Babs' Birding Experiences : Two Lower Salt River Recreation sites plus Elgin vineyards area and Las Cienegas NCA in Santa Cruz Co., AZ [11/28 to 12/2/18]

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
A really spiffy-looking woodpecker had been recently reported on the local rare bird alert at Pebble Beach Recreation Area along the Salt River -- essentially my "back yard" at 30 minutes drive time.

An adult RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER had been discovered at Pebble Beach several years ago during a Christmas Bird Count. More of a west-coast bird than inland, local birders were thrilled to get to see it in trees close to Bush Highway. I was able to photograph it in its territory there so I knew what I was looking for today.

RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, Pebble Beach Recreation Area, Salt River; 1/11/13

Today, however, it was not right out in the front area, it was way back along the very shallow Salt River. It was a beautiful crisp Fall day, so I had set out with the hope of finding it.

Knowing the area well, I avoided the "beach" (small river rock among pebbles) to walk directly from the parking area through the desert to river's edge. Hmmm.

From my point on bare river-rock bottom, I spotted these RING-NECKED DUCK and GREAT BLUE HERON at a distance.

This river rock - minus the water lined the sides of the Salt River. I walked a long distance on the bare rocks covered with dry or damp grass searching for a safe crossing place, as I was on a tributary or off-shoot of the main channel.

RING-NECKED DUCKs - only species I found on the river

It took some focus and balancing to find my way to a shallow spot and it never once crossed my mind to photograph the dry river bed with all its rounded rocks. Finally I managed a safe crossing (I've stopped trying to balance on rocks over water, thus the shallows, so I could just walk through to the land between the fork and the main river channel. Walking on the sand spit (with rocks) was easier on the feet, harder on the body with its cockleburs, goat-head thorns, downed limbs and spiky branches everywhere.

But I could hear birds. Soon after my crossing, another birder (from Phoenix) crossed with ease at a deeper spot from rock to rock and up the steep bank. We birded together a short while. When we heard the MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE calling, Parker couldn't believe his ears and needed to see the bird. Strange as it seems, that species has shown up in other years at Granite Reef and Coon Bluff, way below its normal mountain heights. I didn't follow Parker but stayed my course; he went over to the main channel to get a look at that high-elevation bird down here in the desert.

From my middle ground "sand spit" I could walk to either the main channel on my right or the off-shoot on my left when an opening occurred in the marshy, shrubby edges of the river.

Walking was tough, but birds kept appearing: WESTERN BLUEBIRD, PHAINOPEPLA,RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER and NORTHERN FLICKER (Red-shafted) and many more. I continued eastward for a long while until I gave thought to the possible need to turn back. That idea did not appeal to me. I gauged my eastward distance by the mountains around me and figured I would walk across that "forK' or "inlet" again to return to the main part of the recreation area. Hallelujah!

The inlet water trickled into non-existence; I was able to follow a horse trail directly back to the sandy south side of Pebble Beach without crossing river rock or water!

Among the 36 bird species I spotted, none were the handsome RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER.

Best photos of the day:

Male Phanopepla

OSPREY

And, three horses.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50278572

After an appointment the next day (Thursday 11/29/18), I headed off to Saguaro Lake with just my binoculars and camera in the car hoping to find the RED-NECKED GREBE reported there.

In under an hour I easily saw fifteen species (not counting all the land birds), but not my target species. After spotting a WESTERN GREBE at quite a distance; 2 HORNED GREBE slightly closer to the pier where I was birding and a number of PIED-BILLED GREBE closer to shore, I suspected the grebe that was diving repeatedly with only short pauses above water might be my bird. But, no: photos showed it to be an EARED GREBE - much shorter, slimmer necked and with a much shorter yellow bill than the RED-NECKED. So, I struck out and haven't had time to revisit the spot with my scope.

BUFFLEHEAD

EARED GREBE

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S50302434

Saturday, December 1, 2018
There will be no photos from today's exceptional birding experience since I didn't have a license to use my camera on the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC).

While this was the 20th year of the GRIC Winter Bird Count, this was my very first time attending it. The Community's Department of Environmental Quality sponsors this Count and partners with the Huhugam Heritage Center, Audubon Society, Tribal Rangers and cultural leaders within GRIC.

Meeting at specified locations at 7:00 a.m., those of us from Audubon groups were matched up with Community members with children wearing binoculars who showed a keen interest in finding out how to identify the birds. Among the very young, they were just having fun wearing binoculars while trying to find anything through them. Had I been able to take pictures, it would have been of these young folks (12 yrs and under in my group) looking at perched sparrows and meadowlarks in the massive cotton fields on their land. Birds in cotton fields was a new experience for me. I'm still not certain of how their Community cotton fields differ from those in agricultural lands I drive past on a regular basis that have absolutely no birds perched or hovering!

It's my understanding that all seven (7) districts within the 600 square-miles belonging to the Gila River Indian Community were covered by birding teams like the one I was on. We had Mr. Robert Johnson heading up our group. Having arrived at the meeting place a bit early, I had watched this older man approaching on foot from a distance across the pre-dawn desert....wondering at first if it was an apparition. But, no. It was Mr. Johnson. He played a big role in the publication of their 2018-20th Anniversary Edition of a beautiful 36-page booklet of WINTER BIRDS of the Gila River Indian Community. Mr. Johnson, a linguist, provided the native words for each bird, i.e. GREATER ROADRUNNER was THADAI in their language. So the younger generation was gaining heritage along with the identification of the bird. And each of us who participated were given a copy of the 2018 Anniversary Edition.

A few of the local women in our group were self-effacing leaders in the Community serving in or heading up the environmental and water resources departments. One had worked on the recently resolved decades-old problem of water for GRIC. At the celebratory lunch they provided for everyone present, one of these women introduced me to the Lt. Governor, Robert Stone of GRIC who sat next to me eating his fry bread as I ate mine - during a heritage dance performance in the dance arbor at the bottom of the concrete amphitheater. Later Lt. Governor Stone welcomed his own Community members as well as guests (us) and Liberty Wildlife (bird rescue/rehabilitation) from Phoenix. Liberty Wildlife members, out on the patio, holding a GOLDEN EAGLE, RED-TAILED HAWK and AMERICAN KESTREL on gloved hands were a big hit with native children, teenagers and all adults.

For me, it was a day to treasure. And since the Community had so many cotton fields filled with birds - that I couldn't photograph - I thought I'd add pictures of the fields along Route 87 in the Coolidge area (a short cut over to I-10 from Apache Junction) that happen to have no birds, so no photographs.

Cotton field ready for harvest

Close-up view of the cotton ripe for harvest

Machine harvested and baled, this shows how the tarp is fastened into the bale

Bale of cotton ready in the field for truck pick up

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The next day, Sunday, December 2, 2018, Glenda Jones and I set out for Sonoita and the ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK(s) being reported along Highway 82 in the Elgin vineyard and Las Cienegas NCA grasslands areas, including Davis Pasture. Arriving around 8 a.m., we initially saw no other birders cruising slowly along the highway. We pulled off from time to time to take photos of some fantastic raptors like WHITE-TAILED KITE, RED-TAILED HAWK and a male, female and juvenile NORTHERN HARRIER.

WHITE-TAILED KITE (above and below)

RED-TAILED HAWK (above and below)

Communicating with us???

NORTHERN HARRIER (Gray Ghost) [photo by Glenda Jones]

Then, finally, we spotted our bird - high on top of a utility pole.

The ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK allowed a long viewing period before flushing when a truck pulled into the property next to the pole.