Dermot Breen's Blog: costa's hummingbird

Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Arizona 31st January 2015

We spent a few hours again around Lake Havasu in the morning. We tried along the Planet Ranch Road first where we had our first views of Crissal Thrashers. This had been a regular spot for Nutting's Flycatcher but they haven't been seen here for a while now unfortunately. We had another quick look around the Bill Williams Rivers area. We were lucky to see one young Black-chinned Hummingbirds at the feeders in amongst the numerous Costa's and Anna's Hummingbirds. This was to be our only Black-chin of the trip.

From here we continued West as we going to be heading across the State border into California later in the day. We had some good birds along the roadside of Mohave Road such as Prairie Falcon, a distant Ferruginous Hawk and Sandhill Cranes. We also had a brief stop in a small park at Ehrenberg where we had a pair of fly-over Ladder-backed Woordpecker, a tame Say's Phoebe and Black-tailed Gnatcatchers. Overnighted in Palm Springs, California.

Cattle Egrets, Mohave Road, Arizona.

Greater Scaup and Redhead, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Redhead, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Sandhill Cranes, Mohave Road, Arizona.

American Kestrel, Mohave Road, Arizona.

Prairie Falcon, Mohave Road, Arizona.

Ring-billed Gull, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Anna's and Black-chinned Hummingbird, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Costa's, Anna's and Black-chinned Hummingbird, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Male Costa's Hummingbird, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Black-chinned Hummingbird, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Female Anna's (?) Hummingbird on the nest right beside the main entrance to the visitor centre at Bill Williams River NWR, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Ehrenberg, Arizona.

Say's Phoebe, Ehrenberg, Arizona.

Twats in a speedboat, Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Group shot on Planet Ranch Road.

Planet Ranch Road

Monday, 23 February 2015

Arizona 30th January 2015

We left Phoenix first thing in the morning and started our journey out west. Our first stop of the day was at a desert site near Buckeye. We had some rain first thing in the morning so there wasn't exactly much point in being there at first light. Conditions gradually improved but it remained rather overcast for most of the day. The birds were generally distant and brief so I didn't have too many photo opportunities. We had some nice sage desert species here including Le Conte's Thrasher (the only one of the tour), Bendire's Thrasher, Sage Thrasher (not seen by anyone else on the tour), Loggerhead Shrike, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Green-tailed Towhee, Brewer's and Lincoln's Sparrow. We also had some "Sage" Sparrows here. This has recently been split into Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrow. We thought at the time that they may have been Bell's but looking at the photos now I'm not so sure and think they may be a better match for Sagebrush Sparrow? Have a look at the shots and let me know you think.

We then continued further west until we hit the Parker Dam and Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge on Lake Havasu. Excellent line of mostly waterbirds here which included Clark's & Western Grebes, Canvasback, California Gull and an early returning Violet-green Swallow with large numbers of Tree Swallows feeding over the lake.

We overnighted in nearby Lake Havasu City.