Teal' Next Time We Meet

Green-winged Teal...

For a long time now, these guys have titillated and tantalized me. They're the most common Teal in Arizona, and in fact I often see them in greater numbers than Pintails or Gadwalls, and yet I have not gotten good enough photos to fit their easy visibility. Seeing how common they can be, I feel that I should have some awesome, un-cropped close ups with these winter-fowl by now. With great numbers come great photographic responsibility, know what I mean?

So, this autumn and winter one of my side projects has been to improve my Green-winged Teal portfolio. There are good numbers of these birds at the Glendale Recharge Ponds, but the best place to see, and often photograph them, is at the Gilbert Water Ranch.

All three Teal (Cinnamon and Blue-winged being the other two, which I also have had little luck in photographing) tend to avoid the smaller urban ponds around Phoenix, the ponds which have provided me with excellent photo-ops on other ducks, so by and large I have resigned myself to the more distant, more cropped shots that this bird's shyness demand.

Even as they continue to frustrate me, there's slow progress, and I think I've improved from last year.
Like lots of other iridescent birds, their sharp looking green can turn into a cobalt blue in different angles of lighting, making them both verdant and versatile subjects.
I wish I could say that this Teal and the Least Sandpiper continue feeding without noticing each other and then bumped heads, but alas once again the Teal thwarted my photographic desires and turned around. Til' next time Teal...til' next time.

Except this Ranch is actually good for you!

It's as old and established as love and war. The Gilbert Water Ranch is one of the birding foundations in central Arizona. It pulls in rarities every year, most recently a Rufous-backed Robin, Winter Wren, and Chestnut-sided Warbler, and it maintains a good 50-70 species on site throughout the year, meaning that at any point one can go there expecting to see lots and lots of birds.
Now, apart from the rarities is pulls in from time to time--and with Streak-backed Oriole and Groove-billed Ani, it's had some good ones--the birding is not overly unique. The habitats that the Water Ranch provides are pretty ubiquitous to the numerous wetlands and water treatment areas around Maricopa County, and most of what one sees at the GWR can be seen elsewhere. But the lack of specialization is not a problem, because the Ranch still brings you up close and personal to so many species, affording more and better looks of more birds, and photo ops too, than perhaps anywhere else in Maricopa.

This aspiring ballerina was actually photographed at a park near the GWR. I wonder if it noticed that it stepped in Goose poo..?

Dowitchers come by the hundred of millions (just hundreds actually) and practice their symmetrical feeding at the GWR each winter. They say that if you put a bunch of monkeys in a room with computers and give them infinite time, eventually they'll compose a Shakespeare work. I dunno about the monkeys, but put some Dowitchers in front of some typewriters and they'd get it done, due in large part to their methodical type-writer feeding habits and their richly cultivated inner lives.

These birds stare at their reflections all day, inlaid to a background of mud. You know they've got to have some seriously deep and contemplative insights to share with the world.



This Green Heron looks like he just had an epiphany, and also like he is wearing period-appropriate Shakespeare style bloomers and tights. Well coordinated good heron, lookin' sharp...

This Mockingbird also looks inspired, or at least like he's trying to get inspired. Usually they have such upright, Thrush-like posture. I've never seen them sit on their haunches like this except when they're on a nest. Perhaps he is wondering if there's more to life than being really aggressive and mocking towards all the other birds and animals around him.

 No!


This winter Warbler who needs no introduction...

The Audubon's sub-species, told by their yellow throats, bring a lot of business to Phoenix everyyear. Or at least, they would if they contributed to the economy, but they're too common to really pull people out of their chairs to go chasing after them, and they don't pay any toll fees when they migrate down in huge numbers. Now, if a myrtle subspecies shows up, that's a whole different ballgame...



And on the subject of regional population variations, it has been very interesting, and also disheartening, to hear of the continued decline of the Inca Dove population in Tucson and southeastern Arizona. Every year there are less and less birds and breeding pairs recorded. It's now considered a rare sighting down there, and pretty soon eBird will start double checking on any Inca Dove entries in the southeastern counties.

In Phoenix anyway they're still doing very well. Their population seems to be on the rise and I see these  adorable little puffs in neighborhoods and apartment complex parking lots just as much as at designated wildlife preserves.

Sheepish Green-wing Teal are another staple of the GWR. This is probably the best place to observe and photograph these very handsome and culinarily unscrupulous ducks. I have some more shots of this  fancy guy with which I'll follow up later this week.

