Four Good Days of Birding, Maricopa, Santa Cruz, and Pinal Counties, AZ

Friday, January 26, 2018
In the wee hours of the morning, I felt rested and wide awake. What better to do than check out the birds at a spot I haven't visited for quite some time?  
Arriving at Bushnell Sheep Tank (a bit past Sunflower on Route 87 to Payson) at 7:15 a.m., was not the best plan in the world. It was 31°.  


 Dressed in layers plus a wool pull-down hat, I was warm enough to start out on the road beyond the gate to watch the sun rise over the hills and into Sycamore Creek's cottonwoods, sycamores and willows. The only birds active were NORTHERN FLICKERs, but I heard DARK-EYED JUNCOs (the orignal snowbirds) in the weeds and under shrubs.
NORTHERN FLICKER - RED-SHAFTED  - a bit fluffed up on this cold morning
Where the road ends at Sycamore Creek, I discovered the hiking path on the other side of the dry creek had been cut into a road, too. This morning, that was a plus. To keep warm, I hiked up the road for a good stretch so that birds would no longer be backlit. When I turned back, I'd have the sun behind me.

 One mile later, after a brief uphill climb, I stood and enjoyed the view.  The hill was sunlit and I caught a small flock of bluebirds come into a tree. As my cold fingers got my camera ready for a shot, most of the flock took off, but two remained - a male and female.  As it turned out, they were the EASTERN BLUEBIRDs prevously reported from this location -- a bit out of range, but putting some spice into the still-cold air.
Male (bottom) & female (top) EASTERN BLUEBIRD

 Soon I was seeing other birds, including WOODHOUSE'S SCRUB JAY, BRIDLED and JUNIPER TITMOUSE, HERMIT THRUSH and other expected birds for this habitat. The sun had finally warmed the creek area; it was a beautiful day. WESTERN BLUEBIRDs came and went; several AMERICAN ROBINs showed up individually and briefly and a tree full of CASSIN'S FINCH caught my eye. My hands were slower, but there was one left in the tree for a photo good enough for the ID.

 The only other decent bird photo there was one I identified as a young GRAY FLYCATCHER. 
Immature GRAY FLYCATCHER
The place was peaceful, beautiful and challenging. After 3.5 hours, I convinced myself to get back into civilizaton.

 Saturday, January 27, 2018
Having caught up on necessary chores after birding yesterday, I was free to head out again in the morning. Today, Jeanne Burns and Hinde Silver joined me for a trip up to Lake Pleasant to see how many of the rarities being reported we might be able to find.

 Ooops! Although it was a toasty (!) 49°F when we arrived at Ten Lane Boat Ramp, white caps on the lake told another story. WIND...WIND...and more WIND.  Jeanne and Hinde got out and birded for several minutes before heading back to the car. I scanned and scanned and scanned. AMERICAN COOT and MALLARD were not on our "treasure hunt" list. Neither was the next bird we saw, but it was a good one: a 3-year BALD EAGLE with white head and tail just beginning to feather up to replace the black.

 Land birds began to get our attention. Two ROCK WRENs were not shy and perched up for us.
ROCK WREN
Driving over to Scorpion Bay gave us somewhat better waterfowl.  In addition to COMMON MERGANSER and COMMON GOLDENEYE, we had another BALD EAGLE (mature) fly over, and we found several RING-BILLED GULLS perched on buoys.

 Boat traffic was picking up on this weekend day.

 So, we drove to the Yavapai County portion of Lake Pleasant where we did pick up some birds that pacified us for the long drive and way-too-windy conditions.

 A huge flotilla of CLARK'S GREBE appeared to be out in the distance.  Most appeared to have a black cap with white face and neck down to water's edge, but with so many out there and beyond our scope views, we decided it was mixed flock of CLARK'S and WESTERN GREBE.

 One of the grebes within camera range was a HORNED GREBE, shown below.
HORNED GREBE
More and more people and boaters arrived, so we headed home around noontime. It had been awhile since either Jeanne or I had visited the Lake, so it was a worthwhile trip to just reacquaint ourselves with the different coves and bays for birding. I'll try again--on a weekday--probably late in the day!

