You Win Some & You Lose Some

This hobby of birding is not always what it seems.  Once a person gets addicted to birding and listing, then every week and every day, one is always thinking what should I chase on my next day off?  Currently for me, that is pretty much weekends only, but if everything falls into place, next year at this time I will be able to head out any day I feel like it.  So it was, when the fourth weekend in January rolled around.  I wanted to add some of the rarer birds being reported to my Arizona list and my Maricopa County list for the new year.  So I headed for Lake Pleasant to see if I could locate some of the rarer birds being seen at that location.  What I did not plan on, was the wind.  It was brisk, and cold coming in off the water of the lake.  White caps in the water were not conducive to finding birds as they were most likely hiding in some sheltered coves on the opposite side.  Next time I decide to go to this place, I am going to check on the weather first. 

 

Since I was that far north, I figured I might as well hit a couple of other spots on the way home where I might have better luck.  Next closest spot to Lake Pleasant was Dos Lagos Park in Glendale to locate the continuing Eurasian Wigeon.  This is the second year in a row that this bird has wintered in this park and one of the easiest birds to add to one's list for the year at this location.  But from where I live it is quite a drive just for this one species, so being in the neighborhood gave it more credence.

 

 Eurasian Wigeon

 

Eurasian Wigeon

 

Next stop on the list?  Tempe Town Lake to add the Brown Pelican to my list.  This spot has been a consistent place for a small population of these birds to reside.  Most generally it consists of juveniles, but this time I found one in adult plumage.  Even though it was not easy to get close enough for killer photos, it was fun to watch it glide in from the west with a flock of cormorants and see the noticeable size difference between these two species.  Here is the Brown Pelican with its entourage of cormorants. 

 

Brown Pelican & Cormorants

 

Final destination for the day was the Gilbert Water Ranch.  Arriving late in the morning, took a little excitement out of the hunt as this place is so popular with joggers, dog-walkers, human strollers, and of course families with kids!  Oh yes, there is also always a plethora of photographers taking photos of some of the great birds that are there and are usually easier to photograph here than at most locations.  On this day, one could say that I must have joined ranks with the photographers because I started photographing ducks.  A drake Green-winged Teal and a drake Northern Pintail are always nice; the teal with its blaze green on the head and the pintail showing off its elegance and it is quite easy to see how it got the name pintail. 

 

 Green-winged Teal

 

Northern Pintail

 

Then I visited the fishing pond that has quite a flotilla of Ring-necked Ducks.  Most non-birders do not understand why they are called ring-necked instead of ring-billed ducks.  And to be quite honest it would seem that ring-billed is more apropos with that ring around the bill.  However, they do have a ring around the neck which is most generally not visible, but on this day, the drakes were stretching their necks and the rufous/cinnamon colored ring around the neck was visible.  Always nice to get photos of this duck with the visible rings.

 

 Ring-necked Ducks

 

 Ring-necked Ducks

 

Ring-necked Ducks

 

And as an added bonus, I wanted to add a photo of a Yellow-rumped Warbler just to let everyone know that I was checking out other birds, not just ducks.  This the Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler subspecies, and this photo leaves no doubt on how it got its name with that bright yellow patch on its rump.

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

Although my original goal was a bust in the beginning, it ended up still being a good day of birding.

 

And if one is interested in mammals, this location has an abundant population of Cotton Rats.  They were great food for the Coyotes when they were there and are still a draw for several raptors that tend to visit this location.

 

  Cotton Rat

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 



Desert Meanderings

After so many birding trips to escape the heat of the desert and with fall finally settling in, the temperatures have subsided somewhat and now it is much more enjoyable to do some some local birding.  A large part of Arizona lies in the Sonoran Desert, including Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs.  Recent birding trips have been to familiar desert locations with some familiar birds.  Saturday, my original goal was a long hike in South Mountain Park, but changed my plans after seeing the reports for a Red-breasted Merganser at Glendale Recharge Ponds by birding friend, Tommy DeBardeleben earlier in the week and then reconfirmed by Steve Hosmer a couple of days later.  The last time I had visited this place, my camera was out of order and I tried birding it with binoculars only.  This is a tough place to go birding with just binoculars as the ponds are fairly large and the waterfowl are usually on the opposite side.  (Not too difficult to figure out why that is!)  I also recently purchased a modest spotting scope and this would be a great tool to have when visiting this place.  

