I think I Have A Great Crested Flycatcher!...

 I woke up early today, September 2nd, and had a mission in front of me, a hardcore one.  The root of the mission was to bird along Sycamore Creek via the Old Beeline Highway north of Sunflower.  I had a strong urge in my gut to come here, and a strong urge to bird the surrounding area such as the juniper, chaparral, and pinyon-pine covered slopes, as well as Mt. Ord.  A big reason is because there is interesting movement from Jays in the last week.  Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays have been overly numerous, and Pinyon Jays are showing signs of irrupting into lower elevations this fall as well.  A few days ago, Jake Thompson had a big flock of Pinyon Jays moving around in the town of Duncan.  For today, I wanted to place myself in a position where I could possibly get them if they were to move through, as Pinyon Jay would be an incredible species to land in Maricopa County.  Clark's Nutcrackers have been reported in a few areas too that are lower-than-usual for them.  So today would be an approach that I like to call "combo birding".  It's awesome, and it not only gives you a chance at a great diversity of species, but it also give you more of a chance to find unusual species at key times of the year during migration.  My plan for today was to stand stationary at a few stops along the Old Beeline to listen for interesting species (alright, to listen for Pinyon Jays!) at dawn, bird along Sycamore Creek early, make a few stops in pinyon-pine and juniper after Sycamore Creek, and then go to Mt. Ord.

After turning onto the Old Beeline Highway west off of Highway 87 (signed off as "Sycamore Creek", adjacent to Mt. Ord, just north of mile marker 222", I pulled off at a few pull outs along the road that gave good views of the surrounding area and habitats.  I made two stationary stops, starting just before 6 A.M. and lasting close to 6:25.  I didn't have any Pinyon Jays, but there were many Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays, a Gray Flycatcher, and Gray Vireo still hanging around, and a good number (5) of Crissal Thrashers.  As I made my way to Sycamore Creek I was surprised to see an Osprey perched on a snag along the side of the road.

I arrived at Sycamore Creek via the Old Beeline at 6:31, as the sun was coming out, and there was clear weather.  As I had the vibe that it was going to be a productive morning with good numbers of birds, I slowly made my way south along the old paved road as it paralleled the creek (which is pretty dry right now).  Birds were indeed numerous and it took my awhile to get to the old and abandoned Sunflower Workstation.  As I was about to get there, I heard this rising and upslurred "wheeiiep" call that immediately struck me as being a Great Crested Flycatcher.  I listened closely and heard the bird again.  Wheep!  I stilll thought the same thing.  Even though I could hear the calls pretty well with my own ears, I knew that my phone wouldn't be able to record the calls from where I was, and I moved forward while listening carefully.  The call continued to come, and I knew I had to record the bird.  Great Crested Flycatcher is extremely rare in Arizona with 4 state records, and Maricopa County is without a record.  The last record was also in the month of September, but it was back in 2010.  Knowing this in the back of my mind made my heart beat pretty freaking fast, and luckily I got to a point where the bird was loud enough and close enough for my phone to pull off a recording.  The bird called three times while I recorded and as it was much closer, I now wanted to get my eyes on the bird.  It continued calling as I edged closer, and I got to a spot and expected to see it.  I looked a few feet too high on the juniper slope it was no calling from, and at the last second I saw it sitting on a branch.  It flew right when I was about to react by looking through my binoculars or trying to get off a pictures.  What I did see though was important, I saw that it was a Myiarchus flycatcher.  I stood on the road and played calls for Great Crested Flycatcher and it went completely quiet on me.  For a few minutes I looked up on the juniper slope it was calling from, hoping to detect it again.  All of a sudden it/a Myiarchus flycatcher flew out from the slope and past me and toward the riparian along Sycamore Creek before landing high in a tree.  I did get the vibe of a bright yellow frontside on the bird that contrasted well with a dark upper body and face area as it flew by.  When the bird landed, I had it in view from quite a distance and unfortunately, it had it's back to me.  Pictures that I took were worthless.  The bird dropped down into some thick riparian along Sycamore Creek.  I investigated further by using playback of an owl mob.  Lots of birds came in, and it was frustrating when an Ash-throated Flycatcher was one of those birds that came in.  It was around 7:18 when I heard the Great Crested/Mystery Flycatcher, and I looked around the area for close to an hour without any further luck on it.  I let the birding community know what had happened via the Group Me text messaging application in our group, "AZ Rare Birds.  Limited service prevented me from being able to send my audio recording of the bird to Group Me, but I was able to send the audio through Messenger to Caleb Strand, Nolan Walker, and Kadynn Hatfield.  All three of them, who are great birders, agreed taht it sound good for Great Crested Flycatcher. And sadly, I couldn't find or hear the bird again.  What was important was I saw a Myiarchus giving the call, which matched Great Crested more than anything and it's one competitor would be even rarer in a Nutting's Flycatcher.  I decided to put it on my list for the day and submit it as Great Crested Flycatcher, and if my recording wasn't good conclusive enough then I would chance my observation. 

