New Directions

Since finishing my 'Maricopa Big Year' in December, I have thought long and hard about the direction I was heading to continue my birding adventures.  I have definitely decided, no more big years for me.  It feels too much like a job and since I am now retired, a job is not what I want to begin again.  I want to enjoy the birds and revel in the beauty and behavior and learn more about them.  Along with that process, I have also started to admire and extend my interest into many more aspects of nature.  So expect to see a more diverse listing of other critters on this blog in the future.    One thing I have come to realize is the fact that many birding adventures are not the most physical and are lacking in exercise.  Granted, there are some chases that do require some good physical exertion such as a couple of trips to Slate Creek Divide last year.  But many hunts are more vehicle driving and then leisurely walking to easy spots.  

The past few weeks, I have been pushing myself to get some good physical exercise and much of it has been done on some hiking trails in South Mountain Park.  First and foremost, it is for the health aspect for me, but secondly, it will allow me to take trips out of state to chase some birds that cannot be found in Arizona.  Currently have a couple of upcoming trips on my slate.  Local birding has been fun and I would like to share some of the fun I have had enjoying local birds in the past few weeks.  Also know that long winded posts most times go unread, so I try to keep them short and add lots of photos.  After all, its the photos that most people enjoy seeing.  

A trip to Lost Dutchman State Park got me a nice Bendire's Thrasher and a Northern Mockingbird. 

 Bendire's Thrasher

 Northern Mockingbird feeding on Mistletoe berries

A visit to the Gilbert Water Ranch is always a great way to capture some great photos and is never a disappointment.

 Black-crowned Night Heron

Cinnamon Teal showing some of its colorful wings

 A very cooperative Green Heron

 Least Bittern

An elegant Northern Pintail drake

A handsome drake Redhead taken during the Greater Phoenix Waterbird Count.

Redhead

A trip out west to the White Tank Mountains Regional Park, was quite enjoyable.  Had never visited the place before and was taken in by its beauty and nature.  Besides having a lot of Canyon Towhees in the park, I came across something I never expected in a desert canyon; a snail!  I have always associated snails to be found in wet damp areas or water, but this one was found on a trail at an elevation of 2200' and no running water or pools of water anywhere close by.  Temperature was around 50° F.  It had rained about week prior to my visit and some areas of the trail were damp.  I was so intrigued that I posted this find on iNaturalist.org and also tried to do a little research on my own.  I discovered that there are an estimated 200 species of land snails in Arizona and most of them are fairly unknown and researched due to their limited ranges and hiding until enough rain or moisture brings them out from under rocks.  This one does not have a common name, but its scientific name is eremarionta rowelli.  Probably only found in the White Tank Mountains west of Phoenix.  

 eremarionta rowelli

Canyon Towhee

From the White Tank Mountains, I headed south to some ag fields near Buckeye where a Trumpeter Swan had been reported.  This was definitely not a common bird for Maricopa County, so it was nice to find it and add it to my county list.  

 Trumpter Swan

Cattle Egret

And a stop at the White-tailed Kite location not far from the ag fields and I was able to find the pari in one tree.

White-tailed Kites

One last stop that day took me to the Glendale Recharge Ponds to see if the Long-tailed Duck was still there.  It was and this time I was there by myself and it really let its personality shine for me.

 Long-tailed Duck

There were a few other stops during this time as well.  I also visited Pima Canyon Wash several times in the past few weeks and have had some really great experiences with some of the local birds.  Have enough to do a separate blog post to cover those instances.  So you can look forward to another post in the near future.  

More Maricopa Birding

The more time that I spend birding in Maricopa County in Arizona, the more I begin to appreciate the birding diversity and what can be found.  It is a large county in area and covers a very diverse number of different ecological habitats.  For those readers that are not aware, yes, I am doing a Maricopa County 'Big Year'.  Final numbers will be released in January of next year in a separate blog post.  I plan on recapping some of the highlights and point out some of the incredible birds that can occur in Maricopa County.  Included in this post are a few of the great birds that have been added in just the month of December.

 Reports of a Tundra Swan returning to a golf course in Sun City West was intriguing to a lot of birders, and after some great sleuth work by friends Chris Rohrer and Magill Weber, it has become clear that this bird is most likely a 'wild' bird and not a captive bird as it has returned several years in a row.  Not really unexpected at this time of year, because Prescott, AZ, almost annually has Tundra Swans that overwinter in their surrounding lakes.  Why this Tundra Swan returns to the same location to hang out with one of the captive and tame Mute Swans is a bit perplexing, but it apparently has found a safe winter haven at this golf course.

 Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan dwarfing an American Coot

The Mute Swan is much larger than the Tundra Swan and it is also fairly tame, looking for handouts from humans.  It also approached me fairly quickly and came closer to me than the Tundra, which seemed to be a bit more cautious.

Mute Swan

Mute Swan - Close-up showing how tame it was

This pond also had a few Hooded Mergansers, and I never pass up a chance to photograph one of these beauties.

Hooded Mergansers - male and female

From this location and while I was in the western part of the valley, I headed out to the Buckeye/Arlington area to see if I could locate a Ross's Goose that had been in the company of 2 Snow Geese at Lower River Ponds.  Turned out to be an easy find, but at the distance where they were roosting, scope views were the best I could do to confirm the ID of the ROGO.  Never saw what spooked all the birds, but whatever it was, just about everything took flight and that is when I was able to get better looks and also a couple of photos.

 Ross's Goose in the middle with 2 Snow Goose

 Ross's Goose with 3 Snow Goose

Ross's Goose on the right with 2 Snow Goose

A drive through the agricultural lands out there is always prudent to see what else might be found.  At this time of year, the raptors are some of the stars with Red-tailed Hawks being the most numerous Buteo.  Here are a couple of photos that show the stark diversity in appearance of these raptors.  They can fool many novice birders due to their extreme differences in appearance, especially in western United States.

 Red-tailed Hawk - dark morph

  'Harlan's' Red-tailed Hawk - light morph - incredibly this is the 9th year for this hawk to return to the same place for the winter in Arlington

  On the day that I was exploring out west, birding buddy, Tommy DeBardeleben, was following up on a report of a Hooded Warbler that was discovered by Troy Corman the day before.  He was able to locate this bird and he proceeded to provide very good instructions on locating it in Seven Spring Wash.  This is not a place for a lot of people to undertake without a lot of hiking experience and some surefooted hiking abilities; no marked trail in a canyon with rocks and flowing water.  The Hooded Warbler is a bird that I had only seen once before and that was in May 2014 at High Island, Texas, and it was a fleeting glimpse at that.  I was not sure what my chances were in locating this one, but surprisingly, it was the 4 species of bird that I found on this trek.  I caught a glimpse of it and followed up with a view in my binoculars to make sure it was the right bird.  It quickly disappeared around a bend in the stream, but I cautiously followed and got a another quick view and was only able to get this horrible shot of it.

Hooded Warbler - the crappy first photo

Then I lost it and could not relocate it, however, I kept moving downstream looking for a Pacific Wren that Tommy had also discovered (but I was not so fortunate).  Finally, I returned back up the stream and when I reached the spot where the Hooded Warbler was originally seen, I decided to sit and wait awhile to see if it would return.  Sure enough,  about 15 minutes later, it did return,  Still kept its distance downstream, but this time I got a little better photos.  Would have like to have gotten better, but I can live with these photos.

 Hooded Warbler

A Painted Lady kept me occupied during my wait.

Painted Lady

About 5 days later, birding phenom, Caleb Strand and Laura Ellis, had a Long-tailed Duck fly by them at Lake Pleasant.  Did not think that it was chase-able at this point, but incredibly, Louis Hoeniger, then reported one the next day at Glendale Recharge Ponds.  Strangely, the first time I had seen this duck was at the exactly the same location on December 24, 2013, and it was a one-day wonder.  Then this past June, while in Wisconsin, I had the pleasure of seeing a stunning male, but it was far away and in some fairly turbid water, making it impossible for photos.  I headed out to Glendale Recharge Ponds within 30 minutes of the notification.  Once there, it did not take long to locate it, although it spent more time submerged and foraging than above the water.  This one was even better looking than the one from 3 years before.

Long-tailed Duck

On December 14th, I took part in the Salt/Verde Rivers CBC.  At the end of the day, one of the teams reported a Northern Waterthrush at Coon Bluff along the Salt River.  Well, this bird actually turned out to be a Louisiana Waterthrush, which is rarer, but very similar in appearance.  Tommy and I quickly made plans to try for it the next day.  We arrived early and found Ryan O'Donnell already at the spot also looking for it.  With 3 of us looking and listening, we definitely had improved our odds of finding it.  Eventually, Ryan spotted it and we followed it around to several of its favorite spots, but always staying a bit secretive and hard-to-get.  We were all getting mediocre photos of it during this time, so when it finally decided to do some foraging in the sunlight, it presented us with much better photos.  Ironically, I had only seen this species once before in southeastern Arizona and it was a fleeting glimpse of it when Tommy, Mark Ochs, and I took a trip on December 14, 2013.  That encounted was also 3 years ago.  I had never photographed this species until now, so this was a redemption viewing for me.  I liked these results so much more.

