A white-eared Christmas

A few weeks ago on the AZ/NM Listserve an unbelievable amazing report came in from Duanne Morse, who found a first for Maricopa County White-eared Hummingbird in his front yard. Even though the bird was seen near South Mountain Park, which is an hour away from my house I still wanted to go and chase the bird, and after seeing Mr. Tommy's  photos I wanted to see the bird even more! So, after giving Mr. John Kafel a call and giving Mr. Duanne Morse (the owner of the house) an E-mail to get permission to go on his property, I set up a date with destiny. Then on December 20th I went out to South Mountain Park with Mr. John and Mrs. Janet Kafel. Once we arrived at the Morse's house it didn't take long for the hummer to make its first appearance.

 While we were watching the hummer he seemed to have claimed the feeder as his property and he didn't like sharing it very much at all. At one point when I was taking pictures of him he looked me straight in the eye and I could see that he didn't want to share the feeder with me either.

Back off Bro!

I got a little freaked out when he looked me in the eye, but other than that things went awesome in the 2 hours I observed this amazing Mexican stray.

The White-eared was a very unexpected lifer and an awesome one it was. Thanks Mr. John and Mrs. Janet for the awesome lifer and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Morse for letting birders use your yard!

A late Merry Christmas and an early Happy New Year to all!!!

 



The monthly post on my patch: November

November is one of the best months of the year to find rarities in Arizona. With myself only being a hardcore birder this year, (hardcore meaning: looking at the local blogs, rare-bird alerts, eBird reports, and the listserve a couple times a day) I did a lot of searching in a lot of new areas, but during the first week of my searching I came up patch-birdless. I must admit that the reason I was not finding many notable sightings on the first week was because I didn't have enough motivation. When someone goes out birding and wants to find a nice rarity, sure it's possible that you might find one while just taking a stroll through the old park, but if you want to clean house at a hotspot you have to bird hard!!! For instance almost all of the rare birds I have found near my house are from when I was exhausted, but decided to at least bird one more field, patch of weeds, or tree line. Now on November 8th I had just gotten back from one of the monthly birdwalks at Estrella Mountain Park lead by Mr. Joe Ford, I was a bit tired (just getting back from a concert the night/morning before) however, I pushed myself to take a birding trip around my patch. The main place that I birded for the evening was a pond that runs off from the Buckeye Canal. As I peeked through the thick vegetation that surrounds the ponds I found three American Wigeons feeding on the duckweed that covers the pond but once I looked to the right of the birds I saw a beautiful adult male Wood Duck!

Patch bird #192!                 

 

After observing this awesome patcher I walked down along the edge of the salt-bush bordered pond. When I got to the area where the duck was I could see it was already hiding.

 

 

Throughout the time that I observed this very handsome duck it never came out in the open for very long. In November I also took many trips down to the Gila River with good friend and wildlife-enthusiast,  Alexia. We found an awesome Great Horned Owl, I heard my patcher Least Bittern and Virginia Rail, we had a glimpse of a donkey (I have no idea whether it was wild or not), there were many signs of beaver, and we also found a lot of marsh habitat that I suspect is breeding territory for Ridgway's Rail.

 

 

With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day rolling in my family was very busy with preparing,  but I was able to cram a few biking trips around the patch. On the 25th I went out birding to try to find some Sagebrush Sparrows. I found one area earlier in the month but after revisiting the spot the salt bushes looked to thin to have any SAGS's. As I continued birding I saw a large dark buteo perched on a tamarask I was already 90 percent sure that it was a RTHA but I got closer anyways. The bird then took flight,  but the area where the hawk was had a bit of greenery around it, so I said to myself "Ah, I might as well check it out". Here is a photo of this small wet patch.

 

 

Once I walked down near the patch of grass I saw what looked like a Swamp Sparrow but my looks were to brief and bad to call it for sure. As I walked around the area a little more I saw a small greenish-bird fly up into one of the tamarasks.

 

 

It only took one glimpse to find out  that it was a female Painted Bunting!!!

 

 

I was very exited as this bird is casual to uncommon in SEAZ but very rare to accidental in Maricopa County. On the following day I came back to this spot and showed Mr. Ford the bird.

