Hitting the Jackpot!!!

Recently after going to the birding camp up in the Chiris I have kept in touch with Walker Noe, he and I talked about birding at the B and M and maybe even Tres Rios if we had the time. Now, neither Walker nor I are what I would call experienced planners. After going back and forth on where we should bird at we finally decided to just meet at the B and M and wing-it from there. I had one target bird for the day and that was the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which I have heard but never seen in the county, and Walker also had one main target which was his very overdue lifer Barn Owl. As soon as we arrived at the B and M we were greeted by an Osprey who posed for us.

Osprey

Once we started walking north along the road it didn't take us long to locate my target Yellow-billed.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

We gave up trying to get better views of the cuckoo shortly after losing the bird. We then decided to look for our second target of the day, the Barn Owl. Somehow three of the four fledgling Barn Owls died and after finding bullet shells under where the fledglings were staying it kinda summed up my investigation. However, one of the fledglings survived and the parents are still healthy.

Barn Owl

After locating these birds we were content with our day, but we looked at the clock and saw that it was only 6:00A.M. and we still had nearly five hours left to bird! So, from the B and M we hiked east towards the west end of the Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands. On our way there we had to hike through a quarter mile of barren ground which is excellent for Lesser Nighthawks, we even found a female incubating two little brown eggs.

Lesser Nighthawk

After observing the nighthawks we hiked further to the west end of Tres Rios which has many mature cottonwoods. On our way we passed by a nice green area which looked like it would be good habitat for almost any eastern vagrant and I jokingly said "What if there was a Painted Bunting in this patch?!" We laughed at how unlikely that would be but I have been having a lot of luck when it comes to pointing out stuff like that, so who knows! Before long we reached the west end of Tres Rios where we picked up a few more awesome species, like two more Yellow-billed Cuckoos, a Bullock's Oriole, a few more Blue Grosbeaks, and Walker's overdue lifer Yellow-breasted Chat. While scanning the large trees in search of anything else we decided to hike towards 91st Avenue which is about 2.5 miles from the west end. While Walker and I were talking and laughing at dumb "bird jokes" I spied a super distant bird on the top of a mesquite tree. After putting my binocs on I thought of many birds in my head "Baltimore Oriole? No. Orchard Oriole? No. What the heck, Walker, I see a male Painted Bunting!!!!!!!"

Painted Bunting!!!!

For a split second Walker thought I was just joking with him, but once he saw that I was serious we both nearly had heart-attacks!! The PABU was in an area where we couldn't get any closer because the trees were too thick to see through, but we enjoyed our distant but unbelievably awesome discovery! The bird then popped down into the super thick jungle of mesquites and we then decided to move on and see if our blessed day would get any better. While Walker and I were hiking further along the road we were still in shock of the amazing bird and we couldn't stop saying "What the HECK!!!". Once we reached the area where the trail splits into two we took the other side of the trail back west. The first area we checked out was a thick jungle of willows. While we scanned the area a Barn Owl flushed and a flock of forty-some grackles came out of nowhere and nearly harassed the owl to death! We continued on our way back to the bunting when Walker walked up to the edge of some reeds and I quietly screamed "STOP!" Walker turned around as if I screamed bloody murder (which I probably did). I then pointed out a Least Bittern about ten feet away!

Least Bittern

Least Bitterns are always a treat to see and I never take them for granted. The first time I had good looks of a Least Bittern, I actually heard it giving a very strange call first and after scanning the area where the call was coming from for over five minutes I finally found the source of the sound and I nearly fell in the lake in astonishment! Since then I have seen MANY Least Bitterns and I always stop to look at this awesome marsh-dwelling heron. After observing one of my favorite birds we had to move on as the heat was starting to creep up on us a little ("a little" as in "a little" over 100 degrees!), and before reaching the bunting spot a flock of three Caspian Terns flew over!

Caspian Tern

After the terns flew over, Walker and I had to try to avoid seeing or hearing any other birds so that our brains wouldn't explode from birding too hard! But despite our attempt we couldn't stop from hearing the song of the male Painted Bunting creeping in our muffled ears! However, Walker and I endured the pain of our exploded brains (and the now 105 degree heat) and searched for the singing bunting once again. This time the bunting was a lot more cooperative and provided mind-blowing views!

Painted Bunting

For you readers who survived the mind blow here are a couple less shocking photos.

