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.  

Another Arizona Chase - Arizona #400

After residing and birding in one state for any length of time, there comes a time when it becomes difficult to get any new life birds in that state. This is the case of myself and Arizona.  There are a few birds that reside in Arizona that I have not added to my life list, but that list is less than the number of fingers on my hand.  So I have come to the point where I have to rely on rarities to show up in the state and once reported, then one has to chase that bird in a fairly timely manner as those rarities many times do not stay long.

Since my return from the epic Minnesota trip, I had not done much extensive birding and birding pal, Tommy, had to work 10 days straight, but when he was scheduled for his 2 days off, he wanted to know if I was interested in chasing a rarity in northwestern Arizona, the Yellow-billed Loon.  This is North America's largest loon species and its breeding range is above the Arctic Circle in Canada, Alaska, and part of Siberia in Russia.  Winter usually finds them on the Pacific Coast of Alaska and Canada, but a few do wander south in the winter and this year 2 of them appeared on Lake Mohave in northwestern Arizona.  Surprisingly, at least one of them was still being seen, so Tommy and I drew up some hasty plans and headed northwest on a Thursday afternoon.  I had did a little research for a cheap motel and quickly found several bargains in the Nevada casino community of Laughlin.  We found rooms in a casino for only $20.00 per night!  We had reservations about it, but we were not disappointed in any way.  It was a great room and they had a fabulous breakfast buffet the next morning before we headed out on our search for the loon.  

Many sightings were at Davis Dam which was only about 10 minutes from Laughlin, so it did not take long to arrive.  Within 5 minutes of arriving, Tommy had found the Yellow-billed Loon near the Arizona side of the dam in his scope.  We both had great views of it and could discern all the proper field marks.  Then it dove and we never did see it come back up.  They are notorious for diving and then coming up far away from their diving spot and they can stay under water for a very long time.  It was not until early afternoon that we re-found this bird far over on the western Nevada side.  Best views were through a scope, but I did attempt to capture some photos with the camera.  Really bad photos, but with the distance, and the unrelenting wind blowing, and trying to keep my balance this is best I was able to come up with.  But the photos are good enough for identification purposes. This was a milestone bird for me as well, as it was my 400th bird in the state of Arizona.  They start getting tougher from here on out!

 Yellow-billed Loon - Common Loon behind it.

This was not the only species of loon that we found on Lake Mohave.  True to its name, the Common Loon, was by far the most common species.  We also got a scope view of a Pacific Loon, but dipped on the Red-throated Loon that a few others had found.  The Common Loon at least allowed a bit better photos as some of them were fairly close to the shore.  

 Common Loon

Common Loon

Another nice find was some Red-breasted Mergansers and in one group we had a couple of males.  Previously, I had only seen females, so the males were a nice addition.  

 Red-breasted Mergansers

A lone, but also distant, Horned Grebe was found by Tommy as well.  

Horned Grebe

I had never been to Lake Mohave before, so it was a new experience and it was an awesome body of clear water, surrounded by some cool desert mountains.  

Lake Mohave

With the warm weather a couple of Common Side-blotched Lizards came out to enjoy the heat of the sun.

Common Side-bl;otched Lizard

The best mammal was a Raccoon along the Colorado River at the casino.  

 Raccoon

This post is one of the worst for great photos.  Hate to list excuses, but it was a challenge due to the distance of most of the water birds.  The wind, which made it difficult to hold the camera steady and focus on the subject.  And lastly, I was operating with a rental lens, one I was not familiar with.  It is funny how one gets so used to using their own equipment for so long, you get a feel for what adjustments need to be made.  

Headin' South to Chase Rarities Again

Late last week, I was contacted by the 2 other 'Phoenician Kingbirds' about heading south to the Tucson area on Saturday to chase some rarity warblers. Yes, we kind of come up with a nickname for the 3 of us, Tommy DeBardeleben, Mark Ochs and myself.  Tommy and I met Mark at Picacho Peak and we headed straight to Reid Park and our first stop was the pond behind the Hardesty Building where a female Black Scoter has been residing for over 2 weeks.  I had seen it once before with another birder friend, Chris Rohrer, but it was not very cooperative with us, staying in the far shadows of the back part of this fenced in pond.  This time we had a bit of better luck as it swam out into the central part of the pond and we got some really good looks at this rather odd duck.  Scoters are diving sea ducks that have short necks and breed in the far north.  There are 3 species of scoters, the Black Scoter, the Surf Scoter and the White-winged Scoter and they are uncommon in Arizona as migrants.  Strangely, I have seen all 3 species in this desert landlocked state of Arizona.  Who knew?

