Old Beeline Highway and more

 Today on December 30th, I decided to go to northeastern Maricopa County to the Old Beeline Highway where I was hoping to enjoy some more irruption birding like I did yesterday at Seven Springs.  The weather was foggy on the way and foggy in the early going.  Recent rains and cloudy weather have created the conditions, and it's pretty cool.  The rains have also made lots of roads and terrain extra muddy.  I wanted to go to Mt. Ord too, but figured the road conditions would be poor.  Today marked what will be my last full birding day of 2022 as I work tomorrow.  It's been a great year for birding! 

The Old Beeline Highway has been one of my favorite locations to bird at this year, and it's given me a lot of highlights.  Today was another one, as I made the location my main adventure for today.  It was foggy when I arrived, but one the fog cleared it was cloudy and calm weather wise.  I started birding just before 8 A.M., and from the start the bird activity was incredible.  Most of that came from American Robins.  Both sides of the Sunflower Valley, in which the Old Beeline Highway stretches between, was filled with Robins calling everywhere on juniper slopes.  They were loud due to their numbers.  Before I knew it large flocks were constantly flying overhead and heading in the northeast direction.  In about a half-mile that I walked, I counted close to 3,000 birds as I counted by 10s, 20s, and 50s.  The numbers were mindblowing, and it didn't include undoubtedly more abundant numbers of birds that were on the slopes that didn't call or fly up.  Not all birds call, and when I thought one section had about 15 birds based on what I was hearing, a Cooper's Hawk in the pursuit flushed about 150 robins from a particular spot.  And at some spots, the numbers and birds and the vocalizations of birds made it hard to hear others.  My safe count was 3,550 American Robins, with no doubt many more.  Townsend's Solitaire's were present in abundance as expected, and I came up with a count of 65 of them.  They were loud and vocal, but in similar ways to the Robins, who knows how many there really were.  Evening Grosbeaks were present in high numbers too, and the count I came up with was 80 of them.  After seeing a big flock of 50 and another flock of nearly 20 within close time frames of each other, I had more flocks throughout the day that were more scattered.  It was hard to say whether or not these birds were flying around and joining in big flocks at times.  At times I had decent flight views of them, and a few times I had backlit looks of them higher in trees.  Too they were up as high, as Evening Grosbeak is one I enjoy seeing and one I wanted to get some good photographs of.  I didn't think this area would have better numbers of things than Seven Springs did, but I was wrong.  After seeing lots of Cassin's Finches yesterday at Seven Springs, I only detected 3 today at Old Beeline.  Other than these irruption species, a Pacific Wren was a fun highlight.  It favored dense wood piles along Sycamore Creek just south of Sunflower Workstation.  In this immediate area it was also fun to find two White-throated Sparrows, a male Black-and-white Warbler (which may be a long staying individual since early fall), and a Townsend's Warbler.  Something that's being kept in mind are Cedar Waxwing numbers, as this area and Seven Springs are the most likely host for high numbers in Maricopa County.  Today at Old Beeline I only had 4 birds.  We'll see what the next month looks like as the winter continues.  My walk today took me from the dead end at Old Beeline for driving and hiking Old Beeline for 1.7 miles to the Sunflower Barricade.  The entire 1.7 miles had Robins and Solitaires that were constantly abundant and present.  On the way back I ran into Susan Fishburn, Heather Eaton, and Heather's daughter, Emily.  It was fun to run into them, and we enjoyed the Pacific Wren, Evening Grosbeak, and the crazy numbers of American Robins.  I found a total of 47 species at Old Beeline today, full list on eBird at the link here:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S124940250

