Third Successive Visit to Santa Cruz Flats, Pinal County, AZ

 Saturday, January 23, 2021

    With Hinde Silver joining me early this morning, we set out on my third successive Saturday to test an economical driving route through the Flats from a new North entrance. There are limits on birding and the public in general when driving Santa Cruz Flats.  Today, sticking to paved and named roads on the online overview map, gave us a feeling of “private birding” on public land. (Much of it leased for farming activities with ag roads being off-limits). The 300 square miles of former grasslands, now desert scrub and watered agricultural land, is definitely a place to visit during the pandemic: more birds than people!

    There are two main routes for entering the Flats from the North: Picacho Highway or the one I prefer, Barrett.  If you live far enough east that Ironwood Road works as a shortcut for going south to I-10, this new route skips I-10. After going through Coolidge on Route 87, just pass over the I-10 entrance and stay on the road marked to Picacho. This road will curve around a bit and end at a stop sign at an unmarked road (Phillips on the Santa Cruz Flats map). By turning left at the stop sign, I found Barrett on the right within 50 yards, to be the perfect place to enter the Flats to begin birding. It’s a wide dirt road with cultivated pecan trees on the left and scrub desert on the right. We were birding within an hour of leaving home without any zoom zoom traffic.

    Although the sun had not yet hit the area many sparrows, Abert’s Towhee, and a few Western Meadowlark were moving around hidden in the “scrub” side of Barrett. Two RED-TAILED HAWK, perched in the pecan trees and as the sun rose more and more birds headed for that area. Photos below:  RED-TAILED HAWK and LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE.

    Since the Flats are laid out in a grid, you can’t really get lost (Picacho Peak is a good landmark for the east side). The problem becomes when the roads don’t connect; thus my several trips to get a good route going from the North entrance. With a few more adventures today, I’ve re-marked my map and am ready to say I have a handle, more or less, on the east side (north and south) over to Curry Road, as far west as we traveled. I had been tempted to go farther but it was there that we came upon two birders from Tucson with their scope set up at the edge of Pretzer Road.

  

  I asked if they were looking at MOUNTAIN PLOVER. They thought so! Using their scope, I confirmed their sighting but didn’t swing the scope back and forth to see the total flock number. I counted twelve in that one view. They (our only humans of the day) were our source for sending us immediately back east. We hadn’t yet gone south there, but upon hearing a great number of CRESTED CARACARA were in a field being plowed by a farmer, we high-tailed it over there to see if the farmer was still at work.  The fields were reasonably close to Baumgartner/Wheeler to use that eBird Hot Spot for our sighting of 41 CRESTED CARACARA at their Saturday morning buffet. 

With each of us carrying a point-and-shoot Canon SX70, the birds were at a distance that would cut down on the sharpness of our photos, as did the overcast sky. Photos below. 

Just by driving the roads throughout the eastern side of the Flats, we accumulated a total of 40 species for the day. There were two more Red-tailed Hawk that I photographed (they come in many varieties of subspecies).

While COMMON RAVEN can easily number in the hundreds there, today we spotted only 22. Thus, was tempted to take a photo!

Missed a photo of the GREATER ROADRUNNER when it scooted across the dirt road in front of the car, but did stop for one of my favs perched on a barbed wire fence:

VERMILION FLYCATCHER.

WESTERN MEADOWLARK, strangely, were perched in a tree along that same road. 

But, my "Bird of the Day" was the one below: a MERLIN -- a small falcon I rarely see. It's larger than an American Kestrel but smaller than a Cooper's hawk. We saw this "Prairie" subspecies female that lacks male's blue wings and back. Her feathers are an all-over brown color; she was looking very calm and relaxed. When she finds prey, it's quick...out on the wing and Bingo! Gotcha!  No hovering as with the American Kestrel. We had seen one earlier overhead doing just that and may have picked up a Horned Lark we'd already counted.  

Wrapping up our all-around excellent day of birding by driving North on Picacho Highway, we returned on the appropriate roads (turning left when reaching the dead end at I-10), to return home over the I-10, back through Coolidge on a reverse course from earlier in the day.

I'm thinking there may be one more trip to Santa Cruz Flats to visit the west side from the north entrance unless they get rained out during the week.  One trip through the mud was enough!

 

Till then, 

See eBird links below:

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79750105

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79752611

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79756062

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79761725

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79764406

Exploring More of Santa Cruz Flats, Pinal County, AZ

Saturday, January 16, 2021 

One type irrigation system

        When I re-draw a map handed to me, I know it a lot better than just looking at a map.  So, I was confident for my first solo trip to the Santa Cruz Flats. This, after being quite disoriented the previous week because we had entered at the lower east end instead of the west, plus having not been there for two full years.

