Dickcissel
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
May 13th, 2012: Hassayampa River-my lifer Rose-breasted Grosbeak and finding the first spring record of Dickcissel in Maricopa County
Hi everyone,
As Tracy posted earlier, we had an exciting morning of birding in the
Hassayampa area this morning at the Roadside Rest and the Hassayampa River
Preserve. I had a few additional sightings I wanted to include.
In addition to the DICKCISSEL and GRAY HAWK at the Roadside Rest Area, I
also had a singing TROPICAL KINGBIRD. Like the Gray Hawk, this species is
a local breeder in the area. I have had the kingbirds at the Hassayampa
River Preserve, but this was the first time I located one at the Roadside
Rest. The Gray Hawk was quite the sight, and was an adult bird who flew
by me at close range. I was very shocked when I looked up and saw the
Dickcissel, a bird I thought of as only a fall migrant. I observed this
bird most of the time I was at this area in nearly two hours. It was only
the second Dickcissel I've seen in my life, so I enjoyed it. The bird
gave it's "fart" call a lot also, and mostly stayed in the weeds. At
times it went up in the willows lining the river. I was glad with how
cooperative it was, I really wanted Tracy to see it! Besides the BLUE
GROSBEAK Tracy found, I noted a good number of at least 5 them while I was
birding at this spot, always a good bird to see back in numbers. Also
present was a lone CEDAR WAXWING (also a few at Hassayampa River
Preserve), and a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER.
Tracy and I checked Janet Witzeman's book, Birds of Phoenix and Maricopa
County, which showed in the bar graphs as this bird never being recorded
in spring at the time the book was published. I'm unaware if there are
any records since then. I uploaded photos of the bird to AZFO. As Tracy
mentioned, Hassayampa was awesome today, and the ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
was a lifer for me (very overdue!).
