Fall Greatness

As the fall season has continued to move on, I have continued to bird a lot.  The work schedule hasn't changed, and I don't have to be at work until 1 P.M. on almost every day that I am scheduled.  It is a challenging schedule, but on many of my mornings I can go birding.  By default I am a very early riser.  Even if I go to bed at midnight, I still wake up at 5 or 6!  Weird huh?  Probably, I try not to think about it too much.  I'm the type of person who doesn't like to sit around in the mornings and wait for work.  The conclusion will mean many of those morning hours birding.  The search for eastern vagrants that I've wanted for either my life list or Maricopa County list (which is technically..both) has continued to come at full force.  Since my last post, birding outings have been amazing!

The above picture is of the well-named Yellow-headed Blackbird.  This picture was taken at Becker Lake Wildlife Area in the White Mountains.  I went up to the White Mountains for a recent weekend with my good friends Mark Ochs and Gordon Karre and we took part of the annual Arizona Field Ornithologists (AZFO) State Meeting.  It was the 9th annual meeting.  Long weekend short, there were field trips on Friday for birders to participate in, the state meeting all day on Saturday with presentations, discussions, and quizzes, as well as field trips on Sunday morning.  Mark, Gordon, and I participated on field trips that went to Lyman Lake State Park, Concho Lake, Wenima Wildlife Area, and Becker Lake Wildlife Area.  There were good birds present, and I added six new birds to my Apache County List:  Greater White-fronted Goose, Neotropic Cormorant, Green Heron, Red-necked Phalarope, Dickcissel, and Rufous-crowned Sparrow.  Below are photographs of the Neotropic Cormorant and Green Heron.  Poor photos, but new Apache County birds!

Here is a picture of 10 plus birders scanning Becker Lake on the Sunday expedition.  Yours truly is in the picture, and the photo is courtesy of AZFO.  This is 10 of probably 80 bird nerds like myself who attended the Show Low meeting.  There were many cool people to talk to over the course of the weekend.  In this picture, we were all trying to photograph a cooperative Virginia Rail who emerged out of the reeds to greet us.

This was the best I got of the Virginia, but it did give me a chance once to photograph it well.  I guess I wasn't quick enough..

Once back from the AZFO meeting and getting back into the normal flow of the Phoenix life, I continued to bird more and more and more in pursuit of those special migrants and just to enjoy any birds and being out in general.  I have been staring at groves of willows and cottonwoods a lot, and birding inside of them too.

The above picture is from the Box Bar Recreation Site along the Lower Verde River.  Box Bar has become one of my favorite birding locations in Maricopa County, and amazing things happen at Box Bar!  The location has a ton of potential, which is why I'm birding it often.  It's one of those places where one never knows what they may find on any given outing.  One morning, I was pleased to look up and see a Merlin perched above me.  This small and fierce falcon is one that I don't get to see very often.

Another place I have visited often is of course my patch, the Glendale Recharge Ponds.  There have been some neat birds here too over the course of the last few months, and as the colder months approach, I'm sure more will show up.  Loads of cool ducks and hopefully a surprise gull.  Right now, a trio of young Peregrine Falcons have been terrorizing smaller shorebirds and waterfowl at Glendale.

Also at Glendale, I got to meet Melissa Okimoto, an amazing girl!  Melissa started birding this year, and she is an awesome birder.  I started talking to Melissa for awhile and we quickly realized we both loved birding in some of the same areas, such as locations in the Tonto National Forest.  Melissa and I then decided we would go to Slate Creek Divide and explore that area together.  When I first ran into Melissa, she had spied this Marbled Godwit, which is always a great bird to see!

On October 3rd, Melissa and I headed up to Slate Creek Divide together to explore and bird the area.  It was Melissa's first time of seeing Slate Creek Divide, and I really wanted to make it special for her.  We decided to walk down the main drainage in the area heading south into Maricopa County to search for high elevation goodies.  This area is dominated by Douglas fir and it has plenty of pines, oaks, and some sycamore habitat.  I told Melissa that seeing a Mexican Spotted Owl was a decent possibility from the start, and she loved the idea of seeing one.  In my mind, I was praying and hoping I would find one for her.  The hike down the canyon was beautiful and birds emerged as we went.  A Steller's Jay led the day off and Red-breasted Nuthatches sounded off their "trumpet" call.  Two Mountain Chickadees also showed up, a species that can be very scarce in our region.  Melissa and I found ourselves also enjoying Acorn Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Bridled Titmouse, Brown Creepers, Canyon Wrens, a Dusky Flycatcher, and some puzzling Empid Flycatchers.  Single migrants of Black-throated Gray Warbler and Western Tanager added to the fun.  I was loving the time with Melissa!  As we started to walk down the canyon for a good distance, I wasn't finding any of the Spotted Owls despite looking on almost every imaginable perch and previous perches where I saw them on.  As we came around a corner, I finally caught sight of what I was hoping and praying for to show Melissa...

