tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46295448285781547522024-03-05T07:32:39.785-08:00 Birding With CalebCaleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-57398723840504879432022-12-09T15:59:00.002-08:002022-12-09T16:07:26.634-08:00The Great Bohemian Waxwing Irruption: What, how and where to look<p> Hey everyone,</p><p><br /></p><p>After a hiatus long in posting for the past six years I have hopped back on the blog with some exciting news! As many of you have probably noticed by now, the winter of 2022-2023 is turning out to be an exceptional year for irruptive species. Most notably, for Arizona, is the possibility of getting Bohemian Waxwings as they've been rapidly working their way south with recent records from Pueblo (just reported today on 12/9/22) and Baca Counties in Colorado, a single individual in Lone Pine, California, and several flocks around Salt Lake City, Utah.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>2022 Aug-Dec reports of Bohemian Waxwing on eBird -- Courtesy of eBird</u></i></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiNQlVDbMliyaEBIIkNqRMmFF9frUjmceC8TQTp19JENubdjp0IHztg4drPORQ1_m4iuhBGIdwIbRkHw5UypCOM4cpvfbmssZUf5XMovfWMTaB7bbowcF5F8Rvtu44sOETR0aHHaUv5CQsDZhhEIA3A1vtOdtJR7hmLhAjPDrIL4gSqmTU74NuUb4ag/s1141/372314D8-52E5-43B8-8F4E-A8A23D73410D.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="1141" height="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOiNQlVDbMliyaEBIIkNqRMmFF9frUjmceC8TQTp19JENubdjp0IHztg4drPORQ1_m4iuhBGIdwIbRkHw5UypCOM4cpvfbmssZUf5XMovfWMTaB7bbowcF5F8Rvtu44sOETR0aHHaUv5CQsDZhhEIA3A1vtOdtJR7hmLhAjPDrIL4gSqmTU74NuUb4ag/w631-h423/372314D8-52E5-43B8-8F4E-A8A23D73410D.jpeg" width="631" /></a></div><br /><p>Given the lack of much birding coverage in extreme northern including the Arizona Strip, there could very well be Bohemian Waxwings in the state as your read this! If you're starting to feel a great urge to get out and look for this species, you now know the feeling I've had for the past week as I've tracked their irruption south. So to no further avail, here's some info on what to look for in finding and identifying this boreal species, how to look, and where to put yourself in order to maximize your odds at coming across one.</p><p><br /></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><u>Identification:</u></span></b></p><p>Bohemian Waxwing is in the same genus as its more commonly-known sister species, the Cedar Waxwing. There's only one of species of waxwing in the world, Japanese Waxwing, but as the name implies that species occurs in East Asia, so we will only compare Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings. Luckily, the identification between these two species is easy and straightforward. Bohemian Waxwing is larger in size than Cedar, so the size will often catch one's eye first. Going into detail in plumage, the most obvious identification features one will observe are the chestnut rust undertail coverts, a broad white horizontal line above the primaries, and a white or yellow vertical line going down the primaries. Other less-obvious field-marks include a more contrasting black throat, a pinkish-red hue to the front of the face, and a colder gray-toned body and belly (as where Cedar has a yellow belly). </p><p><br /></p><p>Vocalizations also differ between the two species with Bohemian often-times giving calls that are lower pitched, more drawn-out staccato notes in the trill making it sound slower, and a downslur to the entire series. </p><p>To see these differences click (<a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/species-compare/#:~:text=Adult,feathers%20that%20Cedar%20Waxwings%20lack." target="_blank">HERE</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u><span style="font-size: medium;">How To Look:</span></u></b></p><p>Waxwings are social birds often times mixing in flocks containing both species, robins, starlings, and bluebirds, so finding one (or a whole flock) is relatively easy if you get on a flock and scan through each individual bird. Remember, large size, rusty undertail coverts, and pale lines around the wing tips! These flocks travel around together in search of fruiting trees, which is a big clue on finding them. Waxwings will feed on about any type of edible fruit but they especially like crabapples, cherries, junipers and russian olive. The former two trees are often times planted in neighborhoods in rather low numbers so staking out a tree in that setting will likely be more productive than to set yourself in a mid-elevation filled with hundreds to thousands of juniper trees where they could be anywhere. Keeping an eye out for feeding flocks of waxwings, bluebirds, and robins with greatly increase your chances of finding a Bohemian!</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u><span style="font-size: medium;">Where To Look:</span></u></b></p><p>Depending on how much longer the irruption lasts and how much further south these birds move will determine where in the state they show up. Historically, there are records from as far south as Portal (Cochise County, AZ) and Seven Springs (Maricopa County, AZ) and given how early these birds are occurring so far south (normally the peak of the irruption doesn't happen till January and February in the Southwest), this could very well be one of those years where they show up in Central or Southern Arizona. However, I'm going to place my bets where I feel most confident these birds are going to first be found, and that's in far northern Arizona (Flagstaff and north). Thus, I will focus on areas to search within this region. The NAU campus is a location with fruiting trees and has hosted a large flock in the past but my good friend John Wilson in currently taking classes there so he will surely find them if they are around. Other spots that come to mind include towns and cities such as Chinle, Many Farms, Tsaile, Kayenta, Ganado, Tuba City, Page, Fredonia, Colorado City, and Littlefield. Along the Lower Colorado River Valley Bohemian Waxwings have also been found feeding on the fruit of the abundant palms plants all over the residential areas. </p><p><br /></p><p>With all of that information, I hope you feel a little better on the search! If you have any questions or would like to discuss this irruption with me feel free to comment or email me at strandcaleb@yahoo.com</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-23525509533913410892016-09-10T20:58:00.002-07:002016-09-10T20:58:20.093-07:00Fall Madness: Shorebirding And More!!!Over the last few years that I have been birding I have known fall as the time of year when there is so much potential for rarities that it can become overwhelming. For example, one might go to a local migrant trap and find a crazy fallout of warblersm but that's not it. There's always the possibility of a wandering frigatebird or jaeger to fly over or an Upland or Buff-breasted Sandpiper to be feeding in the fields surrounding that stand of trees you are scanning. This fall one family of bird has taken the spotlight, shorebirds. Now for those who are unfamiliar with the taxonomy of shorebirds, shorebirds include plovers, stilts, avocets, curlews, and sandpipers. Fortunately I live in between two of the most productive shorebirdsing spots in the county, the Glendale Recharge Ponds and the Gila Bend Area. Between these two areas there are many ponds and fields (which when flooded produce many "shorbs") that can be very productive at times.<br />
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In Arizona fall migration for shorebirds starts in late-June/early-July. So having a Western Willet be one of the first shorebird migrants I found in early July was pretty cool!<br />
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<b><u>Western Willet (record shot)</u></b></div>
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A few days later, in mid-July, I was wandering around my house completing various chores off of "the list" my mom gave me for the day when fellow bird-hard birder Tommy D gave me a call. He excitingly explained that he was on his way to my house to pick me up to see a couple Black Skimmers (a code 5 for the county!) which Duane Morse (founder of Maricopa's one and only record of White-eared Hummingbird) had just found at the Lower River Road Ponds about 20 miles west of my house. Finishing up on the list, Tommy picked me up and we zoomed over to the Lower River Road Ponds. Before even parking the car we spied the skimmers hunting over one of the ponds!<br />
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<b><u>Black Skimmer</u></b></div>
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These skimmers were a Maricoper for both Tommy and I, and not one we exactly expected to get this fall! There were also a couple other birders present watching the skimmers, Barb Meding and Melanie Herring. Together, the four of us enjoyed observing these very unique birds.<br />
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<b><u>Black Skimmer</u></b></div>
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Although I got back to my house fairly early in the day, many other birders got to enjoy Duane's great find! But then something crazy happened, even crazier than the skimmers. Later that evening, while I was chilling at the crib I got a call from Kurt Radamaker and he told me that he had found an alternate plumaged Hudsonian Godwit about a mile away from the Lower River Road Ponds in a dairy slop pond!!! There was one problem, however, it was too late to chase the HudWit that day because the sun had just set and the pond he found it in was about a half hour away. I got in contact with Tommy, yet again, and we made plans to search for the godwit very early in the morning. So for the second time in the last 24 hours, Tommy picked me up from my house and we drove over to the Palo Verde Area. Tommy and I were the first birders to arrive at the slop ponds so we split up and scanned the two ponds from opposite sides. After scanning for less than five minutes I yelled "Tommy, I got the bird!" and boom, we were looking at Maricopa's 3rd ever Hudsonian Godwit!<br />
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<b><u>Hudsonian Godwit</u></b></div>
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Within five minutes of spotting the HudWit the birders started rolling in and before we knew it there were around 30 birders present watching Kurt's amazing find! Unfortunately the land owners didn't allow birders onto their property (for any possible liability issues) but either way we enjoyed this awesome bird!<br />
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<b><u>Hudsonian Godwit</u></b></div>
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<b><u>#photobombdabfail (photo by Tyler Loomis)</u></b></div>
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With the HudWit and skimmers being found in the same day I knew there was more out there! Since then I have been scanning most every pond between Buckeye (sometimes Glendale) and Gila Bend in search of rarities about once every-other week, most of the time with success. Now shorebirding can become addicting and I was definitely hooked for the fall! The first of the rare species of shorb for AZ I started finding this fall was the Semipalmated Sandpiper, an overlooked and overeported species in Maricopa County.<br />
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<b><u>Semipalmated Sandpiper</u></b></div>
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Semipalmated Sandpipers can be distinguished from Western by their short rather stout blunt-tipped bill, darker streaked ariculars, the brown streaked breast band, and unique overall brown scapulars/mantle. They can also be separated from the Least Sandpiper by its light supercillium and throat, more scaley patterned scapulars, broader bill, lightly streaked ariculars and crown, and black legs (not always a good field mark because bad lighting and/or mud can effect the look of the legs).<br />
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<b><u>Least Sandpiper (left) Semipalmated Sandpiper (right)</u></b> </div>
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Another shorebird that is rare yet regular in the county in fall which I had found earlier on in fall was an adult Short-billed Dowitcher, my first time seeing an adult in the county.<br />
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<b><u>Short-billed Dowitcher</u></b></div>
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In Arizona most every Short-billed Dowitcher we get are of the inland subspecies <i>Hendersoni</i>,<i> </i>which just so happens to be the most similar subspecies of SBDO to Long-billed. Luckily Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers both give very different calls. Long-billed often gives a sharp "Peep" call sometimes given in a series when excited or flushed, while Short-billed gives a series of "tu"s or usually a distinctive "tu tu tu" call which almost sounds like a call a songbird would give. However, for a beginner the yellowlegs can sound similar to a SBDO so be cautious with IDing dowitchers by voice. Identifying adult Long-billed Dowitchers from adult <i>Hendersoni</i> Short-billed Dowitchers visually is perhaps unreliable but with first-fall juveniles it is a completely different story! In juvenile plumage both dowitchers have a relatively buffy breast, spotted undertail coverts, and rufous bordered feathers on the mantle/back, they can also appear overall more gray/brown than adult dowitchers. However, juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers are know to have what birders call "tiger-striped tertials", I've also noticed they have a dark ear patch. Now one might not know where the "tertials" are, well the tertials are found near the wing tips (when the wings are folded). Here's a photo with an arrow pointing towards the tertials of a juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher.<br />
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<b><u>Juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher (left) and adult Long-billed Dowitchers (right)</u></b></div>
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Here are a couple more photos of juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers I've recently seen.<br />
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<b><u>Juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers--Note the dark ear patch</u></b></div>
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Both dowitchers in the photo above are Short-billed, note the overall plumage color is different in these birds. That is likely due to age.<br />
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In adult dowitchers a field mark which is often useful in fall <i>in Arizona</i> is wing-molt. Now adult Long-billed Dowitchers are one of only a few shorebirds which molt their wing feathers in migration. On the other hand Short-billed molts its wing feathers on its wintering grounds. So in fall migration in Arizona any dowitcher which is molting its wing feathers is a Long-billed as where an adult dowitcher in Arizona in fall migration which shows no wing molt is likely a Short-billed. However, wing molt can be hard to see in many cases so this "field-mark" is to be used with caution.<br />
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Before I step away from the dowitchers here are a couple of very useful articles on these two strikingly similar species and how to distinguish them apart.<br />
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<a href="https://www.aba.org/birding/v38n5p34.pdf">https://www.aba.org/birding/v38n5p34.pdf</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.aba.org/birding/v37n4p380.pdf">https://www.aba.org/birding/v37n4p380.pdf</a><br />
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In mid-August while doing one of my casual shorebird runs with fellow birders <a href="http://adamscommand.blogspot.com/">Joshua Smith</a>, Laura Ellis, and Steve Hosmer I spotted a Ruddy Turnstone!!!<br />
