Puerto Peñasco, Mexico: Day 2

Our focus for the second day was going to be the Choya Bay area which is just a short drive north of the condos area and the roads are all sand.  There is a bit of a trick to birding this area to get the most bang for the buck; check the tide charts before exploring the area.  Choya Bay is a fairly shallow bay, but it is wide and covers a very large area.  The ideal time is low tide, when you can walk out into the bay and have a lot of shore birds foraging on exposed sandbars or rocks.  Expect to get your feet wet in the process, but it is so worth it as you never know what might fly in while you are wandering around.

During our visit, we found 5 species of plovers; Killdeer (which I did not photograph), Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover (another one that I did not photograph), Snowy Plover, and Black-bellied Plover.  It is fun to see all these species and be able to make comparisons among them.

Wilson's Plover

 Snowy Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Of course there were many more shore birds than just plovers.  How about American Oystercatchers? They are always a favorite of mine and they look a bit bizarre, but very stunning dressed in black and white with a red bill.

 American Oystercatcher

The Willet is a very common bird in this area and when looking at one standing around on the mud or in the water, they appear to be very boring to look at in the dingy grayish-brown plumage.  However, when they take flight, it is a whole different story as they then show how flashy they really are.

Willet

 Willet

Another shore bird that was in fairly high numbers was the Surfbird.  It too, shows amazing wing patterns when in flight.

 Surfbird

Surfbirds in flight

A couple more shore birds, then we will move on to some different species.  Ruddy Turnstones were quite numerous as were Long-billed-Curlews.

 Ruddy Turnstone

Long-billed Curlew

The next bird on the list was truly an amazing experience.  As we were observing all the shore birds in and around the water, we looked up to see an incoming bird in flight, a Magnificent Frigatebird!  My first sighting of this species was in Chiapas, Mexico, last July as a couple were seen at a distance far up in the sky.  This one in Puerto Peñasco, kept flying towards us a a fairly low altitude and it was a male.  What a sight to be able to get some decent photos of this pirate of the seas.

 Magnificent Frigatebird

What a wonderful day of birds we had.  Will close out this post with a shot of a House Finch, which is not a bird that I spend a lot of time photographing as they are very common, but I liked the yellow coloration of this one instead of the more common red color.  And it just happened to take flight during my photos which created an even better photo.

House Finch

Evening presented us with a fabulous sunset in Puerto Peñasco.  A fitting close to the day.

The third and last day, which will be upcoming on my next and last post, covered a new area to explore.  

  

Backyard Birding

This birding has turned into quite an addiction.  This week I had out of state guests visiting and it kept me grounded at home on Saturday and I had a real bad itch to get out and see some birds, but alas, that was not meant to be.  So for once I stayed home and decided to take a close look at some of the yard birds.  I also decided to make a list of all the birds I have seen in my yard or viewed from my yard.  Obviously, some of the species are fly-overs such as the small flock of Mallards that flew over this morning.  My list was 31 species until about ½ hour ago when I got to add number 32 to my list even though it was dark.  A Great Horned Owl had perched in one of my neighbor's palm trees.  The hooting gave it away and it called a few times and then headed south.  So 32 species in such a small yard and in such an urban area, is not so bad.  

And while I was at home all day, I did test the camera on a few subjects.  Yes, most of them are quite common birds, but just to have them around is rather enjoyable.  This year for the first time, I have had Lesser Goldfinches feeding from my feeders and since I have put up a fountain/bird bath, I think they are much happier and might stick around.  Not sure what will happen with the heat of the summer, but today they posed on the fountain taking drinks, but this fountain has also turned into a great bird bath for many species, including hummingbirds.

 Lesser Goldfinch-Female

Lesser Goldfinch-Male

Lesser goldfinches are not the only finches that visit, the House Finch is an even more abundant bird to visit.  While I try to avoid taking photos of birds in or on feeders, since this is my backyard, I feel that it is probably a necessary downside to these photos.  This House Finch appears to be missing a toenail on its left foot.

House Finch

Hummingbird feeders have been very busy the past few weeks and with the bubbling water fountain, they have also been visiting the fountain for bathing.  Will have to try photographing that some day.  For now, I will settle for a female Anna's Hummingbird at one of my feeders.