I had the Spotted Owl in my sight, and to be honest, I was relieved!  I really really really really wanted Melissa to see this bird for her first time.  When I turned around to Melissa, I calmly said with a smirk, "Hey....".  She wasn't expecting me to say ".......Spotted Owl" and then point to a Spotted Owl with a calm reaction.  The look Melissa had on her face as she looked up at this neat bird was something I'll never forget.  It was an amazing moment, and I don't think I've seen someone as happy as Melissa was to see a Spotted Owl.  I took this picture of her right after I pointed the bird out to her.  Seeing Melissa's joy in the sighting was better than the sighting itself for me :)

As Melissa and I were scampering around and were busy being thrilled with the Spotted Owl, the Owl opened up it's big black eyes and stared at us for awhile before lazily dozing back off again.  It amazes me how Spotted Owls have been seen in the drainage this year.  After birding Slate Creek since 2010 every year and not encountering a Spotted Owl in the daytime before this year, Spotted Owls have now been seen here five different times by birders this year (with three of those times now being when I've made trips down here).  

Melissa and I had a seat in the canyon and enjoyed the Spotted Owl for awhile.  It had times where it was calmly curious about us.  I'm sure these birds wonder why people stare at them with amazement..

Melissa and I really took our time exploring Slate Creek, and we then decided make a day out of the Mazatzal Mountains and to go to Mount Ord and hike Forest Road 1688's two mile duration.  It was one of the best days I've had in a long time because of the amazing company I had with me, neat birds, and being at two of my favorite locations on earth!  And on Mount Ord, Melissa and I continued to find amazing birds, including her first Red-naped Sapsucker, a nice male that she spied up high in a pine tree.  Olive Warblers and a Townsend's Warbler also showed up for a few more neat birds to add to our day list.  Other than the Spotted Owl, the birds were difficult to photograph in the thick fir and pine trees during the day.  This epic day can be summed up perfectly though by two smiling faces :)

As October has gone on, I've continued to visit riparian areas to stare at willow and cottonwood groves, and of course walk through them too.  In the past, I have often visited many different places to search for migrants instead of a few.  But this year, I have changed that up a lot.  Instead of going to many different places, I have really focused on going to a few places, and Box Bar on the Verde River has continued to be one of them.  I figured that some of these special migrants are bound to pass through, and if I keep visiting a good place like Box Bar on a regular basis, that is a better strategy than going to many different places.  Here is that picture of Box Bar's willow/cottonwood habitat again..

I found myself walking around Box Bar one morning recently, and things were good, but I found myself wanting to move on because I wanted to bird more areas further into the day.  And then I came up on a line of cottonwood and willows.  After a day of mediocre activity, the activity on this stand was all of a sudden...active.  I was surprised to catch sight of a Painted Redstart foraging above me, one I don't see in the lowlands often.  As I wrote down "PARE" in my field notes, the Redstart only proceeded to drop a poop right on my notes.  Because I was getting ready to head back and was thinking about leaving Box Bar, I took that as a sign I should probably leave.  As I continued down the stand, which was right along the Verde River, I saw a songbird feeding on the ground.  Right when I looked at it I realized it was something good.  Green back, solid white front.  I thought it was a Tennessee Warbler at first for the first half-second before I saw that the bird had a fierce look to it, a long white supercilum, a long bill, a dark head cap, and a red eye.  It was a Red-eyed Vireo!  The sight of the bird had me jumping, and my dedication to birding Box Bar had paid off.  The Vireo was a life bird for me, and it was also my 370th bird for Maricopa County.  It's always amazing to find a rarity rather than chase a rarity!  I enjoyed the Vireo on the ground for a few seconds before it started foraging on the willows above me.  While I didn't get a great picture, I at least got enough to document it's presence!

Red-eyed Vireo is a casual vagrant to Arizona, but is usually annual in the State.  Prior to this sighting, which was on October 6th, I had never seen a rare vireo in Arizona.  Other rare ones are Yellow-throated Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, and Yellow-green Vireo.  I have looked for and chased Yellow-green Vireo twice in my history, each one I have missed by seconds while others right by me have had looks at them!  That fact also made this sighting beyond amazing for me, it was my first rare vireo for Arizona.  For this next picture: if the lighting would have been better to show of the Vireo's red eye, it could've added a more suspenseful twist to the story.  The Red-eyed Vireo peeking out at you..........

Other than searching for special migrants at Box Bar, this peaceful place along the Verde River is full of amazing things.  Sometimes I see a Peregrine Falcon lurking around in the riparian woodlands..

Other times I'll enjoy a Harris's Hawk or two or three perched up on Saguaros..

