Arizona's Last Frontier - Part 1

Greenlee County, in far eastern Arizona, was the only county that I had not yet visited in Arizona.  Guess that qualifies it as my Last Frontier in Arizona.  This county is the most under-birded county in the state and it is Arizona's second smallest county and the smallest in population.  This county borders New Mexico on the east and is sandwiched between Apache and Graham Counties on the north and south, and is located in a very remote area.  Highway 191 that runs north and south is a very good highway, but once one heads north from the mining town of Morenci, it is slow driving on a mountainous stretch that is full of twists and turns, but the vastness of the area is stunningly beautiful.  Deserts in the south and mountains in the north.  It may be Arizona's second smallest county, but it is still larger in area than the state of Rhode Island

Good birding buddy Tommy D., and I decided to do some birding in Greenlee County as it was a place I had always wanted to visit but had never made it there in the past.  Tommy has been there recently in the past and knew where a lot of hotspots were located.  We planned our visit to coincide with the Global Big Day where eBird takes a snapshot of all the bird sighting data on one day of the year throughout the world. Since it is a very under-birded location, all of our reports for May 13 would get Greenlee County represented in the Global Big Day.

The first full day was a trip to the northern part of the county and it was a very full day.  Highway 191 is a very good road, but it is not a road one can travel very fast on due to the many twists and curves and switchbacks.  Once you head north from Clifton, you travel through the mining community of Morenci where one of the world's largest reserves of copper is located.  This is an interesting ride and it is hard to imagine the enormity of this mine until you drive through in daylight.

This day was spent in the higher elevations and with that type of habitat, many of our birds and other critters consisted of the types of animals that favor those habitats.  At one point as we rounded a curve, we had a Black Bear in the middle of the road and it took off running and disappeared into the brush on the side before I could get my camera ready.  The photos below are indicative of what we found up north.  We even venture to the isolated community of Blue, Arizona, which has a post office, a school and a library and in 2000, it had a population of 36 people!

Red-faced Warbler

Swainson's Hawk - This was one of my first birds in Greenlee County and this photo was taken late in the afternoon as we arrived on Thursday.

 Small but fascinating Aker Lake where we had American Three-toed Woodpecker and Purple Martin.

 American Three-toed Woodpecker

Click HERE for a link to a video of the woodpecker and its drumming.

Purple Martin

 Arachne Checkerspot

 Arachne Checkerspot

Common Black Hawk - They were seen in several places.

 Common Ringlet

 Dainty Sulphur

 Dusky-capped Flycatcher -We found 2 of them at the Upper Blue Campground, which was further north than previously reported for this species.

Click HERE to a link to a video of the Dusky-capped Flycatcher where it can clearly be heard calling.

Golden-crowned Kinglet - Hannagan Meadow Campground

 Greater Pewee - Blue River

 Marine Blue Butterfly

 Mountain Bluebird - Near Aker Lake

Friday was a very long day due to the distance we traveled and the many stops we made.  We were secretly hoping for Dusky Grouse in one o the many places we visited.  Habitat was very good, but the pesky grouse were not meant to be.  Stay tuned for part 2 of this adventure and my initiation to Greenlee County.  There is much more to come, including Saturday which was the Global Big Day.

   

Granite Reef & Sunflower - 21 April 2013

After all my travels from that week off from work, I was finally home on Saturday and a very good birder friend, Muriel, contacted me and asked me if I would like to go to Sunflower birding on Sunday since the last time we were there, we missed out on the Common Black Hawk.  I had already been thinking about going to Granite Reef on my own as I knew the Bullock's Orioles had returned.  So we decided to combine the 2 destinations and off we went early on Sunday morning.  The first stop at sunrise, was Granite Reef, and I was not disappointed as the Bullock's Orioles were easily found.  This is a bird that has always eluded me in photos (at least clear photos) and this time wasn't much better as they love the very tops of the trees and are often hidden by small twigs of foliage.  I did manage a much better photo this time around and am happy with the results.  But there is always room for improvement.

Bullock's Oriole

My goal was filled so off we headed to Sunflower and what a great idea this was.  The road in was particularly very birdy and we spent a long time walking along the road. We also found Muriel's target bird, the Common Black Hawk.  We first spied it on the east side of the road back among the trees and in poor lighting.  But then it decided to make our day and flew to the west side of the road on a clear open perch.  Yes, it was fairly high up in the tree, but still a great view of the magnificence of this bird.  We later also discovered its mate in another tree in a nest.

Common Black Hawk

There were lot of other birds happening about the same time, including a fly-over by a Zone-tailed Hawk and a Red-tailed Hawk.  Summer Tanagers had returned and were singing from every direction.  Turkey Vultures were sunning themselves in the cool of the morning air.  One of the most unexpected finds was a Cedar Waxwing that Muriel spied, while I was concentrating on a Vermilion Flycatcher nest.  Almost too much happening at once.

 Zone-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

 Summer Tanager

Turkey Vulture

 Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing

With all this activity, we had a hard time deciding to continue the walk on the other side of where the road is closed for vehicle travel, but so glad we decided to continue our walk further up the road.  And it was definitely worth the extra walking.  We discovered the Zone-tailed Hawk nest with presumably the female sitting on the nest.  

Zone-tailed Hawk nest--you can see a head and part of the tail

The trees were alive with singing Yellow Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  The Yellow Warblers are returning migrants and the Yellow-rumped Warblers (Audubon's), are migrants thinking about heading north, but a few of them were sporting their bright breeding plumage.  And to top it off, another oriole was seen; this one being a Hooded Oriole.  Really made my day to get 2 oriole species.  In addition to all that color a very handsome Violet-green Swallow thought we were safe enough to stay perched for good looks from us.

