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!

Birding the beautiful Lockett Meadow

On September 25th I took yet another birding trip, a birdwalk lead by the Sonoran Audubon Society (SAS) to Lockett Meadow located in the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Mr. Paul Doucett had invited me to come. My target bird was the Clark's Nutcracker, a bird I have had seen to many people crush! After about two and a half hours of driving we finally spied the mountains.

                                   The San Francisco Peaks hold the highest point in Arizona
Once we reached Flagstaff we stopped at a Mc Donald's and packed the seven of us into one van. After a bit more driving we turned onto a dirt road and after about three miles I saw a gray bird, with black wings with a white square and I knew right away that it was my lifer Clark's Nutcracker! But even with all of my exitement the car did not stop. Before we knew it we were at the beautiful Lockett Meadow with its tall pines, Douglas Firs, and Aspens covering the mountain, here is a photo.

  When we parked the car we started the walk. Our first stop was at a small pond where we were treated with both Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks.

 While watching the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks we also had this Red-tailed Hawk.

This day seemed to be good for raptors, by now we had about 3 Red-tails, 4 Sharpies and 5 Cooper's. While we were watching the raptors I saw a a small songbird flying that looked like a thrush or cowbird but it looked like it had a bit too much baring, but as I saw the bird fly deep into the forest I had a weird feeling that I had to look back and when I did I saw a Golden Eagle!!! We were all amazed at how majestic the eagle was, here are a few photos.

 Once the bird flew past the ridge our group all shared their stories on when they last saw a GOEA. While the group was talking I saw that small thrush sized bird fly high up into a tall pine, this is what the bird looked like through by binocs. Can you find it?

After looking at the bird for about 2 minutes I was finally able to identify it as a Northern Pygmy-Owl!!! I then quietly yelled that it was a NPOW but right when I said that and put my bins back up to where the bird was I didn't see it! This was terrible no one was going to believe me, so I started scanning the whole tree and I saw the bird come out of a bunch of pine needles and after 5 minutes of pointing out where the bird was everyone saw it! Here is a better photo of the bird.

I was totally satisfied with the day and we weren't even at noon yet! I then ran non-stop to the van to get my scope so we could get amazing looks at the distant bird but after a 1/6 of a mile of running in 9,000 foot elevation I opened the van and remembered that I left the scope back at the other car I came in at Flagstaff!!! I then had to run back to the group and explain what happened! After watching the bird for about an hour everyone started getting a bit hungry, so we headed back to the van and ate. But before we move on here is one more photo of the truely amazing NPOW.

After we ate our lunches we started birding up the mountain. The birds were not very active at all but we were able to find a few Red-breasted Nuthatches and a Clark's Nutcracker right in the sun!
                                                               Red-breasted Nuthatch

                                                                Clark's Nutcracker

The CLNU's didn't want me to photograph them (at least today) but I WILL be back for them and hopefully soon!!! I must thank the SAS and Mr. Paul for the awesome trip with two lifers!!!