The rare and awesome Red Phalarope

This bird was found by Bob Witzeman on May 31st, 2010.  After it was reported to the Listserve, I was able to successfully chase it on June 1st, 2010.  It was awesome, and was found at the Higley Road Ponds in Gilbert, Arizona.  Neat bird, eh?

Red Phalarope

An Elegant Tern

This bird was found by John Saba at the Agua Fria Riverbed on May 30th, 2010.  It was an incredible find.  The Elegant Tern was a lifer for me, and I got really lucky and got to see it.  The bird stuck around for several days.  It flew back-and-fourth between the River Bed and the Glendale Recharge Ponds.

Elegant Tern

Two Great Lifers in Madera

April 8-9th, 2010-Madera Canyon

Hello everyone,

Jim Kopitzke and I took an overnight trip to Madera Canyon April 8-9th, where birding was awesome.


8 April 2010:

We stayed at Bog Springs Campground and arrived around dusk, where birding around the campground was even very good right from the start.  Jim's hummingbird feeder brought in a male BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD and female RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD within minutes of setup.

We then made a sucessful attempt at Santa Rita Lodge and got great looks at the one of the ELF OWLS which was in a tree directly aside the viewing area, it wasn't even in the pole ever when we were watching.
Elf Owls were very vocal thoughout Madera Canyon from Bog Springs Campground and well past Santa Rita Lodge, as we counted 7 different birds calling away, and we ended up having great looks at another one
later in the night as we were owling.  There is just a good of a chance of seeing them away from the lodge by listening to them along the roadsides as well.  Back at camp, one even called directly above the tent.  Other owls included several distant called WHISKERED SCREECH-OWLS and one GREAT HORNED OWL.

Elf Owl

9 April 2010:

In the early AM at Bog Springs, several calling DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHERS started off the morning.

We then headed to the Santa Rita Lodge and the Kubo Bed and Breakfast. We stopped at Santa Rita and enjoyed many birds at the bird feeders, including MEXICAN JAYS, YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS, ACORN WOODPECKERS, etc.  A BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK was in a nearby tree and several ZONE-TAILED HAWKS flew overhead.

The KUBO B& B was next, where after waiting for an hour and a half for the FLAME-COLORED TANAGER at the feeders, we were able to locate it just a little south down the road, where it was singing continuously thoughout the morning and gave us great looks.  What a beautiful bird that is!  Many people were able to see it from many angles to study the bird in close views.  I actually liked seeing it up in the trees with a more in the wild experience then seeing it visit the feeders, which in our 2.5 hours here, it never did visit the feeders. My favorite bird of the trip!  Also enjoyable at the Kubo were MAGNIFICANT, BLACK-CHINNED, RUFOUS, and BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRDS, HOODED ORIOLES, HEPATIC TANAGER, PINE SISKIN, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, ACORN WOODPECKERS and many more around the feeders. PAINTED REDSTARTS, one SCOTT'S ORIOLE, and also ZONE-TAILED and COOPERS HAWKS were nearby.

After Kubo, we attemped a try at Black-capped Gnatcatchers and the Rufous-capped Warbler at Florida Canyon without success.  A birder who got on the trail just minutes after us saw a Black-capped Gnatcatcher.  Hovever on the trail and surrouding area, we had several HAMMONDS and PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATHERS, NORTHERN-BEARDLESS TYRANNULET, and BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS.

Later in the day before returning to Phoenix, we went up higher into the canyon were we only really saw a few PAINTED REDSTARTS, birds were not active at all up in the higher elevations in the afternoon.

Southeast AZ is always a great trip!

Flame-colored Tanager

The goodies of the Hassayampa River

March 10th, 2010: Hassayampa River Preserve: GREEN KINGFISHER, RED-SHOULDERED HAWK

Hey everyone,

Today (10 March 2010) I ventured out to the Wickenburg area again to the 
Hassayampa River Preserve.  I had fun birding with Jay Miller and Jim 
Kopitzke during the morning and early afternoon, and it was also nice to 
meet Donna and Carol along the trail.  

