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.

  

  

Boyce Thompson Arboretum - 10 March 2013

OK, I finally got away from South Mountain Park and this time I ventured east to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, one of my favorite places.  And all I can say is WOW!  What a great day to go.  This place was a birders haven on this day as the AZFO was holding a meeting there and it attracted birders from all of the state and I got to meet a lot of people that I knew by name only.  And of course, the icing on the cake was a couple of special birds that have been seen at this location and past couple of weeks.  Both species happen to be Sapsuckers; one was a male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and the other was a female Williamson's Sapsucker.  Just a couple of months ago, I saw my first Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and then saw a 2nd one on one of my CBC's.  I had never seen the Williamson's Sapsucker, so this one was a new life bird for me.  The Yellow-bellied is a very handsome bird and with the assistance of others, it was found and I lingered behind to try to get some photos and it finally obliged. The Williamson's female was much easier to find as she has a special territory that she seems to favor.  The male of this species is much different in appearance and someday I hope to see one of those handsome birds as well.

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker-male

Williamson's Sapsucker-female

While the Sapsuckers were the main draw with many birders coming and going to get a look, the rest of this place did not disappoint!  Since we are on the subject of woodpeckers (Sapsuckers belong to the woodpecker family), I had a nice male Ladderback Woodpecker pose for me on top of a Prickly Pear Cactus.

Ladderback Woodpecker-male

 You really know springtime has arrived in Arizona with the birds putting on quite a display and even found a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers feeding young chicks already.  The thrashers nest was in the confines of a Cholla Cactus, which is one of their favorite nesting habitats.  Will definitely keep a lot of the predators out!  Also had a nice looking Verdin land on another cactus to pose for me with its nice yellow head and its dark red shoulder patch.  It is amazing that they can land on a thorn of a cactus and be delicately balanced and not be harmed by any of the spines of the cactus.

 Curve-billed Thrasher, with babies

Verdin

Down in the picnic area, the Northern Cardinals were putting on quite a display, there were 2 males and 2 females flitting from tree to tree with one of the males dropping to the ground allowing a photo without all the twigs in front of them.  A Lincoln's Sparrow stopped by for a visit in the same area shortly after the cardinals dispersed.

 Northern Cardinal

Lincoln's Sparrow

Probably the most vocal and gregarious of all the birds that day were the Cactus Wrens.  They were everywhere, singing and chortling and croaking, I think trying to entice a mate.  Had one land on the dried parts of a palm tree and then dug in and went up inside the dry area and soon emerged with a morsel, a bee.  Great for the Cactus Wren, but not so good for the bee.   

Cactus Wren

Cactus Wren

What a wonderful day of birding!

    

Dudleyville CBC - 5 January 2013

This year I took part in a 4th CBC (Christmas Bird Count) and this was a new area for me.  It was centered near the small town of Dudleyville  AZ.  A very good friend of mine, Muriel and I were asked to fill in for another couple that had prior commitments this year and we both jumped at the chance to check out this new area.  (By the way, Muriel has taught me more about photography than any other person, so a lot of my photo knowledge is a credit to her.)  Probably the biggest highlight for both of us was the sighting of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  This is a fairly rare bird to be found in Arizona and can be difficult to find and also to identify.  The Red-naped Sapsucker is much more common in Arizona and is very similar in appearance.  One has to check them out very closely to make sure one is got the correct ID.  The great part about this one was the fact that both of us were able to capture photos that documents the correct ID.  Note the red throat patch and how it is completely framed by a black border.  This is a key identification mark for this bird.  On the Red-naped Sapsucker this black border is broken and has a small area where the red touches the white.

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Another specialty bird that we found was a Rufous-winged Sparrow.  This bird is usually only seen in the United States in Arizona and this location is most likely its most northern range.  Note the 2 black whisker marks which is one of the key identification marks this bird has.

 Rufous-winged Sparrow

Rufous-winged Sparrow

While birding the Central Arizona College Campus, we were treated by a male Vermilion Flycatcher that was not showing much fear with us being around as it was actively foraging for insects in the grass.  Although  it is not a crisp clean shot, one of my photos captured it launching an attack mode on a hapless unsuspecting insect in the grass below.

 Vermilion Flycatcher

 Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher

A couple of other birds that allowed decent photos were a Cactus Wren and a Rock Wren.  The Cactus Wren clearly shows why it was so aptly named.  How they avoid being stuck by spines is amazing.  And the Rock Wren was a bit contrary to its name, opting to land on a dirt path instead of bouncing around in the rocks.

 Cactus Wren

Cactus Wren

Rock Wren

Both of us were so glad we went and look forward to joining in next year as well.