Migratory Vagrants at Glendale Recharge Ponds, Maricopa County, AZ

August 24, 2017

Recharge Pond at Glendale

Since I've talked about these ponds over in the West Valley of Phoenix several times, I've posted a scene that shows a piece of Pond 5 (out of 6). It's a failed photo of a Bald Eagle (look closely) that stirred up all the birds in all the ponds. I'm standing on the far side of the pond so this photo shows the southeastern quadrant.

Birds on these ponds are great fun to observe.

TRICOLORED HERON (right); Great Egrets (left)

In the above photos, an assortment of shorebirds are feeding in the early morning. Birds include SNOWY EGRET (white bird, black bill); GREAT EGRET (tall white bird, yellow bill); BLACK-NECKED STILT (black and white bird, needle thin bill and pink legs); and another dark bird, taking center stage in the third photo from the top - TRI-COLORED HERON. In early August, I had traveled the sixty miles across town to see that bird that remained too distant for my camera. Perhaps it was so brand new, it hadn't yet accommodated to its environment or it just decided to stay still and preen far from me. (see "East-Coast Shorebirds in Phoenix West Valley blog of 8/4/2017).

The TRI-COLORED HERON has been visiting the ponds off and on and it was present today even though that was not the bird I drove west to see. But there it was -- fairly close to shore - hanging out with the egrets. Note the above wing posture on the GREAT EGRETs. Sometimes that's done to produce "shade" so the bird can quickly stab its prey without being detected. Sometimes it's done as a non-aggressive marking of its feeding territory. Since the TRI-COLORED HERON is present, it may have felt it necessary to say, "This area is mine." 

TRICOLORED HERON (foreground); Black-necked Stilts (background)

WILSON'S PHALAROPE (a delightful bird that swims in circles to stir up food; sometimes a flock will be spinning simultaneously)

GREEN HERON

But the bird I drove across Phoenix to see was a species I had never seen in Arizona. A RED KNOT, in basic plumage, had shown up two days previously (thank you, Tommy D. for alerting us) and this was my first opportunity to see if it was still there.  It was! (thanks to Jeff Ritz for daily updates).

If you follow my blog, you know that I went all the way to Cape May, NJ, to see this species in early May when the RED KNOT was migrating north from the tip of South America to its Arctic breeding grounds. It stops off there to fill up on horseshoe crab eggs. Whether or not this is the same subspecies (rufa) or not, I really don't know. It would not be on its migratory route back south.

So, I'll post photos of the RED KNOT at Glendale and then a few from Cape May, NJ, to show the different plumages but the same essential bird size and shape.

RED KNOT- Glendale - basic plumage

RED KNOT - Cape May NJ - breeding plumage

RED KNOT - Glendale - basic plumage (with Least Sandpipers)

Looking at the same bird, its differences and similarities are fascinating to observe.

Although I arrived at dawn and lasted for 2.5 hours at the wide open (no shade) ponds, I managed to sort through many sandpipers to pick out some more specialities before the heat told me to get back to the car. Again, two rare shorebirds in our Arizona desert! 

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View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38799515