Another Chase

Birders are a strange lot, and that includes moi!  We sometimes get lethargic with observing our regular resident birds and we hear of an unexpected rarity showing up and away we go, chasing it.  Recently a Fan-tailed Warbler was reported in the yard of a Portal, Arizona, resident who is also great birder and leads many bird excursions, in the US and abroad.  Rick Taylor has even published a book on Birds of Southeastern Arizona.  And I highly recommend this book to be added to anyone's bird guide library.  When the word got out about the warbler, I had an appointment that next day that prevented me from going to try for it.  Plus the fact, that Portal is about a 4 hour drive from Mesa and that would have made for a very long day all by myself.  I did get an offer the next evening to try for it on Sunday, but I was exhausted and foolishly passed on the offer.  Then as Sunday progressed, I had misgivings about my decision, but it was too late to act on it that day.  A phone call from birding buddy, Mark Ochs, on Sunday changed all of that and we made plans to head out on Monday to see if we could locate it.

All the best plans in the world can fall apart!  We had planned on meeting at Picacho Peak exit off of I-10 at 6:00 am which would be great timing to get to Portal at a decent hour.  Well an I-10 closure about 8 miles north of our meeting point due to an accident, created quite a delay and cost us about an hour.  As we got back on the road together, I thought to myself, this is a bad omen.  We continued on the road without any further delays and arrived at the Taylor yard where it was already packed with birders and their smiling faces told us that yes, the bird had been showing well that morning.  As soon as we found parking, we hustled to the yard and finally, I had the pleasure of observing this bird and its behavior.  This is an ABA Code 4 bird.

 Fan-tailed Warbler

 Fan-tailed Warbler

 Fan-tailed Warbler

Fan-tailed Warbler

At one point, I even took a video of this warbler foraging in the grass.  Towards the end of the video, a large insect flies into the area, which you can catch a glimpse of it, and the warbler jumps up and snatches it out of the air.  Pretty amazing!

Fan-tailed Warbler

The Taylor's yard is simply amazing and they were so gracious to allow us the opportunity to take in all they had to offer.  The next few photos are just some of the amazing birds that are visiting their yard and feeders.  They have reported a total of 10 hummingbird species in their yard and we were able to observe 8 of those during our visit.  

 Broad-tailed Hummingbird

 Blue-throated Hummingbird

 2 Cassin's Finch males & 1 House Finch male. A good comparison on the differences in these two species.

 Scott's Oriole

 Hooded Oriole

 Rivoli's Hummingbird

 Rufous Hummingbird

 Rufous Hummingbird (top) & Black-chinned Hummingbird (bottom)

 Wilson's Warbler

'Audubon's' Yellow-rumped Warbler

We finally had to say farewell to the Taylor's and start heading for home.  We had just entered I-10 and started heading west, when Mark noticed a tire pressure warning on the right rear tire.  We pulled over and sure enough it was low and leaking.  So we changed the tire and hoped that we could find a tire repair shop at the next exit and believe it or not, there was a tire repair shop.  We had to wait for the shop worker to finish his lunch, but they got it fixed and we got it put back on the car and then headed for home.  Great day of birding even though there were delays at both ends of the trip.  It will all be good fodder to laugh about in the future.   

   

Amazing Arizona

It was great to return to Arizona after the rainy weather in the Pacific Northwest.  Oregon and Washington definitely have some great birds that cannot be found in Arizona and have even more that I was not able to add to my life list.  However, Arizona just happens to be an awesome state for birds and one never knows what might show up.  Such was the case of a White Wagtail that was discovered at the small southern Arizona town of Ajo.  Some sharp birders had found it on one of the 2 small sewage ponds that are enclosed by a chain link fence.  This species had only been reported once before in the state of Arizona back in 1985 in the Grand Canyon area.  In the United States, this Eurasian species breeds in western Alaska and most generally spends its winters in Southeast Asia.  They do show up on occasion in the United States, but are more common on the west coast and are usually near water.  To have one show up in Arizona is just plain weird.  But there it was and since Ajo is only about 2 hours away, I took off to look for it the day it was reported.  When I arrived, I was not disappointed and neither were the rest of the birders that had beat me to the location.  The only disappointment was that it favored the back pond and the best views were with a scope set up in the back of a pickup.  But long distance photos are better than none when it come to adding a new life bird to my list!

White Wagtail

Guess I am not the only 'bird nerd'.  Rarities can draw a crowd!

But even without these extreme rarities, Arizona has some species of birds that are hard to find in the rest of the US and are limited to very small isolated spots in Arizona.  In 2015, a pair of Tufted Flycatchers were found in Ramsey Canyon of the Huachuca Mountains and I joined forces with 3 other friends to search for this bird and we found it which made it a lifer for me at that time.  This year, not only are there reports from Ramsey Canyon again, making it 3 years in a row for this bird in Arizona, but another pair was discovered higher up in elevation at the Carr Canyon Reef Campsite.  So this year, I joined up with Barb Meding and we headed up the winding, twisting road filled with many switchbacks with some narrow sections and drop offs to the campsite.  This time the views were incredible and this bird was generally very accommodating to us.  This is another amazing bird for Arizona.  

