Winter's Respite

The month of January 2020, was month of highs and lows. There were two low points in the month and it was the low points that dictated my return to Nebraska and my home stomping grounds and where I grew up.  The number one low point was that my only sister lost her battle with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer that she had been battling for about the last nine years.  So sad to lose her, but she is no longer suffering from this terrible infliction.  During this period, I also attended the funeral of an aunt who had a great life that ended at the age of 96 years.  She was the last of my mother and father's generation.  

The weather in Nebraska in January can be a mixed bag, and during that time, that fact was true.  Had days that began with single digit temperatures that only warmed up into the 20's during the day, but also had some days that got as high as the upper 40's during the day with sunshine.  Some days were windy which exacerbated the cold, but also had some days with no wind and very pleasant.  Staying indoors all day, every day, is not usually my norm.  I had to get out when I could to revel in some nature, (plus, I had to get away from all the food that was being delivered to the house!)  I could have easily put on 20 lbs!  My sister would have encouraged me to get out and see some birds and those were the high points of the trip to Nebraska.  

Birding in Nebraska in January is not something that I have done since getting into the birding hobby, and I was able to add 10 new species to my Nebraska list during that time.  On my 2nd day there, I discovered a Marsh Wren in some dried cattails in a park near McCook.  This species is not normally a rare bird in the state by any means, but in the month of January, it is considered pretty rare and most have migrated to southern and warmer climes.  In researching eBird, I could find only 6 other reports for a Marsh Wren in the state of Nebraska for the month of January, and none of those reports were from Red Willow County, which is where I discovered this one. I first detected it by its chit-chit-chit notes and with a little pishing it popped up for a distant photo and eventually came in a bit closer for better photos.  This species can be quite shy and hard to photograph.  

 Marsh Wren

Another bird that showed up rare on my eBird report on the second to last day was Greater White-fronted Goose.  Not super rare by any means, as reporting 1 would not have been a problem, but anything over that number was rare according to the filters set for Red Willow County.  I had 24 of them.  In my one photo, I am able to count 23, could not fit in the 24th bird since it was bit further away from the main flock. Easy to count count them by counting the number of orange legs and then dividing by two.  HaHa! 

Greater White-fronted Geese - they can be identified by the orange legs and feet.

On that same outing a Trumpeter Swan flew in with two Canada Geese.  The geese landed in the pond, but the swan apparently was not impressed.  It flew around for a couple circles and then headed west.  Nevertheless, it was a new county bird for me. 

 Trumpeter Swan

Other new birds to my Nebraska list included a Northern Shrike and Harris's Sparrow.  The Harris's Sparrow kind of caught me off guard, but as soon as I saw it, I thought to myself, 'Of course, this a likely winter species in Nebraska'.  The Northern Shrike had crossed my mind as being a potential bird to find in winter, but was not sure of my chances.  Thankfully, I missed my turnoff to a lake and went about a mile north before I discovered my error and there was my Northern Shrike.  

 Harris's Sparrow

Northern Shrike

Three species of woodpeckers were nice which included both Downy and Hairy, which can be a bit confusing to novice birders.  And a Red-bellied is always a nice addition. 

 Downy Woodpecker

 Hairy Woodpecker

 Red-bellied Woodpecker

Two species of nuthatch were accommodating for photos: White-breasted and Red-breasted.  I was rather pleased with the photos of the Red-breasted.  Will have keep that one in contention for next year's calendar.  

 Red-breasted Nuthatch

 White-breasted Nuthatch

Many other winter birds were fun to observe and photograph in the cold.  Many of these are fairly common and also fairly well known.  However, when a common bird presents itself in a nice setting with the right light, I usually have no hesitation in lifting the camera for photos, as you will see in some of the following pictures.  

 American Robin - Immature

 American Robin - Adult

 Cedar Waxwing

Cedar Waxwing - Note the red on the wing feathers that look like red wax. Hence the name waxwing.   

 Blue Jay

 Northern Cardinal - Female

Northern Cardinal - Male

 'Slate-colored' Dark-eyed Junco

Bald Eagle - Juvenile, probably transitioning into 2nd year.

 American Tree Sparrow

 Black-capped Chichadee

 Cedar Waxwing

More Cedar Waxwings - This is one of my favorite birds.

My departure from Nebraska, took me back through the northeastern part of Colorado where I made a couple of stops for more birding before flying out of the Denver airport.  I added 9 new birds to my Colorado list including this Song Sparrow, which is a different subspecies than what we normally see in Arizona. 

Song Sparrow

While the trip was not a trip filled with joy, I know my sister would have been happy for me in finding and enjoying the birds that I did find during my brief forays into nature.  It is a visit and a trip that I will never forget.  All of these photos are for you Kathy.  I know you would have enjoyed them. 

For those readers that have followed this blog post to the end, I am including some photos of the old house where I spent the first 18 years of my life.  The house is now vacant but still standing.  My bedroom was in the northwest corner and when winter hit, that room was the coldest in the house. No indoor plumbing until I was about 8 or 9 and we relied on an old outhouse.  The house had stucco walls, which probably has kept it standing all these years.  Many old wooden houses that are now vacant have collapsed and fallen into disrepair.  All the rest of the original buildings on the farm are now gone, except for a couple of old steel grain bins.  From what I understand the house is occasionally used as a lodge for hunters these days.

