Changes of Fall

September is the start of mellowing temperatures in Arizona.  Yes, it can still be very hot, especially during the day, but the as the nights start becoming longer, the nighttime temperatures, start to drop which create for some glorious mornings for birding.  September is also a great month to find migrants as they filter through the state on their south-bound journey. 

When one thinks about migrants, it is warblers that most generally come to mind.  We have several species that migrate through the state of Arizona.  Some of them actually spend their winters in Arizona, so we get the pleasure of seeing and hearing them all winter. 

Hermit Wabler - This bird is strictly a migrant in spring and fall and most generally are found in higher elevations during migration, but occasionally they can be found in some desert habitats such as this one that I found in South Mountain Park in a dry desert wash.

Nashville Warbler - Fairly common in migration and can possibly be seen in all types of habitats.

 Orange-crowned Warbler - This is one of the species that will over-winter in many spots in Arizona.

 Orange-crowned Warbler - Note the tidbit that it has found as it forages.

Chestnut-sided Warbler - This is a fairly rare bird as its range is normally the eastern part of the United States.  However, there are a few reports every year in the fall/winter in Arizona.  I found this one at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve in October, but it did not stay the winter.

'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler - This is our most common warbler in the winter in Arizona.  It is the first warbler that I was able to identify by its chip note. They are very abundant just about everywhere in the state in the winter.

Warbling Vireo - This leads us to a different group of birds, the vireos.  This is a fairly common bird, but not always accommodating for photos.  I was happy to get this one to pose for me for a brief moment.

House Wren - This species is an elevation migrant.  The House Wren does breed in the higher elevations of the state in the summer, but they tend to disperse to lower elevations in winter. 

Burrowing Owl - In the winter we have more Burrowing Owls than summer.  We do have our year-round residents that breed in the state, but we also get a lot more in winter when those that breed in the northern part of the United States and Canada migrate south and spend their winters with us in Arizona.

Pied-billed Grebe - This is a species that pretty much leaves for the summer, and are seen much more in winter.  However, we do have a pair or two that spends their summers at Pagago Park in Phoenix, such as this one.  Note that they love feeding on crayfish.

  

 American Bittern - Not a real common bird in Arizona, but then they tend to be a bit secretive and are not always easy to detect so there might be a few more than what are being reported.  This one spent some time at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.

Least Bittern - Another species that tend to be pretty secretive, but luckily this bird has been breeding at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve and if you time your visit just right, there is a good chance you can see one.

  Great Blue Heron - Not a migrant and a species that can be found throughout the United States at various times of the year.

Reddish Egret - This is an interesting photo of 3 species of egrets and offers a really cool comparison of the three all together in the same frame.  In the back is the smaller Snowy Egret, in the front is the much larger Great Egret, and in the middle (the non-white egret), is the Reddish Egret, which is a species that is a bit rare for Arizona.  Every winter, we seem to get a few in the state and they are probably first year birds that disperse northward from their regular range along the west coast of Mexico.

Verdin - This little bird is very common is the right habitats and one that can be quite noisy so one can detect their presence by their calls.  It is a very small bird at only 4½ inches and they tend not to perch very long for photos.

 Bald Eagle - Probably one of the most recognized birds in the United States since it is our national emblem.  We do have breeding pairs of Bald Eagles nesting along the Salt River and at other spots in Arizona.  So when one of these majestic birds offers great views and a chance to take photos, of course I take advantage.

   Bald Eagle

Vermilion Flycatcher - One of my favorite birds that I cannot resist taking a photo when they perch and present themselves to me.  Some of these birds do migrate south, but there are usually a few that will spend their winters in certain parts of Arizona.

Rosy-faced Lovebird - Yes, this bird in the only non-native bird that I included in this blog post.  This bird is originally from Namibia, Africa, and is a very popular cage bird in the pet industry and they are quite easy to raise in captivity.  This species found the desert climate in the Phoenix area to be quite a bit similar to their natural climate in Africa.  These birds have escaped from pet owners and also from pet stores releasing them when going out of business and they have thrived in the Phoenix suburban areas, with a current population of over 6,000 in the Phoenix metro area.  They seem to be holding their own and so far, there does not seem to be any competition with the native birds in the food or nesting locations. However, with all non-native species, it is possible for that speculation to change.  They have a foothold here and are ABA countable in the state of Arizona, for those that are wanting to add birds to their life lists.

This last photo was taken in a captive enclosure, but it is a bird that used to reside in southern Arizona.  This is a 'Masked' Bobwhite, which is a sub-species of the more widely known Northern Bobwhite in other parts of the United States.  It has pretty much been extirpated from Arizona and is only found in a small area further south in the state of Sonora, Mexico.  However, there is a captive breeding program in Arizona for this species  and they are trying to attempt to reintroduce them to the desert habitat where they formerly resided in Arizona.  So far, the success has had mixed results.  Would like to see this bird make a comeback in this state.  Note that this pair has a chick with them.  This was photographed at the Sonoran Desert Museum just outside of Tucson.

