Scottsdale Ranch Park 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Bird Count

Red-breasted Sapsucker at Scottsdale Ranch Park, Nov. 24, 2016
Photo by Peggy Thomas

  What a great way to start Thanksgiving day!  I thought the highlight of the Scottsdale Ranch Park 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Bird Count would be the Red-breasted Sapsucker and that the rest of the count would consist of the usual city park birds.  I was wrong.  There were a number of highlights on this count, starting with a Red-naped Sapsucker appearing in one of the mesquite trees near the tennis courts.

Red-naped Sapsucker at Scottsdale Ranch Park, Nov. 24, 2016

Greater Roadrunner at Scottsdale Ranch
Park, Nov. 24, 2016

Another Red-naped Sapsucker was seen later in a different area of the park.   A Greater Roadrunner made an appearance early in the morning, sunning himself in the parking lot.  A Bald Eagle was seen circling high above Lake Serena.  Another highlight of the count was running into a few great birders/photographers - Pete Moulton, and Mary and Jim Griffith, all hoping to get some shots of the Red-breasted Sapsucker, a continuing rarity. 

A gaggle of birders gathered at Scottsdale Ranch Park, Nov. 24, 2016

Says Phoebe at Scottsdale Ranch Park, Nov. 24, 2016

Scottsdale Ranch Park is very wheelchair friendly with sidewalks curving all around, and smooth grassy areas filled with a wide diversity of trees.  There were so many different tree types that I wished we had an arborist with us!  The Desert Garden area is a bit more challenging for someone using a wheelchair as the trail is sculpted to look like a long winding rattlesnake!  Very cool art but a bit bumpy.

Other surprises on the count included two Says Phoebe, a female Vermilion Flycatcher, two American Kestrels, and a creepy but cool tarantula hawk (a bug, not a bird).  The count was organized and led by Diana and Bill Herron.  To see the complete bird count go to eBird.

A far-away Yellow-rumped Warbler, 1 of 9 counted.

 A female Costas Hummingbird enjoying
the bottle-brush bush.

All photos by Peggy Thomas

 

Thank you Diana and Bill for a wonderful
Thanksgiving Bird Count full of surprises!

Desert Botanical Garden

 Yesterday's Monday Morning Bird Walk at Desert Botanical Garden was quite a hoot - with four Great Horned Owls!  One was actually in camera-range instead of being impossibly hidden high up in the cottonwood trees.

Several Verdin were clamoring over one berry-laden bush along the Wildflower Trail, not seeming to care at all that we were so close!  You can even see the berry juice on the beak of the Verdins pictured above and below. (Personally, I prefer to eat my berries without being surrounded by paparazzi!)

Of course at the end of the walk when we calculated the numbers of species seen, the Greater Roadrunner and the Harris Antelope Squirrel had to make an appearance so that they could be included in the final count.

There were a number of species of note that I was happy to see - American Kestrel, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Pyrrhuloxia, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

In recent weeks there have also been a Red-naped Sapsucker, two American Robins, a Loggerhead Shrike, and of course my favorite winter visitor, the White-crowned Sparrows!

To see  complete lists of what has been seen in the Garden, see the awesome website, updated weekly, by William and Diana Herron, DBG - Birdwalks Birdlists

Special thanks to the Desert Botanical Garden's docents who have faithfully held the Monday Morning Birdwalks for I don't know how many years - William and Diana Herron, Andree Tarby, Don Witter, Jackie Anderson, Joyce Goodman, Gay Christensen, Merle and Dee Long and many others.  We are so fortunate to have so much birding knowledge being generously shared on a beautiful weekly walk!