Bushnell Tanks Exploration

On May 26th, I decided to visit a spot that I had only explored once before and that was about 3 years ago, Bushnell Tanks, which is located on the opposite side of Sycamore Creek from Sunflower.  I don't recall much about my first visit, so maybe it was the time of the year that I visited that did not leave me with such a wonderful experience.  But this time it was much different and now I know that I need to visit this area more often.  I spent a total of almost 3 hours exploring this spot and hiked a total of 5.6 miles in the process.  (At least that is what my GPS app recorded on my phone; see last photos in this post.)  

The Brown-crested Flycatchers have returned for the summer.  This is a species that many new birders confuse with the more common Ash-throated Flycatcher.  They are very similar in appearance and have some minor visual differences, but those can sometimes be hard to tell when in the field.  Another aspect is to note the time of the year the bird is seen.  Brown-crested are migrants that return every year late April and into May and are usually gone by the end of September.  Ash-throated can be found throughout the year in Maricopa County.  But the best way to identify the differences is by learning their songs and calls.  And at this location in the spring and summer, both species occur making it so easy to listen to the different calls and songs.  And this trip presented this once again to me. 

Brown-crested Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher

The flycatchers were well represented as I also found both Western Kingbirds and Cassin's Kingbirds.  These 2 species can also confuse many new birders, but once again, the songs will set them apart and in the case of the 2 kingbirds, there are enough visual things to look for to tell the difference, such as the white outer tail feathers of the Western Kingbird.  No other kingbird has outer white tail feathers.

Cassin's Kingbird

Western Kingbird

During the entire time on this excursion, I was constantly under the watchful eyes of a pair of Zone-tailed Hawks.  If they had a nest in the area, it was out of my views and mostly likely very well concealed in one of the many sycamore trees.

Zone-tailed hawk

Zone-tailed hawk

A pair of Warbling Vireos were apparently having a warbling match to see which one could sing the loudest; but do not think a winner was declared this time around.

Warbling Vireos

One of the the day's most colorful birds happened to be the Summer Tanager.  This is a bird that I always love to see each and every spring.  The male and its bright red mantle of feathers is such an eye-opener, but the female is no slouch either in its covering of golden-yellow feathers.  At least this time she showed off a bit better than the male by perching in the sunlight.

Summer Tanager - Male

Summer Tanager - Female

Lucy's Warblers were probably one of the most numerous species of birds in this location as they were singing everywhere.  Oftentimes this bird just appears as a dull gray bird, but they do possess a couple of patches of a brick-red coloration; one on their rump and one on the top of head.  Many times those markings are not well seen.

Lucy's Warbler

Lucy's Warbler

The bird the won the award for the least well groomed was a very vocal and loudly singing Blue Grosbeak.  He was definitely trying to call in a female, but not sure what his luck was going to be this year as he had a lot of new blue feathers still missing for the breeding season.  I do not believe I have ever seen one of these beautiful birds in such a dull coat of feathers.  But maybe by now, it has shed all those dull feathers and it sporting a nice bright blue covering of feathers.

Blue Grosbeak - molting

Blue Grosbeak - molting

Other photos of note include a honeybee on a nice white thistle flower, an Ornate Tree Lizard on a rusty pipe. a Tiger Whiptail Lizard, and a beautiful purple flower that I believe is a species of spiderwort.

Honeybee

Ornate Tree Lizard

Tiger Whiptail

After spending 3 hours with all of this beauty and wonder, you know I will be returning to this place in the future.  After all, it is a great place to get in a good hike and some great solitude with some incredible wonders of nature.  And just to show the distance, here is the final reading on my GPS app showing distance, time and elevation irregularities.  

My hiking route - distance and path I took

Hiking route with time and elevation measurements

This is definitely one of those places that needs to be explored a bit more in the future.

