Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve - 7 May 2013

Probably one of the most popular birding spots in the metro area of Phoenix and its suburbs is the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve.  The name has kind of been shortened by many people to be known as the Gilbert Water Ranch, or GWR.  This is a spot where anyone with a bit of interest in birds can go and see probably a minimum of 50 species in one day and most likely at least 60 or more species.  It is an easy access area with very well maintained paths and recently they have did a bit of trimming of trees to allow some excellent viewing.  It is a series of 7 man-made ponds of recycled water and the water levels can vary from pond to pond and from week to week.  It is a winter haven for many winter birds escaping the cold weather up north and it is amazing what rarities seem to show up at this location every year.

For me it is a great place to go if I only have an hour to go birding as I live only about 15 minutes from this gem.  And one day in early May, I had some time to go out after work and I spent about an hour there.  There had been a couple of birds reported there the day before that are not all that common, so decided to check it out after work.  A Bonaparte's Gull had been reported and even though I had discovered one in Navajo County a couple of weeks before, it was nice to find one this close to home.  Plus this one was a bit easier to photograph as it put on quite a foraging show for me.  That is another reason to visit this spot; photography.  It is a great place to maybe capture great photos as some of the birds are quite used to humans.

 Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte's Gull

This gull was on pond 5 and also on the pond was a small flock of 9 Western Sandpipers.  Yes, I had seen and photographed this species at Glendale Recharge Ponds about a week before, but since it is less common than the Least Sandpiper, plus they are showing breeding colors right now, I love to capture their photo when I can.  Sometimes these 'peeps' can be difficult to photograph with their beaks out of the water as they are usually very active probing in the water and mud.

 Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

And since it is spring time in parts of Arizona, many resident birds have already nested and their fledgling offspring can be detected by just being alert to what is going on.  This trip yielded fledglings of both the Killdeer and also a Curve-billed Thrasher.  The Kiildeer chick is pretty much on its own at this stage, but the Curve-billed Thrasher chick was still begging and being fed by one of its parents.

 Killdeer fledgling

Killdeer fledgling

 Curve-billed Thrasher fledgling

  Curve-billed Thrasher adult & fledgling

 Curve-billed Thrasher adult & fledgling

What a great way to spend an hour outdoors and enjoying the wonders of nature.  Some of these birds are birds I see all the time, but it seems that I learn more about them and their behavior with every encounter.  Much more enjoyable than spending an evening in front of a television.  

  

Mid-week Birding Splurge

Just to be different for a change, I decided to fight rush hour traffic and head on out to the Glendale Recharge Ponds in the middle of the week one day after I left work.  When I left work on a Thursday afternoon, the heavy traffic was just getting started, but I had made up my mind to get out there and see what I could find.  Of course one of my birding friends, Tommy D., had already posted that he had found a Snowy Plover a few days earlier.  Thanks to Tommy, I had seen this bird 2 years earlier for the very first time, so it was not going to be a life bird, but a great bird to find anytime as they are rare in Arizona except during migration, when a few are found at various places.  It was hot and humid, but cloudy and a thunderstorm was quickly building up to the south and appeared to he headed right for the ponds.  Only two of the ponds had water and only one of the two had the right amount of water for this bird.  In the process of searching for this very small plover, I had a group of Western Sandpipers come in close up while I was standing there and of course the camera was in action.

Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

A White-faced Ibis flew in as well and allowed some photos of it as well.  This is a very oddly colored bird and the iridescent feathering can really present a wide array of colors depending on how the sunlight falls on it.  This one even showed a bit of pink in its feathers.

Whitefaced Ibis

Another bird that was quite numerous was the Horned Lark.  Their unique coloring can make them difficult to spot on the soil where they like to reside and many times the best views of one is when it is flying away.  Found a couple that allowed me to approach close enough to capture a couple of photos.

Horned Lark

Horned Lark

Since I was not having much luck finding my target bird, I eventually headed to the other pond and along the way I saw an Osprey take flight on the road and head to the area of the canal.  Since I had decided to pursue the Osprey, I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk at the top of a power pole.  I approached the pole slowly and quietly taking photos along the way.  Finally at the last stop for photos, I could sense it was going to take flight, and it did as I was shooting multiple frames.  I call this sequence:  Ready,   Set,   Go!!!!!

