Yellow Warblers, Dragonflies, Lizards, and More: Another Morning at Sweetwater

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a morning at Sweetwater wetlands, soaking up some nature. There were lots of birds, including several yellow warblers, who I'd never gotten clear photos of, and a lazuli bunting (which I still don't have a clear photo of... a good goal for future outings). I was hoping for another bobcat sighting, which was not to be. But instead I got to watch a face-off between two male zebra-tailed lizards (action shots below)!

Yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia) is a very accurate, descriptive name for these cute little blurs of bright yellow (with no facial markings, unlike many of the other confusing yellowish warblers), making them relatively easy to identify. They move around a lot, though, in and out of the foliage, making photos challenging.

Yellow warblers are widespread in North America over the summer (breeding season), so keep an eye out for them! Most of the southern US only sees yellow warblers during migration (to and from Central and South America), but luckily for me some of them stick around in Arizona for the whole summer, despite the heat.

This dragonfly is also aptly named for its color and was a new identification for me: flame skimmer (Libellula saturata). 

Blue dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis), meanwhile, I've identified before at Sweetwater.

While not the clearest photo, I enjoyed this round-tailed ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus tereticaudus) which was sitting at the top of an embankment and appeared to be looking out across landscape below, all while chewing on some food.

Here's another cute round-tailed ground squirrel, looking quite alert. 

Walking around the basins in Sweetwater, I came across a zebra-tailed lizard (Callisaurus draconoides) right on the path. I think the name is pretty self-explanatory.

Then, there was another one, and they were doing push-ups at each other.

After some staring each other down, they started circling...

And then, a sudden lunge!

Neither lizard seemed hurt, nor did either of them retreat from the scene of battle. 

Eventually I kept moving. Other herps sighted included a western whiptail (Aspidoscelis tigris)...

And a spiny lizard...probably desert spiny lizard (Sceloporus magister).

I haven't been able to identify this turtle, which looks different from the red-eared sliders that I always see at Sweetwater. Anyone have any ideas?

Other birds sighted included this ladder-backed woodpecker (Dryobates scalaris)...

Many (loud) red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus)...

Several adorable common yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas), darting in and out of the reeds...

The always eye-catching vermillion flycatchers (Pyrocephalus rubinus)...

And several female hummingbirds, who I got some clear photos of but can't identify at the species level.

I also can't identify this kingbird (genus Tyrannus) to the species level, as there are several in this area that look very similar.

The water birds included the American coot (Fulica americana)...

The ubiquitous Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos, this is a female)...

And the closely-related and visually very similar Mexican duck (Anas diazi).

Unfortuately, I didn't get a nice profile view of this black-headed grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus)...

This song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) was somewhat more cooperative...

And I got a laugh out of this lesser goldfinch (Spinus psaltria), which seemed to be scratching her head.

While Gambel's quail (Callipepla gambelii) are quite common around here, I've only ever seen them on the ground, never up in a tree, so this was a fun sight! It seemed to be a nice vantage point from which to survey the surroundings.

The last bird of the day, this juvenile Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) flew off soon after I saw it on my final loop around.

And because I enjoyed them so much, here are a few more yellow warbler photos.

And from below! 😂