Today, I entered the Flats from the north, directly on Barrett off of 87.  Barrett runs north/south within the Flats and this area was familiar to me from trips led by hawk-birder, Claudia.  First bird I saw in the cultivated pecan trees was a beautiful RED-TAILED!  I would see fifteen total (from time to time) before I was finished birding. The area along Barrett was filled with many birds from WESTERN MEADOWLARK to WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.

The main value of going alone was to explore roads without names to discover if they went where I thought they would.  Nope.  Came upon two different roads eventually blocked with barbed-wire fenced gates.

It's not always possible to photograph birds I find in my spotting scope but suffice it to say, that the chorus of bird sounds on a day like this can be fun with AMERICAN PIPITs (pipping), HORNED LARKS (tinkling sounds) and AMERICAN WIGEON (whistling). YES! AMERICAN WIGEON in the desert!  

Another style irrigation system

When fields are irrigated, do the ducks see the water from high above and drop down? 

Overhead utility wires and poles give many birds a good perch for searching prey.

Red-tailed Hawk (above)

American Kestrel (male) 

Loggerhead Shrike

Vermillion Flycatcher

At a dairy farm slop pond, among the many blackbirds and Rock Pigeons hanging around, stood a lone GREAT EGRET.  I didn't question the ID of the bird, but its bill is usually yellow so I don't know why, in this photo, it's orange with a dark tip. 

Another Red-tailed Hawk

Fortunately, before I departed Santa Cruz Flats, I spotted five (5) CRESTED CARACARA near where a few were located last week.

Having updated my map for future trips, Hinde and I just planned next week’s adventure -- a return trip to Santa Cruz Flats. 

Pleasantly, I did come across a roommate from a Sage Grouse-Prairie Chicken birding trip to Colorado a couple years back.  Jeanne Siesener who, with a friend, was conducting a hawk count in a specified area of the Flats, is a winter visitor from the Olympic Peninsula and stays  in the Tucson area.

As usual, check the links below to see the entire bird list, that tallied 34 species.

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View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79324575

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79327169

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79333977

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79340298

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S79344912

Santa Cruz Flats, Pinal County, Arizona

 Saturday, January 9, 2021

The “Flats” hold a mystique for me that draws me to its 300 square miles of “flat land” that incorporates four cities: Arizona City, Eloy, Red Rock and Picacho. How, then, could two full years have elapsed since my last visit (Glenda’s car) through deep mud on its dirt roads and a bit of rain? Maybe that was it!  Plus my choice to bird closer to home since the original “Stay at Home” orders during the original outbreak of Covid 19 in March 2020 (and subsequent worse outbreaks). That lapse of time turned into a strong desire to get back out there. Having nothing to do with my decision was a reported sighting of 75 Crested Caracara two days ago by Doug Jenness!!

With Hinde Silver, an up and coming birder with me (masked and socially distanced as she sat in the back seat), we departed Apache Junction at 7 a.m. and returned at 4 p.m.  Our plan was to change out my known access route learned from leaders of group birders gathered from across the Phoenix area. We live in the East Valley, so we have relatively easy access using the “back way” which by-passes I-10 (or uses it for limited miles). What a welcome change! Driving time: 80 minutes.

        No mud or rain today - it was all SUN and DUST!

Ah, the fragrance of Red Rock Feed Lot!  Birds galore!! Although a Ruddy Ground Dove had been reported there over the past several months, I haven’t the patience to sort through hundreds of MOURNING DOVES to search for it. I’ve seen it several times previously ; I’m no longer a list-dominant birder; I’ll enjoy the obvious species. The following were there in great numbers, plus others in fewer number.

BREWER’S BLACKBIRD - 390; ROCK PIGEON - 150; YELLOW-HEAED BLACKBIRD - 410; EUROPEAN STARLING - 425; and MOURNING DOVE - 906!

    Beyond the feedlot, Sasco Road took us to the Santa Cruz River (hence the name of the Flats) that was deeper than I cared to cross--at least 3/4 the way up the tires of other cars crossing it.  Parked, we birded outside the car for a while, seeing the only GREAT EGRET of the day plus the first of many raptor's: two COOPER'S and two RED-TAILED HAWK.

    Within a five-mile radius of our next birding Hot Spot, 

Photo by Hinde Silver

I spotted two of our "target" bird perched in high trees!  We exited the car to get closer to the CRESTED CARACARA.

Above: as seen from the car  

Uncommon (but not rare) in Arizona, the CRESTED CARACARA is widespread in Mexico, Central and South America but spends some wintertime in the border states of Texas and Arizona. Both a hunter and scavenger, it will feed on roadkill but also runs on the ground of agricultural and cattle fields to secure a fresh meal. (Also seen ocassionally in the West Valley Phoenix agricultural fields.)

