Some Part-time Guiding

With a big trip planned in the very near future, I have been staying close to home recently, but have had the opportunity to guide a few out-of-state birders to find birds in and around the Phoenix area.  It has all been a lot of fun and it is interesting how different birders have different goals.  Some just wanted to see birds, ANY birds, but some wanted to hone in on some target birds.  I had the pleasure to assist Geruza from Texas, Barry from British Columbia, Susan from Colorado, and Marvin from Nebraska.  Was a lot of fun meeting these intrepid birders and enjoying their excitement when they locked on to something new.  

First person was Geruza from Texas and we took in 2 days of birding; first along the Salt River and Kiwanis Park and day 2 was spent at the Gilbert Water Ranch and Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  She was new to Arizona birding and just wanted to see as much as possible.  Here are a few of the photos I managed to capture during those two days. 

 American Robin

 Bald Eagle

  Lesser Golfinch

 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

  Rosy-faced Lovebird

Vermilion Flycatcher

The biggest shock came at Kiwanis Park in Tempe while we were checking out the Rosy-faced Lovebirds and we found this incredibly beautiful Rose-ringed Parakeet and it is a blue mutation.  It is a popular cage bird and the normal color is green, but pet breeders have a knack in developing color mutations and I have always loved this color mutation of this bird, but have never owned one.  I know this is an escapee, and I did post this to several Facebook lost pet sites.  Not sure if the original owner was found or if a local pet bird breeder may have captured it for safety sake.

  Rose-ringed Parakeet - Blue color mutation

 American Avocet

 Cinnamon Teal

 Northern Cardinal

 Orange-crowned Warbler

 Ring-necked Duck

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Next visitor was Barry from British Columbia, and he has been to Arizona in the past and has done a fair amount of birding on his own and for this trip he was hoping to find the hard-to-get Le Conte's Thrasher.  This bird is kind of a Maricopa County specialty.  While it is found in other parts of southwestern Arizona, the famous 'Thrasher Spot' west of Buckeye is well known.  We did find the Le Conte's Thrasher and Barry also learned how difficult this bird can be to find and observe.  We also got some other birds that were new to him as well.  It was a great outing!

    Burrowing Owls

 Sagebrush Sparrow

White-faced Ibis

Number 3 was Susan from Colorado and her goals were a bit similar to Barry's; get the Le Conte's Thrasher.  So it was back to the same location.  And once again, I was able to help Susan get on a Le Conte's Thrasher.  Plus we got Bendire's and Crissal as well.  

 Bendire's Thrasher

 Crissal Thrasher

 Gilded Flicker - male and female

 Gila Woodpecker

The final birder was an 86 year young gentleman from Nebraska and his enthusiasm for birds has not diminished at all and being able to show him some birds up close that were relatively calm around humans was a delight for him at the Gilbert Water Ranch.  

 Abert's Towhee

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 Gambel's Quail

  Pied-billed Grebe

Song Sparrow

Have an out-of-state trip planned in the very near future.  Hope to come back with some photos of some new life birds.  Stay tuned for more.

  

  

Saguaro Lake: A Huge Oasis in the Desert

Recently, I decided to head out to Saguaro Lake on the Salt River to take in a much needed hike for exercise and of course do some birding in the process.  Now that fall has arrived in the Sonoran Desert, the temperatures are so much more inviting for long hikes.  Saguaro Lake is a man-made lake on the Salt River and is surrounded by some incredible scenery.  On the north side of Saguaro Lake is a picnic/campsite known as Butcher Jones Beach and from this site is probably one of the most scenic hiking trails in Maricopa County, at least in my opinion, but then, I have not hiked every trail in the county, so I could be wrong.  This trail was the focus of my hike and it surely did not disappoint.  I started my hike early in the morning and apparently was the first person of the day to set out on this trail as I did not run into any other hikers until on my return. Here are some photos from various points along the trail.   

Birding was actually pretty good along with many of the expected species such as Black-tailed Gnatcatchers and Black-throated Sparrows.

 Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Black-throated Sparrow

One bird that I was not expecting at this location was the Sagebrush Sparrow.  It is not a rarity by any means, but the habitat just did not seem quite right for this species.  It is a wintering bird in Maricopa County and I have observed this species in many other spots in the county.  But on the other hand, this habitat is not that too far off, so maybe they are around, but have just gone undetected in the past.  (Once I returned home, I checked eBird and found that they had not been reported there in the past, at least in eBird.  So I got to add a new species to eBird for this location.)

Sagebrush Sparrow

Near my turn-around point, I discovered a gorgeous female Belted Kingfisher.  They can be a very shy bird and this one was no different, quickly flying across a small inlet when I flushed it.  Considering the distance, I was kind of surprised I got a photo that was recognizable.

Belted Kingfisher - Female

By the time I returned to the beach area, the waterfowl were much more active than when I started, so I sat myself down on a rock along the shoreline and noticed that mixed in with the hundreds of American Coots was a Redhead duck.  This was my first of the fall sighting of this handsome drake and he looked a bit out of place with all those coots and a few Pied-billed Grebes.

