Cameron defoliation, petroglyphs

On September 24th I went back up to Cameron (off Hwy. 89 between Flagstaff and Page) in search of rare birds. I did not find any of the previous reported rarities, but lots of migrant songbirds moving through. The most bizarre sighting was of a family group of Lazuli Buntings with one begging fledgling. This seemed extremely late to be finding fledglings of any species here! I checked the Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas and fledgling Lazuli Buntings had only been reported as late as early September in southern AZ. What was even more weird was seeing the adults feeding it already in basic (non-breeding) plumage, with the only blue color remaining on their tails.

While I was down in the seep in the tamarisk thickets along the Little Colorado River below the Cameron Trading Post, I ran into another birder from the Houston area and we scoured the habitat upstream from the bridge. We found a few tamarisks that were completely brown, indicating recent activity by the tamarisk leaf beetles (Diorhabda carinulata). These beetles are native to the tamarisk's range in Eurasia and were released in the western U.S. as a means of biological control of the tamarisk, which is an invader of riparian ecosystems (mostly as a result of disrupted hydrology from damming the rivers). We did not find any of the adult beetles or larvae that day, although other birders had reported seeing a small number of them here. I think the migrating birds moving through may have been the reason we didn't see any of the beetles as I'm sure they are a tasty treat for them. The beetles are already in the Grand Canyon, so I'm sure we'll be seeing more of the beetles moving up the Little Colorado River next year. It would not surprise me if they hit Winslow and Holbrook next summer. The next day I was over in Holbrook and saw some trees that looked like they were being chewed up, but again, did not actually see any beetles (I think they might be here already though). Here are some photos of the trees being defoliated at Cameron:

Besides birding, I also saw some ancient petroglyphs/pictographs up on the low cliffs along the river. I think these might be from either the Anasazi or Sinagua indians (not sure though). The petroglyphs had been damaged by vandals, with other graffiti and some bullet holes on top of the ancient symbols. Here is a photo of petroglyphs:

One weird thing I noticed was that the river looked pretty dry when I arrived around 9:00am, but was flowing good just before I left around noon. There were some structures down on the river that might have been some sort of water regulation devices (maybe water is diverted for agriculture). Some of the dams upstream could have also released water. Here are some comparison photos: