Christine and I hiked Paradise Valley again yesterday from about 8:30AM to noon. This is becoming our favorite birding trail of the summer. We spotted 43 species, which isn't bad for summer.

The Green-tailed Towhees are still present. We found one in the first tall trees on the right side of the dirt road once you're inside the gate. Another GTTO was spotted scratching in the leaves under the tall oaks along the south side of the lake.

At about that same spot, Christine found a swift chasing a swallow high above us. She was able to get a better view, but I only caught a glimpse of it because it kept going behind the trees, then it flew off out of site. I could tell the swallow was a violet-green. The swift chasing it was all dark - black rather than brown; it was larger than the swallow with long, swept-back and pointed wings. Looking over the field guide, it appears to be a Black Swift, listed on the checklist as Casual in Spring and Summer (not seen annually). There was no white on it, so that rules out White-throated Swift, and it was too big and dark for a Vaux's Swift.

The most common bird of the day was Black-headed Grosbeak, and I can't remember ever seeing so many Orange-crowned Warblers.

Here's our full sightings list:
Ruddy Duck
California Quail
Golden Eagle
Mourning Dove
Black Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Red-breasted Sapsucker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Black Phoebe
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Mountain Chickadee
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
House Wren
Western Bluebird
American Robin
Orange-crowned Warbler
Western Tanager
Green-tailed Towhee
Spotted Towhee
California Towhee
Sage Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Tricolored Blackbird
Bullock's Oriole
Purple Finch
Lesser Goldfinch

Richard

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Chris and I were playing "hooky" on Friday and decided to take a field trip of our own. Since we won't be able to attend the club field trip to Butterbredt Springs, we decided to go on our own. Granted, we were getting a late start, but the drive was going to be worthwhile.

We arrived at Jawbone Canyon at about 2:30 on Friday under beautiful, sunny skies. The desert between hither and thither was a carpet of beautiful yellow. There were a few wildflowers at the ranger station area.

Once we got to the dirt road we were very glad we had our 4WD/high clearance vehicle. The roads haven't been graded in awhile, and it was pretty tough going. We finally arrived at the springs sometime after 3:00. Other than the occasional dirt bike in the distance, we were met by silence. The longer we stood under the trees, the more then birds chose to let themselves be known.

We still didn't see the birds we'd hoped to see, but we did see a few finches and either a ladderback or Downy woodpecker (couldn't get a good enough look -- I did get a picture, so if anyone can ID it from the photo, please let me know). We also heard a northern flicker.

All in all we had a lovely afternoon: even without too many birdies. I'm sure that the morning trek will be more fruitful.
 

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