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Finally started spending some time at the second pond to try and locate that Snowy Plover, and once again I was striking out.  But I did have a bit of a consolation prize, a Spotted Sandpiper, and for once it was mixed in with some of the other shore birds.  Usually they are relatively rather solitary and keep to themselves.  While my photos were really focused on this bird I found it interesting to share one photo that also includes a Killdeer and a Least Sandpiper.

 Least Sandpiper in front, Killdeer in back, Spotted Sandpiper on the right

Spotted Sandpiper

Also spotted on the edge of this second pond was a Red Saddlebags Dragonfly.  Another new one to me and I had to look it up to identify it.

Red Saddlebags

After scanning this second pond and still not finding my target bird the Snowy Plover and watching the thunderstorm rolling my way from the south, I decided I better start heading for the car which meant I had to walk right past the first pond once again.  As I did this, I heard a Sora calling and decided to see if it might make an appearance by sticking its head out of the grasses.  Naturally that wasn't going to happen, but I scanned the pond one more time and lo and behold, my target bird the Snowy Plover showed itself.  It was a bit of a distance away, and as small as they are they are easily overlooked and I knew immediately when I found it my day was now complete.

And finally I give you the Snowy Plover!!!!

Storm rapidly approaching, I quickly made it to my car and head home in the late afternoon rush hour traffic, but the journey was worth all the traffic frustration.

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.

  

Glendale Recharge Ponds

I vowed I would always make posts in chronological order, but obviously that all went by the wayside.  Got busy in too many birding adventures that I have missed a couple of posts.  On April 28th I decided to find out if there was anything new to see in the category of wading birds by making a trip to the Glendale Recharge Ponds in the west valley  This is a place that attracts a lot of unusual migrants from time to time.  This is an unforgiving place on a hot day as there are no trees and depending on which ponds have water, viewing the birds is not too bad, but photography is most generally fairly difficult as most of the birds will fly to the other side of the pond you are viewing, or to another one of the ponds that might be holding water.  Despite the obstacles, I did manage to capture some photos of some water/shore birds and a few others as well. 

One of the most common 'peeps' (sandpipers) in and around Arizona throughout the winter months is the Least Sandpiper.  They can be confused with the Western Sandpiper when both are in their winter plumage. The leg color is the most distinguishing feature as the Least Sandpiper has yellowish-green legs and the Western Sandpiper has black legs.  But beware, the angle of the sun, and mud on legs can sometimes make a Least Sandpiper look like it has black legs.  This day, there was no doubt on them and part of that is the fact that the Westerns were also showing off their more colorful summer plumage.  Westerns are not nearly as numerous as the Least in the winter months..

 Least Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Then we had plenty of wading birds as well such as the American Avocet and the Black-necked Stilts.  Both birds were quite numerous in the shallow water and both are quite handsome; with the Avocets all decked out in their more colorful breeding plumage.  The photo of the Avocet is most likely a female as they tend to have a stronger more up-curved bill than the males.  

 American Avocet

 Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt

Another very common wading bird in AZ in the winter is the Long-billed Dowitcher, which is usually in its winter plumage of gray and white, but these were molting into their summer breeding plumage before heading north and they are quite handsome when they look so vibrant as this.

Long-billed Dowitcher

And of course we have probably the most common land bird that is not quite a sandpiper, but a close relative, the fanatical and yet sometimes inconspicuous Killdeer.  What was cool about this visit is that I also discovered some fledglings out in the mudflats and they were blending in quite well with the mud.  Even a couple of the adults were trying to play hide-n-seek with me.

 Killdeer

 Killdeer

 Killdeer chick

Killdeer chick

Some of the other birds that were present included a Savannah Sparrow, a Western Kingbird, a Red-winged Blackbird, and a colony of nesting Cliff Swallows that had already hatched and fledged several young ones this year.  The Savannah Sparrow is one of the sparrow species that is good to learn as it just might show up just about anywhere and there are some variances to this species throughout the US.  The Western Kingbird is always a welcomed sight as it heralds in the summer weather and it is a bird that was always a summer resident back in Nebraska on the farm.  The Red-winged Blackbird is a very familiar and common species to most people and this one was putting on a display for the females.  Hopefully they get turned on by mud encrusted feet!  

 Red-winged Blackbird

 Savannah Sparrow

Western Kingbird

 Cliff Swallow nesting colony

 Cliff Swallow fledgling

Cliff Swallow adult

For about a ½ hour while I was checking out the birds a Coyote was 2 ponds away from me and barking and howling up quite a storm.  While the distance was not going to make for a great photo, I still could not help trying to get a photo.

Wyle E. Coyote