Earlier this week, I took the Jay's Birds Barn truck down to Mesa for service. This provided me the perfect opportunity (excuse) to make a quick visit to the Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch, also known as the Gilbert Water Ranch.
This is the second time in less than a month that I have birded at the Water Ranch. It is truly one of my favorite places to bird in Arizona. My only regret was that I didn't have more time. However, even though my time was limited, it was productive. I birded for one hour and saw forty-four species, so I was adding a species to my list at the rate of about one species every minute and a half.
Knowing in advance that I would be visiting the Preserve, I got onto eBird the night before to see what bird species had been reported over the last few days. There were two specific species that really captured my attention - a chestnut-sided warbler and a black and white warbler.
Based on the information in eBird, I knew right where the warblers had been seen by other birders. I quickly made my way down the Cattail Crawl trail between ponds one and seven where there is a small cluster of cottonwood trees.
It was in this group of trees where I had to sort through all of the different kinds of birds in the trees - mostly yellow-rumped warblers, orange-crowned warblers, and ruby-crowned kinglets. Fortunately, I was able to quickly locate the chestnut-sided warbler. Unfortunately, I struck out on the black-and white warbler, which was disappointing.
The chestnut-sided warbler is a very pretty bird with very unique coloration and markings. It was actively foraging and vocalizing, and I was able to see it multiple times over the course of several minutes. Eventually, I gave up looking for the black and white warbler and decided I needed to move on, time-wise.


At one point, I watched a flock of egrets flying over the preserve - their white plumage glistened in the afternoon sun. When they settled, I counted forty snowy egrets and eight great egrets. Ironically, I didn't see a single great blue heron, which seemed a little odd for this location.
An hour is certainly not enough time to canvas the 160-acre preserve, and I felt I barely had time to scratch the surface. I felt like I was racing from one bird species to the next, and missing a lot of common species that I should have easily seen such as house finches and Say's phoebes.
In the end, though, it wasn't so much about what species I did or didn't see. For me, it was the joy of spending time in nature observing the beauty of birds, their plumage, their behavior, and their interactions. I love spending time in nature, and even when I am in a hurry it is worth every minute.
On a separate note, I am including in my column today a picture from one of my customers. This picture was taken on Friday, Dec. 16, in Sedona. This picture has, according to my best efforts to count, twenty-nine western bluebirds drinking from two water pans. As our dry weather continues, I encourage you to provide a source of water for the birds in your yard.
As Christmas draws near, I express to each of you my gratitude for your friendship, support and encouragement. I wish each of you a joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year in 2018.
Until next week, Happy Birding!