Labor Day was the perfect day to go bird watching since the store was closed; and that is just what I did! A friend and I hiked Banning Creek Trail, Trail #81, until it connected with Trail #396 (a segment of the Prescott Circle Trail) between Goldwater Lake and White Spar Campground.
I purposely chose this location, as I was specifically looking for a northern goshawk—a rare resident of high elevation mountains here in the Arizona Central Highlands. Goshawks are in a family called Accipiters. There are three types of Accipiters in North America: Northern Goshawk, Cooper’s Hawk, and Sharp-shinned Hawk.
I saw a Goshawk in this area back in 2019 so I thought I’d try again, but I was not successful in finding any. When you are covering several miles of trails in a National Forest with hundreds of thousands of acres, the odds of seeing a particular bird are kind of like finding a needle in a haystack.
However, we did see forty-nine species on our hike! At one point, probably ninety minutes into our hike, we came upon a mixed flock of birds. We stayed in that same spot for about thirty minutes as we picked through all of the different birds we were seeing in an effort to identify each one.
From our stationary spot, we observed Hutton’s Vireo, Brown Creeper, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, Mountain Chickadee, Bridled Titmouse, Bushtit, Violet-green Swallows, Orange-crowned Warbler, Painted Redstart, Nashville Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Virginia’s Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Townsend Warbler and Yellow Warbler!
The activity was constant! There were birds moving all around us, mostly gleaning for insects in the foliage. Coming across a mixed flock is like hitting the birding jackpot.
When we reached Lower Goldwater Lake, we saw Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Pied-billed Grebes, American Coots, a lone American Avocet, and an Osprey. Needless-to-say, it was a great morning!
There are several bird-related activities coming up in the next few weeks.
On Tuesday, September 16th at 7:00 p.m., I will be speaking at the Prescott Audubon Society’s monthly membership meeting. I will be sharing pictures and telling stories about my birding trip earlier this year to Cuba. The meeting takes place at the Natural History Institute at 126 N. Marina Street. It is free and open to the general public.
On Thursday, September 18th, from 5:30-8:00 p.m., the Central Arizona Land Trust (CALT) will be hosting its Wide Open Spaces Celebration at The Federal on Goodwin Street. CALT is launching its “Birds of a Feather” campaign to raise funds to place a conservation easement on 640 acres on the historic Date Creek Ranch. That night, I will present a program on the birds of Date Creek Ranch. This is a fundraiser, and includes appetizers, a cash bar and a silent auction. For registration and more information, visit their website at www.centralazlandtrust.org.
On Thursday, September 25th, The Lookout is offering a fee-based bird walk to Black Canyon City Heritage Park and the Agua Fria River. There are still spaces available for more participants. Call the store at 928-443-5900 to sign up.
Saturday, September 27th, is National Public Lands Day, and the annual California Condor release takes place at the Vermilion Cliffs. This is an event I attend each year. Five captive-raised condors are scheduled to be released this year. If you’ve never attended a condor release, I highly recommend attending! The total population of California Condors in the world is more than 560 with over 360 flying free in the wild in California, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, and Mexico. Their population has recovered significantly from a low of only 22 birds in the 1980’s.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark department, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 60 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
I have been doing a lot of digiscoping on this trip—using my Swarovski spotting scope and my iPhone to take both still shots and video. After I get home I will get some these loaded onto The Lookout Facebook page so you can see what I saw!
This past weekend was the winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. While I personally do not like the cold, I do love the winter night sky. Each morning when I go outside to retrieve the newspaper, I like to just pause, and look at the heavens and take in the wonder of the night sky.
Maybe like you, unfortunately I live in a neighborhood where some of my neighbors leave their outside lights on all night long. Why? I have no idea. To me it is annoying, and a poor use of precious resources. We live in a time when we need to be so mindful of how we use energy.
One may think it is a little thing, a 100 watt bulb left on all night, but multiply that by hundreds and thousands of lights left on all night and what a huge impact this has on energy use.
There is a dark sky ordinance in some communities. I personally like living in a community where people value dark skies. I like living in a neighborhood where there aren’t any street lights.
Another issue to consider is the impact of lights on wild birds, especially when they are migrating. Lights at night disorient while birds, resulting in window strikes, resulting in an untimely death.
Several months ago the Courier ran an article about outdoor lights at night, and the impact on wild birds. I concur.
