From Fall through Winter in this year of 2021, birding here in Arizona has been pretty awesome. In recent posts I've summarized a few sightings I got lucky with in Northern Goshawk and Blue-headed Vireo in Maricopa County, as well as a pelagic trip out of San Diego and a chase to Lake Havasu for Arizona's 2nd Yellow-footed Gull. This post will summarize some other highlights during the fall and winter of 2021.
Two More State Birds
Earlier in November, Arizona's first state record of American Woodcock was discovered by Harriet Marble in the famous Chiricahua Mountains. Her discovery took place in Cave Creek Canyon near Stewart Campground. She initially mistook the Woodcock as a Wilson's Snipe, and she photographed the bird in the open along the side of the road. In the following days, the Woodcock stayed in the same general area. It was elusive, but was seen by many birders. Most of the time, it was detected by being flushed where it's flight feathers would give off sounds that were similar to that of a Mourning Dove in flight upon being flushed. Very few lucky birders found the bird perched on the ground before it flushed, where it camouflaged perfectly in leaf litter. On November 11th, I went to Cave Creek Canyon with Ronnie Reed and Mark Ochs to look for the Woodcock. There were plenty of other birders present. The Woodcock gave us what was most common in four views of it being flushed. Fortunately we had a few close looks of it as it took flight, and it was great to get it as a state bird. Ironically, the location did have a hypothetical report of American Woodcock in the past. I would guess the report is probably accurate. Later in the day in those Chiricahuas we did encounter Mexican Chickadees.
On November 18th, Ronnie Reed and I successfully chased a Least Flycatcher along a section of Sonoita Creek in Santa Cruz that is under-birded and was almost unheard of. Dave Stejskal found this bird. Ronnie and I luckily ran into Cathy Beck and Susan Patla and they showed us where to go without us having to hunt down coordinates, and they got us on the bird! It was another state bird for us in a week, and one that isn't a straightforward identification without careful study. Fortunately, we had good looks of the bird and got to study it. And we found this section of Sonoita Creek to be awesome and we later discussed with Felipe Guerrero about the potential that it has!
Other fun highlights from Fall and Winter, 2021
Prothonotary Warbler, Hassayampa River Preserve, 1 October 2021 (bird found by Eric Hough)
Mexican Duck, Glendale Recharge Ponds
Stilt Sandpipers, Glendale Recharge Ponds
Dunlin, Glendale Recharge Ponds
Northern Parula, Hassayampa River Preserve
Mormon Grove Area-lots of Stellar's Jays in Maricopa County among others..
Golden Eagle, Mt. Ord
Olive Warbler, Mt. Ord
Tropical Kingbird, Riggs Road Ponds in Chandler, 4 November 2021. Rare in Arizona in late fall/winter, a great find by Dale Clark.
Pacific Loon, Tempe Town Lake
Bendire's Thrashers, Adobe Dam Regional Park
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Verde River (in same mixed flock as Blue-headed Vireo)
Violet-crowned Hummingbird at Paton's Center for Hummingbirds, Patagonia
Gray Catbird and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Paton's
Swamp Sparrow and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Verde River, Maricopa County
Short-billed Gull (formerly Mew Gull), Lake Pleasant (photographed by a few birders before Levi Plummer identified it)
Lesser Black-backed Gull, Lake Pleasant (found by Parker Davis)
Magnolia Warbler, Verde River (Found by Jay Taylor)
Red Phalarope found by Jeff Ritz at Glendale Recharge Ponds, 10 December, 2021. Awesome find by Jeff, only my second ever of this species.
Ronnie Reed and I found this Red-breasted Sapsucker at the Arlington Wildlife Area on 16 December 2021. This was part of the Gila River Christmas Bird Count, and the Arlington Area is always fun to bird during that count.
To close, here's a Ferruginous Hawk from Arlington Wildlife Area.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
