Two days later I had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks join the Cassin's Finches in my yard.
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| Cassin's Finches |
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| Evening Grosbeaks |
Sunday, March 29, 2015
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.
Two days later I had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks join the Cassin's Finches in my yard.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
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.
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!
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| 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!
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| California Condor |
Saturday, March 21, 2015
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.
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.
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.
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| American Avocet |
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| 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.
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.
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.
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| 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.
Our final stop at the Sedona Wetlands was unproductive with just a few ducks and more Northern Rough-winged Swallows.
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.
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| Common Black Hawk |
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| Male Gadwall |
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| Female Gadwall |
Saturday, February 21, 2015
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.
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.
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.
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| 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.
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.
Saturday, January 24, 2015
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!
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!
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| 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.
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.
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.
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.
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| Male Redhead |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Male Eurasian Wigeon |
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| Male American Wigeon |
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| 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.
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.
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!
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.
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| 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.
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| Pacific Loon |
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| Male Ring-necked Duck |
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| 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!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
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!
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| Male Canvasback |
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| Female Canvasback |
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| Female Northern Shoveler |
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| Male Green-winged Teal |
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