Maricopa Birding

     Recently, I have been working hard on my Maricopa County "Big Year", and I have, thus, been a bit busy and haven't been able to do much blogging. But I have finally built up the strength to write a post. Doing a big year in Maricopa County isn't exactly the easiest thing. Because, 1. it is the 15th largest county in the country, 2. we don't have any ocean, and 3. not being able to drive doesn't help at all! My #1 goal for this year is to break 300 species of bird in Maricopa County IN ONE YEAR. Only one human being on this planet has ever done this before and that is, to no surprise, Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben. Luckily, I have been very blessed with people who take me birding and I have had the opportunity to bird quite a bit lately. The beginning of my late-fall birding started with a chase along the Lower Salt River at a spot called Blue Point, for a Surf Scoter and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (which is now my nemesis). I have seen a couple SUSCs in CA but not in AZ and more importantly to me, Maricopa. Mr. John Kafel was to thank for this chase. After an hour or so drive from my house to the scoter spot we arrived at around mid-afternoon. It didn't take me long to find the Surf Scoter feeding along the narrow river.

Surf Scoter--#289 for my Maricopa County big year

After watching the scoter for a while I then moved on to the area where the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had recently been seen. Unfortunately, I dipped on (failed to locate) the bird but I enjoyed getting to observe a few Gray Flycatchers.

Gray Flycatcher

Tip to identifying empids; Gray Flycatcher is the only empidonax that dips its tail downward, the rest flick their tales up.

My next "big" birding moment was when I lead a birdwalk for the Sonoran Audubon Society to the Arlington Valley. While we were driving to our first location, the Arlington Wildlife Area, we pulled over to the side of the road to see some Sandhill Cranes when I spotted a Common Grackle!!!! I jumped out of the car and yelled "COMMON GRACKLE!!!" and everyone kinda gave me a weird look because they are one of the most common birds in the east. I quickly opened the back of the car to get my camera and aimed and shot!

Common Grackle--#290

Note the bluish head, golden back, yellow eyes, medium sized bill, and fairly long tail.

The Common Grackle was actually my 400th life bird! I had a little confusion with my list and it turned out that the California Gnatcatcher was my 399th life bird and not my 400th. After watching the cranes for a while we then headed over to the Arlington Wildlife Area where we spent a good portion of the day. Shortly after arriving at the wildlife area I spotted my FOY (first of year) White-tailed Kite flying out in the distance.

White-tailed Kite--#291

The kite was a nice highlight for many of the people in my group, but this Great Horned Owl was another highlight.

Great Horned Owl

Another visit to the Arlington Wildlife Area proved productive. This Savannah Sparrow greeted us early in the morning.

Savannah Sparrow

Somewhere around seven or so years ago Melanie Herring found a light-morphed Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk in the Arlington Area and it has now spent the winter here ever since! Harlan's Red-tails are rare in AZ and the light-morph portion of this subspecies makes up less than one percent of all Harlan's, so having a light-morphed Harlans in AZ is CRAZY!!! On our way to the wildlife area we spotted the Harlan's sitting its perch.

Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk

At the wildlife area a flyover from a Sprague's Pipit was quite a surprise as well as three Mountain Bluebirds that were working the fields just adjacent to the Wildlife Area. After finishing our IBA (Important Bird Area) count we drove over to the Lower River Road Ponds where I scanned though around 70 Ring-billed Gulls without anything interesting. A strange juvenile Zone-tailed Hawk decided to fly over us though.

Zone-tailed Hawk

 The next day I did another IBA count only at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area. Although I didn't see anything interesting, other than seeing a couple of Red Crossbills and American Goldfinches, I did, however, get perhaps my best photos of a Common Yellowthroat and watched the long staying pair of Barn Owls.

Common Yellowthroat

Barn Owl (female left, male right)

On November 19th I had just returned from an afternoon trip to the Glendale Recharge Ponds where I found my FOY Greater Scaup (#292), when I was looking through some ebird checklists and saw that my friend Joshua Smith had just been to Dos Lagos Park. Curious at whether or not he had seen the Eurasian Wigeon that has been spending the last few winters at this park, I looked over his list to see that he had not just seen the wigeon but had found a Pacific Loon! Now Dos Lagos Park has two ponds and they are both fairly small and not nearly large enough for a loon to hang out at but Josh knew what he was talking about and I found myself in the car with Mr. John on our way to Dos Lagos that night! We didn't arrive at the park until just after the sun had set but I spotted the loon before I had even gotten out of the car!

