'Tis The Season: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December is a great time to be birding in Arizona.  When birding is out of the equation, it's also the best time of the year.  Things start to rapidly cool down, people are finally out and about, and there's just an awesome feeling in the air.  I can't get enough of Christmas lights and fun Christmas programs such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (which I have watched twice already).  Friends hang out and host fun gigs, and everyone with the exception of the cardiac-arrest shop-till-you-drop people are trying to make the "real" best out of Christmas.  And birding is quite similar.  Eastern and pacific vagrants start to show up throughout the state in seemingly good stocking stuffer numbers, which every birder loves to either discover or chase.  Christmas Bird Counts fill the calender also, which is a great thing to participate in.  Scouting for Christmas Bird Counts is a busy task too, as hard core birders try to have the best counts as possible.  These counts are a great way to find cool birds as well as have the chance to hang out and bird with awesome people.  Around Phoenix, whether there are rare birds or not, the December weather is the best out of any month of the year!

I've had fun days here-and-there lately for birding.  Most days are spent sitting on my butt at my hospital job.  There aren't any good birding spots that I know of in the hospital parking lot.  Rock Pigeons and Great-tailed Grackles are present in high numbers.  I always think it's great to see a pile of Pigeon feathers in the lot, because I know that my buddy is back.  He hangs out on the roof of the hospital, looking for the helpless pigeon.

American Kestrels are around in high numbers everywhere right now.  In your reading this, take a look outside and you might see one.  For such a common bird, it's one that is always a treat to see, and it is the second falcon to lead this post off.  Kestrels perch on funny things sometimes.  This one says, "do I look like a freaking Osprey?"

One of my more recent trips came on this past Monday, which was December 8th, 2014.  I took a trip with my friend Steve Hosmer south of Phoenix to Tucson's Sweetwater Wetlands as well as Pinal County's Santa Cruz Flats.  We were chasing two birds, both of which would be lifers for me from the east:  Baltimore Oriole at Sweetwater, and a Black-throated Blue Warbler at Santa Cruz.  Steve and I chose to go to Sweetwater first to look for my life bird and his state bird.  Once at Sweetwater, I spied the Baltimore Oriole within ten minutes of arrival.  As Sun's broadcaster Al McCoy would say, "Shazzaaammm".

The Baltimore Oriole was far away at first, but Steve and I still had good binocular looks and then great looks through Steve's scope.  And then we were able to get closer to the Oriole, with much better views.  This bird was stunning, and I was very glad I was able to add it onto my life list!

Sweetwater Wetlands has harbored many many many many many rarities during it's history.

Winter season hosts raptors and waterfowl in abundant numbers in Arizona.  Northern Shovelers and Red-tailed Hawks are two perfect examples.

Immediately after Sweetwater, Steve and I were heading back north up to Pinal County's Santa Cruz Flats in pursuit of the Black-throated Blue Warbler.  The Warbler was found on private property within the Flats from a public road, so when Steve and I got there there were other birders birding from the road but looking onto private property.  It had been found a week or two earlier, and thanks to Magill Weber and Muriel Neddermeyer, they relocated it and prompted our trip and attempt at this beautiful eastern warbler.  A handful of birders were on the scene as expected other than Steve and I:  Babs Buck, Barb Medding, Laurens Halsey, Lindsey Story and her father Dick, Brian Walsh, Larry Norris, Doug Jenness, Keith Kamper, and more.  The warbler wasn't cooperative during most of the search.  Several other birds such as an American Redstart, Acorn Woodpecker, Summer Tanager and "Western" Flycatcher were good side kicks.  After two hours of waiting with some of the birders listed above, we were about to move on and search the Flats more and would then come back to try for the warbler again.  Luckily, as people were getting in their cars, I took a last-second scan at the house on the property, which had some berry bushes around it.  A small bird caught my eye foraging on a branch and then on the house itself!  It was the Black-throated Blue Warbler!

No, this isn't a good picture and I wasn't trespassing to get a better one.  The binocular views were quite good.  Most of the birders had gotten back to their vehicles but quickly came running to the sound of my voice once I spied the warbler.  The warbler started to jump around on the house and even the Christmas lights that were hanging down from the roof!  Sadly, it flew before I could take a picture of the Christmas light sequence.  You'd have to see it to believe it, but I swear it happened.  The warbler was singing Jingle Bells too.  