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<b><u>Ruddy Turnstone</u></b> </div>
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Now the Ruddy Turnstone use to be a sketch species for Arizona back in the day when they were quite regular, however, but in the last 10 to 20 years we have had very few records with only 6 in the state since the status change to a review species. As a matter of fact, there hadn't been any records of RUTU in Maricopa in over 20 year!<br />
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<b><u>Ruddy Turnstone</u></b> </div>
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To add the the rare yet regular shorebirds I had been finding on these shorb runs, a few Sanderlings and a Snowy Plovers made things nice.<br />
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<b><u>Sanderling (right) with Western Sandpipers</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Snowy Plover</u></b></div>
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On a recent shorb run with <a href="http://tommysbirdingexpeditions.blogspot.com/">Tommy D</a> and Ms. Susan Fishburn we checked up on one of the ponds in the Gila Bend Area and found a juvenile Red Knot, the first for Maricopa County in seven years.<br />
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<b><u>Red Knot</u></b></div>
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Although not a shorebird, a recent chase to see, a would be lifer Tricolored Heron provided me with not just great photos but great selfies ;)<br />
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<b><u>Tricolored Heron</u></b></div>
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Now with the second week of September rolling in shorbs are gonna start slowing down before I know it. But before I'm done with "pond patrol" for the fall I still have two shorebirds in mind, Buff-breasted and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers! This year has been a great one for Buff-breasted Sandpipers and the northwest appears to be getting hit pretty hard by this species so it shouldn't be too long before one shows up in the southwest. Whether the fall of 2016 is the year for this species to make its way back into the state again or not, I do not know, but I shall certainly keep an eye out!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br /><br />Caleb<br />
Buckeye, AZ<br />
<br />Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-75033439206460283192016-07-06T14:15:00.003-07:002016-07-06T14:16:12.597-07:00The Start To Cleaning Up My AZ LifersRecently, I have been running out of birds in Arizona. I now only have less than 10 birds that breed in AZ to get for my life list! Over the 4th of July I made plans to bird the next day with Ms. Susan Fishburn, Mr. <a href="http://desertwing.blogspot.com/">Gordon Karre</a>, and <a href="http://adamscommand.blogspot.com/">Joshua Smith</a> in Southeastern Arizona to search for 4 potential lifers. Purple Gallinule, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Cassin's Sparrow (overdue), and Rufous-capped Warbler. The Purple Gallinule and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher are vagrants to AZ, the Cassin's Sparrow is a common breeder in in grasslands in Southern parts of the state, and the Rufous-capped Warbler is a rare and local breeder in only a few canyons in the Southeastern corner of AZ. Additionally, my life list has been stuck at 449 for the past couple of weeks so reaching 450 would be awesome!<br />
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We left the Phoenix area early in the morning to arrive at the Sweetwater Wetlands and search for the gallinule. When we arrived we found out that the wetlands were closed for a couple hours due to bug spraying. Instead of waiting for the wetlands to open we decided to hit Sierra Vista first and search for the gallinule on our way back to the valley. Approaching the stand of trees which the flycatcher had been staying in, I heard my first lifer of the trip, the Cassin's Sparrow! We stopped the car and started searching the area in hopes of getting a visual. Cassin's Sparrows actually turned out to be fairly abundant in the surrounding grasslands and it wasn't too long before I spied one perched on a short tree!<br />
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<b><u>Cassin's Sparrow--#450!!!</u></b></div>
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While we were watching the CASPs a couple of Botteri's Sparrows popped up and started singing as well!<br />
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<b><u>Botteri's Sparrow</u></b></div>
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A Chihuahuan Raven added to the list of awesome birds we were seeing!<br />
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<b><u>Chihuahuan Raven</u></b></div>
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After enjoying the sparrows we walked a little ways down the road and all the sudden we spied the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher flyingout of the stand of trees!<br />
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<b><u>Scissor-tailed Flycatcher</u></b> </div>
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Returning to its perch the flycatcher gave everyone outstanding views!<br />
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<b><u>Scissor-tailed Flycatcher</u></b> </div>
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The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was one amazing bird and it was actually more awesome than I expected it to be!<br />
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<b><u>Scissor-tailed Flycatcher</u></b> </div>
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After an amazing experience with one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen in my life we drove over to the San Pedro River to do some chill birding. The San Pedro River was perhaps one of the largest riparian areas I have ever birded and it was thick with birds! Six Yellow-billed Cuckoos, an Indigo Bunting, a couple of Gray Hawk, and more awesome birds added to our great morning of birding! After the San Pedro our next birding stop was Hunter Canyon where Ms. Susan and Mr. Gordon would drop Josh and I off so we could search for the Rufous-capped Warblers for a couple hours, a would-be lifer for both of us. The Rufous-capped Warbler was probably my most wanted lifer of the day as I have searched for them before in Florida Canyon and missed them by just a few minutes! Josh and I hiked a mile up Hunter Canyon and started scanning the area with both our eyes and ears. There was no sign of the warblers but while we searched a singing Greater Pewee made its way to Josh's life list! We had been searching the area for nearly an house and our hopes started fading, this Buff-breasted Flycatchers, however, started breaking the fall of a possible dip.<br />
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<b><u>Buff-breasted Flycatcher</u></b> </div>
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Josh and I loved the higher elevations of Hunter Canyon but we had to keep searching for the RCWAs! We ran into some birders from NoCal and we joined forces. Hiking up the canyon a little ways I got about 20 yards in front of the group when all the sudden I spied a Rufous-capped Warbler foraging at eye level in a douglas fir!!! I quickly called the group over and BOOM RCWA lifer views!!!!!!!!!<br />
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<b><u>Rufous-capped Warbler</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWZnmei7x2sdBRmxXoUrMn7XDUdGkSqaM73j8tZ12qph0Kpq-UumC7wOBeM6KUOuvlaLQvAkGXJf9us2EAjp_PRA_3dDpJgbeOtPd2sHRTuI0q3kjvjYmUj53TRZl2SiVwdv6iL-Hm39d/s1600/image_0020a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCWZnmei7x2sdBRmxXoUrMn7XDUdGkSqaM73j8tZ12qph0Kpq-UumC7wOBeM6KUOuvlaLQvAkGXJf9us2EAjp_PRA_3dDpJgbeOtPd2sHRTuI0q3kjvjYmUj53TRZl2SiVwdv6iL-Hm39d/s640/image_0020a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Josh and I were pumped but due to having to meet Ms. Susan and Mr. Gordon Josh and I hiked back down canyon. We then headed over to the Sweetwater Wetlands to search for the Purple Gallinule. Unfortunately no one had seen the gallinule that day so we didn't stay around long, and thus missed it. However, I can't complain because three out of four is pretty good especially since the fourth bird wasn't really a miss! Thanks Ms. Suan, Mr. Gordon, and Josh for the awesome day of birding!<br />
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In the mean time, the only birds that breed in AZ that I still need are Five-striped Sparrow, Buff-collared Nightjar, Eastern Bluebird, Flame-colored Tanager, Dusky Grouse, Gray Jay, Nutting's Flycatcher, and Black Rail I believe!Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-81468137733739717652016-07-01T15:29:00.002-07:002016-07-02T10:41:15.442-07:00A New Birding Hotspot For The Public: The Dean and Beloat Riparian AreaHi All!<br />
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Over the past couple years I have birded at a nice riparian corridor along the Gila River in Buckeye, AZ. This area has attracted some very nice birds like eastern vagrants and endangered breeders. Now I am happy to present that half of the D and B area is open to the public! Half of the Dean and Beloat area (southeast of the intersection) is on private property while the other half (southwest of the intersection) is public, the public half is better for birds anyways. PLEASE ONLY BIRD THE PUBLIC HALF. Here is a map of the area.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Red marks the area which is on private property (while everything else is open to the public), green marks the dirt stretch of Dean Road, black marks the parking area, and yellow marks the part of the dirt road which should be hiked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Here is a closer map with the good stands of trees labeled as S (stand) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.</span></div>
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<b><u>S1</u></b></div>
S1 is a small stand of willow and tamarask trees along with a super thick understory and some fairly healthy marsh habitat. In this area I have had special birds such as Ridgway's Rail (summer) and Fox Sparrow (winter). Although I haven't found anything particularly 'rare' in S1, I have no doubt that it has attracted many nice eastern vagrants and will, over the years, get its fair share of glory among birders.<br />
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<b><u>S2</u></b></div>
S2 is one of the larger riparian areas and it has produced many great birds over the last couple of years! It has the largest willows in the area and the best habitat for vagrants in my opinion. In this stand of trees vagrants I have seen include Broad-winged Hawk, American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, and more! This area is also good for Yellow-billed Cuckoos too. This is one of the better stands of trees in the area for Western Screech-Owls as well.<br />
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<b><u>S3</u></b></div>
S3 is a small stand of tall willow trees but although it is limited in habitat I have had a Winter Wren and a probable Brown Thrasher (heard only so I wasn't confident in calling it for sure) in this area. I also heard a Ridgway's Rail in the marshy habitat that borders this stand of trees.<br />
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<b><u>S4</u></b></div>
S4 is like S3 but about three times as large and it seems to hold good birds usually. In the past I have had Black-and-white Warblers in here and a probable Blackburnian Warbler.<br />
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<b><u>S5</u></b></div>
S5 has been the best stand of trees for rarities over the years. It is a thick stand of willows with nearby marsh, and tamarasks bordering it. In this stand of trees I have had Prothonotary Warbler, Black-and-white Warblers, American Redstarts, an American Redstart x parula sp. (likely Northern) hybrid, a pair of probable Streak-backed Orioles (long story short I got brief views of a pair of orioles that looked good for an adult male and 1st year female Streak-backed Oriole pair), and more!<br />
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<b><u>S6</u></b></div>
S6 is a good stand of thick willows with a lot of water. In this area I have had a couple of potential rarities that got away before I could see anything diagnostic but a Swamp Sparrow who stayed for a couple weeks was nice.<br />
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<b><u>S7</u></b></div>
S7 is a very different habitat from the rest of the area. It is a tamarask forest which is actually quite productive most of the time. In this area I have had notable birds such as a Northern Parula and Gray Catbird. Willow Flycatchers also appear to breed in this area.<br />
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<b><u>Year-Round Residents</u></b> </div>
Birds that mostly say year round at this spot and are common to uncommon include Mallard (year-round but more in the winter), Gambel's Quail, Neatropic and Double-crested Cormorants, Least Bittern (uncommon), Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret (more in the summer but still year-round), Cattle Egret (same as Snowy), Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron (same as Snowy), White-faced Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper's Hawk (more in winter but still year-round), Virginia Rail (a lot more in winter but a a couple pairs stay to breed), Common Gallinule, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Long-billed Curlew, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Ground-Dove (mostly summer but they should be here in winter too), Mourning Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Barn Owl, Western Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl (in fields and ditches to the southeast), White-throated Swift (uncommon), Anna's Hummingbird, Gila Woodpecker, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Gilded Flicker (be cautious as there are Northern Flickers as this spot from fall-spring), American Kestrel, Black and Say's Phoebes, Ash-throated Flycatcher (more of a summer bird but still a couple here in the winter), Common Raven, Horned Lark, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Crissal Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Phainopepla (very uncommon), Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Abert's Towhee, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark (a lot mroe in the winter but a pair or two stay in the nearby fields for the summer as well), Yellow-headed Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.<br />
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<b><u>Barn Owl being chased by a Cooper's Hawk</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Summer Breeders (June-July)</u></b></div>
In addition to the species of bird that can be seen here year-round there are also birds that can only be seen here during the summer. Species that call Dean and Beloat their breeding grounds for the most part include Swainson's Hawk (a probable breeder somewhere down in the river but a lot more expected during the spring and fall), Ridgway's Rail (S1), Yellow-billed Cuckoo (mostly S1), White-winged Dove, Lesser Nighthawk, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Willow Flycatcher (mostly a migrant but at least one pair breeds here in S7)Western Kingbird, Cliff Swallow, Lucy's and Yellow Warblers, Yellow-breasted Chat, Summer Tanager, Blue Grosbeak, and Bullock's Oriole.<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-billed Cuckoo</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Wintering Birds (November-March)</u></b></div>
