Bringing in the New Year

Bringing in the New Year for me is a day to go birding to see what I can find to start off the year on the right foot.  This year, birding friend Jason Morgan and I headed off to some spots along the Lower Salt River near Mesa.  Finding and photographing Bald Eagles was kind of our objective, but we also knew that it is never a sure thing.  We did manage to see one adult fly over at the Granite Reef area early in the morning and later on a return stop, we also saw a fly by of an immature Bald Eagle as well.  Guess photos on this day were not going to happen.  Our first stop though at Granite Reef was rather special in the fact that we found 2 Mountain Chickadees in the pre-dawn darkness.  We actually heard them before we saw them.  This is the same place that I discovered 2 of these charmers back in October.  Were they the same 2 or a different 2?  Guess we will never know, but this is a bird that is not usually found in such low elevations, but apparently this must be a bit of a minor irruption year for this species as a few more have been found in other low elevations in Arizona.  At our next stop which was Phon D Sutton, with very little protection from the cold north wind, we did not linger, but continued up to Coon Bluff which is always a favorite for birding.  Finally the sun had rose up over the eastern low mountains allowing for some better chances for photos and the temps started improving.  On the road to the campground we had to pull over to check out the birds and a small flock of Western Bluebirds were forging on some berries and really gave us some great looks and some of the males were stunningly colorful. 

 

 Western Bluebird

 

Western Bluebird

 

Finally making our way to the campground we were greeted by a pair of Ladder-backed Woodpeckers.  This is a fairly common bird at this location and can often be heard by the 'peek' call which will assist in leading a person to locating them.

 

 Ladder-backed Woodpecker - Female

 

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - Male

 

And a male Vermilion Flycatcher made a brief appearance for us. 

 

Vermilion Flycatcher

 

Across the river we observed a Green Heron flying along the shore line and it landed then took off scampering along the water's edge, which we assumed it was chasing a fish in the water just out of reach.  This bird can get quite excited and when it does it will raise its crest and that is just what it was doing.  Considering the distance from us, I made an attempt at a few photos and now I have an idea of what a green Mohawk might look like if someone chose to get one from their local barber.

 

Green Heron

 

A couple of other birds that were not in short supply were the Ruddy Ducks and the Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We get both of these species in the winter time when they are at their least colorful time of the year.  But still worthy of photos all the same.

 

 Ruddy Duck

 

(Audubon's) Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

Finally we had to call is quits due to some previous commitments and we returned to our meeting place and Jason headed for home while I had one more stop to make in Scottsdale.  An odd trio of birds had been found in some Cottonwood trees by an urban lake that is full of bikers, walkers, and runners to name a few.  Reported a few days earlier by another excellent birder, Magill Weber, and re-confirmed by a couple more people I just had to make an effort to see if I could locate this Odd Trio.  The trio consisted of a Brown Creeper (fairly common in Arizona), a Northern Parula, and an American Redstart.  The later 2 species are very uncommon in the winter as migrants. I concentrated on the Cottonwood trees and it was not long that another couple of birders told me that they found the Brown Creeper, so I joined them at that tree and within 2 minutes I was able to locate the other 2 flitting around in the very same tree.  If one moves to a new tree, it appears the other two follow.  Guess there is safety in numbers for them.  While they did not present great photo opportunities, I managed to get identifiable photos and since the American Redstart was a new life bird for me, that is the one I was concentrating on most of all.  

 

 American Redstart

 

American Redstart

 

 Brown Creeper

 

Northern Parula

 

A new life bird on the first day of a new year?  Could not have asked for a better start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve - 9 January 2013

Another post on another regular spot and an easy place to visit.  The Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve, (aka GWR or Gilbert Water Ranch) is a birding spot one should not miss when visiting Arizona.  Always has a lot of the regular in-season, local birds, but many times some rarities decide to pay a visit, such as the Winter Wren from a few posts back (and to my knowledge is still there, but being a bit more discreet).  The latest bird that decided to camp out here was a Northern Parula.  This is a bird of eastern United States, but just about every year a few wander to the west for the fall and winter.  Many birders got great views of it and many also got some great photos, but for many reasons I was not able to get there and look for it until about a week ago before the cold temps kicked in.  It was pretty well known what area it was hanging out, so of course that was my priority location when I arrived and sure enough it made its regular appearance where I got great looks at it.  It definitely made me work for my photos (as most warblers do), and although it did not come to the front of a tree and pose in full sunlight for me, the photos are adequate enough for a positive ID.

 Northern Parula

Northern Parula

Along with the Northern Parula there was another visitor in the same area that should not have been there.  A male Yellow Warbler has been hanging out in the same vicinity.  This bird should have been much further south, like maybe Mexico, not in Arizona for the winter.  The Yellow Warbler was even more difficult to photograph for the simple fact it did not stay in the area for a very long time.  So I had to settle for a photo with a lot of branches in front of the bird.

Yellow Warbler

After seeing these two wonderful warblers, my wanderings then veered to some of the ponds to find a couple of specialty waterfowl; a Common Merganser female and a Hooded Merganser female.  Neither species is considered rare in Arizona, but they are a bit uncommon compared to some of the ducks, which includes Mallards which is probably the most common duck throughout the entire United States.  

 Common Merganser-female

 Hooded Merganser-female

Mallard

Also could not help but taking a couple of photos of some birds in the trees; a male Anna's Hummingbird and a female Red-winged Blackbird.  The later bird has stymied more than one novice birder in trying to identify it as it looks so much different than the male of this species.

 Anna's Hummingbird

 Red-winged Blackbird-female