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S42290096



Sunday, January 28, 2018
Photo by Glenda Jones
When Glenda Jones picked me up at 5:15 a.m., it was to drive approximately 3 hours to this location -- Davis Pasture within Las Cienegas National Conservation Area in Sonoita, Santa Cruz County. Although the birds we wanted to find were few among the many, it was a challenge I wanted. There was the possibility of seeing three longspurs here--birds that are very casual in Arizona: CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR, McCOWN'S LONGSPUR and LAPLAND LONGSPUR. The LAPLAND was my target bird, but it was a no show. 

 We began birding at 8:20 a.m. among the thousands of birds up early to feed in these beautiful grasslands. Straw-like grass is all over the place, so that a bird that is seen one moment is out of sight the next. We planned to stay for several hours as we knew this was difficult birding, especially when it's for less common birds. We had chairs; we had our spotting scopes, binoculars and cameras. 

 My goal of "studying" the longspurs defaulted to learning a great deal about HORNED LARKs that were present in great numbers.
HORNED LARK
Cattle walking past Glenda's car to the tank for water
Each time the cattle came in, birds scattered but slowly returned. 

Glenda, sorting through sparrows, larks and longspurs
Soon after our arrival, Homer Hansen, renowned for his sparrow family expertise, arrived with a group for which he was conducting an American Birding Association Workshop. I've heard him before when he volunteered at Audubon meetings or festivals and I was overwhelmed with his knowledge but challenged to better myself on these "little brown jobs" that include longspurs. So, you might say that my presence for the longspurs went back to hearing Homer's previous talks. Book learning just doesn't cut it for me. The bird in the field is the one to get to know even if it means putting the chair next to cow pies.

 I was actually taking a photo of some birds when he called out that it was a nice BAIRD'S SPARROW.  Well, thank you, Homer, I should have known, but lighting was not showing its yellow. I was taking the pic because it was bigger and different!
BAIRD'S SPARROW (top and bottom)

 Considering the conditons, the above photos were the best from this location. Mostly, we were scoping through the muck next to the pond where all the birds and several longspurs gathered.  
In the fore-center of the photo above is a SAVANNAH SPARROW

 Birds, including several SAVANNAH SPARROWs as above, were feasting on the bugs and tidbits offered within this shallow manure pile

 Finding our longspurs in the scope became easy enough after awhile. But, moving from scope to camera and finding it again was a relentless frustraton.

 One CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR was, at least, partially into its breeding plumage.
Poor quality photo of CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR transitioning to breeding plumage

 Mostly, I was finding females of the two species.
CHESTNUT-COLLARS LONGSPUR 
McCOWN'S LONGSPUR
With cool temperatures, it was a beautiful morning to bird in the middle of blonde grasslands; the excrement had no odor.

 Winds began to pick up by our 3rd hour, so we hauled out without waiting for the LAPLAND LONGSPUR to arrive on the scene. But we weren't finished with our day.

 At the Paton Center for Hummingbirds (Patons' Yard) in Patagonia, we spent an hour enjoying the renovated birding area, woodland area and back yard. Our most interesting sighting there were two humming birds in a tree appearing to do mating behavior.  The one was a VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD with some filament stuck on her beak (at first we thought it was her tongue).  With sunlight flicking off the filament, a male ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD went into a dipping, stretching, swaying movement side to side; he could not get enough of this VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD. After thinking about it, though, it seemed the VCHU was in trouble as the edges of its beak were also worn.

 We stopped a few other places on the way north on I-19 to check out the birding situation but decided to head directly to SANTA RITA LODGE in Madera Canyon. Instead of going hunting for birds, we would sit and let them come to us. What a good choice that became!

 Spotting 21 good species there within half an hour was awesome. A young couple who found our knowledge helpful, couldn't believe they had just seen five (5) LIFERS in five (5) minutes!  RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD (male and female), ARIZONA WOODPECKER, PAINTED REDSTART, RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW, YELLOW-EYED JUNCO AND CANYON TOWHEE were among the best of the lot.

 Altogether, a day not soon forgotten.

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S42336035
Monday, January 28, 2018
I've been enjoying some good birding with a neighborhood group of birders.  Today's outing at Boyce Thompson Arboretum began at 9 a.m. and lasted right up 'til noontime. In between, walking at least two miles of trail, we came up with 26 species of birds.

