Taking Advantage of a Cool Down

As mentioned many times in previous posts, the Arizona summers in and around the city of Phoenix can be quite brutal with the excessive heat.  When one gets up before the sun rises and the outside temperature is 94° F in the dark, then you know the daytime temperature will be very uncomfortable.  That's when it is time to head to higher elevations in the summer to go birding.  But every once in a while there is a slight break in the weather especially during monsoon season and the first weekend of August was one of those times.  Our day time highs did not quite reach the 100° range and the overnight lows were in the low 80's.  With this break, I decided it was time to get out early in the morning to see what I could find in an hour or two before the sun made it miserable.

Saturday, I decided to visit one of my regular spots, Pima Canyon Wash in South Mountain Park.  I arrived while it was still dark, and I began my hike in the dark, and was listening to the Common Poorwills calling higher up on the slopes of the canyon. I could vaguely see some movement in the sky as the sky started letting go of the pitch black darkness and I figure those were the Common Poorwills remaining activity before going to roost for the day.  All of a sudden I detected another bird movement, very close and right  across the path in front of me and it was very silent, reminiscent of an owl as they are very silent flyers. Sure enough I was able to pick out and count 3 Western Screech Owls with my flashlight.  Obviously as dark as it was, I was not going to get any photos, but it was great to find them and then I made a mental note of the tree they had flown into as I wanted to check it on my return hike.  Sure enough, on the return, I approached the tree with caution and one of them was perched on a branch in the tree.  The colors blended in quite well with the tree limbs and most people would walk right by and not notice this bird sitting there.  Approaching slowly and cautiously, I was trying to get some photos as this is one bird that has been difficult to photograph mostly due to their nocturnal habits.  First photos of it consisted of squinting eyes, then they opened a bit as I got closer and once it's eyes were open and I got a couple of photos, I quickly retreated to leave it rest in peace for the day.  I have always known these owls were in this location as I had heard them many times in the past.  Looking forward to a return visit to see if this particular tree is a common roost for them.

Western Screech Owl

Western Screech Owl

Western Screech Owl

What an elated feeling and glad I made the decision to get in a short hike that morning.  Then as I approached the parking lot I stopped in the wash as I had heard a different call from a nearby tree and just about that time, a Black-headed Grosbeak flew from the distant tree into the tree I was standing under and gave me a chance at a couple of photos.  I suspect that this bird is a first fall male with that bright yellow chest and belly stripe.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Black-headed Grosbeak

Sunday, I decided to check out Glendale Recharge Ponds in the western part of Phoenix.  Some nice shore birds were being seen and I wanted to check it out.  (Have to make a mental note to try and find a reasonable priced spotting scope to use in places like this.  Those ponds are fairly large and a scope will greatly assist the viewing of the birds on the opposite shores.)  There were lots of shore birds on the two ponds that held water, including 37 Wilson's Phalaropes.  These birds are a lot of fun to watch as they forage.  They swim in circles in a spinning motion like a top to stir up larvae, crustaceans, and insects to feed on.  They were so busy spinning in circles that I was able to at least approach them close enough to get a photo or two.  

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

Long-billed Dowitchers were quite numerous as well and some were still sporting the remnants of their summer breeding plumage as was a Neotropic Cormorant.

Long-billed Dowitcher

Neotropic Cormorant

After about an hour of scanning the ponds, and the sun staring to make its mark, I decided to calls it quits for this day except for the fact that I made one last stop at the southwest corner of this area.  There is a concrete bridge here that is at the dead end road and one can park and go exploring.  Glad I stopped for a few minutes as I was treated to a couple of very nice birds; Lazuli Buntings and a Sora.  Lazuli Bunting males are downright stunning in breeding plumage and usually we see them in and around Phoenix only in migration in the spring and in the fall.  Springtime sightings are a hit or miss on the breeding plumage, but early fall can be a great time to see them so colorful.

 Lazuli Bunting

 Lazuli Bunting

As I was observing these colorful birds from the bridge, I also caught glimpse of a Sora that flew into the area.  Always a great bird to see as they can be a bit secretive most of the time.  But of all the rails, this species is not as shy as the rest.

