Birding Birthday Bash

In the early part of December, I just happened to celebrate a landmark birthday and I was fortunate to have it fall on a Saturday.  What better way to celebrate a birthday than getting out in nature to see what cool birds one can find!  One of my best birding buddies, Chris Rohrer ventured north from Tucson and joined me in our quest to find some birds in and around the eastern suburbs of Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe.  

First stop was the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve in the search for some rare Purple Finches that had been seen there for a week or so.  We did not have any luck with that species, but the birding was was still excellent with the highlight being a White-throated Sparrow.  Of course several others were gracious enough to allow photos as well; Neotropic Cormorant and Wilson's Snipe.

 White-throated Sparrow

 Neotropic Cormorant

 Wilson's Snipe well camouflaged

Wilson's Snipe zoomed in and cropped

Our next stop was Coon Bluff on the Salt River northeast of Mesa to search for another rarity, a Reddish Egret which had not been reported for a few days, so our hopes were not very high and once again, we dipped on this bird as well. But once again, several other species made our visit very enjoyable such as Cedar Waxwing and Vermilion Flycatcher.  And a couple more passerine species graciously gave me a chance to get photos with their reflection in the water, which is not too common; Say's Phoebe and American Pipit.

 Cedar Waxwings

 Cedar Waxwing

Vermilion Flycatcher

 American Pipit

Say's Phoebe

From here we headed to Scottsdale Ranch Park to look for a Red-breasted Sapsucker which had been reported there.  It is an uncommon winter migrant in Arizona; its more common winter range is the Pacific Coast from Baja California northward to Washington state and into British Columbia in Canada.  It is always a treat to see this bird in Arizona.  We arrived and spent some time searching in the trees that it favored and was not finding it.  As we decided to maybe head to the next location on our agenda, we met a handful of other birders also looking for it, but to no avail.  I started scanning its favorite tree one last time and Bingo! there it was!  I quickly got everyone else on it and it was quite accommodating to us all.

 Red-breasted Sapsucker

One last point of interest on our list: Tempe Town Lake.  Sorry to say, but we came here to actually locate a drake Mandarin Duck that had been seen here for some time  Although, it is non-countable as an ABA bird, you have to admit it really is quite a handsome specimen.  

Mandarin Duck

A nice adult Bald Eagle is always a bonus, and it is nice to find one is such an urban setting such as Tempe Town Lake.

Adult Bald Eagle

I was a great way to spend a milestone bi(rd)thday!  

Buckeye/Arlington, AZ - 13 January 2013

This past Sunday I had the pleasure to go birding with Marceline VandeWater and she was kind enough to offer to drive which gave me an opportunity to do some birding as a passenger.  The Phoenix area has been dealt a cold spell, with below freezing temperatures the past few nights and Sunday was no exception.  When we left our meeting place in Tempe at 7:00 am it was about 27° F.  Buckeye and Arlington on located in the west valley and by the time we arrived in the farm grounds outside of Buckeye the temperature had dropped to 21° F and by the time we found ourselves near the canals and flowing water it was 17° F.  With temps like this, we did not spend much time outside of the vehicle!  Of course when the sun made an appearance it did warm up by mid day into the upper 40's or maybe even 50°.  

We spent the entire day birding and ended up with a total of 74 species of birds which was a very respectable count. One of the first birds we spotted was a Wilson's Snipe in a canal at dawn that had a lot of steam rising from it.  That was a good omen to start the day.  We observed more in different spots along roadsides and a couple of them were downright quite cooperative with us.  But since much of our birding was done inside the car, many of the birds did not spook quite so easily and it makes the birds a bit more approachable.  Such is the case with the photos of the Snipe below.

 Wilson's Snipe

  Wilson's Snipe

Raptors were in abundance throughout the entire area with Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels being the most common.  However, we also found several Northern Harriers, 4 Ferruginous Hawks, a Prairie Falcon, a couple of Cooper's Hawks and a couple of Sharp-shinned Hawks.  But the icing on the cake was a pair of White-tailed Kites, a bird I have only seen one other time and it was not far from where we observed these 2.  Have to apologize for a bit of poor photography on this bird, but for me a bad photo is better than no photo of an uncommon bird such as this.  In the long horizontal photo, notice on the far right a white blob.  That was the 2nd kite off in the distance on a stick pile.

 White-tailed Kite

White-tailed Kite

A couple of photos of 2 different Red-tailed Hawks; one is a stunning adult dark (or rufous) morph and the second one is a juvenile that must have captured a morsel to eat in some mud as there is mud on both feet and even on the beak.  Have no idea if it was a failed attempt or if it was a kill and already eaten.

 Red-tailed Hawk - Dark Morph

Red-tailed Hawk - Juvenile

We were not lacking in observing many of the smaller birds as well.  Included are a couple of sparrows; a Vesper Sparrow and a Savannah Sparrow.  We also found about 4 Loggerhead Shrikes and a few Least Sandpipers in various spots along the roadside.

 Vesper Sparrow

 Vesper Sparrow -- in the middle of a hop.

 Savannah Sparrow

 Loggerhead Shrike

Least Sandpiper

As far as the cartoon delimma, I think the Roadrunner is still surviving the battle with Wile E Coyote as we found about 4 Greater Roadrunners, but only 1 Coyote.