 Yellow Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)

Hooded Oriole

Violet-green Swallow

While we were making our return walk to the car and the parking area we had a friendly encounter with a fairly large Gophersnake (at least that is what I think it is). Growing up I remember my father catching these reptiles back on the farm and then releasing them in places to control the rodent population.  This one was quite long, about 3½ feet long and very nonchalant.  It was not at all aggressive or agitated with us in any way.  If fact, it had pretty much disappeared by the time we regained our composure and was retreating into the grass before I could think about photos.  If you ever get to Sunflower and run across this beautiful reptile, just let it know that Gordon and Muriel said 'Hi'!

Gophersnake as it slithers away.

What a great day of birding and some wonderful birds.  And I can thank Muriel for suggesting the trip and she just happens to be the person that has taught me just enough about photography to help me get a few good photos once in awhile.

  

Sunflower, AZ - 16 Mar 2013

After leaving Mt Ord, we wanted to stop and check out Sunflower, AZ which is not much more than a dot on the map, but yearly the Common Black Hawk has been nesting here along with Zone-tailed Hawks which nest a bit further up the stream.  First bird we saw soaring high above was a Zone-tailed Hawk, so that answered the question about whether or not this species had returned.  We had read a report the day before from one of the residents of Sunflower that mentioned that one of the Common Black Hawks had returned.  They also mentioned that the 2nd bird normally arrived a few days to a week later.  As we walked down the road we quickly found the one that had returned, perched in a tree, unfortunately on the back side of the tree not giving us the best photo ops.  Soon it started calling and we looked up in the sky and found a 2nd one circling and riding the thermals.  We thought maybe the mate had returned, but as they called back and forth to each other and the 2nd bird never came in for a landing and eventually kept going north, we decided that maybe this might have been 2 males and the one the trees was defending its claimed territory.  We will never know for sure, but it was quite wonderful to observe.

 Common Black Hawk

 Common Black Hawk

Common Black Hawk

While we were watching this spectacle, we also noticed a pair of Red-tailed Hawks riding the thermals above us in the sky.  I had never witnessed 2 of them flying so close to each other and after looking at my photos at home, I noticed that one of them had it legs and talons extended while in flight.  This is not a normal soaring behavior, so I decided to read up on the their breeding and courtship behavior and it seems the male of this species will often do this in courtship display.  Learn something new every day!  (Obviously it is not hard to see where this bird got its name!)

 Red-tailed Hawk

 Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Since we found our 2 target birds, we did not spend much more time there, so photos were concentrated on the hawks. We did discover an unusual and rare bird along the road.  A very skittish Eastern Phoebe was found and would not let us approach it very closely to get good photos.  It is not unheard of in Arizona, but this state is usually not where most of them migrate to.  Every year, maybe about a dozen or so show up in the state in the winter months.  So when they are found, it is highly recommended to try and get documentation.  While my photo leaves a lot to be desired, it is still good enough for a positive ID as it was also dipping its tail in the classical phoebe style.

Eastern Phoebe

And last but not least, a nice male Phainopepla made himself look very attractive in the afternoon sun.

Phainopepla

What a way to finish off the day with these 3 incredible and beautiful hawks and an Eastern Phoebe as well.

  

Sunflower. AZ

Sunday, June 10, 2012, Ellen once again joined me on a trip to Sunflower, AZ.  Sunflower is not really a town per se, but a place with a few inhabitants and some awesome scenery and great birding.  We had heard that a pair of Common Black Hawks were nesting in the area.  They have nested there in past years so it seemed appropriate to see if they were back.  The Common Black Hawk is not too common in the United States being found only in the US southwest.  It is more common in Mexico and Central America and it feeds mostly on many aquatic animals such as fish, frogs, etc., so it seems a bit strange to find them in desert habitats, but they usually nest in trees along streams.  We found the nest, thanks to one of the local residents and were able to observe parents bring food back to the nest.  Below is a photo of an adult bringing in some food and the 2nd photo shows the fuzzy back of the head of one of the chicks.

Common Black Hawk

 

Common Black Hawk with chick



Further up the road we also found the returning Zone-tailed Hawks and they also have a nesting site, but too far away from the road to discern if there were any chicks.  What a protective and possessive pair of parents!   They saw us coming from a distance and immediately let us know that we were infringing on their territory with their screams and flying overhead from one side of the canyon to the other. 

Zone-tailed Hawk



Further up the road we found a Blue Grosbeak actually on an exposed branch and they are always a delight to find.  And a bit further up the road from there we had a Summer Tanager give us some good views.  And shortly after that we got a Yellow Warbler to expose himself a bit so we were able to complete the circle of the 3 primary colors:  Blue, Red, and Yellow.

Blue Grosbeak

Summer Tanager

Yellow Warbler



Another very common bird in this area is the Bell's Vireo, a rather drab gray bird that is most generally secretive, but very vocal.  They have one of the easiest songs to identify if you are a novice birder.  The trees were full of these wonderful little birds.

Bell's Vireo



We had been seeing Violet-green Swallows all day as they darted here, there and every where in the pursuit of insects in the air, but on the way back down the road we noticed one fly to a large tree branch and discovered a nest cavity with baby heads sticking out.  We watched for some time as both parents made frequent visits to the nest to feed their young.  What a great time of the year to discover not only the hawks nesting but also the swallows nesting as well.

 Violet-green Swallow

We had seen many Hooded Orioles in our adventure, but it was not until the last that one of them actually sat long enough on a distant Saguaro Cactus that I was finally able to capture a photo of this very colorful bird.

Hooded Oriole



These are but a few of the many birds we found in this small area and it is another great birding location for those that enjoy watching these marvelous creatures in their native habitat.