 

 

Mr. Ford has seen many Painted Butings across North America including many males, but he has never seen one in AZ so this was a very nice bird for him. After getting back I gave Mr. Tommy D. a call and the next day we arrived at the bunting spot just after 7:00AM. It took the bunting a while to make it to the patch of grass but once it did we were stoked, this was a maricoper for Mr. Tommy, and to add onto all of the awesomeness it was Thanksgiving Day!!! 

 

Maricoper #365, Booya!!!

 

Two days later on the 29th I decided to try to dodge the weekend hunters and make my way over to the bunting and attempt to get some crushes on the bird. As soon as I reached the spot I could see the bird in the patch of grass, so I made my way down to the bird and started snapping away.

The "bunting patch"

After getting to observe the bird for a while I headed back to my house to end the day. On the 30th I took a trip to look for Sagebrush Sparrows some more and Lark Buntings as well. The SAGS's would be patchers and the LARB's would be lifers, so both of them would be good. Before I reached Cotton Lane I heard the distinctive "zeet" call of the Eastern Meadowlark and after scanning the field I was rewarded with good views and even a photo.

There was also a large flock of American White Pelicans that were flying over the river, but I was too focused on the meadowlark to take a photo of them. Once I crossed the river I biked back west only on the south side of the Gila. I came here before earlier in the month and saw hundreds of American Pipits in the fields that are surrounded by the desert. I was very pleased to find some awesome sage habitat and with sage-brush comes the Sagebrush Sparrows. So after birding the area I came up with over a dozen Sage Sparrows and I was able to identify a few Sagebrush out of them.

After observing the sparrows I started heading back as I was low on water, but I knew that I wasn't Lark Buntingless yet! There was one more area to check, sure enough as I was riding through my  last stretch of hope I had 5 of them flush up from the ground! The only problem is that I did not see where they landed, so I started searching the area, and after looking for a good ten minutes I found them foraging along the edge of the river.

As you can see in the above picture, the bird was very exited after it caught a grasshopper. I then had three of them fly up onto a tree right above where I left my bike!

 Once the birds flew up high into a eucalyptus I finally started heading back,  I took a quick stop by the bunting patch and came up empty. I ended November with many highlights, I ended the month with 108 species, I set a new big day record for my patch at 73 species, and I found two lifers with both of them having bunting as their names.

 

 

Rarity hunting at the Hassayampa River Preserve

Well,  I'll start out with letting you know that everyone has a nemesis bird. Whether they have looked for it four times or twenty times birds like to make people bang their heads on trees and other stuff while out in the field! Most of the time those nemesis birds aren't even rare, often the people that help you try to find that bird have seen it all over the place and they think it's crazy that you haven't seen it,  they don't understand until they actually go and look for it with that person though. In my case it is the Black-and-white Warbler, now chuckle all you want but once you hear my story you might be able to at least hold back most of your laughs.  Ever since seeing the BAWW in my field guide I was hooked on the black-and-white streaked plumage, but I got even more attached when I saw that it acts like a nuthatch! There are some awesome things about that bird, and I wanted to see it badly. I have searched many times and one of the most frustrating times was when my Mom and I were birding at Legg Lake a birding hotspot in Los Angeles. We meet a bird guide that was out birding and some other birders that told me they had found a Golden-crowned Kinglet, so I walked off with the people to try to relocate it while my Mom stayed back with the guide. After about a half hour I gave up and returned to my Mom, and guess what she told me they saw, a BAWW!!!  Since then I have searched for the BAWW about ten times and on those trips I have found birds that are far more rare then the BAWW.  Now lets finally get to the trip. On November 22nd, Mr. John Kafel and I met up with Mr. Tommy D.  to search for some of the rarities that have been seen around the Hassayampa River Preserve. Last time I took a trip out here I found a Rufous-backed Robin, a Varied Thrush, I heard a Winter Wren, and I found a Red Fox Sparrow. The Varied Thrush is a bird Mr. Tommy wanted  badly for his Maricopa list so that was one of our target birds along with the BAWW. Last week over the weekend there were five birders that searched for the birds I had found but they missed all of them, but  of course they got a BAWW!!! Can you believe that?! I think that bird knows who I am. We started birding the River Ramble and Lykes Lookout trails first. As soon as we started birding the River Ramble Mr. Tommy and I heard an Evening Grosbeak calling (a lifer for me), unfortunately the bird must have been flying over because before long we couldn't hear it. What a way to start the morning! As we continued down the trail we could hear many House Wrens calling from all directions but things got exiting when Mr. Tommy pointed out a calling Winter Wren from upstream, so we tried to get a visual and came up successful! This rail-acting-wren can be very frustrating if one is wanting to get photos. Luckily I was able to get a few diagnostic photos.

