A Windy Day Down South

On Sunday, February 22, 2015, Muriel Neddermeyer and I headed down to southeastern Arizona to search for a few rarities and along the way, we picked up Chris Rohrer in Tucson and began our quest.  Muriel had checked the forecast and found that the weather was not going to be the best for birding with some strong and gusty winds.  We decided to go for it anyway as staying at home would produce 'nothing'!  Our first stop was Huachuca Canyon to try for the Sinaloa Wren that has been there for some time.  We had mixed success with this bird.  Chris saw it briefly and called us to his location where we did not see it again. A short time later, we heard it give its infamous ratchet call, but once again it did not present itself.  We finally left there feeling a bit unfulfilled; but there will be another time. 

 

We then headed west towards the grasslands of Sonoita and Elgin where a Rough-legged Hawk had been reported recently.  This area is where the strong gusty winds made for some difficult birding.  With no wind breaks in sight, even the birds were having a difficult time.  The raptors were almost non-existent, except for a couple far off in the distance.  But the smaller grassland birds helped to make up for the miss on the RLHA.  Vesper Sparrows were fairly common, but did not flush from the grasses too often, except for one that landed on a fence near a vineyard and was desperately hanging on to avoid getting blown off the wire.

 

Vesper Sparrow

  

We also observed several flocks of Chestnut-collared Longspurs.  These birds will burst out of some tall dried grass with no warning and circle around and eventually all land back in another spot of tall dry grass.  Once they are in the grass, they are almost impossible to find.  But I somehow had a bit of fortune on this day as one of them landed on a post within camera range.  This a male just starting to molt into its summer plumage.

 

Chestnut-collared Longspurs

 



Chestnut-collared Longspur

 

Also in the grasslands, we found a mangy looking Coyote and a very impressive herd of Pronghorn.

 

 

From here we moved on to our last target bird the Yellow-throated Warbler that has spent the winter on the main street common of the small town of Patagonia.  We quickly spied a male Hepatic Tanager in a pine tree.  Even this species is a bit on the uncommon side at this time of the year. Not too long after that we all caught sight of a bird or two that flew in and Chris and Muriel were quick to see that a female Hepatic Tanager had also arrived in the tree.  Interestingly, I had noticed a much smaller bird flit in, but was having trouble re-finding it.  But with a little perseverance, I finally located it again and there was our target bird the Yellow-throated Warbler.  We then followed this bird around the tree as it foraged higher up in the limbs of the pine.  At times it seemed to disappear and then one of us would relocate it again.  We were even able to assist a couple of other people that arrived locate it as well.  This bird is fairly rare for Arizona as it is a bird that breeds in the eastern part of the United States.  Success!  Another new life bird!  Adding new life birds in Arizona is getting more difficult for me as most of the common birds have been documented.  I have to rely on some of the rarities these days to add new species. 

 

Yellow-throated Warbler

 



Yellow-throated Warbler

 



Yellow-throated Warbler

 



Yellow-throated Warbler

 

And just for good measure, here are the male and female Hepatic Tanagers.

 

Hepatic Tanager - male

 



 Hepatic Tanager - female

 

Finally we departed back for Tucson to drop off Chris and Muriel and I headed back to the Phoenix area.  But we did make one short stop at Amado Pond to check up on the Pacific Loon that has spent most of the winter in this location.  Surprisingly small pond for this bird, but it appears healthy suggesting there are plenty of fish in the pond for feeding.

 

Pacific Loon

 



 Pacific Loon

 

The wind definitely played a part in some of our success, but in some cases, some of the birds hunkered down a bit more and it added to some of our success.  Cannot complain about a little wind compared to some ugly weather in other parts of the US right now.

Rim Country - Black Canyon Lake - 13 Oct 2012

Now to continue with another stop at another lake in Rim Country.   Wayne and I decided to visit Black Canyon Lake in the early afternoon and it is not as popular for boating or fishing like Woods Canyon Lake and it also requires taking a dirt road about 5 or 6 miles to arrive at the lake.  We did not have to deal with crowds of people during our stay. 

 

I had only been to Black Canyon Lake once before, but after this last trip, you can bet that I will stop by on every future visit to the Rim Country. Little did we know that we were in for a treat in the birding department at this small lake on this visit.  Another one of those lucky instances of being in the right place at the right time as we discovered a bird that is considered rare in Arizona; a Pacific Loon.  This species has been seen on rare occasions in the state of Arizona, but it is not very common.  Have also since learned that it is probably the first record of this species in Navajo County.  That and the fact that it was a new life bird for me, makes it a bit more special for me.  When we started surveying the lake, I saw this bird far across the water and knew it was not a Western Grebe which was also on the lake along with a couple of Ring-necked Ducks.  Unfortunately it was far enough away to make it hard to make a positive ID on it with my binoculars.  (A scope would have been nice!  Oh where was Lindsey when I needed her and her scope?)  Even at such a distance I decided to shoot some photos hoping that maybe by viewing them on the computer monitor at home I could get a positive ID.  I was thinking it was a loon at the lake (body and head shape along with beak was what gave me the impression of a loon), but since any loon would be considered rare and the fact that I have only seen one other loon species in my like, I was not confident enough to call the ID at that time.  And the photos at home definitely helped with a positive ID.  So I am posting one of my not-so-great shots of it, but better than I thought it would be.

 

Pacific Loon



And of course it never came any closer for any better photos, but the Western Grebe sure did not mind us and gave us some excellent views and some great photo opportunities.

 

Western Grebe



Western Bluebirds were quite numerous all along the edges of the lake.  Some were their winter drab plumage, but a few still showed off some of their bright blue colors.  Even had one posing on a dead tree branch and a 'Pink-sided' Dark-eyed Junco joined it and allowed me to capture a 'two-fer' photo; 2 different bird species in the same shot.

 

Western Bluebird



Western Bluebird



Western Bluebird and 'Pink-sided' Dark-eyed Junco



A couple of other birds that spent some time foraging on the ground near the water's edge was a 'Red-shafted' Northern Flicker and a Brewer's Blackbird.

 

 Northern Flicker

 

Brewer's Blackbird



We also had a fly-over of a Bald Eagle that appeared to maybe be about a 3 year old bird; not fully molted into the pure white head and tail, but close.  Unfortunately, I could not get the camera disconnected from the monopod in time to get anything better than a rear end shot as it flew away.

 

Bald Eagle



And finally to end this post, I have to leave a photo of another mammal, this time a Gray-collared Chipmunk.  If you saw my last post of a Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel, you might have noted the fact that only chipmunks have facial stripes; squirrels do not.  This animal clearly has stripes.

 

Gray-collared Chipmunk



Black Canyon Lake is an under-birded spot in Arizona as well as many of the hot spots in Rim Country.  I highly recommend this area to birders to spend some time to explore this area, you never know what you might find!