Nebraska: The Hunt and a Touch of Wyoming & Colorado

My third day in Nebraska was a journey to the old farm and to venture to Camp Hayes Recreational Area, which is a small man-made lake not far from the old family farm. The lake is so small that powered watercraft are not allowed.  But with the Red Willow Creek feeding it and flowing out of it, there is a lot of great habitat for birds.  

I always get a kick out of seeing recently hatched Killdeer chicks and I had to stop the car to allow this one to find better cover than on the road.  

 Killdeer Chick

 Killdeer Adult

Double-crested Cormorant

Whitetail doe and fawn

Spent a few hours in the town of Hayes Center reminiscing with my classmates and then headed out, taking the long way back to Denver, with an overnight stop in Sidney, Nebraska.  My plans were to leave Sidney early in the morning and head west to Kimball, Nebraska.  I was keen on trying to locate Mountain Plover in Nebraska.  They breed in western Nebraska in a restricted range and habitat, but are probably a bit more common on their breeding grounds just a bit south, across the border in Colorado.  The Mountain Plover is a migratory bird that spends winters further south than their breeding grounds, and some show up in Arizona in winter.  This is where I have always seen them in the past.  So I was going to attempt to locate them in Nebraska.  The drive to Kimball was shrouded in fog making visibility really tough.  It was still foggy when I arrived on the roads south of Kimball and was getting a feeling that the weather was going to jinx my effort.  Walked down one road for a ways without my camera and found a male McCown's Longspur in breeding plumage!  Being without my camera was a mistake, so headed back to the car and got my camera, but was not able to relocate the longspur.  Headed down the road a bit further and pulled over and lo and behold, there was a Mountain Plover on a side road.  I took photos from the car as I did not want to spook it.  Yay, success can be so awesome at times!  It is a mis-named bird as it does not spend any time in the Mountains.  This sighting was also cool to me as this one was in breeding plumage, compared to all those I see in Arizona in winter, non-breeding plumage.  Yes, it is a subtle difference, but still fun to see the differences.

Mountain Plover in breeding plumage in Nebraska

Mountain Plover in non-breeding plumage in Arizona for comparison.

Horned Larks were everywhere!

From there I headed into Wyoming where I have never done any birding in the past, so I stopped at an eBird Hotspot called Wyoming Hereford Ranch which is just east of Cheyenne, WY.  A great place to spot and I highly recommend this spot to anyone interested.  By then the fog had lifted and the lighting was much better.  Ended up with 34 species to start my Wyoming bird list.

 American Goldfinch

Gray Catbird

  

 Spotted Sandpiper

 Western Wood-Peewee

Western Wood-Peewee

My next couple of days was spent in Colorado staying with friends.  Birding was not the full focus of my stay, but I did manage a couple of photos during the bouts of rain and overcast skies and even some snow.

 Barn Swallow

Steller's Jay

One of the key birds that I wanted in Colorado was the White-tailed Ptarmigan.  Unfortunately, due to bad timing and the incredible amount of snow fall in Colorado the roads to the best location were still closed.  At least I have learned from this adventure and hopefully I will be better prepared for the next trip to Colorado for this bird.  The trip overall, was a success and I am happy with the results. I was able to add 19 new species to my Nebraska list, 9 species to my Colorado list, and got my first 34 species to my Wyoming list.  

     

Snow Birding in Arizona

The weekend before Christmas, I teamed up with Chris Rohrer, Babs Buck, and Magill Weber to chase an Arizona rarity up above the Mogollon Rim in Navajo County of Arizona.  A Carolina Wren had been making an appearance at a feeder in Overgaard, AZ.  This was only the 4th confirmed sighting of this species in Arizona, so it is a pretty special bird.  We knew it was going to be cold in the higher elevations and we planned accordingly.  There was plenty of snow on the ground as the winter weather so far in Arizona has been a little on the wet side, especially in the high country where quite a bit of snow has already fallen and the ski resorts are in full operation.

We arrived at the location and spotted the yard and feeder and managed to get a short, quick look at it briefly and then it took flight and did not return during our stay. During the time we were waiting and hoping for its return, we took advantage of the many other birds around in this snowy winter wonderland.  Steller's Jays were raiding the feeders while a flock of over 100 Pinyon Jays were moving though the trees behind us just beyond a fence that blocked any closer access to them.  

 Steller's Jay

 Pinyon Jays

 Pinyon Jay

Of course Dark-eyed Juncos were just about everywhere.  This is a bird that consists of several sub-species with variable coloration and markings.  On this day, we were quit fortunate to see at least 5 of the sub-species; Oregon, Gray-headed, Pink-sided, Red-backed, and Slate-colored.  We did not see them all in the same place, but at various locations and it is fun to note the differences in them.  Below are photos of the Red-backed and the Slate-colored.

 'Red-backed' Dark-eyed Junco

 'Slate-colored' Dark-eyed Junco

On the return trip we decided to visit the Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery which is always a great place to visit and this trip did not disappoint us in any way because one of the very first birds we spotted when we pulled into the parking area was an American Dipper!  This is quite a unique bird and it has found a niche in the wonderful world of nature.  They feed on aquatic invertebrates by walking and swimming under water in cold mountain streams.  They are most entertaining and it was hard not spend the entire rest of the day with them.  They have to be one of my top ten most favorite birds.  

