2015 - A New Year

It feels like I have deserted my blog site, but that is far from the truth.  Due to an unplanned and unforeseen visit by an influenza virus, I virtually have not been able to get out birding since Christmas.  This past weekend was the first time I have been able to get out and about and this was after the gift of Mother Nature dropping in and giving Arizona a taste of winter.  Truly not as serious as other parts of the country, but to Arizona standards, it was cold.  Saturday morning, I bundled up and headed for the Lake Pleasant area, just to see what I could find on my own.  While I did not come away with any photos, being able to add the Common Loon to my Maricopa County list was long overdue and I actually got to see 2 of them.

 

So Sunday morning, I headed out to a couple of spots in the east valley along the lower Salt River.  A stop at the Granite Reef Recreation Site, gave me my first thrasher for the year and surprisingly, it was not a Curve-billed Thrasher which is the most common species of thrasher in Arizona.  I was serenaded by a Crissal Thrasher singing high from the top of a salt cedar.  Not a bird to always give great views or photo ops, but maybe it is a good omen for another good year of birding.

 

Crissal Thrasher

 

From the bitter cold of Granite Reef, I then headed to Butcher Jones Beach on Saguaro Lake.  Secretly, I was hoping that the Surf Scoter might still be present, but alas, this was not the case.  That's not to say it was not on Saguaro Lake as it could have been far out into the main part of the lake.  So I spent my time observing the water birds and trying to get some photos of one of my favorite ducks, the Bufflehead which is the smallest duck in the U.S.  The males are stunning and when the light hits the iridescent feathers on the head, you get to see a rainbow of colors.  Being diving ducks, they were constantly diving and photos at times proved to be a bit of a challenge.  Just as you are ready to trip the shutter they would dive, so here is a series of photos showing the various moments.

 

 Bufflehead - Male

 

 Bufflehead - Male

 

 Bufflehead - Male

 

 Bufflehead - Male

Bufflehead - Male

 

 Bufflehead - Female

 

Bufflehead - Female

 

Had a few Eared Grebes also playing diving games.  Usually the Bufflehead and Eared Grebes do not linger close to shore and allow people to approach very close, but on this day they seemed to be a bit more accommodating to me and my camera.

 

 Eared Grebe

 

 Eared Grebe

 

Eared Grebe

 

This has recently always been a good place to find a Common Gallinule.  They are a bit more interesting than the dozens of American Coots that are located here.

 

Common Gallinule

 

As a walked part of the trail a couple of female Northern Cardinals kept me entertained on some cholla cactus.

 

Northern Cardinal

 

Of course a couple of Ring-billed Gulls were making the rounds as well.

 

Rig-billed Gull

 

Before I left the area, I did a quick walk around the picnic area to see what might show up.  A Gray Flycatcher and a Gilded Flicker were nice additions to my daily list.

 

 Gilded Flicker

 

 Gilded Flicker

 

Gray Flycatcher

 

Probably the most enjoyable experience in the picnic area was my encounter with a Greater Roadrunner.  Not a rare bird by any means, but this one was quite the character for me.  I first saw it strolling through the grass about 30 yards away,  So I snuggled up close to one of the mesquite trees and watched it and was taking some not-so-great photos since it was so far away.  As I stood perfectly still, it turned in my direction and slowly made its way toward me.  Of course it knew I was there as it could here the clicking of the camera.  It finally got to within 10 feet of me, eyeing me and it was so close, I could not fit the entire bird into my camera frame.  I talked softly to it as it checked me out and once I felt that I had intruded enough on its turf, I slowly turned around and walked slowly away.  In checking back, it was not at all alarmed and did not take off running.  As I was driving out of the lot, it stopped one more time on a mound of earth for one last photo.  It is moments like this that I feel sometimes that I have connected with nature and a memory that I will never forget.

