Early Birds: April Picnic, Bird Watch & Centennial Challenge

By Joy Dingley
Early Birds Club
Desert Rivers Audubon

We seem to make a habit of choosing a date for our picnic that gives us extreme weather. One year it was torrential rain at Boyce Thompson Arboretum and this year it was extremely hot on our trip to some of the Salt River birding spots.

We made a good start by seeing a Harris Hawk at our meeting place of the junction of Power Road and McKellips and we continued to get some of our target birds, including Western Tanager, Lucy’s Warbler, Vermillion Flycatcher and, of course, Bald Eagle.

Birding the Salt River with Desert Rivers Audubon’s Early Birds children’s club.

We had time for a picnic at Coon Bluff but even by 10.30 am it was getting very, very hot and that’s as far as we got before we decided to call it a day. We have, however, added a lot of birds to our list which now stands at 77 species. That only leaves us 23 to get before the end of January 2013 and since we will be meeting mostly at Gilbert that’s a very challenging number.

The children now have a Summer Challenge to work on until we meet again in October.

We’re always happy to have new members join, aged between 7 and 14. So if you know of any families who might be interested you’ll find Jamie’s contact information on our website. We also enjoy having experienced birders go out with the older children at Gilbert on the third Saturday of the month so If you have some time and would like to help us get those last few birds please contact me, Joy Dingley,  joy.dingley@cox.net.

A Hundred Birds for a Hundred Years

By Joy Dingley
Early Birds Club
Desert Rivers Audubon

The Early Birds have set themselves a target in this Centennial Year for Arizona. They are going to try to find 100 bird species. They began in February and submitted their list to the Great BackYard Bird Count which is run by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society.

We are hoping lots of people will want to sponsor us at a few cents per bird. At one cent for each species the sponsor would pay one dollar if we manage to see 100 different species. What we would like to do with the money is buy a set of good field guides so we can all use them when we go out together.

These are the “rules” for adding species. We can only add a bird if it has been seen when we are out together as a group at our normal monthly meetings. So no birds seen while any of the children are on vacation. The counting stops after our meeting in January 2013 – that will be a year after we started.

So one hundred birds will not be easy to find. We have seen 55 different species since we began and we are keeping our record on E-bird. But we’ve only got Oct, November, December and January at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve and one other meeting when we have our annual picnic at a location that has yet to be decided. So it’s not going to be so easy!

If you would like to help us by sponsoring us,  email me, joy.dingley@cox.net. Wish us luck!

Citizen Scientists Needed for #OwlWatch

Monitoring of Zanjero’s Burrowing Owls

Greg Clark, Burrowing Owl Project Coordinator for Wild at Heart, introduces the ten burrowing owls to be released into Zanjero Park, Gilbert.

Volunteers are needed to help monitor our 10 initial burrowing owls that will we be releasing into Zanjero Park on 4/28.

We will be following the set scientific protocol for surveying burrowing owls relocated to artificial burrows.  This requires weekly observations alternating between morning one week and evening the following week. Therefore we are recruiting for two teams of volunteers; a morning crew and an evening crew.  This brings the volunteer commitment to every other week, but we will take volunteers whenever they can be available.

The morning time period is from sunrise up to 9 am and the evening period is from 5 pm up to sunset. We will be documenting # of adults and juveniles present, their band #’s, recording the burrow entrances associated with each individual, monitoring the reproductive status of nesting pairs, emergence and survival of young, fall and winter dispersement, and prey preferences.

If you would like to sign up or get further information contact

Stacy Burleigh is coordinating OwlWatch, a citizen science project documenting the burrowing owl habitat at Zanerjo Park, for Desert Rivers Audubon.

at stacymb@cox.net or 480-507-9177.

Burrowing Owl Release Picnic & Celebration

Saturday, April 28th, 8am-noon, bring a picnic lunch & enjoy the release of burrowing owls into Zanjero Park as we remove the tent and uncap the artificial burrows installed in October.