 Tufted Flycatcher

While we were enjoying the Tufted Flycatcher the Buff-breasted Flycatchers were everywhere and very vocal as well.  This is a bird that can usually only be reliably be found in Arizona in the United States, although some can also be found in the Big Bend area of Texas.  So the Buff-breasted Flycatcher is another great bird for Arizona and there is no doubt that it is my most favorite of all the Empxidonax flycatchers that can be found in the United States.

 Buff-breasted Flycatcher

Yellow-eyed Juncos were also quite common at the campsite.  They are a bird of the higher elevations in the Sky Islands of the southwest.  

Yellow-eyed Junco

A very relaxing stop at Ash Canyon B & B, gave us great looks of many birds including several stunning male Scott's Orioles.

Scott's Oriole

Some butterflies that we enjoyed included a Mylitta Crescent, which was a new species for me and a Gulf Fritillary, both of which are pretty good looking if you ask me.

 Mylitta Crescent

Gulf Fritillary

A few hikes near home gave me some more butterflies and some cool reptiles.

Checkered White

Marine Blue

 Echo Azure

 Empress Leilia

 Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

Western Patch-nosed Snake

The natural world is full of some amazing and awesome creatures and being able to observe so much of it in the amazing state of Arizona is a blessing.  It truly is an amazing place and hopefully it will continue to be amazing.  I do have concerns with what the future holds with climate change taking place and what politics might do to the nature around us.  Hopefully a 'wall' will not be built that will isolate and fragment some of our natural resources and flora and fauna.  Wall will isolate populations of animals for gene pool diversity and will also cut off some from their water and/or food sources.  Lets hope that mankind can prevail and help preserve this natural world around us.   

  

  

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Finally, the heat has arrived in the Phoenix metro area with temps finally reaching the low triple digits.  Birding takes on a new persona when this time of year rolls around, usually resulting in trips to higher elevations.  I decided to take on a simple trip this past Saturday with a visit to Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  I had not been there for some time and I did not want to travel far.  I have a major trip planned in July of this year and in preparation for that trip, I am sticking close to home on the weekends for the time being. 

 

When I visit BTA, I usually like to get there a bit early to check out the Picketpost trailhead about a mile west of the BTA entrance.  When I first started visiting the trailhead location, I usually was blessed to see Pyrrhuloxia, but after the nearby fire a few years ago, I have not been able to find them again at this location.  Once again, I dipped on this species, but then I only spent about 45 minutes there and did not cover much area.  I think a longer visit and covering more habitat might result in better chances in the future.  Even though I only spent about 45 minutes there, I really enjoyed the stay.  Included with the 15 species I found was singing Lucy's Warblers and Bell's Vireos.  Even discovered a recently fledged Bell's Vireo being fed by one of its parents. 

 

 Bell's Vireo

 

Bell's Vireo - Fledgling

 

And of course there were plenty of the debonair Black-throated Sparrows singing and serenading me with their songs.

 

 Black-throated Sparrow

 

 

For a very brief moment an odd-plumaged Summer Tanager paid a very short visit.  Not necessarily odd except for the time of the year.  Normally, I would expect to see a male in this first year plumage very early in the spring.  It flew in and gave me a good enough look but by the time I lifted the camera it was looking the other way and promptly departed the scene.

 

Summer Tanager

 

From here I headed to Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  This place is really a special place and anyone living in the east valley of the Phoenix metro area should visit this place several times a year.  For me it is only about a 45 minute drive and the road is excellent.  A pair of Bronzed Cowbirds greeted me at the entrance; not a bird that I get to photograph very often.

 

Bronzed Cowbird 

 

This is one place that a person can always find Yellow-breasted Chats in the summer.  Not always easy to see and photograph, but there is no way a person can miss their very vocal calls. 

 

 Yellow-breasted Chat

 

 

Probably one of the most pleasant surprises was the Scott's Oriole.  I do not recall seeing one at this location in the past, but that is very irrelevant as these are some stunning birds and being able to get photos of one is also a nice thing to have happen. 

 

 Scott's Oriole

 

 

A couple regulars were very obliging for photos.  While the Gambel's Quail is a very common bird in many habitats, most generally they are quite skittish and usually take off at the sight of a human, this male held its ground and posed quite nicely for me. 

 

 Gambel's Quail

 

 

The local Black Phoebe was kind enough to pose as well.  The odd thing about this one was that it was not hanging around Ayers Lake, but instead was gleaning insects on the edge of the eucalyptus grove.

 

 Black Phoebe

 

 

Other photos of interest but not necessarily avian related are included below.  I am glad I made the decision to visit this spot once again.  Might not have had any rarities on this visit, but this location definitely has had its share of rarities in the past and you never know when another one will stop by to visit.  This place is a great place to visit for the combination of birds, reptiles, butterflies, and the huge collection and variety of plants.

 

 An Agave flower stalk

 

 Picketpost Mountain

 

 Another angle of Picketpost Mountain

 

 Pomegranate blossom

 

  Queen Butterfly