 

 Black Scoter

 

Black Scoter

 

Next we ventured to another part of Reid Park to try our luck at finding another rarity, the Pine Warbler.  All I can say is that I am really lucky to have had some expert birders with me along with another couple that was there also searching for it.  We knew it was not going to be in its bright breeding coloration, but this turned out to be one of the dullest and drabbest warblers I have ever seen.  It was hanging out with a large flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers, and it was pretty difficult to pick it out amongst the Yellow-rumps.  Someone had left remnants of a cake on one of the benches by the playground equipment and all the warblers (and a Gila Woodpecker) were very busy pigging out on the cake.  This was probably one of the most disappointing new life birds that I can recall.  Now I am going to have to head to the eastern part of the US to see one in breeding plumage.

 

 Pine Warbler

 

 Pine Warbler

 

Gila Woodpecker, pigging out on some cake

 

Had a couple of Vermilion Flycatcher females entertain us in the park, plus I had to take a side trip to one of the ponds to check out water birds such as a Snowy Egret and an American Wigeon. 

 

 American Wigeon-Male

 

 American Wigeon-Female

 

 Snowy Egret

 

Vermilion Flycatcher-Female

 

From there we headed to the Tanque Verde Wash in Tucson to try and locate another warbler that is rare for Arizona, the Magnolia Warbler.  This is a bird that breeds in the far north, especially Canada and into northeastern United States.  Well this one turned out to be fairly easy to find as it was still hanging out right where several others birders had seen it and reported it.  And for all the drabness that the Pine Warbler provided, this one made up for it quite quickly.  A very stunning bird and this one showed off its flashy tail several times for us. 

 

 Magnolia Warbler

 

Magnolia Warbler

 

So far we were doing quite well, so on the road to our last target bird, we made a brief stop at Evergreen Cemetery in Tucson to maybe find the Greater Pewee that has been living there for the past few weeks.  This is a bird that should be spending its winter much further south down in Mexico.  This time we were not so lucky, but we know it was still there as it had been reported earlier in the day by others, but since we were short on time we needed to move on, but before we left we had a nice Merlin pay us a visit right above us along with several Northern Flickers.  What was cool to discover was that one of the Northern Flickers was a 'Yellow-shafted' form.  The yellow-shafted is the form most generally found in the eastern part of the US while the most common form we get in Arizona is the red-shafted.  While it is not considered a separate species, it is always nice to see and document an unusual bird for the state.

 

 Merlin

 

'Yellow-shafrf' Northern Flicker

 

Our last target bird was a Louisiana Waterthrush which has been spending it's time on the Santa Cruz River near the Ina Street bridge.  Yes, we found it by is distinct chip note and caught some brief glimpses of if as it flew from one area of dense vegetation to another.  Alas, no photo opportunities were going to happen on this day.  But that just gives me another new goal, get a photo of one!

 

After dropping Mark off at his vehicle, Tommy and I head north and made a brief stop at the Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler to check out the Horned Grebe that was found a couple days earlier.  It was not hard to find this handsome small bird on the fishing lake and I was surprised at the distance it would travel under water when it would make a dive.  You never knew where it was going to surface.  This spotting helped me reach a milestone of viewing all 7 species of United States grebes in Maricopa County in Arizona.  This was considered almost impossible until last January when a Least Grebe was found in a small pond in Chandler Heights.  That bird was way far north of its range and allowed several birders to hit that milestone back in January.  I had seen the Horned Grebe in Lake Havasu before, but this was my first viewing in Maricopa County.

 

 Horned Grebe

 

Horned Grebe

 

Once again a very successful trip and I have to give thanks to Tommy and Mark for helping me to achieve more birds to my lifetime list.