AZ Big Year - Week Fifty 12/10-12/16

On the way to some appointments in Tucson on Wednesday 10^th Louise & I stopped by McCormick Park to see the Red-breasted & Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Mark & Molly had been following much of the fall.  Neither species was needed for the year list but I wanted a photo of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  I walked the park alone once without finding any sapsuckers.  Separately, both Molly & Mark showed up and with Louise we walked the park.  I eventually found the immature Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and got some recognizable photographs.  It really did not want its picture taken. 

On Friday 12^th I guided a couple from Tennessee.  After a quick futile search for the Harris’s Hawk in Green Valley, we head toward Madera Canyon.  We had a very nice walk along the Proctor & Whitehouse Picnic Area Trails.  The highlights for the visiting birders were many, though the standout had to be the Red-breasted Sapsucker just off one of the parking slots and at eyelevel.  At the Santa Rita Lodge we found three Magnificent Hummingbirds (high count for time of year), two Hepatic Tanagers, and a “Slate-colored” Junco (rare form for Arizona).  At Madera Kubo we found another Magnificent Hummingbird.  We took another walk, from the Madera Picnic Area we followed the trail down canyon.  Just a few yards into the walk, we ran into a wonderful mixed-species flock with included two Olive Warblers, five Townsend’s Warblers, a Painted Redstart, and a Hammond’s Flycatcher.  Finally we headed over to Florida Canyon and walked the trail to the large water tank.  On the way, another couple had just turned around after seeing a male Elegant Trogon.   This was the first I had heard of a trogon in Florida Canyon this winter.  Last winter there were three (at least).  A few minutes later we heard and then almost immediately see the trogon and get some good documentation photographs. We continued past the trogon a hundred yards and heard the Gray Catbird that has been reported hear recently.  Apparently this bird enjoys the company of two Spotted Towhees and the taste of dried hackberries. We enjoyed this bird for several minutes while it fed and perched up, I got some decent photographs.

On Saturday 13^th I headed up to Tucson hoping to do some scouting for the Christmas Count.  I convinced myself that getting muddy today would not improve our bird finding abilities tomorrow, so I went to Sweetwater (paved or hard pack trails) to try again for a photograph of the Baltimore Oriole. Again, there was no oriole for me.

Sunday 14^th was the day of the Tucson Valley CBC.  I was teamed up with Larry Norris & Pam Baum.  Since I was the supposed leader of the team, I developed a strategy that had us not backtracking.  We left a vehicle at the Crossroad Regional Park (outside of the circle), started birding around the Ina Road bridge and then down the river to the north.  When we reached the edge of the circle we put our binocular down and walked to the vehicle, and then drove to the Orange Grove Pond, left a vehicle there and birded our way down the river back to Ina Road where my vehicle was left earlier.  We found the Louisiana Waterthrush upstream from the Ina Road Bridge early.  I saw it briefly and Pam & Larry heard its distinctive chip notes. Also of interest at the bridge was a female Wood Duck in amongst a flock of Northern Pintails. Several days ago when I scouted this section of the area, the river upstream from the bridge was dry.  Today, it was flowing very nicely in the morning with the flow dimensioning all day so that by the late afternoon, the riverbed upstream from the Ina Road Bridge was a string of pools.  Our walk downstream along the river was uneventful however we were able to secure a few good birds for the count; namely Rock Wren, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, & Wilson’s Snipe.  At the Orange Grove Pond, the first surprise was water.  The second surprise was a basic plumaged American Avocet swimming with the few ducks, several American Coots, and two Pied-billed Grebes.  I believe the avocet was the only one for the entire count.  Just north of the pond, we came across a flock of at least three Lazuli Buntings.  While trying to get an accurate count of the buntings a flock of Chipping Sparrows appears with a Clay-colored Sparrow.  And then a Virginia’s Warbler appears in my binocular view for a few seconds.  The Virginia’s Warbler is the first ever for the Tucson Valley CBC and maybe the only one in the country.  Clay-colored Sparrows seem to be everywhere this fall.  We probably spent more time than we should have trying to get better views of these two rarities as well as getting some documentation.   The last part of our count day was driving the desert-residential neighborhoods was of Silverbell Road.  We found nothing exciting but did add a good number of species we did not previously find in the river bottom areas.  We all had a nice birding and enjoying each other’s company.

Though there was some good birds this past week, none were new for the year.  So the year list stands at 412.

AZ Big Year - Week Forty-nine 12/3-12/9

Again, this week turned out to be very interesting.  I had helped Rich Hoyer review Pima County eBird records last month while he was on tour in Peru.  He resumed the duties once he returned home and then this week asked if I would be the primary eBird reviewer for Pima County.  I have trouble saying no and now I’m it. 

