On Monday, January 24, Carrie, her mother Laura, and I flew to Southern Arizona, to join her father Dave for the week in Green Valley. It was a wonderful place to go on vacation in January not only because it was warm but also because of the birds! There were birds everywhere, in the neighborhood, in town, in the desert, and in the mountains. Les Allen warned me that the area is a birder's paradise, and it definitely was that even in January. If I had waited until Spring it might have been overwhelming as it was my first time birding there. I can't imagine how many birds there must be during Spring and Fall migrations. The nice thing about this part of Arizona is that you can drive about half an hour or so from the desert and be in the mountains. There is a variety of habitats so you get a variety of birds. There were even plenty of waterfowl in the lakes and in the ponds on the golf courses.
Amazingly, for several weeks before we arrived, the weather was pretty cool and there was less bird activity. Many of the hummingbirds had left the area. The day we left, there was sleet, and people's pipes were freezing in Green Valley, and we came back just in time to brace for the big blizzard here in Illinois, but for the week we were in Arizona, the highs were in the 70s. This was a tremendous blessing from the LORD. I am so thankful to Him for the great weather we had during our vacation. Since I took so many pictures and saw so many birds, I will be publishing four blogs, each of them focusing on my experiences in a different location or area that I went birding. I birded in some of these locations more than once during the week. This first blog will share my birding experiences at the Green Valley Country Club, where my in-laws Dave and Laura Freburg live. It will be the longest of the four since I birded there the most.
We arrived in Tuscon in the early afternoon, and drove to Green Valley, catching a nice look at an intermediate morph Western Red-tailed Hawk on the way. When we got to Carrie's parents' house, there were House Finches in the front yard, and no sooner than we had unloaded the car, Carrie yelled for me to come outside and take a look at a Greater Roadrunner in the neighbor's yard. As I had my camera in hand, I walked out and began taking pictures of this amazing bird-eating bird. Dave and Laura had once had neighbors in Green Valley who put out raw meat for the neighborhood Roadrunner and called it to eat with clucking noises.
After seeing the Roadrunner, we decided to go into town to shop and eat dinner. While driving through town I saw a male Phainopepla, the first of several I would see on this trip. I also was hoping this Dove at the shopping center was an Inca or White-winged Dove, but it was a Mourning Dove instead. I quickly learned that the most conspicuously numerous bird in Green Valley is the Mourning Dove, with the House Finche following at a close second. Yes, Mourning Doves and House Finches seemed to be far more numerous than European Starlings and House Sparrows, while I was there. I saw the House Finch below beside the golf course at the GVCC later on the morning of Wednesday the 26th.
When we returned to the house, I was anxious to get started. So I took a walk along the edge of the golf course behind the house and was only disappointed by the lack of enough light to take many photographs. I added four more life species during this walk bringing my total to six for the day: Lark Sparrow, Curve-billed Thrasher, Canvasback, and Vermillion Flycatcher. However, I did not realize this female Vermillion Flycatcher was a Vermillion Flycatcher. I thought it was a Kingbird until I found out the next day that it was too early in the year for Kingbirds. Then I thought it was a Say's Phoebe, but by the end of the week I would figure it out.
Birds were not the only form of wildlife I would see this week. I saw several Rabbits hopping around near the dried river basin that ran by the golf course. These Cottontails (Desert Cottontails I believe) were not as big as the Antelope Jack Rabbits that also live in the area, but they were still taller and their ears longer than those of our rabbits in Illinois.
When I reached one of the ponds on the golf course, I was amazed by the number of Waterfowl. There were at least 50
American Wigeons and at least 20 Northern Pintail, some Ruddy Ducks, and a Canvasback, which is in the picture on the right with the Pintails. This is when I wanted more light. By the time I took the picture of the American Wigeons below, it was already dark. I would have to come back to see them another day.
The next day, I went birding with Dale Birkenholz at Patagonia Lake, but on Wednesday morning, I got some more birding in at the Green Valley Country Club. My target bird was the Cactus Wren, which I had not seen in my first two days in Arizona. I started out walking down the streets of the neighborhood. It was a chilly morning, and my fingers were stinging from the cold as I tried to take pictures. The high would again be in the 70s that day, but it must have been below freezing that morning. I saw people bundled up like they were walking their dogs in Illinois. I quickly located a Cactus Wren, singing loudly and deeply on top of a tall Saguaro Cactus in someone's front yard. Its voice somewhat resembled that of a Bull Frog, but more melodious. Indeed our largest wren is hard to miss when it is singing. Its neck stretches out and the feathers on its neck puff out. It was an amazing spectacle of both sight and sound.