The female GREEN KINGFISHER continued.  I saw her at about 9 am towards 
the end of the River Ramble trail, over a very small pond, more ideal for 
this species than the raging river.  She wasn't along the main river 
today, but the opposite side, at a separate part of the river that 
branched off and is more narrow, slow flowing, and quiet (the side of the 
river which you have to cross by using the small bridge).  At one point, 
it formed a nice pond, in which I was very shocked to see the Green 
Kingfisher just because she usually isn't over this way.  To reach this 
point, it is off to the right after you walk down the steps from the 
visitor center area to access the trails.  Cross the small bridge placed 
in the narrow part of the river and follow the River Ramble trail until 
the end where this pond is and is a much slower, quieter side of the 
river.  I believe she hasn't been over this way much at least from what 
birders have observed, so when visiting, it's another good place to check 
for this bird.  Many birders got great views of it today and I was able to 
tell the crowd of people were it was.  It vocalized some, I still haven't 
gotten the opportunity to see it catch it's prey of some sort, which would 
be amazing as well.

Green Kingfisher

Also present today where SHARP-SHINNED and COOPER'S HAWKS, a female ANNA'S 
HUMMINGBIRD feeding her young, many VERMILION FLYCATCHERS, BRIDLED 
TITMOUSE, a very nice male WILSON'S WARBLER, and LINCOLN'S SPARROW.

Towards the end of the day, Jim, Jay and I made an attempt to find the RED-
SHOULDERED HAWK which was reported by Melanie Herring on friday.  We 
weren't able to find it at the preserve, but we tried the classic place 
behind the car dealership and KFC in Wickenburg (thanks also to the 
volunteer for suggesting to us coming here to look) and we were rewarded 
with great perched and in flight views of a single Red-shouldered Hawk.  
The bird was also very vocal the entire time we observed it, and at one 
time had something in it's talons, in which looked alot likely to be a 
snake, but it was hard to tell for sure.  The hawk flew back and fourth 
among the many cottonwoods and would perch on dead branches from time to 
time.  Towards the end, it soared high and continued soaring until we lost 
sight of it.  Truely a beautiful raptor and a great addition to our 
Arizona lists, which was a state bird for Jim, Jay and I.  Diagnostic 
photos were taken of the hawk.  Thank you to Melanie for reporting the 
bird, which was my main target for today!

Red-shouldered Hawk

Yellow-breasted Chat

Good birding,

Tommy DeBardeleben (Glendale, Arizona)

Maricopa's first Green Kingfisher!!!

March 3rd, 2010: Hassayampa GREEN KINGFISHER contintues (video included)

Hi everyone,

Today I visited the Hassayampa River Preserve from 8 AM to 1:30 PM and
wow, what an awesome time it was.  The main highlight was the continuing
female GREEN KINGFISHER, which provided me and everyone else there looking
for it at the time with great views.  It took me until 9. 45 AM to locate
the bird (another birder saw it around open time), when I first heard the
bird calling along the river a little downstream west of where it's usual
spot is.  When I went in the direction, she flew across the river and I
got a quick and brief look.  I couldn't find her again until a couple
named Steve and Joan were able to relocate it at about 11.30.  For the
next hour, the bird flew around to many different perches along the river
(mainly in the same general area as previous posts) and was very easy to
photograph and get great views at.  The bird called quite often and
perched at low and medium heigths, and often stayed in good view while
perched.  Truely an incredible bird and I'm grateful I was able to see
it! 

I was also able to get some film of the Green Kingfisher.  Some parts are
a little shaky and blurry, I apologize for that! But overall, the video is
good.  The bird is vocalizing on one of the clips, and by listening
closely, it can be heard.

GREEN KINGFISHER VIDEO LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzlpzIMpCr4

Green Kingfisher

Other than the Kingfisher, there were several other good birds which were 
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, VERMILION FLYCATCHERS, BRIDLED TITMOUSE, 2 BROWN 
CREEPERS, many AMERICAN ROBINS (I've never seen such a high concentration 
of them at a location), CEDAR WAXWINGS, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, and 
SPOTTED TOWHEE.