A loon looking at a loon!

The loon was diving an awful lot but I managed a few photos before it got too dark.

Pacific Loon--#293

Loons are awesome! A big thanks to Joshua Smith for finding this bird and reporting it on ebird! After observing the loon for a while I decided to make a really quick stop to see the Eurasian Wigeon before heading back home.

Eurasian Wigeon

A week or two later I was making a regular biking trip along the main stretch of my patch (the Buckeye Canal) and I found my Maricoper (first for Maricopa), Clay-colored Sparrow!

Clay-colored Sparrow--#294

I continued searching my patch after the sparrow left. Once I started heading back I noticed a bright yellow bird fly into a palm tree! Once I threw my binocs onto it I noticed that it was a Tropical Kingbird!!! I continued observing this bird for about 15 minutes before I had to go.

Tropical Kingbird--My first for my Patch

Although the Tropical Kingbird wasn't even a yearbird it was still my best bird of the day, it was also the first time I've seen one in the winter. The day after my patch madness I started my day normally until I saw that someone had relocated a few Purple Finches at Gilbert Water Ranch that Tyler Loomis had found the day before. I then gave Mr. John Kafel a call and before long I found myself in Gilbert! We arrived at the Water Ranch at around 1:00 P.M. and searched the area where the finches had recently been seen without success. Mr. John and I decided to go out to lunch for a while and return a couple hours later. After having some delicious burgers Mr. John dropped me off at Gilbert and gave me an hour to find these birds. It didn't help much that these birds were on the opposite side of the preserve but I'm young and I can run! Atter running for about a half mile I got a stomach-cramp and the thought of walking crossed my mind but it's not like I just say "BIRD HARD!!!" for no reason, I had to keep on! Once I approached the Tiger Moth (3/4) trail I started to slow down and keep my eyes out. Before getting far I spotted all three of the Purple Finches near the top of a mesquite tree! #295 for the year and #318 for Maricopa County all-time!!!!!!!

Purple Finch--#295!

I now have only five more year birds to get in less than one month to complete my goal! I'm not sure if I'll reach this goal but it means a lot to me to reach 300 species of bird in one year in Maricopa County! I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me out and encouraged me in my goal for this year!

God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!

Caleb

A couple of recent and awesome IBA counts

In November I had two IBA (Important Bird Area) counts, the Arlington Wildlife Area on the 18th and the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area on the 19th. I live fairly close to both of these hotspots and I have done little birding in the Arlington area, which will hopefully change this winter. The B & M is almost the opposite, I have birded the B & M many times and I actually added it to my patches not to long ago.

Before we started the IBA count in the Arlington WA area, we took a quick stop by the Lower River Road Ponds. The two ponds had many birds with the west pond having lots of mudflats which resulted in lots of peeps. As we scanned through the Least Sandpipers we were able to find one Western Sandpiper. Can you pick him out?

There were also three Canvasbacks.

After our short visit to the LRR ponds we drove over to Arlington and started our IBA count. It did not take long for us to find the Lesser Goldfinches that stay around the dead tamarasks.

As we walked further, I found my lifer Swamp Sparrow along the thickly vegetated ditch that is on the opposite side of the road than the wetlands. But even though I tried hard the bird seemed to elude my camera. Mr. Paul and I both had the same target bird and that was the Sandhill Crane, I have had short looks at them as they fly very high up in the sky and as they take off from some of the fields around the valley, but I have never been able to get my binocs on those suckers! So I started scanning the fields, and it didn't take me long to find a flock of them way out there!

       See those gray dots? Well that's them!



Everyone in the group was very excited, but it got even better when three of them flew over us, and we even got to hear some calling from way out!

When we finally reached the end of the wetlands we had yet another Swamp Sparrow, only in the reeds and it was calling. However, this bird also eluded my camera, but this Wilson's Snipe didn't!