  

Birding in Arizona is always a lot of fun.  Yes, there are times when I see the same birds that I always see, but I learn from each one of those encounters.  I am currently trying to catch up on some blog posts that I have procrastinated about doing for far too long.  With a couple of upcoming trips on the horizon, I know that I will not get completely caught up, but am going to try for one or two more posts before I head off on my next adventure.  Both of these trips in 2019 are within in the United States and at the present I do not have any international trips planned.  Stayed tuned for more updates and thank you for taking a look at my blog.   

Pinal Mountains: Warbler Wonderland

Finally tired of the summer heat in the desert around the Phoenix area and wanted to go birding.  Had a couple of options: head to Glendale Recharge Ponds to see a couple of rarities or head to the Pinals and look for migrants.  Glendale, with no trees and no shade and temps hovering around 110° F, or the Pinals with lots of trees and shade and temps hovering around 72° F near the top?  As much as I wanted to add a couple birds to my Maricopa list (but not life birds), the cooler temps of the Pinals won this battle.  The Pinal Mountains is a fairly small mountain range south of Globe, AZ and at the highest point, Pinal Peak has an elevation of 7848 feet, so they are not huge by any standards, but they are much cooler than the surrounding desert and are considered to be part of the Arizona Sky Islands.  

August tends to be a great time to visit as many migrants, including warblers, pass through here to fuel up on their trek south into Mexico and points beyond. In some cases, it brings juvenile birds of some species that can be difficult to identify at times, but very often it also brings in some strikingly stunning adults as well, still dressed in their breeding plumage.  I found at least 6 species of warblers on this day and probably could have found more had I spent more time.  Maybe a trip involving an overnight camp out, might be something to plan for the future.  I know of a special place where there is most generally a small spring of water that rises above the ground and trickles down a short distance before disappearing back into the sandy stream bed.  That bit of water is a mecca for many of these birds to drop in for a drink and a quick bath.  My list of warblers for this awesome 6 hours included:  Nashville, Wilson's, Orange-crowned, Hermit, Black-throated Gray, and one of Arizona's favorites, the Painted Redstart.  

 Hermit Warbler

 Nashville Warbler

 Nashville Warbler

 Orange-crowned Warbler

 Orange-crowned Warbler

Painted Redstart

Wilson's Warbler

Of course, warblers were not the only migrants to be found, but they are some of the most interesting and since most warblers are prone to be fast movers gleaning insects from plants, they are almost always a challenge to photograph.  Not to be outdone by the warblers the family of hummingbirds was right up there with 6 species as well.  Getting 6 species of hummingbirds in one area this close to the Phoenix metro area is rather special.  Of course, there are many spots in southeastern Arizona that can double those numbers, but coming up with 6, is still pretty special this far north;  Anna's, Black-chinned, Broad-tailed, Rufous, Calliope, and Magnificent were the 6 species.  Part of the success for this, is the fact that one cabin owner at the tops of Pinal Peak has 5 hummingbird feeders out and many of these birds are fueling up and taking advantage of this on their southbound migration route.

Black-chinned Hummingbird

 Broad-tailed Hummingbird - Female

Broad-tailed Hummingbird - Male

 Magnificent Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Migrating Western Tanagers were thick and covered a large area of the mountains.  This photo is definitely not the brilliantly colored male that most people go gaga over, but I have to admit, that this happens to be one of the most stunning female Western Tanagers that I have seen in a long time.

Western Tanager

Yellow-eyed Juncos must have had a banner year for breeding as they were quite numerous at almost all elevations.  The Pinals are the northern most point in this bird's range.  Will they eventually expand further north?  Who knows, but one was located in Coconino County near Flagstaff a year ago.  

 Yellow-eyed Junco

Yellow-eyed Junco

And how can one ignore a bathing Mountain Chickadee or a foraging Brown Creeper, two of my favorite mountain dwelling birds?

 Mountain Chickadee

Moluntain Chickadee

 Brown Creeper

Brown Creeper - Note that thin bill which is designed for probing into cracks and crevices in the bark of trees for insects, grubs, and insect eggs.

One more item to mention, was that I found my first bear track.  I did not know it was there, but a vehicle coming down from the mountain stopped and pointed it out to me in the mud on the side of the road. It was right above me and my warbler spot where I was watching warblers.  Next time, I need to place an object next to it, to give an indication of its size.  This track was about 7 or 8 inches in length.  Maybe someday I will finally see an actual bear at a distance! 

