In Maricopa County? No Way...

On June 24th, I had just started what would be a full day of birding in Coconino County, which is a county that is under-birded by me.  I planned to cover a variety of elevations and habitats for the course of two days of the 24th and 25th.  At my first stop, I got a text from Caleb Strand with a few pictures of a screenshot from a discussion of a photographed oriole at the Hassayampa River Preserve.  Birders called it a Bullock's Oriole and birders also called it a Hooded Oriole.  It was confusing, but Chris Benesh chimed in and said it looked like a Streak-backed Oriole to him.  I was intrigued at the photograph, which was of the bird's frontside and not the backside.  The backside would be the best indicator, because the Streak-backed Oriole is a well-named bird.  Cheryl Gross was the photographer of the bird, and she was asked to show more pictures of the bird.  She sent in some more pictures and said that the bird had been building a nest.  By looking at her pictures, not only was it evident that she had a female Streak-backed Oriole, but the nest the oriole was making was different than the nests that are built by Hooded and Bullock's Orioles.  It was a wonderful way to identify the bird from two aspects.  I couldn't believe that there was an active Streak-backed Oriole nest in Maricopa County.  Questions were asked of who her mate was or if she had a mate.  Was there a male Streak-backed Oriole nearby?

As the 24th was a Wednesday and the Hassayampa River Preserve is open during summer months from Thursday to Sunday, I decided to spend my day in Coconino County and come back that same day so I could chase the Streak-backed Oriole.  I was pumped up at the chance I had to get this Mexican rarity in Maricopa County.  In Arizona, Streak-backed Oriole has nested before, and it is a casual visitor otherwise.  When one is reported, it always has a lot of birders who want to chase and seek.  There were a few years that a male Streak-backed Oriole spent the winter months at Gilbert Water Ranch, and it was right before I got involved with the Arizona birding community.  It was something I wished I would've seen and not missed by a year or two, and I was glad that I would have a chance for this bird.  In 2016, I did get to see a nice male Streak-backed Oriole at a stakeout spot in Yuma County.

Eric Hough works at the Hassayampa River Preserve as their ranger.  He was working the day the oriole was found, and he went out to re-find it.  Chrissy Smith was with him, and they went out and relocated the nest along the Mesquite Meander Trail of the Preserve.  It was right over the trail, and they decided to close about 100 feet of the trail off so the bird could have space for nesting.  What Eric and Chrissy did was awesome because it gave the bird guaranteed breathing room from people swarming the area, but they also did it from a distance where people could still see the bird very well.  Eric and Chrissy saw the bird that evening when they went out.  By scanning the tree, Eric also found another nest that had been built by the oriole.  It was apparent that she was present at the Hassayampa River Preserve last year too, and had built that nest last year!  I couldn't believe it.  It turned out that the Oriole was photographed on June 9th and 23rd by Cheryl before it was identified by Chris Benesh on June 24th.  It was also observed and photographed by Rachel Stringham on June 6th, and she realized that she had photographed the female Streak-backed Oriole.

On June 25th, I headed out to the Hassayampa Preserve and got there right at opening time.  There were many birders there, and I would stake out the viewing spots for the Oriole for most of the day with Dara, Jeff, Derik, Erin, Mary, Eric, Chrissy, Caleb, and Kav.  It was a lot of fun, and the Oriole would make many appearances.  When I first walked up to the nest from one side of the Mesquite Meander Trail, the nest stood out.

After hearing some chatter calls from Orioles, it didn't take long for the female fly into the nest and make a very brief visit.  When she did this, the nest bobbed back-and-fourth, and it was evident that something made the nest move.  It's almost like watching a bobber go up-and-down while fishing.  She would peek her head out for a half-second or so before flying off and making routine quick visits to her nest.

The nest was placed under the canopy of a cottonwood tree, and below a mistletoe clump on the cottonwood.  At times throughout the day when going to both viewpoints, the female Streak-backed Oriole gave us birders some awesome views.  It was very hard to see at times.  When describing key field marks to a female of this species, AZFO photo editors David and Lauren describe it as:  "Heavy-based straight bill with black on underside of lower mandible, brightest orange on the face and particularly the malar region, white edging to the wing feathers".  And of course, streaks on the back if the bird is viewed well enough!

