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. 

Pintail Slough, Rotary Park and the Bill Williams Delta

My wife and I had gone to Laughlin on Friday February 6th to see Huey Lewis and the News in concert, and took advantage of the location to spend Saturday 7th along the Lower Colorado River Valley.

We began with a stop at Pintail Slough, unexpectedly finding a Greater Yellowlegs in the first pond and then finding other targets - Black Phoebe, Marsh Wren and Snow Goose - on a short circuit of the area. We also found a Cinnamon Teal among a group of Green-winged Teal, making up for the miss the week before.

Our next stop was at Rotary Park where the target bird was something of a long shot - a Purple Finch had been in the area for the past few weeks. Alas we couldn't even find the House Finches with which it had been associating! We saw around 200 Ring-billed Gulls - many more than had been there at Thanksgiving - but with no other gulls mixed in, lots of American Coot, around 20 Inca Doves and lots of Yellow-rumped warblers, but this was a disappointing stop.

Ring-billed Gull

After buying lunch we headed down to the Bill Williams Delta for an easy hour and a half of scoping the waters and locating the expected Barrow's Goldeneye, Greater Scaup, Western Grebe, Clark's Grebe and Eared Grebe. Black-tailed Gnatcatchers and Yellow-rumped Warblers were expected along the path, and a Costa's Hummingbird was a nice surprise. Less expected was a pair of Phainopepla and a fly-by Barn Swallow.

Around Flagstaff

A Harris's Sparrow had been found outside the Forestry Building on the NAU Campus on January 23rd and on Sunday 25th and Monday 26th I made unsuccessful short stops to try and find the bird. On Wednesday 28th I tried again, this time without m camera and had excellent views of this bird!

On Saturday January 30th I took a drive down Lake Mary Road to Mormon Lake and back and saw hundreds of ducks and geese on the lakes. I had a fly over flock of 70 Pinyon Jays while scanning through the geese at the far end of Upper Lake Mary, and then found two Lewis's Woodpeckers at Mormon Lake Village.

On Sunday February 1st my wife and I went to the Kachina Village Wetlands where Cinnamon Teal had been seen regularly the previous week. On arrival we ran into Eric who had seen them on the far side of the wet pond, but alas these birds were not there when by the time we got there. Instead we were treated to calling Virginia Rail and Sora. It seems that this was the second year in a row that both species had stayed through the winter.

Sedona

On Saturday January 24th my wife spent the morning in Sedona in an effort to boost my year list. We stopped by Cave Springs very briefly on the way down in the hope of seeing the dipper, but we had no luck and did not see or hear a single bird of any species in our short stop!

We then spent an hour in the Brewer Road neighborhood, which is in Coconino County, looking for some new birds for 2015. We found a Juniper Titmouse, a bird that has eluded me until late December last year, as well as a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, but had no luck with Canyon Towhee or Northern Cardinal. Our next stop was to walk the loop next to Poco Diablo, but that yielded nothing special. Driving back along Highway 179 from there into Sedona we did find a couple of Javelina in someone's front year!

Collared Peccary

Reid park, Sweetwater, the Santa Cruz Flats and Dos Lagos

On Sunday January 18th my wife and I headed back to Flagstaff making a few stops along the way. We began with another failure to find the Burrowing Owls in the parking lot of the autoglass company near the airport, and then drove to Reid Park.

I had been expecting Redhead and both Neotropic and Double-crested Cormorants, but had forgotten that Black-crowned Night Herons are often by the ponds too, while a Snowy Egret was a bonus for my year list. I had not been thinking about non-water birds at all and was pleased to find a male Summer Tanager and a male Vermillion Flycatcher by the ball fields.

Male Redhead

Vermillion Flycatcher

We made a short stop at Sweetwater hoping for Blue-winged Teal and Common Gallinule, but found neither, but we saw several Gadwall and Pied-billed Grebe, and heard many Sora. We saw good numbers of Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers and Verdin.

Male Gadwall

We made a very short detour onto the Santa Cruz Flats finding two Harris's Hawks just past the Red Rock feedlot and a single Crested Caracara in the usual area before rejoining I-10 and heading north, soon seeing my first Turkey Vulture of the year.

We stopped to buy lunch and enjoyed this as Dos Lagos Park in Glendale where we easily found the Eurasian Wigeon among the American Wigeon.

Male Eurasian Wigeon

Male American Wigeon

Female American Wigeon

Florida and Madera Canyons and down to Tubac

On Saturday January 17th my wife and I met up with Ed and Sandy on Madera Canyon Road and spent the day along I-19. Our first stop was at Florida Canyon where we hiked a way up the trail but did not locate Rufous-capped Warblers. It was easy to add year birds due to the new habitat and Pyrrhuloxia and Mexican Jays were among the highlights. But the best sighting for me was a Black-throated Gray Warbler - a bird that had eluded me in 2014. I also added Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and House Wren along the trail. We hoped to see Elegant Trogon on the way back but had no luck, although my wife heard one - something unknown to her until we were in the hotel at the end of the day!