Some of the days here have been overcast and rainy.  Isn't it cool to see two big raptors perched near each other?  

Several families of wild horses reside on this stretch of the Verde River.  It's really neat to hear them in a wilderness area rather than on a farm!

One morning I got to show the area to Melissa.  We had a great time, and I really love birding with Melissa!

The Verde River via Box Bar is one epic place!

Recently, I also made a visit to the Hassayampa River Preserve.  The Hassayampa River is another place where birding is awesome in migration.  Quite surprisingly, I haven't been there very much this year.  And because I haven't birded as much this year as I did last year, I connected with my first Gray Hawk of the year.  This is a juvenile Gray Hawk, which is a neat thing to see.  Maricopa County has a nice breeding population of this species in the Hassayampa River area near Wickenburg.

While I was at Hassayampa, I was very shocked to hear and see a male Evening Grosbeak.  It seems very early for this bird to start coming down into the lowlands, or this far south into Arizona as it is!

It's not a good picture of the Evening Grosbeak, but hey, we can tell what it is right?!  This particular Evening Grosbeak may just be an indicator of what's to come in the winter months of 2015 and 2016.  With finch irruptions starting to pop up, owls already showing up in the southern parts of the North early, and with an El' Nino being in the forecast, I think some amazing things are in store.  I hope to witness a lot of it!

Birding in the remote southeast section of the southwest tip of Maricopa County: Bender Springs and the Vekol

Anytime I can add a new Maricopa County bird to my overall Maricopa County list is a big deal for me.  How about two new Maricopa County birds in a single day?  That is a huge deal!  How about a completely new area to see for the first time with that sequence?  A Maricopa birding freak dreams about days like that!  Days like that are very rare for me, but I had one on June 22nd, 2013.

Ever since I've gotten into Maricopa County birding (exploring areas and listing as many species as humanly possible in the region), I've always wanted to explore the desert mountains and valleys southeast of Gila Bend.  This includes the Sand Tank Mountains and the Vekol Valley.  Two birds that have mainly a southeastern Arizona distribution have been found in these areas.  One is the Varied Bunting and the other is the Rufous-winged Sparrow.  Varied Buntings have been found annually in recent years by John Arnett in Bender Springs Canyon in the Sand Tank Mountains.  This has included several breeding pairs within a relatively short distance of each other.  The Rufous-winged Sparrows were found in the Vekol Valley singing for the first time in 1995, and were thought to be probably breeding the area, which is rarely explored.  John thought of an excellent idea to lead a Sonoran Audubon Society field trip to this remote and rarely touched area by birders.  Because John is a wildlife biologist and works in this area, he's the primary source for a birding trip out here.  The plan was to focus on searching for these two species, as well as looking for saguaro cactus-nesting Purple Martins, which John has also found out here.  This area is also extremely dangerous, and is inhabited by drug smugglers.  Access is granted only through a permit after watching safety videos.

On June 22nd, 2013, John Arnett led a Sonoran Audubon Society field trip out to these areas.  The group consisted of eight people:  John Arnett, John Saba, Chrissy and Sydney Smith, George Wall, Andree Tarby, Carol Beardmore, and myself (Tommy D).  After we all spent the afternoon and night in Gila Bend on the previous day, we left Gila Bend at 4 A.M. to get to our first destination, Bender Springs, at about 6:30 A.M.  The route of close to 20 miles from the east I-8 exit at Vekol Road and taking rugged backroads to Bender Springs was a very rough drive.  We carpooled in two high clearance vehicles.  John Arnett drove a truck and George Wall drove a Saturn.  In all of my life, this was the roughest road I've been on while in a vehicle. John's truck did the route easily, but George's Saturn had a harder time.  After a few very rough and challenging patches in the road, we all made it safely to Bender Springs Canyon without any injuries, busted tires, or smuggler encounters.

Now Bender Springs Canyon is a beautiful place on the Barry M. Goldwater Range with many surrounding and scenic canyons and mountains. Bender Springs also features a neat archaeological site as well as the official Bender Springs, which is found by looking for a stand of cattails.

Here are a few scenes of the impressive area of Bender Springs Canyon:

This is where John has had breeding Varied Buntings, and I was anxious as ever to get that species for Maricopa County!   It didn't take long for luck to hit us.  John quickly heard a male Varied Bunting singing shortly after our arrival to the canyon.  We walked over to where the sound was coming from, and we eventually found our first pair of Varied Buntings, a male and female chasing each other around on the adjacent slope to our side of the canyon.  John had his spotting scope, and then was able to get the scope on the male bunting, who was perched on a saguaro cactus.  I wish I could've photographed that scene, but it was distant.  Perhaps a cut and crop of two objects on a picture maker would work to replicate the picture?  Walking further down the canyon resulted in more Varied Buntings, including a male that was much closer and more cooperative.  He even landed on a cliff that was overshadowing us.  He didn't realize that he's a bunting and not a wren or a rosy finch.  Here are a few shots I did manage, which aren't bad!

