Navajo County NAMBC 2014

Saturday morning arrived and we were up and on the road early as we had a lot of ground to cover.  This year, we were assigned some different areas; Twin Springs near Heber, Zeniff agricultural area, and then several spots in the Pintop/Lakeside area.  This is the second year for me taking part in the Navajo County NAMBC (North American Migratory Bird Count).  This is a day where the main focus is to count every bird one sees or hears at your designated spots within the county.  So photography and photos were secondary on this day.  Since we were birding in places at over 7000' elevation and there was a stiff wind out of the southwest, in spots it was quite chilly.  The winds also kept many birds low and hiding and made the counting a bit more difficult. 

At Twin Springs, a small spot off Highway 260 and FR122, we found a couple of Olive Warblers. Before this year I had only seen 3 Olive Warblers, but now this year I have seen 4 of them.  This is a bird that is not found on a regular basis in the United States outside of the states of Arizona and New Mexico.  Always a treat to find and see and I call it the warbler with a Zorro mask.

Olive Warbler

Olive Warbler

In the Zeniff area, the only photo that I able to get was one of a Horned Lark.  They were quite plentiful in the area along with both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks, a Bullock Oriole and several others.

Horned Lark

From there we headed east and south to the Pinetop/Lakeside community where we have several spots to visit.  The first was Jacques Marsh, which was a new spot for me.  Rather tricky finding the way into this area but quite the spot for birds associated with water.  On this day, the wind made the birding a little more difficult as the wind gusts were quite strong, up to 35 mph.  It is quite an extensive area with several ponds of water and lots of marshy areas.  I discovered a small flock of Canada Goose that included a leusictic one (a genetic mutation that occurs resulting in partial absence of melanin).  It occurs with some regularity in birds, but unfortunately many of the bird born with this fail to live to adulthood.  An odd colored one in a flock is an easier target for predators to focus on.  

Canada Geese - one leucistic

Canada Geese - one leucistic

We also had several Cinnamon Teal in this area and they are pretty darned close to being one of the best looking ducks around.  I have always found them a bit skittish and not always easy to capture in photos but at least one of them cooperated to some degree for me.

Cinnamon Teal

And Yellow-headed Blackbirds were in abundant numbers at this location.

Yellow-headed Blackbird

At Woodland Lake Park, we expected to see Lewis's Woodpeckers and were not disappointed. This is one of the most reliable spots to find this oddly colored woodpecker with its pinkish belly and its red facial patch.

 Lewis's Woodpecker

Lewis's Woodpecker

A Northern Rough-winged Swallow took some time out for a rest from the normal incessant flying like most swallows.  

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

At Billy Creek Trailhead we had several smaller birds including a Acorn Woodpecker and a Mountain Chickadee.  This is a spot that will need more attention in next year's count.

 Acorn Woodpecker

Mountain Chickadee

Also near the trail head and the residential area, an Abert's Squirrel attempted to hide from us by blending in with the branch of a tree.  Those ear tufts are quite an eye catching look.

Abert's Squirrel

We had a totally enjoyable day of birding and counting, even with the strong winds, so it was back to Heber for the night and a glass of wine for the evening.  The next day we were to head home, so we got up early to go to breakfast at one of the best little cafes around and found out they were not yet open, so with about 10 to 15 minutes to kill, we headed to the Navajo County Park in Overgaard and it was lucky that we did as we got to witness a fairly large flock of Pinyon Jays moving through.  Must have been 40 to 50 of them and I was finally able to get a photo of one of them to add to my photo gallery.

Pinyon Jay

Anytime one ends a birding trip with a Pinyon Jay is ending with a great bird!

   

New Mexico Adventure - Part 2

After the descent from Sandia Crest, Chris and I headed for the Rio Grande Nature Center which was highly recommended by Linda Rockwell.  This place did not disappoint; cannot imagine what it would be like in spring or summer with everything showing up green.  One of the first eye-catching birds we found were Wood Ducks.  Obviously not a new bird to either one of us, but one that is not abundant in Arizona and one that I have never been able to obtain decent photos.  This time there were a lot of them and this place has an inside viewing area that is really awesome.  But even outside the Wood Ducks could be seen easily and this duck has to be one of the most beautiful ducks in the United States.  Even the female is very stunning. 

 

Wood Duck - Female



Wood Duck - Male



 Wood Duck - Pair

 

Of course we found other birds while exploring this great spot including Black-capped Chickadee, White-crowned Sparrows, Canada Goose, and new bird for me the Cackling Goose.  The chickadee is not a new bird for me as they were common in eastern Nebraska, but pretty rare in Arizona, so they were a welcome sighting.  The Canada Geese approached us fairly closely as we hid behind the blinds near the ponds and allowed some up close photos.  The Cackling Goose is one that I honestly never looked for very hard as they can be a bit difficult to pick out in large flocks of Canada Geese.  But when I glanced out at this pond, there were 3 that just had a different look to them and it was clear that these were Cackling Geese.  (Note the short stubby bill compared to the Canada Goose.)

 

Black-capped Chickadee



 White-crowned Sparrow

 

Canada Goose - Close-up



Cackling Geese

 

After leaving this wonderful spot and since it was about mid-afternoon, we headed north through some residential areas near the Rio Grande River and we amazed at the Sandhill Cranes foraging in the small fields along the streets.

 

Sandhill Crane

 

Our next destination was the Alameda Bridge over the Rio Grande River to finish out the day.  We walked the canal on the west side of the river and then worked our way back along the bank of the river.  The area along the canal turned out to be an interesting walk with some interesting birds.  We found ourselves in the midst of Bluebirds and what was unique was we had both Western Bluebirds and Eastern Bluebirds in the same area.  What a great way to see both so close together and see the differences in the two species. 

 

 Eastern Bluebird

 

Western Bluebird

 

Also in this same area we happened upon a Downy Woodpecker.  This is another bird that I was familiar with in Nebraska, but in most of Arizona it is replaced with the Hairy Woodpecker, so it was another pleasant surprise to find this bird in New Mexico. 

 

 Downy Woodpecker

 

Downy Woodpecker

 

Once we started back along the river bank we had a few Ring-billed Gulls take flight and offering a few in-flight shots.

 

 Ring-billed Gulls

 

Ring-billed Gull

 

The final photo on this post is obviously not a bird, but a mammal and I was quite excited to see.  As we were walking through the trees towards the lot where we had parked, Chris and his sharp eyes looked up and said "What's that?" and pointed up to where a ball of fur was resting on a branch.  Immediately, I knew it was a Porcupine even though I had never seen one before.  Obviously it was resting and we did not want to disturb it, so we settled for photos of it in its afternoon slumber.  What a cool find and always exciting to see something new which is another one of the benefits of exploring nature.  What is really spectacular is the fact that we found another one on the way back to Linda's home for the night.  Having never seen a Porcupine before and then seeing two in the same day is quite remarkable.  What a splendid ending to an awesome day!

 

 Porcupine

 

Porcupine

 

So far we have had an amazing 2 days of birding and with more to come on day three.  Stay tuned for part 3.