Birding February 15-28, 2019 in Maricopa & Pinal Counties, AZ

Friday, February 15, 2019
With a forecast of “scattered rain and snow” for today, I awoke to an overcast but not threatening sky.  After breakfast, I decided to make a run to Granite Reef Recreation Area at the dam on the Salt River to check out the birds in the eastern area I had not explored on my previous visit. Thus, a late arrival for me at about 8:00 a.m. and on the chilly side.

Some trees had been removed from the picnic area, the ground leveled with bare dirt — to make room for more picnic tables. Didn’t keep the birds away!  I spent at least 20 minutes at the parking/picnic area before reaching the river that was loaded with waterfowl. 
Lighting was poor for photos and some of my best sightings on the east side went without a picture.

When I finished up on the east-side trail, I birded the berm area down to water's edge toward the dam. As I was enjoying the waterfowl there a kayaker came all the way to the buoy line preventing further passage but the waterfowl he scared up flew right over the barrier into the flocks I had already counted! I found nothing new, however, so kept my count as it had been.

CINNAMON TEAL
CANVASBACK (females)
REDHEAD (pair)
Two Drake GOLDENEYE  (Wigeon beyond them)
COMMON GALLINULE (formerly Moorhen)
PHAINOPEPLA (female)
SONG SPARROW
BALD EAGLE - standing guard by nest with bird on eggs
It turned out to be a very rewarding two hours of my time!
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52136914

Although I had scheduled some birding for the Flagstaff area for the 17th & 18th, snow arrived and didn't stop falling. Staying away from there, our Phoenix desert got rain like I've never seen. It didn't stop!  A full day of rain in winter!! Amazing. We sure did need it and eventually even our mountains got some heavy snow at elevations far below their 5,000 to 9,000-foot peaks.

Saturday, February 23rd
So, a full seven days elapsed before I ventured out for birding again. Knowing it was going to be a big muddy mess at Santa Cruz Flats, we (Linda James, Hinde Silver and Glenda Jones with the car to make it work) went forward with our long-planned date for the trip.
Despite a very long delay on I-10 for what turned out to be two tractor trailers burnt to a skeletal crisp, we arrived at our destination by 10:30 a.m.
With more dirt roads than paved ones, Glenda guided us through the slip 'n slide with calm determination. Our two target birds were: Mountain Plover and Crested Caracara. We ended up with approximately 50 species, some of which are shown below.  MOUNTAIN PLOVER eluded us at both sod farms but the CRESTED CARACARA showed high in the sky at Baumgarner/Wheeler for all but me as I poked around a different area for ground doves. Photos from the trip:
BURROWING OWL

HOUSE FINCH
GREATER ROADRUNNER
LARK BUNTING
SAGE THRASHER  [photo by Glenda Jones]
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD  [photo by Glenda Jones]
LARK SPARROW [photo by Glenda Jones
WESTERN MEADOWLARK
HORNED LARK
Glenda's car with mud thick enough on the mud flaps that the tires rubbed it down
[her photo on one of the good roads]

An eleven hour day seemed just right after being cooped up for a cold wet week.


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53072540
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53072571
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53055980
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53072401


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53063199
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53066940

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53068705



Sunday, February 24th
Arriving at Boyce Thompson Arboretum's Sunday Bird Walk a bit early, Anne Leight, one of our leaders told us she had seen the LEWIS'S WOODPECKER from her car as she parked in the lot. With a clue as to where to look, we quickly walked back to the parking area. There, we came upon Marceline VandeWater arriving as our second leader, so she also took a look and spotted it on a trunk of wood or pole next to a silver-colored silo in the residential area. So much depends on where we stand! Barbara Blight and I saw it, but Glenda missed it before it flew off.

Beginning promptly at 8:30 a.m., our group numbered perhaps 12 participants but grew as the morning continued. At least one BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD was present -- my first sighting for this year! 

Such birds we saw!  RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET were so abundant I stopped counting them individually. My end count was quite conservative.
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET [photo by Glenda Jones]
Possibly pushed down from snow-covered Flagstaff, Sedona or Payson, we had other birds not always present: WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH and BRIDLED TITMOUSE.


WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH [photo by Glenda Jones]
Spotting four (4) woodpeckers and two (2) sapsuckers made for an interesting morning.
No photos of the GILA, LADDER-BACKED or LEWIS'S WOODPECKER; same for the NORTHERN FLICKER. But we scored pics with the sapsuckers.
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER
RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER  [photo by Glenda Jones]
NORTHERN CARDINALS seemed to be everywhere we looked, some paired, some individually foraging-both male and female.
NORTHERN CARDINAL (female)
Two HARRIS'S HAWKS gathering and carrying sticks for a nest was a really heart-warming find. 
HARRIS'S HAWK
Several AMERICAN ROBIN were also foraging in various spots.
AMERICAN ROBIN
As we walked the whole perimeter of the arboretum, our sightings seemed to get better and better. A CASSIN'S VIREO is always a target bird but not always found.
CASSIN'S VIREO [photo by Glenda]
But the Best Sighting of the day goes to the SORA (rail) spotted in the southwest reeds of Ayer Lake. Even better, Glenda was able to get a photo!
SORA
Listed 44 birds for the morning's walk. Sure felt good to be out scouting around for birds again!