 



 

While we were trying to keep track of the wren Mr. Tommy and I were able to hear a single call from a Red-shouldered Hawk from way up the river, but we never heard it again. We then hiked the Lion Trail for my first time, but the only notable bird was a Pine Sisken that was giving its flight calls. After we birded the Lion Trail, Mr. John and I drove up into Wickenburg to get a quick bite to eat before returning to the preserve. Once we were done eating our taco's and enchiladas we returned to the preserve to bird it for a second time. Only Mr. John stayed back at the visitor center to rest, it was up to Mr. Tommy and I to get a Varied Thrush or Black-and-white Warbler. We met up near the picnic area and started birding the Palm Lake Loop. It didn't take us long to find a Rufous-backed Robin mixed with the American's. There was also a posing Ladder-backed Woodpecker with the thrushes.

Rufous-backed Robin        

 

 

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

 

 By now we were at a four-thrush-day, the same amount as last time. We just needed the VATH, after birding the Palm Lake Loop and the Mesquite Meander trails Mr. Tommy and I decided to end my day with one more attempt at the River Ramble and Lyke's Lookout trails. Once we arrived at the area where I had seen the thrush last, I must admit we were not really birding hard, we were more like laughing our heads off on dumb jokes and stuff like that. But while we were laughing and having a good time I noticed a bird flew to a very high perch up in the canopy, when I put my binocs on it I noticed it was the Varied Thrush!!! After the bird flew to another perch Mr. Tommy was finally able to get his Maricoper (first for Maricopa) Varied Thrush, #364! The bird was being quite skittish like the last time and I wasn't trying for photos too much, but I got at least one diagnostic photo of the bird.

 

 

It was awesome getting to watch Mr. Tommy get his 364th Maricoper. Thanks Mr. John and Mr. Tommy for the awesome day of birding! Here is one last photo to end this post.

 

Mr. Tommy on right and Mr. John on left

A couple of recent and awesome IBA counts

In November I had two IBA (Important Bird Area) counts, the Arlington Wildlife Area on the 18th and the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area on the 19th. I live fairly close to both of these hotspots and I have done little birding in the Arlington area, which will hopefully change this winter. The B & M is almost the opposite, I have birded the B & M many times and I actually added it to my patches not to long ago.

Before we started the IBA count in the Arlington WA area, we took a quick stop by the Lower River Road Ponds. The two ponds had many birds with the west pond having lots of mudflats which resulted in lots of peeps. As we scanned through the Least Sandpipers we were able to find one Western Sandpiper. Can you pick him out?

There were also three Canvasbacks.

After our short visit to the LRR ponds we drove over to Arlington and started our IBA count. It did not take long for us to find the Lesser Goldfinches that stay around the dead tamarasks.

As we walked further, I found my lifer Swamp Sparrow along the thickly vegetated ditch that is on the opposite side of the road than the wetlands. But even though I tried hard the bird seemed to elude my camera. Mr. Paul and I both had the same target bird and that was the Sandhill Crane, I have had short looks at them as they fly very high up in the sky and as they take off from some of the fields around the valley, but I have never been able to get my binocs on those suckers! So I started scanning the fields, and it didn't take me long to find a flock of them way out there!

       See those gray dots? Well that's them!



Everyone in the group was very excited, but it got even better when three of them flew over us, and we even got to hear some calling from way out!

When we finally reached the end of the wetlands we had yet another Swamp Sparrow, only in the reeds and it was calling. However, this bird also eluded my camera, but this Wilson's Snipe didn't!

