Pinetop-Lakeside, Navajo County, Arizona


DAY #1  Monday, July 10th
With a 5:15 a.m. departure from Scottsdale, seven birders joined a Desert Rivers Audubon field trip with Kathe Anderson to explore various locations (new to many of us) in the Pinetop/Lakeside area of the White Mountains.

Along the way, we stopped to stretch our legs at Christopher Creek before reaching the Mogollon Rim.Spending two (2) hours birding this area turned out to be one of our best!  Morning sky, however, was a photographic challenge that left much to be desired, but I’m posting anyway to give you an idea of the variety of species and the area we visited.

I counted 8 GREAT BLUE HERONs at their nests in this annual rookery tree
Usually loud and raucous, this ACORN WOODPECKER (below) was busy in this dead tree.


Two CASSIN'S KINGBIRDs flew in, perched briefly in the distance before taking off again.

Distant photo taken right before it, too, flew off.

It's not every day a HAIRY WOODPECKER is found feeding on the trail!



Puzzled briefly by this tail-wagging BLACK PHOEBE because of its overall brown appearance, we realized it was a juvenile.


While this next bird is difficult for me to photograph because of its usual flitting behavior, it was on an open limb preening this morning:
HOUSE WREN

When birding gets slow, there are always options.

Maria in the lush Christopher Creek area
Super excited about our next sighting, the bird was perched high and far from us, but I hoped to capture the size and overall shape of this forest pigeon.

Details of its bright yellow bill and narrow white collar on it hind neck aren't really visible here.
BAND-TAILED PIGEON (Interior subspecies)
What you can see is that it is larger than our urban Rock Pigeon. Gray overall, the BAND-TAILED PIGEON is our last forest pigeon. A small flock of them later winged their way quickly and strongly through the trees beside our trail. 
Yellow bill barely visible here in poor lighting.
In photo above, its long neck and white nape collar are visible.
Same BAND-TAILED PIGEON before it flew off with the flock to check out another feeding place.
This forest pigeon captures my attention every time either by its uh-whoo (owl-like) sound or, better yet, by showing up as they did at Christopher Creek.

With a brief stop at Willow Springs Lake along the Mogollon Rim,

it was 1:40 p.m. by the time we reached our destination and decided to explore Rainbow Reservoir.  Checking out both sides of the lake provided various habitat from water to forest to cemetery to community.

Juvenile AMERICAN COOT 
Can you see the size of its lifted foot??

OSPREY
Juvenile WESTERN BLUEBIRD (above and below)

Whimsical art attracted our attention on a residential street:







A bird I didn't anticipate seeing at this location was a gem: LEWIS'S WOODPECKER.
A large woodpecker, its overall greenish/black topside is broken with a pale gray collar that continues down its chest leading to its pink belly. Its dark red face is outlined with the dark green/black feathering.

Looking over its shoulder

LEWIS'S WOODPECKER--Rainbow Lake 
Since one side of the lake is overall privately owned, we were thrilled when "Turk" noticed us and invited us into his property -- all the way to the edge of the lake.
OSPREY
After finding 23 species there, we opted for checking into the hotel and doing one last but short foray on Billy Creek Trail. Due to clouds and dark sky, I didn't even carry my camera but it was my first time on this trail and I knew it should be good on our next visit, our third and final morning. Although a couple of us believe we heard the NORTHERN GOSHAWK, I didn't list it but waited for our longer trip into the forest. 

DAY #2 Tuesday, July 11th
Probably, what most of us will remember about Jacques Marsh is not the 31 species of birds we spotted, but the MUD! Walking around the entire marsh delivered a nice handful of waterfowl (CANADA GOOSE, GADWALL, MALLARD, CINNAMON TEAL, NORTHERN PINTAIL and RUDDY DUCK) and shoes getting heavy with mud!

 Swallows soared, swooped and chirped above us. (VIOLET-GREEN, BARN AND CLIFF)

 And, I should add that Don, who was in the White Mountains during this trip, joined us for today's adventures.

 From the marsh came the staccato sound of young YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS begging, the cheery voice of the COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and the buzzy sound from the RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.

 From the fields surrounding the marsh we could hear several WESTERN MEADOWLARKs singing and CHIPPING SPARROWs buzzing. The Prairie Dogs fascinated us, too, and Barb Meding researched to discover we were most likely seeing the Gunnison's Prairie Dogs since the only other species in Arizona are the Black-tailed whose population is greatly reduced and is seen (released) in the southeastern portion of the state.

RUDDY DUCK in breeding plumage including its blue bill

NORTHERN PINTAIL in non-breeding plumage
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDs (adult with full yellow head and juvenile still quite brown overall

Juvenile YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD adult
Across the field came the voice of the WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE:

BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDs among the daisies (female)
Appears to be a mixed flock but mostly female BREWER'S BLACKBIRDs
Without color details, size and shape of WESTERN MEADOWLARK (pause between songs)
Spent a good bit of time cleaning our mud-laden shoes prior to getting back into our cars!

 Next stop was Scott Reservoir. 


 The only species that differed from those we saw at Jacques Marsh was the VESPER SPARROW.

 So we moved quickly on to the nearby Ice Cave Trail. I'm not sure which was worse: the mud of Jacques Marsh or the small rocky surface of this environment upon which we pretty much made our own trails. Difficult to find steady footing for photos.




VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW
STELLER'S JAY (interior subspecies with white streaks on face)
Don, Kathe, Maria, Dana, Diane, Mary Joy and Sue
Same group where Don stepped out to take photo to include me on left end
Back down in civilization, we visited Woodland Lake Park for just twenty minutes before lightening and thunder sent us scampering back to the cars. Two and half hours later, we returned for some more good birding that included ten (10) LEWIS'S WOODPECKERs; a COOPER'S HAWK; MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE; WHITE-BREASTED and PYGMY NUTHATCH; WESTERN BLUEBIRDs and a swimming VIRGINIA RAIL!
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT
AMERICAN COOT with young
The young AMERICAN COOT
AMERICAN COOT (Juvenile slightly older than the very young one
The very young and the juvenile AMERICAN COOT

LEWIS'S WOODPECKER (2 photos above)

We wrapped up the evening with an exploratory visit to the OLD HATCHERY TRAIL where our target bird (Red-faced Warbler) eluded us - no song; no sighting.

 Don provided us with two good restaurant recommendations and joined us at Annie's (The Bistro at Annie's) for a delicious lunch.

 For dinner, we also checked out his recommendation for The Lions Den noted for its wine burgers. Good time for all of us.

 DAY #3 Wednesday, July 12th 
After more rain in the night, we hit Billy Creek Trail at 7 a.m. Birds of interest there included CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, PLUMBEOUS VIREO, TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, GRACE'S WARBLER, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK and, a new species for us, a pair of HEPATIC TANAGERs.  

 Before leaving the coolness and piney aroma of the mountains, we stopped at Pintail Lake in Show Low where we picked up our first JUNIPER TITMOUSE (2), got several good looks at male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER. Searching through thick reeds around the lake, we found the expected ducks beyond.
COMMON RAVENs in morning conversation
With a brief stop at Woods Canyon Lake (no list), we explored the edge of the Mogollon Rim and, after a rest stop, turned around at the Lake to head home. Arrived back in the East Valley at 5:30 p.m., with temps still at 108°F just in case anyone wonders why we head up the 'hill' so often.
* * *
E-bird links: click to view full list for each location:
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38078393

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38078465
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38078724



View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38088661







View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38109285



View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38088976
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38109381
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38109431










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