BIRDS OF DEWEY-HUMBOLDT ARIZONA GARRY ROGERS Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona By Garry Rogers __________ ii | Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona Copyright © 2016 Garry Rogers, Humboldt, Arizona Please cite the work as: Rogers, Garry. 2016. Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. Coldwater Press, Prescott, AZ. 128p. Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data Names: Rogers, Garry, author. Title: Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona / by Garry Rogers. Description: Includes bibliographical references and index. | Humboldt, AZ: Garry Rogers, 2016. Identifiers: ISBN 978-1539511786 | LCCN 2016918263 Subjects: LCSH Dewey-Humboldt (Ariz.) | Agua Fria River Valley (Ariz.) | Birds--Arizona. | BISAC NATURE / Birdwatching Guides Classification: LCC QL684.A6 .R63 2016 | DDC 598.09791--dc23 Coldwater Press, LLC is a nature-conservation, science-fiction publisher. Coldwater Press, LLC Prescott, AZ 86301, USA http://coldwaterpress.wordpress.com Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona | iii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 5 CONSERVATION STATUS SYMBOLS............................................................... 8 BIRDS SIGHTED IN DEWEY-HUMBOLDT, ARIZONA ........................................ 10 BIRD LIST WITH SIGHTINGS IN BOLD ........................................................... 11 BIRD REFERENCES .................................................................................. 113 APPENDIX A. SIGHTINGS RECORD FOR SPECIAL SPECIES ......................... 115 INDEX (SIGHTINGS IN BOLD) ................................................................... 116 Cover photograph: The flying insects this brilliant sky predator takes must be near-sighted and insensitive to color. Other flycatchers are of subdued color, but not this little fellow. Despite brilliant plumage, however, the male Vermilion Flycatcher is not overconfident. He courts his chosen mate by hovering and singing to her high in the air and by offering her butterflies and other brilliant insects. Vermilion Flycatchers are declining in Arizona and other parts of their range due to human destruction of the moist habitats they prefer. The birds are still abundant at many sites and are not an immediate conservation con- cern. However, without our attention and care, they will continue to decline. iv | Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona The Agua Fria River runs through the center of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. Na- tive Cottonwood and Willow dominate the banks and form a closed-canopy forest on the river floodplain. Introduced Salt Cedar, Russian Olive, Siberian Elm, and more than 50 other nonnative plant species are present along the river and in adjacent uplands. Runoff from a nearby farm and a mine pollute the water. Invasive Crawdads, Bullfrogs, and other introduced species are abundant. Despite the human impacts, native species of plants and animals re- main dominant. For wildlife’s sake, I block access by livestock and humans on foot, horseback, and wheels on my portion of the river and floodplain forest. Introduction In 1997, I began making lists of the birds and other wildlife I saw around my 20-acre farm on the Agua Fria River in the town of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona. I researched the various species groups (birds, grasshoppers, mammals, etc.) and compiled lists of all the species known to live in or to visit Arizona. The Arizona Wildlife Notebook, published in 2014, includes lists of eleven groups (amphibians, ants, birds, butterflies and moths, dragonflies and damselflies, fish, grasshoppers and other singing insects, lizards, mammals, snakes, and turtles). The book gives common and scientific names and estimates of species health and stability. It’s a handy tool for recording species anywhere in the State of Arizona. This book, Birds of Dewey-Humboldt Arizona, is a chapter from the full note- book with added notes and photographs for 137 species observed in Dewey- Humboldt through 2016. Use this book for notes and a field guide such as Pe- terson’s Field Guide to Western Birds to help with identification. You can upload your bird sightings to the online checklist program at http://ebird.org. Operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides basic information on bird abundance and distribution at various spatial and temporal scales. Placing sightings on the ebird website will help naturalists working on bird conservation. This book has common and scientific names alphabetized by common name, and it has an index. Field guides usually list birds in related groups such as ducks or raptors. For quick reference, however, an alphabetical list is easier to use. Finding a bird name can be still be tricky because the common name isn’t always what we think. For