If you ever find yourself in the area, or have bird nerd friends and family heading to the area, point them in Gilbert's direction. For one reason, it's the only good reason to ever go to Gilbert, and secondly, it's got some excellent (sub)urban birding. 

Follow the Link!

Hello Bird Nerds and other Respectable People.
My monthly post is up over at Birding Is Fun. Check out the action from the Santa Cruz Flats. See who's hanging out for the winter here.

The Lesser of Two Scaups

From the Scottish/early English scalp, referring to a mussel or clam bed. Greater Scaup are not overly common in the United States, but are found elsewhere across the globe and in large numbers. Lesser Scaup, by contrast, are very populous in North America but are uncommon outside of the continent.
They're not the flashiest of waterfowl but they've got a handsomeness to em'.

Oddly enough, they're one of the less common ducks in Phoenix. They can be found without too much trouble, and they're not as reclusive as Buffleheads or Mergansers, but they don't have near the numbers as the Wigeons, Pintails, Ring-necked, or Mallards. As such, it's always a treat to seem them around town, especially when they're close to shore and tolerant of some photography.
The temptations of course is to turn this bird into a Greater Scaup because of its greenish sheen and the slight running of the black off the beak nail. Don't do it!!!

There were a half-dozen or so at the Fountain Hills Lake, and now I can add Lesser Scaup to my blinking duck album, which includes, among others, Canvasback, Redhead, and Ring-necked.

The females look pretty sharp too and pretty compact. The Lesser Scaup--a stately duck for any occasion.

Peli-Flop!

For the last few weeks there has been a squadron of five American White Pelicans at the Gilbert Water Ranch in east Phoenix. Prior to their visit, the only place I'd see White Pelicans in Arizona was at the Tres Rios site, and almost always behind the fenced off area. As such, these goofy birds afforded me some of the best/most close-up looks I've had of American White Pelicans in Arizona. There's something that's already just intrinsically fascinating, ridiculous, and totally awesome about Pelicans. Seeing them in the desert and taking pictures with mesquite trees or other deserty things in the background magnifies this silliness by a factor of three.



Since the Pelicans do not frequently occur at the GWR, I would've expected them to move on pretty soon, but they've been around for a while now, and when I saw them they were acting like they owned the place. These guys must be like the Pelican puritans that left Tres Rios and all of its squalid hedonism to establish a pelicaniform city on a hill out in Gilbert.



Watching these fissiparous birds feeding is great fun. Coastal Pelicans like to dramatically dive-bomb their meals, which always makes for a great show. These Pelicans were not quite as energetic, and instead would just kinda swim around the ponds, then stop, then slowly and with great lassitude, face- plant into the water.

 

They'd just lay there for a minute, enjoying the experience and no doubt meeting my gaze without the slightest hint of embarrassment at being seen in such a state. Slowly that throat pouch would fill up, and then when it had reached a appropriate capacity, the Pelican would raise its head and strain everything out.

Sometimes, after I've been slouching for a while and/or eating lots of greasy bread-type food, I feel like I have a few rings of chins or a big throat pouch hanging off my face.
Thank you, American White Pelican, for giving me better perspective.

P.S. I would much rather have these birds delivering babies than Storks. Thoughts?

Cootastrophe

Legions of coots, they mass and march.

They eat their grass and gain their starch.

They grunt and groan and squeal and fuss.

They hate to fly even when they must.

They float and feed with balancing weight

And then attack with malice and hate

They invade and occupy Phoenix each fall, bullying the lakes with their Cootish gall. 

Boyz In Da Hood

You won't find these Hooded Mergansers in the 'hoods of Phoenix. They prefer the swanky and grandiose ponds around Fountain Hills for their wintering, where they rub shoulders with other aristocratic waterfowl like Northern Pintails and Buffleheads while cavorting near the world's tallest fountain. In fact, this is about the only place to consistently find these saw-billed ducks in Phoenix, though I've also seen them at the Papago Ponds (1 female) and at the Box Bar recreation sight.

When I made it out to Fountain Hills the Merganser numbers were still pretty low. I only counted three individuals--all male--but their numbers may well exceed a couple dozen by December, and they can even be seen indulging in mating displays and other vanity festivals. Gordon Karre has some exceptional photos of the Fountain Hills Merganser here.

They stayed a little bit distant for me, but it was still neat to watch them cruise around with their unique and jaw-dropping headgear. This Ruddy Duck seemed to think that, since he also had white on his face, he could be a part of the gang.

