Winter Has Come

Verdin

It is now a quieter time of birding here in Arizona. This is not to say that there isn't any great birding.  Far from it!  But with most people distracted by the holidays, many public and natural areas have less human traffic thanks in part for their need to shop. 

Great deal on Friskies Pate!

For birders, we just need to keep our eyes on the road for erratic driving.  I already have had someone dent my car from the Black Friday madness.  All I wanted was some pate for my cats!:) We, of course, forgot it was Black Friday and by that time, it was too late for us to escape. 

Lesser Scaup

The cooler temps and storms begin to usher in a new group of wintering ducks, cranes and raptors. 

Canvasback

Birders change their focus from mountain tops to water areas. We begin to head to local watering ponds to search for such rarities as Long-tailed Ducks or Horned Grebes. Maybe even a rare gull?

Cooper's Hawk

Some birds that are naturally difficult to see during the summer become a bit more visible as they feed from seed that has fallen to the ground. 

One of my favorite bird groups, the sparrows, begin to arrive back in great numbers.  This Brewer's Sparrow(below) is so plain and yet I think it's a gorgeous bird. 

Brewer's Sparrow

We also begin to scour the ag fields in places like Avra Valley or the infamous Santa Cruz Flats.  When I first began birding, these places were intimidating to me because their areas were so vast.  Today, it's all second nature. 

A random Osprey at the sod farm of Tweedy and Pretzer roads

As we comb the sod farms, groves of pecan trees, cattle ranches, drainage areas and barren desert expanses, we discover that all of our regular wintering guests such as the Mountain Plovers and Crested Caracaras have come back. 

Northern Harrier

We also note that there are several hundred Lark Buntings feeding from the miles of sorgum along the stretches of dirt roads.  

Crested Caracara

Cotton trucks cover us in layers of dust as we try to get a fix on the nearly invisible Mountain Plovers zig-zagging on the sod farms.  They are perfectly camouflaged as they feed from the lingering green vegetation. 

Mountain Plover

 As we exit the Santa Cruz Flats, we stop at Arizona City Lake.  Over the years, I have tried to figure out this strange community.  It is built around an artificial lake. The homes all looked rather nice at one time, but there appears to be some wear and tear now.  The fountain at the center of the lake no longer sprays regularly and now acts more like a desert island for cormorants, gulls and pelicans.  Yes, this is a great birding hotspot. 

A rare Horned Grebe. Normally rare, but this year it seems like there are more Horned Grebes than the similar looking  winter molts of the Eared species

 It's a fantastic spot for lots of rarities such as this Horned Grebe above.  Every time I see the now defunct fountain, I imagine it's where the residents bury their dead.  

The Arizona City Lake fountain used to look like this.....but not anymore.  Now it just sits like an ancient pyramid where they bury their dead. 

Well.  I do have an active imagination. The truth? It was too costly for them to run all this water all the time. Plus it's a waste of water. If residents individually want the fountain to run, they can pay for it themselves and will sporadically do so.  But I think, burial ground makes it more interesting:)

Yes, winter has finally arrived here in Arizona.  Joggers can jog.  Bikers can bike. Birders can bird. And everyone can smile and not worry about dying from heat exhaustion after 15 minutes of outside exposure:) Birders can sleep in late until 7 AM(when the sun rises) and bird until 5(when the sun sets). With a little more than a month to go before the year ends, Las Aventuras will try to make it to the 500 bird mark.  I'll leave you all with some recent visits to three of the places we visited this past week.  

Count 1. The Avra Valley area

Snow Goose in Blue Molt

Count 2.  The Santa Cruz Flats

A stunning male Vermilion Flycatcher

Count 3.  Arizona City Lake

Until next time........

Waiting to Exhale

Anna's Hummingbird with Pyracantha in the background

When you've seen all there is to see, you begin to study better what you already know.

It's that deeper understanding of habitats and bird behaviors that can be quite satisfying.

Such was the case during a trek out to the Santa Cruz flats.  Instead of chasing new birds, we just observed the ones present.

American Kestrel

 The scope comes out and we begin to scan. 

Magill scans the sod farm for Mountain Plovers

Of course, we try and search for that special rare bird or two. But on the Flats, it's always the wintering Mountain Plovers that steal the show.

First decent photo documentation of a Mountain Plover

 Rare or not, I'm never disappointed because I love birds. And it's so relaxing and fun trying to find as many birds as we can while we're out in the field.

Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron

I especially love birding with good friends.   Add to the experience cold rainy weather and you've got a great day outdoors.  For a desert dweller recovering from the sweltering hot summer temps, it's nearly perfection:)

Male Vermilion Flycatcher

Subtle visitors come back to visit us during the winter like the Sagebrush Sparrow.  You won't see them unless you take the time to stop and smell the sage.  They aren't shy birds, but they do blend in well with their surroundings. And if you don't know they are out there, you'd never know they existed:)

Sagebrush Sparrow

A Greater Pewee migrates down to the lower elevations and hangs out at a local watering hole.

Greater Pewee

And a hesitant Broad-tailed Hummingbird sticks around longer than normal.

A late Broad-tailed Hummingbird

The holidays are coming and my work is not done. For now, I have a house to clean and final exams to prepare. I am one bird shy of my 700 life bird goal and I wonder which bird species it will be. But for now, during the "in between", I relax and revisit my favorite spots in Southern Arizona when I can squeeze in the time. Until next time.....

Black Friday Birding Specials

Crested Caracara-we counted 26 of them! 

Oh there's nothing like waiting until the last minute for those special items......

The stress.  The mad rush to get those last minute birds before that big day arrives. 

Juvenile Crested Caracara

To find them, you have to get a little down and dirty.

Red-breasted Sapsucker-snapped this past week in Madera Canyon 

I can't order these specialties online nor do I seem to find them anywhere on the racks.  "Limited edition!" I'd say.   

A favorite!  The Arizona Woodpecker.  

But I got up early before everyone else did!  Not fair.  Who cut the line?

Sexy sexy Lark Bunting

Did I go to the wrong place?  But the advertisement said......

A common color for birds out in the Flats is yellow.  Western Meadowlarks(above), Savannah Sparrows, Horned Larks, etc are just some examples.  All were in great numbers on this trek. 

.....there'd be one available down this way!  I even had the right GPS coordinates!

American Pipit

Well I guess I'll do the best I can. That's really all I can do to get ready for the big day. 

Last week after school I went to capture a shot of the geese near my school.  Snow Goose(left) with Greater white-fronted Goose

Thankfully we all teamed up and switched to Plan B.  It's always good to have a Plan B even if you didn't know you had a Plan B. Luckily we found some Mountain Plovers together.  

Mountain Plover!  We counted 6 of them.  A much needed "new" bird for the year. Nothing like waiting until the last minute:)

Better to team up and share the experience!

December 31st is approaching quickly.  Just how many more birds can I find before the year is over?  This has been an amazing experience.  Part of me just wants to bird like a normal person again.  The other part wants to keep going.  And the other part worries that I might be obsessed with birds:) A special thank you to Magill Weber for driving and suggesting a trip out to the Santa Cruz Flats. Laurence Butler also joined in on the fun and together we conquered the Flats. (Or so we thought.  A group of wise ancient birders covered the same area and found a rare gem to AZ known as a Black-throated Blue Warbler!) I swore I wouldn't go out there again unless I had to!  I even tried to get my Mountain Plovers in Colorado but that plan didn't work out.  So back to the dirty Flats it was. Even if you bird from the car, you will get dirty! But I will say that the Flats have one of the best raptor shows in Arizona during the winter. Just be prepared to take a shower when you get home:) More next week.....