New Directions

Since finishing my 'Maricopa Big Year' in December, I have thought long and hard about the direction I was heading to continue my birding adventures.  I have definitely decided, no more big years for me.  It feels too much like a job and since I am now retired, a job is not what I want to begin again.  I want to enjoy the birds and revel in the beauty and behavior and learn more about them.  Along with that process, I have also started to admire and extend my interest into many more aspects of nature.  So expect to see a more diverse listing of other critters on this blog in the future.    One thing I have come to realize is the fact that many birding adventures are not the most physical and are lacking in exercise.  Granted, there are some chases that do require some good physical exertion such as a couple of trips to Slate Creek Divide last year.  But many hunts are more vehicle driving and then leisurely walking to easy spots.  

The past few weeks, I have been pushing myself to get some good physical exercise and much of it has been done on some hiking trails in South Mountain Park.  First and foremost, it is for the health aspect for me, but secondly, it will allow me to take trips out of state to chase some birds that cannot be found in Arizona.  Currently have a couple of upcoming trips on my slate.  Local birding has been fun and I would like to share some of the fun I have had enjoying local birds in the past few weeks.  Also know that long winded posts most times go unread, so I try to keep them short and add lots of photos.  After all, its the photos that most people enjoy seeing.  

A trip to Lost Dutchman State Park got me a nice Bendire's Thrasher and a Northern Mockingbird. 

 Bendire's Thrasher

 Northern Mockingbird feeding on Mistletoe berries

A visit to the Gilbert Water Ranch is always a great way to capture some great photos and is never a disappointment.

 Black-crowned Night Heron

Cinnamon Teal showing some of its colorful wings

 A very cooperative Green Heron

 Least Bittern

An elegant Northern Pintail drake

A handsome drake Redhead taken during the Greater Phoenix Waterbird Count.

Redhead

A trip out west to the White Tank Mountains Regional Park, was quite enjoyable.  Had never visited the place before and was taken in by its beauty and nature.  Besides having a lot of Canyon Towhees in the park, I came across something I never expected in a desert canyon; a snail!  I have always associated snails to be found in wet damp areas or water, but this one was found on a trail at an elevation of 2200' and no running water or pools of water anywhere close by.  Temperature was around 50° F.  It had rained about week prior to my visit and some areas of the trail were damp.  I was so intrigued that I posted this find on iNaturalist.org and also tried to do a little research on my own.  I discovered that there are an estimated 200 species of land snails in Arizona and most of them are fairly unknown and researched due to their limited ranges and hiding until enough rain or moisture brings them out from under rocks.  This one does not have a common name, but its scientific name is eremarionta rowelli.  Probably only found in the White Tank Mountains west of Phoenix.  

 eremarionta rowelli

Canyon Towhee

From the White Tank Mountains, I headed south to some ag fields near Buckeye where a Trumpeter Swan had been reported.  This was definitely not a common bird for Maricopa County, so it was nice to find it and add it to my county list.  

 Trumpter Swan

Cattle Egret

And a stop at the White-tailed Kite location not far from the ag fields and I was able to find the pari in one tree.

White-tailed Kites

One last stop that day took me to the Glendale Recharge Ponds to see if the Long-tailed Duck was still there.  It was and this time I was there by myself and it really let its personality shine for me.

 Long-tailed Duck

There were a few other stops during this time as well.  I also visited Pima Canyon Wash several times in the past few weeks and have had some really great experiences with some of the local birds.  Have enough to do a separate blog post to cover those instances.  So you can look forward to another post in the near future.  

Texas: 2nd Day, Part 2

Too many birds in one day to include all in one post, so this second part is going to focus more on waterbirds and another previously mentioned bird.  At noon, the Houston Audubon Society had another field trip and this one took us to the actual Gulf Coast and some great water birds.  First stop was Rollover Pass and the first birds we found up close and personal, were some Ruddy Turnstones.  This is one gorgeous shorebird and can really stand out in a crowd of other shorebirds.  We were so close we could see the awesome coloration of the legs and feet.  Love the black lines on the feet and the black 'knees'.

Ruddy Turnstone

Additional shorebirds included Black-bellied Plover and Wilson's Plover.    