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53096766

Monday, February 25th
Although it was the morning of our neighborhood bird walk that begins much later than I usually bird, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from a neighbor, Ellen Leng, with whom I had birded just once before. She wanted to know if I would be interested in leaving earlier and going to the same spot. Sure!

Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler has much to offer at its layout of recharged water basins with trails running in nice loops around the place. Although we started birding at the fishing pond, we found all sorts of interesting mammals as well. The Black-tailed Jackrabbits were an immediate hit!


BLACK-TAILED JACKRABBIT
A GREEN HERON watched as we walked the fishing pond.


GREEN HERON
COMMON GALLINULE at fishing pond
RED-TAILED HAWK
Other birds out and about in the park and its water-filled basins:
CINNAMON TEAL
RUDDY DUCK decked out in its mating plumage
GREEN-WINGED TEAL
ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD

Poor photo of COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD below with its purple gorget showing well in sunlight.

GREAT EGRET


KILLDEER
We wrapped up in about three hours of walking the trails, having come across our neighborhood group several times when we shared sightings.

Then, we were off to Zanjero Park to see if the Burrowing Owls were out and about. Yes!




BALD EAGLE

An enjoyable morning, for sure! 



Click on checklists at end of each report for specific lists.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53141926

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S53141846


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Birding: February 1 to 15, 2019 in Maricopa, Pinal, Gila & La Paz Counties.

Monday, February 4, 2019
For my first outing in February, I joined my neighborhood group to bird the ponds along the east side of Higley Road just north of Ocotillo Road. 
Seven (7) of us braving the cold weather (low 50s in AZ!) and overcast sky used two spotting scopes to identify all the waterfowl on the front right-side of parking lot pond.  (SE corner with west border of the pond fronting Higley Road). 

In the past, that pond has been more crowded than it was today but still it took awhile to sort through the NORTHERN PINTAIL, AMERICAN WIGEON, MALLARD, GADWALL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, then on to the more easily identified CANADA GOOSE and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Sharing the close-up views through the scope produced a few "oh's and ah's".

A single BUFFLEHEAD was foraging in the canal that runs east/west parallel to our trail farther into these recharge ponds. 
BUFFLEHEAD - canal at Higley & Ocotillo ponds
With varying skill levels among us, we found ourselves challenging one another's identifications and/or sharing this good information with the "newbies".

Although the pond on the North side of the entrance trail was barely covered with water, peeps and KILLDEER favored the sand spits there.

The far back pond was full of water as was the pond on the west side of the north-south canal.  

In 2.5 hours, we identified 33 species altogether, including passerines. Rain held off until we reached our cars!!


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52377375

Saturday, February 9, 2019
More cold (40s) and overcast skies followed me to OAK FLAT, accessible from Highway 60 north of Superior, Arizona. I planned to arrive early to bird, then to join in with others who gathered later in the day to celebrate the goodness of the Earth as protest to planned mining that will decimate the area (link: apache-stronghold.com/).  This plan gave way to the cold in my bones so after a couple hours, I returned home. Didn't even carry my camera as daylight was really dark.

Some expected higher elevation birds were no-shows, but it's always a treat to find water gathered on the plain lowlands close to the paved road that passes Oak Flat toward the mine. Much recent rain had all the ditches flowing with water. The large ponded areas had been discovered by two female RUDDY DUCKs and one RING-NECKED DUCK.

Best song and sighting of the morning went to the CRISSAL THRASHER who perched up out of sight singing its heart out. Quietly I made my way through the manzanita bushes and small rocks to an opening where it perched up on a bare branch still singing for any with ears to hear. It hung around moving from bare branch to bare branch of one tree or another for at least thirty minutes of singing.

Once I left the northwest area and walked back to the crowded campground and on up the dirt road, I found no birds. Returning to the campground, I walked the roads beneath the big cottonwoods and other trees picking up a few WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETs. 

Since I rarely see AMERICAN ROBINs out here in the desert, seeing four of them was the highlight of my morning. 


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52534216


Sunday, February 10, 2919
Leaving Apache Junction at 6:30 a.m., Susan Fishburn, Lyndie Warner and I joined Glenda Jones, driving, to visit some good birding spots on the San Carlos Tribal Land. (Day Use Recreational Permit required--available at last gas station on the left side of Rt. 60 before it turns north toward the White Mountains. At that traffic light, stay forward to Route 70 out to San Carlos land.)

