New Directions

Since finishing my 'Maricopa Big Year' in December, I have thought long and hard about the direction I was heading to continue my birding adventures.  I have definitely decided, no more big years for me.  It feels too much like a job and since I am now retired, a job is not what I want to begin again.  I want to enjoy the birds and revel in the beauty and behavior and learn more about them.  Along with that process, I have also started to admire and extend my interest into many more aspects of nature.  So expect to see a more diverse listing of other critters on this blog in the future.    One thing I have come to realize is the fact that many birding adventures are not the most physical and are lacking in exercise.  Granted, there are some chases that do require some good physical exertion such as a couple of trips to Slate Creek Divide last year.  But many hunts are more vehicle driving and then leisurely walking to easy spots.  

The past few weeks, I have been pushing myself to get some good physical exercise and much of it has been done on some hiking trails in South Mountain Park.  First and foremost, it is for the health aspect for me, but secondly, it will allow me to take trips out of state to chase some birds that cannot be found in Arizona.  Currently have a couple of upcoming trips on my slate.  Local birding has been fun and I would like to share some of the fun I have had enjoying local birds in the past few weeks.  Also know that long winded posts most times go unread, so I try to keep them short and add lots of photos.  After all, its the photos that most people enjoy seeing.  

A trip to Lost Dutchman State Park got me a nice Bendire's Thrasher and a Northern Mockingbird. 

 Bendire's Thrasher

 Northern Mockingbird feeding on Mistletoe berries

A visit to the Gilbert Water Ranch is always a great way to capture some great photos and is never a disappointment.

 Black-crowned Night Heron

Cinnamon Teal showing some of its colorful wings

 A very cooperative Green Heron

 Least Bittern

An elegant Northern Pintail drake

A handsome drake Redhead taken during the Greater Phoenix Waterbird Count.

Redhead

A trip out west to the White Tank Mountains Regional Park, was quite enjoyable.  Had never visited the place before and was taken in by its beauty and nature.  Besides having a lot of Canyon Towhees in the park, I came across something I never expected in a desert canyon; a snail!  I have always associated snails to be found in wet damp areas or water, but this one was found on a trail at an elevation of 2200' and no running water or pools of water anywhere close by.  Temperature was around 50° F.  It had rained about week prior to my visit and some areas of the trail were damp.  I was so intrigued that I posted this find on iNaturalist.org and also tried to do a little research on my own.  I discovered that there are an estimated 200 species of land snails in Arizona and most of them are fairly unknown and researched due to their limited ranges and hiding until enough rain or moisture brings them out from under rocks.  This one does not have a common name, but its scientific name is eremarionta rowelli.  Probably only found in the White Tank Mountains west of Phoenix.  

 eremarionta rowelli

Canyon Towhee

From the White Tank Mountains, I headed south to some ag fields near Buckeye where a Trumpeter Swan had been reported.  This was definitely not a common bird for Maricopa County, so it was nice to find it and add it to my county list.  

 Trumpter Swan

Cattle Egret

And a stop at the White-tailed Kite location not far from the ag fields and I was able to find the pari in one tree.

White-tailed Kites

One last stop that day took me to the Glendale Recharge Ponds to see if the Long-tailed Duck was still there.  It was and this time I was there by myself and it really let its personality shine for me.

 Long-tailed Duck

There were a few other stops during this time as well.  I also visited Pima Canyon Wash several times in the past few weeks and have had some really great experiences with some of the local birds.  Have enough to do a separate blog post to cover those instances.  So you can look forward to another post in the near future.  

Willcox and Lake Cochise

On Sunday, March 1, 2015, I headed down to the southeastern area of Arizona with Magill Weber riding along.  We were headed to Cochise Lake near Willcox, AZ to try our luck at locating a Red Phalarope that has been reported by many in the past week.  This is a bird that breeds along the Artic shores in the summer and spends its winters at sea; a rather rare bird inland.  I had seen only one of these birds once before and it was in the Pacific Ocean in 2013 about 20 miles out from Half
Moon Bay, California, so to have one show up in Arizona it is quite remarkable.  This would be a great bird to add to my Arizona list and I think Magill felt likewise.  So this was our target bird for the day an it did not take long to find it spinning around and back and forth in the water, foraging like phalaropes normally would.  At first it was a bit far out for photos, but we moved to another side of the lake and it eventually worked its way a bit closer for some identifiable photos.  Obviously this bird is not in its colorful reddish breeding plumage at this of the year, but still a remarkable bird none the less.

