Birding the beautiful Lockett Meadow

On September 25th I took yet another birding trip, a birdwalk lead by the Sonoran Audubon Society (SAS) to Lockett Meadow located in the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, Mr. Paul Doucett had invited me to come. My target bird was the Clark's Nutcracker, a bird I have had seen to many people crush! After about two and a half hours of driving we finally spied the mountains.

                                   The San Francisco Peaks hold the highest point in Arizona
Once we reached Flagstaff we stopped at a Mc Donald's and packed the seven of us into one van. After a bit more driving we turned onto a dirt road and after about three miles I saw a gray bird, with black wings with a white square and I knew right away that it was my lifer Clark's Nutcracker! But even with all of my exitement the car did not stop. Before we knew it we were at the beautiful Lockett Meadow with its tall pines, Douglas Firs, and Aspens covering the mountain, here is a photo.

  When we parked the car we started the walk. Our first stop was at a small pond where we were treated with both Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks.

 While watching the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks we also had this Red-tailed Hawk.

This day seemed to be good for raptors, by now we had about 3 Red-tails, 4 Sharpies and 5 Cooper's. While we were watching the raptors I saw a a small songbird flying that looked like a thrush or cowbird but it looked like it had a bit too much baring, but as I saw the bird fly deep into the forest I had a weird feeling that I had to look back and when I did I saw a Golden Eagle!!! We were all amazed at how majestic the eagle was, here are a few photos.

 Once the bird flew past the ridge our group all shared their stories on when they last saw a GOEA. While the group was talking I saw that small thrush sized bird fly high up into a tall pine, this is what the bird looked like through by binocs. Can you find it?

After looking at the bird for about 2 minutes I was finally able to identify it as a Northern Pygmy-Owl!!! I then quietly yelled that it was a NPOW but right when I said that and put my bins back up to where the bird was I didn't see it! This was terrible no one was going to believe me, so I started scanning the whole tree and I saw the bird come out of a bunch of pine needles and after 5 minutes of pointing out where the bird was everyone saw it! Here is a better photo of the bird.

I was totally satisfied with the day and we weren't even at noon yet! I then ran non-stop to the van to get my scope so we could get amazing looks at the distant bird but after a 1/6 of a mile of running in 9,000 foot elevation I opened the van and remembered that I left the scope back at the other car I came in at Flagstaff!!! I then had to run back to the group and explain what happened! After watching the bird for about an hour everyone started getting a bit hungry, so we headed back to the van and ate. But before we move on here is one more photo of the truely amazing NPOW.

After we ate our lunches we started birding up the mountain. The birds were not very active at all but we were able to find a few Red-breasted Nuthatches and a Clark's Nutcracker right in the sun!
                                                               Red-breasted Nuthatch

                                                                Clark's Nutcracker

The CLNU's didn't want me to photograph them (at least today) but I WILL be back for them and hopefully soon!!! I must thank the SAS and Mr. Paul for the awesome trip with two lifers!!!