Everyone was very happy with me that I spied the bird, and I was glad I was able to spy it for everyone.  This was one of the stranger occurences I have had when getting a life bird, but one of the more awesome ones too.  The Black-throated Blue Warbler is one of my favorite warblers.  Seeing an adult male like this in it's splendor was an epic treat.  A great life bird to get, and I hope I'll be able to get a good picture if I get lucky to come across one again.  The Warbler spent some time hopping around the old house on the property and human made structures leaning up against the wall.  Food source must have been good there, because the Black-throated Blue Warbler was joined by many other songbirds.  This is another horrible picture, but the warbler went inside this old crevice and came out of another hole up a few feet higher!  This picture shows the nice blue back rather well...

Steve and I drove around the Flats looking for other goodies after the warbler excitement.  We did come back for the warbler again and weren't able to find it the second time, but Laurens Halsey did, and it was a nice addition to his epic Arizona Big Year he is doing that is now the current Arizona Big Year record.  Other birds around the Flats included my first Lark Bunting of the year as well as the neat Prairie Falcon.

And then came along a fun scouting trip along the Verde River on December 13th for the upcoming Salt and Verde River Christmas Bird Count on December 15th.  I can't participate in any official count dates this year, but I did help several awesome birders scout the area and get birds for count week.  The Verde River is a fun place to bird, but it is on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation and we aren't allowed to venture into the Reservations during other times of the year.

I don't stop to look at Lesser Goldfinches very often, but a tree full of them is a neat sight!

I spent most of the day scouting with Troy Corman, Justin Jones, and Marceline Vandewater.  Tom Lewis and Kurt and Cindy Radamaker also joined us for awhile.  It was a pleasure birding with these awesome people and awesome birders.  Here is a shot of Justin, Marceline, and Troy getting ready to find noteworthy count week birds!

Before we arrived to the Verde River, we were rather nervous about the weather conditions, as forecasts said there would be heavy rain most likely through mid-morning.  Luckily, the rain was gone by the time we got to the Ft. McDowell!  During bush-whacking treks along the Verde, we certainly did get our share of high mud levels in places.  Most birders (99 percent) would avoid this mud, but the mud also accesses amazing habitat areas where Troy, Justin, and Marceline have found great rarities in in the past.  If you don't get your feet wet, you won't discover a lot of what's out there!  

As we were in the earlier hour of our expedition in the mud zones, I heard a Red-shouldered Hawk calling from the riparian across the river.  After a muddy crossing, we were able to get around on the cottonwood and willow islands much easier.  We then found a male Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers with great views, which was cool.  It sat low at one point and I was able to have great visuals through my binoculars.  We went further into the habitat and had a Dusky Flycatcher, and we then had a great visual of the Red-shouldered Hawk.  The hawk was perched in a cottonwood at first after we followed it's loud screams for awhile.  It eventually flew up over our area and we had great views.  I was able to snap a few pictures.

The "Shoulder" is a beautiful raptor, and this bird is one than isn't easy to photograph due to it's skittish and low-flying behavior.  When this bird flew up, it gave me the chance to snap the best photographs I have ever had of this species.  Troy exclaimed several times how striking the bird was before it flew up in the air, and once it did, it became a great sighting for all of us!  Moving back along the mud zones that were two feet deep in places, we came upon another section of great habitat, where multiple eastern warblers were found last year.  This time we found a Black-and-White Warbler and Troy found a very rare Pacific-Slope Flycatcher for this time of year.  The Flycatcher was cooperative for Troy and it gave a distinctive Pacific-slope Flycatcher call note so we didn't have to mark it down as a Western Flycatcher spuh.

Also, here's a cool dragonfly that Justin found along the route!  Birds aren't always the only things to look at out there, the world of dragonflies is another awesome thing that requires a lot of searching.  

We are a little over two weeks away from the end of 2014.  What an awesome year it has been for 2014.  I have a feeling there may be several more awesome outings remaining on my calendar to close out this year.  Regardless of what else I see, this year has been great.  

Prescott Birding-Once Again!

Hi everyone,

This weekend I spent a fun two days of birding and staying in the Prescott Area.  The trip was based around my friend getting married, but I got a lot of birding time in as well!  Bird highlights were very numerous on this trip, as I spent my birding time at Watson and Willow Lakes, and in the high elevation mountain forests.  From a rare duck to a few flashy mountain warblers, this trip was filled with excitement.

