Willcox and Lake Cochise

On Sunday, March 1, 2015, I headed down to the southeastern area of Arizona with Magill Weber riding along.  We were headed to Cochise Lake near Willcox, AZ to try our luck at locating a Red Phalarope that has been reported by many in the past week.  This is a bird that breeds along the Artic shores in the summer and spends its winters at sea; a rather rare bird inland.  I had seen only one of these birds once before and it was in the Pacific Ocean in 2013 about 20 miles out from Half
Moon Bay, California, so to have one show up in Arizona it is quite remarkable.  This would be a great bird to add to my Arizona list and I think Magill felt likewise.  So this was our target bird for the day an it did not take long to find it spinning around and back and forth in the water, foraging like phalaropes normally would.  At first it was a bit far out for photos, but we moved to another side of the lake and it eventually worked its way a bit closer for some identifiable photos.  Obviously this bird is not in its colorful reddish breeding plumage at this of the year, but still a remarkable bird none the less.

 

 Red Phalarope

 

Red Phalarope

 

One other bird dominated the landscape all around Cochise Lake; the Sandhill Crane.  Parts of Arizona is the winter home for this magnificent bird.  Arizona does not draw the biggest concentrations of them and I have seen them just about every winter in Maricopa County west of Phoenix as a small flock winters there.  A much larger concentration accumulates a bit further south from Willcox at Whitewater Draw and that place draws many birders to see them.  We were stunned by the sheer numbers in Willcox; we counted well over 1500 which brought back fond memories of Nebraska where they congregate along the Platte River in central Nebraska in the early spring every year and they number in the hundreds of thousands.  This was definitely impressive to see and hear and they actually allowed a bit of a close approach. 

 

 Sandhill Cranes - Need I say more?

 

 

As we work our way around the lake, I got to see my find Cinnamon Teal of the year.  (Yeah, that is kind of sad when I have them only about 6 miles from my home in Mesa at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve!)  I had to drive all the way to Willcox to see my first of the year.

 

Cinnamon Teal

 

We then made our way to the pond by the golf course where we found a stunning breeding plumage male Ruddy Duck.  Not a plumage we see too often and that blue bill really looks out of place, but also adds to its good looks.

 

Ruddy Duck

 

As we were driving out to head back a home, we were fortunate to have an Eastern Meadowlark sitting on a fence post and did not take off like most of them do when approached by humans.  We just stopped the car and enjoyed the view with the sunlight showing off its bright yellow chest.

 

 Eastern Meadowlark

 

 

We spent only about 1½ hours before we headed home, but it was a very productive day of birding in such a short time span.  Definitely worth the trip. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



A Graham County Weekend - Part 1

This past weekend, Tommy DeBardeleben and I set out to do some birding in Graham County in Arizona and specifically visit Mt Graham.  At 10,720 feet in elevation, it is the highest 'Sky Island' in Arizona and what an awesome place to visit. The Swift Trail or Road 366 is about 35 miles from the start off Highway 191 all the way to Riggs Lake, with about the last 12 miles being unpaved.  Campgrounds abound at many places along this road. 

Our goal was to search for as many species of birds we could in the short 2 days that we had and create a year list for Graham County.  Tommy had never been birding in Graham County and I had only visited it twice in the past, once in 2011 and once in 2012.  Of course our focus was Mt Graham, but we had some other stops to make on the way and the first of these was Cluff Ranch, south of the small town of Pima.  We started off great with a Swainson's Hawk on the road into the preserve that allowed some photos from the car.

  

Swainson's Hawk

One of our target birds was the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, (a small bird with a funny name).  This bird is fairly common in spots in southern Arizona, but this location is close to being the on the northern fringes of its range.  It had been a nemesis bid for me for some time, but I knew it was just a matter of time that I would be able to add this bird to my life list.  They have been reported here, so we knew our chances were good in finding one and it's call was the first clue to knowing it was here.  A small bird that can be easily overlooked if it is not calling or foraging.  

 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

Lark Sparrows were in abundance.  It is one of our largest sparrows and its distinctive facial pattern helps to make identification of this sparrow fairly easy.

Lark Sparrow

Our visit to Pond #3 resulted in several White-throated Swifts flying over the water along with many swallows.  I have never attempted to photograph this bird before simply for the fact that they are always in-flight and their flight pattern is fast and erratic.  But never-the-less, this time I made a feeble attempt to obtain photos and got a couple that were at least identifiable.

 White-throated Swift

White-throated Swift

From Cluff Ranch, it was a short drive to the Leay Lane Water treatment ponds.  Unfortunately, everything was enclosed in chain-link fence and locked up, so we were not able to view quite as well as we would have liked.  We did have a Greater Roadrunner run ahead of our vehicle for a distance before exiting off into the fringes of a cotton field.

Greater Roadrunner

View of Mt Graham in the distance from Leay Lane

Next stop was south of the town of Safford, Roper Lake State Park.  This spot is fairly well known for its birding, but this day was a bust for for us.  I have been here on both my previous visits and found some decent numbers of birds.  The only bright spot was a Belted Kingfisher that flew over and hovered above the water in front of us.

 Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Next was a brief stop at Dankworth Pond which had far more diversity and numbers of birds than Roper Lake.  We found out the next day that about 3 hours after our visit to Dankworth Pond, another birder reported a fly over by an adult Anhinga at this location.  Apparently we were about 3 hours too early bit for this location on this day.  An Ahiniga in Arizona???  That would have been an awesome find as there had only been one other sighting of that bird in AZ and that was in 1893.  Several others including Tommy and I checked back at the pond and it was not seen again.   

