Maricopa County: A Golden-winged Warbler!

 This last Saturday, February 19th, 2022, my buddy Ronnie Reed was birding at the Lower Salt River just east of Granite Reef Recreation Area.  This area he was birding in has dense riparian woodland, and there have been rarities there such as Brown Thrasher, Winter Wren, and more.  While he was birding, a warbler caught his attention that he photographed and initially thought was a Chestnut-sided Warbler.  Once Ronnie uploaded his photos to eBird later, Caleb looked at it early the next day and it turned out to be a ratty-looking Golden-winged Warbler.  The warbler stayed high for Ronnie, and didn't give the best views.  It was early on February 20th that I got a text from Ronnie telling me to look at his eBird checklist ASAP.  When I did, I was blown away.  I wasn't sure if a backcross with Blue-winged Warbler could be ruled out when I first looked at photos and it was obviously mostly a Golden-winged Warbler.  It appeared at first to me that the bird had two separate yellow wing bars, but when I looked closer I realized a yellow-wing panel was really formed and the "wingbars" were the brighter edges of the panel.  Upon further picture study I thought the bird looked good, and when Caleb and Kav chased the bird and found it early, Caleb said there wasn't anything that would suggest hybrid features.  The result...there's a freaking Golden-winged Warbler in Maricopa County!

Ronnie really hit the jackpot with this discovery of his, and the birding community exploded at the news.  Lots of people went for it as Ronnie posted about the bird and then Caleb and Kav relocated it near where it was photographed.  I was at work and had to go through most of my work shift knowing about the bird before I was able to go and look later in the afternoon.  The bright side was that a few positive reports came in of the bird continuing in the same general area.  I got to the spot at about 3 P.M.  Two stands of cottonwood and willow trees were in the immediate area where the Golden-winged Warbler was reported and I started to work my way through the area with sightings while listening for activity.  The warbler was reported to hang out with mixed feeding flocks.  I ran into Dylan Cooper and Tom Newman and we had spread out pairs of eyes at first.  After about 30 minutes of looking, I ended up being near Tom and he informed me he had just seen the bird where I was standing within a thick section of the riparian grove.  Not long after I heard a flight call that I wasn't used to, and I looked up and there was the Golden-winged Warbler!  It didn't stand out to me at first due to how drab it was, but when I looked closer there was the yellow on the wings.  The bird was high in the cottonwood above me and in poor lighting.  It stayed for a minute before it left.  Tom stayed at the spot and I went to get Dylan, and when we came back to the spot, the Golden-winged Warbler was back and gave us a show for about 20 minutes.  The bird fed near the top of this particular cottonwood while we observed it, and we were at an angle where the lighting was good and we could see it well.  What a fun event it was, a Golden-winged Warbler in Maricopa County.  I'm stoked for Ronnie for his discovery of this awesome bird.

This was a Maricopa County lifer for me, already my second of 2022 (Rough-legged Hawk was the first).  In the history of Maricopa County, this was the second record.  The first was at Paloma Ranch in November of 1994, where it spent a week.  And now, thanks to Ronnie, many birders have gotten to see this bird.  And as of today, a week after it's discovery, it is still continuing.  Hopefully it'll break the week-long record for this species in Maricopa County.  Here are a selection of photos of the bird that I was able to get.

 

 

Florida: The Last 1.5 Days

 This will be the final post for the series, Florida.  I've gotta say Florida is freaking awesome and I love the birding there.  In similar ways to Arizona and Texas, one has to visit Florida several to many times to see everything.  This will go down as a great introduction to Florida.  For this last post, it'll cover the last full day Caleb and I had to bird as well as a half day before I went back to the airport.  

On January 5th, Caleb and I decided to go back to the direction of Lake Okeechobee.  Our plan for the day was a long one that would feature a search through pinewoods for key species of the southeast, another visit to Torry Island to look at Snail Kites again, a check for Shiny Cowbird, a search for Nanday Parakeet, and another visit to the coast south of Port St. Lucie.  Wood Storks led off the day.

Our first stop was at DuPuis Management Area, which is by Port Mayaca and not far east of the Lake Okeechobee's eastern shore.  It was here that we birded the southeastern pine forests, also known as the pinewoods.  This was a fun stop, and we found our two targets that are characteristic birds of the habitat.  The first was Bachman's Sparrow in the understory habitat, and the second was the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker.  It was great to see both of these species, and Caleb and I also saw them in eastern Texas/western Louisiana.  Other fun birds in this area included Red-headed Woodpecker and Carolina Wren.

Bachman's Sparrow (above and below)

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Up next was more time to enjoy the Snail Kites from the lookout tower at Torry Island.  The kites were quite viewable, especially a young bird close to the tower.  An adult was seen but stayed more distant.  The juvenile also called some, which we were able to get a recording of.  

