Birding Perry Park Again

 Vermillion Flycatcher at Michael Perry Park 3-17-13

After days of writing and blogging and processing photos and writing poetry, I felt the need to get outside and get away, so yesterday I ran away to Sycamore Canyon where I visited a friend and counted birds. This morning I got up and headed straight for Michael Perry Park. While I know this is an eBird Hotspot, there is very little data for this location, so I have made it my mission to count birds here and try to fill in the gaps. When I first arrived last fall there were only 20 species listed for this location. After today’s bird count I have brought that number up to 53 species!

 Female Vermillion flycatcher at Perry Park

While Vermillion Flycatchers, Anna’s Hummingbirds, and Mourning Doves are regularly seen at this location, as the seasons change I am startling to get a better idea of what is regular and what is just passing through. The cormorant I saw fly overhead a few weeks ago was just passing by, but the hummingbird and dove population has changed with the seasons. All winter I counted large numbers of Mourning Doves here and few to eventually no White-winged Doves. Today there were only about a dozen Mourning Doves while I counted over 50 White-winged Doves! all winter long there were Anna’s Hummingbirds everywhere. Today I only saw about 6, but I counted nearly a dozen Black-chinned hummingbirds, and I even found a female sitting on a nest!

Lark Sparrow in Perry Park 3-17-13

Lark Sparrows were one of the first species I ever saw at Michael Perry Park. I have now seen them here at least three times, including today. I most often see them around the baseball fields. Today was the first time in weeks that I was able to walk the 3/4 of a mile out to the Stella Road Trailhead. I use to count birds all the way out to Sellarole Road, but after looking at the map decided to limit my count from Golf Links road to the Stella Road Trailhead along the Pantanto Wash as that is the limit of Perry Park. It is also more do-able for me. Still, I deceive myself when I think I will only do a “quick count” as there are usually so many birds to see that I linger and linger and take my time, not wanting to miss anything. I arrived at 8:55 A.M. this morning and stayed until 11:30! It was a brilliantly cool blue day here today, so the heat did not chase me away as usual. In just one week’s time the bird population has changed and I had my largest bird count ever for this location at 36 species of birds, including one Lifer!

Here is the list of birds seen at Michael Perry Park today:

1. Gambel’s Quail
2. Turkey Vulture
3. Red-tailed Hawk
4. Cooper’s Hawk
5. Harris Hawk
6. Rock Pigeon
7. White-winged Dove
8. Mourning Dove
9. Black-chinned Hummingbird
10. Anna’s Hummingbird
11. Gila woodpecker
12. American Kestrel
13. Say’s Phoebe
14. Vermillion Flycatcher
15. Cassin’s Kingbird*
16. Dusky Flycatcher**
17. Common Raven
18. Northern rough-winged Swallow
19. Barn Swallow*
20. Verdin
21. House Wren*
22. Cactus Wren
23. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
24. Northern Mockingbird
25. Curve-billed Thrasher
26. European Starling
27. Lucy’s Warbler
28. Canyon Towhee*
29. Chipping Sparrow*
30. Brewer’s Sparrow
31. Lark Sparrow
32. white-crowned Sparrow
33. Great-tailed Grackle
34. House Finch
35. Lesser Goldfinch
36. House Sparrow

*New to this location

**Life Bird!!!!!

• Michael Perry Park Life List—complete list of birds seen at this location
• Running Home—Yesterday’s NaPoWriMo 2013 poem

Notes From my Nest: My knee is starting to feel better since I have been icing it and trying to keep off my feet. I will be quite busy for the nest few days as it is my grandson’s 5th birthday this weekend and I am making the cake. We have had a spate of cool weather here with mornings being in the mid to high 40’s and daytime high’s in the mid to upper 60’s, but the heat is on its way back and soon we will cross that 100F mark, which, according to one local news station, usually strikes around the beginning of May! But, this morning when I left the house I actually had one a flannel shirt over a t-shirt with my fleece vest on! The fleece wasn’t needed for long as it warmed up nicely and the winds were not fierce like they were yesterday. I hope you all have a great weekend! More birding stories are coming!

View of trail along the Pantano Wash at Michael Perry Park 10-26-2012