Black-bellied Plover

Wilson's Plover

We had a total of 7 species of terns at this location, plus a Black Skimmer and of course some gulls and a few other shorebirds.  All of them were resting quite comfortably on the sand bar until an unexpected Broad-winged Hawk decided to make a brief appearance in the sky and that created pandemonium with all the birds taking flight but to return very shortly after the hawk disappeared.  

 Various terns

 Royal Tern

Broad-winged Hawk

At one brief stop near the shore, we had another 'Common' Nighthawk sitting on the ground.  Having never seen this species before this trip, now I had seen one the day before in flight, one in the morning at High Island on a wire, and now a third one resting on the ground in broad daylight.  (Be prepared to see more on a couple future posts as this was not the end of seeing this very unique bird.)

Common Nighthawk

So now back to High Island and this time my focus was to check out the rookery in Smith Oaks Woods in the afternoon.  This spot is a photographer's dream in late afternoon in spring with all the nesting and breeding birds.  They have built some great platforms that gives photographers great viewing with an abundance of subjects for your photography skills.  Here is a sampling of what I was able to capture.

 Cattle Egret

 Great Egret with chicks

Neotropic Cormorant with chicks

 Purple Gallinule

 Tricolored Heron

Tricolored Heron

 Roseate Spoonbill

 Roseate Spoonbill on nest with egg

Roseate Spoonbill

By the time this day had come to a close for me and my birding I had added a total of 15 new life birds.  Some were not photograph-able, but I did get some good looks at some.  When birding with a group, photos are always not going to happen as it is quite enjoyable to let others see these birds as well.  List for the day includes; Dickcissel, Tri-colored heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Broad-winged Hawk, Tennessee Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, Golden-winged Warbler, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Hooded Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler.  Not a bad day at all.  

Texas: The Beginning

About a year ago, a great birding friend, Muriel Neddermeyer, returned from a birding trip to the coastal areas near Houston, Texas and brought back some incredible photos of some very different and unique birds.  I was so impressed that I decided to make the same trek myself this year.  The area is highlighted by High Island, the Bolivar Peninsula, and Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. Timing is crucial for the most birds.  April and early May are the best times for migrating birds especially warblers.  Many of these migrants are flying straight from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico over the Gulf of Mexico and the first land fall is around High Island.  Of course birding is great there throughout the year, so any time is great.  

I arrived on Sunday shortly after noon and was greeted by humidity and very strong winds blowing out of the south.  These winds prevailed for all of Sunday and Monday which does affect the birding prospects a bit as a strong southerly wind helps to push those migrants further inland before making landfall.  So the weather plays a big part in a person's birding chances.  Sunday afternoon I spent driving some roads hoping to maybe find some Swallow-tailed Kites, but the wind made those chances pretty slim, but I did settle for a nice Red-shouldered Hawk on Highway 90.  This is a bird I have seen in Arizona, but it is not common there, so being able to get a fairly decent photo was a good start on a bad weather day.  Even the hawk was having trouble balancing itself against those strong southerly winds.

 Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

I was staying in the town of Winnie, TX, so I checked in and then ventured out to drive some of the roads near there.  I came across a few parked cars of other birders that were scoping a flooded field and thankfully a couple of them were gracious enough to allow me to view through their scopes, where I picked up life birds #1, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and #2 American Golden-Plover.  Number one was too far out to get photos and number 2 was not much better, but at least good enough for ID purposes.

American Golden-Plover on the right; Semipalmated Plover on the left

After I left the group, I continued driving the roads and in doing so I found a couple of birds that I recollect from my youth on the farm in southwestern Nebraska; the Eastern Kingbird and the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.  It was very exciting to see both again after such a long time.  The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher I had only seen once on the farm and it left a very vivid memory imprinted in my brain.  As it turned out I saw several of these magnificent birds during my stay in Texas.  

 Eastern Kingbird

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

At other places along the road I discovered life birds 3, 4, and 5.  Number 3 was the Orchard Oriole and number 4 was the Boat-tailed Grackle.  Although I did not get photos at the time, before my trip was over I was able to photograph both of these birds in other locations.  Number 5 was the Common Nighhawk and this sighting really got me excited as it was a bird that I finally wanted to add to my list with full confidence that is was a Common Nighhawk and not a Lesser Nighhawk, which is very similar but also much more common in Arizona.  This bird was in-flight and calling its single note call that is unmistakable.  