Sora

As an added bonus, a first year male Red-winged Blackbird also paid a visit.  Not a bird that I usually spend a lot of time observing, but that bright red patch on the wing really stood out, giving an indication of how handsome it would be next spring.

Red-winged Blackbird - first year male

So two short excursions turned into some nice birds when I was least expecting to find much in the heat of the summer.  Just shows that even with the heat, many birds are doing well.

   

  

Morning at a Couple of Water Spots

Saturday morning I decided to pay one more visit to a couple areas in the west valley; Glendale Recharge Ponds and Tres Rios Wetlands Overflow (permit required).  Needed to visit local spots for awhile as I do have an out of state trip planned in the very near future to Half Moon Bay, California, including a pelagic trip.  Arriving at the Glendale Recharge Ponds before sun up, and I created quite stir to the local Red-wing Blackbirds in the cattails near the southeast entrance.  I counted 70 Canada Geese in Pond 6 while it was still dark.  They were so much bigger than anything else out there, that they were easy to count.  As I strolled around the ponds checking out every shore bird to see if I could find something new and different, it really dawned on me haw many shore birds were out there in the 4 ponds that held water.  It probably numbers in the thousands.  While the rare birds could not be found, I did find a Long-billed Dowitcher that has forgotten that it should have molted into its winter plumage like the rest of them.  This one really stood out from the rest and was still showing some of that summer rufous coloring.

Long-billed Dowitcher

This location has its share of the Great Blue Heron and I found this one perched on a piling.  While it is not what I would call the most natural look, I had the sun behind me and wanted to see how close I could get to try for a decent photo before it flew away.  I would take a few steps and snap a couple frames then advance again.  But alas, I was not going to get very close as I quickly spotted a lady walking her dog without a leash coming from the opposite direction and she was not slowing down.  So this is the best I was able to capture in the early morning light.

Great Blue Heron

When I finally decided to leave this place and head to Tres Rios, from my car on the gravel road out I spied 3 Green-tailed Towhees actively foraging in the grass in the residential area on the south side.  Lighting conditions were horrible for photos, but with a little tweaking in Photoshop, I was able to bring out the colors of this wonderful bird.  It is very rare that I tweak my photos, but this was one of those occasions that needed it.

Green-tailed Towhee

Tres Rios is not far from Glendale Recharge Ponds and it is much more hospitable for a wider variety of birds.  I arrived mid morning and it was starting to warm up, but not nearly as hot as it had been in the past few months. I only spent about an hour there, but had a chance to try shooting some in-flight shots of some of the birds.  My targets for these shots were the Osprey and the Belted Kingfisher.  Osprey at times can be quite cooperative by soaring the skies fairly close to humans and I have been able to capture photos of them in the past.  But this day was a bit better than most.  One fly-by by one of these magnificent birds really allowed me to get probably my best in-flight photos of this bird ever.

 Osprey

 Osprey

Osprey

The Belted Kingfisher has always been a tough bird for me to photograph.  Even when they are perched, they are very skittish and usually fly away before I can get close enough to them for photos.  On this day, several of them were flying all around, over the ponds and also down by the river.  So I decided to try once again at an in-flight photo of one of these beautiful and intriguing birds.  I figured I can just delete them all when I start processing them.  To my amazement, I actually got one photo that turned out fairly good and with its beak open sounding off with its characteristic rattling call.

Belted Kingfisher

Even though the day was filled with mostly common birds, it was a day well spent learning more about behavior of the many species and coming away with a couple of decent photos as well.

  

Birding in Chandler, AZ

Deciding that a change of pace would be good, and after getting a report from my good friend Muriel and seeing her great photos of a Pectoral Sandpiper at Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler, AZ, it was an obvious choice for a different destination to visit.  Luckily another birding friend Ellen, was also wanting to check it out, so we met at this location early on Sunday morning.  While we did not find the target bird, the Pectoral Sandpiper, we still had some nice birds to observe and one of them is the Burrowing Owl.  I always have to check in on the resident pair, and as usual about all I see is their heads peeking over the edges of their man made burrows.

