Picture Canyon

On Saturday March 28th I joined Tiffany and Troy for a survey in Picture Canyon. We started at the Raintree Valley end a little after 7:00 and ended at Wildcat around 9:30. The area was quite birdy, but with the expected resident birds and a single Violet-green Swallow and several Black Phoebes were the only arrivals for summer. A flock of 20 Evening Grosbeaks was perhaps the most notable sighting.

Two days later I had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks join the Cassin's Finches in my yard.

Cassin's Finches

Evening Grosbeaks

Papago Park and the Phoenix Zoo

On Saturday morning, March 21st, my wife, younger son and I headed to the Phoenix Zoo to see a new arrival. But we spent half an hour in Papago Park aiming to add some birds to my 2015 list.We soon found a Cactus Wren - and had several during our stay - and found a single Common Gallinule at the reedy pond at the northeast end of the park.

Common Gallinule

The Phoenix Zoo now has two Califonia Condors on exhibit. Two birds whose release in the wild had not been successful. It was good to see these birds up close rather than flying overhead or perched at a distance!

California Condor

Gilbert Water Ranch - two visits

On Sunday March 15th my wife, elder son - who flew in on Saturday evening - and I spent a couple of hours at the Gilbert Water Ranch. I returned alone for an hour on Saturday March 21st.

The first visit was a casual wander around the ponds seeing many of the birds expected at the Water Ranch at this time of year, lots of ducks, dowitchers and stilts. One highlight of this trip was the number of Gambel's Quail sitting and calling high in the trees. I added three birds to my year list - Canyon Towhee, Violet-green Swallow and Curve-billed Thrasher but missed a couple of species.

So a week later, having picked up our other son from the airport late on Friday, I ventured to the Water Ranch early on Saturday morning. Brown-headed Cowbirds and Tree Swallows has arrived, and two targets from the previous week - American Avocet and Green Heron. Avocets were around in large numbers and I surely did not overlook them the previous week! Green Herons were sitting high at on overnight roosting spot which made them easier to find than skulking in the vegetation near the water.

American Avocet

Green Heron

On both visits I tried for the Brown Thrasher that has spent its second winter been Ponds 3 and 4. This has not been an easy bird to find and I had no luck on either visit. I had also hoped to run into Rosy-faced Lovebirds. I learned from folks with Desert Rivers Audubon who were setting up for a bird walk that their population suffered from a virus last summer.

Buckeye and Glendale

On Saturday March 14th my wife and I spent an hour at the thrasher spot in Buckeye before checking the Lower River Road ponds and then driving to the Glendale Recharge Ponds for another hour of birding.

Birding in the thrasher spot is never easy and we walked around hoping to hear thrashers singing or to see a LeConte's Thrasher or a Sagebrush Sparrow moving along the ground between bushes. Our late arrival at the spot, having left Flagstaff at 10am meant that the only singing came from Northern Mockingbirds, and our hour long wandering found just a single Sage Thrasher and several White-crowned Sparrows. The only new bird for the year was Cliff Swallow which we saw along the road before we arrived. We saw many more of these swallows at the Lower River Road ponds where we saw few ducks but a single Spotted Sandpiper and a small group of Least Sandpipers.

Phainopepla

We stopped at the Glendale Recharge Ponds aiming to add some shorebirds to my 2015 list and immediately added Black-winged Stilt, followed soon after by Lesser Yellowlegs. Finding a single Western Sandpiper among a group of Least Sandpipers took a little more work, and we were just about done when we finally ran into a small group of  Long-billed Dowitchers, a bird that had been expected.

Verde Valley

On Saturday March 7th my wife and I spent an easy morning in the Verde Valley, stopping at Montezuma Well, Page Springs and the Sedona Wetlands Preserve.

Cactus Wren was the target bird for Montezuma Well and we soon heard one calling from the cliff face near the overlook. I had a second year bird with a few Northern Rough-winged Swallows flying around.

Our next stop was at the fish hatchery at Page Springs where I hoped to see one of the two Blackand-White Warblers that had been seen along the creek in recent weeks. I had no luck with that but easily found the target Belted Kingfisher as well as two recently returned Common Black-hawks which pleased a crowd of people posing in snags close to the hatchery entrance.

Common Black Hawk

Male Gadwall

Female Gadwall

Our final stop at the Sedona Wetlands was unproductive with just a few ducks and more Northern Rough-winged Swallows.