Before we knew it our IBA count was over, but after a stop at the restaurant off the US 80, Mr. Paul, Ms. Donna, and I tried to get better looks at the cranes and check out the surrounding area. Once we turned onto a dirt road we started to approach the cranes, and as we got closer we noticed there was a lot more in the area! There were Long-billed Curlews, Greater Yellowlegs, White-faced Ibis, Sandhill Cranes, Turkey Vultures, and a kettle of 26 Black Vultures. While we kept on driving I noticed three large birds flying out in the distance. Once I put my binocs up I saw there were two TUVU's and a Crested Caracara!!!

I have found a CRCA near my house before, but I was unable to get a diagnostic photo. It has been one of the birds that I have wanted to get proof of, since my first sighting in Maricopa. As the bird continued soaring in the thermals I noticed it was getting closer and closer and then all of the sudden the bird dove down and landed in a field that was not very far from us at all! And to add to all of this awesomeness, the CRCA was Mr. Paul's 200th bird of the year!!!

Crested Caracara!!!

 
Ms. Donna was telling Mr. Paul and I about how gutsy CRCA's can be, but once this guy made a TUVU back off I was amazed,  Ms. Donna was correct!!!

After we observed the caracara for a while, he decided he had to fly to another field.

Now, even with all of this caracara excitement I must move on to the other awesome birds that like the Arlington Valley.

Long-billed Curlew

 

Sandhill Crane

 

Lark Sparrow

 

Before we left Arlington I noticed a Red-tailed Hawk and I remembered that there is a "light morph" Harlin's Red-tailed Hawk that spends the winter here and has been for about 8 years now! The Harlin's RTHA is rare in AZ and the light morph makes up less than 1% of all Harlin's Hawks, so this bird is super rare in AZ!

 



 

Before we ended our birding trip we stopped by the Lower River Road Ponds one more time. When we parked the car and started scanning we found a flock of geese that consisted of 4 Ross's Geese and 6 Snow Geese.

 

The Ross's Geese are on the left and the Snow Geese are on the right.

 

The Ross's Geese were lifers for me so I tried to get closer, but when I got to where I could see the pond again I couldn't find them! However, I was still satisfied with my scope views.  Once I got back to my house I gave Mr. Tommy D (AKA "The King Of Maricopa") a call to let him know about the Crested Caracara (a bird he has yet to see in Maricopa). And after leaving a message he called me back and before I knew it he picked me up and we were on a chase! Unfortunately, we were unable to relocate the bird. After being slapped by the caracara we stayed in the area until after dusk to look for a Short-eared Owl (another bird Mr. Tommy has yet to get in Maricopa) but we struck out on that bird as well. We did however, see a couple of Great Horned Owls and a Burrowing Owl.

 

After getting back from Arlington for the second time I went to bed and woke up to go on my second IBA count, at the B & M. The Baseline and Meridian WA is one of my favorite places to bird. This place almost never lacks birds. In the summer they have breeding Ridgway's and Virginia Rails, Least Bitterns, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Barn and Great Horned Owls, in the spring and fall there is no telling what you might find, and in the winter they almost always have one or two rarities that stay for a while. Everyone met up at 7:15am and we birded in the mid 30 degree cold temps! One of our first highlights were two female Hooded Mergansers that flew around the large lake and ponds. After the mergansers we mostly just had the usual species, until I heard a very soft chip note coming from a thick riparian area west of Avondale bridge, it sounded like a cross in between a Yellow Warbler and a Lark Sparrow, but it was very soft and gentle. Upon getting closer I noticed it was a female American Redstart! I was able to get a couple of very bad photos, but hey they are diagnostic!

 

 

After the eastern warbler excitement we had to head back around, and we decided to bird a stand of riparian trees, just east of the bridge and on the north side of the river. Last year they had Eastern Phoebe and Orchard Oriole spend the winter in these trees, so we thought it would be worth it to check. It was very quiet at first but once the birds calmed down it became quite active. But things got awesome when we heard a Winter Wren calling from the extremely thick brush! This is the second time I have heard WIWR this month so who knows when I will finally get to see and maybe even photograph one these rail behaving-wrens! We ended the IBA survey with an awesome 60 species of bird at the B & M. I had an amazing two days of birding with many highlights and I must thank Mr. Joe Ford, Mr. Paul Doucett, Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben, Ms. Donna Smith, Ms. Haylie Hewitt, Ms. Vera Markham, and my parents for helping and allowing me to go out and bird!