Beautiful Day of Birding along the Lower Salt River, Maricopa County, AZ

Monday, March 9, 2019

What a wonderful day we had out at Goldfield Recreation Area long the Salt River in Maricopa County!  Weather and birds seemed perfect!

With Jan R., Mare Y., Glenda J. and myself from my community, we spotted 34 species with multiple birds within most species in a bit over three (3) hours. PHAINOPEPLA was most definitely the most prevalent bird from start to finish of our walk.

Many female PHAINOPEPLA

 Even More Male PHAINOPEPLA

Walking on river rock is difficult so we quickly found our way up to the flat more meadow-like  bluff a bit higher than the Salt River. Tiny yellow and blue flowers on the desert floor provided a very spring-like appearance to the area. Along with palo verde, mesquite, willow and cottonwood trees were yucca, prickly pear, chain-fruit and teddy-bear cholla cactus.

Mexican or California Poppy

Two COMMON MERGANSER, flew by twice (east, then west) without dropping down to the water within our view.

While waterfowl on the high-flowing river was scarce, we were thrilled to see a small group of female and first-year HOODED MERGANSER foraging together below us on the opposite side of the river. 

HOODED MERGANSER (female and young--note bill color)

ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER was calling actively before we got beyond the parking lot and continued to be present as we put some distance behind us.

For such a desert habitat, it was delightful seeing six (6) NORTHERN CARDINAL, mostly male.

Striking me as unusual, the ABERT'S TOWHEE were up in the mesquite instead of foraging on the lush grasses. Must be showing off for mating times.

ABERT'S TOWHEE

Not my favorite bird by a long shot, this BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, below, looked dazzling in the sunlight.

Parasitic Bird - BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD

One bad habit of the BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD is to lay its eggs in another bird's nest, allowing that bird to raise its young. 

Once, I saw one of my favorite little desert birds, a BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER (below) feeding a big BHCO. Tied my stomach up in knots....

Mare was birding actively for the first time, although she feeds birds and enjoys nature. We told her not to expect every outing to provide the number of BALD EAGLE present today.

The first one we saw was a probably two-year old, still mostly black with some striations of white on the wings and under parts but still very large and dark.

Photo by Glenda Jones

With Nest Watchers present, we were able to see a mature BALD EAGLE on its nest where apparently little wings stretched out. Watchers reported seeing two young doing that occasionally. The most active adult BALD EAGLE was the one hunting for food to carry back to the nest...the one we photographed in several different locations.

Having walked to the sandstone cliffs on the north side of the Salt, we saw a conservative count of twenty (20) CLIFF SWALLOWS.  

HOUSE FINCH (19) were active throughout the desert as were VERDIN (10), our smallest songbird with gray body sporting a yellow head and tiny pointy beak.

VERDIN  [Photo by Glenda Jones]

We returned to the parking lot by way of horse trails away from the river. We couldn't have asked for a much better day!!

Be sure to check out our list with photos at the link below.

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View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S65617733