Thursday, October 19, 2017
Of the five sisters having a reunion in Mesa, AZ, three flew in from east of our southwestern state. Of those three, Maria, an avid birder, was celebrating a benchmark birthday. So the other sisters arranged to surprise her with a Bird Walk.
Thus, early that morning three of us met for the first time at Gilbert Water Ranch.
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L-R: Maria & Babs
Donna and Karen laughed that Maria was barely out of the car before she started looking for birds! |
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| Donna, Maria, Karen (3 of the 5 sisters) |
This HARRIS'S HAWK, below, was one of our first raptor sightings.
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| HARRIS'S HAWK [photo by Maria] |
Along Pond 1, we spotted this wader trying to hide behind some wispy sticks and leaves.
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| BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON [Photo by Maria] |
Birders from the east coast are always happy to come upon our endemics (those birds limited in range to a specific area). While I rarely take photos of our common desert ABERT'S TOWHEE, this bird was a LIFER for Maria.
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| ABERT'S TOWHEE [Photo by Maria] |
Another raptor surprised me when it perched on a platform in Pond 1. With its squared-off tail, we took this bird to be a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK; the stripes on its nape indicate it's a juvenile.
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| Juvenile (stripes on nape) SHARP-SHINNED HAWK [photo by Maria] |
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| Setting the scope for Donna & Karen to view the SSHA |
Donna and Karen were good spotters; took lots of photos for themselves; and, generally appeared to enjoy themselves. They also found a brochure in one of the boxes that provided both the general lay-out of the ponds and a bird list. This gave them an idea of how far we'd be walking and how long we'd be out.
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| L-R: Donna, Karen, Babs |
Maria was a wonderful birder and spotted two WILSON'S SNIPE flying in to the south side of Pond 2. Quickly, I got the scope on them. Donna and Karen were in awe of that strange-looking bird of which - no photos. Since I was carrying the scope and binoculars, I left my camera at home. Thank goodness Maria had hers along as it was a great day for photos and she captured the birds very well.
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| Lining up the WILSON'S SNIPE [Photo by Maria] |
One sight I'll never tire of observing is that of the AMERICAN AVOCET foraging together in a synchronized pattern of bill waving in the water. Whoops. They're back to wading together in this photo below but, still, they're an outstanding black and white bird with a long bill and long legs.
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| AMERICAN AVOCET [Photo by Maria] |
Quite birdy along the wide trails lined with cottonwood, mesquite and palo verde trees and various tall shrubs, the place was literally hopping with birds....and desert cottontail...one cotton rat...and one coyote loping along a dry pond giving us a grand view.
With that kind of habitat, even the smaller raptors can find good eats. This Female AMERICAN KESTREL kept busy all morning.
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| AMERICAN KESTREL [Photo by Maria] |
One bird Maria was looking for all morning (Life Bird) was the Inca Dove. Knowing the best chance location, we headed that direction and ended up finding two very close-up views.
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| INCA DOVE [Photo by Maria] |
As the temperature rose, we decided to skirt Pond 6 without going to its western edge. Rounding out our visit with a stop at the Fishing Pond gave us some more nifty sightings including the one below.
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| Female RUDDY DUCK, a species often ID'd by its erect tail [Photo by Maria] |
It was a wonderful day. We managed to spot 49 species as we wandered the trails.
Maria picked up five Life Birds and, I understand that on subsequent days she was able to find seven more for a total of 12 LIFERS during her birthday celebration!
To view our full list and more photos, click on the link below.
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That's our Maria! You couldn't have met a crazier nice birder.
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