instance, the list gives Arizona’s two Robin species as “American Robin” and “Rufous-backed Robin.” The index is more helpful. For Robins, it lists the species as “Robin, American” and “Robin, Rufous- backed.” It also lists both species’ scientific names (Turdus migratorius and Turdus rufopalliatus). Conservation Droughts, storms, fires, rising seas, and spreading deserts show that humanity is changing the Earth. Research coming from many sources shows that animal extinctions are occurring 100 times faster than at any time in Earth’s past. Extinction isn’t the only concern. Total loss of a species results after years of decline. In 2014, the World Wildlife Fund, the Zoological Society of London, and other organizations carried out an extensive analysis of more than 10,000 wildlife studies. The analysis reached a stunning conclusion: The total number of animals on Earth has declined by more than 50% since 1970. 6 | Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona This figure from the review by the World Wildlife Fund (2014) shows that, from 1970 to 2010, Earth’s animals declined by 52%. The 2016 WWF report showed that by 2012, the decline had reached 57%. Biologists predict it will reach 67% by 2020. The cause? Human overpopulation and overuse of re- sources. For more on conservation, go to (http://wp.me/P26kDO-dnR). Bird Conservation Status Apart from domestic cats and dogs, birds are the most familiar species group. Even in cities, birds are a daily sight. We know more about bird distribution, numbers, and health than any other group. So, what do we know? One of the oldest and most familiar citizen-scientist activities is the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count. A re- cent analysis of the Count’s results show that some of our most familiar birds appear in cur- rent counts less than half as often as they did just 50 years ago. For example, over the past 50 years, sightings of Loggerhead Shrikes, a com- mon Arizona species, declined by 72%. The Shrike in the photograph at left is the only one I have seen in 19 years of watching at my loca- tion. Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) wildlife biologists conclude that 58% of Ari- Loggerhead Shrike zona’s native birds are declining. Another 20% are of long-term concern. The U.S. Endangered Species Act protects only 1% of Arizona bird species. Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona | 7 The reason for the declining numbers is not a mystery. Researchers have shown that the declines are due to the impact of human activities, chiefly: • habitat destruction (building and farming) • resource harvests (logging, livestock grazing, and water diversion) • habitat deterioration caused by introduced invasive plants • habitat poisoning with pesticides and toxic wastes The human impact is a direct consequence of human numbers and resource use. Our total global population is nearing 7.5 billion and we are using the Earth’s resources faster than natural processes replenish them. Unless we control our population and consumption or unless drought, disease, pollution, and rising temperature control it, the environmental impacts of Ar- izona’s projected growth will eventually eliminate upwards of 80% of our bird species. The Arizona Wildlife Notebook provides lists and conservation status discussions for the species groups shown in the table below. The table has the numbers of wildlife species that AZGFD considers critically imperiled (S1), imperiled (S2), and vulnerable (S3). It also shows U.S. En- dangered Species Act (ESA) numbers for threatened (LT) and endangered (LE) species. ARIZONA WILDLIFE CONSERVATION STATUS Arizona AZGFD ESA Species Group Native Species S1+S2+S3 LT+LE Amphibians 31 18 (58%) 2 (6%) Birds 451 260 (58%) 9 (2%) Fish 40 40 (100%) 13 (33%) Lizards 67 27 (40%) 0 (0%) Mammals 189 64 (34%) 15 (8%) Snakes 76 35 (46%) 1 (1%) Turtles 10 6 (67%) 2 (20%) TOTAL 864 450 (52%) 42 (9%) Bird Species Numbers According to the information published by AZGFD, 551 bird species and subspecies occur in Arizona. Regular residents number 451. • World estimate: 10,000 8 | Birds of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona • • U.S. estimate: 1,000 • Arizona total: 551 • Arizona birds regularly present: 451 • Arizona regulars of concern (S1 to S3): 260 (58%) • Arizona regulars of possible long-term concern (S4): 95 (21%). • ESA Arizona regulars listed endangered: 6 (1%) • ESA Arizona regulars listed threatened: 1 (<1%) • ESA Arizona regulars of concern: 26 (6%) Conservation Status Symbols I placed conservation-status symbols in the two right-hand columns of the bird list. The symbols, composed of letters and numbers, are wildlife-biologists’ es- timates of health and stability. They are from the October 10, 2013 Internet list posted by AZGFD (http://azgfd.gov). Symbols used by AZGFD • S1 Critically Imperiled: Extremely rare