Common Nighthawk

One last photo for this half day of birding was one of a Cattle Egret.  Another bird that is not new to me, but not overly common in Arizona, but this one is showing off some of its breeding plumage which makes it much more colorful.

Cattle Egret

So the beginning which really only consisted of about ½ day came to a close and knowing that the next day would be a full day of birding was very exciting.  Getting 5 life birds on the first ½ day was definitely a good start even if the weather did not cooperate so well.  Much more to come!

A Rare Bird Leads to Yuma

On December 24th a rare bird alert and a text from expert birding friend, Tommy D. proved to be a crazy chains of events.  That day a very rare bird for Maricopa County was first seen and reported by an out of state birder of a female Long-tailed Duck at the Glendale Recharge Ponds.  So with a short notice I took off to search for this rarity.  This is a bird that breeds in northern Canada on tundra ponds and most generally spends its winters along the northern Pacific and Atlantic coasts.  After I arrived and found the bird, then a couple of other birders arrived with scopes (which gave me excellent views, by the way).  This place is not the best place for photos as the ponds are quite large and the birds are most generally quite a distance away.  But I was able to get photos good enough for ID purposes.  This was exciting as it was a bird I thought I might never see; almost like a Christmas gift to myself.  (Several birders arrived on Christmas morning and this bird was no longer there, so heading out there that same day was well worth the trip.)

 

Long-tailed Duck - Female

 



 Long-tailed Duck - Female

 

As I was visiting with the other birders, one of them mentioned that he would like to go to Yuma to look for the juvenile White Ibis that has been found down there.  After a few more comments a hasty agreement was reached to head to Yuma on Saturday the 28th and the plans were finalized with a few emails.  At a godforsaken hour of 3:00 am on Saturday we met and 5 of us headed to Yuma.  Joining me was Mark Ochs, (who I have been birding with several times), Steve Hosmer, Moe Bertrand, and Louis Hoeniger.  Needless to say the vehicle was full, but one of our goals was to see if we could locate some of the rails in that area in the dark of the night before sunrise.  In the dark at Mittry Lake, we were able to hear Sora, Virginia Rail, Clapper Rail, and a few Great Horned Owls.  Unfortunately we dipped on the Black Rail, which was our main focus.  Once the sun lightened up the skies a bit we then headed to the Yuma East Wetlands which was the location of the White Ibis.  As we were walking the dikes an American Pipit and a Spotted Sandpiper, were being very cooperative with us.

 

American Pipit



Spotted Sandpiper

 

It did not take long and Mark spied an Ibis flying over the cattails far out in the distance.  All of us quickly got on the bird and knew it was our target bird with a bright orange/red bill and the white belly.  But about as quickly as we saw it dropped down into the cattails and disappeared from view.  Louis was quick to get a couple of photos to confirm the ID of this bird, but the rest of us just got to enjoy the brief sighting.  We at least found our target bird for the day which just peaks my interest a bit more and wanting to get photos. 

 

In returning to the Phoenix metro area, we made a brief stop at a place called Quigley Wildlife Area just north of the small town of Tacna, AZ. While it is not a birding hotspot compared to some other locations, it turned out to be quite a enjoyable destination.  From the road we spied a small flock of Cattle Egrets, which is always an interesting find.  This species is one that does not always hang around areas with lots of water and they have a tendency to wander a lot, so finding them can be a hit or miss.

 

Cattle Egrets

 

Other birds that we found at this location included a Green Heron, a 'kiting' American Kestrel, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Loggerhead Shrike.  We also had a Prairie Falcon and a Great Horned Owl that both flushed before we saw them.

 

 American Kestrel

 

 American Kestrel

 

 Green Heron

 

 Green Heron

 

 Loggerhead Shrike

 

Red-tailed Hawk

 

It was a day of overcast skies which made photography a bit more of a challenge, but when considering the birds we had the fortune of seeing, it was all worth the time and effort.  Now that I have a better feel for birding in Yuma County, it is definitely worth more trips in the future.  Kind of funny how 1 rare bird leads to a second rare bird!