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.
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| BUFFLEHEAD - canal at Higley & Ocotillo ponds |
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.
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| GREEN-WINGED TEAL [Photo by Glenda Jones] |
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| NORTHERN SHOVELER [photo by Glenda Jones] |
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| AMERICAN ROBIN [photo by Glenda Jones] |
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| GREATER YELLOWLEGS [photo by Lyndie Warner] |
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| 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.
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| WHITE-THROATED SWIFT [photo by Glenda Jones] |
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| WHITE-THROATED SWIFT [photo by Lyndie Warner] |
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| WESTERN GREBE [photo by Lyndie Warner] |
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| BALD EAGLE (Juvenile or early 2nd yr based on distribution of white feathers) [PHOTO by Lyndie Warner] |
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| ROCK WREN [photo by Glenda Jones]
This BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER below is one of my favorite desert birds.
 [Photo by Lyndie Warner]
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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!
Driving the loop, we also saw huge flocks of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs and some YELLOW-HEADEDs, too.
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| 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!
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/S52600198
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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