Date: 4/12/25 10:01 pm From: henry detwiler (via aznmbirds Mailing List) <aznmbirds...> Subject: [AZNMbirds] Western Arizona Birding
Greetings Birders,
On Thursday, 10 Apr, I headed north again, with my first stop being the Island Unit at Cibola NWR. The really nice duck & shorebird fields are no longer being flooded, and have dried up--the only birds left were a few KILLDEER and grackles. The marsh on the west side had two vocal RIDGWAY'S RAILS and three SORAs. If you like deer, this is an excellent place to visit--I counted some 65 Mule Deer during the course of the morning. The HART MINE MARSH had the typical MARSH WRENS, LEAST BITTERN, and a few more RIDGWAY'S RAILS. The Cornfield Nature Trail had only a few remaining warblers, but one was a female BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, a species I'd missed on my last few visits. With no water left anywhere, the Goose Loop drive added only a few more birds for the day. There were still a handful of ducks in the Colorado River at the AhaKhav Tribal Preserve, including REDHEAD, CANVASBACK, and COMMON GOLDENEYE. At the Bill Williams NWR I added a few more waterfowl, including WESTERN & CLARK'S GEBES, and GADWALL. The LONG-TAILED DUCK that I was so happy to have re-located four days prior was nowhere to be found. Driving down to Mosquito Flats, I was pleased to hear a singing CANYON WREN--this despite the fact that it was 92 degrees in the shade. Farther north, I spotted a handsome alternate-plumaged COMMON LOON offshore of Rotary Park. After the park visit I gave in to fatigue and heat, and headed to my motel-- but I'd see or heard 102 species for the day.
Friday, 11 Apr, saw me heading north to Havasu NWR. From Catfish Paradise I scanned through hundreds of TREE, BARN, NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED, and CLIFF SWALLOWS hoping to find a Bank Swallow, but I did not. At Five Mile Landing I looked out over a sea of dead tree trunks, which provided perches for GREAT-BLUE HERONS, an OSPREY, a mature BALD EAGLE, and a MERLIN. In the afternoon heat I birded Lime Kiln Canyon hoping for the rare, introduced exotic Chukar. BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRDS were nice, but I only netted 8 species in the course of three hours. I camped out in the canyon that night, but unfortunately, no Chukars disturbed my sleep.
Early on Saturday morning (12 Apr) I picked up Brian Johnson in Mesquite, and together we birded the canyon in hopes of scaring up, or hearing, a Chukar. Over the course of 3+ hours we saw or heard 18 species, including JUNNIPER TITMOUSE, CRISSAL THRASHER, and lots of WOODHOUSE'S SCRUB JAYS. On the way out of the canyon we also picked up a SAGE THRASHER. But no Chukars. I drove back to Yuma during the afternoon heat, stopping at a few locations but only adding YELLOW WARBLER for the trip. The Chukar hunt up to Lime Kiln Canyon and back only added 2 birds to the year-list, so my 2025 AZ total now stands at 295.
Some eBird reports with photos:https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/BFNtC2GljPcKZJ42qInfnc5qfSv?<domain...> Lime Kiln Canyon https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/RxvEC3Ymkgf79JPg1uqhWcQBfg-?<domain...> Havasu NWRhttps://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/jPF0C4WnljTY9Qn2NuBiyc4thOd?<domain...> AhaKhav Tribal Preservehttps://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/crSrC5AomkfgpQzPmh2smckbuSG?<domain...> Bill Williams NWR
Good Birding!Henry D. <Detwilerhenry_detwiler...>, AZ
Finding Birds in Southwest Arizonahttps://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/AlUAC6YpnlfV0Ag62Ixt6c5Np2K?<domain...> Birds at the Salton Sea and in Imperial County, https://url.usb.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/1GbrC7DqomiEVx0X5uRuvcorUqh?<domain...>