Burrowing Owl

We discovered that the shore birds were generally absent from what was there the day before, but that is why searching for birds is sometimes a hit or miss day.  We did however find a lone Cattle Egret.  This bird is not a rare bird by any means, but not one that a person sees that often in Arizona.  This bird is originally from Africa and Asia and in the late 1800's some were found in the northeastern part of South America as they had found their way to the new world by flying across the Atlantic Ocean.  Slowly but surely, their range expanded in the Americas and by the 1940's they had started showing up in southern Texas and established themselves as a breeding avian species in the United States and they now inhabit much of south and eastern United States.  It is a bit unusual to see a single bird of this species, as they usually travel and feed in small flocks.  

Cattle Egret

The mosquitoes were very thick when we ventured down to the edges of the ponds, and since the shore birds were non-existent, we decided to head out and travel a bit east to the Higley Road Ponds.  But on the way out, one of the resident Greater Roadrunners put on a show for us and was quite cooperative for photos.  Towards the end of the show, it must have gotten tired of us watching and snapping photos, so it decided to 'moon' us!  I suppose only a real birder would enjoy being 'mooned' by a Roadrunner, however, the photo does show off the undersides of its dynamic tail feathers.

 Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner

Bidding adieu to Veteran's Oasis Park and the farewell gesture by the Roadrunner, Ellen and I then headed to the Higley Ponds a couple of miles away.  Once we arrived, we quickly began seeing many more shorebirds that VOP had to offer.  We counted at least 75 Black-necked Stilts, several Greater Yellowlegs, about 30 Least Sandpipers, a few Long-billed Dowitchers, and 22 White-faced Ibis.  We spent a lot of time checking out every shorebird, but did not find anything rare. 

 Greater Yellowlegs

Long-billed Dowitcher

Least Sandpiper

White-faced Ibis

We also discovered our first of the fall Northern Pintails.  Won't be too much longer and these ducks will be quite numerous in many of the ponds in Arizona.  

Northern Pintail

One other bird that we found at Veteran's Oasis Park was a White-crowned Sparrow which is a tad early for them in the valley, but it is another bird that will be quite abundant during the winter months in Arizona.  They spend their winters here, but in the summer they head much further north to their breeding grounds.  

Glendale Recharge Ponds

I vowed I would always make posts in chronological order, but obviously that all went by the wayside.  Got busy in too many birding adventures that I have missed a couple of posts.  On April 28th I decided to find out if there was anything new to see in the category of wading birds by making a trip to the Glendale Recharge Ponds in the west valley  This is a place that attracts a lot of unusual migrants from time to time.  This is an unforgiving place on a hot day as there are no trees and depending on which ponds have water, viewing the birds is not too bad, but photography is most generally fairly difficult as most of the birds will fly to the other side of the pond you are viewing, or to another one of the ponds that might be holding water.  Despite the obstacles, I did manage to capture some photos of some water/shore birds and a few others as well. 

One of the most common 'peeps' (sandpipers) in and around Arizona throughout the winter months is the Least Sandpiper.  They can be confused with the Western Sandpiper when both are in their winter plumage. The leg color is the most distinguishing feature as the Least Sandpiper has yellowish-green legs and the Western Sandpiper has black legs.  But beware, the angle of the sun, and mud on legs can sometimes make a Least Sandpiper look like it has black legs.  This day, there was no doubt on them and part of that is the fact that the Westerns were also showing off their more colorful summer plumage.  Westerns are not nearly as numerous as the Least in the winter months..

 Least Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Then we had plenty of wading birds as well such as the American Avocet and the Black-necked Stilts.  Both birds were quite numerous in the shallow water and both are quite handsome; with the Avocets all decked out in their more colorful breeding plumage.  The photo of the Avocet is most likely a female as they tend to have a stronger more up-curved bill than the males.  

 American Avocet

 Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Another very common wading bird in AZ in the winter is the Long-billed Dowitcher, which is usually in its winter plumage of gray and white, but these were molting into their summer breeding plumage before heading north and they are quite handsome when they look so vibrant as this.

