This past week I had a business trip to Arizona and of course I managed to work in a little birding in the mornings/evenings. In fact my return flight was canceled due to the winter storm and I ended up being "stuck" in sunny Arizona for 2 extra days with ILM being shut down. I love Arizona and not complaining, but wearing the same clothes for three days straight gets old quick. Next time I will bring extra clothes, and some hiking shoes.
If you are wondering, of course I will not add any of these birds to my NC Photographic Big Year List, however, I am going to add them to my ABA list I will keep separate. Who knows, maybe I will end up traveling to some great locations this year and so it might be worth keeping a tally.
Day 1 in Arizona was Sunday, I managed to fly in early so I could get a half day to bird. My target was the Sinaloa Wrens being seen South of Tucson. Unfortunately I ended up choosing the wrong of two locations (De Anza Trail in Tubac vs Huachuca Canyon) where they have been seen recently. I chose Tubac because it was an hour less of driving, but as with most good things you need to spend a little extra time to reap the rewards.
Never the less the birding was still fun and I met some really cool folks from all over the US chasing the same bird. One group even had a local bird guide with them and they couldn't get on the bird either. We saw some dead grass moving and the guide was sure that it probably was the bird as they are notorious skulkers. However, we never got a clear view. The birds nest was however in clear view, apparently local birders first spotting the bird saw it building the nest several months back so it is probably staying for some time waiting for a mate. It might be waiting a really long time as Sinaloa Wrens have only been seen 4-5 times in the ABA region ever.
Some of the birds seen: Pyrrhuloxia, Gila Woodpeckers, Cardinals, Chipping Sparrow, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Raven (I tried to make one of them a Chihuahuan Raven but couldn't) and lots of Bewick's Wren doing their best to trick me.
"Hello, look at me. I am a Sinaloa Wren..... you silly birders, you look ridiculous all staring into my patch of thicket. Couldn't you find something better to do with your time like rooting for grubs?"
Really just a Bewick's. Cool bird none the less.
Bewick's Wren - Note pale coloration and thin bill. Sinaloa has a contrasting rusty tail, some facial patterns and a thick bill.
Rufous-winged Sparrow - A bird typically only seen in South Arizona. However in its range fairly easy to find. I have bad hearing but this bird I can hear. He has a beautiful bouncing ball song. And this particular bird was a crooner. A little larger than the Chipping Sparrows nearby, some different facial markings including lateral throat stripe and the bill is more stout. However it was the song that made it obvious. I had seen these in Madera Canyon last year, but it was good to see them again. Unfortunately I did not get any decent pics of the Pyrruhloxia. Oh well, I will have to go back.
Next up was Gilbert Arizona, one of my favorite places on earth due to Gilbert's Riparian Preserve which is pretty much the best birding I have seen anywhere. Or at least it was before I got all the local birds. Unfortunately my trips during the week were in poor light as they were first thing in morning and last light in evening on either side of the work day. However, I could count myself lucky that the work site was a mile away and sunset was at 6 pm this time of year in Arizona. Thank goodness for Mountain Time.
Ring-necked Duck - Common but gorgeous. In Arizona, they let you get real close.
Verdin - lots of these. The yellow faces make it look like they have been dipping their heads in flowers with lots of pollen. Hard to photograph as they are constantly on the move.
Inca Dove - I could have reached out and grabbed him/her.
White-crowned Sparrows - These were everywhere. Almost as distracting as the butterbutts over in NC.
American Avocet - A couple of years ago I would have been over the moon to see so many of these. However, they are still captivating.
Albert's Towhee - these guys love to kick up the desert sand in hope of finding a tasty morsel.
Gila Woodpecker - another bird that I can hear with no problem and they are not shy about communicating. Somewhat similar to our Red-bellied WP.
Wilson's Snipe - I was really surprised to get this shot at close range despite the foliage blocking a truly clear shot. What I did not know was that Snipe would be a dime a dozen when I got home to NC after the ice storm. More to come on this my dear reader (Dad or maybe I have a few readers now).
Long-billed Dowitcher - Having a scratch. More Long-billed than Short-billed here. In fact hundreds of them.
Spotted Towhee
Curve-billed Thrasher - I was trying to make one into a Bendire's Thrasher, but no such luck.
Northern Shoveler - Nothing unusual here, but he was so handsome I had to throw him in. I didn't want all that preening to go unnoticed.
Another Snipe pic - In Arizona even the snipe come out to watch the sunset.
Black-necked Stilt - "I am so good looking that I just have to kiss my reflection."
Anna's Hummingbird - keep in mind my camera is not very good. This bird was like 3 feet from the lens. He just sat there preening and buzzing me every so often. I think he secretly liked all the attention.
Just a regular old Butterbutt? Well this one is an Audubon's subspecies so I thought it was worth the post. See yellow throat.
I am only posting this one to give you an idea of how many ducks there were. There is about twenty Pintail and Teal in this pic. Now multiply that times a thousand and it gives you an idea how mad you could go counting ducks at Gilbert Ponds.
I have been looking all through my Hummingbird pics hoping one of them was a Costa's. However no such luck. That being said, I am no expert. I did however see a few obvious Costa's with no pictures. This one is probably an Anna's.
