Birding Birthday Bash

In the early part of December, I just happened to celebrate a landmark birthday and I was fortunate to have it fall on a Saturday.  What better way to celebrate a birthday than getting out in nature to see what cool birds one can find!  One of my best birding buddies, Chris Rohrer ventured north from Tucson and joined me in our quest to find some birds in and around the eastern suburbs of Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, and Tempe.  

First stop was the Gilbert Riparian Water Preserve in the search for some rare Purple Finches that had been seen there for a week or so.  We did not have any luck with that species, but the birding was was still excellent with the highlight being a White-throated Sparrow.  Of course several others were gracious enough to allow photos as well; Neotropic Cormorant and Wilson's Snipe.

 White-throated Sparrow

 Neotropic Cormorant

 Wilson's Snipe well camouflaged

Wilson's Snipe zoomed in and cropped

Our next stop was Coon Bluff on the Salt River northeast of Mesa to search for another rarity, a Reddish Egret which had not been reported for a few days, so our hopes were not very high and once again, we dipped on this bird as well. But once again, several other species made our visit very enjoyable such as Cedar Waxwing and Vermilion Flycatcher.  And a couple more passerine species graciously gave me a chance to get photos with their reflection in the water, which is not too common; Say's Phoebe and American Pipit.

 Cedar Waxwings

 Cedar Waxwing

Vermilion Flycatcher

 American Pipit

Say's Phoebe

From here we headed to Scottsdale Ranch Park to look for a Red-breasted Sapsucker which had been reported there.  It is an uncommon winter migrant in Arizona; its more common winter range is the Pacific Coast from Baja California northward to Washington state and into British Columbia in Canada.  It is always a treat to see this bird in Arizona.  We arrived and spent some time searching in the trees that it favored and was not finding it.  As we decided to maybe head to the next location on our agenda, we met a handful of other birders also looking for it, but to no avail.  I started scanning its favorite tree one last time and Bingo! there it was!  I quickly got everyone else on it and it was quite accommodating to us all.

 Red-breasted Sapsucker

One last point of interest on our list: Tempe Town Lake.  Sorry to say, but we came here to actually locate a drake Mandarin Duck that had been seen here for some time  Although, it is non-countable as an ABA bird, you have to admit it really is quite a handsome specimen.  

Mandarin Duck

A nice adult Bald Eagle is always a bonus, and it is nice to find one is such an urban setting such as Tempe Town Lake.

Adult Bald Eagle

I was a great way to spend a milestone bi(rd)thday!  

New Mexico Adventure - Part 3

Our third and final day was spent at Bosque del Apache which is located about an hour south of Albuquerque and Linda was able to join us on this final day.  This place is a very well known birding hotspot for its huge flocks of Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese in the winter.  It is also known for having some very unusual and rare bird appearances, the most recent being the Rufous-necked Wood Rail.  Our arrival was fairly late in the season and the Sandhill Cranes and many of the Snow Geese had already departed for nesting grounds much further north.  A few lingering Snow Geese did give us some great views in the sky along with a loner that was foraging by itself near one of the ponds.

 

Snow Goose



Snow Geese Flock

 

A pair of Bald Eagles on a tree far out into one of the ponds presented a rather nice perspective with the distance mountains in the background. 

 

 Bald Eagles

 

The grassy areas along the roads and pond were full of Western Meadowlarks and when they land in the dry grass they almost disappear.  But when they expose that bright yellow breast, then they really stand out.

 

Western Meadowlark



 

Western Meadowlark

 



 Western Meadowlark

 

A visit to the Visitor's Center here was quite the bonanza.  They also had an indoor seating area with glass windows with feeders right out side and the birds were easily feasting on the bountiful food supply.  We had American Goldfinch, White-throated Sparrow, Harris's Sparrow, Spotted Towhee, and a fairly rare Golden-crowned Sparrow. 

 

American Goldfinch



Golden-crowned Sparrow



 Harris's Sparrow

 

Spotted Towhee



 White-throated Sparrow

 

We were also fortunate to see some Mule Deer while driving the roads around the ponds at Bosque.  Almost drove right past them as they were walking away.

 

Mule Deer

 

Finally after a full day of birding we called it a night and after a restful night in a local motel, Chris and I headed back to Arizona the next morning and birding at several odd spots along the way in this remote area of western New Mexico.  Just outside of the town of Magdalena, NM, we came across 3 Pronghorns of which 2 of them were sparring when we first saw them.  But once we stopped the car, they stopped their sparring and headed out across the dry grassland.

 

 Pronghorn

 

Pronghorn

 

I think that each of us came away with 4 new life birds on this trip which made it all worth while.  It is getting harder to find new life birds for both of us in this part of the United States, so future different trips are in store for both of us outside of this area this year and it will be amazing to see what all we find.  Chris will probably get more as he has more trips planned than I do for different areas of the country. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Paton House - 15 April 2013

As promised, I had to dedicate one post to just the Paton House alone.  This place is listed as the most reliable place in the United States to view the Violet-crowned Hummingbird, and I have never been disappointed in seeing one of these hummers during my visits to this place.  And along with it, one will usually see a lot of other birds as well.  During my visit, I recorded 38 species, which is a very respectable number for bird species in or around 1 yard.  Have to thank Larry Morgan for his hospitality.  If you ever get a chance to visit this place, please consider a good will donation to assist in the feeding of the birds.

