Navajo County also became the latest county that I would try and obtain 200 or more species in this year. It was a fun goal, and Navajo County is also quite the drive from home in Peoria. As I would learn more and more about the region as I'd explore it, I figured that reaching 200 would take a few more trips. I also realized that reaching 200 didn't really matter, because Navajo has a ton of fun and potential in it's birding. As I've said before, it takes a good amount of exploring each county and visiting many different birding areas to reach 200 in an Arizona county. I love the aspect of it, and it gives one knowledge about future trips.
On August 12th, I made my way back up to Navajo County. I would start my day off by birding at St. Joseph, where there is a Wastewater Treatment Plant and a surrounding habitat that includes desert scrub, farm fields, and a wash that harbors a clump of tall cottonwood trees. While the ponds in the wastewater treatment plant attracts waterbirds, that other habitats draw in an assortment of other birds. In the days prior to my visit, birders John Wilson and Samuel Neat discovered a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. As I waited to make the trip, the bird continued and was starting to be somewhat reliable as birders started to chase it. For me, it would be an Arizona if I could land it. John gave me some tips before I would try. On the morning of the 12th, I got into Navajo pretty early and started at St. Joseph. I scanned the fields surrounding the WTP (Wastewater Treatment Plant from now on) for about an hour before I got lucky and got on the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. I saw many in Texas in 2019, and they never got old despite the abundant numbers. It was also really special to get one in my home state and for it to be in an under-birded region like Navajo County. This bird landed on a pile of horse crap before sitting on the WTP's border-fences.
On the side of celebrating my successful Scissor-tailed Flycatcher chase, I also added Willow Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and Crissal Thrasher to my Navajo County list. I got them by walking a wash that holds a small, but dense clump of cottonwood trees as well as a few scattered cottonwoods. John told me how productive it was when he has birded it. I saw how awesome it is for myself, and I kept it in mind.
Up next would be a visit to the dynamite birding location called Hidden Cove Golf Course, which is in Holbrook. It's a site that requires permission to bird, and I got a hold of Michael O'Dell, who works at the golf course and gives nature tours in the natural habitats north of the course itself. Michael wanted to meet me in person, and I ended up hanging out with him for a few hours. Mike is a super cool dude, and likes nature, basketball, and rock music like I do, and we became buddies right away. When I got to Blue Heron Lake north of the golf course, I started to scan through the waterbirds on the west side of the lake. It didn't take long for a major highlight, which was a Black-bellied Plover.
I immediately told John about the bird, and he told me it was a Navajo County record. I was happy to hear that, but I was shocked that the species hadn't found this lake before. It holds excellent shorebird habitat. I made sure to get closer and obtain some better pictures to document the bird!
Michael took a look at the Black-bellied Plover and thought it was awesome. Gordon and Barb were on their way up to the location as I was leaving. Other than the Plover, I got two more Navajo lifers, both of which had Semipalmated in their name and with Plover and Sandpiper following.
Hidden Cove of course has an assortment of other birds. Something that is also awesome about it are the numbers of Scaled Quail that are present.
Barb and Gordon got to see the Black-bellied Plover after I left. Following them, Samuel went and didn't see it. I was bummed because I wanted Sam and John, Navajo's two hardcore young birders, to see the Black-bellied Plover.
I was amazed at the combination of St. Joseph WTP and Hidden Cove Golf Course. Between the two of them is Cholla Lake, a lake that used to be open to the public. Despite it being closed, the lake can still be scanned from the Interstate 40. Cholla Lake is hit or miss, and during my Navajo visits so far this year, I've been in the "miss" category. But hey, sometime I'll visit it at the right time!
I closed out the day by going to Jacques Marsh and Fool Hollow Lake. A Mexican Duck at the Marsh was a new one in Navajo for me, and I couldn't even enjoy it because of a sudden downpour of rain that turned into hail. While walking on the paths around the marsh, I was shocked when I stumbled upon this Arizona Black Rattlesnake. I never thought I'd find this animal is such an open area!
After spending the night in Show Low on August 12th, I went south of Show Low and down Highway 60/77. I went there to access Corduroy Creek by standing on the highway, as it is on the Apache Reservation. Because of Covid, the Reservation is closed, but birding from the highway was okay. In a chaparral and juniper setting, there is a good riparian system in this creek. The trek gave me Navajo additions of Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Bridled Titmouse, Hutton's Vireo, Gray Vireo, and Downy Woodpecker. With the latter, I was expecting it to be a Ladder-backed Woodpecker, which is known to be at the lower elevations of Corduroy Creek. But out flew a Downy! After Corduroy, I went back up to Show Low and would continue west on Highway 260. I stopped in a neighborhood that had surrounding habitats known to be good for Black-chinned Sparrow, which is very scarce in Navajo County. After some searching I found three more Navajo lifers which were Anna's Hummingbird, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and those Black-chinned Sparrows! The sparrows had a successful family.