Ruddy Duck at Dankworth Pond

From here we then started the long trek up Mt Graham with several stops along the way.  Probably the most rewarding stop was the Arcadia Campground.  This campground was full of people, but we chose to skirt the main campground and follow some trails and also some dry washes without trails.  We had several warbler species including Red-faced Warbler and several Hermit Warblers.  

 Hermit Warbler - Female

 Hermit Warbler - Female

Red-faced Warbler

We had read some reports that Spotted Owls had been found in and around this campground, so we did have a bit of a strategy in trying to see if we could locate one.  Obviously we felt the need to get away from any of the main trails and focus on where a Spotted Owl might be.  During the day they are basically hard to find as they just sit perched without moving and this species is one that can be quite unafraid of human activity.  We knew we had to keep our eyes open for them and even though it seems they would be easy to spot sitting motionless in a tree, they can be very easy to overlook.  In the bottom of one of the washes, we stopped for a couple of minutes to discuss where they could be hiding, then as we took no more than 5 steps, Tommy looked back and up to the right and lo and behold, one of them sat on a limb, probably watching us as we were discussing them.  This one was a year hatch bird, so we know that the adult parents had to be nearby although we did not see any.  It would stare down at us from just a few feet away, probably wondering what these 2 humans were doing.  It would look down at us and every once in a while would stare off in the distance at a squirrel.  After a some great photos and some adrenaline pumping, we departed to leave it in peace.

 Spotted Owl

 Spotted Owl

Spotted Owl

 Tommy & the Owl - note upper right of photo

So much for the first day of birding in Graham County.  The Spotted Owl, which is a threatened species was definitely the highlight of this day.  More to come on the 2nd day, but will finish off this post with a few photos of some other non-avian specialties.

 Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

 Widow Skimmer

Widow Skimmer

Checkered Setwing

  

Willcox, Arizona - 18 May 2013

Well this was the first spot that I visited with Chris Rohrer this past weekend.  I had to post Sunday's adventure first due to the finding of the Elegant Trogon. But Saturday was also an exceptional day of birding as well.  It all started very early with a trip to Willcox, Arizona and its small lake south of town that is notorious for being a hot spot for rarities of shorebirds and this weekend was no exception. This small lake was was very well represented with a variety of shore birds.  

One of the nicest finds was the Snowy Plover.  This is a very small shorebird that is not too common in Arizona as they pass through on migration.  I had only seen one of these birds once before at a pond near Phoenix, but this day we found 2 of them which was a life bird for Chris.  The pond held several dozen phalaropes with most of them being Wilson's Phalaropes and a sprinkling of Red-necked Phalaropes.  I had seen both species before, but never in their breeding plumage.  They were decked out in their breeding plumage and these birds are a bit different than most birds.  The females are larger and are the ones all decked out in the bright and colorful plumage. Once they lay their eggs, their job is done and the males do the incubating and the raising of the young alone. 

 Snowy Plover

 Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope

One more photo of some sandpipers is interesting because it includes 2 different species.  In the foreground and on the left in the photo is a Western Sandpiper, which I have seen and photographed many times.  The interesting bird is the one that is a bit larger and behind it and to the right.  This is a White-rumped Sandpiper which is a rare bird in Arizona, but have been reported by several others at this location for a few days.  We also counted 14 Ring-billed Gulls at this location.

Western Sandpiper & White-rumped Sandpiper

Ring-billed Gull

All around the lake the air was filled with swallows with the majority being Barn Swallows and a few Bank Swallows.  The Barn Swallows are a very familiar bird to me as we had them every summer nesting in our barn on the farm in Nebraska.  The Bank Swallow actually was a new bird for me.  Not sure why I have never seen one before or even pursued one, but it is now on my list.  It is our smallest swallow in the United States.

 Bank Swallow

Barn Swallow

Chris knew that I had been wanted to add the Scaled Quail to my list and he did not disappoint me.  We got to view 6 of them.  While my photos are not what I consider the best, at least it is no longer one of those nemesis birds and maybe in the future I can obtain better photos.

Scaled Quail

Other birds and creatures seen at Willcox Lake were Eared Grebes, a nesting American Avocet, and a very unusual but lovely horny toad with a proper name of Texas Horned Lizard.

 Eared Grebe

 American Avocet on nest

Texas Horned Lizard

After leaving Willcox, we headed back to the Tucson area with a short stop in Benson, but the gates to the waste water treatment ponds were closed so we stopped at the Golf Course and found some Ruddy Ducks and the males were in full breeding plumage.  What a colorful little duck!

Ruddy Duck

This day was far from being over.  Our journey then took us to Madera Canyon in the late afternoon and into the evening.  The goal was to finally spot an Elf Owl.  This is our smallest owl in the United States at just under 6".  It is a migrant that nests in the southern areas of the southwest, primarily Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.  Obviously, since it is a nocturnal bird, photos can be a challenge.  I got but one photo as I did not want to disturb it any more than necessary since it was nesting and just coming out of its nest for its night time of feasting on primarily insects.

Elf Owl

While waiting on the Elf Owl to show itself, we had the pleasure of observing a flock of Wild Turkeys moving up the canyon to bed down for the night and the tom turkey was definitely in a protective mode as it stood its ground in the middle of the road until its harem of females were safely on the other side.

Wild Turkey

After the darkness settled in around us, then we had the pleasure of seeing and/or hearing a few more nocturnal birds.  Whiskered Screech Owls were calling in the distance and although it was fairly dark, we caught glimpses of a few bats, some Lesser Nighthawks, and a couple of Mexican Whip-poor-wills.  The Whip-poor-wills became very vocal as they would land in trees and do a lot of calling.  It was a long day, but a very fruitful day for both of us.