Now on to the birds and the photos.  We will start off with 3 hummingbird photos.  Of course the Violet-crowned Hummingbird is going to be featured, and a photo of a Black-chinned Hummingbird and also a photo of a Broad-billed Hummingbird. 

 Violet-crowned Hummingbird

 Black-chinned Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird

And now a couple of sparrows; the White-throated Sparrow, and a Song Sparrow and a Green-tailed Towhee, which is related to the sparrows.  The White-throated Sparrow is not that common in Arizona, so it is always a joy to find one and then get one that is willing to allow photos.

 White-throated Sparrow

 Song Sparrow

Green-tailed Towhee

Now lets add some color to the photos with a Summer Tanager, a Black-headed Grosbeak, and a Hooded Oriole.  This was the first day of the return of the Summer Tanager at Paton's.

 Summer Tanager - Male

Summer Tanager - Male

Summer Tanager - Female

Black-headed Grosbeak

Hooded Oriole

Not too bad of a selection of birds in just one yard.  If anyone gets anywhere close to Patagonia, AZ, it is worth your time to stop in and check out the Paton House.

Sparrows, aka LBJ's

Ah, what a boring topic to choose for a blog, as many people will think.  This group of birds is one of the least interesting and least colorful for many a novice birder and many times are ignored because of the difficulty in identification.  In the book, The Big Year, they are also referred to as LBJ's, those 'Little Brown Jobbies'.  While I am far from being an expert on sparrows, I was going through my old photo files and discovered that I had actually captured many photos of some of the more than 30 species found in the United States.  Still does not make me an expert, but I have found that trying to identify them requires much more than just visual looks.  Habitat, behavior and song play a big role and one always has to keep in mind the range maps in most guides.  Obviously birds don't read maps and will sometimes show up in the most unlikely places, but it is rare.  The sparrow family is quite large and in many cases, some of the species have sub-species and I suppose it is possible that someday some of those sub-species may be split off into separate species of their own.  I am not going to expand on how to identify each species as there are wonderful guides already written by many experts in the avian world that do much more justice than what I could ever begin to do.  What I have decided, is to try and post some photos of some of the Sparrows that I have been able to capture in photos.  I think that once you look at these photos, most people will agree that some of these Sparrows are quite attractive and distinct.  Just remember that not all the sparrows found in the US are depicted in the photos below.  I am only posting those that I have captured in photos.  Not all of the photos are of the quality I wish I would have captured, but they are good enough to identify the species of the bird and show off some of their true markings.  That gives me incentive to try for somthing better the next time I run across one of them!

Let's start off with a species that consists of more than one sub-species, a White-crowned Sparrow.  Below are photos of the sub-species gambelii and oriantha.  Very similar, but also very different once you look at the photos.  Check out the striping on the head and also the color of the beaks. 

White-crowned Sparrow-gambelii

White-crowned Sparrow-orientha

The White-throated Sparrow is a bit similar to the White-crowned and sometimes mixes in with White-crowns and is often overlooked by novice birders.

White-throated Sparrow

Next are photos of a Rufous-winged Sparrow and a Rufous-crowned Sparrow.

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Next we have a Black-throated Sparrow, a Black-chinned Sparrow, and a Sage Sparrow.  The Black-throated is one of my favorite sparrows; handsome little birds!  Sage Sparrow is not too bad either!

Black-throated Sparrow

Black-chinned Sparrow

Sage Sparrow

The next 3 in the lineup are the Baird's Sparrow, the Grasshopper Sparrow, and a Savannah Sparrow.  Savannah is one that has sub-species and not all Savannah's will look like this photo.

Baird's Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

These next 4 consist of the Chipping Sparrow, Brewer's Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Lincoln's Sparrow.  The Song Sparrow is found pretty much throughout the United States, but can look very different from one area of the country to another.

Chipping Sparrow

Brewer's Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

The last 3 Sparrows being represented include Lark Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow and finally the Fox Sparrow.  The Fox Sparrow is found in at least 3 color phases, of which I have 2 of them in photos. 

Lark Sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Fox Sparrow--"Red"

Fox Sparrow--"Slate-colored"

These photos represent about half of the sparrow species found in the United States.  Birders should not be intimidated by the identification of this group of birds.  The more one sees them in the field and in their habitats, the more you learn about identification.  No, it is not always easy, but this is a group of birds that is challenging and when one does get past the stage of intimidation, they are quite interesting birds to observe and can be a lot of fun.  I will continue to seek out more of these LBJ's and hopefully capture some more future photos of more of them.