This Virginia's Warbler was also fun to photograph.
I made my way toward the Black Canyon Lake area, again. I love it there. En route I decided to check a pond in Overgaard, and it had my first-in-Navajo American Avocet. There were two of them actually. Not bad for a small one minute detour!
The Black Canyon Lake area gave me three fun stops to bird at: Hidden Tank, Baca Meadow, Black Canyon Lake, and the drainage. I looked for the Spotted Owls from last time, which was about a week prior to this visit, and they were nowhere to be found according to my eyes. In reality, they were probably nearby and on the other side of a tree and out of sight. I did get my Navajo first Hermit Warbler at Hidden Tank, and this Bald Eagle at Black Canyon Lake is fun to see. Horned Lizards too.
Before I headed home from Black Canyon Lake, about sixty Common Nighthawks swarmed over the lake at once. It was awesome. And as quickly as they came, they all vanished at once into the nearby surroundings. What enticed the abundant notion remains to be wondered about by me. As I went home, I brainstormed what I had done on the trip. I had made it up to 194 species for Navajo, and I was convinced that I was one more trip away from reaching 200 and beyond. It was exciting to think about, as Navajo has been becoming a county I really love to bird in in Arizona.
I had a small vacation handed to me and my boss gave me 5 days off in exchange for working a day that I was scheduled. I was gonna have three days off one weekend, but because I decided to work one of those days, she gave me five days off the next week. It was an epic trade. I decided that I would make a good trip out of it and do a bunch of cool things in the five days. Birding Navajo County was one of the things, and to spend time with my parents (who live in Navajo County, of course) was another. The trip was to give me an excellent chance of reaching the 200 mark for the county.
August 26th through August 30th were the days I was given off. On the 26th, I woke up at 2:30 A.M. and headed for Navajo. I decided to bird St. Joseph, Hidden Cove, Mexican Lake, and a few more spots before I would get to my parents house later on that day. In other words, I arranged it so I would start my trip off with a great day of birding.
I decided to make the Hidden Cove Golf Course Area my first stop of the trip, and I got there not long after sunrise. Blue Heron Lake was full of birds, as I anticipated it would be. Right off the bat I got two county birds: Greater Yellowlegs and Gray Flycatcher. I scanned the shorelines of the lake with my scope, and I didn't see many shorebirds. At least the ones they call shorebirds. Walking along the path resulted in me hearing what I thought was a Northern Waterthrush. As I scanned the shore, there was a Northern Waterthrush, being a shorebird as it foraged along Blue Heron Lake. The warbler was in a tough spot for me to be able to photograph it. Grasses and reeds made it difficult to see the bird as I got closer. With a little magic, the Northern Waterthrush allowed me to document it's presence for the location. It's always great to see this bird in Arizona, and in this case, Navajo County!
After thinking that I didn't have much in the way of shorebirds as many others did in the previous days ahead of my visit, I was stoked to see that a Snowy Plover was there. There was a Snowy Plover reported earlier in the weekspan before I got to go, but in the few days before I arrived, it hadn't been reported. Who knows if it came back or if this was a different bird. Just like the Northern Waterthrush, Snowy Plover is also always fun to see in Arizona, and in Navajo County.
Hidden Cove/Blue Heron Lake had close to 70 different species of birds. On some mornings in migration, I wouldn't be surprised if the area had 80 to 90 different species that could be detected. The place is truly a migrant trap for a variety of species.
After Hidden Cove, I scanned a lifeless Cholla Lake before heading to the Joseph City WTP and it's surroundings. It didn't take long for me to realize this place is every bit as good as Hidden Cove. It's truly another epic migrant trap. I spent some time birding in the area where the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher had been frequenting most. While I birded for anything, I did keep an eye out for the flycatcher. I then went to the line of trees along a wash just east of the WTP. The line of trees bordered the agricultural fields, and migrants were everywhere and were flying back and fourth to the field and trees. A clump of cottonwood trees held the most activity, and this Willow Flycatcher, Townsend's Warbler, and Red-breasted Nuthatch were a few of many birds.