Lucy's Warbler

I started at Sweetwater Wetlands on Wednesday 3^rd hoping to see the Baltimore Oriole again. I missed getting a picture when I saw it a few weeks ago.  I did not see the oriole however others (a group from Green Valley) said they saw.  I did find and photograph a Lucy’s Warbler, which may be the first December Pima County record.  After Sweetwater I did a wee bit of scouting for the upcoming Tucson Valley CBC.  My area includes the Ina Road Bridge over the Santa Cruz River where last year a Louisiana Waterthrush spent the winter.  Well it has returned or at least that’s the current belief. I heard and then saw the Louisiana Waterthrush in the dense vegetation surrounding the effluent outflow that is now the headwaters of the Santa Cruz in this area.  The main channel of the Santa Cruz River was dry due to the closure of the Roger Road WWTP further “upstream” month ago.  That was about it for scouting. I surveyed the river to the north from under the bridge and returned to Green Valley. On Thursday 4^th I did some local Green Valley birding, kind of scouting for another CBC, with no exciting finds.   On Friday 5^th Louise and I walked the Proctor Road trails.  Even though I saw a pair of Black-capped Gnatcatchers and a pair of Hepatic Tanagers it was not a serious birding expedition.

Merlin

Black-and-White Warbler

On Saturday 6^th I meet Pamela at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale.  Pamela had only one day to get out in to the field and I agreed to get up to Phoenix (not my normal area for guiding).  From the resort we headed east to some of the recreation sites on the Salt River.   In route, somewhere on East Indian School Road we found a Merlin, always fun to see.  At the marina area at Saguaro Lake we searched the lake and the scrubby hillsides.  Though nothing too exciting for the local, Pamela enjoyed several Arizona specialties including Black-tailed Gnatcatcher; Rock, Canyon, & Cactus Wrens, Gila Woodpecker, and a male Costa’s Hummingbird.  At Butcher Jones Recreation Area, of interest locally were Black-and-White Warbler and two (at least) Greater Scaup. We both enjoyed the close looks at the Eared Grebe that somehow managed to dive in less than six inches of water.  Just before reaching the Granite Reef Rec Area Pamela saw a Greater Roadrunner along the side of the road.  We stopped & looked but were unable to re-locate it until we were about to get back into the truck.  The roadrunner was catching grasshoppers along the side of the road; Pamela was able to get many photographs before it decided to head into the bushes.  Though Granite Reef had nothing particularly unusual this day, it appears that this site has much potential and worth more visits when in the area.  Our final stop was at the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch; again nothing too exciting but nice to see the mixture of water birds and desert birds.

Canyon Wren

After dropping off Pamela, I made a few phone calls to determine if I should proceed to Lake Havasu or head north towards Ashurst Lake for a reported Common Black-headed Gull. The Black-headed Gull turned out to be a Bonapart’s Gull so I headed towards Havasu.

Red-throated Loon

On Sunday 7^th at Lake Havasu Lauren Harter, David Vander Pluym, and Paul Lehman picked me up for a pre-meeting excursion to Pittsburg Point overlooking Lake Havasu.  There we met Gary Rosenberg and Chris Benesh.  Almost immediately David finds a Red-throated Loon, the first of the season for Lake Havasu.  Minutes later it flies by and I was able to get some shots of it in flight.  Rather satisfying after a very distant study of two of this species on January 17^th earlier this year.  There was an incredible number of Eared Grebes out on the lake; the estimate was thirty-some thousand with at least two-thirds on Arizona waters.  It looked as if parts of the lake were covered with a mat.  Much of the rest of the day all of us were in attendance at the Arizona Bird Committee meeting.  Somewhat ironic was that we voted Red-throated Loon off the review list after jokingly voting to accept our record by viewing the back of my camera.  I tried to summon up a rare gull in the few minutes of daylight left after the meeting.  No luck, but wish I had more time to study the first & second-cycle Herring & California Gulls among a large flock of Ring-billed Gulls at Windsor Point.