Anna's Hummingbird

Today I was blessed with a pair of Giant Swallowtail Butterflies visiting my yard.  When flying they appear as large as the hummingbirds.  And after figuring out what species these are I also found out that they favor citrus trees as host for their caterpillars and I was only able to capture this photo while this one was sipping nectar from a lemon blossom.

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

And to finish off this short blog post, I could not resist taking a photo of one of my potted cacti's blossom.  

With Sunday coming in just a few hours, I will finally get to do some birding this weekend.  

Continental Golf Course - 23 Dec 2012

Decided to visit a new site today and that was a pond on the Continental Golf Course in Scottsdale, AZ.  A Ross's Goose had been reported there and although it is not a new life bird for me, they are rather scare in Arizona and it would be something new to see instead of all the desert birds.  The goose was easy to find as it was foraging on grass with a large flock of American Wigeons.  All I had to do was park in the parking lot on the north side and walk across the street.  But while checking it out and inventorying all the other birds on the pond, I also noticed that the end of the parking lot where my car was parked, a few small birds were flitting about, so I went to check that out and discovered a small stream of water running along the side with a few trees on the side and rocks in the water and a bonanza of birds coming and going.  Many were getting their morning drink of water, but many were bathing as well and a few ducks were also in the midst where some of the water was pooling.  All the photos in this post were taken by standing in one spot near this stream, except for the photo of the Ross's Goose at the end of the blog. 

 

The most colorful birds to visit were some Rosy-faced Lovebirds.  I heard them before I saw them with their noisy chatter.  This species is one of the newest species accepted by the ABA (American Birding Association) as an established bird in the state of Arizona.  For those birders that keep track of lists, it is another one they can add to their list.  In the first photo with 3 birds, bird on the far right is a juvenile; notice the brown bill and less intense facial coloring.

 

Rosy-faced Lovebirds



Rosy-faced Lovebirds



 Rosy-faced Lovebird

 

A beautiful male Gadwall was foraging in a small pool of water and right behind it in the stream, there were visits by House Finches, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Red-winged Blackbirds.

 

Gadwall



Gadwall



House Finch



Yellow-rumped Warbler



 Red-winged Blackbird

 

Across the stream 3 Mourning Doves were attempting to blend in with the rocks and stones and a Curve-billed Thrasher was probing around for morsels of food.  And a Killdeer was not the least upset by the golf balls in the water.

 

 Mourning Doves

 

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 

 Killdeer

 

Killdeer

 

The post would not be complete without a photo of the objective of my trip, the Ross's Goose.  The bird did not seem too skittish, but the American Wigeons were and when they would scatter, the goose would make its way to the water, but not nearly as fast as the wigeons.

 

Ross's Goose

 

When I first found this spot, I did not expect to find much other than the goose, but was quite surprised by the show that many of the other birds put on for me in front of my camera and all I had to do was stand there and swivel from one side to another to take photos.  Birding hot spots can happen just about any place.  A lot of times it has to do with being in the right place at the right time.  Thanks to Walter Thurber for reporting the goose and to Jon Mann for validating it was still around. 

 

 

 

 

Pima Canyon Wash-8 & 9 Nov 2012

With decidedly cooler temps in the Phoenix area, I have been taking advantage of the nice weather and going straight to South Mountain Park when I leave work.  That way I get much more exercise hiking 3 to 4 miles than I do on the treadmill at home.  And it sure is a lot more fun being out with nature!  So Thursday and Friday I went to my regular haunt and although most of the birds I found were the regulars, I did find a surprise waiting for me on Friday.  Ash-throated Flycatchers are a fairly common bird in Arizona in the spring and summer, but they migrate south for the winter and I had not seen one for about 6 weeks until Friday and then I was quite surprised to find one in Pima Canyon Wash and it was a beautiful specimen at that.  Guess it had not got the memo to fly south!