Birds that are strictly wintering birds (snow birds) include Gadwall, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, and about any species of wintering waterfowl (as there are large ponds on both sides of the D and B area), Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle, Sora, Greater Yellowlegs (also can be seen during migration), Least Sandpiper (same as Greater Yellowlegs), Wilson's Snipe, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Merlin, Peregrine and Prairie Falcons, Vermilion Flycacther (around the house around the Dean and Beloat intersection), Loggerhead Shrike, House, Marsh, and Bewick's Wrens, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, American Pipit, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, White-crowned Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow (very uncommon here), Savannah Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Green-tailed and Spotted Towhees, and Brewer's Blackbird. Uncommon to rare birds for this spot which I have seen here in the winter have included Wood Duck, White-tailed Kite, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Plumbeous Vireo, Dusky Flycatcher, Winter Wren, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Fox Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Pine Siskin, Lawrence's and American Goldfinches, and Evening Grosbeak.<br />
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<b><u>Black-and-white Warbler</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Spring and Fall migration (April-May and August-October)</u></b></div>
Birds that I have seen here often that are strict migrants include Lesser Yellowlegs, Vaux's Swift, Western Wood-Pewee, Hammond's Flycatcher, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Cassin's and Warbling Vireos, Tree, Violet-green, Bank, and Barn Swallows, Nashville Warbler, MacGillivray's Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Brewer's Sparrow (could be seen in winter too), Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Lazuli Bunting, and Hooded Oriole. In migration this spot is amazing with songbirds! And if one birds this area during migration you never know what you might find! Fall migration has treated me quite well providing many good rarities.<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart x Parula sp. hybrid</u></b> </div>
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Here is the overview for this hotspot on eBird <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L4749091">HERE</a>. This page is very helpful in getting directions to this area and gaining a mindset of the birds that can be found here.</div>
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I made this post so other birders can explore this area and hopefully contribute to the eBird data of unique oasis. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TO ANYONE YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE AT THIS SPOT, BECAUSE, YOU, AS A BIRDER, REPRESENT THE ENTIRE BIRDING COMMUNITY. Keep an eye out for other wildlife to as there are a few species of large mammals that call this place home as well as snakes. This area can also have a good amount of mosquitoes in the late summer and fall so bring bug spray. Water is also important for birding anywhere in Arizona. Most of all, have a great time enjoying the birds and other wildlife of this new birding hotspot!!!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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Caleb<br />
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<br />Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-21850950202220246772016-06-25T16:50:00.003-07:002016-06-25T16:50:41.384-07:00Some Recent OwlingRecently I have been blessed as to have had the opportunity to go owling at a few spots around AZ. I'll start out with one of the less-recent owling expeditions. A couple months ago I went to Happy Jack Lodge to show Tommy D and Mr. Dominic Sherony some Flammulated Owls which I had found the year before and crushed. The whole night of owling in Happy Jack was amazing, I saw my favorite bird, Tommy got his first Flam for the year (only his second time seeing one), and Dominic got his lifer views and photos! Here are a couple of bad shots which I took.<br />
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<b><u>Flammulated Owl</u></b></div>
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Another outing was at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum where my good friend <a href="http://adamscommand.blogspot.com/">Joshua Smith</a> and I were invited to do the Global Big Day Count. Josh and I decided that we don't get the freedom of birding without limits so we went all out and did 30+ hours of birding (with a full 24 hour day of birding). Although we observed over 80 species of bird (a record high count for the BTA) the highlight of the day, or should I say night, was the owls! Once darkness fell we heard some interesting calls from down in a creek. We followed the calls and then spotted one of the few animals giving these interesting mammal-like calls.<br />
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<b><u>Mystery bird with the moon behind it</u></b></div>
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Once we turned on the flashlights we were greeted by a whole family of Western Screech-Owls!<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--juvenile</u></b></div>
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Three fledglings and two adults were within this short stretch of creek. The fledglings were continuously calling while the adults hunted for their hungry kids!<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--adult</u></b></div>
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One of the adults even brought a mouse to one of the younglings!<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--juvenile with mouse</u></b></div>
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Is it just me or does that owl look like a fierce lion with its prized catch?!<br />
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Or better yet, it was like watching Jurassic Park! Mr. Western Screech-Owl bid us farewell as we continued with our owling.<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--adult</u></b></div>
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Continuing with our scouting we observed an Elf Owl who made an appearance for a couple minutes before never being detected again.<br />
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<b><u>Elf Owl</u></b></div>
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Before long the sun had risen and we were done with our first night/morning of owling. Racking up some nice birds like a young male Indigo Bunting we enjoyed the daylight hours of the count too! Before the long darkness had fallen yet again and we still needed Elf Owl for the official count. As we hiked through a wash we could hear a pair of Elf Owls calling in the distance. We hiked towards the sound of the calling birds and didn't only find them but found them at their nest!<br />
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<b><u>Elf Owl</u></b></div>
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Seeing an ELOW in a saguaro cactus was something I've always wanted to observe. And this female was very cooperative!<br />
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<b><u>Elf Owl</u></b></div>
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My next owing expedition brought me to Organ Pipe National Monument to check up on some Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls. While birding hard with Walker Noe about a month ago, we found a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl nest. Since then I have been out studying these birds and observing this rare and endangered type of Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. When I arrived at the undisclosed location it didn't take me long to hear a male giving his contact calls. Following the bird around, he finally stood still and posed for photos.<br />
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<b><u>Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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When hunting, FEPOs move around a lot usually not staying on a perch for too long. However, we caught this male while he was ready to get to sleep and he stayed perched on the same branch for a good fifteen or twenty minutes!<br />
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<b><u>Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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The owl then decided it was time to do something productive and started hunting.<br />
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<b><u>Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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The owl then started flying from saguaro to saguaro. I recognized that the bird did the same thing last time before flying into its cavity never to come out again. Well sure enough the FEPO did the same thing this time! Luckily we were able to snap some photos before he left.<br />
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<b><u>Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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From desert owling I went up too the Chiricahua Mountains with Joshua Smith where we birded hard and did some owling. The purpose of us going to the Chiricahua Mountains was to attend a young birders camp which was...well, interesting. Nonetheless, I birded with some awesome people and saw some awesome birds! Throughout the camp Joshua Smith, and an awesome young birder who was at camp the year before Dorian, and I killed it and saw over 120 species of birds! Here's a photo of us birding hard!<br />
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<b><u>Left to right: Me, Joshua, and Dorian</u></b></div>
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Once darkness fell on the first night we went out in hopes of seeing Whiskered Screech-Owls. I knew of some areas to look but the camp wanted to do their own thing, so I just went with the crowd. We ended up seeing a Whiskered Screech-Owl but there weren't any good photo ops, however, the camp allowed us to owl a little later than the rest of the group. It didn't take us long to find a WHSO on a great perch!<br />
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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Throughout the trip I had another chance at crushing Whiskered Screech-Owls, and I did...hard! It was also cool seeing a Whiskered Screech-Owl with so much rufousish/brown coloring in his plumage! Down in Central America there are brown morphed WHSOs so this bird likely had some brown morph genes.<br />
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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We followed a pair of WHSOs around the area and observed them interacting and working together.<br />
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<b><u>Whickered Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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Now I know that most of you are already on owl-overload but I have one more owl to show you! This was an owl which I, embarrassingly, have not crushed...until the other day! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you some die-hard Northern Pygmy-Owl crushes!<br />
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<b><u>Northern Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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Oh yes crushing the Northern Pygmy-Owl has been a long delayed task. One might ponder what could be better than crushing one NOPO. Well, crushing several NOPOs of course!!!<br />
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<b><u>Northern Pygmy-Owl--adult in foreground and fledgling in background</u></b></div>
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Words can't really serve these birds justice so I will leave you with these...<br />
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<b><u>Northern Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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There you go, that covers most of my owling which I have done this spring, I hope you all enjoyed!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
<br />
Caleb<br />
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-32442940215490679342016-06-18T18:47:00.002-07:002016-06-18T18:47:16.103-07:00Reaching The Triple Three In Maricopa!About a month ago Ms. Melanie Herring and Ms. Barb Meding were birding at Hassayampa River Preserve when they found a Thick-billed Kingbird! Thick-billed Kingbirds are very rare for Maricopa County with only a hand full of records (the only other record I know of was from this same spot but eight or so years ago). When I saw their listerve report I was shocked! I wanted to chase that bird right away but due to the preserve's hours and days they were open I wasn't able to chase this magnificent find. As a matter of fact, nearly a whole month went by and the bird was still being seen and I couldn't get out to see it! However, a quick call to my birding mentor, Mr. Joe Ford, changed my luck and before I knew it we had a whole group of people who wanted to see this bird. Now Mr. Ford is a good birder and an amazing teacher! As a matter of fact, Mr. Ford played (and still plays) a big part in my birding career and I have him to thank for where I now stand as a birder.On June 18th I woke up early in the morning to meet up with Mr. Ford, Mr. Paul Doucett, Ms. Mitra Samadani, and Mr. Jerry and Ms. Linda Molinelli to bird hard at the Hass! There were two possible Maricopers that I could get at the Hass, Thick-billed Kingbird (of course) and Purple Martin (usually just seen as a flyover by lucky birders). Arriving at the Hassayampa River Preserve, we observed a beautiful male Broad-billed Hummingbird flying back in forth from the trees to the feeders.<br />
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<b><u>Broad-billed Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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Moving on with the hummingbirds we quickly hit the Mesquite Meander Trail (where there have been Thick-billed and Tropical Kingbirds) in hopes of Maricopering it hard! Yellow Warblers and Yellow-breated Chats were singing like crazy, out in the distance I heard the distinctive squeaky call of the Thick-billed Kingbird! We hiked down the trail further to where it was calling from and then, bam, Thick-billed Kingbird!<br />
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<b><u>Thick-billed Kingbird--Maricoper #333!!!</u></b></div>
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It didn't hit me until now that the Thick-billed Kingbird was my 333rd species I had seen in Maricopa, what a cool milestone!<br />
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<b><u>Thick-billed Kingbird</u></b></div>
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This photo almost shows how loud TBKIs are!<br />
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<b><u>Thick-billed Kingbird</u></b></div>
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The Thick-billed Kingbird is a Mexican bird which reaches its furthest northern range in southeastern Arizona. Up until last month (when I was in SEAZ with Walker and Dalton) I had never seen a TBKI and it almost became a nemesis bird for me, however, Walker saved the day with his keen eyes! Seeing this bird in my home county was even better though! While we watched the TBKI a pair of Tropical Kingbirds flew in. The Tropical Kingbird is another Mexican bird who reaches its furthest northern range in southeastern Arizona, however, this species has started to move north and is now a regular breeder at Hassayampa (with at least 3-6 pairs along the Hassayampa River)!<br />
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<b><u>Tropical Kingbird</u></b></div>
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Throughout the rest of our Hassayampa exploration we encountered cool birds such as a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a couple of Willow Flycatchers, more Tropical Kingbirds, and this distant female Bronzed Cowbird.<br />