Poor shot of the bird

Aside from the Great Crested Flycatcher madness, this area was spectacular for birding.  I detected a diverse 65 different species, and there were several other highlights that were very fun.  Close to my starting time, a Golden Eagle flew pretty low overhead, and I reacted late to blow my chance at getting a photograph.  2 Common Black-Hawks were present, and I got great views of a juvenile (which I think are cool-looking), and 2 Zone-tailed Hawks were also present.  A Great Horned Owl flushed from a wash I walk down while I followed the creek.  UP to 3 Gray Vireos were still present here, as all of them sand from the hillsides.  At least 20 Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays were along the route, probably many more (and I still did listen for those longshot Pinyon Jays!).  3 White-breasted Nuthatches seemed like a solid count for the elevation and with it being this early into gall.  Migrant warblers and vireos were pretty numerous, and I managed to find a Black-and-white Warbler foraging with a mixed feeding flock.  From where I parked, I walked south for over a mile, and ended not far north of the barricade to the Sunflower community.  Aside from birds were a few herds of Javelina.  When I walked back north, I took my time as I walked through the area where I had the Flycatcher.  No more extended luck, and it was a little discouraging.  It was getting hot out toward the end, and after about 5 hours, I called it a birding day.  I almost went to Mt. Ord, but I decided not to as I was getting tired.  As I have work tomorrow, this Flycatcher may have to be in the hands of other birders who might chase.  Almost definitely so...

juvenile Common Black-Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk

Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

Bushtits

Virginia's Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

September 3rd, 2022:  The Best "Vicarious" Birding Of My Life

After the field yesterday, things got interesting for me.  All I thought abot was the Great Crested Flycatcher.  My recordings were ertainly intriguing to others.  Dave Stesjkal, a great birder, said of my recordings, "that they sounded like Great Crested to him over the next closest candidate for him, the Nutting's Flycatcher.  Caleb, a great birder, said too that I should partially consider a certain call from Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush.  While that would be a thousand times more rare, I still wouldn't put an Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush as impossible for Maricopa County and there's a chance that species could show up anywhere in Arizona.  The calls he referred to are similar, but would come across differently than a Great Crested Flycatcher in the field.  Plus I saw a Myiarchus giving the calls.  I was a bit discouraged, and hoped that people would go out and look for the bird.  After all, it seems to me like a bird with 4 Arizona records would attract a bit of a birding crowd. 

Early today, things got really interesting when Chris Benesh, a great birder, put the recordings from my bird (via eBird checklist upload) and compared it's sonogram with actual sonogram of the calls of Great Crested Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and Nutting's Flycatcher.  He made it into a table, and mine matched almost perfectly with Great Crested Flycatcher!  The other ones weren't really even close at all.  Chris posted this before it was light out, and I knew that at least three birders in Ronnie Reed, Dara Vazquez, and Benjamin Guo, were going out to look for the bird.  During all of this time, I was at work, and was checking my phone regularly.  At 7:23, a great message came into Group Me from Dara:  Tommy's GCFL continues this morning.  It gave it's distinctive loud rising weep call.  Ben Guo recorded further audio.  Got good views of bolder plumage color than ATFL or BCFL with bright lemon belly rising high on chest.  Relocated initially in oak grove on west side of research station, then flew to sycamore and chaparral ridge on east side of canyon".

"Hell yes", I replied to the message.  I was stoked, I wanted to do backflips in front of all the hospital staff I was working with and patients who I was serving food to.  In the field, Dara and Ben located the bir barely south of where I originally found it, and Ronnie rolled up just in time to hear the bird too.  (We call him "Roll Up Ronnie" for a reason!)  Ronnie texted me not long after that Ben obtained diagnostic photographs of the bird too.

Birders asked if anyone had gotten pictures.  I took awhile, but Ben put 6 decent photographs and a sound recordinga much better than mine that showed the spectogram very clearly.  And Ben's photos, I practically had a heart attack when I saw them.  They were good documentation shots and they clearly showed a bright yellow belly-underparts extending up to upper breast, dark gray upper breast and lower face, extensive orange base to otherwise larger, sturdy black bill, brown on top of heard, and tons of rufous in the tail.  "Dang, a Great Crested Flycatcher, wow!", I thought.  And then I reminded myself I found the freaking thing 24 hours earlier.