We then spent time at the feeder areas in Madera Canyon, and finding Anna's, Magnificent and Broad-billed Hummingbirds, Hepatic Tanager, Inca Dove and Wild Turkey at Santa Rita Lodge, and Townsend's and Olive Warblers at the Kubo, as well as Lesser Goldfinch and Bridled Titmouse. I also saw a couple of Yellow-eyed Juncos at the Kubo, another bird that I missed last year.

Anna's Hummingbird

Our next stop was at the Amado Water Treatment Plant where a Pacific Loon had been resident for over a week, and which was very cooperative. A couple of Lesser Scaup among many Ring-necked Ducks were new for the year.

Pacific Loon

Male Ring-necked Duck

Female Ring-necked Duck

Our last stop for the day was on the DeAnza Trail in Tubac where we visited the Sinaloa Wren nest site, but heard and saw nothing of the bird itself. The best bird we had during our short stop in Tubac was a Black Vulture flying over.

We ended the day just after dusk at the Burrowing Owl stakeout near the airport, but a noisy group of people in the car park put paid to any idea that we might see these birds!

Willow Bend

On Sunday January 11th my wife and I went to ponds under the freeway near Sam's Club. I was hoping to add a couple of birds to get me to 80 species for the year before semester starts tomorrow. There was a large group of Canvasbacks and a sprinkling of other ducks including Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks and my first Green-winged Teal of the year. I used iBird on my new gadget to locate a couple of Song Sparrows, also new for the year!

Male Canvasback

Female Canvasback

Female Northern Shoveler

Male Green-winged Teal

Arizona Winter Bald Eagle Count

MOn Saturday January 10th the Arizona Winter Bald Eagle Count gave me the excuse to revisit the lakes in Country Club trying to add a few more species to my 2015 list. I had added Bald Eagle near the bridge across Forest Avenue, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk on the NAU Campus during the week taking me to 29 species in town. While I was out counting eagles a pair of Evening Grosbeaks came to our feeders giving us yard bird number 18 for the year.

I met Eric at his house and we drove the usual route around Country Club. Lake Elaine had its usual quantity of Mallards but also many Ruddy Duck and a dozen Northern Pintail - both new for me in 2015. A pair of Common Goldeneye and several Canada Geese, Common Mergansers and Bufflehead rounded out the list of waterfowl at that location

Male Mallard

Female Mallard

Lake Humphreys delivered two mature Bald Eagles for our count and also my first Canvasback of the year. Mallards and Northern Shoveler were the most common ducks at that site. At the duck pond at Continental and Edgewater I added my fourth and final new duck for the day - Ring-necked Duck - and we saw lots of American Wigeon at double ponds. The American Coot at the Walnut Canyon Ponds seemed much happier than they did a week ago, and we saw our third and final Bald Eagle - another mature bird - near the ponds.

Male Bufflehead

Female Bufflehead

The drive out to Walnut Canyon National Monument was mostly bird-free, excepting a few ravens, one Red-tail Hawk and a couple of Townsend's Solitaires.

Lake Pleasant and Buckeye

On Friday January 9th I met Rich, Nanette and Sam in Camp Verde and we headed to Lake Pleasant to chase a few birds that had been recently seen. Our first  stop was at the boat ramp in Maricopa county where a friendly Rock Wren kept close watch. We found a White-winged Scoter and Black Scoter there and had good views of these birds before they flew off never to be seen again! We also saw two, perhaps three, Horned Grebes at this site.

Rock Wren

Driving from there but staying in Maricopa county we saw lots of Ring-billed Gulls, American Coot and Common Goldeneye but failed to find other taget birds such as Red-necked Grebe, Brown Pelican, American White Pelican, Red-breasted Merganser and Common Loon.

Female Common Goldeneye

Male Common Goldeneye

We saw similar species on the water at the Yavapai county end of the lake, but Sam took us to a known site to see unusual Yavapai county birds in Gilded Flicker and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. We also had Pied-billed Grebe and a Spotted Sandpiper at that end of the lake.

We then drove to a location off Jackrabbit Road in Buckeye to chase McCown's longspurs. We found the place but the field was being ploughed restricting us to the edge if the field and leaving birds lots of places to hide. We saw many Horned Larks and American Pipits, a few Killdeer and Great Egrets, several Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels and a single Savannah Sparrow. We ended the day looking, and dipping, on Burrowing Owl but ended the day with a Northern Harrier, Peregrine and Osprey.

Camp Verde CBC

On Sunday January 4th I joined Tom, Anne, Dr. John and a few others to do Tom's usual route on the Camp Verde CBC.