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<b><u>Bronzed Cowbird</u></b></div>
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It was nice getting back into birding Maricopa County and this outing kinda resparked my passion for birding Maricopa County! Getting my 333rd bird for MC was awesome as well! Haha, now I'm only 67 species away from my goal of getting 400 species in Maricopa County, a task which no one has yet to conquer! However, reaching this goal would mean I pretty much have to live in MC for the rest of my life and life is practically impossible to predict, so I have no idea if I will end up reaching this goal!<br />
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In the mean time, have a great week everyone!!!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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CalebCaleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-15758874256360478052016-06-16T12:01:00.005-07:002016-06-16T16:00:02.275-07:00Birding Hard in SEAZ (The Finale!!!)Only a few days after Walker, Dalton, and I 'ended' our bird hard SEAZ trip an unbelievable report came into the AZNM Listserve and Facebook. Dave Stejskal had been camping out at Aliso Springs in a desolate canyon along the east flank of the Santa Rita Mountains (near where I had recently seen the Red-headed Woodpecker) and while he was camping he found a very interesting <i>empidonax</i> flycatcher. Now this <i>empid</i> looked like a gray Western 'type' Flycatcher with a nearly entirely orange lower mandible. The thing that stuck out most, however, was the soft "whip" call this bird frequently gave. After having a vague idea on what this bird was, Dave went out along with some more of AZ's best birders and they made the call that this was the first record for the United States Pine Flycatcher!!!!!! Once Walker informed me of this amazing find we desperately searched for a ride down to where it was, three hours away from Phoenix. So after some confusion in last second planning Walker, Dalton, and I had a ride to the Pine Flycatcher! Our ride for the flycatcher was from Phoenix at noon, so Walker and I made plans to do some birding before noon. Our plans were to go for Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls in Organ Pipe National Monument with a good friend of our's and then after hopefully seeing the Ferru Pygs we'd return to Phoenix and go for the flycatcher. At around five in the morning we arrived at Organ Pipe and started our search. Before today I had only heard a FEPO once giving its rapid "tooting" call. So once we got to our 'stakeout spot' it wasn't long before we spotted a chunky brown bird fly into a mesquite. I lifted my binocs and all I said after that was "OH MY GOSH!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!!!"<br />
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<b><u>Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl</u></b></div>
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It was a our Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl! After enjoying distant views for a while Walker and I fallowed the bird up a hill to where we had better views.<br />
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Fallowing our prized bird around, it eventually flew up on the top of a saguaro cactus where it starred down upon the scenic desert environment.<br />
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Now after observing the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl for a good amount of time I came to the conclusion that the FEPO is the Northern Hawk Owl of the southwest. Now although the FEPO is a lot smaller than the hawk owl it makes up in fierceness and and authority! A male FEPO was once observed taking down a Mourning Dove three times its own weight!<br />
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In Arizona we get a distinct population of FEPOs called the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Just over a hundred years ago the CFPO ranged as far north as New River just north of Phoenix. Unfortunately, over the year the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl has become endangered and there are now only a few pairs left in AZ.<br />
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While Walker and I followed this female CFPO around it all the sudden flew into a whole in a saguaro cactus. This was its nest and it had fledglings!<br />
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<b><u>Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl's nesting cavity (note the FEPO's feather on the right side of the whole)</u></b></div>
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When the female FEPO flew into the cavity we heard fledglings begging, what a good sign! We kept our distance from the cavity and waited a few minutes for it to come out before we called it quits.<br />
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After a nice breakfast in Gila Bend we made our way back to Phoenix where we met up with fellow birder James McKay who gave Walker, Dalton, and I a ride to the Pine Flycatcher (Thanks Mr. James, you're awesome!). After a three hour drive to Gardener Canyon Road (near Sonoita) we turned off the highway and drove nine and a half miles on dirt roads. In many spots the road was rough but we were chasing an ABA 1st so we could care less! Arriving at Aliso Springs there was only one car present (I guess most of the birders were scared off by the rough road). We got out of the car and the birders kindly pointed out the Pine Flycatcher's nest! We waited a few seconds before I spotted our target bird flying in! The bird then landed nearly straight above our heads!<br />
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<b><u>Pine Flycatcher!!!</u></b></div>
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Once the flycatcher came in cameras were firing like machine-guns! Why? Because it was an ABA first, of course!<br />
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<b><u>Pine Flycatcher--note the entirely orange lower mandible</u></b> </div>
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The Pine Flycatcher is a Mexican bird who's range is quite restricted. What was funny and cool was that no one who I was with had ever heard of a Pine Flycatcher before today!<br />
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<b><u>Pine Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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Throughout our long observation of this Mexican vagrant it was building a nest in an oak tree. It would collect nesting material like spider webs,small twigs, lichen, and such and bring it to its nest where it would sit on the nest and give it its shape.<br />
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<b><u>Pine Flycatcher on nest</u></b></div>
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Walker, Dalton, James, and I were pumped to see the Pine Flycatcher! It was hard to leave this bird but we had one more spot we wanted to hit really quick before heading back to Phoenix. Since the Red-headed Woodpecker wasn't too far out of the way on our way back to the valley we stopped by to try to get James his state lifer. Upon arriving, Walker and I very briefly saw the woodpecker fly into the oak woodlands. Hopefing to relocate the woodpecker we had some nice birds like a calling Whiskered Screech-Owl (in the day!). While we were hiking along a creek we noticed a pair of Montezuma Quail cross the creek and go into some grass. We were quite sure that the quail were hunched down in the grass so we walked around this 20x20 square foot patch of grass for a couple minutes. I started to think that the quail left without us noticing and we started to tell stories of how scary it can be when you nearly step on a MONQ and they flush from less than a foot away. While we were in the middle of our conversation "BOOM!!!!" the Montezuma Quail flushed right on cue! After nearly having a heart-attack we hiked back up to where the woodpecker had usually been seen and it didn't take us too long to find it sitting on a snag.<br />
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<b><u>Red-headed Woodpecker</u></b></div>
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Ending the day with a code three owl, an ABA 1st record, and a rare for AZ RHWO was amazing! Before the owl and flycatcher Walker, Dalton, and I's bird hard SEAZ trip was scored at 8/10 but these birds brought us to a pure 10/10!!! We ended up getting 17 of the 18 lifers which we chased which was super awesome and I have God to thank for this trip and our success!!! Saying farewell to the Noe family was hard but perhaps another out-of-state trip to Idaho and Washington is to come, I do need Great Gray, Boreal, and Barred Owls so it would be nice to see those birds. In the mean time, AZ has a lot of nice owls and the monsoon breeders are starting to come in so I have a lot to keep me busy!<br />
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Have a great week everyone!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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CalebCaleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-31460636203562548532016-06-13T18:39:00.003-07:002016-06-13T18:39:30.470-07:00Birding Hard in SEAZ (Day 4)Here it was, the last day of our triple attack on SEAZ! Walker woke Dalton and I up at 4:30 A.M. and drove us over to Santa Rita Lodge, so we could search for the Plain-capped Starthroat which has eluded Dalton and I for days (Walker got it a few days ago)! Before we even got off of Proctor road Walker spied a pair of Montezuma Quail sitting frozen in the middle of the road!<br />
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<b><u>Montezuma Quail</u></b></div>
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Walker dropped Dalton and I off at the lodge and then drove back down to Proctor road where he caught up on some well-needed rest. Dalton and I were the first people to arrive at the lodge. We waited for over an hour without luck. One hour then turned into two, and then 3. Now I, as a birder, am use to doing a lot of hiking and other energy consuming activities to find birds. But sitting was actually harder than hiking a mile or two or biking around my patch! Dalton and I had been sitting down watching the same feeders for over three hours without our bird! Luckily there were many cool birds like this colorful and cooperative Blue Grosbeak.<br />
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<b><u>Blue Grosbeak</u></b></div>
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Exhausted by hour hardcore feeder watching, I had about lost hope in us finding the Plain-capped Starthroat. However, while I was out of it I heard a chip note from a large hummingbird coming from one of the feeders and sure enough it was Dalton and I's lifer Plain-capped Starthroat!!!<br />
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<b><u>Plain-capped Starthroat</u></b></div>
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Our observation was short but everyone at the feeders got great looks at this code 4 rarity! Once the hummer flew off Dalton and I were jumping up and down in excitement! We hiked down to Proctor Road to proclaim our victory over Walker. After he congratulated us on our success I heard a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet calling from fairly close. In a couple minutes I got my photo-lifer NBTY!<br />
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<b><u>Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet</u></b></div>
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After packing up camp, the three of us drove up to the top of Madera Canyon to crush some trogons. Upon arriving at a nest we had great views of a male.<br />
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<b><u>Elegant Trogon</u></b></div>
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After crushing hard on Mr. Trogon we ended our SEAZ bird hard trip. Before getting back to my house in Buckeye I showed Walker some Burrowing Owls which we also crushed.<br />
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<b><u>Burrowing Owl</u></b></div>
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This Burrowing Owl ended our AZ bird hardness...or did it? Only an extremely rare bird would change this. Stay tuned to find out what <i>might</i> have changed our plans...<br />
<br />Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-79638523877949748972016-06-03T11:14:00.000-07:002016-06-14T12:29:36.252-07:00Birding Hard in SEAZ (Day 3)Hoot...hoo hoo...hoo! Walker woke me up from a dream I had where a Spotted Owl was calling. A few seconds after being awakened I noticed what I heard wasn't a dream but a real Spotted Owl! What a way to start the day! Light started to brighten the morning sky as stars faded in the Chiricahua Mountains. Cordilleran Flycatchers and Great Horned Owls started calling both near and far. It was time to pack up camp. We had stuff to be done, like seeing Slate-throated Redstarts! As soon as we set up camp we drove a little ways up the road to where the redstart had been seen. We birded the drainage for about a half hour before it hit us that it was strange that we hadn't run into any birders. So when a car drove by and stopped we asked what was up and found that we were searching the wrong drainage! Walker had suspected this but the drainage that we were in seemed fitting for the description in past listserve reports. Embarrassingly, we ran back to our car and then drove over to where they had just seen the bird. Upon arriving, no one had seen the bird since 5:15 in the morning, while we were checking the false drainage. Now it didn't take much to see that Walker and Dalton were a bit disappointed in my major failure, so I knew I had to pay them back! After waiting around the Slate-throated Redstart's nest for over three hours our hopes of getting this bird started falling quickly. I decided that since there were quite a few birders watching the nesting area they likely wouldn't miss it without me, so I thought I'd check the surrounding area in hopes of finding it. Hiking up the drainage, I started pishing and doing my "Mountain" Northern Pygmy-Owl imitation whistle in hopes of bringing in a mixed feeding flock of birds. The first birds to come in were a pair of Mexican Chickadees!<br />
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<b><u>Mexican Chickadee</u></b></div>
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Once the chickadees started scolding me a lot of other birds started coming in. First a pair of Painted Redstarts, then some Yellow-eyed Juncos, a Spotted Towhee, a Hammond's Flycatcher, a Townsend's Warbler, a Red-faced Warbler, and then WHAT?!?!?!?! THE SLATE-THROATED REDSTART!!!!!!!<br />
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<b><u>Slate-throated Redstart</u></b></div>
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Once I spotted our bird I immediately started yelling "WALKER!!!". I had to hike a ways down the canyon to get to a point where anyone could hear me. A man came hiking up the drainage and right when I got him on the bird I sprinted down the steep hill jumping over dead logs, and sliding down the hillside until I got to Walker and Dalton. I yelled that I had the bird and once they came running I returned to the man who was still watching the bird!<br />
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<b><u>Slate-throated Redstart</u></b></div>
