Birding in Prescott, Arizona

On Sunday 2 February 2014, I teamed up with Jason Morgan and headed north to the areas of Prescott and Prescott Valley to do some birding.  Jason along with a couple others were getting some very nice photos of the Common Goldeneye.  This duck is quite spectacular in appearance and while I have seen them many times in the past, the birds were always at quite a distance and my photos always left a little to be desired.  My goal was to try and get a better photo than I had in the past, so our first stop was Yavapai Lake and I was not disappointed.  Amongst the 100 or so Ring-necked Ducks were at least 6 male Common Goldeneyes and a single male Canvasback, which was a bonus to me.  Had to search a different spot, Fain Park to find the females.

 

 Common Goldeye - Male

 

Common Goldeye - Female

 

Canvasback - Male

 

While we did not linger too long in Fain Park, we did find some other cool waterfowl including a female Lesser Scaup and some Common Mergansers of which the females were the only ones that I could approach close enough for photos. 

 

 Lesser Scaup - Female

 

Common Merganser - Female

 

During our brief visit we were witness to one of Mother Nature's events in the survival of birds, a raptor capturing another bird for its daily existence.  In this case, it was a Cooper's Hawk that captured a Western Scrub-Jay.  Typically, jays are notorious for finding the location of a raptor and then sounding the alarm to other birds by sending out alarm calls to let others know of the raptor's location.  In this case the Cooper's Hawk got the jump on them and once the victim had been captured, the rest of the Western Scrub-Jays really did a lot of scolding to no avail.  Yes, is a bit disturbing to see this, but this happens daily in nature and we could only revel in what we had just witnessed.

 

Cooper's Hawk with prey, a Western Scrub-Jay

 

Our next destination was going to be Watson Lake and this is where we had agreed to meet up with another Facebook birder, Cynthia White.  She knows the Prescott area well and we were very happy to meet her and actually get the chance to do some birding with her.  Watson Lake was covered with waterfowl and it was mindboggling to try to count the various ducks.  A couple of highlights were actually raptors that were putting on a show for us.  The first was a juvenile Bald Eagle that was being harassed by a couple of Common Ravens.  But this eagle really seemed unperturbed by all the commotion and continued to ride the thermals and in fact at one time they were flying almost side-by-side.  For those that are reading this and are a bit confused by the coloration of the Bald Eagle, this is a juvenile.  It takes about 4 years for a Bald Eagle to obtain its complete white head and tail and dark brown body, which is the vision most people think of when they hear Bald Eagle.  A good example in showing that identifying birds can be a bit confusing, especially to new birders and to non-birders. 

 

 Bald Eagle - Juvenile

 

Bald Eagle and Common Raven - (note the size difference)

 

We also had a Northern Harrier put on quite a show for us as it was flying over the reeds in the lake hunting for prey.  A one point it landed on a tree snag and gave us really good close up views of this winter visitor to Arizona.  This bird has an 'owl-like' appearance to it, but usually is hard to see as these birds rarely pose close for photos and for viewing.

 

Northern Harrier

 

Once we finished our walk around Watson Lake, we then discussed our other options and I had heard that a Tundra Swan had been reported a few days ago at Willow Lake and we agreed that since we were in the neighborhood, we should at least stop by to take a look.  Thanks to Cynthia for knowing how to get there quickly and finding easy access parking.  We got out of our vehicles and I noticed a white mound that kind of looked like a white rock or maybe a white piece of trash out in the lake.  We all looked a little close and decided it might be the swan with its head tucked under the wing taking a nap.  We quickly made out way to the lake edge and the closer we got, I knew we had found our target bird, the Tundra Swan.  I had really never seen a swan in the wild before, but I knew they were big and when we got to looking at this one and noticing the company it was keeping; Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, and American Coots, then I realized how huge these birds really are.  This one never took flight for us, but it think it would be an amazing sight to see these birds take to the air.