I spent the night in Parker and early Monday 8^th morning I was at the Parker Oasis.  Laurens & David had found two Gray Catbirds and a Varied Thrush at this site recently and I very much wanted to see a Varied Thrush for the year.  The first rare bird I saw was a Rufous-backed Robin among a small flock of American Robin.  I was fairly dark due to overcast skies so taking pictures did not come immediately to mind.  I watch this small the Rufous-backed Robin & it companions fly westward towards & perhaps into California (honestly not sure if I watched long enough to say I saw them in Cali.).  I eventually saw one of the Gray Catbirds popup in a dead snag briefly.  And shortly afterwards found the Varied Thrush feeding at the fruiting palm until a flock of robins flew in & spooked the thrush.  The Varied Thrush was species 411 for the year in Arizona.  This appears to be a very interesting spot worthy of more visits when I’m in the area.  Other interesting birds included Western Bluebirds and Cedar Waxwings.  I had planned to head south to Cibola NWR after birding in Parker.  But with renewed reports of the Black-throated Blue Warbler on the Santa Cruz Flats, I decided to bird the Parker Valley on the way to the interstate and then try to twitch another year bird for the day.  The Parker Valley is in many ways like the Santa Cruz Flats and I could have spent an entire day wandering the farm road searching for anything.  Some of the more exciting species for me were Ferruginous Hawks, hundreds of American Pipits, large flocks of Great & Cattle Egrets, several flocks of Sandhill Cranes, and a single Mountain Bluebird. 

I reach the intersection of Baumgartner & Wheeler at around 14:30.  Keith & Doug have also just arrived, they station themselves at the driveway where the warbler was last reported.  I begin wandering back and worth along the road checking out every blasted Yellow-rumped Warbler I see.  At least there were a few Orange-crowned Warblers around to make it interesting.  Tommy & Steve arrive several minutes later.  They were returning from seeing the Baltimore Oriole at Sweetwater and had seen Black-throated Blue and an American Redstart earlier in the day at this location.  While trying to get a better view of the warbler and perhaps a photo, I keep hearing a Summer Tanager that sounded to my ears like the eastern form.  I never saw this bird.  After a while I got the Black-throated Blue Warbler in flight flying between trees.   It was kind of shocking how obvious it was in flight.  Later I see it foraging along the side of the house in pomegranate & citrus trees  with the American Redstart.  I think the warbler & the redstart were competing for whom was the most active flitting bird in the grove.  As I am about to leave I see a hawk on a pole that Tommy & Steve are also looking at.  When it flushes I recognize it as the “Harlan’s” Hawk I had seen a few weeks earlier nearby.  As I am driving away, I find that it has landed on another pole to the south and uncharacteristically (for a Harlan’s) allows me to get a few relatively decent photographs.  I get home after dark pretty tired.

AZ Big Year - Week Forty-eight 11/26-12/2

Richard Fray reported finding a stubby-tailed wren in Patagonia State Park on Tuesday. The photographs his client took showed, in my opinion, a Winter Wren though Richard was unsure.  On Wednesday 26^th Louise and I headed for Patagonia. With Richard’s directions we headed about as straight to the spot as one can at this location.  Upon finding a brush pile that fit the description and Louise & I begin searching hard.  Within a few minutes I see a small brown wren-like object dart bthrough an opening in the tangle.  After a few more minutes, I verify that it is one of the stubby-tailed wrens, get Louise on it and begin taking some very poor photographs. With some pishing & squeaking it eventually shows itself completely and visually I believe this is a Winter Wren.  I have Louise ready with my iPhone to take video (to record audio) and I’m ready with my digital recorder & directional microphone.  After some more pishing & squeaking, the Winter Wren pops up and begins a long series of jimp calls.  Both of us get good recordings.  The bird is completely out in the open calling, I can’t stand not taking pictures so the last fifteen seconds of my recording includes shutter noises while I both record & photograph this little gem.  Eventually it flies off to another brush pile.  I am very satisfied with our documentation results of such a rare bird and #410 for the year.  Just as we’ve stowed the recording equipment, he begins singing softly.  Having Louise’s participation made this an exceptionally wonderful experience!  Also of interest at Patagonia State Park were a Northern Beardless Tyrannulet and two immature Snow Geese. Later Louise & I headed over to the Nature Conservancy’s Preserve at Patagonia. There had been a Rufous-backed Robin seen for several days.  Though the Robin would not be a new year bird, I have not been able to photograph one this year.  After much searching & following various directions I saw the Rufous-backed Robin fly from the prescribed tree and disappear (similar to my only previous observation of one this year). A half hour later I find it back in the prescribed tree, the very top of the tree.  I take a couple of butt shot photos before it flies off but instead of disappearing it lands at eye level forty feet away.  I take several more shots, all very backlit but I have now photographed a Rufous-backed Robin in 2014.

