The Water Birds of Oregon

I have saved all the water-related birds for the last blog post.  After all, my last lifer on this trip was a water bird, the Mew Gull.  And we got it on the last day before our flights carried us back to the sunshine of Arizona.  And, par for the course, Chris and I had to deal with the rain to find it.  They are fairly common, but trying to locate one in the rain with binoculars getting wet, proved to be a challenge.  So we just stood on the shoreline of the Columbia River at Broughton Beach and started taking photos of a lot of gulls that were traveling upstream in the rain.  

Mew Gull

Gulls are not my forte in the birding world and not one that I would chase a lot.  There are a couple of species that would definitely get my interest to chase, but doubt if either will show up in Arizona.  We were challenged with the identification of the various gulls in Oregon.  Gulls are notorious for hybridizing and we quickly found out that some of the hybrids in this area are quite common.  So we had to approach the gull identification process with caution.  We did have other gulls that were not hybrids and one of them was the Glaucous-winged Gull.  This was not a lifer for me, but it was the first time I got to see one in adult plumage.  My previous sighting was a juvenile in Arizona several years ago.

Glaucous-winged Gull

Below are a few photos of some of the other water birds we observed during our stay.  Some I have seen in Arizona in the past, and some I have not.  But always fun to see and observe some of these species that I do not see as often.  

Horned Grebe

Common Murre

Common Murre

Surf Scoter - Male

White-winged Scoter

Black Oystercatcher

Black Turnstone

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Was also pleased to see a few other unusual flora and fauna.  My first ever sighting of a Vole.  I know they are a common rodent and are frequently seen as part of the diet of many raptors including owls. 

My first ever photo of a Vole

Western Skunk Cabbage was a new and interesting plant that we found.  Had heard of it before, but never knew much about it until now.  It is sightings like this that are fascinating as I read up on things like this and understand more about our natural world.

Western Skunk Cabbage

These last 2 photos are of a spider species that was fairly common clambering around on the snow in the vicinity of where we had the gorgeous male Spruce Grouse.  I have no idea what species it might be, but I had never seen a spider on snow before and seeing several of them leaves me in awe of what else is out there yet to be discovered.

  

Spider in the snow!

I returned to Arizona with 9 more new life birds so it was a great trip with some really awesome birds.  If anyone is planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest and have some of these birds on your wish list, I highly recommend contacting Khanh Tran.  He knows his birds well and not only knows where to find many of them, but also how to find them and what time of the year is best to observe them.  

New Mexico Adventure - Part 3

Our third and final day was spent at Bosque del Apache which is located about an hour south of Albuquerque and Linda was able to join us on this final day.  This place is a very well known birding hotspot for its huge flocks of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese in the winter.  It is also known for having some very unusual and rare bird appearances, the most recent being the Rufous-necked Wood Rail.  Our arrival was fairly late in the season and the Sandhill Cranes and many of the Snow Geese had already departed for nesting grounds much further north.  A few lingering Snow Geese did give us some great views in the sky along with a loner that was foraging by itself near one of the ponds.

 

Snow Goose



Snow Geese Flock

 

A pair of Bald Eagles on a tree far out into one of the ponds presented a rather nice perspective with the distance mountains in the background. 

 

 Bald Eagles

 

The grassy areas along the roads and pond were full of Western Meadowlarks and when they land in the dry grass they almost disappear.  But when they expose that bright yellow breast, then they really stand out.

 

Western Meadowlark



 

Western Meadowlark

 



 Western Meadowlark

 

A visit to the Visitor's Center here was quite the bonanza.  They also had an indoor seating area with glass windows with feeders right out side and the birds were easily feasting on the bountiful food supply.  We had American Goldfinch, White-throated Sparrow, Harris's Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, and a fairly rare Golden-crowned Sparrow. 

 

American Goldfinch



Golden-crowned Sparrow



 Harris's Sparrow

 

Spotted Towhee



 White-throated Sparrow

 

We were also fortunate to see some Mule Deer while driving the roads around the ponds at Bosque.  Almost drove right past them as they were walking away.

 

Mule Deer

 

Finally after a full day of birding we called it a night and after a restful night in a local motel, Chris and I headed back to Arizona the next morning and birding at several odd spots along the way in this remote area of western New Mexico.  Just outside of the town of Magdalena, NM, we came across 3 Pronghorns of which 2 of them were sparring when we first saw them.  But once we stopped the car, they stopped their sparring and headed out across the dry grassland.

