Both Bilsky and I slept much better having stayed at the Econolodge on Saturday night. We even slept a bit late- until about 8am on Sunday. I had myself a sorry excuse for a continental breakfast, and then we were on our way.
Our first stop was a trailer park that is one of the few reliable places in Utah for INCA DOVE, which we saw five of near the end of our tour of the grounds. We then stopped at Grandpa's Fishing Pond where we were treated to CANYON and ROCK WREN, GREATER SCAUP, and messy MUSCOVY. A quick stop at Sand Hollow State Park ave us looks at an immature BALD EAGLE on an outcropping, but we didn't see the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER that had been reported there. The next 1-2 hours was spent toiling over loons and waterfowl to find the elusive and inlandly rare YELLOW-BILLED LOON at Quail Creek. We eventually settled on a lighter loon being our dude, but it was much too far to really appreciate.
We then went to Snow Canyon to look for a handful of birds that had been reported. Within a few minutes, we were hearing and seeing several ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. We found RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, but not the similar but uncommon in the west YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER that had been reported. Just when we were about to leave, one of the state park workers there notified me about a friendly GREATER ROADRUNNER that he had seen minutes before on the group campground. Bilsky and I hightailed it over, and immediately found him plucking away at worms, and generally interested in us.
We made one last birding stop, where the CRISSAL THRASHER had been seen both the morning before, and earlier that day. We once again had no luck on this. After an awesome weekend in southern Utah, Bilsy and I bid ado around 4pm, and I headed to Las Vegas.
The Eric Lantz's friend Kerry was able to get me a free room at the Imperial Palace, which is owned by the same hotel she works for- Harrah's. I checked in around 6pm, got cleaned up, and met up with Kerry at Harrah's next door. She gave me a Diamond Lounge pass, which got me into a number of free appetizer and drink lounges on the strip. I hit Harrah's, Caesar's Palace, and Flamingo for the freebies. By the time Kerry got out of work at 10 so we could hang out, I was pretty lit. Regardless, her friend Shelly picked us up, and we got a beer at a bar called Griffin's, which was near North Las Vegas.
Monday morning, while I wasn't feeling my best, I did feel ready and excited to bird. I went north to Calico Basin near Red Rocks, and took a look around. I saw a number of birds I had seen all weekend, including PHAINOPEPLA, SAY'S PHOEBE, and ROCK WREN, but the real treat came when I noticed two COMMON RAVEN chasing after my lifer GOLDEN EAGLE. It was an incredible sight.
In the late morning, I headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Sanctuary, which is an amazing, 9-pooled water treatment plant. The amount of diversity of waterfowl was incredible, as I noted 9 species of anatidae (ducks and geese). Other neat species here included CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, GAMBEL'S QUAIL, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and ABERT'S TOWHEE. I saw two new species to me- BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, and a COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD which the man at the front desk helped me to distinguish from the ANNA'S that were around. He also told me about the extreme weather I was likely to encounter should I chose to continue on to Flagstaff that day. I took his advice, and made the 5 hour drive down to Phoenix yesterday.
Because of this change in plans, I gave old friend Leo Gleason a call. He and his wife live in Scottsdale, AZ, and were very willing to house me last night, and they fed me baked ziti! It was pretty awesome catching up with him, as it's been about 5 years since last we met.
This morning we all left at the same time, at about 8am. I headed northeast to the Tonto National Forest near Carefree, AZ. I checked out the Lower Camp Creek which was a riparian area that had much bird activity. On one of the steep hills, I noticed two CANYON TOWHEE darting in and out of bushes. Shortly thereafter, I saw a female GILA WOODPECKER, which is quite a plain bird. Once I noticed two BRIDLED TITMOUSE, it took me about a half hour to stop watching them- they are incredibly beautiful.
I then came down to Mesa, and went to the Granite Reef Recreation Area. I was on a trail that was mostly for biking, but found myself chasing birds far from the trail most of the time. I got great looks at a small flock of BLACK-THROATED SPARROW, and then chased a thrasher for awhile. He finally gave me some good looks from not too far away, proving that he was a CURVE-BILLED THRASHER and not the remarkably similar BENDIRE'S THRASHER. I also got to see a much more wild GREATER ROADRUNNER, skulking through the desert, which in some ways was nicer than my original encounter.
I'm now at a library in Mesa, trying to plan out my next several days in Southern Arizona. I'm really excited about the birding down here.
