Target Birding

What is 'Target Birding'?  It probably means many things to different birders, but to me, it means making a trek to focus on one particular species of bird.  The one species might mean a rarity that has shown up in the most unlikely place such as the Lesser Sand Plover that showed up in northern Arizona last fall.  Or it might mean chasing a bird that has a limited range and is endemic to a particular area or region.  Such was the case this past week for me and I made a trip to southern California to 'target' an endemic species.

This species for me was the Island Scrub-Jay that is found only on Santa Cruz Island which is part of the Channel Island National Park off the coast of California near Ventura.  The only access to Santa Cruz Island is by sea via a boat and taking the ferry was my only option.  I opted to take the ferry to Prisoner's Harbor where most reports were coming in for the ISSJ (banding code for Island Scrub-Jay), and where most people recommend for seeing this bird.  The ferry does stop at Scorpion Bay before venturing on to Prisoner's Harbor and that is the point that most people got off.  My primary focus was to find the Island Scrub-Jay, so that is what I did before focusing on other birds and interesting flora and fauna.  I could hear the jays calling from the hillsides, but those hillsides were on the Nature Conservancy property where we were not allowed access.  Eventually, 2 of them ventured down to the stream and I finally got my first views of them and managed to capture a few photos.  

Island Scrub-Jay

Allen'a and Anna's Hummingbirds were fairly common on the island, and since Anna's is a species I get in my back yard, I focused on the Allen's Hummingbirds.  I have seen this species once before in southern California, but this was a long time ago and I had never gotten any photos.  It was a treat to see these and observe their behavior and listen to them for a change.

Allen's Hummingbird - Male

During my stay on the island, I was constantly hearing a call that I was unfamiliar with and eventually I was able to track it down and found out it was an Orange-crowned Warbler and they were plentiful.  This is a sub-species (sordida) that is endemic to the Channel Islands and they look different and sound different than the other sub-species of Orange-crowned Warblers. 

 Orange-crowned Warbler (sordida)

There were also many sea birds that we observed on the ocean from the ferry and also from land.  Birds on the ferry were almost impossible to identify and photograph as this boat was fast moving and they were not focusing on the pelagic birds.  Only when it slowed down or stopped for whales or dolphins, I was able to snap off a few photos.   

 Brandt's Cormorant

 Black-vented Shearwater

 Caspian Tern

Common Murre

The ferry did not focus on sea birds, but it would stop when ever they spotted mammals in the ocean such as whales, dolphins, and seals.  Of course everyone on the boat got excited in seeing whales, as did yours truly!  I had the privilege to see 2 groups of these whales from the boat; a group of 2 and then later a group of 6.  Pacific Gray Whales migrate down the coast of California this time of year to areas off the coast of Baja California where females give birth to calves.  

    

 Pacific Gray Whale

Also VERY numerous out on the water were large groups of Common Dolphins.  One group we encountered was estimated at over 2000 by the crew and they would swim up to ans around the boat as if playing games.  They are very fast and nimble and hard to photograph, but what a wonderous sight to see.

 Common Dolphin

Elephant seals were also seen, specially on the ride out to the island in the early morning.  They will raise their flippers out of the water to expose them to the sun for warmth.

Elephant Seal

On the island I found this butterfly that I had never seen before and after a little research, I came up with an identification of Gray Hairstreak.  A very striking butterfly in my opinion.

 Gray Hairstreak

I was also impressed by the Giant Coreopsis that grows on the Channels Islands.  This variety is almost like a small tree as it grows up to 3½ feet tall with a trunk that is almost 4 inches in diameter.  

 Giant Coreopsis

More adventures of my birding trip will be covered in another post in the very new future.  The rest of the trip involved birding on the mainland and chasing a couple of introduced species that have established some breeding regularity in the United States.

        

Wisconsin - Part 4

Must apologize to those that are following my journey in Wisconsin.  I had another commitment to show a friend from New York, the White Mountain area of Arizona and try to pursue some birds and I had to put the blogging on hold for about 3 days.  And another friend arrived into Mesa and we took in the Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale, so it has definitely put me behind in blogging.  

Next trip was to visit Horicon National Wildlife Refuge and on the way, we made a side trip to Killsnake State Wildlife Refuge and it did not take long to pickup my 10th new life bird on this Wisconsin adventure; the Bobolink.  This was my first viewing of this bird that has always intrigued me when studying field guides.  Reminds me of a blackbird in a tuxedo.  Before my trip came to an end, I got to see several of these birds.  

 Bobolink

As we started to exit this area, and as we were driving very slowly along the gravel road, we came upon a bird that has been a nemesis for me in Arizona; the Clay-colored Sparrow.  They occur regularly in Arizona in the winter months, although they are not common.  And they can be a bit difficult to identify from the many Brewer's Sparrows we see in winter in Arizona.  But looks are deceiving, because when they are singing, their songs are so different from each other.  In Arizona, they are very rarely singing.

 Clay-colored Sparrow

At Horicon, the Sandhill Cranes were scattered in many places and it was interesting to see them in breeding condition.  Spending 20 years in the Platte River Valley of Nebraska, I was used to seeing this bird yearly in spring migration in the hundreds of thousands.  I have also seen many in Arizona in the winter.  But these in Wisconsin were brown instead of gray!  Apparently this reddish-brown coloration is due to them preening with muddy bills and this coloration matches the color of many of the fields where they forage.  

 Sandhill Crane

Other birds that we found at Horicon, include Black Terns, Eastern Kingbirds, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Barn Swallows, and a fledgling Red-winged Blackbird.

  

 Red-winged Blackbird - Fledgling

 Black Tern

 Eastern Kingbird

 Eastern Wood-Pewee

 Barn Swallow

For me, one of the coolest critters to find was a Snapping Turtle.  Not an animal that one wants to mess with because if they latch onto you, they have a lot of power in those jaws and they can break bones in fingers and they do not like to let go! 

 Snapping Turtle

Painted Turtle

Chris taking photos

We returned fairly early as we needed to prepare for the next part of our journey and it included some overnight stays in central and southwestern Wisconsin.  But on the way home, we made another stop of the Manitowoc Impoundment to see if anything new was being seen.  The American White Pelicans were in high numbers and had been absent for several years.  We also had high numbers of Caspian Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls.  

 American White Pelican

 Caspian Terns, Forster's Tern, and Bonaparte's Gulls

 Caspian Tern

Semipalmated Sandpiper

The next day we were to journey to the far corner of the state to pursue some warblers and some rarities in the central part of the state.