Canada Day 1: Niagara Falls

After a seven hour direct flight we reached Toronto at 11.30am and literally whizzed through Immigration and baggage reclaim and were soon at the Hertz Rental Desk picking up our 7-seater minivans. The route to Niagara Falls was relatively simple and after checking in at the Howard Johnson Motel we drove just down the road and parked up opposite the falls. A pleasant couple of hours was spent walking alongside the river and viewing what is considered to be one of the modern day Wonders of the World – Niagara Falls. 

It is a pretty cool place and the hundreds of other visitors here this afternoon must have thought the same thing. Birds aren’t numerous here but we did see Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Ring-billed and American Herring Gulls, Common Terns and a Peregrine Falcon along the river. Passerine interest was headlined by several Grey Catbirds in the trees bordering the car park, along with Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, House Finch and others. I did like the close views of a perched Northern Rough-winged Swallow as well. So a gentle introduction to the birdlife of Ontario and we just can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring….

Waders and Wacky Races

Left early doors and drove in darkness back to civilisation and drove to Willcox where we surprisingly found Twin Lakes & Cochise Lakes quite easily. Well, what a great place this was to bird and I only wish we had more time as these two lakes were choc full of birds. The good thing is you can drive right the way around and make the best use of the light as the sun was still quite low and in our eyes to begin with. But as soon as we pulled up we could see Wilson’s Phalaropes everywhere and I guesstimated around 100+ with birds spinning in circles literally everywhere you looked. But do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a photo of this bird spinning 360 degrees at 90 mph...? There were also a few Red-necked Phalaropes mixed in with them as well....

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

Red-necked Phalaropes 

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson's Phalarope

It’s a bit tricky to get good pics here as you’re not that close to the birds but they are feeding up avidly on their northward migration and really should be left alone. So here’s a few photo’s from our brief visit as I’ve still got 400+ miles to go to get to the Grand Canyon for an early evening visit… Crazy huh..?

Yellow-headed Blackbirds

We also saw flocks of Yellow-headed Blackbirds here, Western Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Western Kingbird, Brewer’s Sparrows etc. 

American Avocets

Shorebirds were amazing and we racked up Long-billed Dowitchers, Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated, Least and Western Sandpipers, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer, Wilson’s Snipe and Willet. 

Long-billed Dowitchers

Willet

There was also Mallard, Ruddy Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Shoveller, Mexican Mallard, and a female scaup that had the right headshape for a Greater Scaup……

We literally had to tear ourselves away from here and hit the road, a long journey via Tucson and Phoenix before driving through the desert before getting to Flagstaff. And then on to the Grand Canyon, arriving around 5pm where we found it to be a bit on the chilly side but the views were worth all the driving. 

The majestic Grand Canyon

The forecast was for heavy rain tomorrow so this was our best shot and seeing the canyon in all its glory. And what a place huh? So that's pretty much my story of my first visit to Arizona. The following day we nailed Pinyon Jay before heading to the airport and flying home. 

As for me, well it's Canada and the migration spectacle up next....

A Day at Portal

Daybreak saw us trundling along Stateline Road that borders New Mexico which traverses excellent desert habitat and we picked up our first Scaled Quails quite easily here. Our other major target bird was Bendire’s Thrasher, and as luck would have it we bumped into another birder along here who gave us some valuable info. In fact as we were talking to this birder, a Bendire’s Thrasher hopped up onto a wood pile and onto our life lists! 

Scaled Quail

Bendire's Thrasher

We got really nice views of this bird before driving on a little further and seeing Brewer’s Sparrows, another Greater Roadrunner, American Kestrel, Loggerhead Shrike, Bell’s Vireo, Verdin and others.

The Road to Portal in the Chiricahuas

After breakfast we head up to the mountains and birded around Onion Saddle and Rustler Park with the intention of finding the elusive chickadee and Olive Warbler. Well, despite the strong wind we found several Olive Warblers after a couple hours of walking around in really cold conditions. What a great little bird, and apparently not a warbler and not olive – go figure! 

Olive Warbler

We also saw Red-breasted Nuthatch, Pygmy Nuthatch, Yellow-eyed Junco, Western Bluebird, Steller’s Jay, Brown Creeper and a few Red Crossbills.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

So it looked like and I felt resigned to the fact we weren’t going to get Mexican Chickadee we visited a feeding station at the edge of the desert. Sitting in some chairs in the shade of a large tree we watched Lazuli Bunting, Green-tailed Towhee, Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay and other commoner species feeding just a few metres away. At one point a Cooper’s Hawk flew in and scared everything to death, so we left and drove back into New Mexico to top up with fuel. 

Lazuli Bunting

Green-tailed Towhee

Afterwards we drove back along Stateline Road to Willow Pond, a recently established little reserve that holds the only water for miles around. There had been a number of good reports recently but the only shorebirds on offer were Killdeer and Least Sandpiper, but there was a flock of Mexican Ducks as well. But there were lots of Violet-green Swallows, and a Bank Swallow (Sand Martin for us Brits). Driving back through the desert we found a Crissal Thrasher, Western Meadowlark,  Say’s Phoebe and at dusk flocks of Barn and Cliff Swallows flew over.

I did make a visit back up to Rustler Park but no owls were ever going to be calling in the cold wind so I gave up after an hour and drove back, but did see another Ringtail Cat on the way down.