A few times the female Streak-backed Oriole was seen in what looked to be in copulation pose with another oriole.  For awhile we thought it was a younger male Streak-backed, but Chris Benesh chimed in again and pointed out why it was a male Bullock's Oriole she seemed to be paired with.  Mary got some awesome photos of the birds (SEE AZFO PAGE AT LINK HERE) as they seemed to be in copulation pose.  When the two birds were present at once, it was hard for me to get a good look at them, yet alone a picture, as they moved through dense habitat.  In the days to come, a female Bronzed Cowbird was also seen entering and leaving the Orioles nest.  Perhaps the cowbird was getting ready to give the Oriole a different responsibility.

A week later on July 2nd, I returned to the Preserve again to meet up with Caleb.  The Streak-backed Oriole made brief visits to the area, and didn't come directly to the nest.  But she perched above the nest and I was in the right spot to get off a few lucky shots!

I got took photos of a few other birds along the Hassayampa River during the Streak-backed Oriole adventures.  Young Vermilion Flycatchers and a few cooperative Yellow-breasted Chats.

As I write today, the female Streak-backed Oriole continues at the Hassayampa River Preserve.  Time will tell if she produces young or if things were put on hold by Bronzed Cowbirds.  The Hassayampa River corridor is one that hosts an incredible variety of birds.  There have been many incredible rarities that have shown up there over the years, but the rarities that stand out to me most are those that are mainly from riparian areas in southeastern Arizona and Mexico.  Hassayampa has annual breeding populations of Gray Hawk and Tropical Kingbird, which are more expected.  At times, Thick-billed Kingbird has nested.  A Green Kingfisher was a remarkable bird that found the Preserve, and it stayed in the area for about six months.  When having conversations with Caleb and Eric about what to watch for in the future at the Hassayampa River Preserve, birds that the three of us mentioned were Yellow-green Vireo, Rose-throated Becard, and Nutting's Flycatcher.  Hopefully it won't take too long for these birds to show up...it wouldn't surprise me if they did!

In The Gila: The Rare Chase

Vermilion Flycatchers are always cool.  And so are rare bird chases in Gila County.

Wait, what?  A rare bird chase in Gila County.  It's something that is as awesome as it is because it rarely happens.

Gila County, as we know (you all may be bored reading of by now cause I've said it so many times), has limited coverage.  Coverage is pretty lame, but I love lame coverage.  It gives more room for finding awesome species and data of your own.  To date I have chased four birds in Gila County:  Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Surf Scoter, Short-tailed Hawk, and the most recent, Harris's Sparrow.  I'll get to the sparrow shortly..

Birding Gila County usually involves waking up at 3:30 A.M. in the morning and leaving town around 4.  Surviving the morning drive is usually met by blasting music, stopping at a boosting gas station, thinking about what to do throughout the day if one plan fails, thinking about what to do throughout the day if one plan succeeds, and drinking a sugar loaded Starbucks frappuccino.  Once it's time to bird, that tiredness fades and the day all of a sudden becomes the fun awakening.  

Someone reported a Harris's Sparrow on eBird earlier in March at the northern base of the Pinal Mountains in Globe.  Caleb, Jared, and I looked for it without luck.  However, Dave Pearson and a large group of birders birded the community, the Miami Gardens, where the Harris's Sparrow was found.  Luckily, they relocated the bird and Mary McSparen got some documentation photographs.  Caleb Strand and I decided to chase the Harris's Sparrow on April 4th, and Mary was very kind to make these awesome maps of the bird's location for us.  Thank you Mary, you are awesome!  Caleb and I got to the Miami Gardens right at sunrise to begin searching for the sparrow.  Northern Cardinal to start the day anyone?

I wanted the Harris's Sparrow to start the day, but really, what fun would that be.  Caleb and I got to Miami Gardens, where one side of the road we birded along had the community's western line of houses, and the other side had desert habitat.  The desert was an interesting one to bird and had a lot of hilly terrain to walk up and down besides the flat stretches.  Flocks of noisy White-crowned Sparrows were easy to locate by ear, but they were hard to get good looks at at times and were quite skittish.  The area we were covering wasn't too big, but one sparrow in midst of thick habitat and lots of other sparrows was some work to be cut out of it all.  After starting at about 6:30, we found ourselves being majorly threatened by two Chihuahuas extending their rage to us behind the convenience of a closed fence.  It was hard to tune out that sound, just like that obnoxious co-worker we all know at work.  Walking away from the yard and back down the road and closer to where Mary had marked the spot where she saw the Harris's Sparrow, Caleb was standing down there and he said, "Tommy, here it is".  And there it was!  It was foraging in a mesquite and came down to the ground to feed on some seed that had been placed by birders.  The chase was successful after an hour's worth of looking, and I had myself a new Gila County life bird.  Thanks to Caleb to locating it!