Painted Bunting

Seeing all of these awesome birds was awesome! The PABU took the cake, no doubt in any mind, while the owls, nighthawks, and cuckoos gave the cake the perfect amount of icing, but after adding the Osprey crush, the Least Bittern crush, and the Caspian Terns flying over, I think the cake was inedible, but I still took it and here I am alive and unhealthy! After the awesome half day of birding with Walker I returned to the B and M and Tres Rios a few days later to show Mr. Joe Ford and Mr. Paul Doucett the bunting. We didn't just find the bunting but had great views of a Great Horned Owl!

Painted Bunting

Great Horned Owl

Seeing the Great Horned was kinda like a welcome to the the owler's club. Why am I all the sudden a huge owl fan? Well you'll have to wait till my next post to find out. But until then keep those nocs in reach and "Bird HARD!!!"

My First Young Birder's Camp (Part 2)

After our second day of birding, I again set my alarm for five in the morning so Walker and I could get an early start to our last day of the camp and bird hard! Before we began birding we were joined by another one of the young birders. As soon as we walked down into the creek behind the Research Station there was a flock of Mexican Jays mobbing us.

Mexican Jay--With some bling-bling in his wrists!

Even though we were birding hard we couldn't seem to find any Buff-breasted Flycatchers! Before long our hour was up and it was time for us to make a quick stop by Cave Creek Canyon--South Fork where we would once again try for Elegant Trogons. To no surprise we ended up unsuccessful, but bird numbers were a lot higher than the previous day due to it being in the morning. After returning back to camp and eating lunch we drove over to Stateline Road. Stateline Road it is right on the border of New Mexico and Arizona. Walker and I were exited to bring our NM state lists from 0 to over 12. This stop was fairly short and unproductive but we made the most of that ten minutes! Our next and last stop of  camp was in the town of  Portal where we basically walked up the road and checked out a few feeders. While most everyone took a bathroom break I birded around the area and picked up quite a few good birds.

Pyrrhuloxia

Blue Grosbeak

Barn Swallow

 Bronzed Cowbird

As I write this post the brutal thought still goes through my head that we missed AZ's first record of Clay-colored Thrush by a mile, A MILE!!!!!!! No, I am not fooling with you birders, someone just reported a Clay-colored Thrush in their yard in Portal a few days ago! After a little while Mr. John Yerger spotted yet another owl, only this one was a Western Screech on its day roost.

Western Screech-Owl

Once we headed back to the Station we ate lunch and everyone said their goodbyes. However, Mr. Ford and I were not quite done birding yet! We had plans to go birding at Madera Canyon for a little while before heading back to Buckeye. On our way to Madera I was pretty tired (first time I've ever been tired on a birding trip!) but that all changed when we stopped by a gas station and I bought a forty-some ounce cup of soda and gulped it up! When we arrived at the lower elevations of Madera Canyon we stopped in hopes of finding Boteri's and/or Cassin's Sparrows. It didn't take me long to find my 4th lifer of the trip, a Boteri's Sparrow!

Boteri's Sparrow

We heard at least two or three other Boteri's calling or singing but they kept themselves hidden. We didn't hear or see any Cassin's Sparrows but an awesome surprise came when I was listening and I heard the "kit kerr, kit kerr, kit kerr" call of the Scaled Quail (lifer and target bird)! But the area where I heard them from was fenced off, so I didn't try much on attempting for a visual. We then made a short stop at the Santa Rita Lodge where I happened to look down and see a female Varied Bunting, but by the time it hit me that it was a Varied the bird had hopped into a thick bush.

Varied Bunting-- Lifer #7 of the Trip!!!

While we watched the hummingbird feeders in hopes of a Mexican Vagrant flying in we talked with a few people about an area where they have had good luck on Black-capped Gnatcatchers and after getting some directions we found ourselves along with another couple of birders who were from Ohio at the parking lot of our last birding destination of the trip! The couple said that the BCGN was one of their target birds for their AZ trip so the pressure was on to find this bird. In the past I have only seen this species once and it was a female that was pointed out to me as she sat on her nest, so I have never actually seen them doing much. The lady who told us about the birds said that the BCGNs are usually about a mile down the trail but we didn't exactly have enough time to hike a mile so we were pretty much winging it. As we were hiking along the trail I heard a Black-capped Gnatcatcher call, we waited to see if the bird would come out of the thick brush but it didn't. While we were waiting for the gnatcatcher we had amazing views of a couple of Dusky-capped Flycatchers.

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Losing the gnatcatcher was pretty disappointing but we decided to hike further. Our group then started to break up but everything changed when I spied the bird low in a mesquite!

Black-capped Gnatcatcher

I yelled "Guys I have the bird!" and before long we all had great views and even a few okay photos of the adult male Black-capped Gnatcatcher as it actively fed in front of us.

