Patagonia Lake State Park Birding Trail, Santa Cruz County, AZ plus other birding

 Sunday, March 19, 2023

    Despite two detours for road repairs on our way south, Glenda Jones and I arrived at the State Park's Birding Trail at 9:30 on Sunday, 3/19/23. Windy conditions were confined to the upper areas of the State Park. Down on the birding trail, the winds were calm. Birding both the High and Lower trails, we managed to come up with fifty species in four, slow deliberate hours.

WILSON'S WARBLER

GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE

male NORTHERN FLICKER - RED SHAFTED (note red shafts on under tail)

CASSIN'S KINGBIRD (first-of-season sighting for each of us)

PINE SISKIN - nomad around the USA in winter

VERMILION FLYCATCHER (male and female) above

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S131316493

PATON'S CENTER FOR HUMMINGBIRDS (Paton's Yard)

    After ambling the State Park and Trail for about four hours, we headed for Paton's House, now owned/managed by state birding organizations. 

    Although we didn't catch sight of all the special birds reported there, we did find the COMMON GROUND DOVE in a woodpile near the wash observed from the backyard. Glenda got a good enough pic for ID.

    With the seating arrangement in the front yard, it's possible to get photos of more common birds that forage there.

male YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLE-Audubon's speciesNORTHERN CARDINAL - male above; female below

And my favorite, the male LAZULI BUNTING gave many good views. (I saw no females)

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S131331351

    The next morning we birded Patagonia Town Park before heading out. The Town Park is the very wide and long median strip between Route 82 and the local street.

male ACORN WOODPECKER

CURVE-BILLED THRASHER

male HOUSE FINCH singing continuously on this clear sunny morning

AMERICAN ROBIN

BREWER'S BLACKBIRD - smaller than grackles, no red wings; white eye on male (above)

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S131374978

    After that "Good Morning" with the birds in Patagonia Town Park, we headed toward Santa Cruz Flats, an easy stop on our way back home on I-10, to check for a reported Whimbrel, an East-coast bird. But, no, we found ONLY 50 or so LONG-BILLED CURLEW!  The close view of that bird is amazing in its patterns and muted brown/tan appearance. As usual, they were quite distant in an agricultural field with no Whimbrel in sight. There were other birds that appeared to be Long-billed Dowitchers.

Closer Views of LONG-BILLED CURLEW from my file above and below

Globe Mallow was rampant in the uncultivated fields. The horses were nice, too. They seem to be protecting a small one on the ground.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S131400138

Trip Mileage:  

378 miles round trip to Patagonia Lake State Park, our farthest destination

  73 miles of birding.

451 total miles round trip

    Until next time.....

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Buckeye and Arlington Agricultural Fields and Riparian Areas, West Valley of Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ

Sunday, March 5, 2023 

    With Lois L. and Holly L., we explored irrigated agricultural fields up, down and across many roads from Jackrabbit on the east to S Verrado Way on the West to Broadway and eventually to Southern Avenue, south of Broadway. 

    Since this is a once-a-year birding adventure, I'm unfamiliar with the territory. Holly, in the back seat, navigated when necessary on my sketched-out potential map, knowing that houses were growing in some former fields.

    Ah....joy came quickly. Pulling off the paved roads any time we spotted a bird, we crept along. Alfalfa fields, thick and tall, hid many small birds from us. But there were:

NORTHERN HARRIER....RED-TAILED HAWK....GREAT EGRET (79 total), AMERICAN KESTREL on overhead wires; FERRIGUNOUS HAWK viewed from Southern Avenue; WHITE-FACED IBIS (512); YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDs; WESTERN MEADOWLARK, LONG-BILLED CURLEW, and AMERICAN PIPITs. At cattle farms, RED-WINGED and BREWER'S BLACKBIRDs prevailed along with GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE. BLACK VULTUREs outnumbered TURKEY VULTUREs that circled above us.

    Spotting birds seldom seen in such numbers in the Phoenix's East Valley, we proceeded on County Road 85 to State Road 85 where we crossed over to Arlington. There we birded eBird Hot Spots. Photos below.               OSPREY near the intersection of County and State Routes 85.GREATER YELLOWLEGS on agricultural field berm.

LONG-BILLED CURLEW in a mowed alfalfa field.AMERICAN WIGEON taking off from Lower River Road Pond

BURROWING OWLs across the road from the ponds on Lower River Road where we parked
GREAT BLUE HERON Rookery along Hazen Road (above & below)

At the 309th Avenue ponds, BLACK-NECKED STILTS

WHITE-FACED IBIS flocks flew over us from time to time

    As the driver, I didn't take many photos. But at Arlington Wildlife Area, after slithering the tires through some awesome mud, I was out of the car to enjoy the constant sound and flight of SANDHILL CRANEs.

SANDHILL CRANE in the field as we exited the Arlington Wildlife Area.

    Another awesome day in the field!

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S130382842

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S130329415

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S130330268

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S130331906

    

Coon Bluff Recreation Area along the Lower Salt River, Mesa, Maricopa County, AZ

 Friday, March 3, 2023

Doing more birding than blogging, I decided to put down a few of my recent memorable escapades. With Ontario visitor and friend, Sharon Barkley, we ambled around Coon Bluff Recreation area on Friday, March 3rd for a couple hours.

Starting behind the bluff to get as good a view as possible of the river downstream (nothing exciting there today), we walked east of the cliff to a point where we could scan its ridge line for a potential eagle. Instead, I was looking at a head of a GREATER ROADRUNNER peeking out from behind a rock. Quickly to my camera, I caught a quick pic as it made it clear to move forward.

    We would see the Bald Eagle later.

    AMERICAN ROBINS are abundant this year. Normally, I'd be happy to see just one during the winter, but everywhere I bird, robins are foraging and, sometimes, singing.

 Another unusual winter visitor (also in the Thrush family with the Robin), has been TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE. Normally, I would see this bird at a higher elevation of a coniferous forest or down as low as a pinyon-juniper habitat. But it has been showing up at many of our eBird Hot Spots, including the Salt River Recreation Areas. See photo below.

On the Salt River were COMMON MERGANSER. A treat to view, they appeared to have found a circular area to claim as temporary territory while they dived and feasted.  Below.

Winter has been cold this year as evidenced by the VERMILION FLYCATCHER below.

Several GREATER YELLOWLEGS patrolled the edges of the river, east, and west. Below:

 I was glad Sharon had wanted to go birding; we enjoyed the quietness of the area and the many birds that showed themselves. 

As many of you know, I recently published my Memoir. Sharon is a very capable person who designed the covers, printed the book, and completed the process of converting my typing into a full-length book. She joined me at a book signing during her visit.

Me (Babs) Left: Sharon, holding Memoir

If you don't already have one and want one, email me at brbrbuck0@gmail.com

The eBird checklist for our birding:

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S130066230

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