The Mississippi Gulf Coast

I spent Thursday March 27th and Friday March 28th on the Mississippi Gulf Coast from Gulfport to Ocean Beach.

On Thursday I focused on the coastal stretch from Gulfport to Ocean Beach stopping several times as I drove along. I saw a large number of beach species - waders (shorebirds), gulls and terns - on this drive. At the end of the day I saw over 200 Black Skimmers including 12 skimming the waters with their bills.

Black-bellied Plover

Common Loon

Dunlin

Ring-billed Gull & Laughing Gulls

Laughing Gull & Herring Gull

The easterly point on my drive was at Gulf Islands National Seashore where I spent some time looking for forest birds. I had good luck with Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, Northern Parula, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Bluebird and White-eye Vireo. I also found an alligator cruising through one of the bayous.

American Alligator

My plan for Friday was to drive west from Gulfport but a rainstorm intervened. The Bayou on the USM Gulf Coast campus had spilled over its banks and the roads were badly flooded in many places.

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

I spent Tuesday March 25th and Wednesday March 26th in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. I head a Blue Jay calling on the University of Southern Mississippi campus on Tuesday - and saw several of these birds in the next few days. On Wednesday afternoon I went to Duncan Lake which was remarkable for its set of domestic-type Muscovy Ducks.

Mucovy Ducks

There wasn't much on the lake itself but I found Red-headed and Red-bellied Woodpeckers in the surrounding trees and had a small flock of Cedar Waxwings fly in.

Socorro & Albuquerque

After my elder son had returned to Chicago, the three of us took a trip to New Mexico at the tail end of spring break.

On Thursday March 20th we drove to the Bosque del Apache just south of Socorro for a planned 3-hours of birding. However we had arrived too late in the year and the cranes and most ducks had already left. Although I added Ross's Goose for the year we finished up an hour earlier than planned.

After a lovely day at the zoo and aquarium on Friday, there was more disappointment to come on Saturday March 22nd. We began the day with a drive to Sandia Crest House and got to enjoy the views from 10,600 feet. However there were no rosy finches at the feeders or on the ground and the only birds we found were Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco and Steller's Jay! We then went to the Rio Grande Valley Nature Park and again found ourselves in a area with little bird life.

Cornville and Page Springs

On Saturday March 8th my wife and I took a leisurely trip to the Verde Valley. This was my first real trip for a couple of weeks, not counting a couple of trips out to Kachina - including a 'work day' with Diane - and one to Upper Lake Mary.

We stopped first at Windmill Park in Cornville hoping to find the Wood Ducks that Vic had told me about; we did not find them but instead found a FOY Common Black-Hawk.

We then went to Lo Lo Mai, which had disappointed bird-wise when I had visited with Vic early in the year (I did see an otter!) This time the Wood Ducks were there but, alas, still no sign of Dena's screech owl.

A visit to the Bubbling Ponds delivered nothing of note, and I again failed to find Common Gallinule at the Sedona Wetland Preserve.

North and West Phoenix

I accompanied my wife on a work trip to Phoenix on Thursday February 20th and Friday February 21st.

On Thursday I headed first to a feeder in hopes of a Ruddy Ground-dove that had been reported a couple of weeks earlier. Others had tried without luck and I was not surprised when I failed to find it. I did see a few Inca Doves, a bird that is getting harder to find these days.

My next stop was at Lake Pleasant, somewhere that I went to just once a couple of decades ago. I was surprised to find such a big lake. Sadly the winds were strong and the water covered in white-tops and I had no luck locating any of the hoped-for water birds. I did add three birds to my year's list - Turkey Vulture, Osprey and Ring-billed Gull! I did find a bunch of wild burros (mules), something that I regularly see warning road signs for but never the animals themselves.

Wild Burros

 My final stop of the day was at some very quiet recharge ponds in Glendale where I added Lesser Yellowlegs for the year but birds were generally few and far between.

On Friday morning I went out to the Buckeye Thrasher spot where I had my best ever views of LeConte's Thrasher, seeing three birds running on the ground very close to me. I failed to find any other thrasher species but added a couple more year birds.