A Hoody Home Coming

Phoenix area birders and photographer and photograbirders all eagerly await the winterfowl arrivals through December. They bring extra color and flavor to our ponds as well as the occasional rarity--most recently a Long-tailed Duck in Gendale. I was looking forward to the return of one particular bird this year, a juvenile Hooded Merganser that had wintered through his awkward adolescence at the Papago ponds last year. If he returned this year, he'd be in his sexy adult plumage. 

Of course, all the usual suspects were out in the nice sunny weather too. 

The gang of female Canvasbacks continues to swell this winter, with no males yet anywhere in sight.

Mangy Northern Shovelers have now arrived in force too; many of these birds still need to fully change out of their eclipse clothes.



The Merganser was reported several days ago, and has since attracted constant attention from the Phoenix photogs. It's a gorgeous bird and a pretty unique specimen of waterfowl. Most impressively, the Papago Ponds are tiny, and Hoodies are usually found out on the big deep lakes in Fountain Hills, where photos are much more difficult.

This tall, dark, and handsome male has now been the subject of many the photo shoot in recent days. Even when I arrived at 10am there were four other photographers positioned around the pond, and, thankfully, he didn't seem to mind at all.

He spent time preening in the shade and foraging amongst a powerful flotilla of Ring-necked Ducks.

He didn't spend that much time above water, and seemed to be playing a switcheroo game with his Ring-neck buddies. He'd dive down and then, after a ten second delay, it was not the Hoody that resurfaced, but a Ring-necked, Ring-billed proxy. 

Or sometimes a Ring-neck's coy mistress, with her snow-flaked chapeau.  

The Hooded Merganser wasn't a life bird, state bird, or year bird, or even a month bird, but an up-close encounter with this sharp-looking saw-bill carries the weight and satisfaction of a much more noteworthy sighting. I'll take him up close over a distant female Long-tailed Duck any day. Well, maybe not any day...

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.

Better Go to Papago

I'm still on a high from this morning's birding. Waking up at 6 am, this morning did not feel any more glorious than Saturdays past, and with my intended destinations being the Desert Botanical Gardens and Papago Ponds--two areas I had birded very often and with few surprises--there was little reason to expect anything but the usual. I'd been on some great birding trips recently, but my photography is always lacking when I visit knew areas. The plan today was to focus on some local spots and get some better shots of common Phoenix birds. The temperature had dropped a little bit, winterfowl were starting to arrive, and there's always the off-chance for a vagrant.

American Coots are not rare vagrants, and in fact descend on Phoenix by the thousand each autumn.

Since the DBG does not open until 8am, I pre-gamed at the Papago Ponds. The Papago Park has some nice rock formations, but the three little ponds are not very scenic. Even so, they are one of my favorite places to view waterfowl in the Phoenix area as they're fairly narrow and allow for closer looks without spooking the birds. This was my first trip out in several months, and I was immediately greeted by some Northern Pintails, Coots, and three Ring-necked Ducks. The Ring-necked Ducks were already in their breeding plumage but the Pintails were still being all solar-eclipse.

Floating out with the Ring-necks was a different, curiously shaped specimen. It had a spiky, erect tail, and since its head was tucked away I wondered if it might be some weird Ruddy Duck. As the bird turned around though and revealed its slender beak, revealed itself to be some sort of Merganser.

This was exciting! I'd never seen a Merganser in Phoenix before, although it's not a super uncommon sighting I'm sure. I knew that Common Mergansers turn up in the fall and winter--I'd just never seen them--and Red-breasted sometimes migrate through. But this bird was smaller than those other possibilities. At maybe eighteen inches, with a dark grey and yellow beak (as oppose to the pinkish-orange Common Merganser) and white showing on the primaries...this was a female Hooded Merganser. Hey, it's not a jaw-dropper, but it's uncommon enough that I knew eBird would flag it, and don't that sort of thing just make a birder feel like a million bucks?

After observing the Merganser for some time, watching her dive, bathe, and preen like some sort of creepy person, I headed down the canal to the DBG. I still consider the Botanical Gardens to be one of the best desert birding areas in Phoenix, but today they were a total bust. I saw eight species inside the grounds. Eight! Not a single Lesser Goldfinch, Cactus Wren, or even a Mourning Dove!!! It was very weird. There were lots of people there already, in part due to the late opening time and there seemed to be some sort of upcoming feature event. Whatever the reasons, the birds were nowhere to be found. Despite the DBG being largely deserted, I did see a Yellow-breasted Chat in the Wildflower Garden, which was a very pleasant surprise, especially given the otherwise low turn out.

The birding was much better at Papago so I decided to walk the desert trail out of the DBG and back to the ponds, thinking maybe I'd find a Rock Wren or Roadrunner along the way. About a quarter mile in I flushed a long-winged gray bird--clearly some sort of goatsucker. Without too much hope, I watched it fly away, expecting it to disappear into the distant hills. To my surprise, it only flew a short distance before landing in a creosote bush.

I had not seen distinct white flashes when the bird flew, and it seemed a bit small to be Lesser Nighthawk. However, the bird clearly had a long tail, too long for Common Poorwill. Regardless of the final ID, I was very giddy. I'd been wanting one of these sightings all summer, to be able to finally study a stationary goatsucker in the daylight.

I'd always loved watching these birds hunt in the twilight hours, appreciating their physique and dexterity even before I was an obsessive birder. But only with better light could I finally see the incredible feather detail and all the subtle coloration. Totally stunning.

Eventually the Nighthawk noticed that I'd noticed, and it took off. I felt bad to flush the bird a second time, but at least no one else would be passing through for a while, so it'd get some peace and quiet for the rest of the day.

Back at Papago the Merganser was still cruising around (in fact, the earlier photos were taken on this second visit). The Finches, Towhees, and Thrashers that should've been partying at the DBG were all crowding around the ponds too, while skulking Green Herons stood watch in the trees.

A few dozen White-throated Swifts flew overhead and spent a few minutes snatching invisible bugs out of the invisible air. It was neat to see them in action so (relatively) close and I was able to snap a few distant shots of these fast flyers.

I left Papago feeling totally rejuvenated. It had been a few weekends since I had a really good bout of birding and photogrpahy, and the aftershock of this morning will keep me going for a while. Picking up Hooded Merganser, Lesser Nighthawk, and White-throated Swift puts me at 253 species identifiably photographed, passing the 250 goal I set for this year. Good birding!