Potpourri of Birding (1)

This year, my birding has taken a bit of a different approach.  No more 'BigYears' for me and instead, I have just been trying to enjoy the birds for what they are.  Yes, I have chased a few from time to time, but have not focused on the chase all the time.  Of all the chases that I have made, the trip to Cochise County in Arizona, was probably the best, at least up to this time.   In addition, I have been showing quite a few birders around to various parts of Arizona.  And some of my regular birding has lead to some oddities for me.  This post and perhaps the next two will highlight some of the birds and other fauna that I have seen this year.  

Probably the oddest, was a Common Poorwill that was reported from the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.  It is odd to have one over-winter in Arizona in the first place, but this one was seen by several roosting in the gravel pathways.  This is a nocturnal bird that forages at night rests during the day.  By the time I decided to check on it, it had been reported as roosting in the women's bathroom during the day!  Luckily, Barb Meding was with me that day and she went in to check on it and came out with the confirmation that it was indeed in there and she also confirmed that there were no other ladies in the bathroom and she told me to go in and she would watch outside the door.  Sure enough it was perched on the top of one of the partitions, just totally oblivious to all that entered.  Thankfully someone had taped a sign right below it advising all to leave it be and to not disturb it.  Probably the best photos that I will ever get of this species.  

Common Poorwill

Another oddity from this year, is the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet.  This is a small flycatcher that is more common in southeast Arizona, but one had been reported at some ponds in Maricopa County.  It was originally discovered in December 2017, and there were many reports of it during January and February of 2018.  I had made 4 trips to this location and came away empty every time.  Finally on my 5th visit, I found the bird and was happy to add this to my Maricopa County list.  

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

It is interesting to note that prior to 2018, I had only seen this bird twice before in the US.  Once in 2014, my lifer at that time, and once again in 2015.  So this sighting in 2018 in Maricopa County was my 3rd sighting of this species in the US.  Since this sighting, I have seen this bird 7 more times in 2018 in the US, plus another sighting in Sonora, Mexico.  This species must be my spirit bird for 2018.  

Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet

In January, one of my good friends, Josh Wallestad, came to Arizona and even though we only had 2 short mornings for birding, we did manage to see some great birds. 

Fox Sparrow

Crested Caracara

Mountain Plover

4 Ruddy Ground-Doves and 1 Inca Dove

Some other field trips with various other birders and also by myself resulted in several other specialties and also some common birds that just happened to pose for me.  

Prairie Warbler

Verdin

Crissal Thrasher

 Black-capped Gnatcatcher - A rarity that can only be found in Arizona and perhaps a tiny corner of New Mexico in the United States.

Cassin's Finch

Of course there were butterflies and moths to be seen at many spots.  Here is a small selection of which 3 were new butterflies for me.  

 Brown Elfin - New to me

Sagebrush Checkerspot - New to me

 Juniper Hairstreak - New to me and one that I had always wanted to find!

Spring White

Moth - Litocala sexsignata - It does not have a common name.

Trying to get caught up on my blog posts as I have plans for a big trip in July that will probably occupy all my free time when I return for some time.  Hopefully that trip will push me over the 1000 mile marker of life birds.

   

Agricultural Land Birding

Between Christmas and New Year's, I had the pleasure of being a part time birding guide.  What made it more pleasurable was the fact that I had gone birding with them before and it is more of a birding adventure with friends; definitely not strangers and not ax murders!  (Inside joke!)   Brian and Larry DeAtley Ellyson had come to visit Arizona for the holidays.  They were escaping the cold of Ohio and had sent me a list of some of the life birds they were hoping for.  After perusing the list, I quickly told them that a trip to the Santa Cruz Flats in Pinal County would be be a good place to start.  

Early in the morning on December 27th, we departed south and met up with Judith Ellyson in Eloy.  We then headed south into the area known as the Santa Cruz Flats as it is known among all the birders in Arizona.  The target birds that were on the list were:  Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon, Mountain Plover, Lark Bunting, and Sprague's Pipit, which had all recently been reported from there.  That, plus the fact that a couple Rufous-backed Robins and a Ruddy Ground-Dove had been reported there recently as well. We spent the day traversing the many roads that link this area together and in the end we were able to check off 3 life species for them; Lark Bunting, Mountain Plover, and the best find of the day was a Sprague's Pipit.  The SPPI was a bird that I had only seen once before and never photographed.  They are loners and amazingly difficult to spot and get good looks most of the time.  This one was foraging in some dry grassy fields and would pop up to show itself to us for great scope and binocular views.  Then it would duck down in the grass and disappear and stick its head up again several feet from where we last saw it.

