A Williamson's Sapsucker at Chaparral Park

 January 13th, 2023:  I went to see a cool-looking male Williamson's Sapsucker that was found and has been continuing at Chaparral Park in Scottdale.  The bird was cooperative for me in the time I spent there. 

eBird notes: "Continuing adult male. During this time it was first seen on the northeast side of the lake and in pines right along the basketball court. The sapsucker then got very active and started working it's way south to a lot of different trees. It eventually settled down and spent lots of time drilling holes in a big pine not far northwest of the parking lot here: 33.511884,-111.907139. After reading many reports of it being seen mainly in the pines near the playground/north side of the lake, I was a bit shocked it went as far south as it did while visiting many trees along the way that included mesquite, pine, eucalyptus, etc."

Always cool to see this one!

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 

Yavapai County: Page Springs and a cool Warbler

Today on December 16th, Ronnie Reed and I explored Yavapai County and had some cool target birds.

Most of our targets were at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery and Bubbling Ponds area, which included Varied Thrush, Golden-crow

ned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and anything else we could come up with.  The Varied Thrush was by far the main target.  We got to the spot early, and man, what an awesome place it is.  There was great species diversity, and in the time spent birding we came up with 59 species.  We didn't find the Varied Thrush or Golden-crowned Sparrow, but we did find 2 White-throated Sparrows and a male Williamson's Sapsucker.  This place had a good trail system that went through good habitat diversity.  We spent a good amount of time searching for the Varied Thrush and Golden-crowned Sparrow without luck.  Full list at my eBird checklist here:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S124077433

Williamson's Sapsucker 

American Goldfinch

White-throated Sparrows

We had Spring Creek to look for Pacific Wrens and Cornville Grasslands to look for Grasshopper Sparrows on the agenda after Page Springs, but Ronnie checked the Rare Bird Alert and saw that there was a Louisiana Waterthrush reported nearby at Sedona at Red Rock Crossing, which turned out to be the Crescent Moon Picnic Area.  It was found by Alex Wilson, and when we got to the spot, we got lucky to run into Alex and his wife Stephanie who found the bird.  They told us it was about a half mile to the east, where an obvious big rock went across Oak Creek.  We went to the spot and after about 5 minutes of looking, we got to see the bird.  Louisiana Waterthrush, what an awesome bird for Yavapai County!  This stretch of riparain and surrounding habitat along Oak Creek was awesome too, definitely a place to come back and explore more of.

Townsend's Solitaire 

Louisiana Waterthrush 

To close out the day, we checked Spring Creek (which also has awesome riparian habitat) for the Pacific Wrens without luck, and then the Cornville Grasslands for Grasshopper Sparrows without luck.  The White-throated Sparrow and Louisiana Waterthrush were new Yavapai birds for me, and Ronnie got 8 county birds to bring his Yavapai list to 190.  County birding is freaking fun.

Spotted Towhee

Yavapai County: Longspurs and more

9 December 2022

I've been craving some county birding lately in Arizona outside of Maricopa County.  I recently had the fortune of seeing two good Yavapai County birds in Barrow's Goldeneye and Long-tailed Duck, fly into Yavapai County from Maricopa County at Lake Pleasant.  This sighting bolted me wanting to get out a little more and pushed me to spend a day birding Yavapai and trying for some new county birds.

