Having evolved from hunting Easter eggs as children, some of us grown children now hunt birds on this particular holiday.
Finding a spot that wouldn't be crowded with families was easy: Mt. Ord off of Highway 87 past Sunflower on the way to Payson. Together with Hinde Silver and Marsha Wiles for whom this trip was their first exposure to Mt. Ord and all it has to offer, my greatest concern was that my compact car would successfully make the full trip to the top. (It did.)
Beginning at 7:30 a.m. (59°F) under overcast sky, after exiting from Highway 87, we began to hear BLACK-CHINNED SPARROWs as soon as we hit dirt road. At this low elevation, we had great looks at the oft-times elusive sparrows -- Life Birds for both Hinde and Marsha. No photos due to dark sky and shadowed side of the mountain.
Although we stopped at the corral and searched for the reported Gray Vireo, it must have slept in under the dark sky. No incentive to come out and sing without some sunshine!
SPOTTED TOWHEE proved to be the other most common bird along that route up to Forest Road 1688.
There, we parked the car to walk the jeep road up to slightly higher elevations from our starting point of 5652'.
Birds were very quiet. We were in a normally rich area for bird activity so I recommended we just move very slowly listening and looking. Next thing we knew, birds were singing and coming forward, mostly very high in the pines looking black against the gray sky. So, by a combination of ear and eye, we managed to locate some good birds there, the best being three PAINTED REDSTART chasing each other around the drainage.
Farther up were RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, ACORN WOODPECKER and NORTHERN FLICKER. WOODHOUSE'S SCRUB JAY also made their presence known.
COOPER'S and RED-TAILED HAWKs and a few TURKEY VULTURE gave us something to look at up in the sky other than airplanes that must have an airway right over the mountain.
As we returned to our starting point we came upon Laura Ellis, also looking for some goodies, even though she had already seen the rare Evening Grosbeak reported there.
We weren't interested in waiting for them to show up for us, but were grateful to Laura for pointing out to us from the main road, a pair of CASSIN'S FINCH. With a tad more sunshine, I was able to pull out a photo.
 |
| Look closely to see the huddled female CASSIN'S FINCH on the horizontal limb |
 |
| Male CASSIN'S FINCH [note short thick pointed bill and raspberry-colored cap and chin) |
 |
| LEWIS'S WOODPECKER [photo by Marsha Wiles] |
More WESTERN BLUEBIRDs were up here, too.
 |
| Distant WESTERN BLUEBIRD (male) |
On the north side of Sycamore Creek, accessed directly across from the exit from Mt. Ord, we were very surprised to find a GRAY VIREO, the bird that had eluded us early in the morning on the mountain. We took so much time verifying the sighting that we missed getting a photo. A single PINK-SIDED DARK-EYED JUNCO was another new bird for the day as was a singing BELL'S VIREO. LUCY'S WARBLERs were flitting everywhere from across the road into the junipers closer to the creek where we stood.
We couldn't return home without a quick stop at Sunflower that formerly provided an all-day fulfilling birding experience. The road into the work station is now blocked. So, we birded only the paved road (from the car) leading up to the fence and earthen berm. Even so, we managed a few more "Easter Eggs" in the form of COMMON BLACK HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, male YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs and a GREATER ROADRUNNER among others.
 |
| Distant COMMON BLACK HAWK |
 |
| This, our final sighting was a fitting end to our 10.5-hour day! [Photo by Marsha Wiles] * * * |
No comments:
Post a Comment