Maricopa County Has Awesome Birds!

Southeast Arizona most generally gets all the attention for the best birding in Arizona and rightfully so.  After all, that area is located near to the border with Mexico, and it is expected that some of these Mexican specialties wander north over the border and into Arizona.  But at the other end of the spectrum, Maricopa County which is further north, has its share of some pretty awesome birds. It does get its share of northward wandering Mexican birds as well, just not as regular as southeastern Arizona.  The county also gets some pretty amazing northern and eastern migrants that can whet the appetite of many birders.

Recently, I was invited to join Barb Meding and Jeanne Burns to head a little ways north of town of Carefree and look for Grasshopper Sparrows which had recently been reported by a team of birders participating in a CBC (Christmas Bird Count). We had decided to make a day of it and explore various other locations in the vicinity as well.   First was the search for Grasshopper Sparrow in the desert grasslands and we found them (at least 4).  This is a bird that is not too commonly found in Maricopa County, and we had to endure looking at a lot of White-crowned Sparrows to find these rather cool and interesting sparrows.

 Grasshopper Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow - backside

2 Grasshopper Sparrows

Rufous-crowned Sparrows and a Sage Thrasher also rounded out this area along the recently paved road.

 Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Sage Thrasher

Next stop was the Seven Springs Campground area.  We arrived to find a wedding had been scheduled for the campground, so we did not have a lot of time to explore, but we were able to find Cassin's Finches feeding on the many Juniper berries.  

 Cassin's Finch - Male, munching on juniper berries

Cassin's Finch - Female, also feeding on juniper berries

Our final stop on the way back to civilization was Lower Camp Creek.  We had seen reports of a Louisiana Waterthrush and a Golden-crowned Kinglet from that location, so those were our target birds.  The kinglet was actually quite easy to hear and it showed itself well.  It is rare for this species in these lower elevations, but this year seems to be a bit of an irruption year for it.  It can be notoriously hard to get photos of this bird, and this one offered me the best views ever for this species.  

 Golden-crowned Kinglet

Took a bit longer to locate the Louisiana Waterthrush.  We could hear it giving its single note 'chick' call, but getting on it was a bit tough.  And it got tougher as I happened to spy a Pacific Wren down near the water, which had not been reported and it too, is a hard bird to find in Arizona due to their secretive habits.  It is always fun to find an uncommon bird to add to the list for others to locate. 

 Pacific WrenWren

After getting over the distraction of finding the Pacific Wren, we were able to finally get some views of the Louisiana Waterthrush. They can often be confused with the Northern Waterthrush, but one of the key identifications is the white supercillium, or eye-brow.  These photos show how wide it is all the way back behind the eye towards the nape of the neck.  Northern Waterthrush has a similar marking, but it tapers to a very thin line in the rear.  This is a species I had only had seen very well once before.  This sighting is great as it provides a learning experience for me. 

 Lousiana Waterthrush

 A couple more birds we saw at this location was a Hutton's Vireo and another Sage Thrasher.  Both species are always great to see.  

 Hutton's Vireo

Another Sage Thrasher

What a great day of birding with a couple of really good friends, so I was in good company.  Finding the Pacific Wren was really great so we could add to the list of uncommon birds at this location.  Several other birders have chased the Pacific Wren since our report and found it, so you know it is a desirable bird.  Maricopa County really has some great birding of its own and birders need to take note that not all special birds are found in southeastern Arizona.

  

  

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.

   

White Mountains of Arizona

After my return to Arizona, I had the privilege to escort a birding friend from New York to the White Mountain area of eastern Arizona.  A trip to this area in the middle of summer is always welcomed.  It is a great place to escape the unbearable heat of central Arizona and also a fantastic place to see some really cool birds that cannot be found in the lower elevations amidst all the heat.

Ernie Welsh and I met on the same trip to Chiapas, Mexico, last July.  Those kind of trips are awesome in the fact that one meets other birders from other parts of the country and it is nice to know these people as they can assist in finding birds in their own turf if one should ever decide to visit.  Ernie is an accomplished birder and was approaching the mystical number of 800 on his life bird list.  So the pressure was on for me to help him hit that magical number.  Our route to the Greer area took us through the communities of Pinetop/Lakeside where I knew we could most likely find a Lewis's Woodpecker, which was one of Ernie's target birds.  Just driving on the main highway through town, Ernie quickly spied a Lewis's Woodpecker.  We got amazing views of it, even though we were parked on a busy street.  We then headed to Woodland Lake Park, where I figured we would get much better views and they did not disappoint us.  A rather unusual colored bird, especially for a woodpecker, but one this is highly sought for many birders. 

 Lewis's Woodpecker

Pygmy Nuthatches seemed to not be concerned with us as well.  They were bold and brazen while feeding just a few feet from us in some low bushes.

 Pygmy Nuthatch

In Greer we were treated to a Red-naped Sapsucker that also seemed unconcerned about us and was busy tapping away on these saplings along the Little Colorado River.

Red-naped Sapsucker

Gosh I love Golden-crowned Kinglets!  They are such a nice treat to see especially having seen many of their counterparts, the Ruby-crowned Kinglets in the winter.

 Golden-crowned Kinglet

Bridge over the Salt River between Globe and Show Low.

After checking out both the East and West Forks of the Little Colorado River in Greer, and srriking out, we finally made it to Sheep's Crossing at the Old Baldy Trailhead in the search for an American Dipper.  Congratulations go out to Ernie when he spied one flying down the river and in the process, we also discovered they had a nest under the bridge.  They were making forays to the river to find food for the babies in the nest.  This bird was number 800 for Ernie on his life list and I was happy to be with him to celebrate the occasion.  Even went so far to write it on the rear window of my vehicle for documentation purposes!

 American Dipper

American Dipper nest and babies.

And here is the traveling billboard!

When we got to South Fork, just west of Eager, we found a bit of a surprise.  As we were walking the road we found a couple small birds flitting around in trees overhead.  Once I got my binoculars on them, I realized that they were American Redstart juveniles!  (This can be determined by the small patches of dark feathers in the chest area.)  Normally this is a bird that I see in Arizona in migration and casually in winter.  All the range maps of this species indicate it breeds much further east.  The general western limit of its breeding range only extends to the far eastern part of Texas and the eastern part of the United States.  To see juveniles in Arizona at this time of year indicates they were hatched in AZ.  After returning home and consulting the Arizona Breeding Atlas, it appears there has been a history of this species breeding in this area in Arizona irregularly since 1936.  But has been some time since any evidence had been discovered,  It is experiences like this that goes to show how the study of birds is an ongoing and fact finding of research.  Every little bit of data collected and notated, is immensely helpful to the trends of avian knowledge.  

   

 American Redstart

One other bird that caught my attention was this Brown-headed Cowbird with food in its beak.  Normally not much to ponder with most species as it would appear it is fetching food for some nestlings.  However, since this species is a brood parasite and it lays it eggs in the nests of other species for the unsuspecting other species to raise, it should not have a nest of babies to feed.  Quite puzzling to me, but I am sure there is a logical explanation for this.

 Brown-headed Cowbird

Another life bird for Ernie was this pair of Clark's Nutcrackers.  

 Clark's Nutcrackers

This Townsend's Solitaire was also a welcome sight at the river where it took a bath.

 Townsend's Solitaire

This was a much needed short break to an area of the state that I dearly love.  And to see all the diversity of these different birds is always exciting.  I think I assisted Ernie in getting about 6 or 7 life birds on this trip.