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Walker and Dalton along with another nice birder came up the hill shortly behind me and I quickly got them on the bird. We were ecstatic about this find, adding to the sickening amount of icing on our birding cake! However, there were a few other birders down the hill coming up so I ran back down to them in an attempt to get them on the bird. Unfortunately, when I returned the bird was gone never to be seen again. We didn't stick around for long after we lost the bird, because, we had other spots to hit before the day ended. Our next spot we hit was the Southwestern Research Center where we had plans to watch the feeders. On our way to the research center we were stopped by the birders who we ran into earlier and they told us that they just had an American Redstart at the Southwestern Research Center!!! The three of us were pumped at the thought of having a triple redstart day!!! With even more determination, we zoomed on over to the research center where we were greeted by a few Blue-throated Hummingbirds!<br />
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<b><u>Blue-throated Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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While we were watching the hummingbirds Walker spotted out third redstart of the day, an adult female American Redstart, bringing us up to a triple redstart hour!!!<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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The American Redstart was a lifer for Dalton so that was very cool! We decided to photograph a nearby Painted Redstart just to show you three redstart species in a single post.<br />
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<b><u>Painted Redstart</u></b></div>
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A super tame Western Wood-Pewee was quite cool to see as well!<br />
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<b><u>Western Wood-Pewee</u></b></div>
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From the Chiricahuas we drove on over to the Santa Ritas where we'd stay the night near Madera Canyon. The Plain-capped Starthroat was still being seen from time to time at the Santa Rita Lodge and I really wanted that bird! So our first and only stop in Madera Canyon for the day was, of course, the Santa Rita Lodge. We scanned the feeders for a good two and a half hours before darkness fell. Although we didn't see any rare hummingbirds I did get my photo-lifer Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher which was nice.<br />
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<b><u>Suphur-bellied Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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Once darkness fell we were excited for another great night of owling! The first nocturnal birds to start calling were the Mexican Whip-poor-wills and Whiskered Screech-Owls.<br />
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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Owls were less vocal in the upper portion of the canyon then our previous owling trip so we decided to hit the lower elevations where the trees were shorter and the owls were plenty! Seeing a Whiskered Screech-Owl calling from a telephone wire was something I never thought I'd see!<br />
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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While I was following the Whiskered Screech-Owls around I heard an Elf Owl calling from fairly close so I put my flashlight on where the sound was coming from and was surprised to spot an Elf on a perfect perch!<br />
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<b><u>Elf Owl</u></b></div>
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Although I should have been able to get way better crushes than what I got this was my first time crushing ELOW so I was content with what I got. We then drove down even lower in elevation to Proctor road where we spent the night. While we were setting up our tent we heard a Western Screech-Owl calling in the distance. Walker and I knew it wasn't only mid-night but it was crush-night!!! After tracking down where the owl was calling from we spotted our 10th owl of our trip, a beautiful female Western Screech-Owl!<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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This Western Screech-Owl was the most cooperative owl I have ever encountered in the wild! It was fearless and allowed us to get within less than four feet away from her as she stood less than four feet above the ground!<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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A question I commonly get asked his how to identify Western and Whiskered Screech-Owls apart. Here are a few different ways for telling them apart.<br />
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1. Common calls: Western gives a bouncing-ball song of fairly deep hoots. Another call which Western frequently gives (mostly in response to its own call) is a trill of hoots Here is a recording with both the bouncing-ball call and the trill <a href="http://test.xeno-canto.org/215684">WESO call</a>. Whiskered, on the other hand, gives a descending serous of hoots lowering in pitch (listen <a href="http://test.xeno-canto.org/202575">here</a>) along with a mores-code-like song of fairly high-pitched hoots (listen <a href="http://test.xeno-canto.org/216791">here</a>). Whiskered also gives a barking contact call which is sometime mistaken for the barking call of the Spotted Owl (listen <a href="http://test.xeno-canto.org/100100">here</a>)<br />
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2. Identification by sight: In my experience, Western has a black, or at least, mostly black bill as where Whiskered has a greenish bill. Western also seems to have large while Whiskered has small feet. The streaking pattern on the front of both birds is different too. I have also noticed that Whiskered seems to have a lighter gray belly than Western. I have noticed some difference in the eyes but I'm not sure if that is, at all, reliable. Whiskered seems to have a smaller body in proportion to its head than Western does too. Here are a couple photos bellow to help you see the differences between these two similar species.<br />
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owl (left) and Western Screech-Owl (right)</u></b></div>
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I ended the day with one lifer which was more than enough, considering it was a code 4! We still had one more half-day left and it would be spent sitting at the Santa Rita Lodge waiting for the starthroat to come in. Stay tuned to read how my last day in SEAZ ended!Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-24050415995172747782016-05-28T16:25:00.001-07:002016-06-14T12:29:51.922-07:00Birding Hard in SEAZ!!! (Day 2)After a hardcore day of birding in Madera Canyon (see my previous post <a href="http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2016/05/birding-hard-in-seaz-day-1.html">here</a>) Walker, Dalton, and I stayed the night at a hotel in Green Valley so we could get some rest before a nice day of birding in the Huachuca Mountains. Once the sun rose over the horizon we woke up to eat a peaceful breakfast before driving out to our first stop of the day, Ramsey Canyon. I was very anxious for Ramsey as it has recently had a pair of Flame-colored Tanagers and nesting Tufted Flycatcher! I had been waiting to go to Ramsey Canyon ever since those Tufted Flycatchers were first found last summer. Finally, we arrived at Ramsey Canyon and I immediately heard my first lifer of the day, a Buff-breasted Flycatcher!<br />
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<b><u>Buff-breasted Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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First, I checked out the loop that the tanagers had been seen on but despite a good search the only tanagers I saw were Westerns. I then hit the Hamburg Trail and hiked the 2 miles up to the Tufted Flycatchers! I had never been so determined to hike such a trail in my life! Approaching the flycatchers' territory I heard a strange double-buzz that sounded like an interaction call from a flycatcher and sure enough there they were, my lifer Tufted Flycatchers!<br />
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<b><u>Tufted Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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This pair of Tufted Flycatchers have built a nest and are now waiting to lay the eggs.<br />
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<b><u>Tufted Flycatcher's nest</u></b></div>
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Throughout my observation of this unique and rare species for the ABA, I got fairly close and great views! Unfortunately, my camera was acting strange and not focusing right so what would have been awesome photos turned out to be 'okay'.<br />
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<b><u>Tufted Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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It was amazing to finally be watching the Tufted Flycatchers after having to wait a whole year to see them. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay all day as we still had to hit two more spots, Miller Canyon and Ash Canyon B and B. So after watching the flycatchers for a little under an hour we slowly worked our way back. On the way back we saw many awesome birds such as Elegant Trogons, Red-faced Warblers, and Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers!</div>
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<b><u>Red-faced Warbler</u></b></div>
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At Miller Canyon we had one target and that was the Spotted Owl. Although we heard a pair earlier in the trip, seeing one is a totally different experience! So even though we had just hiked six rough miles up to the TUFLs we were ready to hike another three to and from the Spotty! Stopping at the Beatty's Guest Ranch they told us that they hadn't seen any Spotted Owls yet that day but Walker, Dalton, and I, nonetheless, still hiked up! A beautiful Western Tanager was a nice bird to see on our way up the canyon!</div>
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<b><u>Western Tanager</u></b></div>
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Working our way up the canyon we ran into Mr. Tom Beatty who kindly walked us up to where he had just found a Spotty. Before we even stopped I scanned beyond us and spotted the Spotted!</div>
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<b><u>Spotted Owl</u></b></div>
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This was the first Spotted Owl I had seen in almost a whole year and only the third I've ever seen! </div>
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<b><u>Spotted Owl</u></b></div>
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The Spotted Owl is one of my favorite birds, and every experience with this species has been amazing! The first time I saw a Spotty was back in 2014 at this very spot, Miller Canyon! After hiking nearly a mile up Miller Canyon back in 2014 I didn't see any Spotties. So I hiked a bit further when my family said it was time to head back. I asked them if we climb over one more ridge and they agreed to my plan. So once I reached the top of the hill I saw a group of birders talking. I approached them and asked if they had seen the Spotty when they told me to look up. Sure enough I looked straight above my head and there he was!</div>
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<b><u>Spotted Owl--Miller Canyon 2014 (my lifer)</u></b></div>
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The second Spotty I saw was at Slate Creek Divide in Maricopa County. Now finding a Spotted Owl on its day roost in Maricopa County was almost unheard of and it just so happened that it was one of my lifetime goals! So while I was hiking through one of Slate Creek's many drainages with Mr. Troy Corman, and saw a Spotted Owl sitting up on the hillside I was ecstatic!!!</div>
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<b><u>Spotted Owl--Slate Creek Divide 2015</u></b></div>
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Other than these three Spotties I've seen, I've also heard four others. A pair dueting in the Maricopa portion of the Superstition Mountains and another pair at Madera Canyon (from the night before). Although Spotted Owls are awesome with their large black eyes, stocky size, and chunky and laid back appearance the Flammulated Owl still takes the cake with its dark eyes and small size!</div>
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After watching Mr. Spotty sleep for a half hour we said our goodbyes and let him off with his day. Mr. Spotty winked at us as we worked our way down the canyon.</div>
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<b><u>Spotty wink</u></b></div>
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Our next and last birding spot for the day was the Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast at Marry Joe's place. We arrived on spot at around five o' clock in the evening, the Lucifer Hummingbird's (our target) usual feeding time. As we sat down and watched the feeders for a while we found that a male Anna's Hummingbird was the boss of the feeders. Every hummingbird that would come in for a drink would immediately get chased off by this territorial hummer! Our hopes sank as the male Anna's continued to chase off the hummers. However, after a half hour of waiting my lifer Lucifer Hummingbird came in for about five seconds before being chased off by that ferocious Anna's!</div>
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<b><u>Lucifer Hummingbird--Note the long tail, slightly down curved bill, throat pattern, etc</u></b></div>
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We waited about an hour for the Lucifer to come back before we called it a day. After Ash Canyon we slowly worked our way to Pinery Canyon in the Chiricahuas where we'd stay the night. On our way we spotted a Common Poorwill sitting on the side of the road!</div>
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<b><u>Common Poorwill</u></b></div>
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We had gone to the Chiricahuas for one bird, and that was the Slate-throated Redstart! It sounded like this bird was being seen primarily in the early morning which is why we'd be spending the night in the Chiris. It sounded like our chances were good since we could go to the redstarts nest before it were to wake up. At the moment, the only thing that felt like it could stop us from getting our bird was if we were to be searching the wrong canyon/drainage which seemed like a joke. However, that might or might have not have happened...</div>
Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-40410461946539428822016-05-26T16:21:00.002-07:002016-05-26T16:21:13.641-07:00Birding Hard in SEAZ!!! (Day 1) After my Bird Hard Bros, Walker and Dalton, moved to Idaho birding has still been awesome in many way but it's been missing a key factor and that is bird hardness! Don't get me wrong, I still bird hard and do insane things for birds but it's much easier and more fun to bird hard with other people with the same mindset of bird hardness! When I found out that Walker and Dalton were visiting Arizona we knew what we had to do! A bird hard trip to Southeastern Arizona!!! This would be a four day long birding trip across three of SEAZ's best mountain ranges, the Santa Rita, Huachuca, and Chiricahua Mountains!<div>
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After birding hard across Southcentral AZ (to be posted later on) and cleaning house on nearly every one of our targets we had a good feeling for this trip. We woke up fairly early in the morning and shot out to Madera Canyon, our first stop for our trip. Upon driving to the Santa Rita Lodge we spotted a White-tailed Kite and Eastern Meadowlark at the base of the mountains. Arriving at the Santa Rita Lodge, there were many birders watching the feeders. Among the many birders were awesome people such as Ms. Susan Fishburn, Ms. Barb Meding, Mr. Moe Bertrand, and Mr. Louis Hoeniger! They let us know that one of our targets, the Berylline Hummingbird, had just been seen a few minutes ago! I wasn't fazed though as many of the hummingbirds come back on a normal pace and sure enough after 10 minutes of waiting my first lifer of the trip, a female Berylline Hummingbird, came in to the hummingbird feeders for a few minutes!</div>