 

 Tundra Swan

 

Tundra Swan

 

In our (or was it my?) obsession to get closer to the swan to try for photos, I observed another unusual bird flying towards us; a White-tailed Kite!  I have seen this bird before a few times in Maricopa County and was rather surprised to see one in this location.  We made a note of where it might have went and once we finished our business with the swan, we headed in the direction of where we thought it might be and once we got around the large cottonwood tree, we found it perched in another shorter tree.  We took a couple of distant photos and as we tried to approach it to get closer it took flight again and it put on a 'kiting' show for us where it would hover in flight without moving forward.  This was especially rewarding as I found out that this bird was a life bird for both Jason and Cynthia!  While my photos leave a lot to be desired, they are at least good enough for an ID if needed.  Cynthia managed a very nice in-flight photo when we first discovered this bird.

 

White-tailed Kite

 

This turned out to be a great day for all three of us with Jason getting 3 life birds and Cynthia and myself 1 each.  This is definitely a spot that I need to visit more often and I encourage others to do so as well.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buckeye/Arlington with Peggy

Just recently discovered that I have fallen behind on some of my blog posting.  In the process of going through my photo files of 2013, I realized that I neglected to write a post on my trip to the Buckeye/Arlington, Arizona area with Ms Peggy Coleman.  She is the person that started and maintains the 'Birding--Arizona and the Southwest Facebook' group.  I offered to take her out west and she accepted, so on Dec 8, 2013 I met her at her house (got to see her neighborhood Lewis's Woodpecker) and away we went.  We headed straight to the 'Thrasher Spot' to see if we could find any thrashers.  And we were in luck on that day with viewings of both Bendire's Thrasher and the most sought after thrasher, Le Conte's Thrasher. 

 

 Bendire's Thrasher

 

Le Conte's Thrasher

 

From there we ventured on some of the various roads checking out the birds with a few stops for photos when the opportunities were present.  This included some raptors and a brief stop at the Arlington Ponds which produced a fly-over of Sandhill Cranes which was a bird that Peggy had wanted to see in Maricopa County. 

 

 American Kestrel

 

 Gambel's Quail

 

 Northern Harrier - Male

 

Red-tailed Hawk

 

Sandhill Cranes

 

The final stop was the Lower River Ponds and the American White Pelican numbers were awesome and a few Ring-billed Gulls were leisurely basking in the sun on the bank of one of the ponds.   

 

 American White Pelicans

 

American White Pelicans (does the one in the middle far right count as a baker's dozen?)

 

Ring-billed Gulls

 

We had an enjoyable day and had lunch in Buckeye before heading home.  One last stop at the Glendale Recharge Ponds was in order, where we observed a Great Blue Heron and a Peregrine Falcon sharing the same turf.  This place is not the best for photography so we enjoyed the birds for a while then called it a day.  Another great day of birding in the great state of Arizona.

 

 

 



Veteran's Oasis Park - 20 Jan 2013

This is a location that I probably don't visit often enough.  It is a relatively new park with ponds of recycled water in Chandler, AZ and this last visit proved to me that it keeps getting better with age.  Ponds had more water in them than my past few visits and of course that attracts a lot of waterfowl in the winter time as many species spend their winters in this area and head north in the spring for their breeding grounds.  The water birds also bring many predatory birds and other predators as well.  This place has the highest concentration of Jack Rabbits that I have seen in AZ.  Along with the rabbits, this is usually almost always a great place to see the Greater Roadrunner.  And just like the old cartoons, the battle with the Coyote and the Roadrunner continues to this day.  We still don't have a clear winner as I found the Coyote first and the Roadrunner next.

 Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner

'Wylie' Coyote

Speaking of predatory birds, the Northern Harriers were in constant flight until one decided to land at the edge of one of the ponds.  I approached very cautiously and slowly stepped around some bushes to find it resting on the ground.  

 Northern Harrier

 Northern Harrier

The last predator is not quite as fierce looking, but is a favorite of many people and this place is almost always one of the most assured places to find the Burrowing Owl.  They have easily taken to the man-made nesting area that has been installed at this location.  Most people walking on the trails do not even see them as they sit so quite and still.  People think they are just rocks on the ground.

