Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Staying Alive with Irish Ponds

Hello Humans! And anyone else who might be visiting from beyond the stars...

It's been super busy these last few weeks. The opportunities for birding have been scattered few and far between other work and social obligations. Alas, I am not made of the sterner stuff required to endure a perpetual birding weekend. At least the residual glow and satisfaction from my early September Salton Sea trip has kept me alive, aided by some occasional forays to local urban sites.

Last Friday I made it out to the McCormick Ponds in east Phoenix/Scottsdale, hoping to maybe see some early waterfowl or an unusual migrant. The waterfowl have not yet arrived in Phoenix en masse, but the drab fall-plumage warblers are trickling through. I had some decent looks at MacGillivray's and Orange-crowned Warblers around the ponds, and was also happy to see Sparrow activity picking up as well. The McCormick ponds are a great place to see Lincoln's, Brewers, Song, and White-crowned Sparrows in winter. I'm hoping that later this year they'll pull in a vagrant White-throated or Golden-crowned to really put McCormick on the birding map.

There were no range rarities, but a perpetually blurry and intrinsically early White-crowned Sparrow was a noteworthy sighting. I don't know that I've ever seen White-crowneds in Phoenix as early as September 14th before. Even eBird scoffed at my sighting, until I provided a photo that would make Bigfoot proud.


A pair of early Northern Flickers also added to the sense of prematurity around the ponds. I have to keep their images blurred too because they wouldn't sign a legal release for me to use their photos publicly. Bummer.


With lots of overhanging vegetation near water, the McCormick ponds are a pretty good spot for Flycatchers. They pull in summer Kingbirds and are a reliable location for Say's Phoebe, Black Phoebe, and Vermillion Flycatcher year round. It is too bad the top of this Phoebe's nasty pipe isn't brown. It could've matched the bird perfectly.


A Western Wood Pewee produced on my recent trip was a first for the location. He seemed to be gearing up for some flycatching just while the sun was gearing down. This may be one of those rare, purely nocturnal subspecies that hunts with echo-location and night vision goggles.



There is a large population of Great Egret and Herons in the McCormick area, and often times they try to disguise themselves as lawn ornaments on the golf course, you know, like those wire-legged flamingo decorations. They stand for a while and then evacuate their bowels in a very torrid fashion (If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about!). This must drive the golfers nuts. The thought of them stepping in Egret discharge makes me chuckle every time.


As I was safely disguised as/behind a palm tree, this Egret felt comfortable enough to indulge in a little scruffy fluffy shakin' down.






As mentioned before, one of my goals this winter is to find a nice rarity at the McCormick Ponds. In part this is just to vindicate my trips to the area, as I've never encountered another birder there and do not know that anyone visits these sites anymore. I also feel like, in part for that reason, they're overdue. Even if I dip on the rarity this year, it will not be time poorly spent.

19 comments:

  1. Buenas capturas,me gusta mucho la de la Garzeta grande con la sombra.Saludos

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    1. Gracias Isidro. Como una criatura similar desgarbado, me he sentido como que los tiempos Garzeta muchos antes : )

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  2. Laurence, I always enjoy finding the twisted little gems in your posts...

    "I have to keep their images blurred too because they wouldn't sign a legal release for me to use their photos publicly."

    I'm gonna start using that excuse now too. ;-)

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    1. Cheers Robert!

      I mean, I don't really know what you mean by """excuse""", but yes we can all commiserate about such problems : )

      Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. "I have to keep their images blurred too because they wouldn't sign a legal release for me to use their photos publicly. Bummer."

    That has to be the most CREATIVE excuse for a blurred picture I have ever read! LOL

    I have never had the dubious pleasure of watching an egret relieve himself. But after that shakedown, he's gonna be preening for a very long time!

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    1. Oh, you didn't buy it huh? : )

      I suppose those Egrets go through much the same routine as we people do in the afternoons after work and so forth, a nice concluding chapter to the daily digestion, some stretching, some more feeding, and then standing on a golf course aimlessly for a few hours...

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  4. Don't give up hope Laurence:) I'm sure a rarity will come your way. They are bound to happen. That's part of the adventure....although it has been quiet around here as well. Kathie has been keeping me busy these past two weekends and we've had so much fun stalking birds. The American Redstart, which is about the size of an ant, was spotted by Kathie. I sent the pic into the bird gods and they smiled and said, yeah....while they're in migration, we don't consider them rare in that area:) What's a birder to do? It was still spotting one though.

    You're a good birder guy. You commit to social obligations and work. I don't know how you do it. I guess we all manage somehow but still...it's nice to fit in a half hour or hour here and there:) The Kingbirds are crazy right now. Lots of fun to see around the landscape. You've got some nice close ups on several of those birds. Hope you find something unusual and in the birding world that shouldn't be too difficult:)

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    1. When I say closeups on those birds....I mean the birds that are on your post....not the Kingbirds:)

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    2. Thanks Chris. You're a trooper for reading through all my rambling posts and always leaving such thorough, thoughtful comments.

      I heard about the Redstart from Kathie! It's great y'all have a connection down there now. I'll have to intrude some time and make it Three's Company! I've had more than my fair share of exciting sightings that, when sent into documentation people, were dismissed as normal migration happenings (and, of course, they were). That happened with my first Townsend's Warbler, but that didn't make the initial joy of that sighting as less potent. I'm still waiting on an American Redstart too, would love to get one up here in Phoenix.

      I'll definitely be heading to Mt. Lemmon some time this winter for Crossbills and other stuff. I hope your school year is going well pedagogical partner. We're already half-way through this week : )

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    3. That would be fun. I think it's going to be blogger reunion this next month for me....I will meet some more people and it has been lots of fun. That would be a blast. The 3 of us birding.....you two will be in and out of the bushes and ID on the spot. I'll have some drool coming out of my mouth but I promise I'll catch up and get these birds down. I seriously don't know how Kathie spotted that bird. It was so tiny on my zoom lens at max. But like you said in a previous post, it's better to have 2 or more birders together because you see more. The two of us did benefit from keeping a look out. I did see some that she didn't and vice versa....but we saw more together than if we were alone. I would have missed the American Redstart.....and some of the Blue Grosbeaks. Tricky grass huggers to get on camera. If you ever want to do some birding, I'm up for it. I'll the battery up and get the camera ready. Enjoy your Saturday tomorrow....I have a meeting with the bamboo gods and need to get some gardening done....and still find time to bird and do laundry:)

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    4. Ugh, laundry...the bain of my weekends.

      I will keep you posted on my next Tucson visit, and Kathie as well. We should probably make musketeer costumes or something...
      Like you say, it doesn't matter what sort of disparity there is between the 2 or 3 birders who are working together (and I bet there's less of a disparity with us than you'd think) there's always a net gain in species seen. Looking forward to it

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  5. Very fun post to read and love the photos, especially the fluffy egret.

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  6. This is a fun post Laurence, like Dan I especially like the fluffing egret!

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    1. Yes...how come you don't see any imitation egret stuffed animals?

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  7. Laurence, good for you to bird the un-birded wasteland! Though it looks awfully lush to me, and full of birds! Glad you found the White-crowned sparrow. I've never seen such a fluffy egret either! Great captures! If I come to Phoenix, will you take me here?

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    1. Thanks Kathie! I must say, if you want to bird in Phoenix the McCormick ponds will be low on the totem pole, but we could pair it with the Desert Botanical Gardens and Papago Ponds on that side of town : )

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