 Louisiana Waterthrush

A couple other photos from this location consist of an American Pipit, perched in an unusual spot at the top of a tree, and a Spotted Sandpiper also along the same water edge as the Louisiana Waterthrush.  Incidentally, the sandpiper and the waterthrush, both dip and bob their rear ends as they forage.  Quite an interesting behavior trait to observe at the same time on 2 different species.

 American Pipit in a tree - a rather rare perch for this species

Spotted Sandpiper

What more will I be able to add to my Maricopa list this year?  Maybe nothing, but the month of December is not over and who knows what might show up in the last couple of weeks.  Only time will tell.

    

   

A Rare Bird Leads to Yuma

On December 24th a rare bird alert and a text from expert birding friend, Tommy D. proved to be a crazy chains of events.  That day a very rare bird for Maricopa County was first seen and reported by an out of state birder of a female Long-tailed Duck at the Glendale Recharge Ponds.  So with a short notice I took off to search for this rarity.  This is a bird that breeds in northern Canada on tundra ponds and most generally spends its winters along the northern Pacific and Atlantic coasts.  After I arrived and found the bird, then a couple of other birders arrived with scopes (which gave me excellent views, by the way).  This place is not the best place for photos as the ponds are quite large and the birds are most generally quite a distance away.  But I was able to get photos good enough for ID purposes.  This was exciting as it was a bird I thought I might never see; almost like a Christmas gift to myself.  (Several birders arrived on Christmas morning and this bird was no longer there, so heading out there that same day was well worth the trip.)

 

Long-tailed Duck - Female

 



 Long-tailed Duck - Female

 

As I was visiting with the other birders, one of them mentioned that he would like to go to Yuma to look for the juvenile White Ibis that has been found down there.  After a few more comments a hasty agreement was reached to head to Yuma on Saturday the 28th and the plans were finalized with a few emails.  At a godforsaken hour of 3:00 am on Saturday we met and 5 of us headed to Yuma.  Joining me was Mark Ochs, (who I have been birding with several times), Steve Hosmer, Moe Bertrand, and Louis Hoeniger.  Needless to say the vehicle was full, but one of our goals was to see if we could locate some of the rails in that area in the dark of the night before sunrise.  In the dark at Mittry Lake, we were able to hear Sora, Virginia Rail, Clapper Rail, and a few Great Horned Owls.  Unfortunately we dipped on the Black Rail, which was our main focus.  Once the sun lightened up the skies a bit we then headed to the Yuma East Wetlands which was the location of the White Ibis.  As we were walking the dikes an American Pipit and a Spotted Sandpiper, were being very cooperative with us.

 

American Pipit



Spotted Sandpiper

 

It did not take long and Mark spied an Ibis flying over the cattails far out in the distance.  All of us quickly got on the bird and knew it was our target bird with a bright orange/red bill and the white belly.  But about as quickly as we saw it dropped down into the cattails and disappeared from view.  Louis was quick to get a couple of photos to confirm the ID of this bird, but the rest of us just got to enjoy the brief sighting.  We at least found our target bird for the day which just peaks my interest a bit more and wanting to get photos. 

 

In returning to the Phoenix metro area, we made a brief stop at a place called Quigley Wildlife Area just north of the small town of Tacna, AZ. While it is not a birding hotspot compared to some other locations, it turned out to be quite a enjoyable destination.  From the road we spied a small flock of Cattle Egrets, which is always an interesting find.  This species is one that does not always hang around areas with lots of water and they have a tendency to wander a lot, so finding them can be a hit or miss.

 

Cattle Egrets

 

Other birds that we found at this location included a Green Heron, a 'kiting' American Kestrel, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Loggerhead Shrike.  We also had a Prairie Falcon and a Great Horned Owl that both flushed before we saw them.

 

 American Kestrel

 

 American Kestrel

 

 Green Heron

 

 Green Heron

 

 Loggerhead Shrike

 

Red-tailed Hawk

 

It was a day of overcast skies which made photography a bit more of a challenge, but when considering the birds we had the fortune of seeing, it was all worth the time and effort.  Now that I have a better feel for birding in Yuma County, it is definitely worth more trips in the future.  Kind of funny how 1 rare bird leads to a second rare bird!