Neither Susan nor Lyndie had visited San Carlos before, so we started at a spot Tommy D. had discovered last spring - Tufa Stone Tank.

With temps in the high 30s, road was hard, not muddy. The dangerous spot Hinde and I had dealt with on the way to the same place last month had been smoothed out and the ride in on the short dirt-road portion was fine. Having found, last month, that walking around the tank was extremely muddy (over the shoes), we birded from the dam.
GREEN-WINGED TEAL  [Photo by Glenda Jones]
NORTHERN SHOVELER  [photo by Glenda Jones]
AMERICAN ROBIN  [photo by Glenda Jones]
GREATER YELLOWLEGS  [photo by Lyndie Warner]
COMMON MERGANSER  [photo by Lyndie Warner]

After an hour finding WESTERN MEADOWLARK, RED-WINGED and BREWER'S BLACKBIRDs, CACTUS WREN and a couple woodpeckers, we headed out from the tank through Peridot to the main San Carlos Lake.

As usual, the waterfowl is about 75 feet below us at the nearest spots and farther beyond my camera range when out in the middle of the lake. I took no photos but Glenda and Lyndie both came up with remarkably good photos, given the cloudy weather.

Surprising me, WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs were flying just a bit overhead and zooming into the coves and back out. Susan called the ID while I was thinking they were Violet-green Swallows. Swallows tend to fly over water hawking insects; swifts are most often spotted high over mountains looking like flocks of specks. But, sure enough, we had a good many Swifts overhead, down below us close to the water and beyond. Yay!  Susan and I had this experience one other time during a Christmas Bird Count...that just goes to show that clear looks at our birds are what count -- not assumptions.
WHITE-THROATED SWIFT   [photo by Glenda Jones]
WHITE-THROATED SWIFT  [photo by Lyndie Warner]
Waterfowl in the coves on the Gila County side of the lake included GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN PINTAIL, COMMON MERGANSER, HORNED, EARED and WESTERN GREBE. 
WESTERN GREBE  [photo by Lyndie Warner]
BALD EAGLE (Juvenile or early 2nd yr based on distribution of white feathers)
[PHOTO by Lyndie Warner]
In the far distance (North, at mouth of lake) were 10 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. Gulls were limited to RING-BILLED (38) that hung out on the Pinal side of the lake across from us.


In the desert scrub around us were familiar birds:
ROCK WREN  [photo by Glenda Jones]

This BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER below is one of my favorite desert birds.



[Photo by Lyndie Warner]
PHAINOPEPLA  [photo by Glenda Jones]
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52554945

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52565426


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52571634



Monday, February 11, 2019
When Hinde Silver mentioned she had never visited Cibola National Wildlife Area out along the Colorado River area, I was ready to line up a one-day visit. Love that place.


Anyway, leaving home at 5:30 a.m. put us at the start of the Auto Loop Tour just minutes before 9:00 a.m. Another chilly cloudy morning showed us how the ducks keep warm!
Only stop allowed on Auto Tour Loop--First Pond on N side of road
Mixed flock of mostly NOPI and AMWI  -- SNOW GEESE in background


Here, below, among AMERICAN WIGEON and MALLARDS, are Two TUNDRA SWAN.

All the CANADA GOOSE were at the Loafing Pond by the time we walked into that area.

Glad to see our target SANDHILL CRANE and SNOW GOOSE still present in good numbers, we immersed ourselves in their lives. Whether in cornfields or alfalfa or just plain grass available to them on the wildlife refuges, the SANDHILL CRANE were scattered all through the area, many too distant for photos but in great congregations.




Thanks to a NORTHERN HARRIER looking for breakfast, its swooping low over the pond gave rise to quite the noise as birds lifted in the air!  


SNOW GOOSE below:







Driving the loop, we also saw huge flocks of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs and some YELLOW-HEADEDs, too.



Visitor Center post for this week's numbers of birds still present out there:


A thrilling day for both of us; I'm glad Hinde was able to do the run in a single 11-hour day!


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52600198

Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Yet another chilly start to the day under clouds, I led a group of 26 participants on what started out as a very quiet bird walk. With no helpers today, I had encouraged each of them to just call out when they either heard or saw a bird. And, they did! We enjoyed a wonderful morning together when we were able to find many desert birds for them that they may never see again. (snowbirds from B.C., Connecticut, New Hampshire, Minnesota,&  Midwest) 
Because I was leading, I took no photos, but the participants were able to snag good pics of VERDIN, BLACK-THROATED SPARROW, BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, and BENDIRE'S THRASHER.  Woodpeckers were always in the distance and some other species were seen and gone. Good group; good time.


View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52656281


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