 

 Red Phalarope

 

Red Phalarope

 

One other bird dominated the landscape all around Cochise Lake; the Sandhill Crane.  Parts of Arizona is the winter home for this magnificent bird.  Arizona does not draw the biggest concentrations of them and I have seen them just about every winter in Maricopa County west of Phoenix as a small flock winters there.  A much larger concentration accumulates a bit further south from Willcox at Whitewater Draw and that place draws many birders to see them.  We were stunned by the sheer numbers in Willcox; we counted well over 1500 which brought back fond memories of Nebraska where they congregate along the Platte River in central Nebraska in the early spring every year and they number in the hundreds of thousands.  This was definitely impressive to see and hear and they actually allowed a bit of a close approach. 

 

 Sandhill Cranes - Need I say more?

 

 

As we work our way around the lake, I got to see my find Cinnamon Teal of the year.  (Yeah, that is kind of sad when I have them only about 6 miles from my home in Mesa at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve!)  I had to drive all the way to Willcox to see my first of the year.

 

Cinnamon Teal

 

We then made our way to the pond by the golf course where we found a stunning breeding plumage male Ruddy Duck.  Not a plumage we see too often and that blue bill really looks out of place, but also adds to its good looks.

 

Ruddy Duck

 

As we were driving out to head back a home, we were fortunate to have an Eastern Meadowlark sitting on a fence post and did not take off like most of them do when approached by humans.  We just stopped the car and enjoyed the view with the sunlight showing off its bright yellow chest.

 

 Eastern Meadowlark

 

 

We spent only about 1½ hours before we headed home, but it was a very productive day of birding in such a short time span.  Definitely worth the trip. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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!

   

Sweetwater Wetlands - 13 April 2013

After my visit to Sabino Canyon and my 10 miles of hiking, I decided to check into my motel and rest up and then check out Sweetwater Wetlands in the afternoon.  Located just off the I-10 freeway in northwestern part of Tucson, this place is known to be a hot spot for birding and many rarities have been seen by many in the past.  Although I was not able to find any rarities on this day, I did manage to have a couple of birds that apparently wanted to make my day by giving me long looks and allowing a lot of photos.  

The first was a Cooper's Hawk that decided it was bath time and chose the small stream near the parking lot.  Apparently this is a resident bird and it has put on this show for many other birders before me.  It has both legs banded; the right with a green band and the left with a silver band. When your camera is set up to auto-shoot, it is quite easy to have dozens of photos before you know it and this was the case here.

 Cooper's Hawk

 Feels good to reach that itch!

 "Let's see what I can find under the water!"

"Time for a breath of air."

 "Can you hear me?"

"Time to dry out and look pretty!"

The other bird that made my day was a Sora, which belongs to the family of Rails.  Most Rails are very secretive and rarely show themselves by hiding in the dense reeds along waterways.  They can quickly disappear once they feel threatened.  I spotted this one peeking out of the reeds and so I just froze and let it come out on its own and slowly it waded along the water's edge and gave me a great view and I was captivated for at least 10 minutes of observation and photo opportunities.  At one point it stretched its wings and then ruffled its feathers.

 Sora--Just starting to come out of the reeds.

 Wow!  Look at those feet that we almost never see.

 Time to pose and reflect

 Let's stretch those wings.

And a final ruffle of the feathers.

At one point on the pathway, I did encounter a Rattlesnake, but only got to see the last 12" or so of it slithering into a brush pile.  Just a reminder to always watch where you are walking when you are enjoying the great outdoors.  Other birds that caught my eye were a Cinnamon Teal, a Ruddy Duck, and a Red-winged Blackbird.  All 3 were males and showing off their finest colors to attract the ladies.

 Cinnamon Teal

 Ruddy Duck

Red-winged Blackbird

The last photo is paying tribute to one of the beautiful females in the avian world, the female Vermilion Flycatcher.  I found this lovely lady in the parking lot of my motel.  Always nice to stay where the birds also like it.  (Can't say that I enjoyed the 1:15 am wake-up by someone pulling a fire alarm though!)

Vermilion Flycatcher--Female

This is how day one ended and the next day was something totally different with some different habitats and I had the pleasure of birding with another blogger, Kathie Brown.