Springtime in Arizona

Springtime in Arizona is much different than many other parts of the United States.  With the mild winter weather, many resident birds might start breeding as early as January leading one to think that Spring has arrived.  Migrating birds are a bit different and some species can start showing up in late February and into March.  And for some species some only start arriving in June such as the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  The months of March through May is peak springtime arrival for most migrants and birding is at its best during that time frame.  Of course, the weather is most generally pretty mild and wonderful during this time which makes birding very enjoyable.

This blog post highlights some of the birding that I enjoyed during the month of April of 2018.  Photos include a lot of our regulars interspersed with a few rarities that were encountered along the way. Towards the end of the post are some butterflies that I enjoyed and a really pretty cool reptile that not many people get to see.

Black-throated Gray Warbler

 Grace's Warbler

Turkey Vulture

 Summer Tanager - Female

Summer Tanager - Male

House Wren

Palm Warbler - A rarity for Arizona

White-faced Ibis - Breeding Plumage

 Buff-breasted Flycatcher - An Arizona specialty

 Northern Pygmy-Owl

Red-faced Warbler

 Cooper's Hawk

 Rufous-backed Robin

Streak-backed Oriole - A rarity in the US.

Band-tailed Pigeons - Not an easy bird to find in Maricopa County, Arizona.

One of my days in April was spent on a Butterfly Field Trip which resulted in 3 new species of butterfly for me.

 California Patch

 Common Streaky-Skipper - A new species for me.

 Common Streaky-Skipper

 Elada Checkerspot

Great Purple Hairstreak - Another new species for me.

Mourning Cloak

 Desert Ironwood blossoms.  Very colorful and show why they are related to legumes. 

Filigree Skimmer

Greater Short-Horned Lizard - This one was a juvenile.

 The first of 2 Arizona Black Rattlesnakes

The second of 2 Arizona Black Rattlesnakes.

   

Birding in Chandler, AZ

Deciding that a change of pace would be good, and after getting a report from my good friend Muriel and seeing her great photos of a Pectoral Sandpiper at Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler, AZ, it was an obvious choice for a different destination to visit.  Luckily another birding friend Ellen, was also wanting to check it out, so we met at this location early on Sunday morning.  While we did not find the target bird, the Pectoral Sandpiper, we still had some nice birds to observe and one of them is the Burrowing Owl.  I always have to check in on the resident pair, and as usual about all I see is their heads peeking over the edges of their man made burrows.

Burrowing Owl

We discovered that the shore birds were generally absent from what was there the day before, but that is why searching for birds is sometimes a hit or miss day.  We did however find a lone Cattle Egret.  This bird is not a rare bird by any means, but not one that a person sees that often in Arizona.  This bird is originally from Africa and Asia and in the late 1800's some were found in the northeastern part of South America as they had found their way to the new world by flying across the Atlantic Ocean.  Slowly but surely, their range expanded in the Americas and by the 1940's they had started showing up in southern Texas and established themselves as a breeding avian species in the United States and they now inhabit much of south and eastern United States.  It is a bit unusual to see a single bird of this species, as they usually travel and feed in small flocks.  

Cattle Egret

The mosquitoes were very thick when we ventured down to the edges of the ponds, and since the shore birds were non-existent, we decided to head out and travel a bit east to the Higley Road Ponds.  But on the way out, one of the resident Greater Roadrunners put on a show for us and was quite cooperative for photos.  Towards the end of the show, it must have gotten tired of us watching and snapping photos, so it decided to 'moon' us!  I suppose only a real birder would enjoy being 'mooned' by a Roadrunner, however, the photo does show off the undersides of its dynamic tail feathers.

 Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner

Bidding adieu to Veteran's Oasis Park and the farewell gesture by the Roadrunner, Ellen and I then headed to the Higley Ponds a couple of miles away.  Once we arrived, we quickly began seeing many more shorebirds that VOP had to offer.  We counted at least 75 Black-necked Stilts, several Greater Yellowlegs, about 30 Least Sandpipers, a few Long-billed Dowitchers, and 22 White-faced Ibis.  We spent a lot of time checking out every shorebird, but did not find anything rare. 

 Greater Yellowlegs

Long-billed Dowitcher

Least Sandpiper

White-faced Ibis

We also discovered our first of the fall Northern Pintails.  Won't be too much longer and these ducks will be quite numerous in many of the ponds in Arizona.  

Northern Pintail

One other bird that we found at Veteran's Oasis Park was a White-crowned Sparrow which is a tad early for them in the valley, but it is another bird that will be quite abundant during the winter months in Arizona.  They spend their winters here, but in the summer they head much further north to their breeding grounds.  

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.

Glendale Recharge Ponds - Again!

Once again, I headed out to the Glendale Recharge Ponds and knowing it was going to be another scorcher (Friday it hit 113° in Phoenix), I arrived right around sunrise to find 4 other people had arrived be fore me.  Guess I am not the not only crazy bird person!  And all 4 of these happened to be people I already knew, Jeff Ritz and his mother Shirley, Dick Ashburn, and Pam Barnhart.  Pam was a new face, but I knew her through many Facebook postings.  Luckily the cloud cover allowed me to linger out a bit longer than I would have had the sun been beating down on me with no shade trees to offer any respite.  

The most interesting find, happened to be a juvenile Long-billed Curlew.  These birds are usually found in Arizona during migration in fall and spring, and some can be found in the winter.  They are most frequently seen in farm fields that have been flooded by framers irrigating their crops in Arizona.  They breed much further north from the western high plains of the United States and on up into parts of southwestern Canada.  This bird has a much shorter bill than the adults that I normally see, which is an indication of a juvenile, probably a hatch-year bird and just now finding its way south for the first time for its first winter.

Long-billed Curlew, juvenile

 Long-billed Curlew, juvenile

Long-billed Curlew, juvenile

A Green Heron was quite undisturbed by us as we watched it feeding along the canal.  The birds can look so short and compact when resting, but when they make a strike for a small fish, one can really see how long those necks really are.  Looks can be quite deceiving.  First photo is of it getting ready to strike, the second photo is of the strike itself and finally the third photo is the recoil.

 Green Heron

  Green Heron

 Green Heron

3 White-faced Ibis were also present, which was another species that I did not see the week before.  This one was being photo-bombed by a Black-necked Stilt.

White-faced Ibis (rear) & Black-necked Stilt

The most numerous birds were the Least Sandpipers and Killdeer, which were everywhere.  These are birds that many times, I just count them and ignore them as they can be so plentiful.  It is always worthwhile though to check out every Least Sandpiper as there area a couple of species that can look very similar and are a bit rarer to find, especially in migration.  

 Killdeer

 Least Sandpiper

 Least Sandpiper

While nothing rare was found, just finding and studying a juvenile Long-billed Curlew was definitely worth the trip.  Birding is a never ending education and learning process and one that gives me a lot of enjoyment.