon as our heads appeared over the ridge, the goldeneyes took flight and so did the scoter.  I just raised my camera and fired off about 10 shots of it flying away.  Not quite what I wanted, but at least good enough for identification purposes.

White-winged Scoter

White-winged Scoter

I added 2 more birds to my Maricopa County list as well.  

Saturday morning, I headed out to the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve and once again I had a target bird in mind that had been reported there about 2 weeks before, the Brown Thrasher.  This is not a new bird for me by any means as I remember seeing many of them when growing up in Nebraska.  And I had the fortune to see a couple of them in my visit to High Island, Texas in April of this year.  This species is a bird of the eastern United States and just about every year one or 2 of them are reported in Arizona, so it is relatively uncommon in the state. 

I headed to the area where this birds had been reported and sure enough it made an appearance.  This species is not usually the most gracious in allowing photos as they tender to skulk a bit and can be fairly secretive and wary and such was the case with this one.  It did however give me one chance at photos, so I took advantage of it and was surprised that the photos were actually in focus considering all the foliage in front of the bird.

Brown Thrasher

Brown Thrasher

The Brown Thrasher is not only a new Maricopa County bird for me but a new Arizona state bird as well.  I also was able to find the Ross's Goose that has also been reported there and the juvenile Harris's Hawk that was being seen and showed very little fear of humans.  

Ross's Goose

Juvenile Harris's Hawk

Juvenile Harris's Hawk

Just before I left this place, I stopped at the north end of Pond 7 for one more scan with my scope and as I was scanning the sandpipers, one of them really stood out from the rest.  It was a leusistic Least Sandpiper and needless to say it was quite striking compared to the normal ones.  In all my viewing of the thousands of sandpipers, I have never seen a leusistic one.  So here are a couple of photos of this bird and also a photo of a normal one for comparison.

Leusistic Least Sandpiper

Leusistic Least Sandpiper

Normal Least Sandpiper

And last but not least, I spent Sunday checking out 3 spots in Chandler; Zanjero Park, Veteran's Oasis Park, and Higley Ponds.  Zanjero Park is well know for its Burrowing Owls that reside here.  This was a human effort by the Desert Rivers Audubon Society to introduce these owls into some man made burrows and they have definitely made this place their home.  I found 4 of them in the early morning light, with a couple of them watching me warily with their big golden eyes.  

 Burrowing Owl

  Burrowing Owl

 Burrowing Owl

Probably the oddest bird I saw while I was there was an adult Bald Eagle flying in for a brief moment.  Really was not quite the right place for one to be spending a lot of time.

Bald Eagle

Next stop was Veteran's Oasis Park, which turned out to be a bit unnerving as there were several hunters just over the fence on the east side hunting doves and would shoot at any dove that flew over.  Was not enjoying my day with shots being fired so close by.  About the only good thing that I discovered was a small covey of Gambel's Quail that were smart enough to stay inside the boundaries of the park and near the parking lot.  

 Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail

Birding around the Phoenix area offers a big choice and a big variety of birds at all times of the year, however winter, fall, and spring make it a much more enjoyable and accessible hobby.

    

Texas: The End

As my last day was quickly going to come to an end, I made one last visit to High Island.  The winds had changed direction and I was hoping that some more warblers might be dropping in that afternoon.  The Anahuac NWR has a much smaller areas known as the Skillern Tract about 7 miles east of the main location and it was on the way to High Island so I decided to make a quick stop to see what I could find and very glad I did as I picked up 2 new life birds in a short amount of time.  These 2 new birds were Couch's Kingbird and Red-bellied Woodpecker.  Neither one of them sat still for any length of time, so the photos were slim, but still good enough for an ID.

 Couch's Kingbird

Red-bellied Woodpecker

After about 40 minutes in this location, I continued on to High Island.  Once again started at Boy Scout Woods to see what new birds were being seen.  While watched the drip area a Brown Thrasher made an appearance.  This was another bird that I can recall from many years back in Nebraska, but this time I got to capture a couple of photos.  They appear to love mulberries as well as the Gray Catbirds.

Brown Thrasher

Next up was a Philadelphia Vireo and another new life bird.  Took me a while to finally convince myself that I had identified this bird correctly, but the black line from the base of the bill through and beyond the rear of the eye was the key field mark.  And down in the muddy area below the vireo was a Northern Waterthrush.

Philadelphia Vireo

Northern Waterthrush

From the main entrance, I headed down the path to another pond with a drip set up and as I was walking the pathway I caught a glimpse of a small bird foraging in the leaves in some deep brush and I was kind of dumbfounded because I did not think I would find an Ovenbird on my own.  Always thought this was a bird that I was going to need some help in finding and it has been high on my list for a long time.  Well it got my attention and I followed it for some time trying to get photos as it foraged in the deep shade of the trees.

 Ovenbird

 Ovenbird

Ovenbird

Finally I left Boy Scout Woods and headed to Smith Oaks where I spent the last of my time.  Visited the rookery one last time and got a photo of a Great Egret with babies.  Also found a Blue Grosbeak male nearby as well.  At Don's Drip in Smith Oaks I sat there for about 15 minutes with about 4 others watching the drip for anything and not finding anything.  But I looked up and into the distance quickly found a bird I recognized from Arizona, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, which I quickly pointed out to the others that were sitting there.  

 Great Egret with chicks

 Blue Grosbeak

Olive-sided Flycatcher

I suppose the Olive-sided Flycatcher was the sign that it was time to think about heading back to my suite and start the packing process.  Probably good I left when I did, as my rental car had developed a slow leak in the right front tire.  I got back to Wnnie in time to get it repaired so I did not have a flat tire in the morning which probably would have made me miss my flight back to AZ.  Great place to visit for birding and I definitely want to go back and maybe catch some of the birds I missed.  However, there are many more places to visit as well.  If I had the time and the funds I would plan a trip like this at least once a month.  

Adios to Texas for now; next visit to Texas, will probably be the Lower Rio Grande River Valley.