Burrowing Owl

Lots of waterfowl all over the ponds and my best photos were of a pair of Blue-winged Teal sliding silently through the water.  This species is a bit more uncommon than the Green-winged Teal in AZ in the winter.  The Green-winged Teal are quite abundant.  And I learned long ago, not to pass up a photo of an elegant Northern Pintail.  They may not be decked out in bright colors, but they look so elegant and refined.

 Blue-winged Teal

 Green-winged Teal

Northern Pintail

While I was concentrating on the Blue-winged Teal, a lone Least Sandpiper scampered right in front of me along the shore line giving me just enough time to get 2 photos and I was quite surprised the photos showed some pretty decent detail on this little shore bird.  

 Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

One species of bird in AZ for the winter is so abundant right now, you see them just about everywhere, is the 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler.  And of course this place was no different.  One of the great aspects of this location is that many of the trees are still small and in this case photographing warblers is a bit easier than in dense foliage of older and denser trees.  Also just had to include a photo of one of those Jack Rabbits that I mentioned early in this post.  My what big ears they have!

 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler

Desert Jackrabbit

With such a diverse variety of bird and animal life at this park, I think I need to return a bit more often.

Tres Rios Wetlands - 16 Dec 2012

Ellen and I were supposed to take part in a CBC (Christmas Bird Count) in Payson, AZ this past weekend and due to snow in the Payson area, it got postponed, so instead we opted to go out to Tres Rios Wetlands once again and walk the entire 2½ miles out and back for a 5 mile hike to see what we might find.  This place is an amazing spot for birding with lots of birds everywhere you look.  We had only been there about 10 minutes when some birding friends also arrived and joined us in our walk, Scott and Fonda Christopher.

 

On this trip, the Sora was probably our best showing bird.  It is a bird of the marshes and spends most of its time in the reeds and rushes and are more often heard than seen.  Of all the Rails, it is probably the one seen most often, but even then, they are usually quite secretive and do not often make themselves visible.  On this day we had 2 of them put on quite a show for the 4 of us and we all observed their nervous habit of flicking its tail.  It was fun to be able to capture some photos of these birds.

 

 Sora

 

Sora

 

With such a diverse amount of bird life in this place, it was not hard to find more birds to photograph.  Other birds that were quite plentiful were Song Sparrows, Marsh Wrens, and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We also found a couple of Loggerhead Shrikes, which are always an exciting bird to find and watch as they perch out in the open looking for their next meal, almost like a miniature raptor!

 

 Song Sparrow

 

 Marsh Wren

 

 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

Loggerhead Shrike

 

And just to add challenge to the photography, of course I had to try my hand at 'in-flight' shots of some of the birds that were constantly on the wing.  These included 2 Osprey, (1 with its catch of the day and 1 in search of its catch of the day), a Northern Harrier, constantly soaring low over the area in search of a meal, and another American White Pelican.  This is one of the best places to find this species in Arizona.  We saw over 50 of these birds in the sky over Tres Rios that day.  This pelican has a wing span of about 9 feet so they are very impressive when flying over.

 

 Osprey

 

 Osprey

 

 Northern Harrier

 

American White Pelican

 

The water birds include the Common Gallinule (an adult and also two juveniles) and a male Cinnamon Teal, which is one of the best looking waterfowl in Arizona.  Also had a Great Egret fly onto the road where we were walking, so it appears just a little out of its element, which of course is the water.

 

 Common Gallinule- adult

 

 Common Gallinule-juvenile

 

Cinnamon Teal

 

Great Egret

 

And to keep things interesting, we did see a small herd of Javalina running on the other road and they were not stopping, so the best I got was a rear end fading into the foliage.  Always nice to try to add a photo of something other than an avian species.

 

Javalina

 

What a great day the 4 of us had.  We did miss a couple of birds we were looking for, but the cooperative Soras made up for our misses.  Thanks to Ellen, Fonda and Scott for making it a great outing!