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.
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