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<b><u>Berylline Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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I was surprised how much the Berylline's rufous-colored wings stood out even from a distance!</div>
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Berylline Hummingbird</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtILuuqbKQ8C7sLo-aqrlJAyr-ZrekrX65oj-3loM4c9cvSe1staPQ0CIvp_IBxFMxZiEtAqKOxkW3fQ2tUKtYTkByI6w2dt_yRyZSGe9-0HTXX0tjn0HBQquPHA_rGyQJ97QcSyHYvmJ/s1600/image_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtILuuqbKQ8C7sLo-aqrlJAyr-ZrekrX65oj-3loM4c9cvSe1staPQ0CIvp_IBxFMxZiEtAqKOxkW3fQ2tUKtYTkByI6w2dt_yRyZSGe9-0HTXX0tjn0HBQquPHA_rGyQJ97QcSyHYvmJ/s640/image_0003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFI-rJTLs5GO1n2-u4Gxfpf2X0-vUlv4W1x7JBxi5LddoS8jLN32BSLadK62wF1V9KEtyTke6uwtT26yeCCVbgVboX8-Yz7zim1IeR3LaLsnJU2q4bTvdkZQFHZSE89J6l4rPcVWzPTN_j/s1600/image_0005a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFI-rJTLs5GO1n2-u4Gxfpf2X0-vUlv4W1x7JBxi5LddoS8jLN32BSLadK62wF1V9KEtyTke6uwtT26yeCCVbgVboX8-Yz7zim1IeR3LaLsnJU2q4bTvdkZQFHZSE89J6l4rPcVWzPTN_j/s640/image_0005a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Observing this tropical hummer was awesome but we had to hit a few other spots in the day so after a good hour of waiting and watching we drove up towards the top of Madera Canyon to search for trogons. We were joined by Mr. Moe and Mr. Louis for this adventure too which was fun! Upon hiking shortly up the Carrie Nation Mine Trail we located a male trogon at its nest!</div>
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<b><u>Elegant Trogon--Male in nesting cavity</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Bfs0Tk7aX73l5Avrhcv-y4hxwiupMmCE-mM3l_E1OYbXUzwen9TA0gc8eAZ4hBJtYtOcHHoWaeeYgubP4XxIFpMo5RwbujM_nEHVVenRbPrqPSRmT37KmKt6bbPD8MVOZdiz9z6ELtra/s1600/image_0013a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Bfs0Tk7aX73l5Avrhcv-y4hxwiupMmCE-mM3l_E1OYbXUzwen9TA0gc8eAZ4hBJtYtOcHHoWaeeYgubP4XxIFpMo5RwbujM_nEHVVenRbPrqPSRmT37KmKt6bbPD8MVOZdiz9z6ELtra/s640/image_0013a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After sitting and waiting for a couple minutes the trogon flew out of the cavity and gave everyone a great show!</div>
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<b><u>Elegant Trogon</u></b></div>
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The trogon family is Dalton's all-time favorite family of birds and he was very happy to be back in trogon country! After talking to Moe and Louis we decided to chase a nearby Red-headed Woodpecker together (an 8th state record). So we all jumped in our cars and zoomed off toward the woodpecker. After being stopped in traffic from a crash for nearly an hour we finally reached Garden Canyon Road where we would drive on for a few more miles. Finally, we arrived at the described campground and started our search. Unfortunately by the time we arrived at the campground the bird activity was terrible and there were no woodpeckers other than a couple of Acorn Woodpeckers and a Northern Flicker. After searching for nearly an hour we were becoming quite frustrated but continued looking anyways. While we were all off searching different areas in the campground Moe yelled "Guys I have the bird!" Here's Moe pointing out the bird to Louis, Dalton, and Walker (right-left).</div>
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Moe was good at giving directions and before I knew it I was looking at my second lifer of the day!</div>
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<b><u>Red-headed Woodpecker</u></b></div>
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Throughout most of our observation the bird kept its distance and was quite skittish, however, we still had great looks of this awesome eastern woodpecker!</div>
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<b><u>Red-headed Woodpecker</u></b></div>
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The woodpecker even came down low a couple times!</div>
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Observing such a beautiful species was great! However, we had to keep things moving as we had some more ground to cover. So we next went to Patagonia to search for what could be my third lifer of the day, the Thick-billed Kingbird! On our way to Patagonia we read that someone had just had a Plain-capped Starthroat at the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon! I almost wanted to skip the kingbirds and go strait back to Madera but we decided to give the kingbirds an effort.After I searched the area once I started to lose hope. However, I heard Walker distantly call my name from the other side of the Patagonia Roadside Rest stop and I immediately started running to him at full speed! I then saw Walker looking up into the canopy and there it was, my lifer Thick-billed Kingbird perched on a snag!</div>
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<b><u>Thick-billed Kingbird</u></b></div>
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I was relieved to see this bird as it had almost become a nemesis for me! Thanks Walker for the great spotting! We then zoomed back over to Madera Canyon and hit the feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge. Minutes of watching the feeders turned into hours and before long it was dark and there was no sign of the Plain-capped Starthroat, agh! However, the Berylline Hummingbird continued to show off for the crowd.</div>
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<b><u>Berylline Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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Now, the fun part! Darkness had fallen, so we drove up towards the top of Madera Canyon for some owling (YAY!!!). As soon as I got out of the car I heard my fourth lifer of the day, a Mexican Whip-poor-will! Working our way up the mountain I found that Mexican Whips were very abundant along with Whiskered Screech-Owls (the first time I've seen one)! One of Walker's most wanted birds to photogaph on the trip was the Flammulated Owl, my favorite bird. So once he told me that Flams were in Madera we hiked up the trail and boom, there you go Walker, Flammulated Owl!!!</div>
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<b><u>Flammulated Owl</u></b></div>
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When the Flam flew in neither Walker or Dalton were prepared for the awesomeness of this bird! It stood on that branch singing for a good three or so minutes before it continued on with its night of feeding. Here's a photo I took while it was in the middle of giving its deep "poot" call.</div>
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<b><u>Fredrick The Flam!</u></b></div>
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Usually when I see Flammulated Owls they are sitting up high in a tree where the branch meets the trunk. However, this was one of the more lucky observations where the bird stayed fairly low and out in the open! As many of you now know, the Flammulated Owl is my favorite bird and finding one in SEAZ was awesome! Before long Fredrick the Flam had left and we continued on with our owling. At one point in the night we were hearing Flammulated, Spotted, and Whiskered Screech-Owls along with Mexican Whip-poor-will all at once! Once the owls quieted down a bit we drove down to Bog Springs Campground to crush some Whiskered Screech-Owls! It didn't take much effort to get on a few!</div>
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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Whiskered Screech-Owls give many different calls. There typical song is a mores-code style of hoots while their call is a descending pitch of "too"s. They also give some barks that sound kinda like a Spotted Owl's! Here are some vocalizations on <a href="http://test.xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Whiskered+Screech+Owl">xeno-canto.org</a></div>
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<b><u>Whiskered Screech-Owls</u></b></div>
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An Elf Owl was also present, the last owl we saw that night!</div>
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<b><u>Elf Owl</u></b></div>
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I ended the day with four lifers and six owls (Burrowing near my house, Whiskered Screech, Flammulated, Spotted, Elf, and Great Horned) Walker, Dalton, and I were shocked at how awesome our first day of birding was! Could it get any better? Stay tuned to find out...</div>
Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-64210258593621211962016-04-18T21:27:00.002-07:002016-04-18T21:27:26.599-07:00Spring 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.<br />
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<b><u>Swainson's Hawk</u></b></div>
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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!<br />
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<b><u>Crested Caracara</u></b></div>
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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.<br />
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<b><u>Great Horned Owls</u></b></div>
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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.<br />
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<b><u>Golden-crowned Sparrow--Maricoper #326!!!</u></b></div>
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The Golden-crowned Sparrow was my last North American <i>Zonotrichia</i> (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!<br />
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<b><u>Red-necked Grebe--Maricoper #327!!!</u></b></div>
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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!<br />
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<b><u>Red-necked Grebe</u></b></div>
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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!<br />
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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!<br />
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<b><u>Eared Grebe</u></b></div>
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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.<br />
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<b><u>Franklin's Gull</u></b></div>
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Have a great week everyone!!!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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CalebCaleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-68504294551827838882016-04-07T19:33:00.002-07:002016-04-07T19:35:22.237-07:00When 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!<br />
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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 <a href="http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-kick-back-into-my-maricoper-birding.html">Northern Parula</a>. 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.<br />
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<b><u>Rose-throated Becard!!!</u></b></div>
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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!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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Caleb<br />
<br />Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-3710027611321175042016-03-31T18:04:00.002-07:002016-03-31T18:04:42.176-07:00A Kick Back Into My Maricoper BirdingRecently, I had gotten really sick and wasn't able to get out of the house for several days. However! I had good company throughout that sickness and one day while I was talking to my good friend <a href="http://adamscommand.blogspot.com/">Joshua Smith</a> he mentioned that a Northern Parula had just been found/relocated at Tempe Town Lake! The Northern Parula was currently a nemesis bird for me and I really wanted to see one! I was slowly getting better and I was trying to find a ride to get down there when my mom mentioned that she was driving by Tempe on her way for my dads work, what a blessing! So on the last day of March I had plans to search for this Northern Parula hoping to make an end to the dreaded nemesis! Although I only had the chance to search for the bird around noon I made the most of what I could. So after my mom dropped me off I scanned the surrounding trees and peeked out on the drying lake before searching the exact area where my target had been frequenting. The all the sudden out of the corner of my eye I spot my bird!!!<br />
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<b><u>Northern Parula--Life Bird #434 and Maricopa County Bird #325!!!!!</u></b></div>
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Yes!!!!! However, I'd say I was more shocked at how beautiful this bird was then getting it! I fallowed the parula around the park and throughout the time I watched it I got within feet of it several times and it didn't even mind me!<br />
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<b><u>Northern Parula</u></b></div>
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Watching this bird truly was a blessing and it was also nice to get to observe it close up without it minding my presence. I am looking forward to many more awesome birds like this one and several amazing trips with several amazing people this spring and summer! In the mean time I'll be birding hard on my patch and throughout Maricopa County! Thanks Josh for informing me on this bird ASAP and thanks Tyler for finding and reporting it!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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CalebCaleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-63407515212010017962016-03-01T20:01:00.002-08:002016-03-30T09:33:22.379-07:002015--My Maricopa County Big Year! <div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">First and foremost</span></u></b></div>
First and foremost, before I start summing up my 2015 big year, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who came down upon this earth to die for not just my sins but for each and every human's on this planet, now how awesome is that!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Introduction</span></u></b> </div>
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By far 2015 has been my best year for birding so far! In 2014 I made my all-time yearlist just above 300 species of bird and my state and county year lists were far bellow 300. As a matter of fact my all-time Maricopa County list wasn't even at 300! Now for those who know me know that I like to set hard-to-reach goals, not just in birding but in life too. My goal for 2014 was to reach 300 species of birds in one year, and I just barely ended the year with just over 300. In 2015 I stepped my level up quite a bit in trying to not just see 300 species of birds in one year but to see those 300+ birds in my home county, Maricopa. Now, only one other person has complete that goal and that is, to no surprise, Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben (AKA "The King Of Maricopa"). I talked to a few of Maricopa's birders and asked them if they thought I could get 300 species in one year and they said that it was doable but very unlikely. And to add to the difficulty not being able to drive and having lots of school and chores didn't help me out much. They, rather, told me that I should shoot for getting my all-time Maricopa County list up to 300 or try to get 200 species in one year by bike. Now the latter suggestion was not easy either but I was more focused on doing a Maricopa County Big Year!!! However, balancing family, friends, school, birding, chores, and a handful of other things turned out to be challenging at times. Would I get 300 species in Maricopa County in just one year? Read bellow to find out!</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">January</span></u></b> </div>