Hammond's Flycatcher 

Pacific Wren

Townsend's Solitaire

American Robins, the bird of the day

Evening Grosbeak flock

White-throated Sparrow

Black-and-white Warbler

I made a stop at Cross F Trailhead along Old Beeline too, and had more Evening Grosbeaks and of course lots of Robins.  On the way home I checked Saguaro Lake for any interesting waterbirds on the lake.  Nothing crazy, but a Clark's Grebe was mixed in with over 200 Western Grebes.  My last birding of the day came from Avondale when I gave the Red-headed Woodpecker another visit at Rancho Santa Fe Park.  I found it on the east side of the park in that big mesquite before it moved to the big palm tree, where it sat on both sides of the tree for the remaining 15 minutes I stayed at the park.  The woodpecker had to share the hole with the European Starlings from the look of it.  Also of interest in the park was a Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay.  Unless I go birding tomorrow, this day was a fun end to 2022, which has been a great year to go birding.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Seven Springs, Camp Creek, and Lake Pleasant

 Today on December 29th, I decided to venture out to Seven Springs Recreation Area and Camp Creek in north-central Maricopa County.  After I would explore those two areas, I had it in mind to check Lake Pleasant.  This year has been one that has been great for irruptive species such as Evening Grosbeak, Townsend's Solitaire, and Cassin's Finch.  On a bigger scale, Bohemian Waxwings have irrupted throughout much of the United States, and they are being found very close to Arizona.  While northern Arizona is seemingly likely to get them, perhaps central Arizona has a shot too.  Time will tell, but it'll take a bit of luck.  Something I wanted to scout out at Seven Springs was Cedar Waxwing numbers, which Seven Springs will often get good numbers of them in winter.

Seven Springs was my first stop, and I got there before 8 A.M.  It was a great time for birding, and I spent 2.7 hours exploring Seven Springs while staying close to Seven Springs road and birding north and south of the trailhead while going north of the group campsite and all the way south to Seven Springs Wash.  All in all my distance was close to a mile.  I only had one Cedar Waxwing calling during this time, and maybe there were higher numbers elsewhere aside from the places I checked.  One was pretty shocking though, I expected more.  Seven Springs was foggy at first before clearing up, and the weather was mostly cloudy and was without wind.  I had good numbers of American Robins everywhere, and irruptive species like Evening Grosbeak, Cassin's Finch, and Townsend's Solitaire provided lots of fun.  Evening Grosbeaks could be heard from far away, and a flock of Cassin's Finches commonly fed around and foraged in a juniper right along the road.  One particular Townsend's Solitaire was territorial over a juniper tree, and I noted that it chased other birds away every time I walked by.  It gave a loud vocalization constantly as it was agitated, a call I had yet to hear from this species before today.  A Northern Flicker hybrid (Red-shafted X Yellow-shafted) was interesting.  The best highlight for me was an adult male Williamson's Sapsucker near the northern end of my route-always a great bird to see.  Full eBird list here:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S124871512

Williamson's Sapsucker male

Hybrid Northern Flicker

American Robins

Evening Grosbeak female

Cassin's Finch flock (males and females)

My second stop was at Camp Creek, where I covered Lower Camp Creek.  I spent just under two hours here, starting close to 11 A.M.  Cloudy and light winds weather made for a pleasant hike.  Although this place is close to Seven Springs and has a bit of similarities, the birdlife was very different.  Aside from Townsend's Solitaire numbers (~15), irruption species weren't present as much here.  I did find a Black-and-white Warbler though, and it was in a mixed flock of birds.  Full eBird list here:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S124871676

Ruby-crowned Kinglet showing off it's namesake 

Townsend's Solitaires

The final stop of the day that I made was at Lake Pleasant, where I was hoping to find some notable birds aside from the other notable birds that have been found there lately.  I didn't find anything new as I made multiple stops from view points in Maricopa County, and at the northwestern side of the lake in Yavapai County.  Some of the continuing rarities were still present, which were Long-tailed Duck, 2 Surf Scoters, and a Horned Grebe in Maricopa waters.  In Yavapai waters, a large flock of at least ~150 Common Goldeneye were present, a high number for central Arizona. 

Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow

Surf Scoters 

A Red-headed Woodpecker in Maricopa County

 Yesterday on Christmas, 2022, an eBird report came in late in the day of a Red-headed Woodpecker found in Maricopa County in Goodyear by Julie Neff-Encinas.  I was surprised when I saw the report pop up, and the eBird report came with two nice photos of a younger Red-headed Woodpecker.  It was coming to a neighborhood that fortunately has a park called Rancho Santa Fe Park just south of the street that the bird was coming too (according to the location that was plotted on eBird).  I hoped that the park would harbor the bird too, and by looking at Google Maps it appeared that it had a variety of different trees.  Caleb and I talked about the sighting for awhile and the birding community was quickly aware of the bird.  All we could hope for was that someone would go out there and relocate the bird.  I reviewed Maricopa's one and only prior Red-headed Woodpecker record that was from a Phoenix yard in 1959 of a long-staying bird that was present from March to May.  63 years is the time gap in between records, quite crazy for sure! 

Today I didn't have the highest of expectations about the bird being relocated, but around mid-morning birders Bill and Beth Clark reported that the woodpecker was present on a palm tree at the same location it was reported yesterday, and that they were viewing it from the park.  Crazy!  I had 3 hours to go at work, and after that I'd be set to try for the bird.  Ronnie Reed, Jacob Bagley, and Susan Fishburn re-found the bird in the park, and Ronnie told me that it would fly back-and-fourth between the park and the neighborhood.  Ronnie also talked to Julie who found the bird, and she told him it had actually been present for 4 days now.  I got done with work after one and got to the park after 1:30 P.M.  Right away I joined Jacob, and he told me the bird was around.  We joined Steve Velasek, and he had the bird in the palm tree.  It was on the back part of the palm tree at first, but then it came to our side of the tree and gave a quick look before it went into a hole that it was storing food nearby.  Steve put the bird in his scope and kindly let us look through it, and the views of the Red-headed Woodpecker were great.  It's brownish head had a bit of red on the back of the head, and when it took flight after awhile, it's striking back pattern that featured a mostly black back with white secondaries was evident.  After it hung out at the tree for some time, it flew just south into the park, which had a variety of trees that included oak and mesquite.  We were quickly joined by Jeff Ritz, Dara Vazquez, Sochetra Ly, and Jon Mann.  The woodpecker was one I didn't think of as vocalizing much, but I was wrong and it gave this standout chattering rattle of a call that reminded us of an oriole or a Yellow-headed Blackbird.  For almost 2 hours, I enjoyed this bird as it was active while gathering food.  It frequented Rancho Santa Fe Park and went to the palm tree at times as observations continued.  And most of the time, I watched the bird with Jacob, Jeff, and Dara. 

In my ebird report, I wrote up these notes: "Continuing find by Julie Neff-Encinas, an awesome discovery. First seen in palm trees on north side of Granada Road (in neighborhood) as well as in Rancho Santa Fe Park where it liked the oaks in near basketball courts and other trees nearby. It visited a mesquite here 33.465870,-112.329576 quite often, and the oaks near this mesquite too. It was active and commonly gathering acorns and storing them in the palm tree. When we observed it it gave a rattle/ chattering call often which sounded similar to an oriole or somewhat like Yellow-headed Blackbird. This call helped locate it lots of the time. Younger bird with mostly brown head (some red present; mostly on back of head), black back with contrasting white secondaries, mostly white underneath with black outer wings to contrast with white. Thanks Steve and Jacob for showing me the bird when I got to the park!  *2nd Maricopa County record, with the first one being back in 1959. The 1959 bird was present in a Phoenix yard from March-May. It'll be interesting to see how long this one sticks".

What a find by Julie and what a great event to chase it As it is not only a new Maricopa County bird for me (#413), but is also an Arizona lifer for me also (#486).  In the past, I've seen this species in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, and Florida before this Arizona bird today.

After enjoying the Red-headed Woodpecker, Jacob, Jeff, Dara, and I went to the Glendale Recharge Ponds to look for some birds there that have included three Tundra Swans as of late.  We enjoyed the swans in Basin 1, a Ross's Goose, and we also had high numbers of Common Mergansers (the highest count that we've seen at Glendale-over 200).  After we had been birding for awhile, we were joined by Nolan Walker and Kadynn Hatfield who had also come from seeing the Red-headed Woodpecker.  It was a fun afternoon of birding, and man, what an epic discovery by Julie of the Red-headed Woodpecker...