Huachuca Canyon, Day 2 - 16 April 2013

After being blown around on Monday by the gusty winds, Larry had an appointment with another couple to go back to Huachuca Canyon again on Tuesday morning, and they invited me along.  And since we were planning on leaving early, we hoped to miss the afternoon winds from the day before.  So, with Jan and Dave joining us, we headed back and explored the canyon once again and this time we found a little more diversity on the birds.  The highlight of this trip was a Red-faced Warbler, which was a new bird for both Jan & Dave.  I have seen a couple before, and have never gotten very good photos in the past.  I did succeed a bit better on this viewing with photos; still not great, but much better than the past.  This is a warbler that is usually found at elevations above 6000' in habitats of conifers mixed with oaks and is a summer breeder in primarily Arizona and New Mexico.  To many birders in the US, this is a very sought-after bird as it is unique when compared to all the other warblers.  Its markings and coloration is very distinct.

 Red-faced Warbler

 Red-faced Warbler

 Red-faced Warbler

Red-faced Warbler

Another bird that we saw was the Arizona Woodpecker which is one that can be found in the southern and eastern areas of Arizona.  Still looking for a good photo of one as this one did not stick around long enough for photos.  Just gives me another excuse to travel south once again! 

Arizona Woodpecker

We also had a couple of similar looking Myiarchus flycatchers.  There are 3 species in this family that can be found in Arizona in the breeding season with a 4th species that has recently been documented as breeding in Arizona for the first time and maybe a first for the United States, the Nutting's Flycatcher.  But the 3 more common species are the Ash-throated, the Brown-crested, and the Dusky-capped Flycatchers.  Not always easy to tell one from the other, especially for novice birders, but as one sees them more and more, one learns  their calls and that is most generally the best way to identify them.  On this day we had both the Dusky-capped and the Brown-crested.  I was able to identify both by their calls as confirm the ID's.

 Brown-crested Flycatcher

Dusky-capped flycatcher

Last photo is one of a new butterfly for me, an Arizona Hairstreak Butterfly.  This was a fairly small butterfly, but I thought it to be quite beautiful.  This all ended my trip down south as I headed back to the city suburbs and rested up for a couple of nights, then headed north to higher elevation and above the Mogollon Rim.  What a contrast!  Future blogs will definitely show the difference.

Arizona Hairstreak Butterfly

  

Boyce Thompson Arboretum, 7/21/2012.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum (BTA) just happens to be one of my most favorite places in Arizona.  I loved this place the very first time I visited it a few years back and try to get there as often as possible.  This place along Highway 60 about an hour east of downtown Phoenix is a place that you never know what you might find.  Of course, their specialty is the horticulture and plant displays that abound in this area; desert, low mountains, riparian stream bed and even a small lake.  With all that variety it also attracts many birds and a lot of unusual other life forms, the latest being Desert Bighorn Sheep, (which I was not fortunate enough to find on this last outing).  This latest trip I arrived early without too many other visitors yet at 6:00 am and as I started down the main path from the visitor's center, the first bird that made an appearance for me was a pair of Brown-crested Flycatchers.  These birds are very similar to the Ash-throated Flycatchers that tend to be a bit more common and have a larger range than the Brown-crested.  This day I saw more Brown-crested than Ash-throated and have noticed that the Brown-crested have recently fledged young in the Arboretum.  Here is one of my very first photos of the day that really set the tone.

Brown-crested Flycatcher

As I worked my way up to Ayer Lake, I was able to find a Bronzed Cowbird, some Phainopeplas and some Lark Sparrows, along with a Great Blue Heron on a rock cliff at the lake.  One of the Lark Sparrows and a male Phainopepla allowed me to get a 'twofer', 2 birds in the same photo. 

Bronzed Cowbird



Phainopepla & Lark Sparrow

Great Blue Heron

As I continued on the path up into the drier and rocky areas a Black-throated Sparrow made an appearance and bit further down the walkway a couple Canyon Wrens were being very vocal.

Black-throated Sparrow



Canyon Wren

Continuing on the main trail which led down to the stream bed, a Bell's Vireo made an appearance.

Bell's Vireo



I eventually made it to the area of the Demonstration Garden where I found a very vocal Yellow-breasted Chat, a Blue Grosbeak, and a young Broad-billed Hummingbird on one of the feeders.