I was obvious to everyone my bird is a Great Crested Flycatcher, Arizona's 5th and Maricopa County's 1st.  It is my 485th bird for Arizona and 409th for Maricopa County.  For Maricopa County overall, I think it's the 463rd bird.  Funny thing is, Tyler Loomis found my Maricopa nemesis-a Downy Woodpecker-while chasing the Great Crested Flycatcher.  Hopefully it sticks around!

The Bell's of Robbins Butte and a few other recent sightings

Today on October 9th, 2014, I ventured out southwest of Phoenix to the Robbin Butte Wildlife Area.  I woke up this morning and spent an hour or so and wasted time on deciding where to go.  It's been in my strong interest to go out to search for Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrows once they arrive for the fall and winter.  I thought I would have had to wait a little longer for the birds to arrive, but I whipped out Janet Witzeman's book, Birds of Phoenix and Maricopa County and the bar graphs indicate that Sage Sparrows should arrive in the before the second week of October in decent numbers.  For some reason I thought it was more towards mid-October when they arrive in numbers, but I was glad to see that I was wrong.  I decided to go out to Robbins Butte to look for Bell's Sparrows.  Recently, birder and biologist Chris McCreedy has done extensive studies on Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrow in their wintering distribution in Arizona and California as well as their wintering distributions.  The study showed a lot about the two species, and the denser saltbush habitat found at Robbins Butte is favored more by Bell's Sparrows than Sagebrush Sparrows.  McCreedy's study showed that Bell's is the dominant species at Robbin's Butte, and Sagebrush dominates elsewhere.  I was eager to get out to Robbins Butte and start my search.  Once I got there, I started birding in the appropriate habitat right away.

Luckily, it didn't take me long to start hearing the call notes of Sage Sparrow species, and I began to start seeing Bell's Sparrows whenever they would pop up.

By the end of the search that lasted over three hours, I found many Sage Sparrows, and most of them were Bell's as McCreedy discovered at this location previously.  I had 1-2 Sagebrush Sparrows, and probably anywhere between 10-15 Bell's Sparrows.  There were quite a few birds I wasn't able to see well, so I won't call them anything other than Sage Sparrow sp., but they all looked good for Bell's also.  I covered a rather small area at Robbin's Butte, and the Bell's Sparrow wasn't disappointing!  This next Bell's Sparrow was one of the most cooperative birds that I had during the search, if only I could have had my camera focused better.  

As I've mentioned in my previous posts about Bell's Sparrow field marks, this bird differs from the similar Sagebrush Sparrow it was split from by it's darker-blackish malar stripe that contrasts with it's gray head and nape.  Sagebrush has a malar-stripe that isn't as extensive and is much lighter, and the Sagebrush's malar is the same tone in coloration as the head and nape.  The back of the bird is also very plain and is relatively unstreaked, where in Sagebrush Sparrow the back is noticeably streaked.  

Here's a more distant shot of a Bell's Sparrow from behind.  It isn't a good picture, but it does show the plainness of the back.

This bird was pretty cooperative, while the others didn't allow me to get too close.

This Bell's Sparrow was more cooperative than the others.  I was able to get close and stand still while the bird foraged on the ground and came out into the open several times.  

Here are a few more pictures of the bird above.  The contrast of the gray head and black malar are very evident in this picture, and the brownish back also contrasts with the other features to give the bird a "three-toned" look.  

Here's a few more Bell's Sparrows from the morning.  I really enjoy observing both Sage Sparrow species.

Other than the Bell's Sparrows, a Praying Mantis was a nice addition to the morning!

Other than this Expedition and a few recent lengthy trips to Apache County, I've kept most of my birding local.  On one of those days, I went birding with Caleb Strand, who is an epic birder.  Caleb is a teen, and his birding skills are already top notch.  During our birding day, we went birding at the Hassayampa River at both the rest stop and the Preserve, as well as Lake Pleasant.  I was very thrilled to find Caleb his first ever California Gull.  On Caleb's most recent birthday, he found his first Sabine's Gull, a rarity in Arizona.  California Gull isn't rare, so I joked with him that it was wrong how he was getting rarities as lifers before expected birds.

A guess what Caleb and I found after we found his lifer Cali Gull?  Another Sabine's Gull!  The Sabine's stayed distant, but we had decent scope views and a flying field mark to deal with.  At Hassayampa, this Summer Tanager was still hanging around.