Before we knew it our IBA count was over, but after a stop at the restaurant off the US 80, Mr. Paul, Ms. Donna, and I tried to get better looks at the cranes and check out the surrounding area. Once we turned onto a dirt road we started to approach the cranes, and as we got closer we noticed there was a lot more in the area! There were Long-billed Curlews, Greater Yellowlegs, White-faced Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, Turkey Vultures, and a kettle of 26 Black Vultures. While we kept on driving I noticed three large birds flying out in the distance. Once I put my binocs up I saw there were two TUVU's and a Crested Caracara!!!

I have found a CRCA near my house before, but I was unable to get a diagnostic photo. It has been one of the birds that I have wanted to get proof of, since my first sighting in Maricopa. As the bird continued soaring in the thermals I noticed it was getting closer and closer and then all of the sudden the bird dove down and landed in a field that was not very far from us at all! And to add to all of this awesomeness, the CRCA was Mr. Paul's 200th bird of the year!!!

Crested Caracara!!!

 
Ms. Donna was telling Mr. Paul and I about how gutsy CRCA's can be, but once this guy made a TUVU back off I was amazed,  Ms. Donna was correct!!!

After we observed the caracara for a while, he decided he had to fly to another field.

Now, even with all of this caracara excitement I must move on to the other awesome birds that like the Arlington Valley.

Long-billed Curlew

 

Sandhill Crane

 

Lark Sparrow

 

Before we left Arlington I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk and I remembered that there is a "light morph" Harlin's Red-tailed Hawk that spends the winter here and has been for about 8 years now! The Harlin's RTHA is rare in AZ and the light morph makes up less than 1% of all Harlin's Hawks, so this bird is super rare in AZ!

 



 

Before we ended our birding trip we stopped by the Lower River Road Ponds one more time. When we parked the car and started scanning we found a flock of geese that consisted of 4 Ross's Geese and 6 Snow Geese.

 

The Ross's Geese are on the left and the Snow Geese are on the right.

 

The Ross's Geese were lifers for me so I tried to get closer, but when I got to where I could see the pond again I couldn't find them! However, I was still satisfied with my scope views.  Once I got back to my house I gave Mr. Tommy D (AKA "The King Of Maricopa") a call to let him know about the Crested Caracara (a bird he has yet to see in Maricopa). And after leaving a message he called me back and before I knew it he picked me up and we were on a chase! Unfortunately, we were unable to relocate the bird. After being slapped by the caracara we stayed in the area until after dusk to look for a Short-eared Owl (another bird Mr. Tommy has yet to get in Maricopa) but we struck out on that bird as well. We did however, see a couple of Great Horned Owls and a Burrowing Owl.

 

After getting back from Arlington for the second time I went to bed and woke up to go on my second IBA count, at the B & M. The Baseline and Meridian WA is one of my favorite places to bird. This place almost never lacks birds. In the summer they have breeding Ridgway's and Virginia Rails, Least Bitterns, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Barn and Great Horned Owls, in the spring and fall there is no telling what you might find, and in the winter they almost always have one or two rarities that stay for a while. Everyone met up at 7:15am and we birded in the mid 30 degree cold temps! One of our first highlights were two female Hooded Mergansers that flew around the large lake and ponds. After the mergansers we mostly just had the usual species, until I heard a very soft chip note coming from a thick riparian area west of Avondale bridge, it sounded like a cross in between a Yellow Warbler and a Lark Sparrow, but it was very soft and gentle. Upon getting closer I noticed it was a female American Redstart! I was able to get a couple of very bad photos, but hey they are diagnostic!

 

 

After the eastern warbler excitement we had to head back around, and we decided to bird a stand of riparian trees, just east of the bridge and on the north side of the river. Last year they had Eastern Phoebe and Orchard Oriole spend the winter in these trees, so we thought it would be worth it to check. It was very quiet at first but once the birds calmed down it became quite active. But things got awesome when we heard a Winter Wren calling from the extremely thick brush! This is the second time I have heard WIWR this month so who knows when I will finally get to see and maybe even photograph one these rail behaving-wrens! We ended the IBA survey with an awesome 60 species of bird at the B & M. I had an amazing two days of birding with many highlights and I must thank Mr. Joe Ford, Mr. Paul Doucett, Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben, Ms. Donna Smith, Ms. Haylie Hewitt, Ms. Vera Markham, and my parents for helping and allowing me to go out and bird!