Wednesday, October 25, 2017
With daily desert temperatures still reaching into the mid-90s, it felt good to start birding at Fain Park in Prescott, feeling the chill of 51°F. at 8 a.m.
Sparrows were all over the grass in front of the parking lot: CHIPPING, BREWER’S and WHITE-CROWNED while DARK-EYED JUNCOs ran out and back from beneath the bushes.
It took a finch to stop us in our tracks. Although we had counted many HOUSE FINCH, these two were definitely different.
These birds lacked the crimson cap and pale reddish throat and breast of the male, but carried the well-defined brown ear patch, stripes running from throat down over the belly all the way to the tail, and thick pointed bill (with no curved culmen) of the female. Note also the forked tail.
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| Female CASSIN'S FINCH - note the slightly raised crest |
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| A second CASSIN'S FINCH (female) |
Nothing like such a good bird to jump start our birding after rolling out of bed in the wee hours of the morning.
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| Waterfall at the pond in Fain Park |
Although the lake was bereft of any waterfowl, other birds were out and about in a big way. A couple WOODHOUSE’S SCRUB JAYS; a RED-TAILED HAWK perched on a pole by the parking lot; RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETs chattering; an AMERICAN ROBIN at the top of a tree that had lost its leaves that high up; CANYON TOWHEEs scratching the dirt; and a stealthy CRISSAL THRASHER also moving about through the bottom of the shrubs.
We saw both of the CASSIN'S FINCH again as we walked the trails.
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| Female CASSIN'S FINCH - out in the sunlight |
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| RED-TAILED HAWK |
With Kathe Anderson leading to three separate locations for our birding today, seven of us had joined her to find out what birds might be present in Prescott this time of year. Other birders were: Dana, Mary Joy, Barbara, Sue, Usha, Jean and me.
Off, then, to our second and longest birding venture, we explored Watson Lake and Riparian Preserve.
Beauty in a duck. I can never quite get over seeing them. In a pond surrounded by trees in the riparian area were WOOD DUCK swimming about in the shaded confines of a fairly large pond. Not one, but ten (10) of them.
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| Male and two female WOOD DUCK |
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| Female WOOD DUCK with white tear drop eye liner |
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| Two males and a female WOOD DUCK |
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| Male WOOD DUCK |
Emerging from the Watson Woods trail, we started on the Peavine Trail along the edge of Watson Lake. Fortunately I had carried my spotting scope that enabled us to correctly identify distant birds including the WESTERN GREBE. Although a Clark's Grebe would have been a welcome sight, it wasn't in the portion of the lake we birded. We walked two miles in 2.5 hours, stopping for the birds beside us on the trail...in the shrubs, grasses, on fences and in the mostly dead sunflower stalks.
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| LESSER GOLDFINCH (female) |
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| CHIPPING SPARROW (dark spots in the blue sky are gnats!) |
At lake's edge near our trail, many NORTHERN PINTAIL were preening. Sometimes, it's fun to learn birds by trying to ID the other birds in a flock. In addition to one AMERICAN COOT, are five (5) NORTHERN SHOVELER in the group shown below.
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| Mostly NORTHERN PINTAIL |
At another muddy edge, GREEN-WINGED TEAL were also preening.
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| GREEN-WINGED TEAL |
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| GREAT BLUE HERON |
With eight pair of eyes spotting birds, we managed to identify 39 species at this location.
As we headed back to the parking lot, we marveled at the woods within which the WOOD DUCKS were secluded.
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| WATSON WOODS |
Then, we headed off to GOLDWATER LAKE PARK.
ACORN WOODPECKERs announced themselves immediately. They appeared to be very busy gathering acorns and storing them for colder weather.
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| ACORN WOODPECKER living up to its name |
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| Tree filled with holes and Acorns! Top to bottom! |
Ushta spotted a BALD EAGLE flying in over Goldwater Lake. We watched it perch on a distant tree. Yay!
Little birds delight us as much as the big ones, so when a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH zipped from branch to branch to ground to water's edge, we were captivated.
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| WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH on concrete below a picnic table |
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| Don't know what the WBNU found to eat at the picnic area, but it needed a drink afterwards. |
It had been wonderful. Wrapping up our birding by mid-day enabled us to return to our respective homes in the desert of Phoenix Valley just before the crush of commuter traffic. The excitement of the birds, the Acorn Woodpeckers' stashing of so many treasures (are we in for a cold cold winter?), the enjoyment of one another's company - all added up to a very fine day in the out-of-doors!
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Links below take you to my eBird list for each location including some photos.
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40123918
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40124071
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