October-December Recap

I added 50 species in the year’s final quarter including 9 in Chicago and 20 in one day’s birding in central Florida. 

Of the 21 birds in Arizona, 12 were state birds – Pectoral Sandpiper, American Redstart, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Glaucous-winged Gull, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Mew Gull, Long-tailed Duck, Rusty Blackbird, Thayer’s Gull, Glaucous Gull, Nutting’s Flycatcher and Red-throated Loon - doubling my state bird total for the year! 5 of these were lifers and another was new for me in the ABA area.

Flagstaff: Mt Elden CBC

The year ended as it had began with the Flagstaff: Mt Elden CBC, always held on the Saturday after Christmas Day. This time the temperatures were 40 degrees Fahrenheit warmer ranging from 27 to 58 degrees.

We saw 34 species with the highlights being a male Eurasian Wigeon and a Snow Goose.  A Bald Eagle was on the snag at Lake Elaine when we arrived in the morning but soon disappeared and we saw no more eagles during the day. A single Cedar Waxwing was the best passerine. My year ended with the birds at the Purina plant – Common Raven, Eurasian Starling and Rock Pigeon! Worse birds than the three I had started the year with!

Triple Chase

Tom called on Friday with news of a Glaucous Gull at Lake Havasu. He had to chase this, his 450th Arizona bird. I went with him and we had the bird at the Pittsburgh Point lighthouse, courtesy of Lauren and David, when we arrived at 9:00. We then went to Bill Williams and, courtesy of helping hand from the iPod, had the Nutting's Flycatcher by 10:30. A short drive to Havasu Springs and a scan of the lake yielded the Red-throated Loon, on my third trip to find it!

Glaucous Gull

Nutting's Flycatcher

This took me to 590 for the year with 347 in the U.S. and 276 in Arizona. The gull and loon took me to 112 lifers for the year. In addition, the flycatcher took me to 24 new state birds for 2011.

The Waterfowl set

At the start of the day I had seen 30 species of waterfowl this year; only one  species normally occuring in Arizona remained - Tundra Swan. Four birds had been at Watson Lake in Prescott for a couple of weeks, and so to complete the set I drove to Prescott and back stopping only briefly to watch the four swans just north of the woods.

Tundra Swan   

This was my 587th species of 2011, the 344th in the US and 271st in Arizona.

Lake Havasu

I made a second try at the Red-throated Loon, knowing that other good birds were around. I started at the Island STP where I found the Thayer's Gull. This was a difficult call for me and I took a long time over its ID; this was confirmed when a 2nd cycle American Herring Gull flew in and landed nearby! I then visited Site Six and Pittsburgh Point and had calling Common Loons, a Pacific Loon and Horned Grebe. I then went to Parker Dam and found the Surf Scoter that had been around for a while. My final stop was the Bill Williams River Delta area, full of American Coot, Pied-billed and Western Grebes, Common Goldeneye. But no Red-throated Loon! Arriving back in Flagstaff at the end of a long day I found that Lauren and David had found a Nutting's Flycatcher less than 3 miles from where I'd been sitting!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

The Thayer's Gull was my 110th lifer and 21st state bird for the year. I added 3 more species to my 2011 list to reach 586.

Mormon Lake CBC

The Mormon Lake Christmas Birdcount was a forgetable day's birding. My group has 1 Western Meadowlark, 3 Dark-eyed Juncos and a distant Bald Eagle at the dam. We had nothing at the observatories and the 4 mile trek to Vail Lake through calf-deep snow brought 1 White-breasted Nuthatch and a calling Steller's Jay. I saw nothing at the U-bend and there were no ducks on frozen Upper Lake Mary. I did see a small group of Pygmy Nuthatches and a Red-tailed Hawk while walking down to the Narrows. But these birds, a few more juncos at the side of the road, some overhead Common Ravens and a Great Blue Heron when heading back to town were the only birds I saw all day. 9 Species in all and only 6 through binoculars! Others in my group added Townsend Solitaire, Northern Flicker, Mountain Chickadee and Scrub Jay for a group total of 12. In all the count's four teams managed 31 species.

Anthem Community Park

On Friday December 16th. I stopped by the Anthem Community Park en route to some business in Phoenix. I found both target birds as they remained at their posted locations. The Rufous-backed Robin had been located by a group of six birders at the kiddie train depot and gave good views while Christma s music played!  The Rusty Blackbird was around a water feature next to the playground.

Rusty Blackbird

The Rusty Blackbird was near for the year taking me to 583; it was also my 20th state bird for 2011.

Gilbert Water Ranch

On Saturday December 10th we took a family trip to Gilbert Water Ranch. Nothing special had been posted and we didn't find anything that was unexpected. We had a male Vermillion Flycatcher, which was new for me at this location:

Vermillion Flycatcher

 As usual the Water Ranch was full of birds and we spent a nice couple of hours wandering around.

American Kestrel

Green Heron

I did not add anything new for the year.