Birding in Prescott, Arizona

On Sunday 2 February 2014, I teamed up with Jason Morgan and headed north to the areas of Prescott and Prescott Valley to do some birding.  Jason along with a couple others were getting some very nice photos of the Common Goldeneye.  This duck is quite spectacular in appearance and while I have seen them many times in the past, the birds were always at quite a distance and my photos always left a little to be desired.  My goal was to try and get a better photo than I had in the past, so our first stop was Yavapai Lake and I was not disappointed.  Amongst the 100 or so Ring-necked Ducks were at least 6 male Common Goldeneyes and a single male Canvasback, which was a bonus to me.  Had to search a different spot, Fain Park to find the females.

 

 Common Goldeye - Male

 

Common Goldeye - Female

 

Canvasback - Male

 

While we did not linger too long in Fain Park, we did find some other cool waterfowl including a female Lesser Scaup and some Common Mergansers of which the females were the only ones that I could approach close enough for photos. 

 

 Lesser Scaup - Female

 

Common Merganser - Female

 

During our brief visit we were witness to one of Mother Nature's events in the survival of birds, a raptor capturing another bird for its daily existence.  In this case, it was a Cooper's Hawk that captured a Western Scrub-Jay.  Typically, jays are notorious for finding the location of a raptor and then sounding the alarm to other birds by sending out alarm calls to let others know of the raptor's location.  In this case the Cooper's Hawk got the jump on them and once the victim had been captured, the rest of the Western Scrub-Jays really did a lot of scolding to no avail.  Yes, is a bit disturbing to see this, but this happens daily in nature and we could only revel in what we had just witnessed.

 

Cooper's Hawk with prey, a Western Scrub-Jay

 

Our next destination was going to be Watson Lake and this is where we had agreed to meet up with another Facebook birder, Cynthia White.  She knows the Prescott area well and we were very happy to meet her and actually get the chance to do some birding with her.  Watson Lake was covered with waterfowl and it was mindboggling to try to count the various ducks.  A couple of highlights were actually raptors that were putting on a show for us.  The first was a juvenile Bald Eagle that was being harassed by a couple of Common Ravens.  But this eagle really seemed unperturbed by all the commotion and continued to ride the thermals and in fact at one time they were flying almost side-by-side.  For those that are reading this and are a bit confused by the coloration of the Bald Eagle, this is a juvenile.  It takes about 4 years for a Bald Eagle to obtain its complete white head and tail and dark brown body, which is the vision most people think of when they hear Bald Eagle.  A good example in showing that identifying birds can be a bit confusing, especially to new birders and to non-birders. 

 

 Bald Eagle - Juvenile

 

Bald Eagle and Common Raven - (note the size difference)

 

We also had a Northern Harrier put on quite a show for us as it was flying over the reeds in the lake hunting for prey.  A one point it landed on a tree snag and gave us really good close up views of this winter visitor to Arizona.  This bird has an 'owl-like' appearance to it, but usually is hard to see as these birds rarely pose close for photos and for viewing.

 

Northern Harrier

 

Once we finished our walk around Watson Lake, we then discussed our other options and I had heard that a Tundra Swan had been reported a few days ago at Willow Lake and we agreed that since we were in the neighborhood, we should at least stop by to take a look.  Thanks to Cynthia for knowing how to get there quickly and finding easy access parking.  We got out of our vehicles and I noticed a white mound that kind of looked like a white rock or maybe a white piece of trash out in the lake.  We all looked a little close and decided it might be the swan with its head tucked under the wing taking a nap.  We quickly made out way to the lake edge and the closer we got, I knew we had found our target bird, the Tundra Swan.  I had really never seen a swan in the wild before, but I knew they were big and when we got to looking at this one and noticing the company it was keeping; Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, and American Coots, then I realized how huge these birds really are.  This one never took flight for us, but it think it would be an amazing sight to see these birds take to the air.

 

 Tundra Swan

 

Tundra Swan

 

In our (or was it my?) obsession to get closer to the swan to try for photos, I observed another unusual bird flying towards us; a White-tailed Kite!  I have seen this bird before a few times in Maricopa County and was rather surprised to see one in this location.  We made a note of where it might have went and once we finished our business with the swan, we headed in the direction of where we thought it might be and once we got around the large cottonwood tree, we found it perched in another shorter tree.  We took a couple of distant photos and as we tried to approach it to get closer it took flight again and it put on a 'kiting' show for us where it would hover in flight without moving forward.  This was especially rewarding as I found out that this bird was a life bird for both Jason and Cynthia!  While my photos leave a lot to be desired, they are at least good enough for an ID if needed.  Cynthia managed a very nice in-flight photo when we first discovered this bird.

