Birding in Chandler, Maricopa County, Arizona

 Saturday, 3/19/22

    Rare that I head out to a popular site for birding on a weekend, I agreed to meet Lois Lorenz at Veterans Oasis Park (VOP) at 7:00 a.m. 

    Starting at the pond closest to the parking lot, I could see most waterfowl were along the shoreline directly across from me. (8 species)

    Among those were more COMMON GALLINULE than I'd ever seen at one location - seven! So, I'll share some of the photos below:  (formerly known as Moorhen)

    Among the waders, I was surprised to see the two GREATER YELLOWLEGS that Lois spotted.

        What blew my mind was my "spark bird" looking purple instead of green. Never had I observed a GREEN HERON in breeding plumage. I was grateful that I managed one decent photo out of several while it skitted away from me. Note its normal yellow legs showing bright red.

    Focusing on the songbirds, I caught a pair of CURVE-BILLED THRASHER perched on top of a saguaro.

    The GREAT EGRET, also in breeding plumage, was harder to photograph with all its plumes showing. During breeding time, its bill becomes orange with a dark culmen and its facial skin turns pale green. It grows long plumes that extend past its tail.

    Hummingbirds were out and about on every trail we walked. But our species count was limited to just ANNA'S and BLACK-CHINNED, the latter being my first-of-season (FOS) sighting of one.

    With pleasant weather (50-70°F), we wandered the trails for three hours before wrapping up and heading to our respective homes. 

    To view all 48 species we tallied, click on eBird link below.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S105147571

    Till next time. . . 

Community Birders: Two Visits to Birding Sites in Pinal and Maricopa Counties, AZ

 March 9 and 16, 2022

Our Community Birding Group has continued to come up with some excellent sightings on its past two outings.

1. First, on March 9th, at Boyce Thompson Arboretum which opens at 8:00 a.m., we had viewable visits from three hummingbirds before we even left the plaza area: ANNA’S, COSTA’S and BROAD-BILLED. Nothing like getting our hopes up for a great day (42-62°F) under a clear sunning sky. Moving too fast for my camera, the photos below (from BTA) are from my files.

Anna's Hummingbird, March 2012 (Babs' file photo)

Broad-billed Hummingbird, photo dated May 2020 (Babs' file photo)

Costa's Hummingbird, photo dated February 2014 (Babs' file photo)

Starting out at the Demonstration and Wallace Gardens, heads swiveled this way and that as birds vocalized around us. NORTHERN CARDINAL and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER were easier to spot due to larger size than the smaller songbirds. Photo below was taken in the Wallace Garden.

NORTHERN CARDINAL 

At the front of the group crossing the bridge over Queen Creek,  Judy and I confirmed the sighting of the rarity reported at BTA. Judy confirmed the warbler’s dark bill, its long eyebrow (supercilium) and its white lower eye arc. With the bird slightly above us in the tree, I caught its smooth buffy underparts with white under-tail coverts. It flew deeper into the tree before any of us could get a photo of the female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. With no photo of the female in my files; this was taken from the "commons" online.

Ayer Lake often produces the same birds each time, but not today. Very unusual, we loved getting looks at a SORA, directly across from the ramada where we stood. In the bright sunlight, two birds settled down against the reeds near the Sora appeared to be American Coot (a usual bird there), but in Glenda’s photos, turned out to be CINNAMON TEAL. The usual PIED-BILLED GREBE swam close to us.  Several NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW circled the Lake a couple times diving down for insects on the surface. VIOLET-CROWNED SWALLOW was my first-of-season (FOS) sighting. I thought the chatter of a MARSH WREN would round out our unusual sightings. Then someone spied a GREAT BLUE HERON up on the rocks high above Ayer Lake.

Pied-billed Grebe

        Hinde took this photo below of our birding group. She was standing in the dry creek bed ( Queen Creek). The BLACK-THROATED BLUE (female) was to the right.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S104503295

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2.  The following week, our Community Birders headed farther northeast to BUSHNELL TANK TRAILHEAD.  

    We no sooner stepped out on the trail than we were seeing Sparrows flying from one bush to another. I think it was Glenda who found a real treasure among them: GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE.

    

        Another good find down among the Cottonwoods beside Sycamore Creek was a singing LUCY'S WARBLER.

Lucy's Warbler; Babs' file photo 2020

    The only other photo I managed that day was of the COMMON RAVEN which eventually perched atop a big pile of stones.[Below]

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S104940605

    Not birdy enough to hold us there longer (without a long time commitment), we stopped at SUNFLOWER on our way down the highway.

    With events going on at our RV Park that morning and afternoon, it was our intent to stop at Sunflower only briefly. Staying a bit longer than intended, we managed to see birds that were not specific to that location but ones quite familiar to us.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S104944907 

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Birding Southeast Arizona along the I-19 Corridor and Sierra Vista

 Saturday-Sunday, March 12 & 13, 2022

DAY ONE:  I-19 CORRIDOR    

    Although I had managed to visit I-19 birding spots during the Covid pandemic, two years have passed since I visited Sierra Vista. Many bird-friendly habitat changes have been installed in both areas.

    Glenda Jones wanted to visit this area before returning home to Canada in just a few weeks. While I may not have headed out quite this early in the season, it turned out to be a wonderful trip. Visiting six (6) sites on Saturday along I-19 South and another six (6) on Sunday in Sierra Vista gave us both a satisfying birding "fix." 

    Winds were calm; sky was clear; temperatures varied with elevation and time of day for which we had come prepared.