While taking a snack break on a trailside bench, we also discovered this Lesser Goldfinch sitting on a nest.  I only noticed this nest because the bird flew into it.  If that didn't happen, this nest would probably be very hard to pick out.

Nashville and Wilson's Warblers were also quite numerous along the two trails that were open at the Hassayampa River Preserve.  Due to flooding, three of the trails in the Preserve were sadly closed.  Had they had been open, I think Caleb and I would found more birds, and perhaps a rarity.

I also spent a weekend by birding Tres Rios Wetlands and Glendale Recharge Ponds on both days.  I had 98 species combined between the two mornings, 76 at Tres Rios and 75 at Glendale.  But the birds weren't so photogenic, except for this Black-crowned Night-Heron and these Cattle Egrets.

Hopefully more birding expeditions will be coming soon!

Birding the Lower Salt River Recreation Area

I spent a nice morning birding the beautiful Lower Salt River Recreation Area.  This area is awesome, and it is located just northeast of Mesa.  It is one of my favorite birding areas in Maricopa County, and I haven't birded it since March.  With the reasonable temperature and the fact I haven't visited this area in a long time, I decided to bird it today.  I had several first-of-fall birds in the pleasant morning.

There are 10 recreation sites at the Salt River in a 13 mile stretch, and all of them are good for birding.  I had time for 3 of them this morning.  My first stop was at the Granite Reef Recreation Area.  In two hours of birding at Granite Reef, I recorded nearly 50 species.

Granite Reef

Migrant diversity wasn't as high as I expected it would be here today, but there were still some highlights.  I had my first-of-fall "AUDUBON'S" YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS (5-6), 2 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, and a GRAY FLYCATCHER.  Most of these birds were in the picnic area.  I particularly enjoyed seeing the Gray Flycatcher pump it's tail like a Phoebe over and over while I observed it.

Gray Flycatcher

2 different CRISSAL THRASHERS called during the morning, one along the thick trail through Granite Reef, and the other on the adjacent north side of the Salt River.  The only duck of note was a female CINNAMON TEAL.  A BALD EAGLE was on the north side of the River.  An INCA DOVE called in the habitat, one I don't observe often at the Salt River.  Several VERMILION FLYCATCHERS were in the picnic area, one of which was a first year male.  Other migrants included WARBLING VIREO, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLERS, WILSON'S WARBLERS, a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, and 3 GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES.

Wilson's Warbler

Vermilion Flycatcher (first year male)

Bewick's Wren

Black Phoebe

Granite Reef Picnic Area

The Salt River:  Where the Great Blue and other Great wade

My next stop was at the area between the old Sheep's Crossing and Foxtail Recreation Sites.  This area is accessed by parking at the Great Western Trailhead and hiking into the good habitat.  This area is one of my favorites at the Salt River, and there is a wash along the south side of the River that is lined with tall willows, tamarisk, and a few cottonwoods.  I call the wash, "Willow Wash", and it serves as a migrant trap.  There are always migrants here in season, and today there were quite a few, although none of them were rare.

"Willow Wash"

In the wash I encountered a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, another GRAY FLYCATCHER, WARBLING VIREO, 2 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, 15+ ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, singles of NASHVILLE and MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS, several YELLOW and WILSON'S WARBLERS, 2 GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES, 2 LARK SPARROWS, LINCOLN'S SPARROW, and 2 LAZULI BUNTINGS.

Nashville Warbler

Salt River Wild Horses

The wash has water flowing through it seasonally as a water run-off during the tubing season.  There isn't any water running through it now, although there were spots with a few small pools.  The upside to this is that it's easier to walk through the wash, but the downside is there are usually a lot more birds with the water running through.  I had my best looks ever at a Northern Waterthrush at this location, which was a bird I was hoping for when I came today.

Blast from the past-a Northern Waterthrush at Willow Wash in 2011

My final stop was at the Butcher Jones Recreation Area and Saguaro Lake.  I scanned the Lake in hopes of finding unusual waterbirds, but I came up with a distant flock of Western/Clark's Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, and a handful of coots.

Saguaro Lake

Once at Butcher Jones, I heard and found my only BELL'S VIREO of the day, which it is getting late for that species.  In the mesquite bosque at Granite Reef, I had my third GRAY FLYCATCHER of the day, a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, and a young female VERMILION FLYCATCHER.  Activity wasn't high at Butcher Jones as it was almost noon-time.  It was a good day to be out birding, and the weather will be very nice soon!

Gray Flycatcher

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (what looks uncomfortable to us is this bird's routine life-upside down!)

Butcher Jones mesquite bosque (winter Gray Flycatcher habitat)

Butcher Jones Beach

Till next time....Good Birding!