 Greater Roadrunner

Coyote

This is always a great place to find a great variety of birds.  It is far enough away from the heart of Phoenix and provides an abundance of habitats for numerous species.  

Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve - 26 Nov 2012

Took a trip straight from work in the afternoon on November 26 to see if I could find the Winter Wren that had been seen out there by so many birders, and yes, I did get to see it, but it was a brief viewing and then in dove for cover and alas, I did not even have time to get my camera up for a photo.  This tiny bird has found itself a winter home at a specific spot at GWR.  There will be more about this little bird in a future post!  The spot it likes to hang out in is a small camping area with benches so as I was patiently waiting for it to make another appearance that day, a couple of other birds tantalized me into taking their photos instead.  Two of these birds are very common at this location, but not always easy to photograph.  The Abert's Towhee is bird almost found exclusively in Arizona.  Its range extends to the extreme southern point of Nevada, the eastern Colorado River edge of California and about 3 canyons in extreme southwestern New Mexico.  The rest of its range is all across southern Arizona.  Although they are numerous and can be seen quite frequently, they seem to prefer posing in shady areas and are quick to dart into the thick underbrush of a nearby tree.  The 'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler (aka Butter butts) are typical of warblers, constantly flitting about in the trees and not spending too much time in any one place.  Both of these birds landed on the ground in the camping area and seemed oblivious to me and allowed me to capture some of my best photos of these two species that I have ever been able to obtain.

 

 Abert's Towhee

 

  Abert's Towhee-Showing off its most colorful side!

 

'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

The wren never did make another appearance that day, so I settled for taking some photos of the other birds I could find.  This place is never lacking for bird photography.  A Gila Woodpecker, as well as a Curved-billed Thrasher, also made an appearance in one of the nearby trees.  And on one of the many paths some Inca Doves were quite accommodating as well.  The photo below shows a hint of the red wing that is most noticeable when in flight.

 

 Gila Woodpecker

 

 Curve-billed Thrasher

 

Inca Dove

 



Naturally being at a spot with ponds, one is bound to find wading birds and I found a couple species to add to my photographs for the day.  The Least Sandpiper is very common here and if one has patience sitting quietly along a shoreline, they will probably work their way up fairly close to you for a close up view.  Might be a brown and white bird, but they are always a joy to watch their very active probing and feeding.  Also found a Wilson's Snipe, but it was on the opposite shore of a pond and they are not quite as friendly as the Least Sandpipers. 

 

 Least Sandpiper

 

Wilson's Snipe

 

There is always something good to see and photograph at this wonderful spot.

 

 



Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve - 31 Oct 2012

After returning from Lake Havasu, we were getting several reports of a couple rare birds being sighted at the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve; at least the 2 bird species are considered rare for Arizona.  And since this birding hot spot is only about 6 miles from my home, I had to venture out to see what I could find.  Sunday I struck out on both birds, but being tired and hot, I suppose that can be expected.  So I ventured out again on Wednesday and also met one of my birding friends, Ellen,  and she helped me locate one of the birds, a Chestnut-sided Warbler.  This bird is a rare but casual migrant to Arizona and the bird has been hanging around for about a week now and it appears to be a first winter female.  A male in breeding plumage would be ideal, but when it comes to a new life bird, one can't be too picky.  First glimpses of the bird was in dense foliage on the back side of a mesquite tree and was good enough for an ID, but no photos.  So we moved on down the path to the end and returned to find it flying across our path into another mesquite, but this time she became very cooperative and actually exposed herself on some branches and allowed nice photos.  I guess patience can be a virtue at times and the photos below were worth the wait.

 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

 Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

Of course this place is very well known for its water birds and even though the Black-necked Stilt is a fairly common wading bird, they are also one of the most photogenic birds and then when one captures a 3 photo segment of one it makes the photos a bit more interesting as if I captured a little bit of history that no one else captured.  First the probing in the water, then the plunge, and finally the results of its tiny morsel.

 

 Black-necked Stilt

 

Black-necked Stilt

 

Black-necked Stilt

 

Another unique find was a couple of Dunlin.  While they are not considered rare, they are far less common than some of the other waders and they are usually considered a nice find and they can be tough to pick out in large flocks of other wading birds.  Of course the Long-billed Dowitchers are always quite common at this location and the lighting was just right to allow a couple of photos.  Along with that we also located at least 6 Wilson's Snipe, but they blended in with the mud so well they probably escaped the eye of most casual observers.

 

 Dunlin

 

 Long-billed Dowitcher

 

Wilson's Snipe-Look close, there are 2 in this photo.

 

As with any trip to this place, a Green Heron can almost always be found and this was no exception.  This one was lying in wait for some minnows to swim by and become part of its meal that day.

 

Green Heron

 

Since this is fall with winter approaching, the waterfowl is plentiful on the ponds right now and one of the most elegant looking birds is the Northern Pintail.  If you can call a duck elegant, this one has to near the top to fitting the description.  Also had to snap a photo of a Green-winged Teal since it made itself available.  Sometimes the teals are a bit skittish and really try to keep their distance.

 

 Northern Pintail

 

 Northern Pintail

 

Green-winged Teal