    From Montosa Canyon, Amado Water Treatment Plant, and dropping into the Hawk Watch at Ron Morris Park in Tubac, we were jazzed with the variety of birds observed. Best ones: NORTHERN BEARDLESS TYRANNULET and singing CANYON WREN at Montosa Canyon; six (6) LESSER SCAUP at Amado pond; leaving us with PLUMBEOUS VIREO as our best at the Hawk Watch. We did not stay long there. Hawk watching needs hours of time to enjoy the migrating birds who fly over.  Canyon Wren, Montosa

    Canoa Ranch Conservation Park farther North along I-19 provided us with some spectacular waterfowl and a headache of sparrow species.

The birding site at Historic Canoa Ranch is known as "Canoa Ranch Conservation Park."

Look for this entrance gate. Spacious parking and porta-potty.

      A REDHEAD is always a treat!  While two COMMON MERGANSER swam the pond, it was the juvenile HOODED MERGANSER that caught my attention (thanks to Glenda). Note the spikey "doo' and dark eye in Photo #2 below. The SPOTTED SANDPIPER appeared ready to pop out into its breeding season spots, but lacks them in winter plumage, Photo #3 below.    

    A female AMERICAN KESTREL perched high looking over its choices.

And, then, there were sparrows, sparrows, and more sparrows! RUFOUS-WINGED, BREWER'S, LARK, WHITE-CROWNED, and VESPER.

VESPER SPARROW

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

           Mid-afternoon by the time we arrived at Madera Canyon, we birded Proctor Road Loop with just seven species. Made special with one HUTTON'S VIREO and two COMMON GROUND-DOVE calling back and forth, we were delighted for having included the walk. Hopefully, Glenda can upload the recording she took of the rising inflection of the dove's coo-oo coo-oo sounds.

        At Santa Rita Lodge, the highest count of one species, LESSER GOLDFINCH (50), followed by WILD TURKEY (16) was entertaining. Sometimes 12 or more goldfinch were on one feeder but I prefer photos of them on the trees when possible, below.

    As if there wasn't sufficient seed on the ground, this turkey managed to get its bill into the bird feeder.

    Just two species of hummingbird were present: RIVIOLI'S and BROAD-BILLED.

For me, the best bird that appeared at the feeding station was the male HEPATIC TANAGER.

     Wrapping up our day with an overnight stay at a casita at the Lodge, we did drive up to the top of the paved road to listen for Whip-poor-will and Owls. Being the only car there was a new experience. After a fair amount of quiet time had elapsed, I started looking at the range maps of the few birds I expected to hear.  Ooops. Too early in the season for most!!  No wonder we were the lone car! Birding is an ever-expanding education.

DAY TWO: RAMSEY CANYON, BATTISTE'S BIRD GARDEN, ASH CANYON BIRD SANCTUARY, SAN PEDRO RNCA HOUSE AREA, and ST. DAVID HOLY TRINITY MONASTERY. (not. including birds submitted for East Box Canyon Road over to Route 82)

                                        We were thrilled to see a lone PRONGHORN (Antelope) out in the grasses as we drove to Sierra Vista.

    Spending two hours at Ramsey Canyon provided good exercise. Coues White-tailed Deer were grazing not far from the upward loop trail.

    Several old cabins/buildings still stand in the forest.                                            

    Although ACORN WOODPECKER, NORTHERN FLICKER, BRIDLED TITMOUSE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH and PAINTED REDSTART greeted us on the trail, I got photos only of the VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD at the feeders.

Glenda at hummingbird feeders

    Next stop was Battiste's Bird Garden where we met Nancy from Tucson who was already seated and watching GAMBEL'S QUAIL, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs and ACORN WOODPECKERs moving about.

    Best sighting (w.o.photo) for me was the BEWICK'S WREN (mexicanus group) and the PYRRHULOXIA, below.

female

male

    Having never made it to Sierra Vista during the Covid pandemic restrictions, I was bowled over by the improvements at Ash Canyon Bird Sanctuary. My last visit had been just prior to Mary Jo's going to the hospital for an operation. She never returned. I was not privy to her private life and know only that she passed away there free from the pain she was enduring. The property was subsequently purchased by bird organizations of which I'm not entirely aware. I understand that Tucson Audubon is doing much sweat equity work.

    But the front yard has been expanded to include a water feature and more space away from the hummingbird feeders. The building that served as Mary Jo's B&B has been converted to Restrooms and Storage. Plus, a nifty blind was built in the rear of that building. It was from there that Glenda spotted and photographed the SCOTT'S ORIOLE.  

    I was happy with the bright feathered CHIPPING SPARROWs scratching in the dirt of the backyard and a LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER working its way up a tree

  

    Spending about 45 minutes at the San Pedro House grounds, there were many birds at the feeders. WHITE-WINGED DOVE are already there for the summer (not yet in AJ), and PYRRHULOXIA gave us some decent views.

    With Glenda driving, I guided us home by way of US 90 to US 80 through Tombstone to St. David. There, we birded the Nature Trail and Pond. Waterfowl was abundant compared to previous visits.

    Several pairs of AMERICAN WIGEON; MALLARD; MEXICAN DUCK; a pair of REDHEAD;     and a single RING-NECKED DUCK (in view) have made themselves at home there.

    For me, the attraction was the pair of VERMILLION FLYCATCHER.

    Birding at that leisurely but constant pace is quite invigorating. Simply spending time in the natural world for two days was soul-satisfying.

This photo of me was taken by Glenda at the pond at the Monastery in St. David, AZ

    Altogether, we visited twelve (12) birding sites and tallied 105 different species of bird. I'm chalking it up to the best birding adventure I've had since pre-Covid.

    Till I get out and about again AND have time to blog, maybe I'll see you in the field.

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