Black-capped Gnatcatcher

The BCGN is a rare but increasing gnatcatcher that resides in Mexico and now, several areas in southeastern AZ. To identify the Black-capped from its more common Black-tailed and Blue-gray cousins it is best to use its all white undertail, long bill, and all black mask (with no white at all above and usually below eye). Seeing this bird was an awesome way to end the trip and before we reached the car I even had brief views of another!!  A huge thanks goes out to my Mom and Dad, Mr. Tom, Mr. Ford, Walker, and the trip leaders for making this happen and making it fun!!! A weekend I will remember always " My first Young Birders Camp".  I would encourage any, especially novice young birders to look it up and go next year.

My First Young Birder's Camp-- The Chiricahua's (Part 1)

A few months ago I was informed that on the AZNM Listserve there was going to be a young birder's camp to the Chiricahua Mountains in SEAZ, of course I jumped at the opportunity and thanks to Mr. Tom Hildebrandt, Mr. Joe Ford, and my parents I was able to go! I haven't ever been to a young birder's camp or the to the Chiricahuas, so this was kinda like killing two birds with one stone (no birds were harmed in the making of this post). Well on June 12th I was headed up towards Wilcox with Mr. Ford, where we would meet up with the rest of the camp. The night before the trip we had plans to chase an Elegant Tern in Tucson before going to Wilcox but of course when we were almost to Tuscon I looked on the listserve to see that the tern had just left!!! After laughing about the report we had to make a quick change of plans, so we instead decided to bird around St. David which is just south of Benson. Our target bird for this area was the Mississippi Kite which can be seen in fairly good numbers in this area. Once Mr. Ford and I arrived at the St. David Holy Trinity we started birding and it wasn't long before Mr. Ford and I found a couple of Tropical Kingbirds.

Tropical Kingbird

While Mr. Ford watched some of his favorite birds like Northern Cardinals, Bullock's Orioles, Vermilion Flycatchers, Yellow Warblers, and Phainopeplas I kept my eyes in the skies for any kites. After birding the area for nearly forty-five minutes it was time to leave but just as we were getting into the car to leave I spied a super distant raptor and once I lifted my binocs onto the bird I was pumped to find that it was my buzzer-beating Mississippi Kite swooping down into the riparian forest! I was ecstatic to see a lifer before the camp even started! We then made our way over to Wilcox where we met up with the other birders before the camp I kept in touch with Walker Noe (who was my roommate during the camp), and before I even met him I knew that we were going to be what we called "A one-two punch of awesomeness"! Walker and I had six main target birds for the trip: Blue-throated Hummingbird, Scaled Quail, Mexican Whip-poor-will, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Buff-breasted Flycatcher, and our most sought after target of the trip, the Mexican Chickadee! Before we headed over to the Southwestern Research Station where we were staying, we made a quick stop by Rustler Park (an area known for getting MECHs at). The area had a few birds like these Yellow-eyed Juncos.

Yellow-eyed Junco

After the short stop by Rustler we made our way to the Station, where Walker and I walked down to the hummingbird feeders where we saw our first target of the trip, the Blue-throated Hummingbird.

Blue-throated Hummingbird--male

Blue-throated Hummingbird--female

Walker and I spent a lot of time during camp at the hummingbird feeders in search of the best photo opportunity or a Plain-capped Starthroat (guess which one we got). Magnificent Hummingbirds (like the Blue-throats) are quite numerous around the feeders.

Magnificent Hummingbird--male

Magnificent Hummingbird--female

After the hummingbirds, we explored some of the nearby drainages in search of any Buff-breasted Flycatchers. Spoiler-alert, we didn't find any BBFLs during the whole trip even after searching several drainages many times! After a little more birding we made our first owling trip to a nearby home. Even though we had a group of over twenty people we made it work, somehow. While we stood in the day  I looked up in the night sky and spotted an Elf Owl! Mr. John Yerger (the owl master) said that he didn't want us using flash photography, which is nearly impossibly at night time so this was the most that I could manage.