Your Yuma: Visit Another World in Southwestern Arizona (without leaving the East Valley) April 10, 2012

Henry Detwiler discusses southwestern Arizona natural History April 10th @ Desert Rivers Audubon's monthly meeting.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 7-8:30pm, Gilbert Community Center, 130 North Oak Street,  Gilbert, Henry Detwiler, past President of the Southern Illinois Audubon Society & member of the Arizona Rare Bird Committee, guides us through the natural history of southwestern Arizona. Detwiler is the author of Finding Birds in Yuma County, Arizona & co-author of Finding Birds at the Salton Sea and in Imperial County, California.
Come early to browse our mobile book shop, visit, and discover volunteer opportunities with Desert Rivers Audubon. Learn about our Burrowing Owl Habitat opening at the end of April at Zanjero Park, Gilbert. We’ll brief everyone on our painting day at the Hummingbird Habitat at Desert Breeze Park, Chandler, April 14, 8-10am. Light refreshments served (last meeting until Sept.)

Rescued Flight: Raptor Rehabilitation with Desert Rivers Audubon, Liberty Wildlife & live birds, Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Desert Rivers Audubon Field Trips Director & Liberty Wildlife volunteer Susie Vaught with owl & friends.

Please join Desert Rivers Audubon and Liberty Wildlife for “Rescued Flight: Raptor Rehabilitation,” a presentation including live eagles, owls & hawks, Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 7-8:30pm, Gilbert Community Center, 130 N. Oak St., Gilbert.

The dedicated volunteers of Liberty Wildlife visit with rescued hawks, eagles and owls to demonstrate the resilience and care required of Arizona’s unique birds of prey. The physics of bird flight will be discussed.

This event is part of the 2012 Arizona Science & Technology Festival.

Come early to browse our mobile book shop, visit, and learn about volunteer opportunities with Desert Rivers Audubon including our Burrowing Owl release in Gilbert,  March 31, 2012. Light refreshments served.

Join Desert Rivers Audubon for the Great Backyard Bird Count February 17-20, 2012

Kick-off Saturday, February 18th @ Gilbert Riparian Preserve

Join Desert Rivers Audubon at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, 2757 E. Guadalupe Road Gilbert, to kick-off the Great Backyard Bird Count, Saturday, February 18, 2012, 8am-12 noon.

Watch birds for at least 15 minutes…

The goal of The Great Backyard Bird Count is to watch birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count then enter tallies. Anyone can participate, it’s free, and no registration is required. Participants can count anywhere they wish, not just in backyards, but in neighborhoods, parks, nature centers, or anywhere they see birds.

Wild peach-faced lovebirds

Submit your list…

“This count is so fun because anyone can take part — we all learn and watch birds together — whether you are an expert, novice, or feeder watcher,” said Gary Langham, Audubon’s Chief Scientist. “I like to invite new birders to join me and share the experience. Get involved, invite your friends, and see how your favorite spot stacks up.”

Get some local coaching…

Black-crowned Night Heron

“We’ll be able to coach East Valley residents in their bird identification skills Saturday during our free Family Birdwalk at Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Saturday, February 18, 2012, 8am-noon,” added Eileen Kane, Communications Director, Desert Rivers Audubon Society.

More than 92,000 checklists were submitted during the last GBBC, with more than 11 million individual bird observations. The data help scientists get the big picture about how bird populations may be changing across the continent over time.

…become a Citizen Scientist!

“This is a very detailed snapshot of continental bird-distribution,” said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Imagine scientists 250 years from now being able to compare these data with their own.  Already, with more than a decade of data in hand, the GBBC has documented changes in late-winter bird distributions.”

Earn prizes, too!

The count also includes a photo contest and a prize drawing for participants who enter at least one bird checklist online. The GBBC is hosted each year by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. The Great Backyard Bird Count is made possible in part by sponsor Wild Birds Unlimited.

Bring your Great Backyard Bird Count count sheets into Wild Birds Unlimited of Mesa, AZ & receive 2 lbs. of birdseed!

“Love is in the Air” February 14 with Paul Wolterbeek of Boyce Thompson Arboretum @ Gilbert Community Center

Northern Saw-whet Owl photographed in March at BTA by Marceline Vandewater.

Join Desert Rivers Audubon at our monthly meeting February 14, 2012 at Gilbert Community Center, 130 N. Oak St., Gilbert, 7pm, for “Love is in the Air” with Paul Wolterbeek of Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Free.  All are welcome!