Cinnamon Teal - one of the most aptly named birds.
Green-winged Teal - Also well named but a bit more confusing since there are multiple birds with green in the wing.
Neotropic Cormorant - Much smaller than the Double-crested Cormorant and note the pronounced vee with white border in the chin patch.
At the end of the week as I was on conference calls all day, I was able to work in a little local park birding in between. Here are some shots from some ponds in Surprise AZ, a suburb of Phoenix.
Common Merganser - Not so common back in NC.
Hundreds of American Wigeon - these were absolutely tame and in the hundreds. Strange how they quickly learn where they will be hunted and where they are safe.
Eurasian Wigeon. The real reason why I went to this particular park. Wish you could have seen me snapping these pics with the phone up to my ear discussing legal issues on one of my studies. The Mexican guys doing the landscaping clearly thought I was a weirdo.
Here is a great comparison shot showing an American next to his Eurasian buddy. Have to wonder if the Eurasians are vagrants or they are establishing a local population.
Apparently Wood Ducks in Arizona are rare. So I snapped this one in case eBird comes a calling.
Lewis's Woodpecker - This guy was in a retirement community - Sun City Grand Golf Course. I was checking him out while I was on the phone for over an hour trying to get a flight home. After that call I had racked up two decent year birds.
The real reason I came to this Golf Course - Golden-crowned Sparrow. Continuing rarity for this location. He was consorting with a bunch of White-crowned and bossing them around as he is a bit larger.
Golden-crowned Sparrow. Other than the golden-crown, another field mark is the gray bill which stands out next to the yellow/orange of the White-crowned immatures and females.
That evening I found out that I would not make it home due to ILM shut down and booked the Hilton Squaw Peak which is one of my favorite cheap hotels since it is next to Phoenix Mountains State Park. More specifically Dreamy Draw Recreation Area. Dreamy Draw is really an oasis in Phoenix. There is a busy highway just next to the park, but once you get over the canyon walls, you can't hear the traffic (at least I can't) and you all of a sudden are transported to some secluded landscape which could be in the middle of no where. Of course a runner, hiker or mountain biker shatters that illusion every so often but its a small price to pay for only being 5 minutes from the hustle and bustle.
I have been in Dreamy Draw 5-6 times previously and seen lots of small birds flying around but never was able to pinpoint them. Granted this was when I used to run more instead of prioritizing birding. Now I found most of them were Black-throated Sparrows. These have to be my favorite sparrow hands down. I about pooped myself when this one posed for me. Then I proceeded to find 20 more! They were the most common bird there.
Last stop was Papago Park on Thursday evening. My conference calls were relentless Thursday, and so when I saw that my last two hours of calls (8 hours of calls total that day) were with my internal team, I made the decision that I could head to this park and have those calls while walking around. I was glad I did.
Can you guess it? That's right, Cactus Wren. This one was nesting already, I guess in Arizona its so nice out you can nest in the winter. Or maybe its easier to nest in the winter to avoid the heat. It's mate was sitting on the nest in the lower branches of the Saguaro and he was doing his best to distract me.
Cooper's Hawk harassing a Red-tailed Hawk. Talk about David and Goliath. I about dropped my phone when this happened. Thankfully Tanya my colleague on the other end in Australia was not phased by my expletives.
Gambel's Quail - Very plentiful but difficult to get a picture of as they hardly ever stay in view long. This is the best picture I have ever had of this species despite seeing hundreds of them. He was doing his best Road-runner impression. Beep-Beep....
Green Heron - Nothing special but worth a post solely on handsome factor.
Great-tailed Grackle - not sure which has a more substantial tail the Great or Boat tailed of NC. The Great-tailed is a bigger bird on the whole though. Amazing crooners as well.
Canvasback and friend. The first adult male canvasback I have seen in quite some time.
Ring-necked Duck - I know nothing about photography, but I really liked how this shot came out.
Ever sleep with a Redhead? This Hooded Merganser has. Lucky bastard.
Gilded Flicker - Ok this photo was horrible, but it was a life bird for me so I had to post it. You will just have to take my word for it. Its hard to believe, and not sure how often this happens, but there was a Northern Flicker on the same damn tree which I was scrutinizing for quite some time when this guy appeared. The Northern was noticeably larger. Field marks I observed to differentiate it from the Northern Flicker on the same tree: Chest patch was larger/more oval on the smaller bird and the back was more finely barred. However it sealed the deal when they both flew off and the larger bird was Red-shafted (red under wing) which is to be expected for the flickers in the West and the smaller bird was Yellow-shafted.
I think the only reason I never had one of these before is I never had the opportunity to scrutinize the flickers for so long. Usually in Arizona I am so overwhelmed with all the new birds that I do not care to spend time on tough identifications. Now that I have birded Arizona many times, I am allowing myself more time on each bird I see.
Great times, and sorry for the long post but it was a long week. Stay tuned for some amazing birding when I got home from this trip!
The Anna's is gorgeous. As are the rest of the flock. And nicely recounted and illustrated too! Next - the Book!
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