Spring Chasing!

Yes, spring is finally here! The time of year when you can't keep up with the birds, when every day of birding is different, when you look at a distant raptor only to find a large flock of Swainson's Hawks, spring is awesome! In the past two weeks I've been very fortunate as to being able to bird quite often. On April 9th I had just gotten back from a great birdwalk at Estrella Mountain Regional Park and a nice hike with an awesome friend when I decided to chill for the rest of the day. However, a quick look at the AZNM Listserve totally changed my plans! Ms. Melanie Herring had just found a Crested Caracara about six miles from my house! Immediately I jumped on my secondary bike (my good bike's tire popped recently so there I was on my three-year-old BMX bike) and zoomed over to the field that she had the bird in. I arrived at the field about two or three hours after she found the bird and knowing caracaras this bird had likely gone off and continued on, however, you never know with these unusual birds. On my way to the caracara a nice Swainson's Hawk sat close to the road on a telephone wire.

Swainson's Hawk

Approaching the area where the caracara had been seen earlier, I started scanning the berms in the fields and quickly spotted what looked like a Bald Eagle x Dinosaur hybrid!

Crested Caracara

Throughout my birding career I have seen six Crested Caracaras in Maricopa County and four of those have been in Buckeye. This caracara was the beginning of a great week of rarity chasing! My next chase was an unexpected one. On April 14th I had plans to help Ms. Susan Fishburn find some yearbirds for her Maricopa yearlist. We met at the Glendale Recharge Ponds where we enjoyed a couple of fledgling Great Horned Owls.

Great Horned Owls

However, once she found out that I didn't have Golden-crowned Sparrow for Maricopa she, in her kind heart'd ways, proudly drove me out to Wild Horse Pass Spa in Chandler. I have had bad experiences with Golden-crowned Sparrows in Maricopa. To start it off a Golden-crowned Sparrow had been spending several years at a spot in Sun City but the year I became a birder I decided to wait until the next winter to chase it. Well the sparrow never came back so there goes that! Then last winter a Golden-crowned Sparrow was found at Phon D. Sutton along the Lower Salt River. The sparrow had stayed for two months and was super easy to get (most people got it within 15 minutes or sometimes less) so my Bird Hard Bro Walker Noe and I chased it! Well it turns out that in those two months it stayed we searched for it on the day that it left! So I didn't want this to be a third miss. We arrived at the Spa at around noon and I jumped out of the car and immediately walked over to the patch of grass that it had been seen on. No sparrows were on the grass but all the sudden I saw movement way back in the brush and once I put my binocs on it I could clearly see that it was my Maricoper Golden-crowned Sparrow!!! After a little waiting my prize proudly perched in the open.

Golden-crowned Sparrow--Maricoper #326!!!

The Golden-crowned Sparrow was my last North American Zonotrichia (including White-crowned, White-throated, Golden-crowned, and Harris's Sparrows) I needed for Maricopa. After enjoying the sparrow, truly worthy of a golden crown, we birded across the valley in search of yearbirds. Then on Saturday morning of April 16th I woke up earlier than I normally do but soon after awakening my weekend rest I got a call from Ms. Laura Ellis asking me if I'd like to chase a Red-necked Grebe at Canyon Lake! Of course I said yes, and before long I found myself at the beautiful Canyon Lake in northeastern Maricopa County! We arrived at the overlook of the lake and although the lake was a ways off I brought out the scope and found a distant flock of Western Grebes, then I noticed that the Red-necked Grebe was mixed in!!! My looks were super distant and not satisfying so we drove closer. Then we found the flock of grebes again (only this time there were Eared Grebes too) and I quickly spotted the Red-necked Grebe only a lot closer!

Red-necked Grebe--Maricoper #327!!!

I then decided to do something crazy. In my shorts I was gonna bushwhack down the scrubby/thorny hill down to the water's edge and get some better photos. And better photos I got!

Red-necked Grebe

Nearly all of Maricopa's Red-necked Grebe records are from the winter and they're in their drab gray-and-white winter plumage. However, this bird was in striking breeding plumage and was amazing to see! When I first saw a Red-necked Grebe it was in its winter plumage and in a lake in the forests of Northern Idaho. To see this bird in breeding plumage in a lake in the deserts of Central Arizona was practically the opposite of my first sighting!

