The Merry Month of May

May brings even warmer temperatures and more migrants.  But it also signals that summer is soon to arrive with its blistering triple digit temperatures in Arizona.  One has to take advantage of the nice weather whilst one can!  And these blog posts need to continue as it won't be long and I will be embarking on a new adventure outside of the Unites States.  More details will be provided at the end of this post.  

One of my trips in May involved a journey into northern Arizona and an oasis in the desert east of Flagstaff.  This jewel of a birding spot, Meteor Crater RV Park, was new to me, but I had heard of it in the past as it seemed to bring in some really special migrants every year.  This spring was no exception, as an Ovenbird made its appearance, and an invite from Barb Meding to join her on quest to see if we could locate this bird.  Ovenbird is not a life bird for me as it is fairly common in eastern US, but I had never been able to add it to my Arizona state list.  What a great place to bird and the hosts are very welcoming to birders.  Go inside and ask to go birding and they point you to the doors in the back and into the great little oasis they have created.

 Ovenbird

A Bendire's Thrasher was also a bit of a surprise at this location.  I was not aware that their breeding range extended that far north. 

Bendire's Thrasher

On the way home, we spent a short time looking for the Gray Catbird that had been reported in the Flagstaff area.

Gray Catbird

In addition to this trip up north, I also made a couple of 3 day trips.  The first trip was to Rancho El Aribabi in Sonora, Mexico, to assist in leading the Tucson Audubon Society's field trip to this magical place.  The location is only about 35 miles south of the US/Mexico border and many of the bird species are common with Arizona, but a couple of species are a bit more prevalent and easier to see and hear, namely, the Sinaloa Wren.  Was able to get a photo and also made a video on my cell phone just to capture its rich melodic song.  Not much to see on the attached video, but you can hear it clearly.

Sinaloa Wren

Click on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2uuGb7mOJg

Video and audio file of a Sinaloa Wren.

Other birds and arthropods are shown below.

 American Rubyspot

 Broad-billed Hummingbird

Painted Damsel - Beautiful and a first for me!

 Bullock's Oriole-Hate feeder shots, but sometimes you have to take advantage.

 Olive-sided Flycatcher

Sonoran Spotted Whiptail

The second trip in May, was a trip to Greenlee County, Arizona, that I led for the Maricopa Audubon Society.  We spent 3 days exploring some of the birding spots in Greenlee County, which is the most under-birded county in Arizona, mostly due to its location along the far eastern border with New Mexico.  

 Cedar Waxwing

 Olive Warbler

Vermilion Flycatcher - Female

This is the third year in a row that a Yellow-throated Vireo has returned to the same location in Arizona in Yavapai County.  It really does not belong here in the summer, as their normal range in the eastern half of the US.  Of course I had to chase it to add it to my Arizona list.

Yellow-throated Vireo - Rare for Arizona

The rest of my exploration time in May focused on local places, including my 'patch' area (South Mountain Park), where I go hiking to get some exercise and see what all kinds of natural flora and fauna I can find.  

 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

 Adult Verdin with fledgling

 Loggerhead Shrike fledgling

White-winged Dove

Cordilleran Flycatcher

 Coyote

Antelope Ground Squirrel

Black-tailed Jackrabbit

 Springwater Dancer

Zela Metalmark

The month of May was a very busy, but a very rewarding month for getting out and exploring what nature has to offer in Arizona and Sonora.  

In July, I will be traveling to yet another international destination.  Obviously the focus of my destinations are centered around our wonderful avian friends in this world.  Ernie Welch and I decided on a trip to Ecuador this summer.  Ecuador is a country that is situated on the Equator and in size is about the size of the state of Nevada.  But it ranks high in bird species density; over 1600 species has been reported in this beautiful country.  Currently, my free time is spent in preparation for this exciting trip.  I hope to add a lot of new life birds to my list.    

   

Mogollon Rim - Epilogue

Sunday morning we knew it was our day to head back the ugly heat of the valley, but we also wanted to explore the area around the Tonto Fish Hatchery.  Chris had never been there and I always enjoy stopping when I have time.  After enjoying a great breakfast at June's Cafe in Heber, we took to the road and headed for the fish hatchery which is north and east of Payson.

