You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Gila County’s top ten spots for birdwatching<br />
Is Gila County a great<br />
place to strap on the<br />
binoculars and see<br />
birds? Ask ‘Tommy D’<br />
Debardeleben, author of<br />
a popular website frequently<br />
updated with his<br />
adventures seeking rare<br />
birds around the Grand<br />
Canyon State. Most of<br />
his days off work during<br />
2017 were spent birding<br />
Gila County - starting the<br />
year with 137 species he<br />
had found on prior visits,<br />
and doubling that already-impressive<br />
tally to<br />
275 before New Year’s<br />
Eve.<br />
Search posts at tommysbirdingexpeditions<br />
for anecdotes from across<br />
Gila County, from a rufous-winged<br />
sparrow singing<br />
at the southern tip of<br />
the county, just off Highway<br />
77 near Winkelman<br />
and the Gila River (where<br />
black vulture and Mississippi<br />
kite are also possible),<br />
to ‘chases’ northwards hoping<br />
for short-tailed hawk<br />
in the Pinal Mountains, to<br />
San Carlos Lake for hooded<br />
merganser, Bonaparte’s<br />
gull, and Franklin’s gull,<br />
and to Green Valley Park in<br />
Payson for Northern parula<br />
and rufous-backed robin.<br />
“I fell in love with the<br />
county,” he writes. “I saw<br />
how diverse it was, and<br />
how much potential it had<br />
for personal discovery. Before<br />
I knew it, I had spent<br />
a huge chunk of the year<br />
devoting my birding time<br />
<strong>Gateway</strong> to the Copper Corridor <strong>2022</strong><br />
Red Breasted Nuthatch<br />
to Gila County . . . it was a<br />
fun ride.”<br />
Nature-lovers seeking<br />
narrative descriptions can<br />
spend hours reading Tommy<br />
D’s blog posts and be<br />
familiar with most of the<br />
10 spots in this list of great<br />
places to see and photograph<br />
birds. You’ll also want to<br />
bookmark ebird.org as a<br />
browser favorite and explore<br />
this exhaustive website<br />
– where easy-to-navigate<br />
maps pinpoint<br />
‘hotspots’ where birders<br />
have collectively reported:<br />
Winkelman Flats Park –<br />
158 species<br />
San Carlos Lake - 207<br />
Russell Gulch below the<br />
Pinal Mountains - 177<br />
Pinal Peak – 152<br />
Jones Water Camp<br />
ground north of Globe -<br />
120<br />
Roosevelt Lake - 203<br />
Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery<br />
- 115<br />
Green Valley Park in<br />
Payson - 174<br />
Pine Creek Canyon - 121<br />
Courtesy photo/Muriel Neddermeyer<br />
Parker Creek in the<br />
Sierra Anchas - 109<br />
Want a few more numbers?<br />
Consider these trip lists<br />
from Sulfide de Rey campground<br />
-- just one of sever-<br />
nuthatch, blue-gray gnatcatcher,<br />
Bewick’s<br />
wren,<br />
hermit thrush,<br />
phainopepla,<br />
olive warbler,<br />
lesser goldfinch,<br />
Grace’s<br />
warbler,<br />
black-throated<br />
gray warbler,<br />
painted<br />
redstart,<br />
Western<br />
tanager and<br />
black-headed<br />
grosbeak.<br />
See photos<br />
and read<br />
more at ebird.<br />
Courtesy photo/Muriel Neddermeyer<br />
Yellow Eyed Junco<br />
org. Connect<br />
with the author<br />
and sign up for<br />
updates about Tommy’s<br />
al ‘hot spots’ in the Pinals<br />
where sightings are posted<br />
on Ebird. Jay Taylor found<br />
acorn woodpecker, Western<br />
wood-pewee, Pacific-slope/<br />
Cordilleran flycatcher<br />
(Western flycatcher), Hutton’s<br />
vireo, white-breasted<br />
nuthatch, house wren,<br />
yellow-eyed junco, spotted<br />
towhee, orange-crowned<br />
warbler, Wilson’s warbler<br />
and mourning dove. A few<br />
weeks prior to that Dave<br />
Pearson reported Anna’s<br />
hummingbird, broad-tailed<br />
hummingbird, rufous hummingbird,<br />
turkey vulture,<br />
zone-tailed hawk, Cordilleran<br />
flycatcher, Cassin’s<br />
vireo, plumbeous vireo,<br />
common raven, bridled titmouse,<br />
bushtit, red-breasted<br />
nuthatch, pygmy<br />
treks at tommysbirdingexpeditions.blogspot.com.<br />
19