Valentines Day, means that “Love is in the Air,” but our guest speaker would argue that love is sometimes lurking behind a tree, holding binoculars and a camera, and taking notes.

No, he’s not a creepy stalker or a papparazzo – Paul Wolterbeek is one of those dedicatedstaffers we know & love over at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Paul coordinates BTA’s volunteer program and also the public event series, arranging guided bird walks and presentations by nature photographers; summer evening concerts and how-to-juice-prickly-pear-cactus-fruit classes.

He’s one of those people who appears to love his job, and has an infectious love of birds, mammals and our Sonoran Desert … and on this evening he will share anecdotes about some of his favorite spots at BTA (maybe even share a few “secret undisclosed location” places nearby for birding, too!), with a slide show of BTA birds photographed by some of the top avian artists we have in AZ: Brendon Grice, Richard Ditch, Cindy Marple.

Paul Wolterbeek with juvenile coopers hawk.

With any luck, Paul’s sweetie (and summertime owl research boss, Amanda) may be here, too; her lively presentation on Mexican Spotted Owls was a highlight of our 2009 speaker series.

This event is part of the 2012 Arizona Science & Technology Festival. 

Come early to browse our mobile book shop, visit, and learn about volunteer opportunities with Desert Rivers Audubon. Light refreshments served.

Birding in Wickenburg

by Ameya Thatte
Elementary school member of
Desert Rivers Audubon Early Birds Kids Club 

On December 18th, 2011, I had an opportunity to go to Wickenburg, Arizona for a bird count. Living in Mesa, Arizona, I was expecting

Birding is fun for kids!

to see different species than what I normally see in Mesa. It was about a two hour drive from Mesa to Wickenburg. When I got there, it was different from what I had expected. It was desert habitat. Still, I was likely to see things different from what I see in my yard because my yard isn’t desert habitat.

When we were all there, we split up into two groups then started bird counting. This was my first time going on a bird count. But I knew how it worked. It was basically just counting the number of each individual species in one area. After birding on the trails for a while, we met the other group at a McDonald’s parking lot. Then we started birding in a residential area. The other group was slightly ahead of us. While our group was looking at some phoebes, the other group contacted our group that we were invited at a horse ranch down the street to bird watch. A few minutes later, we were at the ranch. The other group saw a Bendire’s Thrasher. After bird watching at the ranch, we made our count totals and submit them.

By the time we were finished, I was happy that I went because I saw two species for the first time, the Red-Napped Sapsucker, and the Rock Wren. Our group saw a total of 21 species.

Sonoran Desert Monument: Birds, Bees & Archaeology

Sonoran Desert Monument, Gila Bend, Arizona.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 7-8:30pm at the Gilbert Community Center, 130 N. Oak St., Thom Hulen, Executive Director, Friends of the Sonoran Desert Monument, joins Desert Rivers Audubon to speak about the flora, fauna & archaeology found in the Sonoran Desert Monument and the threats these resources face.

Starting his career as a field archaeologist with first the Arizona State University & then Arizona State University, Hulen notes, “As a lifelong resident of Arizona, I have been keenly interested in the natural and cultural history of the Southwest.” Former manager of the Desert Botanical Garden’s Desert House conservation demonstration, Hulen also has a keen interest in what every Arizona resident can do to help preserve our natural and cultural resources.

Come early to browse our mobile book shop, visit, and discover the wide range of volunteer opportunities, including our municipal public Burrowing Owl & Hummingbird habitats, with Desert Rivers. Light refreshments will be provided.

On Saturday, January 7, 2012, Desert Rivers Audubon celebrates five years of free Family Birdwalks at Veterans Oasis Park, 4050 E. Chandler Heights Rd in Chandler. (NE Corner of Chandler Heights and Lindsay Rd.) 8am-noon.  Walks include free loan of binoculars, expert guides and children’s Bird Bingo games. Visit with live hawks, eagles and owls with Liberty Wildlife. This birdwalk is sponsored by Desert Rivers Audubon, The City of Chandler Environmental Education Center, Liberty Wildlife and Bashas Supermarkets.