Yellow-breasted Chat



Blue Grosbeak



Broad-billed Hummingbird

The most numerous bird at BTA on this day were the Lesser Goldfinches as they were everywhere including bathing and drinking in the water fountains. They adore sunflower seeds, so it is not unusual to see them on sunflower seed heads and the bright yellow of the male goldfinch really matches the sunflower quite well.

Lesser Goldfinch



Probably the highlight of the morning were the newly fledged Cooper's Hawks.  The resident pair succeeded in producing two chicks this year and you could hear them in the trees.  I first saw them in the Australian eucalyptus trees and later when I was visiting one of the bird baths watching some Lesser Goldfinches bathing a drinking, one of the adults flew in and when that happened the goldfinches disappeared and shortly afterward the 2 young hawks came in and posed for me. 

Cooper's Hawk





Cooper's Hawk



BTA is a fabulous place to visit, so if you are ever in Arizona and love nature, a visit to this place is definitely worth it.  You will not regret it.  To learn more of Boyce Thompson Arboretum please visit their website at this link

http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/

They have many activities throughout the year and they have something for the whole family to enjoy.



 





Sycamore Creek

Never wanting to waste a weekend day off and missing out on a new adventure, today was a day that I ventured to a relatively new birding spot for me.  Sycamore Creek is an amazing stream bed that flows to the south and west basically along the same directions of the Beeline Highway, Highway 87.  The place I took on today is not well marked, but it proved to be a great choice when all was said and done.  Got some photos on some great birds that I did not have before.  The best experience was a Canon Wren that landed on a dead tree snag just a short distance from me and sang like there was no tomorrow.  Stayed there for the longest time and allowed plenty of photo ops.  This bird is my favorite Wren.  I think it is one of the most attractive and also has the most distinguished song that is unmistakable and not one too easily forgotten.  As someone else mentioned to me a few months back, this bird maybe should have been chosen as the Arizona State Bird instead of the Cactus Wren.  Nothing wrong with the Cactus Wren, but at least the Canyon Wren is found throughout the state where the Cactus Wren is not.  Some might agree and some might not.

  Canyon Wren

Actually the first critter that I found was not a bird, but a beautiful doe deer and she struck a nice pose for me that I found attractive.  Can't argue with wildlife beauty in any form.

Early on in the hike down Sycamore Creek I ran across many of the common species of birds that I see quite frequently on my birding adventures and today I found this Anna's Hummingbird sipping nectar from flowers that did not even look big enough to have nectar.

Anna's Hummingbird

Shortly after the Hummingbird a Western Tanager flew in from the left and actually landed on a branch in full sun to show off its handsome colors.  This is probably the best photo to date that I have taken of this species.  Love it when they return for the summer.

Western Tanager

The Brown-crested Flycatcher is very similar to the Ash-throated Flycatcher, but not quite as common.  Sometimes they are best identified by their songs.  Today I was able to capture my first photo of this species.  This photo is not perfect, but it does help to define some of the subtle differences in the two species.  The Brown-crested is about an inch larger than the Ash-throated, but if you are only seeing one bird in the field, sometimes size comparisons are a mute point.  In this photo it is easy to notice the more extensive yellow below that is not as extensive and bright on the Ash-throated Flycatcher. 

Brown-crested Flycatcher

One of the most common birds today was the Lucy's Warbler.  They were everywhere and could be heard singing their songs long before I could spot them.  Like most warblers, they are very active and spend a lot of their time in the trees without making themselves too visible.  One male decided to show himself  to me briefly in the open but a bit of a distance away so I took a chance on a photo and got one that is good enough to show off the reddish cap that is found on males.

Lucy's Warbler

Other birds I found but did not get great photos are listed below, including the always colorful Lazuli Bunting.

Lazuli Bunting

Curve-billed thrasher

Cliff Swallows on a Cliff!

An added benefit to all these birding excursion is that sometimes the scenery is also incredible.  This last photo just happens to have a Turkey Vulture soaring the thermals nearby.

Turkey Vulture and Mountain