I definitely do not regret giving up the 2 rarities at Glendale for this turned out to be a great outing!  

Criss-Crossing the Great Divide

OK, that heading is quite an exaggeration from reality.  With a heading like that, one would think I was birding the Great Divide in the Rocky Mountains.  Truth be told, the divide I am referring to is far less important and generally not even considered a 'divide'.  This divide, is the division line of Maricopa and Gila Counties on Mt Ord and the Slate Creek Divide in the far northeastern reaches of Maricopa County.  Probably not considered very important unless one is a birder and especially an eBirder where entering reports with accuracy really do count.  I volunteered to cover the Gila County portion of these 2 locations for the NAMBC (North American Migratory Bird Count) and I was fortunate to have Jason Morgan offer to assist me this year.  Since I love the Mt Ord area so much, all we had to do was concentrate on the Gila County portion only this time.  The county line between these 2 counties comes close to following the forest roads that lead to the tops of both locations with Gila County predominately to the north and east of the county roads.  However there are some spots where the county line crosses over the road and then back again and knowing where those spots were located was key to our success. 

 

We arrived at Mt Ord at 5:40 am and our starting temperature was a nice and balmy 36° F!  And to top it off, we had a bit of snow on the ground in sheltered areas as it had snowed the day and night before our arrival.  So we got off to a very chilly start, but that did not seem to bother most of the birds. 

 

 

By far, our most numerous bird was the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher which were found predominately in the higher elevations and were heard and seen at every stop we made. 

 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

 

 

Another very common bird in this location and the most numerous of all the warblers we found was the Black-throated Gray Warbler.  I have not yet found any warbler species that was easy to photograph, so one has to have a bit of patience and once in a while they at least will show themselves on a perch in an a bit more visible place.  That does not mean the lighting will be great for photos when they do this, but one has to take what is presented at times.

 

 Black-throated Gray Warbler

 

Black-throated Gray Warbler and its departure

 

Finally was able to get a good visual on a Hutton's Vireo on this trip.  A few weeks ago when I visited this area with a couple of out-of-state birders, all I got of these birds were them singing.  They did not want to show themselves at all.

 

Hutton's Vireo

 

Next photo is one of 2 empidonax flycatchers that I could not safely identify.  This is a very tough family of birds to ID with 100% certainty.  Vocal calls notes are very helpful, but most of them that I encounter are silent so I have to rely on behavior and other small details.  Unfortunately, this is the only photo that I captured of this one, but based on the long primary projection, my best guess on this one is a Hammond's Flycatcher. 

 

Empidonax flycatcher species

 

Of course we had many Black-chinned Sparrows as well, with most of them being in the lower elevations.  Kind of surprised to have some a little higher up than I have seen them before and actually using a pine tree for its singing. 

 

Black-chinned Sparrow

 

 

Other warblers that we had on Mt Ord included Hermit Warbler and Grace's Warbler and both are always a delight to see.  Hermit is a passing migrant while Grace's breeding range includes many of the high elevation locations in Arizona including Mt Ord.

 

 Grace's Warbler

 

Hermit Warbler

 

Rounding out some of the many birds we found on Mt Ord, were Chipping Sparrows, a pair of Lazuli Buntings, and a first year male Scott's Oriole.

 

 Chipping Sparrow

 

 Lazuli Bunting-female on left and male on the right

 

Scott's Oriole

 

After spending most of the morning on Mt Ord, we then travelled to the west side of Hwy 87 and worked our way up to the Slate Creek Divide area.  Just before we decided to stop for a lunch break on one of the ridges on the road up, we happened to find an Olive-sided Flycatcher.  As we got out to observe it in more detail another vehicle full of barking dogs came up from behind us and needless to say, once they had passed, the bird had disappeared. 

 

Olive -sided Flycatcher

 

Acorn Woodpeckers were plentiful, but most were not approachable for photos.  This is also the only place in Maricopa County where one can find Mexican Jays.  Today they were located on the Gila County side of the road, so we were able to add them to our list for the NAMBC.

 

 Acorn Woodpecker

 

Mexican Jay

 

We also had several Broad-tailed Hummingbirds fly by and males can be identified in flight with the loud whistling produced by their wings in flight.  We did have a female take time to pose for us and I found after the fact she was photo bombed by a colorful blue and black tent caterpillar on the right in the background.

 

Broad-tailed Hummingbird - female

 

Slate Creek Divide was much slower in the bird department, but part of that might have been the fact that we were birding there in the usually slowest part of the day for birding.  A very nice and cooperative Hammond's Flycatcher displayed and performed for me before we called it a day.

 

 Hammond's Flycatcher

 

 

We concluded the day about mid afternoon, but we got to see some incredible scenery along with some really cool birds and hopefully contributed a small bit to the NAMBC for 2015.