Our first stop was a trailer park that is one of the few reliable places in Utah for INCA DOVE, which we saw five of near the end of our tour of the grounds. We then stopped at Grandpa's Fishing Pond where we were treated to CANYON and ROCK WREN, GREATER SCAUP, and messy MUSCOVY. A quick stop at Sand Hollow State Park ave us looks at an immature BALD EAGLE on an outcropping, but we didn't see the WHITE-WINGED SCOTER that had been reported there. The next 1-2 hours was spent toiling over loons and waterfowl to find the elusive and inlandly rare YELLOW-BILLED LOON at Quail Creek. We eventually settled on a lighter loon being our dude, but it was much too far to really appreciate.
We then went to Snow Canyon to look for a handful of birds that had been reported. Within a few minutes, we were hearing and seeing several ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. We found RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, but not the similar but uncommon in the west YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER that had been reported. Just when we were about to leave, one of the state park workers there notified me about a friendly GREATER ROADRUNNER that he had seen minutes before on the group campground. Bilsky and I hightailed it over, and immediately found him plucking away at worms, and generally interested in us.
We made one last birding stop, where the CRISSAL THRASHER had been seen both the morning before, and earlier that day. We once again had no luck on this. After an awesome weekend in southern Utah, Bilsy and I bid ado around 4pm, and I headed to Las Vegas.
The Eric Lantz's friend Kerry was able to get me a free room at the Imperial Palace, which is owned by the same hotel she works for- Harrah's. I checked in around 6pm, got cleaned up, and met up with Kerry at Harrah's next door. She gave me a Diamond Lounge pass, which got me into a number of free appetizer and drink lounges on the strip. I hit Harrah's, Caesar's Palace, and Flamingo for the freebies. By the time Kerry got out of work at 10 so we could hang out, I was pretty lit. Regardless, her friend Shelly picked us up, and we got a beer at a bar called Griffin's, which was near North Las Vegas.
Monday morning, while I wasn't feeling my best, I did feel ready and excited to bird. I went north to Calico Basin near Red Rocks, and took a look around. I saw a number of birds I had seen all weekend, including PHAINOPEPLA, SAY'S PHOEBE, and ROCK WREN, but the real treat came when I noticed two COMMON RAVEN chasing after my lifer GOLDEN EAGLE. It was an incredible sight.
In the late morning, I headed to the Henderson Bird Viewing Sanctuary, which is an amazing, 9-pooled water treatment plant. The amount of diversity of waterfowl was incredible, as I noted 9 species of anatidae (ducks and geese). Other neat species here included CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, GAMBEL'S QUAIL, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and ABERT'S TOWHEE. I saw two new species to me- BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, and a COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD which the man at the front desk helped me to distinguish from the ANNA'S that were around. He also told me about the extreme weather I was likely to encounter should I chose to continue on to Flagstaff that day. I took his advice, and made the 5 hour drive down to Phoenix yesterday.
Because of this change in plans, I gave old friend Leo Gleason a call. He and his wife live in Scottsdale, AZ, and were very willing to house me last night, and they fed me baked ziti! It was pretty awesome catching up with him, as it's been about 5 years since last we met.
This morning we all left at the same time, at about 8am. I headed northeast to the Tonto National Forest near Carefree, AZ. I checked out the Lower Camp Creek which was a riparian area that had much bird activity. On one of the steep hills, I noticed two CANYON TOWHEE darting in and out of bushes. Shortly thereafter, I saw a female GILA WOODPECKER, which is quite a plain bird. Once I noticed two BRIDLED TITMOUSE, it took me about a half hour to stop watching them- they are incredibly beautiful.
I then came down to Mesa, and went to the Granite Reef Recreation Area. I was on a trail that was mostly for biking, but found myself chasing birds far from the trail most of the time. I got great looks at a small flock of BLACK-THROATED SPARROW, and then chased a thrasher for awhile. He finally gave me some good looks from not too far away, proving that he was a CURVE-BILLED THRASHER and not the remarkably similar BENDIRE'S THRASHER. I also got to see a much more wild GREATER ROADRUNNER, skulking through the desert, which in some ways was nicer than my original encounter.
I'm now at a library in Mesa, trying to plan out my next several days in Southern Arizona. I'm really excited about the birding down here.
I want to see a Roadrunner!
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