I arrived there early and started scanning pond number 5, that had lots of waterfowl on it and during this time Babs Buck arrived and joined me.  We spent a lot of time scanning this pond without finding our target bird, so we moved over to pond number 4 to see if maybe it might be there and after about 45 minutes we moved back to pond 5 (those 2 ponds were the only ones with water).  Within about 5 minutes of returning I discovered our target bird out past some American Coots and a couple of Eared Grebes.  Mergansers are diving birds and easy to miss as one scans a pond if they are under water in one of their dives.  The distance to the bird was pretty far, but since this was a life bird for both of us, we took photos anyway for documentation purposes.  Of the 3 merganser species in North America, this is the species that is hardest to find in Arizona.

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Not the best place to try to get photos of birds, but a couple that did cooperate to a certain extent we an American Pipit and an adult Bald Eagle that flew over being harassed by an Osprey.  The pipits were abundant and could be heard flying overhead before we finally found them on the ground.

American Pipit

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The title of this blog post is 'Desert Meanderings' simply because my most recent birding had been brief visits to some of my most familiar spots and along with some of those hikes, a few photos were taken from time to time of some of the birds that I find in almost every trip.  Since I never get tired of looking at birds, why not take more photos?

First off, Javalina Trail and Pima Canyon Trail in South Mountain Park.  From one of my hikes on Javalina Trail, I found a couple of cooperative Gilder Flickers and my first-of-fall 'Oregon' Dark-eyed Junco.

Gilded Flicker

Gilded Flicker

'Oregon' Dark-eyed Junco

Next from Pima Canyon Wash in South Mountain Park, an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a Northern Mockingbird, and a Rock Wren.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Northern Mockingbird

Rock Wren

A quick stop at ASU Research Park presented me with a very nice Green Heron and a Ring-necked Duck.

Green Heron

Ring-necked Duck

And finally from a short stop at Fountain Hills Lake, a Killdeer and another first-of-fall Lesser Scaup.

Killdeer

Killdeer

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Have some interesting birding trip planned in the future, so it should be interesting to see what I might see and photograph.  

  

GWR with a Birding Pal

Earlier in March, I was contacted by Madison Creech who had found my listing in Arizona Birding Pals, http://www.birdingpal.org/az.htm.  She is a graduate student at ASU studying art with a focus on birds.  She wanted to have someone show her around and focus on birds so I gladly accepted and we made plans to meet at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve on March 23rd.  This place is always an excellent place to watch birds and their behavior and is usually a great place to capture photos for those that focus on photography.  We spent a great deal of time talking and discussing birds and the various species we were seeing.  In order to introduce Madison to many of the different species, I would try to point them out and talk about them briefly and encouraged her to take as many photos as she liked.  Of course I took a few photos along the way as well. 

The American Avocets were seen in good numbers and some were even performing their courtship rituals; this female appeared quite receptive while the male danced around her.  Note the very strong upturned bill of the female.  This is one way to sex these birds since their coloration and markings appear to be the same.  Females have a more pronounced upturned bill than do the males. 

American Avocet

In another pond we discovered a male Blue-winged Teal, which is not a rare bird by any means, but they are not that common in Arizona and always neat to see and add to the years's list for those that are listers.  The white mask on the drakes are usually the best identifying field mark.

Blue-winged Teal

As we walked the pathways between the ponds, various birds were being seen including one of my favorites, the Curve-billed Thrasher.  Maybe not considered the most colorful bird, but once you see that orange eye and that huge curved bill, one takes notice of this bird.  Not only that, but this bird can sing as well as a Mockingbird and this one was singing up a storm right above us.