 In the Children's Garden, we had a nice find: a Slate-colored FOX SPARROW. We would see another one later across from the herb garden.
FOX SPARROW - head cut off but clear sharp photo of face, throat, chest and belly
FOX SPARROW


At Ayer Lake, we had a peculiar duck. This appears to be a hybred GREATER SCAUP X RING-NECKED DUCK.  To me, the duck below lacks the pointed head and black saddle of the Ring-necked Duck but its bill is obviously so marked. The e-bird reviewer had several experts conclude that it was, indeed, a Ring-necked Duck.
A big thrill for me was to finally get a clear photo of a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (two above photos)
Strangest of all, I had just finished telling the Canadians in the group the way to remember   its song is, "O! Canada!"  Five minutes later, we hear that song coming from a bush across from the herb garden. Wonder of wonders! That's when the WHITE-THROATED SPARROW came all the way out for a visit, above. (Never heard it sing its song before!)

 Back in the picnic area as we finished up for the morning, we found a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER working a tree.
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, male


Four great mornings/days of birding in a row. Except for the sinus headache from winds at Lake Pleasant, the overall affect makes me feel really healthy.

 Until next time, then.
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View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S42348603

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Santa Cruz Flats, Pinal County, Central Arizona

Sunday, January 21, 2018
Still a brisk 33°F when we started birding in Santa Cruz Flats at 8:22 a.m., we were glad to be traveling in two cars rather than walking the roads. I was part of a Desert Rivers Audubon Field Trip of six birders to this area with Claudia Kirscher guiding.

 If you live in either the Phoenix or Tucson area and travel between those two cities on I-10, at about the half-way point you pass right by the "Flats".  In many years gone by, grasslands spread out over its 350 square miles where deer and antelope played. When cattle were introduced, the habitat changed dramatically so that our birding area is now desert scrub, some of which is farmed for cotton and vegetables (lettuce, broccoli) and turf (for anything from sporting fields to homes in the desert). Water is pumped in through canals and irrigation systems.

 Our route into the Flats began from Sunshine Boulevard, to Phllips, then Barrett, then Nutt.
Along these roads were field after field of pecan trees, now devoid of leaves but full of pecans! Oh, do the birds like them!

 Our excitement stirred when the first bird of the day was a rare-for-here, HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK. It summers in Alaska and the Yukon, but winters east of us in the middle of the country -- very rare along the east coast and rare in the west unless is slips into Arizona during migration. Claudia knows her raptors and introduced this one to us as a returning HARLAN'S.
HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK with blackish and whte plumage;
note how it has one foot pulled up as if to keep it warm
Oddly, the tail is white and in flight a dark band spreads along the tip of the tail.
Have I ever seen a Harlan's RTHA before? Only when one has been pointed out to me, but I'm learning the details that will help me identify it in the future.

Our standard WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK is a stocky bird with rounded wings and short, red tail of various hues. Looking up at the hawk from the ground, you see a light belly with a "belly band" (dark streak of feathers) and the front leading edge of the wings is always dark. It's brown head is distinctive as is the white speckled V on its back. Photos below are of our Western Red-tailed Hawk:



Standard RED-TAILED HAWK
If there is anything more infuriating to a beginner birder, it's learning that the "standard" RTHA is the one from which many "morphs" occur.

Today, we saw at least two RUFOUS-MORPH RED-TAILED HAWKS. Look at this one below!
RUFOUS MORPH RED-TAILED HAWK
Note how different it is from both the Harlan's and the Western Red-tailed Hawk

 Both hawks were observed early as we started out in the pecan-tree area.
Later, we checked out Evergreen Turf Farm to search for MOUNTAIN PLOVER that favor that area. Seldom close to the road from which we must bird, the spotting scope located a few for us but they were beyond camera range. Photo below was taken a few years ago at the same location when the plovers were foraging closer to the roadway.

Another time, I was able to get a closer pic of the MOUNTAIN PLOVER
Driving along the roads, we spotted some WESTERN MEADOWLARK.

 A  BARN OWL was an unexpected find in an old building on the scrub land.

LOGGERHEAD SHRIKEs are handsome, solitary and always perch up and out in the open. Maybe that's why I like it so much!!  No hiding behind big leaves for this hunter. Coloration is similar to Northern Mockingbird, but the shrike is smaller and more distinct. Its bill is short and hooked; it's a predator. And, if plenty of food is available, it keeps hunting and impails its grasshoppers or other insects on a barbed wire fence for later munching.
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE
At this time of year, no trip to Santa Cruz Flats seems complete without spotting at least one CRESTED CARACARA. In the falcon family, it has long legs and neck and scavenges like a raven with which it is often found.

