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.

Escape to Gilbert

Mexican Amberwing on Amaranth

I escaped my quarantine the other day, in the late afternoon, for a couple of hours. I went to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve where I go about once a year. I should really go more often as there is an extreme diversity of all sorts of birds…water birds, songbirds, raptors, and always a rarity or 2. I went in pursuit of a rarity this time. I had seen literally hundreds of photos of a Roseate Spoonbill that has been there for a few weeks in my Facebook birding group. Most of the photos were so pretty, up close, so you could see its pink feathered fluffiness in detail. Well, I didn’t get there until about 4pm and I heard it had left for the day so I walked around looking, to no avail, but saw a lot of other birds. About 6pm, as it was getting dark, disappointed, I headed back to my car and saw it in a different pond than those it usually frequents! It was out quite a ways and it was getting dark so I didn’t get those pretty, detailed photos that I had seen from other people. But I saw it and it was awesome and it was a new life bird (lifer)! And I have proof:

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It has giant black feet! This is not a bird that you find in Arizona normally. It likes Florida and Texas and other Gulf coasts. Actually, right now there are also 3 more of them at Glendale Recharge Ponds, too, on the completely opposite side of town. I would love to go see them and if it ever cools off here before they leave, I am going to go look for them, too.

But here are a few more of the birds I saw before finding it…

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Great Egrets

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Great Blue Herons

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Green Heron

Snowy Egret

This beautiful red amaranth was all over; I had never seen it there before.

Mallard in Amaranth

Now for some songbirds…

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Yellow-rumped Warblers (last photo indicates source of name)

Say’s Phoebe

White-crowned Sparrow

Vermilion Flycatcher, immature male, SO CUTE!

Orange-crowned Warbler

Townsend’s Warbler

Different than my yard birds! This makes me want to get back out there birding after this intense heat we have had, much longer than usual, and this horrible quarantine we’re in!!!! It was nice to have a change of scenery…

Estrella Mountain Regional Park

Red-tailed Hawk

Isn’t he/she gorgeous? We went to another of Maricopa County’s Regional Parks the other day. It was a gloomy, cloudy day and the park left a lot to be desired. It was definitely the least attractive of all the county parks we’ve visited. This hawk was really the only redeeming factor for me.

We saw a Red-tailed Hawk 3 different times while there so I don’t know if this is the same one as the first 2 photos. The one in the first 2 photos was a very cooperative poser and there was even a little sun by then so it was a great photo op. Thank you, Hawk.

Everything else was pretty mediocre. I had a couple of target birds but we didn’t see them…

Say’s Phoebe

Vermilion Flycatcher

Not a park I would go to again but we did get a free pass to go to another county park so it kind of evened out.

Valentine’s Day is also Arizona Statehood Day. This is a very big saguaro superimposed on a 1912 map. Happy 107th Birthday, Arizona!

An Assortment

Greater Roadrunner

Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

Verdin

Those photos were taken at Desert Botanical Garden a couple weeks ago when I took a friend there.

Tony and I have not gone on one of our day trips for a few weeks now but we went over to Granada Park the other day, which was a dreary day, and saw these birds:

Vermilion Flycatcher (first I’ve seen in central Phoenix area)

Ring-necked Duck, female

White-crowned Sparrow, first winter

Gila Woodpecker

And then the yard birds…

Broad-billed Hummingbird, female (Yard Bird #46)

She was a new yard bird! And a rare bird for the area! I reported her on eBird and it was confirmed. These birds normally don’t come much further north than southeastern Arizona although a few others have been reported in our area this winter. I would so love a male to show up because this is what they look like (we saw this one in Madera Canyon earlier this year):

Aren’t they gorgeous? Of course, all hummingbirds are beautiful. The one below is an Anna’s female, you can see how different she looks from the Broad-billed female.

Gila Woodpecker, male

Northern Mockingbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audubon’s

I saw this guy a few weeks ago and then he disappeared. Now I saw another one in our yard the other day by itself so don’t know if the same one returned:

White-crowned Sparrow

And then my very favorite yard bird, Tink, was kind enough to pose away from the feeders the other day:

An amazing thing happened just before I took these photos. A hawk (Sharp-shinned, I think, but I didn’t get a photo) crashed through the mesquite tree where the feeders are looking for a snack, I guess. I know they need to eat but I was pleased it came out empty-taloned. It then landed on my neighbor’s garage while I ran in to get the camera and it took off just as I tried to get a shot. I really hope it gets its meals somewhere other than our yard…so does Tink.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Hello, October!

Desert Cottontail

Mexican Amberwing, female

Vermilion Flycatcher, female

October is a good month for Phoenix since the mornings and nights get cooler, although the days can still get hot. Right now, we have the remnants of Hurricane Rosa bringing us rain and clouds so it’s cooler than normal, high 70s-80s. Feels great after a long, hot summer.

The above photos were taken at Scottsdale Xeriscape Garden one day last week. I love the light there. I often see warblers there during migration but not this time.

The next few photos were taken yesterday at Desert Botanical Garden on a gloomy day. I mistakenly thought the birds would be out in full force but I was wrong again. There were a ton of Queens, though.

Queen Butterfly

Cactus Wrens

Gambel’s Quail, male

Sulphur with tattered wings

Verdin, mid-snack

I just don’t know where all the migrating birds are!!! I keep looking. The following photos were taken in our yard last week. The skippers are out in full force.

Fiery Skipper in Lantana

Svengali does Elvis

It’s definitely beginning to look and feel like Fall here. Happy October!

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