On Friday 28^th I am out with Jesse Rubenstein working on a few species for his life list.  Our first stop was at a particular Saguaro that a Western Screech-Owl uses for roosting.  On this morning it was not visible.  Better success at our second stop, We spotted the Red-breasted Sapsucker near its favored tree, enjoyed some nice looks and took some nice pictures. We then walked the Proctor Road Trail and found three Hammond’s Flycatchers, two Townsend’s Warblers, and a Clay-colored Sparrow.  We were unsuccessful in seeing the Whiskered Screech-Owl at Madera Kubo, not Jesse’s day for owls.  We then drove to Tubac and walked the De Anza Trail from Ron Morris Park to the Sinaloa Wren spot.  We heard but did not see the Sinaloa Wren, three Sora, and one Virginia Rail. Nice looks at a Cassin’s Vireo capped off the day.

On Sunday 30^th I took a long walk around a small area of Green Valley.  I started & ended at Desert Meadows Park, walked around the Pecan Grove just to the east (hoping to see the Harlan’s Hawk) and to the north along the river to the south end of the Haven Golf Course. I saw three Cassin’s Kingbirds in the river bed, four Harris’s Hawk at the northwest corner of La Posada, and a large number of Audubon’s Warblers all over.

With one addition for the week, my Arizona Year List is at 410.

AZ Big Year - Week Forty-seven 11/19-11/25

On Friday 21^st I walked around Sahuarita Lake to look for a previously reported Clark’s Grebe.  This grebe is rather uncommon in Pima County and is less expected than Western Grebes.  I saw and photographed the Clark’s Grebe and before I left found a large flock of Lawrence’s Goldfinches.  On Saturday 22^nd I led the Arivaca Cienega Field Trip.  Sixteen adults and 3 children showed up for the walk.  The mother with her three children quickly bailed out since her smallest one would not stop crying.  The walk lasted more than three hours with the most excitement being in the first hour.  In the cold & somewhat frosty first hour the sparrows were perched up and allowing for wonderful views.  We found three Clay-colored Sparrows and a Grasshopper Sparrow among the more expected species.  Noticeably absent were raptors with only singles of American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, & Red-tailed Hawk observed.

On Sunday 23^rd Louise and I took another hike up to the Carrie Nation Mine.  At the first stream crossing we found a female Williamson’s Sapsucker and near the second crossing a Hammond’s Flycatcher.  One wee bit of excitement occurred when I heard a continuous melodious song emanating from the other side of the canyon.  My first thoughts were Brown-back Solitaire.  After several minutes of trying to get closer to the source and trying to attract the songster closer, I played a recording of a Townsend’s Solitaire.  It was a Townsend’s Solitaire, a species a thousand times more expected than what I was trying to turn it into.

Very early Monday 24^th morning, I took off for the grasslands on the other side of the Santa Rita Mountains.  I arrived at Las Cienegas before sunrise as planned with the temperature at 14°F.  In the glow of the dawn I scanned the open areas for Short-eared Owl (409).  I finally saw one in flight at about sunrise.  It appeared to have a destination in mind, like it was heading to a roosting spot for the day.  I made my way south of Highway 82 towards Elgin to a cattle tank where a Lapland Longspur was seen several years ago.  There was a flock of Chestnut-collared Longspurs, a single flyover McCown’s Longspur, and many Horned Larks at this tank.  I also saw a light-morph Rough-legged Hawk catching some of the sun’s warmth during this very cold morning (16°F).  After a looping around the Lower Elgin to Elgin to Upper Elgin Roads I headed back north across the highway to a spot where Melody had a large flock of longspurs yesterday.  The flock I saw, really several small flocks, did not tally to the number Melody reported and I could only make out Chestnut-collared.  Melody’s client appears to have photographed a McCown’s in flight.  Further north, I found a Wilson’s Snipe out in the open at a small water hole along the road.  A stop at Cottonwood Tanks & a walk along Empire Gulch produced very few birds.  Several days before someone reported a female Purple Finch, I did not find any finches.

On Tuesday 25^th Chris Benesh, Deb Finch, & I took the journey to San Bernardino NWR to search for a Least Flycatcher & Winter Wren that had been reported several days prior.  I had never been to the refuge though I had been to the Slaughter Ranch a mile or two away.  Both species would have been year birds and the flycatcher would have been a state bird (as well as very rare in Arizona).  While it was great birding with Chris & Deb and exploring a new location, we came up empty with the flycatcher & wren.  After lunch in Douglas, on our return journey we stopped at Whitewater Draw WMA.  We estimated 4000 Sandhill Cranes and in spite of trying we came up empty on Common Crane.  If Texas can have two; why not Arizona? We did find the big family group of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and a small family group of Pied-billed Grebes. The youngster grebe were very young, still with striped head, less than a third the mass of the adults, and begging food.

At the end of this week, my Arizona 2014 list is at 409.