 

White-tailed Kite

 

This turned out to be a great day for all three of us with Jason getting 3 life birds and Cynthia and myself 1 each.  This is definitely a spot that I need to visit more often and I encourage others to do so as well.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Havasu - (Arizona's west coast)

Most people with any knowledge of Geography, will say 'How can there be a West Coast in Arizona?'  That would be a very valid question, but to many birders in Arizona, the Lower Colorado River Valley is oftentimes referred to as Arizona's West Coast.  The border with Nevada and California is basically water in the form of the Colorado River and the various lakes and dams that are found here.  This is a place where a huge variety of birds can be found in Arizona, but hardly no where else in the state.  It is a bit of a drive from the urban setting of Phoenix, but well worth the drive to add birds to a personal list.  A scope is a very important necessity if one wants to really benefit from the addition of new species.  I was contacted by a couple of excellent birders that very kindly invited me to join them on a 1 day trip to the Lake Havasu area, Tommy DeBardeleben and Mark Ochs.  It is always a pleasure to join both of these birders as I seem to gain a wealth of knowledge and get some new life birds. 

 

One of our first stops was the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge Overlook where I picked up 3 new life birds, Barrow's Goldeneye, Greater Scaup, and White-winged Scoter.  The Scoter was too far out for photos, but thanks to both Tommy and Mark and their scopes, I was able to still get a good look of this bird, which completed my list for all 3 species of Scoters in the United States and also in Arizona.  The Barrow's Goldeneye is a bird I have long had on my want list.  The Common Goldeneye is much more common and can be found in other parts of Arizona in the winter and on Lake Havasu, it was easily the most common of the 2 species.  But with careful observation, a few Barrow's Goldeneyes were in the mix and the drakes of both of these species are stunning.

 

Barrow's Goldeneye

 



 Barrow's Goldeneye on top & Common Goldeneye below

 

The Greater Scaup is a bit more of a challenge.  Lesser Scaup are also very common in much of Arizona in the winter, but the Greater Scaup is not easy to find and to identify as both species are very similar to the untrained eye. 

 

Greater Scaup-female

 

Most of the Western Grebes were far out in the lake, but eventually, one of them decided to trust these 3 humans on land and sailed close enough for a better look, maybe to check out our crowns. (That can be seen at the end of this post!)

 

Western Grebe

 

While we were checking out all the waterfowl, we were treated to a fly-over of the rare Blue-footed Booby that has been there for some time and also a couple Bald Eagles including this adult. 

 

 Bald Eagle

 

The next stop was a place called Mosquito Flats over a rough and rocky road about 2 miles off the highway.  We had one bird in mind when we came visiting this spot.  A couple of years ago a bird that is usually found only in southern Mexico, was found by 2 excellent birders in the Lake Havasu area, Lauren Harter and David Vander Pluym. This bird is the Nutting's Flycatcher and they have been monitoring this bird now for over 2 years and they discovered that a 2nd one had joined the first.  Then just this last spring they discovered that this pair had bred and raised a couple more in this same area.  This is a remarkable find and even more remarkable to find and document the first breeding of this species in Arizona.  This bird belongs to the family of Myiarchus flycatchers and many of these birds are similar in appearance, but their calls set them apart from each other along with some variations in size and other visual differences.  We spent a great deal of time looking and listening for this bird and finally heard it give out 3 very distinct call notes on the north side of the road, so we knew it was there somewhere in the dense vegetation.  We spent time going in and looking and finally came back out on the road and waited and watched some more.  We were spread out a bit and I happened to hear a flutter back behind me on the south side nearer to the high cliff and looked around and there it was.  It did not take long for all 3 of us to get great views of it and we observed it as it moved from one tree to another.  Unfortunate part for me was that I had left my camera in the car, so by the time I got it and back, the photo opportunities were not that great, but I did manage to get at least one fairly decent photo of this 4th new life bird.  It was just exciting watching this bird's behavior.

 

Nutting's Flycatcher

 

At another stop along the eastern shoreline of the lake where we made a brief stop, we found a Common Loon fairly close to the dock.  Not a life bird by any means, but always a nice find in Arizona and then to have one fairly close to the shore is a big plus.

 

 Common Loon

 

Finally we come to the gulls of Havasu.  Once a person sees the amount of gulls in this area, it does remind a person of being on a coastline somewhere.  Of course the most common gull found here is the Ring-billed Gull.  They are usually seen at various lakes within the state of Arizona, but at this location they probably number in the hundreds or maybe even the thousands. 

 

Ring-billed Gull

 

But along with the regular gulls, this location at times gets some rarities and this time we had two 1st year Herring Gulls which is a hard bird to find in Arizona.

 

Herring Gull, 1st year

 

On this day we also discovered an unusual 1st year gull, which Tommy decided was probably a Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid.  After consulting other experts we think the general consensus is this rare hybrid. 

 

 Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid

 

 Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid

 

Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid

 

What a great day of birding and the 3 Phoenician Kingbirds finally left Lake Havasu with a lot of memories and photos.  (Obviously, we received a lot of strange looks from others while we were wearing our crowns!  Might as well have some fun while we are birding!)

 

 Mark and Tommy

 

Tommy and yours truly