Babs' Birding Experiences : Two local spots: 6/10 & 6/12/2020. Maricopa County, AZ

Wednesday June 10 & Friday, June 12, 2020
At Goldfield Recreation Area along the Lower Salt River on 6/10/20, temperatures were cold enough at 4:56 a.m. to stiffen my fingers for writing legible field notations of our sightings. Unusual during these hot summer days.
(iPhone is temporarily broken and awaiting appointment with Apple to transfer, if possible, former data from kaput phone to a new one. Already missing the ease of listing with eBird online by smart phone.)

Habitat of the two places I birded exhibit a strong contrast. At Goldfield, with Hinde Silver, we spotted two BALD EAGLE from the parking lot. They were perched quite a bit north of the river beyond my camera range, but we got good binocular views.

Walking down the concrete path (west side of pkg lot), we reached the river rock "beach" but found no waterfowl; no herons, no egrets.

ABERT'S TOWHEE were numerous everywhere among the shrubs growing up on the rocky beach. They continued to be constant when we went up hill to the deep sandy trail leading eastward. Habitat is a mix of mesquite, willow and cottonwoods with ground cover of tiny flowering plants: blue, purple, white.

The only heron we did spot was a GREAT BLUE perched on the north shore in the distance.

GREAT BLUE HERON - juvenile based on dark head, bi-colored bill.

Birds were actively singing and flying about. Walking into the rising sun made for difficult photography so pictures are slim; I just didn't take many.

A NORTHERN CARDINAL was singing away.

ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHERs with their flashy rufous colors were active throughout to the point we weren't sure if they were the same birds or more. Our count of four sightings may be a conservative count.

Front view ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER with pale yellow bellY

Profile view: ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER

When we reached the sandstone bluffs and pillars, the air was full of swallows, mostly adults flying to and from their nests in the bluff with food for young. Not just three or four swallows; it looked like close to 100 in the air above us. CLIFF and NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWs made up the majority with a couple VIOLET-GREEN also seen, but could not verify their nesting in the cliff. Just joined the party, I think,

Close to the shore of the river on our side of the bluff, several RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs were displaying in hopes of attracting a female.

While on the ground, the red on the wings is obviously in full color and thick.
The red is trimmed with a thin yellow band.

When displaying for a female, the blackbird hunches its back, bringing the wings forward to
let the sunlight catch the brilliance of its red epaulets. (Above & below)

Today at The Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, the seven RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs I spotted were flying from place to place and not displaying.

Here, the hard wide dirt trails are packed and easily walked. With shrubs, bushes and trees on both sides of the trails, it is easy to spend 4-5 hours here to cover everything. I didn't do that today.

SONG SPARROWs were singing out in the open along most trails.

HOUSE SPARROW were abundant, also. The only photo I took was of a young under a ramada on a picnic table. It had been shaking its wings and calling, but the best pic was when it calmed down to see what would happen after its tantrum.