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.

Lake Powell

On Friday, November 25th we spent a family day visiting Page and Lake Powell. We stopped at Glen Canyon Dam on our way out and having walked across the bridge, found that we needed the scope to properly see the birds below us. We continued on to Wahweap Marina spending time wandering along the shore- where we heard a loon call - and on the pontoons. A boy throwing bread into the water attracted coot, Mallard, Wood Duck and a single Mew Gull among the Ring-billeds. A juvenile California Gull was also at the marina. Heading home, we stopped at the dam and with scope in scanned the birds below us finding a Long-tailed Duck among the Common and my lifer Barrow's Goldeneye along with many cormorants. A stop at Cameron Trading Post yielded a single Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

I ended the day on 582 species for the year including 337 in the US. Barrow's Goldeneye was my 109th lifer for the year and I added three new state birds fora total of 19 this year.

Orlando, Florida - birding day

On Saturday November 19th I met birdingpal Al and we spent the morning in search of Limpkin in the Ritch Grissom Wetlands in Viera. We drove the loop three times in vain although we heard the bird call on our first time around.
  

Anhinga

Black Vulture

After lunch we headed to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge where we saw many ducks and the only Reddish Egret and Roseate Spoonbills of the trip. A stop at Oak Hammock we found a single Black-and-White Warbler among many Yellow-rumped warblers. We then headed through the refuge to the Cape Canaveral National Seashore finding shorebirds on the beach and gannets and jaegers over the ocean. An American Bittern flew past us as we headed back to Titusville at the end of the day. I had 81 species on a full day's birding including 17 that were new for the year to end on 334 birds for the year in the US and 579 overall.

Roseate Spoonbill

Tricolored Heron

Orlando, Florida - working day

I arrived in Orlando at 4pm on Thursday on a business trip, and added White Ibis for my year list when I turned off the highway en route to my hotel to fix a wing mirror.

White Ibis

Between a 4 hour work session on Thursday evening and 6 hours spent on the USF campus on Friday afternoon, I took a 3 hour morning to visit Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area just south of Christmas, FL. The trip was spoiled by the presence of 300 deer hunters wearing orange safety vests while I was without. I also visited Fort Christmas for a short while. I was surprised by the lack of passerines seeing just American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Palm Warbler, Fish Crow and an Eastern Phoebe during the day. I was not surprised to see both Turkey and Black Vultures, White and Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork, Sandhill Crane and Cattle Egret. Despite just 13 species, 3 were new for the year taking me to 317 in the US and 562 overall.

Sandhill Crane

Wood Stork

Reid Park Zoo

We spent a pleasant hour-and-a-half at Tucson's Reid Park Zoo on Saturday November 12th, unexpectedly finding a tame Common Yellowthroat. We headed to Sweetwater hoping to add Harris's Hawk to my year's list, but found construction blocking our way. So we hopped onto I-10 and headed home, finding a Harris's Hawk along the interstate just half an hour north of Tucson. That was my 558th species for the year.

Common Yellowthroat

Glendale Recharge Ponds

A number of interesting postings came ahead of the long weekend. I took the opportunity to visit the Glendale Recharge Ponds and found the Glaucous-winged Gull that had been found on Wednesday. This was my 108th lifer, 16th state bird and 557th species for the year.

Glaucous-winged Gull

Fortune did not stay with me at a stop at Villago in Casa Grande. A Black-legged Kittiwake which had been there for a week or more did not show. It seems I was two days late.

Loggerhead Shrike

Mad Chase

Having negotiated a deadline at work and with snow on the ground in Flagstaff, n Saturday November 5th I decided to chase a Red-throated Loon that had been seen at Rotary Park in Lake Havasu City. I left around noon giving me an hour and a half before sunset to find the bird. No luck! The complete species list from 90 minutes of scanning the lake was: Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Western Grebe, Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, American Coot, Ring-billed Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, Morning Dove and Great-tailed Grackle. Two Bonaparte's Gulls were cooperative for a while. They had been drawn to the shore by an eccentric couple - they had a cat on a leash - who fed a whole loaf of bread to the coot/ducks/gull, although the Bonapartes stayed at the fringes and did not join the fracas.

I returned to the lake on Sunday morning for a further hour of scanning the water. It was a cool 45 degrees and quiet (no motorboats.) Sitting on the beach with the water lapping against the shore was very peaceful although I saw little of interest.

I was back home by 11:00 and within an hour or so had two good yard birds - my first Red-naped Sapsucker of the season and a flock of Bushtits, a species that rarely visit my yard.

Red-naped Sapsucker