Eww!! Ruddy Ducks do not get to hang out with super suave Hooded Mergansers.


 Wood Ducks may be the most colorful indigenous waterfowl in North America, but it's a challenge to find any waterfowl more eye-catching than a Hoody gettin' on his hood. It will not surprise me at all if the recent Mars rover discovery turns out to be Hooded Mergansers hanging out on Mars. The headpiece strikes me as very martian.

Greetings Greater Yellowlegs

Bright eyes, long Yellowlegs, slim toned body, sharp-beak...sounds like the perfect woman eh, one about which many quirky Indie-rock ballads will be written and sung on college campuses across the U.S? Well, surprise surprise, these are also characteristics of the stylish Greater Yellowlegs.

These sharp looking birds are pretty common around the larger Phoenix ponds and canals during the migration months and, to a lesser extent, the winter time. Unlike some of the similarly shaped Stilts and shorebirds that also frequent these habitats, the Yellowlegs like their privacy and are harder to approach. I spotted this bird at the Fountain Hills Lake a few weeks ago, where it was feeding in the water down below a berm. Nearby joggers and onlookers by darned! I left my dignity with a change of clothes in the car and began the wet, grass-staining belly crawl along the top of the berm towards this bird, knowing that this would be one of the better photographic opportunities that'd come my way.

With the elevated berm concealing me from the bird, I focussed the camera, dialed down the exposure compensations, and prepared to fire away. One or two more adjustments, a few more feet of crawling,  and then...ATTACK!
Ugh, photo-bombed by a Coot. He jumped in front of my shot like an old pro. These guys would make excellent bodyguards if they could ever go for more than ten seconds without attacking each other.

The American Coot moved on and, luckily, the Yellowlegs was still there. The larger size, longer beak,  more upright posturing (not always), and general sense of elevated superiority help tell this bird apart from Lesser Yellowlegs, which are also less common around Phoenix. I love the black perforations along the feathers.

Yellowlegs are dainty and delicate, but they also like to fly around and belt out their rattling alarm calls when I really wish they wouldn't. There may not be any great Indie-rock songs about these birds yet, but I'm sure some enterprising birders will get on it soon.  

Clay-colored Sparrow

I try to practice my Sparrow ID a lot. As far as the difficult ID groups go (Flycatchers, Gulls, Sparrows), I consider myself to be strongest with these little brown jobs. However, I am ashamed to admit once again that, upon further review of a photo I took last November, a little over a year ago, I made another misidentification.
Earlier this autumn I was commenting that I expected the McCormick Ponds to produce some rarity this winter, but all I had found thus far was a very early White-crowned Sparrow.

Upon reviewing this photo though I realized that what I had first written off as a Brewer's Sparrow was, in fact, a vagrant Clay-colored Sparrow. Though uncommon, these Sparrows do stray into Arizona, though I haven't heard many reports this year. This was a life bird for me, though I didn't know it at the time, and I can now add it to the list of unusual Sparrows I've seen in Phoenix, alongside Cassin's and Rufous-crowned.







So, once again I proved to myself what a novice I still am. This time it doesn't sting so badly though. Clay-colored wasn't really on my radar and now I can say McCormick has provided me with that all important rare bird to really solidify it as a grand old birding spot. This also brings my birding list for this year up to 349, only 1 away from my goal!
It's not a Brewer's Sparrow, but I still think a nice cold celebratory brew is in order.

Snipe(r)

November is a funny month for the bird world. Migration is mostly over, but stray birds still move around, and others start to appear with such subtlety, with such little fanfare and announcing, that one wonders if they ever left at all. One such bird is the Wilson's Snipe (yes, a Snipe is a real bird). These sneaky shorebirds turn up in Arizona and the southern half of the U.S. throughout the winter. They're secretive by nature, but towards the end of November they start appearing out of the foggy, misty mud in the Phoenix marshes. I enjoy when their pictures then start turning up over the blogosphere, and try my hand at Snipe sniping as well.

Wilson's Snipes have excellent camouflage and are generally silent. Sometimes they feed out in the open, but more often than not these birds are seen after they've flushed. The Gilbert Water Ranch is one of the best places around Phoenix to see these birds and maybe snap a few photos, as the shallow mudflats they favor are mercifully close to pedestrian paths.

They feed the most openly in the mornings and evenings, like many birds, but in my personal experiences I've found them to be more crepuscular, and see them the most often at dusk. Naturally, this makes photographing them tricky.
At least there'll be Dowitchers nearby no matter what when where how or why.