Harris's Sparrow is the largest sparrow in the United States, and it is one of my favorite sparrows.  They are rare but annual in Arizona, and are the rarest out of the zonotricia genus that have other rare members in Arizona that are White-throated and Golden-crowned Sparrows aside from the abundant White-crowned Sparrow.  Gila County joined Pima and Maricopa Counties for other Arizona counties that I have seen Harris's Sparrow in.  This bird was really fun to see, not just because it was a Gila lifer but because it is one I have seen very few times.  

From the Harris's Sparrow at the northern base of the Pinals, Caleb and I climbed up into the highest elevations of the Pinals.  We found a closed road block once up there, and we decided to go on a long round hike of about 8 miles.  I really wanted to get a mountain birding rep in.  We didn't find anything crazy up in the heights, but it was well worth it!

To conclude the second half of the day, we searched the Gila River north and at Winkleman for a variety of birds such as raptors and migrants.  It was cool to see the Gila River very active with bird life for it being the afternoon, and highlighted by Common Black-Hawk, Gray Hawk, Western Screech-Owl calling in the day, and of course those cool Vermilion Flycatchers.  

Searching for Plovers and Pipits

A few times every year, I like to venture south to bird at the Santa Cruz Flats in Pinal County.  The Flats are a great birding location, and are the only reliable location in Arizona to see wintering Mountain Plovers as well as Crested Caracaras year round.  Besides those two species, a handful of other birds are around and are present in the area, which harbors a variety of different habitats.  Recently, my buddy Mark Ochs found a Sprague's Pipit in the area which has caused a big stir and many birders to come and search the area in hopes of finding this bird.  I recently made a trip down to the Flats with my friend Dominic Sherony, who is back for his annual three months that he spends in Arizona.  Starting the day off with a Dominic sighting was a great kick-off!

Our two main targets were Mountain Plover and Sprague's Pipit.  We started off with looking for Mountain Plovers.  Luckily, we didn't have any problems finding them.  At first there was a smaller flock of 9 birds, and that quickly grew to 44 when more of them flew in from the south.

Seeing and studying these Mountain Plovers was a lot of fun.  I believe this is only my fourth observation I have ever had of the species.

Mountain Plovers then seemed to be everywhere.  Some were hallucinations from the mad parade, while others were clearly, Mountain Plovers.

This is a bird I haven't seen in Maricopa County yet.  Maricopa County has good habitat too, I think I'm due for a Maricopa County Mountain Plover soon...

In the area was also a pair of Burrowing Owls....

After finding Mountain Plovers, our next target and search was for the Sprague's Pipit, a small and elusive grassland bird.  This was my main target bird of the day, especially since I had only seen one Sprague's Pipit in my entire life prior to this attempt.  After Mark Ochs originally found the first Sprague's Pipit, Kurt and Cindy Radamaker and Caleb Strand decided to walk up the fields and they kicked up five more Sprague's Pipits, plus Mark's Sprague's Pipit.  Dominic and I were hoping to see these birds, well, at least one of them well.  We started to scan the grass for any movement as well as watch for any pipits that were about the be flushed up.  Once flushing a few birds, we saw where one of them landed..

It was our target, and we enjoyed looks at the Sprague's Pipit feeding, walking, and running through the dense grass.  Finding it in our camera viewfinders was an entirely different story!

The Sprague's Pipit may look like a streaked and drab big-eyed little bird to anyone, but for the birder, it is one of those birds that make this hobby fun.

As we continued to walk through the fields, we had at least six Sprague's Pipits as well.  We even had five of them flush in the same area as Kurt, Cindy, and Caleb all had a similar number together.  It was great to study the Pipits behavior, flight, and calls.  

Walking through the grass and fields with sneaky Sprague's Pipits was a fun thing to partake in.

We searched for other birds also, including the eastern warblers in the American Redstart and Black-throated Blue Warbler spilling over from last year.  We had the redstart but didn't have any luck with the Black-throated Blue Warbler.  A Summer Tanager that was found last year was also still around.  These birds are wintering, yes!  The only photograph I was able to get of anything was of a nice Vermilion Flycatcher.

After exploring throughout the Santa Cruz Flats area, we stopped at Arizona City Lake on the way home.  We found two drake Wood Ducks as well as this Greater White-fronted Goose.  Dominic said that this was the closest he has ever been to this goose species.

It was a great day of Pinal County birding at the Santa Cruz Flats.  Thanks to Dominic for an awesome day!