Desert Rivers and Tropical Cats

by Mike Evans
Conservation Director 
Desert Rivers Audubon Society

The recent stories of jaguars and ocelots being spotted in Arizona got me thinking about the historic role that our desert rivers played in wildlife population distribution. My thoughts wandered to the impact the “dang fence” on the border would have in limiting the future distribution of these tropical species back into Arizona. I also got to thinking about how our modern system of canals has come to partially replace the role that our desert rivers historically played in wildlife distribution, especially here in the Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe, and Mesa area.

Jaguar, Panthera onca.

For those that missed the news reports, the Arizona Game and Fish Department confirmed through photographs that a mountain lion hunter treed a jaguar southeast of Tucson.  The Arizona Daily Star also reported that in June a helicopter pilot for Homeland Security spotted a jaguar loping down a forested hillside in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona. Arizona Game & Fish also reported that a further five reports by hunters have been confirmed and the department is now attempting to determine through photographic analysis how many jaguars may be roaming about southern Arizona. The Game & Fish believe that these individuals represent the most northern part of a population of jaguars living in Sonora, Mexico.

We were also recently briefly regaled with the story of a sighting of an ocelot. Upon further analysis, the Game and Fish Department believes that the cat was more likely a serval, or serval hybrid, an African cat popular in the pet trade. However, there were two other confirmed sightings of ocelots earlier in the year, both in the Huachuca Mountains.

These are only the third and fourth reports of ocelots in Arizona since the 1960’s. It was generally agreed by most wildlife observers

Ocelot, Leopardus pardalis, also known as the dwarf leopard or McKenney's wildcat.

that the ocelot was extinct in Arizona until one was found dead along the highway in the Globe area in 2010 and one was photographed in 2009 by a trail camera belonging to the Sky Island Alliance.  There is a small remnant population of ocelots in Texas and the rest of the range was believed to be much farther south in Mexico, but now Arizona has to be added to the list of locations where the species is still holding on to some territory.

Historically, Arizona’s desert rivers have been corridors for wildlife. Although the exact locations of the traditional corridors used by jaguars and ocelots remain uncertain, there is good evidence that the prey species of both cats were originally found in abundance along our desert rivers. For these species to survive, movement corridors need to be maintained. Conservation efforts are crucial as habitat becomes more fragmented and isolated. The Sky Island Alliance is one organization working to maintain the connections north and south of the border through their Wildlife Linkages program.

One threat to the continued efforts to conserve both of these species is the proposed border fence. The Center for Biological Diversity  has been warning of the environmental catastrophe that the border fence would be for wildlife populations for five years. Back in 2006, the Center said:

More border walls, militarization, low-level aircraft and roads would further damage already-stressed wildlife and places, such as the Cactus Pygmy Owl and Sonoran Pronghorn in Arizona, Flat-Tailed Horned Lizard and Peninsular Ranges Bighorn Sheep in California, Jaguar and Mexican Gray Wolves in New Mexico, and the Rio Grande River, Ocelot, and Big Bend National Park in Texas. Triple walls are harmful to wildlife blocking critical migration corridors and destroying valuable habitat. The distance of the triple wall – 370 miles – is approximately the distance of the entire border in Arizona.

With two Arizona desert rivers having their headwaters in Mexico, the border fence will affect wildlife distribution. It seems clear that the northernmost range for the ocelot and jaguar would be cut off from the population in Mexico and stop any natural repopulation of these species in Arizona.

Roosevelt Water Conservation District

Closer to home, our canal system is the wildlife corridor for coyotes and other mammals. In the southeast valley, the four SRP canals (Consolidated, Eastern, Western, & Tempe) plus the Roosevelt Water Conservation District canal are regular coyote corridors. When we add in the Eastern Maricopa Floodway, we have a wildlife corridor that stretches from the San Tan Mountains in the south to the Salt River Recreation Area. So the next time you see a coyote in one of the East Valley riparian areas, or a coyote loping through a southeast valley neighborhood, remind yourself that it is the same mode of transit that wildlife has always used in the southwest: our riparian desert rivers. And, if you want your children and grandchildren to someday see jaguars and ocelots in the wildlands of Arizona, let your opinion be known to our elected officials the next time they start talking about building “the dang fence”.