Chiapas: La Sepultura Again! Reaching 600 After Hitting 500 Only 5 Days Earlier

After finding the really cool buntings earlier in the day along the road, we then got a bit of a rest before reaching our next destination that was just a few miles from the Pacific Coast.  Once again, we have to thank our fantastic guides, Francesca Albini and Matt Hale, as they had led this trip a couple times earlier and had scouted this area in advance.  Our 'hot spot' for the next stop was a small roadside pond in the grassland coastal plains.  Had I been driving on this road, it could have beeDn easily overlooked and I might have driven right by.  But our guides knew better!

Just a short 5 days before, I had talllied my 500th bird the Altamira Oriole on my first day in Tuxtla and as I got off the van at this small roadside pond, my lifelist stood at 598.  The first bird that caught my eye at this pond was the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron giving me my 599th bird.  My next bird was the Northern Jacana which was a new milestone and my 600th bird.  In all I added 8 new birds to my life list at this pond alone.  

We will start out with the Bare-throated Tiger-Heron which caught my eye immediately due to how big it was.  What a great looking bird!  We observed 2 of them for some time; sometimes posing, sometimes crouching for the hunt, and at least once acting a little silly like it was sunning itself.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

The Northern Jacana did not want to look me in the eye, but that was OK with me as getting photo of one with its wings spread was a quite impressive sight.  They are gorgeous and a great bird for number 600.

Northern Jacana

We also had the fortune of finding 2 species of seedeaters as well; the White-collared Seedeater and the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater.  The White-collared was definitely a bit more cooperative than the Ruddy-breasted, but seeing both and observing their behavior was very enjoyable and educational.

White-collared Seedeater

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater - Male & Female

In one respect this place was no different than many of the other spots we had visited; we had to have some species of flycatchers.  And our newest flycatcher was a really cool looking one, with a funny name; the Common Tody-Flycatcher.  With its long and flat bill, yellow throat, breast and belly, and then those awesome light yellow eyes, this is a cool looking flycatcher.

 Common Tody-Flycatcher

One more bird that visited this same tree was the Rose-throated Becard.  This bird appears in almost all the US bird guides as it has been seen in extreme southern Texas and extreme southern Arizona.  I think it has been several years since the last report in Arizona, but I do know that a nest had been found in northern Sonora, Mexico only about 50 miles southeast of Nogales, Arizona.  I was always hoping that some day one would show up in AZ and if it did I was going to probably chase it.  We actually had a pair show up; a male and a female.

 Rose-throated Becard - Male

 Rose-throated Becard - Female

Rose-throated Becard - Male

One final new life bird to add to this post is the Giant Wren, another endemic where its range is found only in Chiapas along the Pacific Coast.  This is very unlike most wrens, first because of its large size and secondly, it is decked out in solid colors instead of speckled like most other wrens.  While they did not approach real close for great photos, I can say that we also discovered one of their nests at a distance, so that makes up for it.  This was another cool bird!

 Giant Wren

Giant Wren

Even with all the new birds I got to add to my list and even finally getting some photographs, I did see a few familiar faces among these new birds, such as Tropical Kingbird, Crested Caracara, and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks; all of which can be found in Arizona.

 Tropical Kingbird

 Crested Caracara

Crested Caracara

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

During this entire time we were thoroughly entertained with some Caiman that inhabited this small pond as well.

 Caiman

This day is not yet complete.  Stay tuned, there will be one more post on this fabulous day of birding and great company.

A Continuance of Southeastern Arizona

I left off with the Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake on Harshaw Canyon Road and now to continue on with our final 2 stops on Saturday before retiring to our motel in Nogales.  Kelly Rishor accompanied us on to the Paton House, which is a very well known spot to stop and enjoy the various birds that pass through here.  It is probably best known for being the most reliable place in the United States for finding the Violet-crowned Hummingbird.  Plus it also receives many rare and scare birds from time to time.  My good friend Larry Morgan is the current caretaker of this place and when Tommy, Muriel, Kelly and myself arrived he was quick to tell us that they had just seen a male Painted Bunting in the yard.  This was actually another one of our target birds, but we were planning on travelling to Kino Springs to try to find this bird as it had been reported at Kino Springs for several days.  Larry suggested that we go out to the road and go down the wash which was behind his feeding area.  So away we went and we quickly discovered an area with running water where several birds were bathing and drinking.  Tommy was the first to spy the bird in the reeds near the stream bed and shortly thereafter it made its appearance at the water to bathe.  I definitely came away with very poor photos of this bird, but now I have to try to find more.  This bird is not very common in Arizona and it breeds in Texas and the deep south, but every year a few of these turn up in Arizona as they start migrating south.  Since it was a new life bird for me, I at least got a shot of it that helps to identify it.  Has to be one of the most colorful birds to be found in the US.  And as Tommy was processing his photos, he also discovered that there was a female Painted Bunting at the same time.  So the less colorful bird in the background is the female.

Painted Buntings, male in front and female in the rear

Did manage to get a couple other photos of some of the various birds that were bathing in this stream of water.  Even these photos left a little to be desired.

 Lesser Goldfinch

Yellow Warbler

And we can't forget a photo of our wonderful host that advised us of the Painted Bunting being around, Mr Larry Morgan.  Always a pleasure to stop and visit this place in the town of Patagonia.  You will be glad you stopped by and even happier if Larry is at home and you get to meet him.  