On April 13th, 2013, I arrived in Prescott at 6:30 A.M. and birded the area of Watson Lake for over three hours.  I met up with Laurence Butler and we birded the Watson Woods Riparian Preserve where Granite Creek runs through the Preserve, and along the eastern section of Watson Lake.  The eastern section of the lake can be covered easily from a trail called the Prescott Ravine Trail.  Parking here is two dollars.  Laurence and I then had many highlights throughout the preserve and by searching the lake.  The lake had an impressive 15 species of geese and ducks.  Out of the 15 species, this included our main target, which was a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER who has spent the winter on the lake.  After walking probably just over a mile on the Prescott Ravine Trail, Laurence and I spied the Scoter on the water in a still cove.   We managed to get fairly close to it, and it provided us with good and satisfying views.  We had both only seen this species one time prior to this one.  From what I heard, this Scoter spends most of its time on the northern section of the lake near the dam.  But luckily, it was further south when we found it, just over a mile from the start of the trail where the rock formations start to surround the lake.  With the Scoter was also a nice pair of REDHEADS.  With the two species swimming by each other, it was a sight.  Another great duck sighting we had was a drake WOOD DUCK perched on a log when the riparian woods meet the lake, and we were able to view him with great scope looks for a few minutes.  Other waterfowl on the lake included GADWALL, an AMERICAN WIGEON, CINNAMON and GREEN-WINGED TEAL, high numbers of NORTHERN SHOVELERS, CANVASBACKS, RING-NECKED DUCKS, LESSER SCAUP, BUFFLEHEADS, and plenty of RUDDY DUCKS.  A few CANADA GEESE were also present.  EARED GREBES were also present on the lake, and some were in nice breeding plumage.  Raptors present were singles of SHARP-SHINNED and COOPER'S HAWKS, and two RED-TAILED HAWKS (one of which was a juvenile flying in the Preserve during the morning and perching at close distances).  A single FRANKLIN'S GULL flew south down the lake.  Woodpecker wise, a HAIRY WOODPECKER was present in the Preserve.  Flycatcher highlights were a few WESTERN and CASSIN'S KINGBIRDS, as well as an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER.  A nice highlight for me was finding a NASHVILLE WARBLER in the Preserve when I arrived on site.  This bird was singing a lot, and it confused me at first because I haven't heard the species sing much.  A few LAZULI BUNTINGS buzzed in the area.  Also present was a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE and singing WESTERN MEADOWLARKS in the grassy areas surrounding the lake.  A few AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES that were close to being in breeding plumage were also present in the Preserve.  At the end of the stop, Laurence and I tallied about 70 species.

White-winged Scoter

Redheads

Where a White-winged Scoter meets two Redheads

Red-tailed Hawk

This Western Kingbird is quite happy with all the insects to catch!

Watson Lake

Watson Woods Riparian Preserve meeting Watson Lake

Up next we went a short distance to bird Willow Lake.  The wind had picked up and it was very windy while we birded here.  We ran into Prescott birders Steve Burk and Keith Archibald, and they shared some of their awesome sightings with us.  Willow Lake had abundant numbers of waterfowl also, and was highlighted by a drake BLUE-WINGED TEAL to bring our waterfowl count between the two neighbor lakes to 16 species.  A NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, rare in this area, was present among the common DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS.  A ZONE-TAILED HAWK circled around the lake and made a few passes over us at close distance, and we also found a COOPER'S HAWK perched up on a rock.  Shorebirds around the lake were a LESSER YELLOWLEGS and two BLACK-NECKED STILTS.  A nice flock of at least 15 FRANKLIN'S GULLS were present as we scanned the waters, and they were joined by two CALIFORNIA GULLS.  Other highlights at Willow Lake during our time were BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD, LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER, WESTERN KINGBIRD, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, BUSHTITS, MARSH WREN, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, and AMERICAN PIPITS.  Between the two stops, over 80 species were tallied before I had to head to the wedding in Skull Valley and Laurence had to head home.

