Cool, huh. I think so. This post has a name that's a little weird, and it's a good weird. It means I've lifered in both Gila and Maricopa Counties as of late. Recently, I've still been doing quite a bit of birding throughout Gila County. I'm over 300 in Gila now, and every addition keeps on adding more fun to the fun. And I didn't expect to get a Maricopa County lifer in these last months of 2018, but unexpected things can happen anytime. This post will summarize some of my recent adventures and additions to the counties in which I have birded the most.
Gisela is a small town in Gila County. Tonto Creek runs along the east side of town, and the adjacent habitats and riparian where Gisela is is a great spot for birding. Since last year when I've explored this area via Gisela, it has treated me respectfully. One of my recent visits produced an overdue Gila County bird, the Winter Wren. I've birded riparian areas quite often within Gila County that hold suitable habitat for Winter Wrens over the last year. That habitat consists of clumps of fallen trees, logs, sticks, and wood in general. Bar X has a ton of the called habitat, and that was where I had my money laid down for Winter Wren. Hearing one calling at Gisela was a good way to start my day off in the first week of November. The call is usually heard before the bird is seen, a double-noted, "kimp-kimp". Each note of the double sounds similar to the single call note of a Song Sparrow or in my opinion, a Western Kingbird. Pacific Wren, a recent split-off from Winter Wren, also gives a double-noted call, but it's a "jip-jip" like a Wilson's Warbler. One time a bird, one of the two was calling in the field, and I thought Winter Wren. Another said, "No, it's a Pacific Wren, I heard a 'jip-jip'". While it was an argument I knew I wouldn't win, I still regret not saying, "No, I heard a kimp-kimp". Here's the "kimp-kimp" from Gisela, and a neat micro bird at that!
This is Bar-X Riparian Area, my favorite riparian in Gila County. This is also Tonto Creek, and this riparian stretch runs adjacent to the town of Tonto Basin.
Back in Maricopa County, Melanie Herring found and photograph a statewide-Arizona-rare Iceland Gull of the Thayer's subspecies at Lake Pleasant, November 13th. As I was thinking about doing a big Gila County round for two days, I decided to go for the Iceland Gull on the following day. I teamed up with Dara, Jeff, and Laura, and it was a fun day from the start. We scanned from the south side of Lake Pleasant where Melanie detected the bird on the previous day. It took awhile, and we passed time by by looking at Horned Grebes and skipping rocks on the lake.
After an amount of time, we decided to go to a different side of the lake, still along the southern perimeter but a distance away from the boat ramp where we were at and where Melanie had found the bird. Bird life seemed dismal, and then Jeff stopped and said he had it. It was amazing, the bird was barely peaking it's head up over this rocky shoreline near some campers. Jeff freaking Ritz man! I spy....
The picture above doesn't do Jeff's detection justice. Before the picture, I had to elevate myself and get closer. Looking through Jeff's scope revealed the bird's head. The four of us went down and got much closer to our Maricopa County lifebird. Actually, I think it was an official lifer for Dara, Jeff, and Laura. My first Iceland Gull was in Minnesota, back when there was Iceland Gull and Thayer's Gull. If the split didn't happen with the two now subspecies, than this bird would still be called Thayer's Gull.
While we watched the Iceland Gull walking around along the shoreline for some time, we wanted to see it in flight some too. Dara contributed to these pictures in an awesome way. With young gulls like this, getting flight shots is very important to to see key identification features. I don't feel like describing all of the ID features right now, just know that it is a young-first-year-first-cycle Iceland Gull...
The gull flew right towards a boat, and a lady on the boat started taking some great flight shots of the Iceland Gull. She couldn't have been more happy that the bird she wanted to see flew past their boat with eye level views. Turned out it was Mary and Chris McSparen driving the boat, two birders who work at Lake Pleasant and take boats out on the lake often. Mary finds interesting birds quite often. We were immediately invited by Mary to come aboard her boat and she took us on a tour of the entire lake and to lunch at Scorpion Bay. It was the quickest yes I've heard a group of four people say upon her asking us. Seeing Lake Pleasant for the first time from that view of things was incredible. Thanks Mary, your awesome! The boat ride also provided more neat looks at the Iceland Gull, my 391st bird for Maricopa County.
The awesome day was concluded as I showed Dara, Jeff, and Laura around Morgan City Wash for their very first visit to the location. Birdlife was a little slow for it being later in the day, but it seemed like they all enjoyed Morgan and it's perennial stream. Also turns out that Mary is gonna coordinate the Lake Pleasant CBC this year, after it has gone off the radar for a CBC for 30 years. It will be interesting to see what it produces after a 30 year absence. Cool, huh!
Two more trips to Gila County were rather slow for birds and targets that I was hoping for. But one bird prevailed me, my latest Gila County lifer in a White-throated Sparrow. On two trips to Roosevelt Lake via the boat launch area at Windy Hill Recreation Site, this bird was present both times. I was pleased to find it, and this bird is a first-year individual.
The good ol' Reddish Egret relocated to the southern side of Roosevelt Lake, as of November 29th.
The White-throated Sparrow was my 305th Gila County bird overall. What a fun August through November it was for birding Gila County. I might not be able to do any more birding until 2019 (hopefully that's not the complete case), as things have gotten complex after Thanksgiving. But so far, a solid 2018. If I can make another Gila trip or two, stay tuned...
