Local Birding with Jannie Blok, Superior, Pinal County, AZ

November 19, 2020 

Was it the Arboretum's new opening hour of 8:00 a.m. (Nov.-April) that made my prediction moot? I had promised Jannie lots of good songbirds in the Chinese Pistachio trees throughout the Gardens, but particularly in the picnic area. Guess again! Had the birds feasted since dawn and now they're full????  There was not a single bird in that first tree, nor did we find any in subsequent such trees!  Win some; Lose some!

Not yet knowing it, we would have a winning day!  Turning away from the picnic area, we turned back to the trails taking us east up toward Ayer Lake. Bird-wise it was very quiet. Knowing lots of little nooks and crannies, we checked out many such places and picked up a bird or two here and there until our list started growing.

When I heard an unfamiliar "pip" sound, I wondered aloud about the identity of the bird. But when I saw a Phainopepla, I surmised I had heard a part of its soft "Pew" call. More likely, it was the next bird we would see - the GREATER PEWEE, normally a high-elevation bird.

Eventually, we stuck to the main dirt trail leading up to Ayer Lake, I saw a flycatcher perch up on a single snag. It was distant and I couldn't identify it for certain, so I started snapping photos on different settings. That's one thing I really like about flycatchers; they sally out to catch an insect and return to the same perch. When they find another morsel, out they go again. Out and back - frequently to the very same perch as this one did.  Having not birded regularly for months, I was pondering the possibilities but did not ponder the unlikely species. We saw it at two different locations, not far removed from each other. 

GREATER PEWEE (above and below)

Usually, the GREATER PEWEE is seen up on Pinal Mountain ore down in Tucson on Mt. Lemmon.  I was certain I had never seen one at Boyce Thompson Arboretum before. So, I began to explore eBird's species lists. If you plug in a name of a bird and where you've seen it, the species list in eBird comes up with a chart extending out from that species with a column for each month. The month's you might see a bird at this location is marked with a green block - the thinner the green block, the fewer have been reported. There was NO green block for Boyce Thompson--just a gray block that indicated insufficient data. So, I contacted Doug Jenness who keeps the bird records for Pinal County and asked for his input. See below:

This is an accidental species in Pinal County. The Boyce Thompson bird is only the third known record of Greater Pewee in the county.. The first was 17 May 1980 in Aravaipa Canyon. The second report was earlier this year--21 April-- at Oracle State Park. The first sighting at Boyce Thompson was November 1st and several other birders have reported it since.

What a find! Glad it perched up for me as I didn't know it had been observed there (eBird had been down for two days of upgrading prior to today).  I usually take a glance at a few recent lists to see what I might expect. 

The other bird that had us scratching our heads - NORTHERN CARDINAL.  So very, very many of them. When I tried to list 21 on my eBird report, it indicated the count was high for this time of year.  Rather than defend my number, I just reduced the number to an accepted level and went on. But to have seven NORTHERN CARDINAL (male and female) on each side of us in an opening between the herb garden and Queen Creek was simply amazing. There were multiples at each location we found them -- including the picnic area. For those of you who say you never see Cardinals in the desert - go east!  It's still desert but so much more. 

This male was sipping water from a hose connection.

Two female NORTHERN CARDINAL below:

Another male NORTHERN CARDINAL

I can't finish up without posting the bird I'm always looking for out at the Arboretum. In its natural habitat, I missed seeing it the past few times I birded there.

ROCK WREN is proportionately balanced bird that calls attention to itself, curtsies a couple times, then flits over some rocks out of sight. Just when you think, it's "gone" - out it pops at another very nearby spot. I've seen it in dirt parking lots foraging on insects from parked cars! It moves fast but also gives just enough pause for a photo.

It might be another week or two before I go out again. So good birding to you if you're out and about.

Click on the link below for eBird report:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S76410016