Snail Kites

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

We then followed up on an area where Sean has had Shiny Cowbirds within a farm.  The habitat was great for blackbirds and such, but it lacked any cowbirds at the time of day we were there.  Just when I thought the exotic birding was overwith, Caleb realized that Nanday Parakeets could be found in and around Peaceful Waters Sanctuary near and west of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth.  While walking around and looking, we heard a few Nanday Parakeets calling.  We weren't able to see them, but at least we heard them for another life bird.  Peaceful Waters Sanctuary was cool though, it had trails that went through a series of wetlands.  There were lots of cool birds, including our second Spot-breasted Oriole of the trip (the best exotic!)

Common Gallinule

Caleb with Little Blue Heron

Red-shouldered Hawk

Mottled Ducks

Palm Warbler

Mottled Ducks

Green Heron

Purple Gallinule

 

 

Little Blue Heron

Spot-breasted Oriole

 

January 5th's last birding stop was at Lake Worth Beach Park, where we spent two hours seawatching.  It was awesome to sea-bird again, and watch 254 more south-bound Northern Gannets and 12 more Magnificent Frigatebirds.  During this watch the Frigatebirds came close quite a few times and were in awesome lighting.  My photos aren't the best but the scope views I had were.  210 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also impressive to see, most of which were heading south later in the day to roost.  A single Great Black-backed Gull was on the beach for quite some time but left before we could get close to it.  January 5th was one with diversity in our birding stops!

Northern Gannets

Magnificent Frigatebirds

 

 

Laughing Gull

Magnificent Frigatebirds

Brown Pelican

 

 

Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Sanderling

crazy Muscovey with gulls

On January 6th, we had a half-day to bird before Caleb dropped me off at the Orlando Airport.  The original plan was to bird at this awesome place called Lake Apopka for the morning, but Caleb suggested trying for Purple Sandpiper (a lifer for me) before going to Lake Apopka.  I liked the idea and we rolled with it.  For me, it would be my 650th life bird if I could land it (all of which have been in United States so far).  Caleb reached his 650th for ABA on January 4th with the exotic parrots in Miami.

The place where up to two Purple Sandpipers were being seen at was called Jetty Park, which is along the coast and just north of Cape Canaveral and not far east of Orlando.  We had to pay to get in, but a Purple Sandpiper or two was worth it!  The birds were seen on the rocks along a jetty as well as rocks along the dock trail going to the jetty.  Finding these birds can be difficult because they weave around the rocks a lot.  It took about an hour, but Caleb eventually spotted one on the side of the dock, sitting on a rock.  We got to watch it up very close for about 5 minutes before it flew to the jetty rocks.  For me, it was awesome to get this bird and reach 650 life birds for the United States.  Looking back on my 450th life bird, it was a Surfbird on a jetty in California.  Purple Sandpipers are plumb Calidris sandpipers who favor rocky shoreline habitats.  This species breeds on Arctic tundra and it is hard to reach their habitat on much of their breeding grounds.  In the winter these birds are found regularly to the mid-Atlantic states in the United States, and are less numerous but annual further south (such as Florida).  Birders can find them on rocky coastlines and jetties where they favor wave washed rocks.  Aside from the Purple Sandiper birdwise, a young Northern Gannet close to the jetty path was freaking awesome to see up close.  We also had a great highlight by getting to view Sea Turtles from the dock trail along the jetty!

Sea Turtles

Purple Sandpiper, my 650th!

 

 

young Northern Gannet up close

After seeing the Purple Sandpiper, we headed out of Jetty Park and made our way to Lake Apopka, which is not far northwest of Orlando. A road goes through the area in a loop, and is called Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive.  It is open three days a week for driving, and we realized the drive was closed on the 6th.  Fortunately, we could still hike the drive through endless marshes for over 2 miles one way west to the edge of Lake Apopka.  This was a great hike to conclude the Florida adventure.  We had Alligators present in abundance after seeing much lower numbers than we thought we would see throughout the course of the trip.  One giant one crossed the road, awesome to see.  This hike summed up Florida's birding in a lot of ways.  The wetlands held some incredible species numbers that included: 180 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, 65 Fulvous Whistling-Duck, 1,200 Ring-necked Duck, 1,100 Common Gallinule, 3,500 American Coot, 55 Anhinga, and many more among 76 different species we detected.  

Blue-headed Vireo

Eastern Phoebe

Prairie Warbler

Cooper's Hawk

Common Gallinule

 

Great Blue Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

Anhinga

Blue-winged Teal pair

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Gator!

Gray-headed Swamphen

 

 

Red-shouldered Hawk

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Limpkin

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

Little Blue Heron

Glossy Ibis

Tricolored Heron

Concluding, I got 196 species in Florida in the 6.5 days that we had to bird.  It is an excellent state to bird in, and I look forward to going back someday.  Thanks to Caleb Strand for the trip and for finding many awesome birds and to Sean Fitzgerald for letting me join Caleb and giving me a place to stay at!