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.
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| Bufflehead, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Crap phone pic of a pair of Barrow's Goldeneye, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Slavonian/Horned Grebe, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Mostly Costa's Hmmingbirds with a male Anna's Hummingbird on the top right, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Costa's on the left with a male Anna's on the right, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Costa's Hummingbirds, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Anna's in flight with Costa's Hummingbirds, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Anna's with Costa's Hummingbirds, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Costa's Hummingbird with a possible Black-chinned Hummingbird on the left?, Lake Havasu, Arizona. |
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| Male Phainopepla, Arizona. |
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| Male Phainopepla, Arizona. |
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| "Sage" Sparrow, Buckeye, Arizona. |
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| "Sage" Sparrow, Buckeye, Arizona. |
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| Sage desert, Buckeye, Arizona. |
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| Part of the group in the sage desert, Buckeye, Arizona. |
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| Parker Dam, Arizona. |
Hi Dermot,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post; it's always great to see and hear of successes, especially in one's own area.
I agree that your 'Sage' look good for Sagebrush Sparrow. The streaking on the mantles is fairly dark and, mostly diagnostically, the malar stripe on those birds is pretty thin and very similar in color to the head of the bird (the sort of silvery gray), whereas on a Bell's sparrow the malar is wider and almost black, noticeably contrasting.
Bell's are pretty hard to turn up at that site, except at areas where the desert sage is really thick, and then most of the other birds avoid it, so it's kind of a double-edged sword.
Best of luck out there,
Thanks for the info Laurence, nice to have the opinion of a local birder on these tricky sparrows.
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