Recently, Felipe Guerrero has birded the grasslands of Lonesome Valley near Prescott and has found Chestnut-collared, Thick-billed, and Lapland Longspurs and if I remember right, maybe a Sprague's Pipit too.  On December 9th, I made it a Yavapai birding day and the Lonesome Valley Grasslands were my first stop.  I got there before 8 Am, and it was a brisk 25-30 degrees.  The birds that were possible helped with the brisk air and frostbite hands.  I parked and hiked 0.7 miles to the tank where the Longspurs were.  Chihuahuan Meadowlarks were in song, and Savannah Sparrows and Horned Larks were abundant.  It didn't take long for Chestnut-collared Longspurs to become common too.  Once at the tank, I walked around and kicked up scads of Savannah Sparrows in weeds and taller grass around the tank.  I walked around further for another 30 minutes as Longspur activity from Chestnut-collareds seemed to be scattered throughout the grasslands.  With that in mind, I decided to walk through the grass.  At one point, I took a loud step at the same time that I heard what I thought was a squeak call from a Sprague's Pipit.  The step prevented me from hearing it in full confidence, and unfortunately the bird didn't call again.  I decided to go back to the tank after 30 minutes of walking through grass, and when I arrived I could hear Longspurs flying around a lot more right at the tank.  At first I heard Chestnut-collareds, and I could see them landing around the tank.  When I got to the tank, I heard a Thick-billed Longspur flyover with it's higher pitched rattle call, and then another minute later I heard a Lapland Longspur too with it's dry, quick three-parted rattle.  Just like that, I had all three longspur species coming to the tank, all of which were Yavapai lifers for me.  I didn't plan on staying too long at first, but I started to watch the longspurs come into the tank, and it started to get addicting.  Before I knew it, I was there for close to another two hours.  The longspurs had many Horned Larks with them too.  Most longspurs were Chestnut-collared, but visually I was able to find a Thick-billed quickly.  After some patience, I got eyes on a nice Lapland Longspur.  The Lapland was then joined by a second Lapland as two flew over calling at once.  The flock of spurs and larks were flighty, and it was challenging to scan through them at times before they would take flight.  Part of the tank's water was iced over, and the birds would slide on the ice at times.  Man, what a fun time it was to do some grassland birding.  My extended stay made me realize that I would have to cut out my stop for Fox Sparrow in chaparral habitat southwest of Prescott.  

Lapland Longspur 

Lapland Longspur with Horned Larks 

Lonesome Valley

This day was one planned for targets at each stop, and each stop would feature different habitat.  I wanted to spend a solid amount of time at each place.  My next stop was Granite Basin Lake, which is a small reservoir in pine and oak forest.  My target here was Williamson's Sapsucker, and within 10 minutes I found a female Williamson's!  It was great to see one, as this is a bird I always enjoy.  There were lots of birds here as this is an awesome place, and another highlight was an odd-looking Red-breasted Sapsucker X Red-naped Sapsucker hybrid. 

Williamson's Sapsucker 

Sapsucker hybrid 

My third stop was in the Willow Lake vicinity in Prescott, where I hiked along Willow Creek on the southwest side of Willow Lake to a good view of the lake.  Targets here along the creek were Harris's Sparrow (found by Micah Riegner and Walt Anderson) and Yellow-belled Sapsucker (found by Susan Drown), as well as a Greater White-fronted Goose on the lake.  I missed all three target species, but I did have a great time birding on this trail as I had 51 species in the afternoon.  With the diversity being good at this time of day, I'm sure it would be great in an early morning atmosphere.  Waterbird numbers are staggering at Willow Lake.

Buffleheads at Willow Lake

My last stop of the day came halfway on my way back home to Peoria, and it was along Badger Springs Road at the Agua Fria National Monument.  I parked just off the east side of I-17, and I hiked the road to the trailhead while birding desert scrub, chaparral, and scattered juniper and a small spot of riparian in a wash.  This place is awesome too, and it is really underbirded and has a lot to it (such as great riparian habitat at Horseshoe Ford along Bloody Basin Road), and it's a place I can get to in less than an hour from home.  My targets here were Mountain Bluebird (which I got) and Sagebrush Sparrow (which I missed).  This was a spot that featured far south record of American Tree Sparrow in the winter of 2020/2021.

A great day of Yavapai County birding.  4 stops.  5 county birds (Chestnut-collared, Lapland, and Thick-billed Longspurs; Williamson's Sapsucker, and Mountain Bluebird).