 

Ash-throated Flycatcher

 

Also found on both days were some Gilded Flickers, but my Friday adventure proved a bit more fruitful for photos as I was able to get both a male and a female in the same tree.  The Gilded Flicker's range in the United States is pretty much limited to Arizona and the extreme southern parts of Nevada and eastern fringes of California.  So it is another one of those birds that birders in other states try to find when they make a trip to Arizona

 

 Gilded Flicker-Female

 

Gilded Flicker-Male

 

The Black-tailed Gnatcatcher is a bird I see on just about every trip to this area and they happen to be one of my favorite birds of South Mountain Park. Hopefully no one tires of my photos of these 4" little dynamos as it is always a challenge to capture them in photos.

 

 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

 

This male House Finch was tucked down in a bush preparing for a pretty chilly night (at least chilly by Phoenix standards!)

 

 House Finch-Male

 

This Killdeer photo really does not fit the mold of this visit, but it just happened to be hanging around the golf course that borders the entrance to Pima Canyon Wash.

 

Killdeer

 

The Black-throated Sparrow is probably my favorite sparrow and I can always find them on my trips to this area.  Sometimes they are a bit harder to find than other times, but they can be easily overlooked.  And this time I witnessed a new behavior from this species.  They can raise their head feathers into a crest, similar to some of the flycatchers.   I had not seen this until now.

 

Black-throated Sparrow

 



And of course we can't forget the ever popular Cactus Wren and this one obliged by parking itself within some cactus just as their name implies.

 

Cactus Wren

 



And if some of you think I am only interested in birds, every once in a while some other critter makes themselves visible and allows a photo or two such as this Harris' Antelope Ground Squirrel.

 

Harris's Antelope Ground Squirrel

 



For those of you that are a bit more interested in history, this canyon and park is full of petroglyphs which were created long ago by the Hohokum people that inhabited the Salt River Valley thousands of years ago.  There are hundreds to be found in the park and unfortunately some of them have been marred by current humans.  If you go hiking, please enjoy these unique wonders and leave them for future generations to admire.  They are a living tribute to the Hohokum people.

 

Petroglyph







Petroglyph

 



 

South Mountain Park-Javalina Trail

Had the option today to tackle a trail in South Mountain Park, or head home and put some time in on the old treadmill.  Well let me tell you, 3½ miles on a hiking trail at 90° was a whole lot more fun than 1½ miles on the treadmill at home.  This was not the first time I had been on this trail, but it was close to where I work and stopping here was an easy choice.  It is a trail that ventures through some very dry areas of South Mountain Park.  Not a hot spot for birding by any means, but our avian friends are there, but you have to listen and look for them.  Came home with photos of a bunch of brown birds; not what most people would consider as an exciting bird outing.  The nicest bird that I saw but was not able to capture a photo was a Greater Roadrunner.  Always nice to find them.  So my photo album consists of common brown birds of South Mountain Park.

 

First 2 birds that I encountered was a Curve-billed Thrasher and a Mourning Dove.  The thrasher just did not want to come out in the open, so I had to settle for an 'under the bush' shot with bad lighting.  Even though they are a 'brown' bird, their gold eyes are very captivating.  The Mourning Dove is a bird that I rarely photograph, we see them on just about every birding trip and they are also common backyard feeders at my home.  Plus they are found just about everywhere in the US.

 

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 

Mourning Dove

 

Near one of the washes, I was observing a couple of Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, but got side tracked when a couple of Black-throated Sparrows flew into the base of the shrub.  So I was torn between the 2 species and what I should try to capture with the camera.  Neither one was offering me great views, but nevertheless, I attempted to capture photos anyway.  So these are the best of my feeble attempts to photograph both species.

 

 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

 

Black-throated Sparrows-note there are 2 in this photo

 

The last birds that I was able to shoot with my camera were a Rock Wren and a female House Finch.  Sad to say, but I can't really recall ever photographing a female House Finch; usually spend more time focusing on the males.  But in reality, this female today actually presented my best bird pose of the day and in the right lighting.  So it is about time I added the female House Finch to my photo albums.  The Rock Wren was a featured bird for me sometime back on my blog.

 

 House Finch-female

 

Rock Wren



So ends my saga of 'boring brown birds' for the day.  They may be boring in coloration, but they are far from being boring when one is watching them to learn behavior or listening to them to become familiar with their calls.  They are just as fascinating as the brightly colored birds.