Winter Birding in Maricopa County

Sometimes, while waiting for the next challenge, we occupy our time with important surveys.

Over the weekend, I grabbed a golf cart and joined friends Gordon and Joe for the Greater Phoenix waterbird count.  Gordon lead our team for this annual Arizona Game and Fish event.  

Gordon and Joe count waterbirds on the golf course

We drove golf carts and counted all the wintering waterbirds at all the watering holes......and that was A LOT! I could not believe how many golf courses are found in the Phoenix area!  

Hooded Merganser

Phoenix is an amazing place to bird in the winter.  There are thousands of ducks that find safety within the urban limits of this huge city. 

I'm not a big fan of birding here in the summer though.  It's really hot with a lot of roads and sidewalks absorbing the 110+ temps.  At night those same roads and sidewalks keep the night temps very warm by releasing the heat.  So casually walking around Phoenix in the winter is a real treat.   

Our count took the full day and along the way, we saw some great birds.  It was overcast, windy and COLD!  

I like to help out when I can.  Gordon's trek was fun and had us outdoors exploring new locations.  

It also gives us something to do while we wait for our next great trek to the North.  

Green-tailed Towhee

 So if you are coming to Arizona for the winter, you will find lots of wintering ducks hanging out in our urban parks.  During the summer in Wisconsin, I was shocked by how frightened the birds were of us.  They tend to hide better and keep their distance far far away from people. I think it has a lot to do with hunting in the Northern States.  Ducks aren't dummies.  Luckily for them, they've found safety within our urban water areas.  And they definitely aren't shy of the people here. 

The day after our count, we went to another watering hole and found a rare Cackling Goose(Richardson's subspecies) hanging out with some Canada Geese.  Look carefully at the photo.  While they all look the same, one of the geese is smaller and has a short bill. 

Cackling Goose to the lower left of this picture

I love those kinds of ID challenges in the field. 

drake Green-winged Teal

Most ducks aren't shy in our area, but the Green-winged Teal can be tricky at times.  This drake, however, decided to swim up to me.  It doesn't happen often:)

Northern Shoveler

It's also interesting to note the differences between the drake(male) and hen(female) of the duck and merganser species.  Here is a male Common Merganser below. 

male Common Merganser

And here is the female(below). Very different looking!

A thank you to Gordon for setting up our count, leading our team and driving and to Joe for helping out. Our adventures will continue next week.......

Miraculous Chaos

Trumpeter Swans

Sometimes life has a strange way of challenging us. These past two weeks had been extremely difficult for me. I always try to do excellent work with the best of intentions. This past week's lifebird and mega-rarity for Arizona reminded me to keep everything in perspective. The arrival of the Trumpeter Swans made me forget all the needless crazy human drama.  

So the birding world also had a little big drama. The arrival of the Trumpeter Swans shook the foundation of the Arizona birding world. Never in our lives did we expect these rare gems to show up. Maybe they heard about our infamous Gem Show here in the Old Pueblo!?!? There are VERY few records of these birds visiting the state. All day long, working birders were trapped inside their work spaces while reports from the retired, visiting, workers with flexible jobs and those "who-don't-have-jobs-but-can-still-bird" reported these mega-rarities.  I paced like a lion in a cage wishing I were ancient, wise and retired. WHY??!!!!!!!!  I called Micheal and told him to grab the camera and GO!  "But I have to work in a half hour!", he whined.  "GO! NOW!"  So he went and discovered a media frenzy at Sweetwater.  Several minutes later, he texted me back and said, "Got 'em!"  

Here are the "Big 3" in the US.  On the left, the invasive Mute Swan hails from Europe. In the Upper Right hand corner, the rarer Trumpeter Swans are  making a comeback from near extinction.  The Tundra Swan is the only common, yet rare, visitor to Arizona during our winter months.  The bill on this swan is slightly different than that of the Trumpeter Swan AND this bird also has a yellow spot on the lores.

The school bell rang and I shot out of my cage like any trapped wild spirit would do. I arrived at Sweetwater to a full parking lot and went straight to the spot.  There they were!  NO WAY!  We didn't know it at the time, but we would be the last group to view these 2 swans before they disappeared the next day! I glowed for several hours after that observation.  But alas, it would not resolve my ridiculous issue the following day. 

