Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Gila County: Eastern Bluebirds

On December 15th, I did another day full of Gila County Birding, likely my last day in 2017 in Gila County.  Hopefully much more birding in this awesome county will follow in 2018.

I visited an RV park near the Bar X Crossing Road area that I like to bird along Tonto Creek.  I had a huge highlight when I found a small flock of four Eastern Bluebirds.  The flock came to my attention when I heard their distinctive "tur-a-lee" calls.  After following the sounds, I got to see and photograph these awesome birds.  It was my 274th lifer for Gila County, and my 266th for 2017.  Also, it appears to officially be a first Gila County record.  There has been an invasion of Eastern Bluebirds into Arizona this year, most of which likely belong to the nominate eastern race.  The Mexican race of southeastern Arizona and Mexico isn't known to migrate, and isn't as bright as the nominate eastern race.  I consider myself lucky to have found these birds, which is one of the best I have been able to find in Gila County.

Here are some photographs of the Eastern Bluebirds!





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