Larry Morgan

From Paton's, Tommy, Muriel, and I continued on to Kino Springs and Kelly headed back home to Tucson.  We wanted to see if we could find the male Painted Bunting at Kino Springs as well that had been reported by several others.  We did manage to find it, but it was very secretive and photos were out of the question.  We did find other birds there including an Indigo Bunting which gave us 4 species of Buntings on this trip.  We also discovered a family of Tropical Kingbirds and found parents still feeding some recently fledged young.  

Tropical Kingbird, fledgling

Tommy and Muriel, AZ is not all desert and sand!

To finish out this post, I did manage to capture a few photos of some dragonflies while we were at Patagonia Lake earlier in the morning.  Such fascinating insects and some are very colorful as well.

 Blue Dasher, male

 Mexican Amberwing, female

Widow Skimmer

Finally after a full day of birding we headed to Nogales to get some rest for the night and start another day of birding on Sunday. 

    

A Big Day -- 8 June 2013

June 8, 2013 turned out to be probably my longest day of birding so far in my life.  At a very early hour of 4:00 am, I met up with a couple of extraordinary birders, Tommy DeBardeleben and Mark Ochs and we headed to the southern parts of Arizona to try and find some great birds, including the rare Buff-collared Nightjar that had been recently reported near Madera Canyon.  That was going to be our last objective as it is a nocturnal bird and becomes active at dusk and into the night.  Before the day was over, we had covered over 550 miles and it encompassed about 20 hours.  

Our first destination was the Monastery at St David.  We struck out in trying to locate the Mississippi Kite, but we did make a short hike down to the dry riverbed and back.  We did find plenty of good birds and I was able to capture some photos of a couple of different kingbirds, Cassin's Kingbird and the Tropical Kingbird.  A novice birder might look at these 2 photos and think these are the same species, but alas they are not the same.  Their songs are very different along with some other subtle differences.  

 Cassin's Kingbird

Tropical Kingbird

Another cool bird that we found was a juvenile Gray Hawk.  I have seen adults before, but never a juvenile, so this was a great learning experience for me. 

Gray Hawk, Juvenile

From there we headed south and west to the Huachuca Mountain area and drove up Miller Canyon to Beatty's B & B.  Great place for hummingbirds and some other specialties as well.  At the hummingbird feeders, I got my first of 4 new life birds and this was the White-eared Hummingbird.  The long white stripe behind the eye surely verifies where it got its name.

 White-eared Hummingbird

White-eared Hummingbird

Besides this beauty, there were several other species of hummingbirds visiting the feeders, including the Magnificent Hummingbird, the Blue-throated Hummingbird, and plenty of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds.  One of the Broad-tailed Hummingbirds really gave me a excellent close-up that allowed for an up-close shot of the head and a very fine detailed photo of the feathering on the head.  

Magnificent Hummingbird

Magnificent Hummingbird

Blue-throated Hummingbird

 Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Broad-tailed Hummingbird-Close up

A couple of other birds that paid us a visit while we were viewing the hummingbird feeders were an Acorn Woodpecker who apparently needed some sugar water, and a Rock Wren paid us a visit by posing on some metal.  (Do you think it was secretly wishing it was a 'metal' Wren?)

 Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Rock Wren

Two more special birds were waiting for us further up the canyon and stream bed.  This place is well known for its resident Spotted Owls and on this day I had the best views I have ever had of this species.  And even further up the steep canyon, we got to observe a Northern Goshawk nest with a fledgling still in it.  We waited around for some time, hoping one or both parents might come in to feed it, but did not get that lucky.  But since this was another new life bird, I was happy to get a photo from across the canyon to definitely identify this magnificent bird. This was my second life bird for the day. 

Spotted Owl

Spotted Owl

Northern Goshawk-Fledgling

This is turning into probably my longest blog post, but since it was a long day, this post should be long.  From Miller Canyon, we headed further west to the Patagonia area and I was able to add my third life bird, the Thick-billed Kingbird to my life list.  No photos, but I now know where to find them and then we ventured on to Madera Canyon.  While waiting for the sun to set we stopped at Santa Rita Lodge to help kill some time and just before sunset, the Blue Grosbeaks came out and put on quite a show.  I had never seen so many of these birds all in one spot and what a gorgeous bird to observe, even the females are very sleek looking even if not quite as colorful as the males.

Blue Grosbeak-Female

Blue Grosbeak-Male

Also seen near Proctor Road was Botteri's Sparrow.  I managed to get 1 so-so photo of one of these dry grass loving birds that do not spend much time off the ground.  Usually found by hearing their song.

Botteri's Sparrow

The day ended about 2 hours after the sun set.  We ventured down Proctor Road a little before sunset so we could be there when the Buff-collared Nightjar started calling.  A group of about 10 people had gathered and sure enough we started hearing their call and we determined there were 2 out there in the brush somewhere.  Since this was a nocturnal bird, I had already decided that photos would not be feasible, but we tried chasing one down with flashlights with very little success.  It was not until we were leaving that another car load had found one not far off the road and I was able to at least catch a glimpse of the green glow of its eye in the beam of a flashlight.  A rare bird to be found in the United States and one of the few places to find them, but it rounded out my day as my 4th life bird for the day.  What a great finish to a long, tiresome, but fruitful day of birding.