Sprague's Pipit

Obviously, I was not on the ball and taking photos of the other lifers we saw.  However, I did capture a few photos of some of the other birds we were seeing on our rounds.

 Black Vulture

 Cooper's Hawk

 Crested Caracara

 Crested Caracara

Red-tailed Hawk - dark morph

Since we had failed to get the Ferruginous Hawk and Prairie Falcon, Brian and Larry joined me on another trip a couple of days later, but this one to the Buckeye/Arlington areas west of Phoenix.  This time we were much more successful as we found a Prairie Falcon and had good scope view of it.  We also found 2 Ferruginous Hawks; one was the normal light colored hawk and one was a dark morph.  According to Sibley's Guide, the dark morph make up less than 10% of the total population.  The photos below were not taken on that day, but were instead taken on January 8, 2017. when I visited that area again with birding friend Muriel Neddermeyer.  The photos of the dark morph is quite likely the same bird and is was found in the same general area.  The light morph might not be since it is much more common and there might be several of the light morph out in that vicinity.  

 Ferruginous Hawk - dark morph

 Ferruginous Hawk - light morph

We also came upon a fairly large flock of Mountain Bluebirds foraging in an alfalfa field which yielded them another new life bird for them.  If I remember correctly, they got about 6 new life birds on this trip to Arizona.  Next visit will result in harder to find birds, whenever that might be. 

  

Chiapas: La Sepultura Again! Reaching 600 After Hitting 500 Only 5 Days Earlier

After finding the really cool buntings earlier in the day along the road, we then got a bit of a rest before reaching our next destination that was just a few miles from the Pacific Coast.  Once again, we have to thank our fantastic guides, Francesca Albini and Matt Hale, as they had led this trip a couple times earlier and had scouted this area in advance.  Our 'hot spot' for the next stop was a small roadside pond in the grassland coastal plains.  Had I been driving on this road, it could have beeDn easily overlooked and I might have driven right by.  But our guides knew better!

Just a short 5 days before, I had talllied my 500th bird the Altamira Oriole on my first day in Tuxtla and as I got off the van at this small roadside pond, my lifelist stood at 598.  The first bird that caught my eye at this pond was the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron giving me my 599th bird.  My next bird was the Northern Jacana which was a new milestone and my 600th bird.  In all I added 8 new birds to my life list at this pond alone.  

We will start out with the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron which caught my eye immediately due to how big it was.  What a great looking bird!  We observed 2 of them for some time; sometimes posing, sometimes crouching for the hunt, and at least once acting a little silly like it was sunning itself.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

The Northern Jacana did not want to look me in the eye, but that was OK with me as getting photo of one with its wings spread was a quite impressive sight.  They are gorgeous and a great bird for number 600.

Northern Jacana

We also had the fortune of finding 2 species of seedeaters as well; the White-collared Seedeater and the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater.  The White-collared was definitely a bit more cooperative than the Ruddy-breasted, but seeing both and observing their behavior was very enjoyable and educational.

White-collared Seedeater

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater - Male & Female

In one respect this place was no different than many of the other spots we had visited; we had to have some species of flycatchers.  And our newest flycatcher was a really cool looking one, with a funny name; the Common Tody-Flycatcher.  With its long and flat bill, yellow throat, breast and belly, and then those awesome light yellow eyes, this is a cool looking flycatcher.

 Common Tody-Flycatcher

One more bird that visited this same tree was the Rose-throated Becard.  This bird appears in almost all the US bird guides as it has been seen in extreme southern Texas and extreme southern Arizona.  I think it has been several years since the last report in Arizona, but I do know that a nest had been found in northern Sonora, Mexico only about 50 miles southeast of Nogales, Arizona.  I was always hoping that some day one would show up in AZ and if it did I was going to probably chase it.  We actually had a pair show up; a male and a female.

 Rose-throated Becard - Male

 Rose-throated Becard - Female

Rose-throated Becard - Male

One final new life bird to add to this post is the Giant Wren, another endemic where its range is found only in Chiapas along the Pacific Coast.  This is very unlike most wrens, first because of its large size and secondly, it is decked out in solid colors instead of speckled like most other wrens.  While they did not approach real close for great photos, I can say that we also discovered one of their nests at a distance, so that makes up for it.  This was another cool bird!

 Giant Wren

Giant Wren

Even with all the new birds I got to add to my list and even finally getting some photographs, I did see a few familiar faces among these new birds, such as Tropical Kingbird, Crested Caracara, and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks; all of which can be found in Arizona.

 Tropical Kingbird

 Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

During this entire time we were thoroughly entertained with some Caiman that inhabited this small pond as well.

 Caiman

This day is not yet complete.  Stay tuned, there will be one more post on this fabulous day of birding and great company.