California Gull

Cooper's Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk

On April 14th, 2013, I started my day birding in the amazing forest and southern stretch of Walker Road.  My family kindly invited me to stay in a cabin with them in this area overnight, and when I drove through the area it really impressed me after I got done with the lakes.  I made my birding plans to bird this area on the morning of the 14th once I saw how nice the habitat was.  The habitat here that I covered was 6400-7100' in elevation, and was a very beautiful forest with a mix of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, white fir, birch, and oak.  Several active streams and creeks were in the area, often along Walker Road.  The birds were very active and their weren't many dull moments.  My favorite highlight along this road in the 3.5 hours I birded it was my first RED-FACED WARBLER of the year.  I heard it singing and it eventually came out in the open and gave me amazingly stunning views.  This warbler was very cooperative for my binoculars and camera and it was probably the best sighting I've had of this southwestern warbler.  Another great warbler highlight came from another one of my favorites, the PAINTED REDSTARTS.  These birds were numerous along this road, and often showed off in front of me roadside, perching anywhere from 30 feet up in the trees to in the middle of Walker Road on the ground.  I also came upon a stretch of the road where OLIVE WARBLERS were numerous, as I probably had 6-7 individuals.  Several nice males put in good showings and were very vocal.  Both GRACE'S and VIRGINIA'S WARBLERS sang in the area also, especially close to the cabin where I was staying at.  I also had a migrant MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER along the road to join the warbler mix.  Warblers were the main highlight along Walker Road, but plenty of other forest birds were also present.  A male BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD trilled overhead.  ACORN and HAIRY WOODPECKERS were present in good numbers, as well as a few NORTHERN FLICKERS.  VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS flew overhead and into their nest cavities.  MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES were present in high numbers, and were easily viewed during the hike.  All three NUTHATCHES were present: PYGMY, RED-BREASTED, and WHITE-BREASTED.  Three BROWN CREEPERS were found in a nice shady stand of Douglas fir.  HOUSE WRENS were singing throughout the road also in high numbers, with some males perching high to sing.  PINE SISKINS were also abundant and often came down to drink in the creeks.  I found 32 species in this forest setting on Walker Road.  To reach this area, head south on Walker Road (same road where Lynx Lake Recreation Area is) for over seven miles until the pavement ends.  For four miles (miles 7 to 11), follow Walker Road south through through these forested habitats.  This is a dirt road, but it is in very good condition and is easy to drive on.  The only downside is that there is a lot of private property throughout the road on both sides.  If birding this stretch of the road, stay on the main Walker Road, which is what I did.  Birding is pleasant and great right alongside the road.  I found the Red-faced Warbler right after the pavement ends. I also think this road would probably be productive at night for Spotted, Saw-whet,and Flammulated Owls.  I'm still on a high from the birding on this awesome road!

The many views of the Red-faced Warbler

Red-faced's lunch

Painted Redstart

Olive Warbler

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Mountain Chickadee

Scenes from Walker Road

After birding Walker Road, I headed back to Willow and Watson Lakes to conclude my trip.  I stopped at Willow Lake first, where I spent about an hour scanning the south shore of the lake.  I quickly had a good highlight, as I spied two FORSTER'S TERNS sitting with a flock of FRANKLIN'S GULLS on a floating log in the water.  A ZONE-TAILED HAWK (probably the same one from yesterday) flew over the lake.  A WILSON'S SNIPE sprung out from the dense grass I was walking through to scan the lake, and scared the daylights out of me.  A VESPER SPARROW also flew out from the grass, and a few SAVANNAH SPARROWS were also present.  

Forster's Terns and Franklin's Gulls

My final stop of was finally once again at Watson Lake, where I began the trip.  This time, I was hoping to find a Common Black-Hawk at the Watson Lake Woods that birders have been seeing.  I saw a raptor soaring up high that I thought for sure was the Black-Hawk, but as I scanned the bird I saw that it was a young HARRIS'S HAWK.  Steve Burk informed me that Harris's Hawks are very rare in the Prescott area, so I am quite happy with the sighting!  Then a few minutes later, I did find the COMMON BLACK-HAWK that I was hoping for perched up in a cottonwood.  Waterfowl was numerous as usual as I walking along Watson Lake during this visit, but I didn't find the White-winged Scoter on this go-around.  Perhaps it went back up to the northern part of the lake.  New for the trip on this visit I added a calling SUMMER TANAGER in the Preserve.  

Harris's Hawk

Common Black-Hawk

Northern Shoveler

I once again enjoyed birding in the wonderful area of Prescott, which is now a birding patch I think I can do often with it being a very decent drive from home.  My trip list resulted in 107 species seen in the two days of birding.  Certainly a fun a memorable trip, and a highly recommended visit for those who haven't birded it!