After seeing a couple of Cactus Wrens singing in the neighborhood, I again went behind the house and walked around the golf course, this time on the dirt road on the other side of the dried river basin. I was surprised at how close I was able to get to this roosting male Anna's Hummingbird, which put on quite a display for me by stretching out his feathers before he took off. If the light had hit the bird a little differently, the violet color would have appeared bright red and would have extended to the top of its head. At first, I thought this bird was a Costa's Hummingbird because it appeared so purple in the light.
I saw two more Anna's Hummingbirds on my walk--another male and a female. This second male appeared red in the light, but also had some yellow coloration on his throat. This might have been stain from pollen, but I'm not sure.
As I continued, I walked by three more Cactus Wrens including this one, singing in the front yards that I passed on the left side of the dirt road. This one was not on top of a giant Saguaro Cactus and, therefore, was a little closer and easier to view. When it is not singing and the feathers in its necks are all tucked in, the Cactus Wren looks like a completely different bird. It was like watching two different kinds of Wrens. The Cactus Wren was definitely my favorite bird of the day on Wednesday.
Southern Arizona has a different species of Goldfinch called the Lesser Goldfinch. They look similar to our American Goldfinches, but are smaller and have some differences in color. The most obvious are that their bills are darker and that the black feathers on the male's head extend all the way to the back of his head. On some of the males, the black feathers extend all the way down the back. So that there are two forms of this species--green-backed and black-backed. The female Lesser Goldfinch is shown below.
The Curve-billed Thrasher was very conspicuous, usually sticking around long enough to allow good looks and good pictures when the light was good. Surprisingly, it had a very sweet song for such a big, mean looking bird. Another Mimic-thrush, which I found to be common in Green Valley was the Northern Mockingbird shown below. I might have expected the Eurasian Collared Doves to be more common since there were so many Mourning Doves; however, I only saw this one in Arizona.
A couple of different Say's Phoebes seemed to be in the same area on the golf course almost every time I passed by during the week. The same was true of many of the other birds I saw so that by the time I took Carrie out for a walk in the evening, I knew where many of the birds would be. Notice the differences between this bird and the female Vermillion Flycatcher I had seen earlier and mistaken for a Say's Phoebe. There are also similarities since both are from the Tyrant-flycatcher family.
Before I got very close to the pond, I saw a huge flock of American Wigeons feeding on the fairway. The males have bright green and white heads, while the females have a gray head. As I approached they returned to the pond where they were accompanied by a good number of Northern Pintails. The male Pintail is one of the most beautiful waterfowl. He is the dark brown duck with the long tail and the white line that runs up the back of his neck. The female Pintail is the much smaller lighter brown duck shown first with American Wigeons and then by herself and with the male Pintail below. Eventually, I flushed most of the Wigeons and a few of the Pintails, but managed to snap a couple of shots as they were flying to the other end of the pond.
I was not expecting to see a male Northern Shoveler and particularly not one fully in breeding plumage. This was a first for me. I had seen one the previous day that was coming into his breeding plumage, but not as bright as this one. I photographed the Common Mergansers below without even knowing what I had taken a picture of because the light was so bright on the water. I wish I had known what I was photographing so I could have gotten some better shots.
While I was enjoying the Waterfowl, I photographed this immature White-crowned Sparrow in the reeds and the Savannah and Vesper Sparrows below. I was also delighted to see a Great Egret fly in and land in some tree branches that were hanging over the pond.
Although I enjoy birding alone and with other friends, I always enjoy birding the most when my wife Carrie goes along and we get to share the experience together. She is a great at spotting the birds. Often I am preoccupied with taking pictures of one bird and would miss another if it were not for her. On Wednesday afternoon, Carrie and Laura and I went hiking at Madera Canyon, but when we got back, I took Carrie on the path around the golf course to show her some of the birds I had seen, and she did see most of them including this Gila Woodpecker, a Cactus Wren, a Curve-billed Thrasher, and some Lark Sparrows.
We also saw some different birds including this Chihuahuan Raven, an American Kestrel, and an Audobon's Yellow-rumped Warbler shown below.
The Waterfowl were still around and just as beautiful as before.
During the week I was there, Dave, my father-in-law, had been telling me about the beautiful red bird with the black wings, which he occasionally saw out on the golf course. My best guess was that he was talking about a male Vermilion Flycatcher although its wings are dark brown. He decided to take Carrie and I out on the golf cart Saturday evening to look for it. He went as far as I had gone and went a little further. Carrie was the first to see it catching flies from its perch on these barbed wires above a metal fence enclosing some equipment that was off limits. It was indeed a Vermilion Flycatcher. It did not seem to want to leave this area and allowed me to get pretty close before it flew away, but it was late and the light was bad so I was not able to take very good pictures.
As we headed back to the house, we saw this Great Blue Heron fishing on the edge of the water.
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