Reader and photographer Peter Moulton sent some photos from Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona. (To be frank, I begged him for photos after I saw some on his Facebook page).
Per your request, here are a few new bird shots. The park personnel decided to remove substantial stands of cattails at Papago Park, causing me no little anxiety that some of the iconic birds of that park would lose their nesting habitat. I needn’t have worried. Enough cattails remain that the nesting season has been at least as successful as in years past, and possibly even more so. Here are some of the youngsters (who doesn’t love baby birds?).Two shots of a newly fledged Green Heron, Butorides virescens. Green Herons can be secretive and hard to find/photograph, but those in Papago Park are quite accustomed to seeing lots of people, and are more blasé. They regularly go about their business in plain sight and at close range. I favor the early morning hours for photography; the birds are actively foraging, and the light is the best for photography. You can see in these two shots, taken only a minute or so apart, that the light was changing rapidly so soon after sunrise.
Two of a juvenile Least Bittern, Ixobrychus exilis. As far as I know, last year was the first time this species nested at Papago Park in the 25+ years I’ve been going there, but it’s a very secretive species, and could easily have eluded me in the past. While Green Herons are quite small as herons go, Least Bitterns are positively tiny and much more secretive. They’re also the birds that determined me to take up bird photography. I was particularly worried that the habitat removal program would run these guys off, considering what seemed only a tenuous foothold at that location.
Good stuff, as usual.
I didn’t know they were going to clear out cattails. Any reason why? They’ve always been one of my favorite features of the ponds.
…and, of course, sunrise here now is about 5:30…gotta be up really early to get to the park and be in place before then…though, at the same time, the temperature will still be below 90°F / 32°C, so that helps….
b&
Thanks, Ben! I contacted the guy in charge of such things at the Phoenix parks department, and the plan was instituted for insect control, particularly mosquitoes. Mosquitoes have never seemed to be much of a problem there in the past, but I think West Nile has them spooked.
I’m surprised that they think that the answer to reducing mosquito population involves reducing the habitat of things that eat mosquitos and mosquito larvae.
If they were really serious about reducing mosquito populations, they’d look into building an habitat for a bat colony on the scale of the one that lives under the bridge in Austin. I bet the bats would love the environment of the park, and I imagine both the zoo and the botanical gardens would sign off on something like that. It’d become a minor local tourist attraction, too — watch the bats swarm out at dusk and all.
b&
These are truly wonderful photos! Thanks, Peter.
Ben, I understand that sometimes cattails are removed to improve waterflow, facilitate repairs to the banks of ponds, improve access for fishing, etc. Apparently there’s fishing at Papago Park.
Thank you, smokedpaprika!
The reasons you list for cattail removal are all valid ones, though I don’t believe they figured into the calculus for this particular project. The water inflow is nowhere near this spot, but rather is way down at the other end of the pond, and the water here is only a few inches deep, so not especially good for human fishers, though the birds do quite well. The greater portion of cattail removal occurred in the vicinity of the only ramada at this pond, so control of noxious insects would seem to have been the park personnel’smotivation.
Yes, indeed, there’s fishing at the park, and this pond is the most popular of the three. The photographers and fishers all know each other and generally make an effort to stay out of each other’s way.
Thanks for the info, Pete.
Once again, your photos of the green heron are stunning. (Silly aside – I can’t help but be reminded of a ninja or Jackie Chan climbing up two walls, the way the heron is perched and holding on to the reeds.)
Or ‘chimneying.’ The main thing in rock climbing that scares me to death.
Very interesting birds, and great photos of them. I did not know about Papago Park in Phoenix when I lived in AZ. Wish I had visited it.
I’m not too sure if it was there back in the early 60s when I lived down there either. I think they are talking about the open space between Scottsdale and Tempe. When I was a kid back then the “hole in the rock” was there but it was just open desert I think.
That’s right, Randy. The ponds are located between the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden, right near the Hole in the Rock. It’s an old Arizona state fish hatchery, and I’m pretty sure the ponds would’ve been there in the ’60s. I mocved here 30 years ago next month, and I’ve been visiting the park since then. The ponds were well established in the mid-’80s, at least.
Park personnel do something stupid? No way! I mean, they wouldn’t mow down all the blooming wildflowers in a remnant prairie park in S. KC Mo, would they? They wouldn’t cut down trees because “it blocks the view of the lake” at Longview Lake in KC either…
Why must we put out remaining green spaces in the hands of morons with chainsaws and lawnmowers?!
I could rant for ages, but I won’t. Today.
lovely photos btw, especially love the perching amongst the cattails with those fantastic feet.
Beautiful photos!
Never heard of or seen a Least Bittern (strange name). Neat looking feathered friend. The light on all 4 photos is superb. I like the “stout” herons like the green and the black-crowned night heron.
OMG, I love these photos! I’ve never seen a fledgling Green Heron, and Least Bitterns are one of my nemesis species. I may have to move to Phoenix!
Speaking of which, I’ve certainly never associated the word “cattails” with “Phoenix.”
You can do anything…Just add water.
Can someone explain the short neck on one and the long in the other picture?
In scientific terms…they have very stretchy necks. 🙂
Well, I guessed that but wow – that’s a lot of stretch! Thanks!
I think its all done with feathers. That is, they can have a long neck but when its curved in an S the feathers cover up the curve.
Much better answer. 😀
Maybe a bit of both. I imagined it hunkering down with its neck and then unwinding – stretching or something. It looked like the same bird although the second picture looks a little surreal (too big of a neck stuck on too little body) . . . And, I wondered If I was looking at two different types or one wonderfully variable!
“…one wonderfully variable” is an excellent description! 🙂
Here’s a very apt blog post about them, with great pictures, too:
http://10000birds.com/green-herons-and-their-groovy-necks.htm
Thank you! Wonderful pictures but my brain has trouble accepting the extended neck pictures – just looks wrong, but beautiful!
What a great site! Thanks. Interesting tidbit I learned among other things – green herons are among the few birds that use tools. They use little things as bait when they fish.
Yes, Jerry’s actually shown a video or two of that here before (I’m too lazy to search for it). Always worth repeating, though–it’s impossible to keep up with all the posts here!
10000 Birds is one of those places you can click to and not come out of for an hour or two or…