Varied Bunting-a Maricopa County lifer for Tommy D!

The Bender Springs hike included a walk up a mountainside that overlooked the canyon and provided amazing overlooks of the surrounding area (see above).  Here is a look of trail from below.

There were many other birds also present!  Some of the other highlights besides the buntings included a pair of Golden Eagles, a few Prairie Falcons, several Scott's Orioles, and Gambel's Quail.

Golden Eagle-distant

Prairie Falcon-distant

Gambel's Quail-up close and trailside!

Here is Sydney Smith at Bender Springs itself!

Some of the hike was tiring, and some of it was easy.  George Wall and Andree Tarby sat and wildlife watched while the other six of us bushwhacked and rock climbed down to Bender Springs.  This is the time we also had excellent looks of the male Varied Bunting.  George also took a few pictures of us down in the canyon from high above!

George's eyeview:

We finished up in Bender Springs after three plus hours.  The canyon was enjoyable to bird and a wonderful location.  I hope to visit it again!  

After the hike, we decided to take a route through impressive stands of Saguaro Cacti before heading to the Vekol Valley to search for Rufous-winged Sparrows.  We were looking for Purple Martins, who nest in cactus cavities, but we struck out on them.  But we didn't strike out on Harris's Hawks!

Harris's Hawk-distant

When we arrived in the area of the Vekol Valley it was steaming hot and the group was getting tired.  It was time to look for the sparrows.  Honestly, I wasn't feeling like we would have success with the Rufous-winged.  It seemed so long ago that they had been reported, I just wasn't thinking, or expecting at all, that we  would luck out with this species.  We first checked an abandoned and freaky barn where John had nesting Barn Owl in the past.  Walking into the barn, we found that it was abandoned.  We than continued south were mesquite woodlands were to be found.  The group got out and started to bird.  Half of the group got tired and sick of the heat, and went back to the vehicle.  John Arnett, Sydney, Chrissy, Carol, and I continued exploring the mesquite.  A "trail-like" berm went along and above the bosque.  The habitat looked good to me for Rufous-winged Sparrow, but we weren't hearing any despite playback.  In ways the mesquite bosque reminded me of the bosques at Catalina State Park near Tucson, which had nice flocks of the sparrows.  The bosque was thick and we didn't want to bushwhack much in the heat, so we stayed on the outskirts.  We found a mixed flock of birds at the end of the small route we decided to walk, which included a pair of Pyrrhuloxias and Black-tailed Gnatcatchers.  

The side berm along the Mesquite Bosque:

We then started to head back to the vehicles to head home.  John was a few minutes behind Chrissy, Sydney, Carol, and I.  I heard a Black-throated Sparrow singing in the bosque while we walked.  We got back to the vehicles and were getting ready to leave when John ran out of the bosque screaming "SPARROW!".  John had found our wanted but "unexpected" target, the RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW, right at the last second!!  The bird was singing fortunately when John was walking by, a few minutes behind us.  The group rushed over to the spot, which was a very short distance away from the cars and not as far as some of us walked along the mesquites.  Right when John took us to the spot, the sparrow was heard singing, and it eventually popped out into the open.  We briefly used playback, in which the sparrow was very cooperative and came right to our calls.  While this male was singing to us, another male Rufous-winged Sparrow was heard singing in the background.  John stated how interesting it would be to return to this spot when the monsoons kick up and search for more of the sparrows in the Vekol Valley.  For me, this was the bird of the day, probably because in all honesty, I wasn't expecting to see this bird.  But it shows that these sparrows, just like the Varied Buntings, are probably here every year.  The sighting was also cool because John literally found the sparrows at the last second.  There are clutch finds in the birding too, just as there are clutch last second three pointers in basketball.  A great way to end the trip!

Rufous-winged Sparrow in Vekol Valley-another Maricopa lifer for Tommy D!

Another funny thing is that the line of mesquites along Vekol Road where we found the sparrows is only a mile or so away from Pinal County to the east.  Talk about close!  It was a great trip to be on, thanks to John Arnett for leading a fun trip, to John Arnett and George Wall for driving their vehicles, to all the participants for spying the birds and for fun company, to John Saba for an extra person to cut the cost down for George and I in our Gila Bend room, and to George Wall for giving me a ride to and fro to Gila Bend and back.  My Maricopa County list now numbers 354 species, with 4 added this year in 2013 (Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Least Grebe, Varied Bunting, Rufous-winged Sparrow).  What bird will be next?

And also, George and I found these Black Terns on our way down to Gila Bend at the Lower River Road Ponds on the 21st of June.  Tommy D..out.

Black Terns