Birding the Hassayampa River and Lake Pleasant with a bit of SAS in the mix

On October 29th I was invited to go on a birding trip to the Hassayampa River Preserve by Mr. Paul Doucett. We were planning to bird the US 60 rest stop (along the Hassayampa River) before the preserve opens at 8:00AM and then bird the preserve, and after all of that we would drive on up to Lake Pleasant. The first bird I saw when we arrived at the rest stop was a beautiful male Vermilion Flycatcher.

  After birding the rest stop for about 50 minutes we hiked back to the car when my brother spied this Red-naped Sapsucker that allowed us get within about five feet from him!

 We then drove about a mile down the highway and turned off onto the short dirt road that leads to the Hassayampa River Preserve. Once we parked we met up with the Sonoran Audubon Society (SAS), watched the hummingbird feeders for anything different, paid our fee, and then started birding the picnic area. But before I get any further, here is a photo of one of the many Anna's Hummingbirds.

 Now lets get back to the picnic area. The picnic area (which is just behind the visitor center) holds some very nice birds and as I walked around the palms I spied three Band-tailed Pigeons! However, I was only able to photograph of of the three due to the tree being very thick with leaves and branches.
Booya, a double pigeon species day! I nearly had a heart attack when I had a flock of Rock Pigeons fly over, but Band-tailed Pigeons?! Someone call an ambulance!!!

Luckily everyone was able to see the pigeons, I didn't want any doubt in the air. The pigeons took flight a couple times but kept on returning to the same tree. Unfortunately we couldn't spend to much time on the pigeons because we had a walk to start! The first trail we picked was the Palm Lake Loop, we decided to bird the east side of the loop. We then took a shortcut on the Willow Walkway and right before we reached the PLL again our group spotted five more BTPI's!

Many birds later we reached the Mesquite Meander trail (home to a pair of nesting Tropical Kingbirds in the summer) but the many dead snags didn't hold anything strange.While I was watching the sky I found Mr. Paul's target bird of the trip the Harris's Hawk!

There was also a juvenile Cooper's Hawk watching us through the thick riparian forest.

After the Mesquite Meander, we hiked over to the River Ramble trail where we split off from the group who were leaving. Along the river we had a few mixed flocks which held many Yellow-rumped, and Orange-crowned Warblers, as well as Ruby-crowned Kinglets, there were also smaller numbers of Cassin's Vireos, Black-throated Gray Warblers, Bridled Titmouses, and Hermit Thrushes. After stopping at the end of the Lykes Lookout trail we headed back to the picnic area where I photographed this Hermit Thrush.

Once we were done eating our lunches we drove over to Lake Pleasant.  Mr. Tommy D has been seeing some Herring Gulls, so that was my target bird. We birded the Maricopa side of the lake first. The Maricopa side did not have much to note, but Mr. Paul did get his lifer Ring-billed Gulls.

After we covered most of the stops along the Maricopa side of the lake, we drove to the one stop on the Yavapai side which was the same spot where I got my lifer California Gull last time I was there. As soon as we stopped I started scanning, it did not take me long to find a juvenile Herring Gull flying towards us!
                                                                 Herring Gull Life bird 320!!!

Surprisingly the Herring Gull was not a life bird for Mr. Paul! With Mr. Paul being from the east coast he thought it was funny seeing a gull with the desert behind it! Our day ended with a pair of Common Ravens and a Side-blotched Lizard, who unlike the other lizards that usually show off on how good they are at push-ups just sat there posing for photos.
                                                                Common Raven

                                                                   Side-blotched Lizard

I hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for reading! I also must thanks Mr. Paul and the SAS for great day of birding with many highlights!

Camping at "Happy Jack Lodge" (Part 2) Grand Birding at the Grand Canyon

On July 17th my family and I took our first trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Of course, I was thinking the whole drive there of just how awesome it would be to see the ugly but, majestic California Condor.

The drive up to the canyon was awesome passing through all of the different habitats.  As we were going by Mormon Lake my family and I saw a huge herd of elk, we had to stop and take a look. The crazy thing is this is only a third of the herd.

After stopping in Flagstaff we had another two hours of driving until reaching the canyon. Once we paid our fee I noticed a couple of large birds soaring and when they showed me their under wing I noticed they were my lifer, California Condors already! My Dad then parked the car in the parking lot and we walked out to the rim by the visitor area. When I went around the corner of the trees I thought that I was looking at a painting, the Grand Canyon was amazing!!! There were also about five condors flying at fairly close range. The first is an adult and the second is a juvenile. Am I in Heaven?
                                                                California Condor

 

As my Dad and I were watching the condors fly by, my mom and brother said that there were some condors perched over yonder where all people were. I ran down to where they were and I found my self about eighteen feet from one of the birds I had only dreamed of seeing. If you noticed these birds are football wannabe's, with there jersey numbers.
                                                             California Condor

 

It was awesome watching these guy slowly soar through the air. They kind of reminded me of a plane, landing gear down; check.

There was also the much smaller and common cousin of the California Condor, the Turkey Vulture.

                                                                       Turkey Vulture

 After spending a couple hours watching, taking pictures of the condors and hiking we headed back to the car to go on a picnic, but before we could get to the car we saw a young elk about 15 feet away.

Once we arrived at the picnic area I went out hiking and was able to find a flock of Bushtits and a confused Juniper Titmouse that didn't know where it belonged, but I guess they are both gray right?
                                                                   Bushtit

                                                                 Juniper Titmouse

I then headed back to eat and had this hobo begging me for food. 
                                                                Common Raven

We had a few more stops along the rim but the only notable thing we saw after the first two stops was this huge 7 point elk just 50 yards off the road. He actually stopped traffic.  Many took pictures!!

If you were looking for some photos of the Grand Canyon I was too caught up in the wildlife.
I hope you enjoyed this post, and it will not be the last of my Happy Jack adventures.