I began this adventure as a young Spanish instructor.  Inspiration has always come from my work out in the field and it has been infused into my lectures today. That same energy is still there but it has changed over the years in a more seasoned matter. The world is not the same place it was many years ago. 

After doubting my teaching style that has been successful over the years, I saw this little message from A Little Piece of Me.  

There is only one of you in all time, 

this expression is unique. 

And if you block it, 

it will never exist through any other medium 

and it will be lost.

 ― Martha Graham

I have lost family, friends and students over the years.  I am reminded that we must live for today and not tomorrow.

I have always been a "teach with a smile and laugh" kinda guy.  But this past week the joke was on me and it wasn't very funny. To make a long story short, I blame it all on Pablo Neruda.  I'll have to write an ode to him for all the headaches he has given me over the years!  For now, I'll stick to the birds. 

The ear tufts stick out.  But will she stick it out over the next several months with all the students around?

My day began with the special sighting of our Great Horned Owls!  This is significant because she finally chose the human made basket instead of her yearly "ledge-of-death".  In the past, the owlets would try to leave the nest from a super high ledge only to fall to their demise.  About 4 years ago, we tried something different for this insistent pair of owls.  Finally this year, she chose the basket!  During the 4 year time period, we've successfully helped them raise 10 owlets!

I'm just calling this one...."The Southwest Today"

While my personal storm passed, another arrived in the form of dark gray skies full of wet and heavy clouds. Rain.  We wanted to do some birding in fun places around the state, but unfortunately, every place we turned had the same forecast!  So I stayed close to home. It still was a lot of fun.....although it was a wet birding trek. 

The Lark Sparrow

Winter storms are common during the months of January and February, but this one brought us an unusual amount of rain.  It rained for a day and a half!  This is very rare for us as our rain events usually last less than an hour or two at the most. 

But as you can see, the washes filled up.  Birds were hungry and cold!  My feeders saw a LARGE influx of Lesser Goldfinches. 

A juvi Sharp-shinned Hawk

It was a drive and bird kinda weekend. However, towards mid-afternoon, a downpour happened at one of our locations and it was time to pack up and leave.  We had been far from our car so by the time we reached it, we were soaked!

A Mourning Dove endures the rain

One of our fun challenges this year has been working with our cell phone camera option.  If you haven't noticed, my posts have begun to feature several artsy shots each week utilizing the camera part on the cell phone.   

I've also crossed the photography line regarding detail in pics. I like my camera very much but I'm wanting more now. For the first time, I switched the setting on my camera this past week for stronger results.  So far so good.  However, these pics take up more space on the SD cards and I have to be conscious about how many pictures I'm taking.

For now, I'm still thinking about the Trumpeter Swans.  What life bird follows after their grand departure?  I don't know.  I really don't. 

Black-crowned Night Heron

So I'll continue observing and snapping photos of previously seen birds enjoying their habitats and behaviors. 

Redhead

But like the Trumpeter Swans, I may at one point snap and fly drive....somewhere new.  There are still several locations I have to check out, but I know I'll be on the road again soon. 

A pair of Redheads

Winter is winding down and soon spring migration will be upon us. As for now, I'd like to keep the chaos to a minimum:)  My blood pressure can only rise so much:) More to come......

Common Merganser

A World Away

Saguaro Lake

Sometimes life gets crazy.  It definitely can be challenging.  In this fast paced life, I find that nature can be very healing.

Double-crested Cormorant at Christopher Columbus Park in Tucson

Sometimes it's not so much the birds but the escape that they provide.  It isn't fiction. I do travel quite a bit.  It's what I do best. I used to hike the same trail at the same time every day....and it got boring.  Once I started birding, I realized that I could make my walks more interesting by following the birds.

Northern Beardless Tyrannulet at Agua Caliente Park in Tucson

This past week had been a lot of fun as I trekked from our snow topped mountains to sod farms outside of Phoenix with friend Gordon Karre.  Our weather here has been wonderful.  Therefore, it's difficult to resist the urge to explore.

Pied-billed Grebe catching a snack at Agua Caliente Park

My first trek took me to Summerhaven up on Mt. Lemmon.  There was quite a bit of snow and ice up there as I hiked around my usual areas searching for the birds. 