 Redhead

Pied-billed Grebe

Not sure what was going on with the coots that morning, but many of them were flying high over the water.  Usually, when I see a coot in-flight, it is low and near the surface of the water and quickly sets down in the water at a different location.  With them flying over my head, I asked myself, 'Why not?' in reference to taking a photo of one in-flight.  Really gives a different perspective on this oh-so-common bird.  

 American Coot

One last walk through the picnic area before heading home, in the search for a Gray Flycatcher.  The past couple of winters have had one or two residing in this location.  And sure enough, I found it, or maybe I should say, it found me, as it flew into a tree right above me.

Gray Flycatcher

A great overall hike of about 4½ miles with some incredible scenery and some great birds along the way.  Even some of the flora along the trail is pretty amazing.  I am always amazed at how some of the cacti dispersed seeds can germinate and survive in and among the rocks.

 My hike, from my GPS app,

 Some type of a fishhook cactus.

 Cholla cactus

    

  

Ringing a Bell

About a year ago the AOU (American Ornithologist' Union) split the Sage Sparrow into 2 different species; the Sagebrush Sparrow and the Bell's Sparrow. Having seen several of the former 'Sage' Sparrows, now the quest became to find both species and the thoughts were that both species could be found in Maricopa County in Arizona on their wintering grounds.  The problem lies in the fact that the 2 species can be a bit tricky to identify with any certainty and Sagebrush is probably the most common of the 2 species to be found in Arizona.  Bell's Sparrow was thought to have its eastern range in Maricopa County of Arizona.  Last year I did attempt to try to locate both species, but came away unsuccessful in definitively finding the Bell's Sparrow.  Found many of the Sagebrush Sparrow, but the Bell's had eluded me.  

This year is a bit different due to some extensive studies by a couple of great birders.  Chris McCreedy conducted a field study that included DNA testing on birds captured in mist nets. And good friend Tommy DeBardeleben, has spent countless hours finding and studying these birds at a couple places west of Phoenix.  I was lucky enough to get a call from Tommy asking if I want to explore Robbins Butte area on Saturday to look for Bell's Sparrow.  He did not have to ask twice; I jumped at the chance and some more good fortune that came with it was the opportunity to have Laurence Butler and a young man by the name of Caleb Strand joining us.  Laurence is a very experienced birder in his own right and Caleb is an amazing birder for only being a teen.  It was really quite an awesome team the 4 of us made for birding that day.  Our plan of attack was to visit Robbins Butte where Chris's testing revealed mostly Bell's in this location and Tommy had just been there 2 days before and had excellent looks at Bell's as well.  We did find Bell's Sparrows and was able to see the distinguishing field marks that separated them from Sagebrush Sparrows.  But we also found that the Bell's seem to be a bit more skittish and do not like to pose well for photos, so the only decent photo I got was of a Sagebrush Sparrow.  More trips are in order to study these birds closer and hopefully come away with a decent photo or two of the Bell's Sparrow.

Sagebrush Sparrow

Sharp-shinned Hawk - fly over while pursuing the Bell's

Sparrows were not the only stars that day.  Seems that reptiles played a role in our discoveries as well.  Laurence happened upon a pair of Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnakes mating and undulating under a mesquite tree.  These snakes will mate in Spring and then again in the Monsoon season in Arizona, and being live bearers, they will give birth to 2-12 babies.  They were well hidden under the tree, so photos were a bit tough, but still a cool thing to observe.

 Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake - mating

 Western diamond-backed Rattlesnake - Mating

Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake - 2 tails proving there are 2 snakes here

As we headed back to the car to head out to the Arlington area, I was following Caleb and right in front of me he quickly dropped to ground and picked up a medium sized Gopher Snake and held it for all of us to check it out up close and get some really nice shots.

 Gopher Snake

Gopher Snake

Just a word of caution to others head out to this location.  Keep an eye on where you are walking because we know there are at least 3 snakes out there!

The trip to the Arlington Pond area was very rewarding as well. On the road in, Caleb was quick to spot a Lewis's Woodpecker, which is a really cool bird to find at this low elevation as they are not very common to find in Maricopa County.  At the ponds we had a large group of Black-crowned Night Herons which all spooked once we approached.  

Black-crowned Night Heron

A Greater Roadrunner and a Loggerhead Shrike both posed on trees as we drove by.  Caleb was also quick to spot a Common Black Hawk high up in the sky as we were departing.  It was another fairly late migrant.

 Greater Roadrunner

Loggerhead Shrike

The last couple of photos for this post consist of 2 species of kingbirds; a Western Kingbird and a Cassin's Kingbird.  Both are migrants and are probably lingering behind on their migration.  We had the Western Kingbird at Robbins Butte and the Cassin's Kingbird at the Arlington ponds.  It is a good comparison of the field marks of the 2 species especially for new birders.  

 Cassin's Kingbird

Western Kingbird

This was a fantastic half day of birding with some awesome birders and I want to thank Tommy, Laurence, and Caleb for making this a remarkable and memorable outing.  And yes, I did 'Ring My Bell' by adding the Bell's Sparrow to my life list.