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January 1st, one of my favorite days of the year! With no special plans for New Years Day I headed out to Lake Pleasant to start my big year off with a good start. This winter a Red-necked Grebe, two Black Scoters, a White-winged Scoter, and several Horned Grebes and Common Loons decided to make Lake Pleasant their winter home. At our first stop along this large lake I spotted a Herring Gull and two Brown Pelicans flying out in the distance! Finding my own rarities when out on a rarity chase is always fun. After giving the lake a good scan we continued to our next stop, Two Cow Cove. It didn't take me long to find my lifer Common Loon in the distance! As I continued scanning I quickly found the two Black Scoters and White-winged Scoter swimming together as well as a Red-breasted Merganser! We then drove over to where the birds were and were lucky to see them fairly close to shore.</div>
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<b><u>Black Scoters (left) White-winged Scoter (right)</u></b></div>
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After Lake Pleasant I birded a bit on My Patch in Buckeye where I added Ross's Goose (first for my patch) and McCown's Longspur (found a couple months ago).<br />
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The following day (Jan. 2) I went to the Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands with my birding mentor Joe Ford (or as I call him "Mr. Ford") and my awesome friend, Alexia. Highlights among the 85 species we observed included a rare for winter Hammond's Flycatcher, two California Gulls, a Brown Pelican, some American Goldfinches, and my lifer Pacific Wren!<br />
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<b><u>Hammond's Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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On January 4th I birded my patch and the Arlington Valley with "The King Of Maricopa", Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben. Our main goal was to get Mr. Tommy his first photos of Lapland Longspur. Our mission was a success and we got some cool birds around the surrounding area too!<br />
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<b><u>Lapland Longspur</u></b></div>
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<b><u>McCown's Longspur</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Ferruginous Hawk (dark morph)</u></b></div>
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On the 8th I found an American Redstart at the Dean and Beloat Riparian Area, one of the best spots on my patch. This American Redstart was the first adult male that I had ever seen!<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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On the14th While I was birding around Rainbow Valley I spotted nine Lesser Nighthawks, which is rare for the winter.<br />
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<b><u>Lesser Nighthawk</u></b></div>
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On the 17th I got all of my common waterbirds for Maricopa County after I helped out in a Greater Phoenix Water Bird Census. However, finding my nemesis Black-and-white Warbler two days later was an amazing experience!<br />
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<b><u>Black-and-white Warbler!!!</u></b></div>
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After chasing the Black-and-white Warbler nearly ten times in three years and my mom seeing the bird in CA and not me, I was pumped to have finally gotten this striking songbird!<br />
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As you can see, I birded a lot in January! And the birding continued when I birded the Arlington Valley and The Thrasher Spot on the 21st, again with Mr. Tommy! We pretty much cleaned house!<br />
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<b><u>LeConte's Thrasher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Bendire's Thrasher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Sage Thrasher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Crissal Thrasher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Bell's Sparrow</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Sagebrush Sparrow</u></b></div>
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On the 24th I did some hardcore patch birding and found a couple of rare for winter Bank Swallows along with the continuing Black-and-white Warbler and American Redstart.<br />
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Another patch day on the 26th provided my first for Maricopa, Greater Pewee! Other birds of noted included 3 Lapland Longspurs, and 3 McCown's Longspurs!<br />
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<b><u>Greater Pewee</u></b></div>
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On the 28th I did an IBA (Important Bird Area) Count at the Baseline and Meridian Area where I found a Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, and two early Cliff Swallows!<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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After the count I showed Mr. Tommy the Greater Pewee on my patch. The pewee took a while to find but it was a first for Maricopa for Mr. Tommy so we tried hard, even though he was really sick, and we were rewarded with great views of the continuing Greater Pewee! We also found a female Broad-billed Hummingbird (my first for Maricoper)!<br />
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<b><u>Greater Pewee</u></b></div>
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My last day of birding in January was on the 31st when I lead a birdwalk to the Arlington and Buckeye Areas. However, due to rain most of my group chickened out on me, however, four hardcore birders were still up for it! We started our morning off at The Thrasher Spot where I got all of the target birds (LeConte's, Bendire's, and Crissal Thrashers, and Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrows). The rest of the day was fairly quiet but things livened up when I showed them the Greater Pewee on my patch and it was a first for Maricopa County for everyone!<br />
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<b><u>Greater Pewee</u></b></div>
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I ended January with 164 species, a great start to my Maricopa County Big Year! Only 136 species to go!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">February</span></u></b></div>
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It wasn't until the 4th when I first birded in February, but when that day came I birded hard! Mr. Tommy gave me a call the night before asking me if I wanted to join him on hardcore day of birding on Mt. Ord, Sunflower, and the Gilbert Water Ranch. Of course I said yes! I had never been to the higher elevations of Maricopa in the winter, so I knew it was gonna be a great experience! We started the morning off in Sunflower off of Old Beeline Highway. As soon as we got out of the car we were shocked to have a flock of around 20 Evening Grosbeaks fly over us! The all-time high count for Evening Grosbeaks in Maricopa was somewhere around two or three and we just destroyed that! It turns out that the whole day was great for finches, with around 60 Evening Grosbeaks and 40 Cassin's Finches (both high counts for our county!) at Sunflower, a few Red Crossbills at Mt. Ord and of course the regular common House Finches and Lesser Golfinches. At Mt. Ord I got my lifer Golden-crowned Kinglet and at the Gilbert Water Ranch I got another lifer, a Brown Thrasher! Here are some of the photos that highlighted the day.</div>
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<b><u>Evening Grosbeak</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Cassin's Finch</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Olive Warbler</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Golden-crowned Kinglet</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Cinnamon X Green-winged Teal hybrid</u></b> </div>
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<b><u>Brown Thrasher</u></b></div>
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More birding on my patch on the 5th and 6th produced a Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk, a Western Screech- Owl, the Broad-billed Hummingbird, the Greater Pewee, and the American Redstart.<br />
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I birding trip across the East Valley with Mr. Gordon Karre, on the 7th, provided two more lifers along with some nice yearbirds! Our first target was a Harris's Sparrow at Coon Bluff along the Lower Salt River. It took us about an hour to find this bird but it was well worth the time!<br />
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<b><u>Harris's Sparrow</u></b></div>
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Our next stop was near ASU where we quickly found my FOY (first of year) Chestnut-sided Warbler feeding in a single tree!<br />
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<b><u>Chestnut-sided Warbler</u></b></div>
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Our last chase of the day was to see a Eurasian Wigeon at Dos Lagos Park. I had never seen a Eurasian Wigeon and it was about time for me to! It literally took us ten seconds to find the bird hanging out with his cousins, the American Wigeons.<br />
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<b><u>Lenard The Eurasian Wigeon</u></b></div>
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We finished our successful day of birding at the Rios Salado sight in Phoenix, we didn't see much but we did, however, enjoyed ourselves.<br />
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On the 12th and 13th I birded on my patch where I relocated at least 3 Lapland Longspurs and 3 McCown's Longspurs along finding my FOY Lark Bunting.<br />
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<b><u>Lark Bunting</u></b></div>
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My next day of birding was at the Hassayampa River Preserve on the 18th. I hadn't been to this rarity magnet for a while and it was about time for me to return! Highlights included the continuing Varied Thrush that I found last year, a heard-only Pacific Wren, a Wood Duck, two Red-shouldered Hawks, and a flyover Red Crossbill.<br />
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<b><u>Varied Thrush--One of my many bad photos of this bird</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Canyon Wren</u></b></div>
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My next day of birding was on the 21st when I birded at the Dean and Beloat Riparian Area, near my house. I arrived at the spot early and was rewarded with my FOY Winter Wren, a new Black-and-white Warbler, and two American Redstarts (one of which was continuing).<br />
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A return to the Hassayampa River Preserve on the 22nd proved successful yet again. My goal was to get Mr. Laurence Butler his nemesis Varied Thrush. Not only did we get the thrush but we also had nice views of a Pacific-slope Flycatcher (identified by call), and close flybys by a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks.<br />
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<b><u>Red-shouldered Hawk</u></b></div>
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After a successful morning at Hassayampa, we continued onto a spot in Sun City where a Lewis's Woodpecker had recently been found. However, we could never relocate the bird.<br />
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On the 25th I birded at the Glendale Recharge Ponds where I heard a Golden-crowned Kinglet calling from a riparian stand and we returned to Sun City where I relocated the Lewis's Woodpecker.<br />
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<b><u>Lewis's Woodpecker</u></b></div>
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On February 26th I had my FOY Black-chinned Hummingbird at my house which marked the last yearbird of February leaving me at 202 species for my big year!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">March</span></u></b></div>
March marks the month where migration begins in AZ! Although not many migrants come through on this month they are still existent. My first day of birding for March started on the 4th when I did and IBA count at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area. Migration had begun as I found my FOY Wilson's Warbler. Another trip to the B and M three days later provided a nice Black-chinned Hummingbird and my FOY White-throated Sparrow that I found on a Christmas Bird Count last year!<br />
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<b><u>White-throated Sparrow</u></b></div>
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On the 9th I birded along my patch where I had a Western Screech-Owl, a continuing American Redstart, an Eastern Meadowlark, and my FOY Greater White-fronted Goose! The next day while my dad and I were driving around I spotted a Crested Caracara perched out in the distance (FOY)!<br />
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The following day I spent the morning at the Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands where my highlight was a Swamp Sparrow calling from a small patch of reeds.<br />
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On the 14th I helped lead a birdwalk at Estralla with Mr. Ford. Among the 63 species we observed my main highlight was watching people getting life birds and watching them getting started into birding!<br />
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An IBA count to the Arlington Wildlife Area provided two Swamp Sparrows, many Virginia Rails, and quite a few waterbirds.<br />
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On the 20th I went out to the desert southeast of Wickenburg with my friends and family where we had a great time hanging out. Once night came Alexia and I did some owling for a while. Nocturnal species included five Western Screech-Owls, four Great Horned Owls, a Barn Owl, and my FOY Common Poorwill.<br />
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A quick stop by Liberty on my patch in mid-March provided me with the continuing Greater Pewee.<br />
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My next birding adventure was to the Gilbert Water Ranch on the 24th where I had amazing views of the Brown Thrasher! I also got what are perhaps my best photos of Blue-winged Teal.<br />
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<b><u>Brown Thrasher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Blue-winged Teal</u></b></div>
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The next day I did some birding by Dean and Beloat. While I was inside of the riparian jungle it was very quiet but all the sudden I got pooped on by a bird! I couldn't see any movement above me but after scanning the canopy for a good five or ten minutes I found my first for my patch Plumbeous Vireo! I also observed some nice Tree Swallows on the bike ride on my way to D and B.<br />
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<b><u>Plumbeous Vireo</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Tree Swallow</u></b></div>
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March 29th marked the day when the Swainson's Hawks started arriving. I had three on my patch that day. Then the next day I had a Rufous Hummingbird come to my hummingbird feeder in my yard! A first for my patch!<br />
