More Recent Birding in Central Arizona

August 11 - 15, 2018
One of the biggest problems I've faced with this summer's birding is "bites". Never quite sure if the source is chiggers or mosquitoes, they definitely leave big red itchy spots. But Granite Reef won the "bite" prize. I drove over there the day after a huge monsoon storm (not the microburst) and found tree limbs down all over the picnic area, trees down on the west trail, and marsh grasses almost flattened. Whether I got the bites when I was scampering over a downed tree with leaves or elsewhere, I'm not certain. But, in some way, a large Ant got trapped at my belt line where it rode comfortably along with me. I didn't discover its presence until I got home. At that same moment, the ant begged for its freedom all over my belly. OMG.  I'm guessing fire ant. I'm not quick to kill insects, but there was no question with this biting sucker. Squish - into a tissue. In the hours and days that followed, those bites spread with red inflammation from one spot to another making me look "on fire".  Don't really know if this makes it a fire ant or not, but, it is not one I want to meet ever ever again. I'm still scarred with red blotches...that still occasionally itch.

Anyway, I've also enjoyed a bit of good birding that always offsets the discomforts that nature provides. A Madera Canyon visit on Saturday 8/11 was for the main purpose of finding owls in the evening and early nighttime. Thankfully, birding up to that point in time had been rewarding at various places I visited, but there I stood in the top dead-end parking lot with seven other birders hoping to hear owls - and all we heard was picnickers!!  OMG! Couldn't believe it. But it WAS a weekend. While kids screeched, I heard no Western Screech Owl; I heard no Northern Pygmy Owl. The other birders were shaking their heads, too. Glad that families were out enjoying nature, we stayed and stayed until the families left or got quiet. One young birder heard a Whiskered-Screech Owl, but it was too distant for my ears. Although I stopped at several locations as I went down the mountain (with others following me since I was the local and they were out of town), we all came up with zero owls. But I felt beautiful under the starlit sky while letting the dark quietness fill my pores.

Birds that I did see that Saturday included the following:

RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD (formerly known as MAGNIFICENT) - above and below

ARIZONA WOODPECKER

HEPATIC TANAGER  [above and below]

Not often I get an opportunity to photograph this handsome tanager.

Before leaving Santa Rita Lodge feeding station, the WILD TURKEYs trotted in.

Turkey Trot

As I left Madera Canyon, this deer stopped along the road to watch me pass. It seemed strange until I noticed her young had not yet crossed behind her, so I moved slowly forward allowing them to follow "Mama".

Birding doesn't seem "real" anymore unless I visit cattle slop ponds or water treatment plants. Today, I checked out two water treatment plants where I found some enjoyable birds.

SOLITARY SANDPIPER [migrating through]

WILSON'S PHALAROPE - also migrants, not residents

TROPICAL KINGBIRD [In AZ more frequently each summer/fall, I think]

While I thought that birding "fix" would last me awhile, wouldn't you know two good rarities were reported the next day at nearby Gilbert Water Ranch -- A Painted Bunting and a Dickcissel--neither of which are "ordinary" but they are both nice surprise drop-in migrants.

Having broken a tooth eating a raw carrot, I sat in the dental chair for two hours on Tuesday morning before heading to the Water Ranch to see if I could lay eyes on these rarities. Sheesh, it was humid. I did get a good look (but no photo) of the DICKCISSEL but dipped on the female PAINTED BUNTING (a greenish bird unlike the multi-colored male). Spent just an hour or so there before returning home -- able to wring the moisture out of all my clothes!
So, I got an earlier start on Wednesday, arriving before 6 a.m. and staying until 9:00 but, again, was unable to locate the Painted Bunting. Other birds intrigued me, though.

INCO DOVE--color edging the feathers gives it a scaled appearance

BLACK-NECKED STILT - with bubble-gum pink legs

Two SNOWY EGRET

SNOWY EGRET - giving just a glimpse of its yellow foot

Then I came upon some excitement. I heard a GREEN HERON making the worst honking groaning sound at the edge of a pond that was too overgrown for me to see what was happening. But I soon found out.

The GREEN HERON flew from the edge of the pond, landing in the tree right next to me.

GREEN HERON - trying to evade a predator as it turned out

Take a good look: a COOPER'S HAWK is on lower left of the GREEN HERON trying hard to get hold

COOPER'S HAWK - after missing its target meal

Then, to cap off the morning, I was able to get a photo of a highly secretive bird -- an adult female LEAST BITTERN out foraging in order to feed her young at another location.

Adult LEAST BITTERN (fem) [poor photo but best I could get from my angle]

Now, I'm kicking back while pondering my next adventure. It may be tomorrow; it may be next week....depending on what the weather and my summer spirit can muster.

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