Post by Randy on Apr 19, 2022 12:10:06 GMT -8
For spring break my family took a trip to Scottdale. Of course it was primarily a family trip but I managed to get out for a couple hours on a few different mornings. It's taken some time to get through all my photos and I apologize in advance for the long post!
My first birding morning I went northeast of Phoenix to a riparian area on the edge of the Tonto National Forest (Box Bar Recreation Site). I was immediately treated to my first two lifers of the trip - a Lucy's Warbler singing and a couple Vermillion Flycatchers flitting around in the trees. This ended up being one of the most abundant birds in riparian areas and it seemed as if there was one singing on territory every 100 meters. They were very difficult to photograph - they always seemed to be behind branches or backlit but I got a few decent photos showing the field marks of a rusty crown and rump:
There were a few Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers around as well:
One of the most abundant birds in general was Great-tailed Grackles. They are a typical parking-lot bird. This one was at one of the zoos we went to with the family:
The next free morning I had a few hours I headed east of Phoenix to McDowell Mountain Regional Park, which is typical Sonoran Desert habitat. It was really neat to hike through this. Here's a photo of the habitat:
One of my main targets for the trip was Harris' Hawk and almost immediately upon entering this Regional Park I saw a raptor perched on a cactus. This was lifer number 3 for me.
I only had about 1.5 hours here but saw some good birds. Here are some photos:
Gambel's Quail:
Gila Woodpecker:
Northern Mockingbird:
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher:
Poor photo of a Canyon Towhee:
Cactus Wren (I love these guys):
Ash-throated Flycatcher:
Black-throated Sparrow:
Sage Thrasher (I had two of these here; apparently they are not overly common):
Common Raven (this was one of a pair nesting in the crook of a cactus):
The next birding day was actually a half day with my brother, who was also down there with his family. We both had understanding wives who took our girls for the morning so we could get out birding. We went to a couple sites along the Salt River east of Phoenix at the West edge of the Tonto National Forest. This is another riparian area that had a number of Lucy's warblers. Here are some photos from this site:
Great Egret:
Phainopepla:
Snowy Egrets:
A very cooperative Vermillion Flycatcher (I don't think I'll ever get sick of seeing these guys):
Verdin (this species is found everywhere it seems but I found them very difficult to get a photo of!):
Another Ladder-backed Woodpecker:
After this site we went to the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, which was near where my brother and parents were staying. It's a large Riparian area in the middle of the city. We ended up with 50 species over two hours. There are lots of waterfowl and loads of stilts here.
Black-necked Stilt:
Least Sandpiper:
There were three species of hummingbirds here. We had 17 Anna's, 4 Black-chinned, and 2 Costa's.
Costa's - surprisingly very similar to Anna's unless the lighting is perfect:
Black-chinned:
Ruddy Ducks were one of the dominant waterfowl species:
Neotropic Cormorant:
That was it for dedicated birding for me. However, I was still missing two target species for the Phoenix area - Rosy-faced Lovebird and Gilded Flicker. On the second last day I had a small group of Rosy-faced Lovebirds fly over the place we were staying. On the last day while supervising my girls in the pool I heard a flicker and was pleased to see that it was a Gilded Flicker. These were lifers #4 and #5 for me on the trip. I even witnessed the Gilded Flickers making more Gilded Flickers
Overall it was a fantastic non-birding trip! I'd love to explore the Tuscon area at some point for a dedicated birding trip.
Here's my trip report if anyone is interested. I had a total of 86 species:
ebird.org/tripreport/45952
My first birding morning I went northeast of Phoenix to a riparian area on the edge of the Tonto National Forest (Box Bar Recreation Site). I was immediately treated to my first two lifers of the trip - a Lucy's Warbler singing and a couple Vermillion Flycatchers flitting around in the trees. This ended up being one of the most abundant birds in riparian areas and it seemed as if there was one singing on territory every 100 meters. They were very difficult to photograph - they always seemed to be behind branches or backlit but I got a few decent photos showing the field marks of a rusty crown and rump:
There were a few Ladder-Backed Woodpeckers around as well:
One of the most abundant birds in general was Great-tailed Grackles. They are a typical parking-lot bird. This one was at one of the zoos we went to with the family:
The next free morning I had a few hours I headed east of Phoenix to McDowell Mountain Regional Park, which is typical Sonoran Desert habitat. It was really neat to hike through this. Here's a photo of the habitat:
One of my main targets for the trip was Harris' Hawk and almost immediately upon entering this Regional Park I saw a raptor perched on a cactus. This was lifer number 3 for me.
I only had about 1.5 hours here but saw some good birds. Here are some photos:
Gambel's Quail:
Gila Woodpecker:
Northern Mockingbird:
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher:
Poor photo of a Canyon Towhee:
Cactus Wren (I love these guys):
Ash-throated Flycatcher:
Black-throated Sparrow:
Sage Thrasher (I had two of these here; apparently they are not overly common):
Common Raven (this was one of a pair nesting in the crook of a cactus):
The next birding day was actually a half day with my brother, who was also down there with his family. We both had understanding wives who took our girls for the morning so we could get out birding. We went to a couple sites along the Salt River east of Phoenix at the West edge of the Tonto National Forest. This is another riparian area that had a number of Lucy's warblers. Here are some photos from this site:
Great Egret:
Phainopepla:
Snowy Egrets:
A very cooperative Vermillion Flycatcher (I don't think I'll ever get sick of seeing these guys):
Verdin (this species is found everywhere it seems but I found them very difficult to get a photo of!):
Another Ladder-backed Woodpecker:
After this site we went to the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, which was near where my brother and parents were staying. It's a large Riparian area in the middle of the city. We ended up with 50 species over two hours. There are lots of waterfowl and loads of stilts here.
Black-necked Stilt:
Least Sandpiper:
There were three species of hummingbirds here. We had 17 Anna's, 4 Black-chinned, and 2 Costa's.
Costa's - surprisingly very similar to Anna's unless the lighting is perfect:
Black-chinned:
Ruddy Ducks were one of the dominant waterfowl species:
Neotropic Cormorant:
That was it for dedicated birding for me. However, I was still missing two target species for the Phoenix area - Rosy-faced Lovebird and Gilded Flicker. On the second last day I had a small group of Rosy-faced Lovebirds fly over the place we were staying. On the last day while supervising my girls in the pool I heard a flicker and was pleased to see that it was a Gilded Flicker. These were lifers #4 and #5 for me on the trip. I even witnessed the Gilded Flickers making more Gilded Flickers
Overall it was a fantastic non-birding trip! I'd love to explore the Tuscon area at some point for a dedicated birding trip.
Here's my trip report if anyone is interested. I had a total of 86 species:
ebird.org/tripreport/45952