 American Dipper

While we were enjoying the American Dippers and the show they were putting on for us, we had a pair of majestic adult Bald Eagles acting as sentinels watching over us in the tree above our heads.  

Bald Eagles

As we were leaving this area and about a ½ mile down the road, we found another Bald Eagle.  This one was a third year immature.  Bald Eagles take 4 years to reach their full adult plumage, so it is always exciting to see a youngster such as this one surviving in the wild.  

 Bald Eagle - Immature

Another fascinating bird is the Brown Creeper and one of them paid us a visit as well.  This bird, with its curved needle-like bill, will usually fly to the base of a tree and work its way upward in the spiral, probing for insects and larva in and under the bark of a tree.  Then it will fly to the base of a neighboring tree and do the same thing.  Always tough to photograph as they do not sit still and their brown coloration sometimes blends in with the bark of a tree to make it hard to zoom in with a good focus.

 Brown Creeper

One other bird that we encountered at this magical place was a Pacific Wren.  They do not like to come out and show themselves very much, so photos were not too great.  However, this bird was quite a milestone for Chris as it was his 700th life bird, which is a big milestone and it is a great bird to claim for number 700.  A big congratulations to Chris on his achievement!

 Pacific Wren

The 700 Club!

One last stop on the way home was Green Valley Park in Payson.  We added several waterfowl species to our daily tally, including a couple of Great Scaup.  They can be difficult to ID when Lesser Scaup are so much more common in Arizona.  But there was no doubt on these females that we saw, with the smoothly rounded head and the bill with a wide black nail at its tip.  

Greater Scaup

A couple of male Hooded Mergansers were also present and I was able to capture an adequate photo of one of them with its prized catch.

Hooded Merganser

It was a one day trip that was filled with a lot of special birds with great company along for the ride!

Mogollon Rim Area - Part 2

When we decided to head to Woods Canyon Lake, I knew it would be crowded as well as it is usually a more popular destination than Black Canyon Lake.  And it was, they even had to open up extra free parking in one of the maintenance areas where we parked.  As we made our way to the lake, we stopped to enjoy some of the birds in the pine forest.  American Robins were abundant and some of them were this year hatch and it is always interesting to see the different looks of a juvenile bird.

American Robin - juvenile

Hairy Woodpeckers were also quite numerous and busy searching our insects on the trunks of trees.  Why is it, that they always seem to land on a tree and in the shady side of the trunk?

Hairy Woodpecker - Female

At the east end of the lake where the water trickles down the embankment, a group of raucous Steller's Jays put on quite a show,  A couple, including a fledgling, came in for a drink before heading up into the trees.  It was interesting to see the fledgling did not have the white streaks on the head like the adults.  Most likely this takes place on its first molt.

 Steller's Jay - Adult

 Steller's Jay - Recently fledged

Steller's Jay - Adult

Just a few minutes with the jays and then we watched some excitement unfold before our eyes.  The first was an Osprey that came in and dove and captured a fish right in front of several people fishing.  Think the Osprey was having better luck than the fishers!

 Osprey

Osprey with its catch of the day

Shortly after the Osprey had a successful dive, an adult Bald Eagle also came in for a shot at a fish, but unfortunately the eagle was not successful.  The adult pair do have a nest at the lake and hatched 2 chicks in April and both are almost fledged and ready to leave the nest.

 Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle starting its unsuccessful dive

What happened next was a first for me.  With all the the antics of the Osprey and the Bald Eagle taking place, I also caught a glimpse of a Great Blue Heron also flying over the lake.  Normally, when I see a Great Blue Heron, I move on to something else because the heron is a very common bird around water.  For some reason or another, I focused my camera on this one and in a sequence of photos we saw it fly near the surface of the lake and actually plunged while in flight with its beak and came up with a fish and then continued on in flight with its prized catch.  I have seen many of these birds spear and nab an unsuspecting creature while standing motionless in the water, but have never seen one capture a fish while in flight.  Always something new to learn.

 Great Blue Heron - flying across the lake

Focusing on its target

 The plunge and grasp with its beak

 Lifting off again from the surface of the water

Flying away with its prize catch!

That is the end of the birds in this post, so if you, dear reader, are not interested in other critters, you can consider yourself done with this post.  However, if you are still inclined to marvel at some more wonders of nature, then please continue on!

We will start with a couple rodents; squirrels and a chipmunk. (FYI: Chipmunks have stripes on the face and squirrels do not.) 

Cliff Chipmunk - Note the stripes on the face

 Golden-mantled Squirrel - no stripes on face

Pine Squirrel

Next up are a couple of butterflies and a cicada.

 Blue Azure Butterfly

 Queen Alexandra Butterfly

Cicada

And last but not least, a reptile which is a Terrestrial Garter Snake, the Arizona subspecies.

Terrestrial Garter Snake

Really turned out to be a great afternoon at Woods Canyon Lake with more than just birds, even if the place was swarming with humans enjoying their weekends.