Curve-billed Thrasher

We also found a few Brown-headed Cowbirds, which many birders do not like very well due to the fact that they are parasitic birds.  They do not build nests of their own; the female searches out other bird nests that are left unattended for a short time and then lays an egg in the nest.  The result is the foster bird then incubates the egg and hatches it and feeds it along with it own clutch of babies.  One of the problems in this, is the fact that many times, the parents real chicks are much smaller than the Cowbird chick and many times only the Cowbird chick survives.  Interesting bird behavior.  

Brown-headed Cowbird

The critter that first gave us a lot of photos was one of the resident Coyotes.  As we were standing in a clearing of Pond 7, this animal can wandering out into the mud flats probably with an original focus on trying to catch some waterfowl for breakfast.  It gave us some looks of interest, but then sauntered away and then double back and started walking towards us before disappearing into the underbrush along the edge of the pond.

 Coyote

 (No, this was not a growl, more like a yawn.)

On our way out of the preserve, we passed by the fishing pond where the Ring-necked Ducks congregate.  These ducks are fed by many of the locals and with the boardwalk over the north end of the fishing pond, they can swim by quite close and that view helps to show why they were named Ring-necked Ducks instead of ring-billed ducks.  That neck ring on the males in not very noticeable at a distance, but the ring on the bill is much more noticeable.  Many think this duck is misnamed.

 Ring-necked Duck

Ring-necked Duck

And one last bird that I photographed on the way out and not one that I photograph very often, the most common House Sparrow.  It came to me a few weeks ago that I have never posted a photo of this most common and widespread bird to any of my blogs, so now for the sake of adding a photo of this species to my list of bird photographs on my blog site, I give you a female house Sparrow.

House Sparrow

Canal Birding in Arizona

Recently I have taken to get some hiking exercise along one of our neighborhood canals.  This canal is a border between the cities of Mesa and Chandler and it has been greatly improved with a nice concrete walkway on the south edge of the canal and pedestrian traffic lights installed where it crosses the major heavy traffic streets.  Not sure how far east it goes, but I know that one can walk all the way to parts of
Tempe to the west.  I had a Facebook friend suggest I check it out as there seemed to be plenty of bird life all along the length.  And she was right!   (Thanks Tina!) 

I have discovered this has been the best place for me to see and photograph the Greater Yellowlegs.  On my last visit, I found 3 of these birds within just the first mile and they have been quite accommodating.  What fun it is to watch them bob up and down while watching me as I take photos.  Here is a variety of photos in different poses.  Notice the black toenails in the photos.  Also note the bi-colored bill and the very slight upturn of the bill.  These are key identifications of this species compared to the Lesser Yellowlegs. 

 Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

 Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

This last visit I was graced with an elegant Black-necked Stilt.  Such a lovely and very photogenic wading bird and when I can capture the red eye clearly of this species, then I am happy with my photo.

Black-necked Stilt

Another bird that I see on almost every visit is the Green Heron.  Quite often they fly away before I can get close enough for a shot, but finally one of them stayed put as I walked past.  Just wish it could have chosen a better back drop!  On one other occasion, another one attempted to hide behind a stick.

Green Heron

Green Heron

The Belted Kingfisher has always been one of my nemesis birds as far as photographs, but along this canal, I had a nice male finally allow me to approach and get some decent photos.  Usually this bird is quite skittish and can be difficult to approach for a good photo.

 Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Of course this is not about water birds only, there are usually a few predators in the vicinity as well and this handsome American Kestrel was another of those obliging avian friends.

 American Kestrel

 American Kestrel

A couple of ducks also presented themselves for photos; a Ring-necked Duck female and a very handsome Mallard drake.  The Mallard is probably the most common and recognizable duck in the United States, but one cannot help but marvel at the iridescent green head on this bird. 

Ring-necked Duck-female

Mallard

Of course a blog would not be complete without a mammal of some kind.  Saw a couple of Harris's Antelope Ground Squirrels on the opposite bank running and hiding, so I just stopped and got myself and my camera ready and waited for them and sure enough one of them had to come up and check on me to see if I was still around and what I was up to.  

Harris's Antelope Ground Squirrel

Don't be surprised to see more future blogs about this wonderful spot for getting some great exercise and observing some very enjoyable wildlife as well.