On the Boundaries of Civilization...

Last weekend saw another trip out west, not as far as Havasu and the whole different panoply of awesome birding that is to be had there, but to the barren, desolate intersection of the Salome Highway and Baseline Road out in Buckeye, also known as the Thrasher Spot (and, apparently, a great place to ditch old couches and other household items, despite the seeming inconvenience of driving them out and dumping them in the middle of nowhere).

This is one of my favorite 'within-an-hour-of-home' spots in Maricopa County, as it features some special birds not commonly found elsewhere in the state, it's a relatively small area, and it doesn't require that I look up into big trees. 

As this point in the year, the creosote and sage scrub hosts inordinate numbers of migrating Sage Thrashers, along with Sage Sparrows and the more elusive, more sought after Le Conte's and Crissal Thrasher. There are Bendire's Thrashers out there too, but oddly enough the region is too arid for the more common Curve-billed Thrashers found just about everywhere else. 

From behind, the Sage Thrasher can be easily confused with a Mockingbird, but once visible, the speckled breast is unmistakable, even at a distance. Plus, Phoenix-area Mockingbirds are too smart and spoiled to live out here in the boonies. 

Along with Sage, Bendire's are the most visible Thrashers at the site, as they're more comfortable and more inclined to perch high and sing even with the attention of people, and on this day there were even a few Audubon groups moseying out and about in the chaparral.



Crissal and Le Conte's usually stay low the the ground, but even so I've had excellent luck finding Le Conte's lately. About fifty or sixty yards west of the parking area along the Salmoe highway there is an old wash running north/south. Following this wash north to where it intersects with a line of old rotten fence posts yields an area that is frequented by the ghostly, vampiric-looking Le Conte's Thrasher.

Unfortunately I was unable to keep a bead on these crafty birds long enough to share them with a family trio of birders nearby, but soon after we all linked up with fellow birder, photographer, and tall person Gordon Karre, with whom we enjoyed the other birds in the area, including Gnatcatchers, Verdins, and the beautiful Sage Sparrows. As things started to simmer down at the Thrasher Spot we all made a caravan and checked out some of the Arlington area attractions, including a single Long-billed Curlew and some tardy Sandhill Cranes still lingering in the fields. 

As the Sandhill Cranes flew off and we parted ways, I decided to trade one extreme for another, and on the way back from the desiccated Thrasher spot and the bucolic Arlington pastures, I swung by the Crystal Gardens community on 107th avenue and the I-10. 

This master-planned community has a series of scenic ponds and pathways connecting the manicured neighborhoods, and these water features have hosted a number of attractive (and, for that matter, un- attractive) Geese this winter. Arizona birder and blogger extraordinaire Tommy DeBardeleben had recorded Greater White-fronted, Ross's, Snow, and Cackling (also, of course, Canada) all at these ponds, along with a single Tundra Swan, in early February. In mid-February I was able to find most of the birds but did not get satisfactory photos, in large part due to the limited amount of time I had to spend at the site. 

Returning now with new grit and determination, some of the dispersed Geese afforded very close and comparative views, like the Lesser and Greater subspecies of Canada Geese above. There were plenty of ornamented Canada in the cozy lakes, but finding a small and cackling goose proved difficult.

Diminutive individuals like this lesser Canada Goose exacerbated the problem, and ultimately I resigned myself to the probability that the Cackling Goose, which had gone missing from eBird reports for the last week, was likely moved out of the suburbs. Though charmingly smaller and quieter than the normal Canada Goose, the Lesser subspecies is still poor consolation.

The Cackling Goose thus remained a photo-nemesis, but the Ross's Geese seemed to have increased in number since my last visit. Even as I parked there were five flying overhead, and there were several more floating in some of the centrally located Crystal Garden Ponds. 

This is a species I'm used to picking out of dozens and dozens (at least) of Snow Geese. It was peculiar and pleasing to find this cute little Goose in groups of its own, with the hideously grinning and grating Snow Geese nowhere to be seen. 

Seagull Steve over in California argues that Ross's are the cutest Geese around town. After getting to spend some more time with these mild-mannered snowhites, I think he may be right.

Going from arid scrub desert to lush city parks was a nice, yin-yang kinda circle to the day. It combined uncommon resident birds with uncommon vagrants, and of course plenty of cool and common birds in between. It's hard to wander in any direction around Maricopa County and not to stumble across a great birding spot or two.

Thrasher Dasher: A Journey To West Phoenix

There is an infamous intersection out west of Phoenix. No, it's not some old ghost town or copper mine or the site of a wild western shoot out. Take Baseline Road from the I-10 interstate, and follow it down to the old Highway 85. When you've run into the Salome Highway intersection, a rather bleak 3-way stop occupied by only a single, shot-gunned stop sign, you'll be about 40 miles west of the city. Near this desolate intersection, out in the scrubby desert, skulking along the hot cracked dirt, is mankind's best hope of seeing Bendire's, Crissal, and Le Conte's Thrashers all in the same outing, or so the legend has it...

Truth be told this intersection is probably no better than any other little strip of desert along the Salome Highway, but this little patch is the easiest to pick out on a map, and it does tend to deliver.

