Whitewater Draw: Shorebirds, Waterfowl, Flycatchers, Raptors, and More!

While the cranes at Whitewater Draw were absolutely spectacular, there were lots of other lovely birds too. Many of them are species that live near water and are therefore not commonly sighted in Arizona, except at certain oases.

Let's start with the smallest shorebird, the least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla).

They are only 13-15 cm (5-6 in) long and under 30 g (~ 1 oz), with a wingspan of about 28 cm (11.0 in).

They camouflage well with the muddy shoreline, don't they?

And to emphasize how small they are... here are two, a little less zoomed in. 

This slightly larger shorebird is a long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus). They walk through shallow water, picking at food in the mud, barely pulling their bills out of the water, but still calling to each other as they feed (a habit which sets them apart from the closely related short-billed dowitcher).

Interestingly, while both males and females incubate the eggs, it's the males of this species who do all the parental care after the eggs hatch.

These northern pintails were new to me (a lifer!), and very pretty and elegant.

 I believe this is a pair, even though they look quite different, a common pattern with ducks. 

This northern shoveler (Spatula clypeata) was sliding about a bit on the ice, looking somewhat comical...

The cranes themselves formed a mixed flock with these snow geese (Anser caerulescens). Snow geese spend their summers (breeding season) in the arctic, but they travel south for the winter.

American wigeons (Mareca americana) are also migratory, mostly breeding in Canada and Alaska, but they fly down to southern U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, and even northern South America for the winter. 

Did you know: most of these waterfowl can live to be over 20 years old!

Like the American wigeon, the male green-winged teal (Anas crecca) has a green stripe on his head, but instead of a white stripe on the crown of the head, they have white stripes on their shoulders.

Here's a pair of green-winged teals. Like other ducks, the females are challenging to identify without the males.

There were lots of American coots (Fulica americana) around as well. Surprisingly, although they look and swim a bit like ducks, coots are actually more closely related to sandhill cranes!

In addition to these water birds, there was a nice diversity of flycatchers, including a large number of immature male vermillion flycatchers (Pyrocephalus rubinus), with a large number of orange feathers, but far from the full, bright red-orange of the adult males.

I caught this one in flight and then mid-flycatching!

Here's another immature with those little patches of color...

And another one, with a little more...

And here's an adult male vermillion flycatcher, in full adult plumage. They are so bright that they tend to be easy to pick out, even when sitting high up in trees or flying by quickly. They are common birds around my apartment, and the flash of color as they dart by always makes me smile.

The black phoebes (Sayornis nigricans) were also out flycatching.

And this Say's phoebe (Sayornis saya) too.

Slightly lass flashy, this cute little Brewer's sparrow (Spizella breweri) was another lifer for me. (I'm not very good at identifying sparrows, but iNat helps!)

Just as I was about to leave, looping back around to where my car was parked, I came across this juvenile Cooper's hawk (Accipter cooperii) sitting on a pole right next to the path and looking rather statuesque.

Lastly—and most surprisingly—after I'd climbed into the car and started driving off, I noticed a small-but-striking silhouette on a telephone wire. It was a wide dirt road with no one else on it, so I pulled over to take a look (and a photo). It was an American kestrel (Falco sparverius)! A fortuitous wrap to a wonderful day of birds.

If you've enjoyed my bird photos and you like playing board games, I highly recommend Wingspan. The artwork is beautiful, the game play is fun and highly varied from game to game, and all of the game mechanics are based on the ecology of real bird species!