Saturday, July 18, 2020.
Coon Bluff Recreation Area along the western section of Bush Highway.
Due to Arizona’s governor restoring Stay-at-Home orders because of alarmingly high cases of Covid-19 after many restrictions had been released without proper protocols, almost three weeks had passed before I now ventured out again to do some solo birding. Almost in my backyard, the Lower Salt River offers some really good semi-developed birding areas. This morning, darkness was still hovering when I arrived at 5:18 am.
Two cars in the parking lot indicated possible fishermen already out at the river. Too early for kayakers and paddle boarders, I took advantage of the quiet dawn sky and lush mesquite forest to track down the birds I was hearing.
Below the massive red-rock formation towering behind and above me, I birded the trees on the river banks and its islands, and in the shallows of the river itself. The reddish rock appears to be sandstone…permeable enough to provide a footing for wrens and warblers searching its crevices for bugs like a woodpecker does on a tree. I’m standing too close, right beneath this uplift to be able to spot any eagles or osprey that might be perched along its higher edges or even on the top of the rock. When I walk farther east, I’ll look back to check that out.
With insects thick above the high-flowing river, LESSER NIGHTHAWK are circling and snapping. My C-V mask keeps those teeny insects from my nose and mouth. I wear it more for filtering the air around me than for its Covid purpose on an outing like this where I rarely see other people and, then, not very close by.
Taking my time, I walk east 2.4 miles from the parking lot on a horse trail lined with willows, cottonwood and mesquite trees and manage to identify 33 bird species in a little over three hours. Some of that time, I must admit I was interacting with the wild horses with which I was sharing space.
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| ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER |
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| Not the greatest photo, but this was a First for me: a juvenile BRONZED COWBIRD |
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| Wild Horse on far (north) shore of the Salt River |
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| VERMILLION FLYCATCHER (male) [Saw 5 males and 1 female] |
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| BLACK VULTURE With skin, no feathers on its head, and long bare legs, this bird is able to scavenge deeply into smelly carcasses without getting its feathers terribly involved. Although a young Turkey Vulture also has a gray head, while this bird was preening, I spotted its silvery patch on its wing tips. A bit smaller than the Turkey Vulture, the Black Vulture has a shorter tail and doesn't ride the thermals with the ease of the TUVU. It needs to flap its wings more often. |
While it had been a cool 76°F when I started birding, the temperature inched upward to 93° by the time I returned to the parking lot. Hydration is always important out there as this colt reminded its Mama.
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S71600920
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Tuesday, July 21, 2020
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| This sunrise under dark clouds just reminds me that days are already getting shorter and I no longer need to arrive by 5:00 a.m. |
Granite Reef Recreation Area is the first picnic area accessed if traveling North on Power Road. As Power Road drops down and curves into a hard right onto Bush Highway, Granite Reef is but a couple car lengths on Bush High before a left-hand turn leads into its parking lot. [It is also, then, the final recreation area along the Lower Salt if coming from the east.] Granite Reef Dam is located at this site and provides wide flat river water and nice messy mudflats for a few shorebirds on the south side of the river where I stand, and tall thick reeds on the north side.
Up on the berm, a female BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD had me stumped for a while.
The best birds for photos were down on the mud flats near the dam. There's a SONG SPARROW that lives there and it sat up and sang.
Many birds were out on the wide flat water - mostly MALLARD, but also COMMON GALLINULE. Had never before seen five (5) BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON there - all perched on one low bare-limbed bush. (lousy photo but good enough to ID; too hot to carry the spotting scope)
To count nine (9) COMMON YELLOWTHROAT at one location was a first for me. There were more in the reeds than I counted; I could hear but not see each of them. Down at the mud flats, several males were singing while females chased each other about. One masked male perched as if it knew I had my camera.
Getting even that distant photo was the highlight of a very good birding day where photos were almost impossible from that point forward. After returning to and walking through the picnic area to the east, I walked along the river as long as the narrow path lasted, then scrambled up to Bush Highway and walked inside the guard rail out to the large dirt parking lot for hikers and fishermen.
By the time I returned to the car, 2.5 hours had elapsed; I had stayed hydrated and was feeling very refreshed from walking along the Salt River and back.
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S71694851
My blog format is going to change. I'm not sure what that means as to whether it will be the beginning of a whole new blog or a continuation of this one. Sigh......
