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 Grasslands and More

This past week, I had the privilege of searching for Arizona birds for a person that has been birding for more than 50 years and has a life list of of over 6400 species.  Peter Bono and his wife Elaine, made a stop in Arizona on their way to Mexico and had contacted me through Birding Pal.  Believe it or not, he was missing 3 species on his life list and was hoping I could assist him on these 3 species.  It is a bit intimidating to be trying to help find life birds for a person that already has almost 5000 species more than myself.  His life list targets were Baird's Sparrow, a species that I had only seen once before and that was almost 7 years ago, Cackling Goose and Sagebrush Sparrow.  The latter 2 species, I felt would be a bit easier than the sparrow as they usually winter in Maricopa County and there had been solid reports of them in the recent weeks.

Our first full day, we headed out early to southeastern Arizona to search for the Baird's Sparrow.  We arrived at our destination right around sunrise and we stationed ourselves in one spot to let the birds get acclimated to seeing us in their habitat.  After checking out many sparrows, we finally zeroed in on a Baird's Sparrow, which is a good looking sparrow!  A couple of them were kind enough to pose for photos. 

 Baird's Sparrow

Baird's Sparrow

As mentioned earlier, other species of sparrows were present; Grasshopper, Savannah, and Vesper A well as several Eastern Meadowlarks.  So it was a great opportunity to observe the finer details in sparrow identification.

 Grasshopper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Eastern Meadowlark

From here we headed to Madera Canyon and the Santa Rita Mountains.  Madera Canyon is one of my favorite places in Arizona and I never get tired of birding there. 

 Hammond's Flycatcher

 Hepatic Tanager

 Painted Redstart

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

The next day, we birded in and around the Phoenix area.  Was able to get the Cackling Goose at Glendale Recharge Ponds, luckily I had my scope to zero in on them as they were quite a ways out in the water.  Next stop was the Thrasher Spot where we were able to get the Sagebrush Sparrow, which is a bird he did not have due to the recent split of the Sage Sparrow.

Sagebrush Sparrow

We then headed back to the eastern part of the valley to do some birding, and on the way I was able to locate the returning winter resident dark-morph Ferruginous Hawk.  I think this is the first time I have been able to photograph in in sunshine instead of cloudy skies.

Ferruginous Hawk - (dark-morph)

Now that his 3 lifers had been confirmed, we started working on birds to add to his Arizona list, so a stop at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve and other various spots were in order.

 Chestnut-sided Warbler

 Hooded Merganser - Female

 Orange Crowned Warbler

Wilson's Snipe

We also visited the backyard of a resident that has an awesome back yard for birds.  He was kind enough to allow us in to spend some time and we were hoping for the Ruddy Ground-Dove that has been visiting his back yard.  It took about 1½ hours before it made its appearance, but it finally did.

Ruddy Ground-Dove

It is rather satisfying to be able to assist a person in adding some new life birds to their list, especially when they are approaching the 6500 number.  In retrospect, it is an educational opportunity to fine tune my skills on birds that I do not see that often.  Sparrows can be so challenging, but the more one is exposed to them, they getting easier to identify for any future sightings.  

     

Wisconsin The Final Post

I could probably make at least 2 more blog posts on my trip to Wisconsin, but instead I am going to attempt to wrap it up in one last post.  This might be a tad long, and will have a lot of photos, but I need to move on to more birding adventures.

Finally it was time to return to the Manitowoc area, but before we did, we wanted to visit a spot that some others had recommended to us when we were at Horicon.  So we found our way to the Sandhill Wildlife Refuge just north of Necedah.  What a great little jewel this place was and it is grossly under birded.  We had heard from these people that it was a great place to see Golden-winged Warblers and that was one species that had eluded us so far.  But that changed quickly at this location.  This bird hybridizes quite easily with Blue-winged Warblers.  And as the BWWA's range has expanded northward, the GWWA's range is shrinking and their numbers are falling.  That is not a good option in the scheme of the avian world.  What a handsome warbler!

As we were driving the road, I finally got my first visual look at a Black-billed Cuckoo, another new life bird.  It was rather surprising that this bird was not as elusive and skittish as the Yellow-billed species found in Arizona.  

After catching fleeting glimpses and hearing Veerys at other spots in Wisconsin, we finally had a couple of them cooperate with us and allowed some photos.

Ovenbirds and American Redstarts were numerous as well.  

A couple of butterflies from this spot:

 Northern Crescent Butterfly

White Admiral Butterfly

Next stop on the way to home base was the Buena Vista Grasslands/Marsh area.  In the winter this location is a good spot for Short-eared Owls, but this time of year, not so much.  So we settled for some birds of the grasslands such as this Grasshopper Sparrow.

Grasshopper Sparrow

We discovered another Least Flycatcher after finding one the day before at Necedah.

Least Flycatcher

Apparently this area is probably good for Greater Prairie Chickens as well after seeing the signs that are posted throughout the area.  

Finally we headed back to the Manitowoc area and made one more stop at the Manitowoc Impoundment where we detected a Great Black-backed Gull.  This bird was a lifer for me earlier in the year when Tommy and I made a visit with Josh to the Canal Park in Duluth, MN.  This one was much closer and allowed for a better photo.

 Great Black-backed Gull

The next day was one of local travelling and checking out the shores along Lake Michigan and surprisingly, Chris spotted another unusual gull and it turned out to be my last life bird on my trip; A Lesser Black-backed Gull.  

 Lessser Black-backed Gull

The birds around water are constantly on the move and are ever changing in diversity.  This day belonged to the Bonaparte's Gull.  We had well over 100 of these birds and this is actually the first time I have seen one in adult breeding plumage.

 Bonaparte's Gull

 Flock of Bonaparte's Gulls

 Bonaparte's Gull

Common Grackles were aptly named as they were very common.  When presented in proper sunlight, they sparkle and look very attractive.

 Common Grackle

Other critters seen  at various spots.

 Crayfish

 Garter Snake

 The beach on Lake Michigan

Red Admiral Butterfly

Finally it was time to head back to Chicago to catch my flight home.  It was bittersweet and ominous as well. because the temperature forecast in Arizona the day after I returned home was 120° F.  That was not something to look forward to.  So on the way back to Chicago, I made one last stop at the Richard Bong State Recreation Area in Wisconsin just north of the Illinois border.  Did not find any new species, but enjoyed seeing a pair of Sandhill Cranes with 2 young in the grass.  Bobolink males and females made a great showing along with a Gray Catbird and I finally had a Common Yellowthroat perch in the open long enough to capture a couple of photos.

 Sandhill Crane

Sandhill Crane with 2 colts in the grass at lower left.

 Bobolink - Female

 Bobolink - Male

 Common Yellowthroat

Gray Catbird

I ended up with 21 new life birds on this trip.  Missed a few target birds, but got the two rarest birds and plenty more.  Wonder where my next adventure will lead and how much closer can I get to the magical number 700 life birds?