Elf Owl--In nesting cavity

The owling trip wasn't very long so Walker and I asked for permission to do a little owling afterwards and our permission was granted! So Walker and I owled around the Station for about forty-five minutes before we had to come back. We had two nocturnal targets for the trip, Whiskered Screech-Owl and Mexican Whip-poor-will. As we walked along the edge of a creek we were amazed to hear a Whiskered Screech-Owl give its descend "to to to to to to to to" call, Lifer #3 for the trip!!! We continued our owl excursion along the creek but the only other birds we could hear were a pair of Elf Owls laughing in the canopy of the tall sycamores. Before long it was time to go to sleep and then start a new day of birding. We started the next day early at 5:00 A.M. The first highlight was a calling Northern Pygmy-Owl that happened to be a lifer for Walker and only the second time for me. After hearing the owl it was time for breakfast. As soon as I was done eating I walked towards the feeders and was pumped to hear an Elegant Trogon calling from the creek! I quickly ran to get Walker and Dalton (Walker's younger brother) so we could possibly get a visual. While we were on our way to where I heard the trogon I spotted another lifer for Walker, a Northern Goshawk, flying low over the creek. After searching for the trogon without success we made our way to Cave Creek--South Fork, in hopes of seeing trogons. I don't know if you've noticed but it is hard enough trying to see a trogon by yourself but times that by 21 and you get stuck rubbing the belly of a rubber-chicken (you would have to be there to understand)! Of course the rubber-chicken didn't work and no trogons were seen, but while we were walking along the road I pointed out to an area that looked promising for a trogon to be nesting, and sure enough after walking past that area a trogon started calling from the exact patch of oaks I pointed to! There wasn't too much at the South Fork except for a brief glimpse of a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher flying over. Our next stop was at Turkey Creek where Walker and I were hoping to get a Mexican Chickadee at but we of course came up empty. Our chances of getting the MECH started to thin out as we ran out of time but luckily our group's leaders decided to make one last stop at Rustler Park. The group said that we were only going to picnic at this area but Walker and I got permission from the leaders to go on birding hard while everyone ate lunch, we had one hour to find the Mexican Chickadee, one hour and that was it! So Walker and I hiked up the hillside (off trail) to a ridge where we listened for a while. While we were hiking along the ridge I heard a "chi chi" call that sounded good for MECH but it was so distant that it was hard to tell where it was coming from. We listened for about ten minutes without hearing the bird again until we decided to hike further along the ridge, then the bird called again only this time we both heard it! While we waited yet again for the bird to call I looked way out to where I had just seen a bird flitting around and once I put my binocs on it I saw that it was feeding and acting like a chickadee but it disappeared into the canopy of the firs. We walked over to where I saw it, I was frustrated to find no signs of any birds! But after about fifteen minutes of waiting I finally got a good look at that songster!

Mexican Chickadee!!!!!

After screaming "There it is!!!!!" Walker got on the bird and we nervously followed the bird hoping that it wouldn't fly away into the forest. As Walker and I observed the bird, it strangely hopped onto an odd perch, on a dead tree.

The Mexican Chickadees in the United States can only be found in two mountain ranges, the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona and the Animas Mountains in Southwestern New Mexico. With the Chiris being the only place in AZ where you can find Mexican Chickadee a lot of birders come out to this mountain range just for that one bird! It was a huge relief for Walker and I to find this bird, and we definitely didn't hold out on the fist-bumps! It only got better when we found that there wasn't just one but two MECHs!

Walker then decided to go back to the group and tell them about our discovery while I stayed and watched the bird to make sure that it didn't go anywhere. While I watched the chickadee it strangely returned to the same dead tree that it came to earlier, that was when I noticed that it was bringing food to its nest that was in a cavity!!!

Mexican Chickadee--Bringing food to its fledglings!!!

Once Walker returned with the whole group I told them the good news and we had a memorable time of watching the chickadees go back-and-forth bringing food to their fledglings.

Waiting for the chickadee...   Photo by Ms. Jennie MacFarland

 To add onto the chickadee's awesomeness it was my 300th bird for the year! Even though it was hard to leave the chickadees, we had to go back to camp. Walker and I did even more birding while at camp, the only time that we weren't birding was when we were sleeping and sometimes when we were eating, but other than that we were birding HARD!!!! After birding, eating, and giving a short presentation we went on our second night of owling, only this time the only bird we heard was a Whiskered Screech-Owl that called once. So again we went out to do a little owling afterwards only this time it was Walker, Dalton, and I. A huge thanks to Ms. Jennie MacFarland for letting us borrow her speaker for bird calls! As we started owling we could hear the Whiskered still calling and soon after that we heard a pair of Elf Owls calling from close by and we even got a few photos!

Elf Owl

The Elf Owl is the smallest owl in the world and is only about the size of a chunky sparrow! This was only the second time I have seen the Elf so getting to photograph them on my second try was pretty cool. After heading back from the Elf Owl I decided to whistle the call of the Whiskered Screech-Owl out of my window and I had one react and several people got glimpses of it flying back-and-forth. I had an amazing first two days of the trip and the next day only got better! Stay Tuned to find out what I might see next.