Let's Go South!

So far, it has been a very nice winter in Arizona with a more-than-normal abundance of rainfall in the lower elevations and snowfall in the higher elevations.  Hopefully this moisture will result in some incredible wildflower displays come springtime.  All this precipitation sometimes brings on some challenges to the birding.  Decided to head south to the Tucson area to spend a couple days of birding with good friend Chris Rohrer.  The first day was spent at various sites in and around Tucson itself and this is where the rain was a bit of a challenge.  It rained off and on all day.  We still got in some great birding, but photographs were a bit limited as we left cameras in the car for protection from the rain, while we birded with umbrellas.  

 Cooper's Hawk in the rain

 Snowy Egret in the rain

Female Vermilion Flycatcher in the rain

On Monday, we headed to Patagonia Lake State Park which is a great spot for birding and about an hour from Tucson.  The first surprise came when we drove up to the pay booth to pay our day fare for visiting.  Today it was FREE!  It just happened to be Martin Luther King holiday and all the state parks in Arizona were designated as free admission on that holiday.  I even made a comment in the car, 'This is going to be a great day of birding!'.  That statement turned out to be so true.  We had an incredible time at this location with some incredible birds. We even ran into some familiar faces from the Phoenix area that were birding there as well; Caleb Strand, Joshua Smith, and Laura Ellis and her husband.  So we got to share all of these incredible birds with them.

One of the reasons for coming to this place was to look for the Green Kingfisher, a species that I have seen in Sonora, Mexico, a few times, but never in the United States. Adding it to my Arizona list is pretty sweet.

 Green Kingfisher

Also on the radar was the wintering male Elegant Trogon which is always a thrill to observe.  Incredibly, when we originally saw him he had his back to us on a tree branch which allowed the chance to get a photo of its coppery colored tail.  Then it swooped down to the ground and into the grass and came up with a katydid in its beak.  It then proceeded to perch on a log facing us, and gave us quite a show as we watched it devour its morsel.  What an incredible moment to share with this elegant bird that gave me a chance to capture a pretty neat sequence of photos!

 Elegant Trogon with a katydid

We knew a Gray Catbird had also been reported in this spot and sure enough, we were able to find it when it flew into a brushy tangle in front of us and then laid low in hiding.  Finally it worked its way up into the tree and made itself visible to all of us.

 Gray Catbird

A Hermit Thrush was a nice bird to find as well, although they are not at all rare in Arizona.  But a bird that I always enjoy seeing.

 Hermit Thrush

Caleb was quick to point out a couple of Swamp Sparrows as well.  Not a rare bird by any means, but not super common and sometimes hard to locate.

 Swamp Sparrow

We were also lucky to locate the Winter Wren that had been reported by many in the past couple of weeks.

Winter Wren

This visit was an awesome visit with lots of special birds and with very good company.  A place I relish the thought of returning to.  

Headin' South to Chase Rarities Again

Late last week, I was contacted by the 2 other 'Phoenician Kingbirds' about heading south to the Tucson area on Saturday to chase some rarity warblers. Yes, we kind of come up with a nickname for the 3 of us, Tommy DeBardeleben, Mark Ochs and myself.  Tommy and I met Mark at Picacho Peak and we headed straight to Reid Park and our first stop was the pond behind the Hardesty Building where a female Black Scoter has been residing for over 2 weeks.  I had seen it once before with another birder friend, Chris Rohrer, but it was not very cooperative with us, staying in the far shadows of the back part of this fenced in pond.  This time we had a bit of better luck as it swam out into the central part of the pond and we got some really good looks at this rather odd duck.  Scoters are diving sea ducks that have short necks and breed in the far north.  There are 3 species of scoters, the Black Scoter, the Surf Scoter and the White-winged Scoter and they are uncommon in Arizona as migrants.  Strangely, I have seen all 3 species in this desert landlocked state of Arizona.  Who knew?

 

 Black Scoter

 

Black Scoter

 

Next we ventured to another part of Reid Park to try our luck at finding another rarity, the Pine Warbler.  All I can say is that I am really lucky to have had some expert birders with me along with another couple that was there also searching for it.  We knew it was not going to be in its bright breeding coloration, but this turned out to be one of the dullest and drabbest warblers I have ever seen.  It was hanging out with a large flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, and it was pretty difficult to pick it out amongst the Yellow-rumps.  Someone had left remnants of a cake on one of the benches by the playground equipment and all the warblers (and a Gila Woodpecker) were very busy pigging out on the cake.  This was probably one of the most disappointing new life birds that I can recall.  Now I am going to have to head to the eastern part of the US to see one in breeding plumage.

 

 Pine Warbler

 

 Pine Warbler

 

Gila Woodpecker, pigging out on some cake

 

Had a couple of Vermilion Flycatcher females entertain us in the park, plus I had to take a side trip to one of the ponds to check out water birds such as a Snowy Egret and an American Wigeon. 