 

 Greater Roadrunner

 

 Greater Roadrunner

 

 Greater Roadrunner

 

 Greater Roadrunner

 

Greater Roadrunner

 

Might not have been any of the rarest or uncommon birds, but just getting out and connecting with nature was very uplifting.  Definitely not a wasted day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

  



Tres Rios Wetlands - 16 Dec 2012

Ellen and I were supposed to take part in a CBC (Christmas Bird Count) in Payson, AZ this past weekend and due to snow in the Payson area, it got postponed, so instead we opted to go out to Tres Rios Wetlands once again and walk the entire 2½ miles out and back for a 5 mile hike to see what we might find.  This place is an amazing spot for birding with lots of birds everywhere you look.  We had only been there about 10 minutes when some birding friends also arrived and joined us in our walk, Scott and Fonda Christopher.

 

On this trip, the Sora was probably our best showing bird.  It is a bird of the marshes and spends most of its time in the reeds and rushes and are more often heard than seen.  Of all the Rails, it is probably the one seen most often, but even then, they are usually quite secretive and do not often make themselves visible.  On this day we had 2 of them put on quite a show for the 4 of us and we all observed their nervous habit of flicking its tail.  It was fun to be able to capture some photos of these birds.

 

 Sora

 

Sora

 

With such a diverse amount of bird life in this place, it was not hard to find more birds to photograph.  Other birds that were quite plentiful were Song Sparrows, Marsh Wrens, and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We also found a couple of Loggerhead Shrikes, which are always an exciting bird to find and watch as they perch out in the open looking for their next meal, almost like a miniature raptor!

 

 Song Sparrow

 

 Marsh Wren

 

 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

Loggerhead Shrike

 

And just to add challenge to the photography, of course I had to try my hand at 'in-flight' shots of some of the birds that were constantly on the wing.  These included 2 Osprey, (1 with its catch of the day and 1 in search of its catch of the day), a Northern Harrier, constantly soaring low over the area in search of a meal, and another American White Pelican.  This is one of the best places to find this species in Arizona.  We saw over 50 of these birds in the sky over Tres Rios that day.  This pelican has a wing span of about 9 feet so they are very impressive when flying over.

 

 Osprey

 

 Osprey

 

 Northern Harrier

 

American White Pelican

 

The water birds include the Common Gallinule (an adult and also two juveniles) and a male Cinnamon Teal, which is one of the best looking waterfowl in Arizona.  Also had a Great Egret fly onto the road where we were walking, so it appears just a little out of its element, which of course is the water.

 

 Common Gallinule- adult

 

 Common Gallinule-juvenile

 

Cinnamon Teal

 

Great Egret

 

And to keep things interesting, we did see a small herd of Javalina running on the other road and they were not stopping, so the best I got was a rear end fading into the foliage.  Always nice to try to add a photo of something other than an avian species.

 

Javalina

 

What a great day the 4 of us had.  We did miss a couple of birds we were looking for, but the cooperative Soras made up for our misses.  Thanks to Ellen, Fonda and Scott for making it a great outing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Tres Rios Wetlands - 23 Nov 2012

Kind of exhausting when one has a long weekend to go birding.  With all the birding excursions I completed in the 4 days off for Thanksgiving, I have not had time to create any posts to my blog.  Will have to work on that this week, before the next weekend arrives.  My idea of a Black Friday is to go birding!  So on Friday, Ellen joined me once again on a trip to the Tres Rios Wetlands and we had Ann Givey join us on this trip.  Remember that to go birding at this location, a permit is required, so don't attempt to go birding out there without your permit.  Marsh Wrens were making their presence very well known by their constant singing and this time many of them were actually coming out of the reeds and we got several really good looks at them early in the morning. Most generally this is a bird that I hear quite often, but they rarely allow glimpses of themselves. 

 

 Marsh Wren

 

 Marsh Wren

 

Another bird that we encountered early on our adventure was a Black Phoebe perched on one of the fence wires, but actively hunting for the first insects of the morning.  We also watched at least 3 Belted Kingfishers during our walk and as usual, all of them did not allow any close-up photos; they always like to keep their distance!  An early morning Loggerhead Shrike pretty much ignored us and let us take a good look and allowed a photo or two.