 Hayes County, Nebraska

      

Birding with Caleb

On February 7th, I had the good fortune to spend a day birding with Caleb Strand.  This young man is an extraordinary birder for his age and birding with him is really something special.  He has keen ears and eyes and has many chip notes memorized.  Only makes me regret that I did not pursue this hobby much younger in life when I had the chance.  We met in central Phoenix and we had left the day open without a concrete destination in mind.  Two days before, he went birding with good friend and excellent birder, Tommy DeBardeleben, and picked up two new life birds.  So the pressure was on to see if I could help him add another bird or two for the week.  I knew that I could find at least one new bird, that was pretty easy, but we headed east instead to the Salt River area, and specifically Coon Bluff.  Tommy and Caleb had dipped on this bird, (although, not for the lack of trying), on Thursday.  Might have been the time of the day though, as they searched in mid afternoon when the birds are less active.  I had found this bird myself a week before, but in the morning hours. 

 

We arrived around sunrise and decided to check out the river area first to allow the sparrows in the mesquite Bosque to warm up and wake up.  In the process we got to see a lot of cool but common birds such as the Vermilion Flycatcher, Gila Woodpecker, and Phainopepla.  Coon Bluff is the Phainopepla capital of Maricopa County. This is probably the best spot in Maricopa County to find this bird.  Sometimes they even photobomb other photos such as one of the Gila Woodpecker shots.

 

 Vermilion Flycatcher

 

 Gila Woopecker - Photobombed by a Phainopepla

 

 Gila Woodpecker

 

Phainopepla - Male

 

Finally after the sun had risen and the temps started warming up, we headed to the land of the mesquites to look for the target bird, the Harris's Sparrow.  We knew it was hanging out with a small flock of White-crowned Sparrows, so we concentrated on finding them first.  While doing so, a few flocks of Cedar Waxwings flew in and this is just one cool and sleek looking bird and they just beg for a camera to be pointed at them. 

 

Cedar Wawwings

 

We spent a lot of time looking for the sparrow and sifted through about 3 small flocks of them, even checked the other side of the road to see if it moved over there, but alas, we were not having much luck.  Finally went back to the original area and we split up to cover more ground and I heard Caleb shout that he had it.  I hastily joined him and we followed it as it kept moving further away from us and did not want to pose for photos.  Both of us finally got photos, and Caleb was just fascinated to watch this handsome looking sparrow.  SUCCESS!  Caleb had found his first new life bird of the day.

 

  Harris's Sparrow

 

  We then headed back west and our next stop was at the Arizona State University campus in Tempe to try and locate a Chestnut-sided Warbler that someone had a discovered in a lone cottonwood tree a few days prior.  It is not a new bird for either of us, but one that is not that common in Arizona, so they are always a pleasure to see.  Within 2 minutes, Caleb had already found it in the cottonwood.  Typical of most warblers, they do not sit still and pose for photos, so any photo is better than none and I never expect too much.  However, I think I lucked out on one of my shots on this day and caught this cutie with part of its chestnut colored side showing.

 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

 

Our next target was the Eurasian Wigeon located at Dos Lagos Park in Glendale.  This is the bird that I figured should be pretty easy to find for Caleb and it was.  This bird has been reported here for the last couple of years and can be found in the flock of American Wigeons that spend their winters in Arizona.  Did not take long to find the wigeons and all the other waterbirds in the pond because on the opposite side, some of the local people were feeding the ducks.  I quickly found the Eurasian in the water and pointed it out to Caleb.  so we headed around to the opposite side of the pond and we both got photos.  Caleb just informed me today that this was his 300th bird species that he has photographed. 

 

Eurasian Wigeon

 

Decided to take a photo of the feet of an American Coot while they were there since they were fairly tame and used to humans.  These feet are just fascinating to look at.

 

 

Our last stop was the Rio Salado, just south of downtown Phoenix right off Central Avenue.  No, we did not discover anything rare at this location, but I did manage a photo of an Orange-crowned Warbler. 

 

Orange-crowned Warbler

 

As we headed back to the car, Caleb followed the river bed area while I went up on the path on the bank above the river.  It was there that I met up with a pair of Greater Roadrunners that were in courtship display.  Most people are surprised to find out that these birds are members of the cuckoo family.  They can be quite entertaining to watch and these 2 did not disappoint. 

 

 Pair of Greater Roadrunners - Running, imagine that!

 



 Caleb - Photobombed by Roadrunner (the blur in the front)

 

Greater Roadrunner - Caleb, blurred in the background

 Greater Roadrunner

 

  Greater Roadrunner

 

We covered a lot of miles that day, but in the end it was all worth it as we had a great time and found and observed some incredible birds.  Caleb is a phenomenal birder and is a joy to have around on birding field trips.  Thank you Caleb for a great day!

 

 



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.