The road to the hatchery itself is a beautiful drive with towering pines on both sides of the road interspersed with a mixture of deciduous trees.  Cordilleran Flycatchers were calling in several places and one of them came out and posed for us in the sunlight.  That does not happen often as this species usually hangs out in the lower to mid level canopy of the trees and is quite often a challenge to photograph in shady conditions.  

 Cordilleran Flycatcher

We also noted Virginia's Warblers calling, but getting a good look at them was quite a challenge.  Finally had one fly into a nearby tree, but it did not want to show itself, so I just raised the camera and focused on where it was and got lucky enough to capture one photo as it decided to take flight.

Virginia's Warbler

Shortly thereafter a Painted Redstart also made an appearance for us as well.

 Painted Redstart

Flowers and butterflies also entertained us as did this Zela Metalmark butterfly that was very attracted to this head of orange blossoms.  What is rather cool was that it had company on the flowers.  We knew the bee was there, but did not notice the small assassin bugs until I looked at the photos.

 Zela Metalmark - With some assassin bugs

Not a great photo of this damselfly which I believe is a Canyon Rubyspot damselfly.  But it was very showy with those red spots on the wings.

 Canyon Rubyspot damselfly

A great ending to a couple of enjoyable days of birding and I know these places will be spots that I return to in the future and I think Chris will as well.

    

Exit From the White Mountains

Sunday was the day to return to the Phoenix metropolis, but before we were to depart, we took out time to enjoy a breakfast at the Rendezvous Restaurant.  If one elects to dine at one of the tables outside, they can be positioned next to a hummingbird feeder.  Of course we opted for one such table and we were constantly entertained with at least 3 species of hummers coming in to the feeders; Broad-tailed Hummingbirds, Calliope Hummingbirds, and the tyrants of the feeders, Rufous Hummingbirds.  I was most interested in the Calliope Hummingbirds, which are the smallest birds to be found in the United States at only 3¼ inches in length.  I have only seen this species a couple of times in the past and never got any decent photos of a male.  Seeing the males with their striped gorgets in the sunlight was really quite spectacular and special.  Once again, I had to resort to a photo with a feeder in it, but that is better than none at all.  Arizona is an awesome place to visit if one is interested in seeing a variety of hummingbirds!  One can see more species in Arizona than in any other state in the U.S.

 Calliope Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

Although there were several Rufous Hummingbirds at these feeders, we also had one at our campsite that very aggressively defended the feeder that we hung from one of our trees.  

Rufous Hummingbird

And to add another bonus at breakfast, a Cordilleran Flycatcher was close by on the north side of the restaurant.  This is probably the closest I have been able observe one of these Empidonax flycatchers.  

Cordilleran Flycatcher

After breakfast, we headed back to the church camp area once again and it was very active this early in the morning.  We had visits from Mountain Chickadees, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Pine Siskin, and a Say's Phoebe that landed on a twig so close to me that I thought it would be too close to even focus on it for a photo.

 Mountain Chickadee

 Olive-sided Flycatcher

 Pine Siskin

Say's Phoebe

One more short trip to the Butler Trail head before heading out and we were blessed with more Cordilleran Flycatchers.  Once you get to know these birds, they quickly become very likable and always fun to see and observe.  They are part of a family of birds that can be tricky to identify, but the more one sees and hears the different species, then they become somewhat easier to identify.  

 Cordilleran Flycatcher

Cordilleran Flycatcher

Traveling west on Highway 260 we stopped off a small lake to see if we could find anything unusual.  Not much in the way of birds, but when we parked the car, we noticed some ground squirrels and we did happen to have a few peanuts with us.  They knew immediately what we had once we tossed a few their way.  They quickly ran out and grabbed a peanut and then ran under the shelter of a rock to start the feast.  A chipmunk also showed up and we made sure it got to take a peanut back to its burrow as well.  This is a good way to see the differences between ground squirrels and chipmunks.  Chipmunks have facial stripes, whereas ground squirrels do not.  Here is the Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel and the Cliff Chipmunk to compare.

 Cliff Chipmunk

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

And so our trip to the White Mountains came to an end, but none of us were disappointed in the whole trip.  Tommy stayed behind for another week with his family and had much more excitement during that time.  Such a great place that I think it deserves a visit every summer.