With the Erie team out scouring Presque Isle State Park for more warbler, time for an epic roundup of recently sighted birds in the White Mtns near Pinetop/Lakeside, Arizona. (Note: no birds actually rounded up.)
View from Mogollon RimRed-Tailed HawkHouse Wren outside Greer, AZCommon Raven, Timber Camp Recreation AreaRavens are awesome
Could this be an Olive-sided Flycatcher?!? Gray “vest” is very delineated with a strong/contrasted white center-breast = more like Olive-sided than Western Wood-Pewee.
Let’s go with Olive-sided FlycatcherExcellent! Pine Siskin!Hairy Woodpecker/upside downProbably female/immature Yellow-rumped WarblerSteller’s JayDe-tail
In a BirdingPI.com first, a really bad shot of a really amazing Lewis’s Woodpecker:
Too dark
Following crop is augmented to show detail – dark back, pink belly, red face, black head, and white/gray collar:
Turning the color knob to 11
Following three shots all Dark-eyed Junco (Red-backed form), a local favorite:
Dateline: 25-26 August 2022, Presque Isle State Park
Black-and-white Warbler
Urgent field report from the BirdingPI.com team in Erie. Anecdotally, sharp uptick late this week of warbler activity. Confirmed sightings along Pine Tree Trail, Marsh Trail, Budny Beach, etc. included Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Prothonotary Warbler. Possibly Magnolia Warbler and other TBD.
Black-and-white Warbler along the Pine Tree Trail (east end) shown here.
No one brings you compelling birding/nature journalism like BirdingPI.com! Case in point, today’s post – Quail on a Fence!
All lovely Gambel’s Quail in Tucson, all on a fence! Good opportunity here to see both adult and juvenile – usually ensconced in shrubbery/vegetation.
Per our friends at All About Birds, “The male’s prominent black belly patch distinguishes it from the similar California Quail.” (See shots above and immediately below.)
[Disclaimer: BirdingPI.com is a supporter of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, but no affiliation otherwise. Please consider supporting.]
The lovely Lucy’s Warbler! Not a common sighting in the Tucson metro area; very surprised with this ‘backyard’ visit. Perhaps due to recent rainfall. Male: blue/gray, white-ish underside, rufous stripe on head and rufous rump. Definitely a “wow!”
Warm and dry Saturday in Erie, moderate thunderstorms overnight. Partially clear but unsettled Sunday morning, thunderstorms moving in with fairly heavy rain over Presque Isle State Park just before 2:30pm (see below). Pre-rain, all Presque Isle State Park trails dry except where previously reported. Partial clearing by early Sunday evening, followed by severe t-storms overnight.
Presque Isle public service announcement: be on the lookout for crazy/summer/out-of-town drivers, e.g., folks with NYS plates driving the wrong way on 1-way road (true story).
Bird-wise, lots of great activity as usual. Canada Geese and Double-breasted Cormorant migration off to a strong/busy start.
Gull Point Saturday AM: geese, cormorant, gulls, plover (probably Semipalmated Plover), yellowlegs (probably Lesser Yellowlegs), dowitcher (probably Short-billed Dowitcher), Killdeer, Caspian Tern, Bald Eagle, Starling, etc. No shorebird activity along the beach; a sandpiper or two on the back bay.
Canada Goose/landingDouble-breasted Cormorant on the lowdownCormorant detailDowitcher @ heavily croppedYellowlegs and dowitcher (heavy crop)Plover & dowitcher (extreme crop)
Following are juvenile (left) and adult (right) flycatcher. Perhaps Least Flycatcher, but coloration not an exact match.
Hmmm…. Flycatcher of some sortReverse angleGray Catbird!OspreyLeast Flycatcher (note the strong white eyering)Bald Eagle @ edge of Thompson Bay
Green Heron summer continues along the Sidewalk Trail. Spotted a Red-tailed Hawk in the distance, otherwise very quiet.
Dry-ish swamp
Sunday PM, better conditions for dramatic landscape shots than birds. At Thompson Bay:
Incoming rain
Woodpecker, Gray Catbird, flycatcher, sparrow, Yellow Warbler, etc. activity along the Pine Tree Trail, as the rain started:
Eastern Wood-pewee
Sparrow of some sort:
Song SparrowThompson Bay, view north towards Lake Erie
Later this week, back to Arizona with hummingbird and more warbler!
Lots of complaints over the ‘bait and switch’ from the last squirrel/nut post. Making it up here with squirrel + green pine cone (Abert’s squirrel aka Tassel-eared squirrel) @ White Mtns. Following two shots also Abert’s squirrel:
Tassel-earedFull steam ahead
Bonus Abert’s squirrel @ Mt. Lemmon:
On the run
More bonus squirrel – Round-tailed ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus tereticaudus) in Tucson:
Summer mid-day, everyone in Tucson appreciates a bit of green vegetation and shade. Making the ‘shaded playground’ at Arthur Pack Regional Park (north side of town), with its scant lawn and grove of mature mesquite trees, not a bad place for birding.
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Couple shots immature Verdin:
Paul Newman… in The Verdin
And mature Verdin for comparison:
UnoDosTres
Next up, number one on the Arizona “uncommon birds you might actually see list,” the always popular and beautiful Vermillion Flycatcher. First up, female.
Not too vermillionBut still beautiful
And the more aptly named male:
Fairly vermillionMore vermillion
Adjacent Maeveen Behan Desert Sanctuary also highly recommended, just not for birding during the heat of the day. #heat_exhaustion
Hedgehog cactus @ Maeveen Behan
Another great greater Tucson location, Catalina State Park in Oro Valley. With bonus Vermillion Flycatcher!
At a distanceAnd closerMore flycatcher!
Immature male Great-tailed Grackle at Christopher Columbus Park:
Grackle me
Finally, a few from perhaps the premier “in town” Tucson birding spot, Sweetwater Wetlands.
Abert’s Towhee
Following is a tough one. Perhaps female Hooded Oriole (!)
In the hood (?)
With its black cap, a little easier to ID the lovely male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, another classic denizen of the desert SW:
What’s the saying in bird photography? “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while?” Maybe that’s a saying in squirrel photography. Anyway, no squirrels here (stayed tuned for later posts), instead some recent, rather amazing shots of male Costa’s Hummingbird under a mesquite tree, Tucson, Arizona.
Possibly a candidate here for next year’s “BirdingPI.com Audubon bird photography contest summary rejection” submission.
[Editor’s Note: if lacking in amazement, please substitute “nice” for “amazing” in the lead paragraph above.]