 Since it was distant, photos were poor. I post only one from today; the others are from previous visits to the Flats.
Heat-wave distortion this afternoon
Two CRESTED CARACARA

CRESTED CARACARA
We decided to wrap up our very long day with a run past Red Rock Feed Lot. 

 What a sight!  A murmuration of YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDs overhead! [murmuration is a large group of birds flying in syncopated symmetry]  The flock numbered in the hundreds. In great numbers, the YHBL flew up and out from the feed lot, into the air and waltzed as one, looping through the sky.  At about the same time another very large murmuration flew overhead and smoothly replaced the birds that had flown up and away.

Cows are free to walk around the grounds beyond the covered feeding areas, so there is a rank sensation to this sort of birding. But the reward was sensational.

Female (L) and Male (R) YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD

We came up with a low count of 8,000 YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDs at the feed lot.

YHBL were packed in with the cows


 What a finale! 

 After 7.5 hours, driving 71 miles throughout the large area of SANTA CRUZ FLATS, each of us (Gwen Grace, Laura Royal, Scott Brockenbrough, Hinde Silver, Babs Buck (me) and our leader Claudia, were smiling broadly, deeply. 

 Til next time...
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View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S42145153




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Base & Meridian Wildlife Area, Avondale, Maricopa County, AZ

Saturday, January 20, 2018
Got up this morning and ventured across Phoenix to the Base & Meridian Wildlife Area adjacent to the Phoenix International Raceway (PIR).

 Saw no other birders but fishermen were there early. A short time later, a group of young people arrived to start a clean-up project with Fish & Wildlife. The place surely does need that kind of attention and the teenagers and others looked as if they were having fun.

 Sometimes I bird by ear. Even when I don't know the bird, it gives me a location to search. In the process of doing that, I heard a gun go off not too far distant. Yikes. I wasn't wearing orange and was venturing down every trail available. Eventually, I came upon one of the hunters. He and a few others were hunting quail - no wonder there are none on my list. (hopefully they stayed hunkered)

 Worse than the gunshots actually, was the roar from PIR. Maybe it was qualifying races; the roar was intermittent but deafening. No birds were heard during those race-track runs around the circle.

 Despite my timing being off to find a couple birds for my 2018 list, I had a good couple hours out there. The sky was horrendously dark and made for challenging photos but I managed a few. So, photos = fair to poor; birds = good.

 First sighting was a juvenile NORTHERN HARRIER with its rufousy chest and belly all the way to its lighter vent and under-tail coverts. In flight, its secondaries also show quite dark on the underwing. For me, that's a great find of a handsome bird.
Juvenile NORTHERN HARRIER

 Walking the main road into the area, water was high and ponds abundant. These NEOTROPIC CORMORANTS took up most of one small water spot in a marsh.
NEOTROPIC CORMORANTs

 Then, coming toward me overhead was a good-sized flock of very large birds looking black against the dark sky. Wow! WHITE-FACED IBIS.  Photos are lousy--so bad I won't even post and you know I'm prone to do bad photos in here sometimes.  15, I counted.

 Then there was a  BELTED KINGFISHER announcing itself and flying past me in a blur of blue and white contrasting colors. Beautiful. It showed up a couple more times before I left.

 Songbirds were out and about.
SAY'S PHOEBE
VERDIN

 In addition to our desert GILA WOODPECKERs, there was a LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER,a GILDED FLICKER and a couple NORTHER FLICKERs.

LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER - two above photos

GILDED FLICKER - with copper-colored head instead of the gray of No. Flicker
The Black-throated Green Warbler and Barn Owl were not at home when I went to visit!

 When I was up one of those trails with the quail hunters, I looked up at a long string of birds approaching in the sky. White birds looking dark, but their shape was unmistakeable.
AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN- above and below


These two were just about directly overhead
The breeze picked up a bit so I returned to the main trail but wandered a bit before reaching the car. 

 Best sighting was a very early (I think) WESTERN KINGBIRD!  


Bottom photo (above) shows a bit of the white outer tail feathers.
So, despite hunters, car racing and young people running around picking up trash with grabbers and bags at every turn, it was a delightful couple hours of activity!

'Til next time.

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View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S42100826
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