I first visited the Thrasher spot in early January. Pops and I got fleeting looks at all of the big 3 Thrashers, along with Sage Sparrows. It was a great morning of birding but I didn't come away with any good photos. The Thrashers are very sensitive outside of the city and do not tolerate any sort of approach. After all, this is supposed to be their oasis, their stronghold from the flesh-eating Curve-Billed Thrashers that are all over Phoenix, but curiously absent out in the desert proper.

The Curve-Billed Thrasher is not a bird you want to encounter in an ally late at night.

I returned to the Thrasher spot, now intent on coming away with some better photos. Although the Sage Sparrows were gone, it was a beautiful morning of birding and I had great looks at both the Le Conte's and Bendire's Thrashers singing to the sky. That being said, they were as skittish as ever, and I'm still not satisfied with the photos. The lone exception was this stalwart Bendire's, who sang loud and hard from his tree top for a good five without faltering.

Note the stubbier and less curved mandibles on the Bendire's Thrasher, probably the best way to tell it apart from the Curve-Billed.

There was a couple from Wisconsin also searching for the Le Conte's Thrasher, and an hour later I ran into two more people searching for the very same chalky-white nemesis. It's funny how the Le Conte's seems to be the last Thrasher on so many peoples' lists. I had lucked out in seeing one Le Conte's earlier in the morning, and knew more or less where they could be found from my previous trip. It was with great pleasure and satisfaction then that I was able to guide both groups to a pair of Le Conte's, even if the birds were camera shy.

Not to get ahead of myself or speak too grandly, but with this being my first time ever leading a little birding trip in some capacity, it was fabulous fun! I'm looking forward to sharing and finding more of these opportunities as I better learn the Arizona species and spots.

This first shot of the elusive Le Conte's characterizes the bird's attitude pretty well. Perched atop his little deadwood atoll, this male hid his face behind his foot as we raised our binoculars.

It made me feel like I was a part of avian paparazzi.

As far as bird families go, the Thrashers all look relatively similar (Ha! pun point!). That being said, there's no mistaking the Le Conte's. It's a long, slender, eleven inch bird, and its chalky, grey/white wash is very unique, as is the dark amber eye.

With 4 people doing the new bird dance, the trip was well worth it. At times, it seems the Le Conte's can be a ghost in the desert. We were lucky to find the phantom and hear its haunting call before it vanished into the scrubby sands.  

Great Birding!

New Birds!

I've been trying to cram as much last minute birding into this week before school resumes, and while we (Pops and I) haven't always visited the most lush or beautiful places, we've made an excellent run with new species these last few days. With half-day parent-teacher conferences all this week, I'm needing all the escape I can get. We checked out both the notorious thrasher spot west of Phoenix, where the Salome Highway meets the I-10 , and later paid a visit to the Rousseau Sod Farms on the other side of town.

I'm used to birding now at the Gilbert Water Ranch and the Desert Botanical gardens, places where the birds are somewhat acclimated to constant foot-traffic. This is not the case outside of the city, where the birds are wild and the people are rare. It's difficult at times to get close enough to use your binoculars, and harder still to get good pictures. It has been an exciting, if poorly documented series of sightings, and the challenge has helped shake me out of that complacent urban birding mentality.

The first hour or so of birding at the thrasher spot was pretty fruitless, but finally this Bendire's got things going. The speckled breast along with the shorter beak make for a pretty straight-forward identification. Little did we know at the time that this was the best look any Thrasher would give us.

We chased this Crissal Thrasher, named for its rusty rump, a long way down an old river wash. In a way it was good that I only ever really saw this bird's backside--that's his most tell-tail feature--and after a while he alighted to some higher scrub where he briefly paused to sing before vanishing.

We ran into another birder who had come all the way out from Maryland (in Phoenix for business), and who had made the drive out solely to see a Le Conte's Thrasher. Pops and I had a brief but satisfactory look at the bird, with the buffy breast and dark eye again making for an easy identification, before it too disappeared into the scrubby undergrowth. I hope it resurfaced later for the far-travelling gentleman.

We were also hoping to see some Sage Sparrows, and they finally obliged us as we were about ready to head out. They kept their distance, a little bit to my disappointment, but even from far away we could admire their silver and white heads, as if they were named sage for their wisdom, instead of their choice in habitat.

The drive out and back had it's own fun sightings, including a Mountain Bluebird, a White-Faced Ibis (new bird!), and plenty of Meadowlarks among the agriculture. We were also able to pull over and get some nice views of this Long-Billed Dowitcher before finally committing to the highway and heading back into the city. The three Thrashers, Sage Sparrows, and Ibis added 5 new birds to the List, and made for a great half-day of birding.

We decided to next check out the Rousseau Sod Farms east of Phoenix, in essence scouting out the fields and canals in search of plains-dwelling birds such as Longspurs and raptors. While the Longspurs never showed, we continued to find new species and got some great looks at Northern Harriers, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Kinglets, Savannah Sparrows, and Blackbirds.

By funny coincidence, the Kinglets were the best photographic subjects of the day (usually they're the bane of cameras). I'm still falling short of getting a good look at that ruby crown, but they're such darn perky birds it's inevitable that they lifts one's spirits, even if you're already having a great day!

Here's to great birding in 2012!