Apache County Birding - Day 2

The second day we wanted to get an early start for another reason than just the birds.  September is the rut season for Elk and we were hoping to find a bull Elk or two and maybe witness some bugling.  As we were driving we happened to come upon a lone bull on the highway, but it bolted quickly through the meadow and into the pine forest before we even got a chance to get our cameras out.  But it wasn't much further down the road when we came upon a herd of about 30 cows and calves and one large bull.  They were quite a distance from the highway, making photos a bit tough, but the bugling was an awesome sound and we did witness a couple of smaller bulls that first appeared to maybe try challenging the large bull, but they turned away and we did not see any fighting.

Elk herd - large bull on the right

After enjoying this for a short while, we headed to South Fork for some birds and what a great place this was.  This will always be on my list of stops on any future trips.  Of course we were back to seeing and counting Wilson's and MacGillivray's Warblers again, but no complaints about that especially since one of the MacGillivray's Warblers actually came out and into the sunlight for photos.  This bird is a skulker and likes to hide and forage deep the foliage of shrubs and trees, so sometimes it can be a bit difficult to see and photograph.

MacGillivray's Warbler

We had a Willow flycatcher the day before in Wenima Wildlife Area, and one again on this day and this one proved to be a bit more photogenic.  Western Tanagers were also quite numerous and even though the bright colors of the males were not to be found, the bird is still a great one to see anytime.

Willow Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher

Western Tanager

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Once we started heading out of this place in the car, I spied a Downy Woodpecker in a small tree along the road, that was doing quite a number on chipping away at small branch on the tree.  It had sawdust and wood chips flying all around. 

Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

A pair of White-tailed Deer walked out of the woods near us as we were walking the roadway.

 White-tailed Deer - Buck

White-tailed Deer - Doe

Our next stop was Grasslands Wildlife Area which is a place that is easy to drive by if one is not looking for it.  The road into the area passes through grasslands pretty much void of trees, but here is where the habitat is just right for Burrowing Owls that have made their home here and we found one in a natural setting which is rather satisfying.  Man made nest cavities are wonderful as it has really assisted in the increased numbers of this species, but it is always fun to see one in a natural setting and this one was definitely skittish and not used to humans near its domain.

Burrowing Owl

Once we took off on the trail from the parking area, we were greeted by Pinyon and Western Scrub Jays.  Speaking of Pinyon Jays, this bird was a nemesis bird for me for a long time, but on this weekend I saw and heard well over 100 of these birds at various places.  A nemesis bird no more!  A Western Wood-Pewee and a Cooper's Hawk provided my only decent photo opportunities.

 Western Wood-Pewee

Cooper's Hawk

From there we started checking out many of the lakes in the White Mountains.  A stop at Crescent Lake produced a few first of the fall American Pipits which were still sporting a bit of their more colorful breeding plumage.  We also had a Prairie Falcon at this location.  

American Pipit

At Lee Valley Reservoir we found a couple of Gray Jays which was great to see once again after my first sighting in July.  Also had a Red-naped Sapsucker and Red Crossbills.

 Red-naped Sapsucker

Red Crossbill

At Big Lake we had a nice flock of White-faced Ibis, but our greeter was this very handsome Mountain Bluebird.

 Mountain Bluebird

Mountain Bluebird

One of the last places we visited on this day was Benny Creek.  We had walked along the creek to the turn around point all the while with the threat of rain nearby.  The overcast cloudy sky made the trail fairly dark and Tommy had mentioned that the habitat seemed ideal for Spotted Owls and we were focused on finding one.  On the return hike Tommy did spot an owl deep in the shade in front of us, but it was not the Spotted Owl that we had been looking for.  It turned out to be a Long-eared Owl!  After having one of these visiting our campsite in late July in the Greer area, it was awesome to find another one.  It was daytime, and I attempted photos, but had a hard time getting focus on the bird in the heavy shade.  Might be a crappy photo, but it is one of my own photos for this bird and I am sure there will be more and better chances in the future for photos.

