November 2023 (Revised)

I saw a beautiful Wood Duck at a nearby park I used to frequent all the time. It’s been a few years since last seeing any. So gorgeous.

And everything else in this post is from our yard. I keep saying we have to get out in nature soon again and…we don’t. We have been busy with social engagements, though, this time of year. It’s the perfect time of year to be out in the greater Phoenix area so I hope we do that soon.

Have you ever seen
anything
in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

-Mary Oliver

Gila Woodpecker, male

The usual suspects are still around…

Gilded Flicker, male

Fiery Skipper on Lantana

And, yes, RayRay the Roadrunner is still making appearances. So exciting and strange.

Northern Mockingbird looking autumnal

American Kestrel in our pine tree

A pine tree is a fitting way to end as we head into the winter holiday season. Hope you don’t get overwhelmed with the hype…just the fun.

[Sorry if you received a previous incorrect version of this post. Something happened :(]

Where Did October Go?

Yes, there are Greater Roadrunners in Arizona but I never-in-a-million-years thought we would have one take up residence in our yard, our alley, and some neighboring yards. We live in the middle of Phoenix, in a very urban area, so I was absolutely shocked to see this dude hopping around our yard one day. And that was about a month ago and we still see him/her every couple of days. Yes, he has eaten a couple birds in our yard and I thought of not feeding birds anymore but he isn’t here constantly so…so far, I’m still feeding. Roadrunners are modern day velociraptors.

We were pretty busy in October, finally getting into the swing of life again after the pandemic and other issues. We were at concerts, art openings, plays, restaurants, all sorts of things and November promises more…but I really want to get back to some serious birding…I think I am going a couple of local places this coming week. Meanwhile, our yard was pretty colorful…

Ladder-backed Woodpecker, male

Gilded Flickers, female and male (with the red stripe)

Gila Woodpecker, male…saw the female, too

Curve-billed Thrasher

Northern Mockingbird

Abert’s Towhee

Anna’s Hummingbird, male

And a little Halloween and Autumn fun…

And now it’s November so I need to get cracking. Hope you are enjoying Fall and getting ready for the madness of the holiday season (not looking forward to it).

Not in My Yard

This handsome Vermilion Flycatcher greeted me when I went back to my old stomping ground, Granada Park, a couple miles from our house. Much as I love my yard birds, it is nice to get out and see something different. This guy had a female with him but she was skittish and I didn’t really love any of the photos.

One day last week we went to Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix on a lovely cool day:

Greater Roadrunner

Desert Spiny Lizard

Cactus Wren, Arizona State Bird

Lesser Goldfinch, female

Gila Woodpecker, male, on saguaro

There is a small office park with a pond close to where we live. Back in February we went over there for a late afternoon walk after office hours. We were very surprised to see an Osprey up in one of the big trees…surprised because this pond does not have any fish in it…and yet he had a big crop like he had just eaten. We were back there in April and there he was again! He flew in around sunset, with a full crop, and went up to one of the big trees again. We guess that is just where he likes to spend his nights.

So odd to see him so close to our house, in the middle of a big city. Here are a few more critters we saw there:

American Wigeon couple

Neotropic Cormorant, juvenile

Young Goslings swimming at sunset

Red-eared Pond Slider

We hope to get back to day tripping soon to see more exciting sights and animals.

Birding Friends

A Yellow-rumped Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, Orange-crowned Warbler, and another Yellow-rumped Warbler were residing in a backyard in Chandler, AZ, to which I was invited. A woman in my Facebook birding group has a rare (for here) bird that has been in her yard for about 3 months now and she asked me if that would be a Lifer for me (a bird I had never seen before). I said yes and she invited me over to try to see it.

She has a gorgeous yard, complete with a 30 foot stream, a retention pond, tons of native trees and plants, various posing props, etc., so I was able to get some lovely shots. My husband came with me and this is who greeted us out front:

None other than a Greater Roadrunner! I figured that was a good sign that it was going to be a fun experience. So…I got my Lifer bird, a Gray Catbird! We don’t have those here normally. They are related to Mockingbirds and Thrashers and we definitely have those. Anyway, he was a little shy and gave me a few short looks but enough to get some photos:

Handsome little guy. I have some other shots but they all have feeders in them, not my favorite look but still glad to have them. I have some other photos from her yard that I haven’t even edited yet so they may pop up later. Everything looks great in her yard. She knows how to set up a bird paradise.

I have another birding friend who I have gone several places with in the past. Unfortunately, she is moving out of state in March. She and I did the Great Backyard Bird Count (February 17-20) in my backyard a couple times this past week and I will post those photos very soon but, meanwhile, she brought me this cute feeder that she doesn’t want to take with her. The first day I put it out, two Northern Mockingbirds and two Abert’s Towhees were very interested but cautious of something new. One of the Northern Mockingbirds got his nerve up and posed for me briefly before grabbing a peanut. I think the others will get braver and I’ll be able to get some cute shots of them by, in, or on it soon:

Reach 11 Nature Trail

Greater Roadrunner with lunch

Reach 11, in north Phoenix, is part of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department but it exists for flood control. A 7-mile long earthen dam keeps flood waters out of the nearby canal and out of housing developments to the south. The area where the nature trails are is only about 1 mile wide. Amazingly, this place is not well-known at all. I only heard about it from some birders recently. Driving down the busy street where the entrance is, one would never know what a beautiful place it is. Someone described it as a “hidden gem,” and it really is. From the street it just looks like desert scrub.

This poor, old, decrepit saguaro is at the beginning of the trail. We saw a bird fly into it so stopped to watch.

Who’s that?

It’s a male Gila Woodpecker. There must be a nest in there.

He was kind of shy. But then we saw more action…

A European Starling. It had a nest in one of the center holes and kept flying in and out with food. We could hear babies chirping every time a delivery was made.

Then we saw someone else fly in the other side…

A Gilded Flicker (male) seems to have a nest, too…

We stayed on the trail and didn’t disrupt the nesters but I’m sure they were pleased we left. We also saw another Starling head into a hole in the back so this saguaro is home to at least 4 different nests now. Who knows what else might be living in there? The wind was really blowing hard and gusting while we were there so I hope when that poor saguaro falls that there are no nests left.

After we walked a little more, we started to see the “hidden gem” part of this area. It was very lush back in there, all sorts of grasses, wildflowers, etc.

There was a mesquite bosque and a little hidden pond in there, full of tadpoles, called Bullfrog Pond. It was really peaceful and pretty. No one was around but one biker.

Globe Mallow

Common Side-blotched Lizard

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Anna’s Hummingbird

I know this place is teeming with birds and other wildlife but it was so windy that day that the birds were having a hard time staying airborne. It’s definitely a place we will return to as it’s only about 20 minutes from our house and very unique.

*The reason this recreation area is called “Reach 11” is because it’s on the 11th reach of the Central Arizona Project canal. Across the street from the nature trail is a huge sports complex with 20 soccer fields, an equestrian area, and more.