 

 Pronghorn

 

Pronghorn

 

I think that each of us came away with 4 new life birds on this trip which made it all worth while.  It is getting harder to find new life birds for both of us in this part of the United States, so future different trips are in store for both of us outside of this area this year and it will be amazing to see what all we find.  Chris will probably get more as he has more trips planned than I do for different areas of the country. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

California: Day 2 and the Bay Area

Sunday was a new day with new destinations.  Our group on this day was being led by a couple of members of the Sequoia Audubon Society and our target locations were spots along the San Francisco Bay area instead of the coast this time.  We had talented guides, Al and Leslie, that made the most of our birding a success.  We started out at Coyote Point and one of the first birds we saw was the California Towhee.  This was not a new bird for me as I had seen them in Southern California once before, but have never gotten photos.  Typical for towhees, they spend a lot of time scratching and foraging in the underbrush in deep shade and do not pose well for photos and the first ones we saw did just exactly that and my photos from the first spot were nothing to be proud of.  It wasn't until later while we were observing other birds, that one flew up in front of me and posed in the sunshine less than 15' away.  Sometimes I get lucky.

California Towhee

While we were near the picnic table area, one of our guides Al, was quick to spot some Golden-crowned Sparrows.  This species is fairly rare in AZ, but I had seen one before, but definitely not in the plumage of showing off its golden crown.

Golden-crowned Sparrow

We also had birds that were fairly common to me such as the Dark-eyed Junco.  This one is the 'Oregon' type of this species and in my opinion, the most striking of all the sub-species.  

'Oregon' Dark-eyed Junco

The next stop was Foster City Shell Bar where we were treated to hundreds of shore birds.  Some were fairly tolerant of our group and allowed us to get fairly close views of them.  A Semipalmated Plover was one that was hidden among all the Willets and Dowitchers and Godwits.  This bird is pretty small and was not easy to detect among the larger birds.  But when they took off, it stayed behind and allowed us to get even closer.  Marbled Godwits were quite numerous as well.  Both of these birds are uncommon in Arizona, but are spotted from time to time, especially in migration.

 Semipalmated Plover

Marbled Godwit

The American Avocet is a bird that is common in the right ponds in Arizona in the winter as many spend their winters there.  But they were equally plentiful in the Bay Area as well.

American Avocet

Many terns were also resting on the mud flats until the tide came in and then they all took flight.  My photo shows the differences in plumage and also in size of the 2 species that were at this location; the Elegant Tern and the Forster's Tern.

Elegant Tern on the Left - Forster's Tern on the right

So far we covered only 2 of several stops on this day and the other stops will be covered on the next blog post and it includes some more new life birds.

Sun City, Arizona - 2 March 2013

Yes, I have to admit that I am a 'lister', one who keeps a list of some kind or another of birds.  My list is more of a lifetime list, whereas others keep various types of bird lists.  Maybe when retirement comes, I can specialize a bit more on creating specialty lists, but for now, I enjoy adding new life birds to my list.  And when a rarity shows up in and around the Phoenix area, I will make an effort to add that species to my list.  Such is the case this past weekend with a Golden-crowned Sparrow being reported at a golf course in Sun City, AZ.  A lot of credit for finding that bird has to go to several people in reporting it and giving good directions to it.  First off, to Dominic Sherony for finding this bird and then to Tommy DeBardeleben, Melanie Herring, and Lindsey Story for reconfirming it and giving directions to it.  It had been reported as hanging around with a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows and when I arrived at the Desert Trails Golf Course, I could not find any sparrows of any kind anywhere.  So I spent an hour and a half walking around the ponds and parking lot enjoying all the other birds I was seeing.  I finally gave up and decided to leave thinking I had missed another one.  Once I got in my car, I decided to drive through the far west parking area and as I did, I thought I heard the single tseep note of a White-crowned Sparrow.  Parked my car to take a look around and over a small knoll on the edge of the golf course I found White-crowned Sparrows, and sure enough the Golden-crowned was with them.  Something spooked them and I did not get long looks at it but long enough to capture a couple of poor quality photos, but good enough for an ID.

 Golden-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Remember I mentioned that I was there for about 90 minutes before I found the target bird?  Well that 90 minutes did not go to waste with my camera in hand.  Here are some more photos that I took while looking for sparrows.  

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Northern Rough-winged Swalloow

 Verdin

Northern Mockingbird

 Bufflehead- female

 Bufflehead-male

Cactus Wren

To finish off my photos I have to include a couple mammals; a baby Cottontail that was as cute as a button and a Coyote that looked a tad bit suspicious and stood perfectly still for my photo.  I think someone had it trained to not run from a camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Cottontail

Coyote-decoy

I think the decoys are there to prevent too many geese from residing around the ponds.