Olive Warbler

 And surprise surprise! I lucked out by finding ONE Olive Warbler.

Agua Caliente Park

As I came down from the mountain, I decided to stop at the nearby Agua Caliente park.  And I'm glad I did!  I found their first of the year sightings of the highly sought after Northern Beardless Tyrannulets!  Pretty exciting stuff.

Yellow-eyed Junco on Summerhaven, Mt. Lemmon

Then it was off with Gordon to the Rousseau Sod Farms and Saguaro Lake in Maricopa County.  

Bald Eagle near the Salt River outside of Phoenix

A lot of the birds seen around these areas aren't as common in Tucson or around Pima county.  So many of them were first of the year birds for me. Or as birders write.....FOY.

Common Goldeneye on the Salt River

The canals around Phoenix and surrounding cities are full of really amazing ducks, geese, herons, hawks, etc. As we were looking across the agricultural fields, we'd have several birds fly up and pass over our heads.

Common Merganser near the Russo Sod Farm outside of Phoenix

Flycatchers are fun.  This bird below gets confused with the Dusky Flycatcher BUT if the birder pays attention, it can be a simple ID.  This Gray Flycatcher pumped its' tail downwards making the ID a snap.

Gray Flycatcher at Saguaro Lake

This is the first decent photo documentation that I've taken of this bird.  My first time I saw one, I used my Iphone to snap a pic. After that, I had seen them in many other locations, but the branches always got in the way of the bird! 

We counted many American Pipits at the Sod Farm.  Most of the them were feeding around the greens.

American Pipit at the Russo Sod Farm

Along the canals, we had beautiful views of an Osprey kiting.

Osprey near the canals of the Sod Farm

Beauty is everywhere and only a walk away.  And it's a great way to clear the mind after a crazy day at work!

Where will we go next week?  Stay tuned for more!

Something About Mary

From Kachina Springs, Flagstaff, AZ

There are some wonderful benefits to the new Ebird IPHONE app known as Birdlog.  It's great! Let's say you want to go to an unknown place and bird. All you have to do is turn on your phone from your location and pretend to submit a report.  Highlighted red, blue or yellow tags will pop up showing you places where birders go seek new life and new civilizations.  And that's how we found Mary lake, Kachina Springs, and the Mormon Lake in Flagstaff.

I have lived in Arizona for a good portion of my life and had never known about these places. It was a fun car ride and along the way we made stops.....many of them! Our best views came from a family of Osprey fishing on Lower Mary Lake.  The weather was just perfect and made for some great birding!   

There were so many waterbirds that I had to really be careful.  I'm glad I did because I was able to get my Common Goldeneye.  The pic below shows many "ducks" to the common eye, but if you blow that pic up, you'd see it's a massive mix of Buffleheads, Mergansers, Ducks, Coots, and oh so much more.

So let's do it for fun!  Let's blow this pic up and take a look at some of these fantastic water birds! Here's a Common Goldeneye(below) that I found in Wisconsin. Once I have a good shot of the lifebird, I relax and observe the birds as they are.  At Kachina Springs, I was able to breathe in the fresh mountain air and count birds.

Buffleheads made for a great show.

Western Bluebirds surrounded the water areas.

Ruddy ducks....

Ring-necked ducks......

Canvasbacks....

Northern Shovelers....

Redheads.....

Common Mergansers....

Lesser Scaups....

and Green-teals ducks are all swimming together.  The trick is taking a closer look and never assuming that they're all one species.  Something Kathie taught me. Not Mary.

I do love ducks, but I love Osprey more.  It's hard to count ducks and other waterbirds when these gorgeous birds of prey are out in full hunting mode.

The views were enjoyable.  The walks were fantastic.  And the birds were just icing on the cake.  I think driving through the woods with my car window down was my favorite part.  It was like being back home in Wisconsin again.  Perfection for some is fishing.  Perfection for me is this.  All of it.  The birds, the plants, the new discoveries and of course......the experiences.  If you're up in the Flagstaff area, check out Kachina Springs, Mormon Lake and the Upper and Lower Mary Lake recreational areas.  All I have to say about it is, "Frank and beans!"  More to come....