Long-eared Owl

This would normally be where I would end this post so I could finish with a third post covering the final day.  Sad to say that early the next morning, my camera had an accident so I was without a camera the whole day on Monday.  Tommy graciously gave me permission to use one of his photos from Monday from a new place called Concho Lake.  I love this photo because it is one with 3 different species of sandpipers all in the same frame and is a great photo for comparison on the 3 species.  It contains a Baird Sandpiper, a Western Sandpiper, and a Least Sandpiper.  The 'peeps' are known to be a difficult bunch of birds to sometime identify and this photo really helps to learn and study the differences in these 3 species.  Definitely will help me for future birding trips.

Baird's Sandpiper - rear center, Western Sandpiper - front center, and a Least Sandpiper - on the right.

Photo courtesy of Tommy DeBardeleben.

A couple of flowers to add some color and end this blog post.

 From Sunrise lake

I started out this trip with only 108 species in Apache County, but I gained 59 species and now have 167 species.  Pretty awesome trip with a lot of birds!

  

The End of Dipping on the Dipper

This past weekend, I had the honor and pleasure of heading to the White Mountains of Arizona with a couple of excellent birders and friends, Magill Weber and Chris Rohrer and once we arrived, we met up with another excellent birder and friend, Tommy DeBardeleben.  Magill, Chris, and myself were camping out near Greer, AZ and Tommy was already in Greer with his family on vacation. Once we got our campsite, Tommy came to visit so we could plan our strategy for our birding on Friday.  As dusk settled in, we heard the familiar call of a Common Nighthawk near the campground, which was really a nice start as I was now officially able to add this species to my Arizona bird list.  About 15 minutes later, something totally unexpected happened; we were visited by an owl right in our campsite. It was getting very dark and we could see it fly from tree to tree and we finally got a flashlight and our binoculars on it for a good look.  It was a Long-eared Owl and a new life bird for me!  This was not on our list of target birds for this weekend and although they are not rare, they can be a bit difficult to get a visual sighting on one.  Chris was quick with his camera and got a nice and very diagnostic photo of this bird.  What a great omen to our weekend of birding and it is amazing that it visited our campsite instead of one of the many others.  It must have known that we would appreciate it more than anyone else in that campground.

Long-eared Owl - photo courtesy of Chris Rohrer

Early the next morning the 4 of us headed to the Mt Baldy area to look for a few of our target birds.  There were 2 species on my target list that I have been wanting to find for some time; the American Dipper and the Gray Jay.  We parked at the trail head which is right on the Little Colorado River and Tommy suggested we check the river before heading upstream on the trail.  We were early enough to beat the crowds of fly fishing people.  It did not take long for Tommy to pick one out in the stream.  There are 5 Dipper species throughout the world and only one of these species is found in North America.  What a cool bird, as is wades and even swims underwater in cold mountain streams as it forages for food.  A favorite bird by many birders and rightfully so.  (My second lifer of the trip already!)

American Dipper

American Dipper

We then headed out on the trail in this beautiful area of mountains and pines.  Along the way we had several Lincoln Sparrows including one recently fledged bird that perched in a small pine and created a perfect frame of pine boughs around it.

Lincoln Sparrow

Further down the trail, we finally came upon another great bird and one that was on my target list, the Gray Jay.  This bird has a very large range in the far northern reaches of North America with scattered remnants in spots of the Rocky Mountains.  In Arizona, they can only be found in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona, a small population which is cut off from the others.  My third lifer on this trip and we were only on the first full day of birding.  

 Gray Jay

Gray Jay

As we returned on the trail, we also got looks of one of the Gray Jay's cousins, the Clark's Nutcracker.  Not a new bird for me, but one that I have never been able to obtain photos.  This just added to the excitement of the day and already made this trip worthwhile.  

Clark's Nutcracker

When we returned to the the trail head parking area we had the opportunity to see some Red Crossbills up close.  Most generally these birds are high in the pines where they extract seeds from pine cones with their unique crossed bills.  Luckily the pine they chose to visit had its base down by the stream bed and we were on a bridge above it which brought the top of the tree to an eye level for us.

 Red Crossbill

Red Crossbill

Also along the river Tommy and Chris discovered a House Wren nest with babies being heard and the parents were actively seeking insects and bringing back to feed the young.  I had a opportunity to capture a photo of one of the adults as it returned with an insect.

House Wren

The day was far from being over with much more ground to cover and some equally other great birds to be found.  More to come on day 1 of birding in the White Mountains near Greer, Arizona.