Birding at the Glendale Recharge Ponds II

Black Phoebe

If you think you won't see a variety of birds at the Glendale Recharge Ponds, trust me you will.  Although the adorable Black Phoebe has reclaimed the area, don't worry - he'll let you pass.

Black-necked Stilt

The past two weekends Mark and I ventured out there in the early morning to do a little birding before the heat kicked in.  Watching the shorebirds enjoy the water made me want to jump in.  Okay, not really, but gosh I can hardly wait until it cools off here... makes me itch like crazy not birding.  Anyway, here's a few photos I took from both Saturday adventures there.  

Great Egret

This is the Great Egret that I was taking photos of when I noticed a large bird in the background in the dry area.  After closer inspection, I realized it was a falcon - which we later identified as a Peregrine Falcon.  You can see him and his parent in my previous post here.

Green Heron

 

This inconspicuous Green Heron tried to be sneaky and camouflage himself, but I found him.  Then he decided to have a stare down contest with me.  Not sure who won, but it was fun while it lasted.



Green Heron

 

To back up a little, we parked on the bridge near the riparian area.  I was eager to walk over to the basins, but decided to look into the riparian while getting our birding gear out.  There he was, standing tall and proud.  That was the first time I've seen this bird's neck all stretched out.  I've only seen him crouched, so it was a pretty cool sight! 

Killdeer

One of my favorite birds is the Killdeer.  They are entertaining, a joy to watch so cute!

Osprey

This is the same Osprey from my Eagle post.  He was such a massive sized bird and this shot does not do him justice, but it's okay. 

Snowy Egret

To some it up, in the two days we went (3 hours total) we identified 35 species, saw over 260 birds, and added 11 lifers.  Not too shabby for 3 hours of fun birding.

Looking forward to our Prescott trip in October, but in the meantime I still have more birding adventures to share.  And I'm sure we'll be making regular trips to the Glendale Recharge Ponds.

Peace and happy birding!
Rocki

Birding at the Glendale Recharge Ponds - Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

Following up from my last post about our birding adventure at the Glendale Recharge Ponds, here's the Peregrine Falcon that we saw.  A lifer for us!

Peregrine Falcon at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

Okay, so I know they are raptors, but look at that adorable face!  More like those eyes - he's just too cute!  I'm just glad that this juvenile didn't have any prey with him.  I'm squeamish.  Big time!  So in other words, you'll never see any photos of birds with prey or the likes on here my blog, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter...

Peregrine Falcon at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

We stood there watching the juvenile for quite some time and then he took flight.  We followed his path and he landed close to another bird, which we later discovered was an adult Peregrine Falcon.  Perhaps mom or dad were teaching him how to hunt. 

Oh and please excuse the photo quality as they're not the best, but I'm sharing them anyway.  I'm a birder first and hobby photographer second.  However, I'm trying VERY hard in hopes of taking much better photos.  Lots and lots of practice.

Peregrine Falcons at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

I have several other photos of a variety of species that we saw over the past two weekends at this birding hotspot.  I'll share them as I can over the next couple weeks.  In October we're going on another birding adventure in Prescott.

Peace and happy birding!
Rocki

Bald Eagle - Birding at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

Bald Eagle at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

I have lots to blog about, but haven't had the extra time lately.  So for now I want to share something from our birding adventure on Saturday at the Glendale Recharge Ponds.  As you can see, we saw an amazing bird!

This was our second trip there - first time was last weekend in which we added 8 lifers!  Basin 5 was filled to the brim with a variety of species that day, but I'll go back to that adventure in another post.

Bald Eagle at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

We arrived at 7am and while it was a bit "cooler" than it has been, the sun was pretty bright and a bit harsh in the wide open area, making it a rather warm 1 1/2 hour morning.  Considering what all we saw, it was well worth the sweat.

This time we parked on the parking bridge by the riparian area.  We were actually the only ones there, besides bicyclists.  Basin 5 was quite full of water and was in the process of filling while we were there.  Basin 2 had a little water and basin 1 a little more.  The others were dry.

Bald Eagle at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

There were not nearly as many birds as last weekend, but plenty enough.  Added 3 more lifers, identified 19 species and saw over 140 birds. 

I must admit, the most exciting part of the morning was seeing the Bald Eagle!  While walking in between the long stretch of the basins towards basin 1, Mark spotted the eagle in flight heading into the basin.  We stopped in our tracks and watched.  He then flew up to the utility post and sat there.  We continued to walk closer to basin 1 and then all the way to the end where we just stood there admiring him.  And taking lots and lots of pictures.

Osprey at the Glendale Recharge Ponds

Last weekend we had many highlights, like the Osprey above.  Apologies for the poor quality, but this was a far off shot and I'm simply an amateur hobby photographer.  Anyway... no, he did not catch the duck.  He actually landed about 5 feet past to catch a fish.  Osprey's feed almost exclusively on fish.  It was an awesome sight!

To sum up the major highlight of this weekends birding adventure... it rocked!  I'll have more to share about both our trips to the Glendale Recharge Ponds as soon as I can.  This location is noted as a birding hotspot and indeed it is.

Peace and happy birding!
Rocki