The Red-necked Grebe was a grand bird, and although it wasn't a lifer it kinda felt like it. This bird has probably been my favorite of my Maricopers this year (very close to Northern Parula)! Throughout the area there were many Eared Grebes catching fish. Coming from a fisherman, it is amazing how birds can catch fish in front of your face when you have your pole in the water and haven't even had a bite! The Creator definitely knew what he was doing when he made these amazing creatures!

Eared Grebe

I had an overall amazing couple weeks of birding and getting two Maricopers within a week was awesome! Thanks Ms. Susan and Ms. Laura for helping me out on these Maricopers! You can look forward to me starting up my monthly posts on my patch in May, but until then here is a sneak-peek photo from my patch that I recently took.

Franklin's Gull

Have a great week everyone!!!

God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!

Caleb

When Bird Hardness Pays Off!

I must apologize for the brief post but I didn't take many photos and have been writing deprived due to a writing class for school. But bad grammar and all, here you go!

Recently, I've been sick quite a bit. However, just a few days ago I finally got better and was able to chase my lifer and Maricoper Northern Parula. While I was watching the parula my birding friends Ms. Susan Fishburn and Ms. Laura Ellis pulled up and we birded a bit together. After birding I mentioned to Ms. Susan about chasing a recently found Rose-throated Becard near Thatcher, AZ. Now the Rose-throated Becard has always been a dream bird of mine but they have become increasingly hard to find in the USA lately, so I contacted most everyone I knew to try to chase this bird yet no one was willing to take me out there. However, Ms. Susan saved the day and we quickly made plans to chase the bird on April 5th! I was so anxious to chase this bird, and when I get my mind fixed on something I become almost addicted! And before long I was getting ready the night before the big day when I went to the dreaded Texas Roadhouse with my family. Now I haven't had any good experiences at this restaurant but I honestly didn't mind where we ate. After eating out I returned to my house and all the sudden felt sick, long story short the ribs which my taste buds thought were great, my stomach didn't and they came back up! Now I was whooped! Dehydrated and worn out, I knew that I had gotten food poisoning! However, the food was out and I knew I would survive so after two hours of sleep I headed out to meet Susan Fishburn, Laura Ellis, and Steve and Joan Hosmer to chase one of my many dream birds! After an exhausting three hour drive to Cluff Ranch where the Rose-throated Becard had been seen I exited the car and was pumped! I immediately walked down the trail to where the bird had been seen near pond #3 and started scanning the area. Although, I was pumped I was still tired and dehydrated and my senses didn't feel altogether, so overall I wasn't really altogether. Minutes of scanning the area quickly turned to hours and I was getting really tired and worn down. Mr. Steve and I had heard a call that sounded exactly like the becard's but we couldn't find anything but a bunch of Yellow Warblers! Three hours had passed and I had checked the same quarter mile of river like six times at least! I was losing hope and getting really hungry and even more tired! Would this be a failed chase??? Would we have to make the three hour drive back to Phoenix without saying a word??? The thoughts of failure were going through my mind. No! I must not think this way! I had to carry on and find the bird! I returned to where the bird was usually seen and there it was again, the descending whistle of the Rose-throated Becard! This time I knew it was the bird! So I ran to where I thought the bird was and many birders were going crazy trying to spot the bird. All of the sudden a medium sized songbird flew down to a low tree and I had thoughts on what it was and once I put my binocs on it I confirmed that it was the Rose-throated Becard!!! I yelled out to the birders that I could see the bird from where I was and in the rush of getting to me the bird flew. I then got to a different angle to where I thought I might be able to see the bird and after a little owl whistling and pishing the bird flew up and out in the open! Instead of lifting my camera and taking pictures I described where in the tree the bird was and made sure everyone were to see it. After about ten minutes of chasing the bird around and describing where the bird was I was able to shoot one distant diagnostic shot of the bird's head.

Rose-throated Becard!!!

It was awesome getting to see this dream bird of mine and hearing it call several times. It made it all the better that everyone got decent views too! This trip was a great one and it was a good lesson on where bird hardness will bring me!

God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!

Caleb