As I scanned and watched, I caught a glimpse of a warbler that immediately struck me as a Blue-winged Warbler. It had a black line through it's eyes on an otherwise yellow face and mostly yellow body. It popped out again and it was a Blue-winged Warbler. And when I looked at it carefully, it was a pure Blue-winged Warbler! I was pumped as this bird is very rare in Arizona with less than 20 records. It hybridizes with Golden-winged Warbler regularly. I took as many photographs as I could of the latest addition to my Arizona birding. Joseph City gave me my first-in-Arizona Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and this time it gave me my first-in-Arizona Blue-winged Warbler.
After about 30 seconds of taking photographs after getting a good binocular view of the bird, I let the birding community know. Samuel Neat and his mom Nicole came and looked for the bird too. We couldn't find it and they weren't able to stay for very long, and I looked for another hour after they left and wasn't able to find it. Warblers and other passerines were everywhere and were constantly flying back-and-fourth between the cottonwoods and the field. Joseph City had blown me away. I realized that if I lived nearby, I would have a heck of a time observing a variety of birds between those two spots alone. And on top of that, there are many other great spots nearby that have incredible potential. The Blue-winged Warbler was my 199th species for Navajo County, and was my 473rd species for Arizona.
I birded a few more locations before getting to my parents house. The time with them was fun from the start and we had a lot planned! Not only was it me and my parents, but they have this awesome dog named Molly. She's little and she's hilarious.
Once at my parents house, I didn't bird a ton, but I made sure to get some in everyday. On the morning of August 27th, I went to Billy Creek Trail. I ran into fellow birder and friend Mary Williams, and we caught up with each other. Eventually, a Rivoli's Hummingbird zipped by and called, becoming the 200th species for my Navajo County birding! It was a cool bird to reach 200 on, and I also enjoyed a variety of forest species such as this Olive Warbler.
While hiking on what was a 3.5 mile loop hike with my Mom after I got back from Billy Creek, we took a wrong turn on the trail and ended up hiking for 7.5 miles. Whoops. But we did encounter 2 American Three-toed Woodpeckers. My Mom thought they were really cool!
During my stay in Pinetop, I got two more Navajo County birds: Vesper Sparrow and Wilson's Snipe.
Something I discovered for myself was how epic two birding locations are, and those locations are Woodland Lake Park and Big Springs Environmental Study Area. Both locations harbor many bird species and are a draw for both resident and migratory birds. Big Springs held about 50 species each visit, and on one of the mornings, I went to Woodland Lake Park early and had close to 70 different species. I was surprised at the diversity, and I managed to find another Northern Waterthrush. They are draining a lot of Woodland Lake temporarily for a project, and it created great habitat for shorebirds. Semipalmated Plovers and a Solitary Sandpiper were a few of the waterbirds.
Remember when I mentioned Mt. Baldy earlier in the post? Well, my parents and I hiked a good portion on the West Trail. We went about 5 miles up one way. It was awesome, and I got to see Canada Jay and these awesome American Dippers!
My parents and I also went kayaking a few times. I didn't have electronic devices with me to take pictures, but we kayaked Show Low Lake and Fool Hollow Lake to their entirety. It was epic and was a great workout. We also ate great meals and food everyday. It was truly a great time to hang out with them, thanks Mom and Dad!
On August 30th, my last day of the vacation, I stopped at Mexican Lake on the way home for one last stop of my Navajo birding for the trip. This Pectoral Sandpiper was my final new Navajo bird of the trip, and it gave me 203 species.
As I drove home, I drove by a few more riparian stands that consisted of cottonwood, willow, and Russian olive. They stood out from everything else around. It's clear to me that Navajo County is full of migrant traps. With it's placement of being further east in the state, a county with under-birded coverage undoubtedly has plenty of eastern vagrants that pass through. The Blue-winged Warbler is no doubt just one of many. Aside from vagrant traps, Navajo also has a variety of other habitats. Habitat variety can be visited in a day to result in an assortment of different birds. In all honesty, I knew that Navajo County had awesome birding opportunities but I didn't realize that it has the remarkable diversity and potential to see a lot of different species so quickly like it does. In the month of August (as well as late July), I familiarized myself with a lot of locations for when I return for birding expeditions. Migrant traps, shallow lakes with shoreline, grassland areas, riparian woodlands, and vast forests are some of habitats that I birded in. I will be back.
And also, I'm glad to say that the Blue-winged Warbler stuck around for many other birders to see. It was an elusive bird, and sometimes birders would wait for hours and hours just to get a glimpse. At times, it was photographed too. Till next time!
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