 

Black Phoebe

 

Belted Kingfisher-Male

 



Loggerhead Shrike

 

We also had a couple of juvenile birds make their presence known; a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron and a juvenile Common Gallinule.

 

 Black-crowned Night Heron

 

Common Gallinule

 



Birds in flight is always a challenge and on this day the best shots came from the American White Pelicans and a female Northern Harrier.  The pelican has a wing span of about 9' feet, which really fills up the sky and it is one bird you can't miss in flight!

 

 American White Pelican

 

Northern Harrier

 



Will be going back soon to this location as I have promised a few others to join me in checking out this amazing place.



 

 

 

 



Tres Rios Wetlands-Again, 27 May 2012

What to do with a 3 day weekend?  Take advantage of the 3 days and go birding every day to a different location.  Weather was very nice with cool nights and warm days so after the Saturday trip to Sycamore Creek, decided it was time again to check out Tres Rios once more before the summer heat arrives.  Started off the day with a visit with the Burrowing Owls on Burrower's Row, (see previous post) which was done mostly from inside the vehicle.  Then it was time to get out and do some walking.  The west side of Tres Rios is birding by permission only and one has to get prior approval for parking near the gate and then venturing to the west area behind the closed gate.  So with one copy of my permission slip on the dash of my car and one copy in my pocket I headed out once again to explore the area. 

One of the first birds that I photographed was a Peregrine Falcon.  While these raptors are fairly common in the winter in Arizona, it was a bit of a surprise to find one still here at this time of the year.  Many, but not all, migrate to far northern climates for the summer.  And for the first time, I found one that was fairly approachable and allowed me to snap a couple of shots of it.  Their facial pattern is quite remarkable and they look so regal perched up high.

 Peregrine Falcon

Killdeer are so common and seen just about everywhere and really like to be heard.  Many times it is easy to ignore them, but they do some strange things at times maybe to just get attention.  This one was calling to make sure I heard it and then it would run a bit and stop to see if I was watching.  Then it would run a bit more, but this time it decided to try and hide behind a rock, thinking that I was not going to see it, but it did not fool me.  They can be so entertaining to watch their antics.

Killdeer



For those that think we do not have waders in Arizona, I just had to capture a photo of a Great Blue Heron.  These are really very common in Arizona, even though Arizona is part of the Sonoran Desert.  They can be found just about anywhere where there is water with fish.  This area in Tres Rios has a large population of these birds and in fact they even have a tree with a rookery of several nests that raise several young every year.  As this one shows, they quite frequently perch in trees.

Great Blue Heron



Also near this area I found several White-faced Ibis.  Most were easily spooked, but this one was hanging out with some Black-necked Stilts and allowed a bit more time for some photos.  It is a bird that can easily be confused with the Glossy Ibis, but the red eye is a sure sign of a White-faced Ibis.  The white face is evident on breeding adults.

White-faced Ibis



Just a bit past the spillway area is a small area going down near the river and the vegetation is very thick, so I just stood there watching the activity in the trees and during this time I was able to capture a photo of a Song Sparrow and also a Lazuli Bunting.  The bunting is a bird that is so colorful that they just try to make it difficult to those that want to take photos of them.  This photo is not bad, but would have loved to capture a front view with the cinnamon breast band.

Lazuli Bunting



Song Sparrow



Two more photos to round out this outing; one of an Ash-throated Flycatcher and the other of a Common Gallinule.  The flycatcher is a common bird in the summer in Arizona and have a subtle beauty to them even though they are not strong on bold colors.  The Common Gallinule was formally know as the Common Moorhen.  The name change took place just one year ago.  While they look a bit like the American Coot, they definitely have a bit more color to them.  They have already bred here in Arizona as I did see several chicks, but the ever-attentive parents quickly got the chicks to take cover when I approached too closely.

 Ash-throated Flycatcher

Common Gallinule



Will need to make some future trips out there again in the future, but with the heat starting to built for the summer, the trips will become less numerous until the fall night time temps start falling.