 

 American Wigeon-Male

 

 American Wigeon-Female

 

 Snowy Egret

 

Vermilion Flycatcher-Female

 

From there we headed to the Tanque Verde Wash in Tucson to try and locate another warbler that is rare for Arizona, the Magnolia Warbler.  This is a bird that breeds in the far north, especially Canada and into northeastern United States.  Well this one turned out to be fairly easy to find as it was still hanging out right where several others birders had seen it and reported it.  And for all the drabness that the Pine Warbler provided, this one made up for it quite quickly.  A very stunning bird and this one showed off its flashy tail several times for us. 

 

 Magnolia Warbler

 

Magnolia Warbler

 

So far we were doing quite well, so on the road to our last target bird, we made a brief stop at Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson to maybe find the Greater Pewee that has been living there for the past few weeks.  This is a bird that should be spending its winter much further south down in Mexico.  This time we were not so lucky, but we know it was still there as it had been reported earlier in the day by others, but since we were short on time we needed to move on, but before we left we had a nice Merlin pay us a visit right above us along with several Northern Flickers.  What was cool to discover was that one of the Northern Flickers was a 'Yellow-shafted' form.  The yellow-shafted is the form most generally found in the eastern part of the US while the most common form we get in Arizona is the red-shafted.  While it is not considered a separate species, it is always nice to see and document an unusual bird for the state.

 

 Merlin

 

'Yellow-shafrf' Northern Flicker

 

Our last target bird was a Louisiana Waterthrush which has been spending it's time on the Santa Cruz River near the Ina Street bridge.  Yes, we found it by is distinct chip note and caught some brief glimpses of if as it flew from one area of dense vegetation to another.  Alas, no photo opportunities were going to happen on this day.  But that just gives me another new goal, get a photo of one!

 

After dropping Mark off at his vehicle, Tommy and I head north and made a brief stop at the Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler to check out the Horned Grebe that was found a couple days earlier.  It was not hard to find this handsome small bird on the fishing lake and I was surprised at the distance it would travel under water when it would make a dive.  You never knew where it was going to surface.  This spotting helped me reach a milestone of viewing all 7 species of United States grebes in Maricopa County in Arizona.  This was considered almost impossible until last January when a Least Grebe was found in a small pond in Chandler Heights.  That bird was way far north of its range and allowed several birders to hit that milestone back in January.  I had seen the Horned Grebe in Lake Havasu before, but this was my first viewing in Maricopa County.

 

 Horned Grebe

 

Horned Grebe

 

Once again a very successful trip and I have to give thanks to Tommy and Mark for helping me to achieve more birds to my lifetime list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Tres Rios Wetlands, May 2012

Summer heat has partially arrived in Arizona and birding becomes more uncomfortable as the temperatures rise, so my best plan is to get out early and take advantage of the cool mornings.  Later on, there will be no cooler mornings, all hot, and when that happens the best escape is higher elevations.

Today I wanted to take advantage of the cool morning air and traveled to Tres Rios Wetlands along the Salt River in the west valley.  This is another birder's paradise and much of it is off limits and inaccessible without permission for birding on the west side of 91st Ave.  On the east side of 91st Ave is the Hayfield Site that is open to all.  Although I did not get any photos, I did actually see my first Least Bitterns and was very excited.  I knew they existed there as I have heard them in the past, but they are very elusive and sometimes very hard to spot.  The excitement at the Hayfield site was a Western Wood Pewee that put on quite a show, flying out to capture an insect and then flying back to devour its morsel.  This one capture what I believe is a Mexican Amberwing Dragonfly (correct me if I am wrong), and gave me a lot of shots of it with the insect in its beak.  What was interesting was that just before it swallowed the insect, it flipped it in the air to position it so it went down head first, sort of like a heron or egret when swallowing a fish.  Here is shot just before the insect disappeared down the hatch.

Western Wood Pewee

On the west side I was treated to a wide variety of birds, some common and some not so common and some just being difficult to photograph!  First up is a Song Sparrow that wanted to play 'hide-n-seek' with me in the bushes.

Song Sparrow

Next we have a Red-winged Blackbird, which is very common and quite gregarious.  Most of them must have already raised one clutch as the reeds and bushes were full of juveniles.  The photo below is an adult male that was being quite vocal.

Red-winged Blackbird

The next couple of photos are of birds that are difficult to photograph.  The Common Yellowthroat likes to hide in reeds and brush along streams, but this one popped up long enough to get this photo.  The Blue Grosbeak is a stunningly beautiful bird, but they seem to be a bit skittish and, at least for me, difficult to approach and get a good photo of one. 

Common Yellowthroat

Blue Grosbeak

Killdeer are very common and quite vocal with their calls that are very distinct.  Even though they are usually found near water, it is just a bit uncommon to see them actually standing in water like this one.

Killdeer

And finally, a Snowy Egret was putting on a courtship display to an eligible female.  Those plumes are stunning when on display. 

Snowy Egret