Long-billed Dowitcher

And of course we have probably the most common land bird that is not quite a sandpiper, but a close relative, the fanatical and yet sometimes inconspicuous Killdeer.  What was cool about this visit is that I also discovered some fledglings out in the mudflats and they were blending in quite well with the mud.  Even a couple of the adults were trying to play hide-n-seek with me.

 Killdeer

 Killdeer

 Killdeer chick

Killdeer chick

Some of the other birds that were present included a Savannah Sparrow, a Western Kingbird, a Red-winged Blackbird, and a colony of nesting Cliff Swallows that had already hatched and fledged several young ones this year.  The Savannah Sparrow is one of the sparrow species that is good to learn as it just might show up just about anywhere and there are some variances to this species throughout the US.  The Western Kingbird is always a welcomed sight as it heralds in the summer weather and it is a bird that was always a summer resident back in Nebraska on the farm.  The Red-winged Blackbird is a very familiar and common species to most people and this one was putting on a display for the females.  Hopefully they get turned on by mud encrusted feet!  

 Red-winged Blackbird

 Savannah Sparrow

Western Kingbird

 Cliff Swallow nesting colony

 Cliff Swallow fledgling

Cliff Swallow adult

For about a ½ hour while I was checking out the birds a Coyote was 2 ponds away from me and barking and howling up quite a storm.  While the distance was not going to make for a great photo, I still could not help trying to get a photo.

Wyle E. Coyote

  

Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve - 31 Oct 2012

After returning from Lake Havasu, we were getting several reports of a couple rare birds being sighted at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve; at least the 2 bird species are considered rare for Arizona.  And since this birding hot spot is only about 6 miles from my home, I had to venture out to see what I could find.  Sunday I struck out on both birds, but being tired and hot, I suppose that can be expected.  So I ventured out again on Wednesday and also met one of my birding friends, Ellen,  and she helped me locate one of the birds, a Chestnut-sided Warbler.  This bird is a rare but casual migrant to Arizona and the bird has been hanging around for about a week now and it appears to be a first winter female.  A male in breeding plumage would be ideal, but when it comes to a new life bird, one can't be too picky.  First glimpses of the bird was in dense foliage on the back side of a mesquite tree and was good enough for an ID, but no photos.  So we moved on down the path to the end and returned to find it flying across our path into another mesquite, but this time she became very cooperative and actually exposed herself on some branches and allowed nice photos.  I guess patience can be a virtue at times and the photos below were worth the wait.

 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

Of course this place is very well known for its water birds and even though the Black-necked Stilt is a fairly common wading bird, they are also one of the most photogenic birds and then when one captures a 3 photo segment of one it makes the photos a bit more interesting as if I captured a little bit of history that no one else captured.  First the probing in the water, then the plunge, and finally the results of its tiny morsel.

 

 Black-necked Stilt

 

Black-necked Stilt

 

Black-necked Stilt

 

Another unique find was a couple of Dunlin.  While they are not considered rare, they are far less common than some of the other waders and they are usually considered a nice find and they can be tough to pick out in large flocks of other wading birds.  Of course the Long-billed Dowitchers are always quite common at this location and the lighting was just right to allow a couple of photos.  Along with that we also located at least 6 Wilson's Snipe, but they blended in with the mud so well they probably escaped the eye of most casual observers.

 

 Dunlin

 

 Long-billed Dowitcher

 

Wilson's Snipe-Look close, there are 2 in this photo.

 

As with any trip to this place, a Green Heron can almost always be found and this was no exception.  This one was lying in wait for some minnows to swim by and become part of its meal that day.

 

Green Heron

 

Since this is fall with winter approaching, the waterfowl is plentiful on the ponds right now and one of the most elegant looking birds is the Northern Pintail.  If you can call a duck elegant, this one has to near the top to fitting the description.  Also had to snap a photo of a Green-winged Teal since it made itself available.  Sometimes the teals are a bit skittish and really try to keep their distance.

 

 Northern Pintail

 

 Northern Pintail

 

Green-winged Teal