    Other sightings at this location included many GILA WOODPECKER, COMMON RAVEN, a variety of Sparrows (WHITE-CROWNED, VESPER & SAVANNAH) and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDs.  

    AMERICAN KESTREL favored this area of developed barn, deserted house with grass yard, pecan tree fields, and old tall trees. Female and then Male AMERICAN KESTREL below:

    Continuing to drive to known locations, we saw many RED-TAILED HAWK, including a HARLAN'S subspecies that is very different in appearance.

Above:    Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk (bad lighting but very black with some light feathering)

Also at this location, we spotted a pair of VERMILLION FLYCATCHER but got a photo of only the male, below:

    Although we drove the distance to the SW side of the Flats to look for large gatherings of CRESTED CARACARA in the Sunland Gin/Pearce area, we saw but one that was flying overhead toward the east. Believe me, we were delighted with the ones we had seen early on as it's rare to catch them perched close enough for relatively good photos.

    Why I stopped counting WESTERN MEADOWLARK, I'm not sure; I was driving and keeping the list and I think I just started to make a mental note of "many" that flew up from roadsides into fields as we went past.

    At Hot Spot, Evergreen Turf Sod Farm, we saw no Mountain Plover but a number of WESTERN MEADOWLARK and HORNED LARK with a variety of sparrow.  KILLDEER and SAY'S PHOEBE enjoyed the brown/green grass, especially where it was getting watered by the sprinkler system.

Photo above by Hinde Silver    

                                                         WESTERN MEADOWLARK

Many of our sightings were on overhead utility wires giving us some good overall counts of several species:

RED-TAILED HAWK = 21;  COMMON RAVEN = 113 (low count); SAVANNAH SPARROW = 62.

Ten (10) LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE seemed like a good overall number as I've been seeing fewer and fewer of this raptor-behaving bird.

Of all the bird sighted, there are two that always catch me at the emotional level. One was the male NORTHERN HARRIER - known as the Gray Ghost:

                                                                                    from my files

and the PRAIRIE FALCON below:  (photo by Glenda Jones from my files)

   With a count of 39 species 2,831 individual birds, we headed home as happy day-campers.

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View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78926990

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78928522

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78972792

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78937314

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78941665

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78971810

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78955043

 

First Bird Outing in 2021, Pinal County, AZ

 Monday, January 4, 2021

    With morning temps still hanging into the high 30sF, I took my time getting out the door for a bit of local birding.  At a bit after 9 a.m., it was a cool, comfortable 45° under full morning sun and clear blue sky when I started clicking off birds that were out and about at our city park, Prospector, on North Idaho Road. Two men's softball games were apparently very competitive on the ball diamonds prior to the open playing fields (soccer) where I usually walk.  

    My first sighting was a female VERMILLION FLYCATCHER (moved too fast for photo) and the male didn't show up in that area while I was present.  Two  BENDIRE'S THRASHER were at the north end where I start out from the parking lot, and I did manage a decent pic of it.

The CURVE-BILLED THRASHER hid out until much later but was very obvious when it sang on and on from the top of a saguaro.

As usual, GAMBEL'S QUAIL were abundant but not always easy to photograph. I caught three of them (2 males; 1 juvie) running from the desert toward the park near the tennis courts.

In that same area, a small flock of BREWER'S SPARROWS were coming out from under a large bush to scratch some stones to find a "goody" to eat. Third photo below appears to indicate a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW.

Although I attempted to photograph the PHAINOPEPLA with the half-moon still in the sky, the bird was fuzzy but the moon looked great.

Male PHAINOPEPLA

Small birds can be discerned fairly well in mesquite tree where the leaves are needles but when they fly into one of the many olive or ironwood trees in the park, the can hide easily behind dense leaves. One small bird flew out from an olive tree to huddle beneath a ramada. I thought at first it might be a juvenile NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, but the eBird reviewer confirmed it as another BENDIRE'S THRASHER.  

While CACTUS WREN are plentiful in the community where I live, it's a bit of a surprise to find them absent from many of the local birding hot spots. So, it was good to finally find one this morning. In the first photo, you can see a nest below the bird but I'm not certain it is its own nest. The second photo shows it carrying nesting material but it would not go to a nest while I was present.

For the 80 minutes I walked the perimeter of the most eastern area within the park, I had enjoyed all the birds I had viewed. As I capped the lens on my camera approaching the parking lot, I stopped quickly!  Quietly, I detached the lens cover and started shooting. The female's instinct was to fly for cover in an ironwood; the male continued to forage on the ground,

   Western Bluebird (male)

Just that short amount of time outside, still wearing a mask but never coming in close contact with another human, quickly puts me into my "centeredness".

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View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S78658213