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<b><u>Rufous Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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I ended March with 217 species for my big year, bringing me that much closer to my goal!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">April</span></u></b></div>
April, one of the better months for birds! Which started proving itself when an American Golden-Plover was found by Louis Hoeniger near Tres Rios. I wasn't able to go to this slop pond where the bird had been seen until the 4th but at least I could chase it! After scanning the area for about a half hour Mr. Gordon Karre, who was also searching for this bird, spotted the bird! Right when I saw where he was looking the bird flushed up and flew off never to come back again, while I was there! A huge thanks to Mr. Gordon for showing me this bird before it left!<br />
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<b><u>American Golden-Plover</u></b></div>
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I also got my FOY Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and a nice Cinnamon X Blue-winged Teal hybrid!<br />
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<b><u>Black-bellied Whistling-Duck</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Cinnamon X Blue-winged Teal hybrid</u></b></div>
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After a successful chase on the plover we stopped by a huge migrating flock of Swainson's Hawks a few miles south of my house. I think that day the count was around 800 for the time I was there!<br />
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<b><u>Swainson's Hawk</u></b></div>
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For the next few days I spent my time in Southeastern AZ where I camped out with Mr. John Kafel and his family. To read up on how that trip went here are my two posts on it.<br />
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<a href="http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-well-needed-trip-to-se-az-part-1.html">http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-well-needed-trip-to-se-az-part-1.html</a><br />
<a href="http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-well-needed-trip-to-se-az-part-2.html">http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-well-needed-trip-to-se-az-part-2.html</a><br />
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After I returned from my trip I had a birdwalk to help lead at Estrella Mountain Park on the 11th. The best highlight for me was helping teach Mr. John's step Grandson, Ren, how to bird. The best bird of the morning was an adult Brown Pelican flying over the large gravel pit/lake. A close flyby from a Red-tailed Hawk was also nice.<br />
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<b><u>Brown Pelican</u></b></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Red-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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An IBA count at the Arlington Wildlife Area on the 13th got me my FOY Ridgway's Rails, one of my favorite birds!<br />
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<b><u>Ridgway's Rail--What could've been an amazing photo...</u></b></div>
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A day trip to the Hassayampa River on the 17th was productive. Among the many birds that I saw some Gray Hawks, a Common Black Hawk, and a rare for Maricopa Broad-billed Hummingbird were the highlights of the day.<br />
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On the 19th I road my bike east from my house along the Gila River, between Cotton Lane and Estrella Parkway bridges. The river still had some water from last year's 100 year flood and I was shocked at how many birds I found in the small ponds throughout the river! Unfortunately this stretch of the river is about a mile outside of my patch so I couldn't count these birds for my patch. Among the many shorebirds I spotted year birds such as Baird's Sandpiper (rare for the spring), Stilt Sandpiper (early), Solitary Sandpiper, and this Western Sandpiper made my trip worth while.<br />
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<b><u>Western Sandpiper</u></b></div>
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Here's a Least Sandpiper I photographed in the same area so you can compare the two.<br />
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<b><u>Least Sandpiper</u></b></div>
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Throughout the end of April I made many visits to the Glendale Recharge Ponds. There were many cool birds to be seen at the ponds during this time frame. Many of the species which were seen in this time frame I was able to photograph.<br />
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<b><u>Red-breasted Merganser</u></b></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Black-bellied Plover</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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<b><u>Neotropic Cormorant</u></b></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Snowy Egret</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Willet (foreground) and Marbled Godwit (background)</u></b></div>
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To end April I made a trip out to the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area to watch the Ridgway's Rails for a while. After waiting for about five minutes they gave off quite a show!<br />
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<b><u>Ridgway's Rail</u></b></div>
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April was a great month as I ended the month with 239 species for my big year! However, May is coming and is one of the best months of the year so read on to find how it went!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">May</span></u></b></div>
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In Maricopa County, May has got to be one of the best months for bird diversity! Nearly every body of water has shorebirds on it and about every stand of trees has a good array of migrant songbirds such as warblers!</div>
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The 2nd marked the day I got first Warbling Vireo for the year!</div>
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<b><u>Warbling Vireo</u></b></div>
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On the 3rd my mom took me birding to the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area and the Glendale Recharge Ponds. I spent all of my time looking for Ridgway's Rails at the B and M and ended up with five! After I was done waiting to see the rails we zoomed over to Glendale and started scanning the ponds! On this day I met the awesome and nice, Dale Clark and I had the privileged of birding with him throughout the time I was there. Mr. Dale pointed out a Wood Duck mixed in with the many waterfowl in one of the ponds, a great bird for Glendale! While Mr. Dale and I shared our birding stories we watched an elegant Forster's Tern fishing throughout the area.</div>
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<b><u>Forster's Tern</u></b></div>
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While we continued scanning the ponds my mom spotted some Black-necked Stilt babies which she found adorable! While I was looking for more baby stilts I all the sudden spotted my lifer Snowy Plover!!!</div>
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<b><u>Snowy Plover</u></b></div>
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The Snowy Plover was a overdue life bird, however, but they are not common in Maricopa or even uncommon for that matter! Mr. Dale was more surprised on the plover than I was! We watched it for quite a while before I had to leave. Unexpected lifers are the best!</div>
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On the 6th while I was helping my family pack our RV for camping I heard a Ridgway's Rail call twice at nearly 9:00P.M.! However, this isn't a strange time of day to hear these rails call because this bird was likely migrating and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time (yard bird!).</div>
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The monthly birdwalk at Estrella provided another Forster's Tern, a nice Cassin's Vireo, and a cooperative Virginia Rail.</div>
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<b><u>Virginia Rail</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Cassin's Vireo</u></b></div>
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On the 11th I birded in Glendale and Mesa with Mr. John Kafel, his wife Ms. Janet, and my great friend Alexia! Our plan was to stop by the Glendale Recharge Ponds and the Agua Fria River Bed in hopes of getting terns and then to do some owling at Coon Bluff. We ended up not seeing a thing at the ponds but at the Agua Fria Riverbed I got my first for Maricopa, Bonaparte's Gull! Unfortunately the gull was way too far for photos. Before we started owling at Coon Bluff we stopped by Granite Reef where we unsuccessfully searched for Bronzed Cowbirds. However, a pair of Brown-crested Flycatchers were quite entertaining.</div>
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<b><u>Brown-crested Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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Once the sun was setting we went to Coon Bluff to owl a little. Once the sun had fallen and the moon had risen Western Screech-Owls, Common Poorwills, and my lifer Elf Owls were calling. Only the Western Screech-Owls were cooperative though.</div>
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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On the 16th I was surprised to find my Maricoper Olive-sided Flycatcher on my patch, along with a nice Western Wood-Pewee.</div>
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<b><u>Olive-sided Flycatcher</u></b> </div>
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<b><u>Western Wood-Pewee</u></b></div>
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On the 16th I rode my bike to bird along the Gila River between Rainbow and Dean Roads. This portion of the river is on private property, as far as I know, but I have special permission from the land owner to bird there. This section also has some amazing riparian habitat which holds some amazing bird life! This was the first time I had birded along this stretch of the Gila River in spring/summer. I found awesome birds including two families of Common Ground-Dove, a pair of Summer Tanagers, many Yellow-breasted Chats, and my Maricoper Cordileran Flycatcher (identified by sound, of course).</div>
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<b><u>Common Ground-Dove</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Summer Tanager</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Yellow-breasted Chat (doing its flight song with a bee)</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Cordileran Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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On the 21st I birded across the West Valley with Mr. John, yet again. We started off at the B and M where we nearly got mugged by a group of gangsters but it was worth it, because, I saw a Ridgways Rail! We then went to Estrella and I did a little birding around the mesquite bosque. I was surprised to find both Olive-sided and Cordileran Flycatchers fairly close together! While I watched these flycatcher a bulky blackbird flew up into a tree, it was my lifer Bronzed Cowbird!</div>
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<b><u>Bronzed Cowbird--#299 for my all-time Maricopa list!!!</u></b></div>
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We then drove over to the Glendale Recharge Ponds to see what was around. I was shocked to find a large flock of Red-necked Phalaropes swimming in the middle of one of the basins!</div>
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<b><u>Red-necked Phalarope</u></b> </div>
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I also got to meet Darrel Wilder for the first time and I enjoyed talking with him for a while. He even spotted my first of year, Caspian Tern (thanks Mr. Darrel!).</div>
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<b><u>Caspian Tern</u></b></div>
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After Mr. John and I refreshed ourselves at Culver's we went to the Agua Fria Riverbed in hopes of finding a Least Tern. After scanning for a few minutes I spotted a Least Tern perched on a large tire (finally!).</div>
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<b><u>Least Tern</u></b></div>
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I also spotted the Bonaparte's Gull being chase by an American Avocet.<br />
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<b><u>Bonaparte's Gull (bottom)</u></b></div>
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On the 23rd I had big plans to bird northeastern Maricopa County with Mr. Ford, Mr. Paul Doucett, my mom, and Alexia. We made our first stop at the Old Beeline Highway. One of the first birds we saw was a beautiful adult male Blue Grosbeak!<br />
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<b><u>Blue Grosbeak</u></b></div>
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A pair of Zone-tailed Hawks were watching us almost the whole time we were there.<br />
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<b><u>Zone-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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The area was full of bird life and year birds but I wasn't very focused on photos. After a nice morning in Sunflower we drove over to Mt.Ord where we spent the rest of the day. We first stopped on the lower slopes where we successfully searched for Black-chinned and Rufous-crowned Sparrows and Gray Vireos.<br />
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<b><u>Black-chinned Sparrow</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Rufous-crowned Sparrow</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Gray Vireo</u></b></div>
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After cleaning house on the lower slopes we drove up the mountain to Forest Road 1688. From here we got nearly all of our forest specialties. It was fairly quiet in the higher elevations but I managed to get a few yearbirds.<br />
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<b><u>Painted Redstart</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Olive Warbler</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Hepatic Tanager</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Spotted Towhee</u></b></div>
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On the 25th I explored the Slate Creek Divide for the very first time with Mr. Troy Corman! This is a desolate area in the northeast corner of Maricopa County (kinda near Mt. Ord). The terrain in this area is very rough and there are many snakes and bears in the area, so very few people explore this area and exploring it by one's self is foolish. Mr. Troy and I were pumped to explore this area! I was even more excited, because, I had good chances on getting my 300th all-time species for Maricopa County! The birds found in this area are similar to those found at Mt. Ord but with several additional species. When we first got out of the car we could hear both chaparral and forest species singing!<br />
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<b><u>Blue-gray Gnatcatcher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Pygmy Nuhatch</u></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVReVaX-daK9gJcrTZd8_e8HNjf6lViZTEEL1cV7By8b95LUT1q2p02L1dsRou5TzDA3fSR04iJA-UeGNbx_wCQ9CodK5Zv-pgFJYJoeAmHHhtg_bchgCn5N_8HmR-gWp4mtA2sK5Dsz4/s1600/image_0036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgVReVaX-daK9gJcrTZd8_e8HNjf6lViZTEEL1cV7By8b95LUT1q2p02L1dsRou5TzDA3fSR04iJA-UeGNbx_wCQ9CodK5Zv-pgFJYJoeAmHHhtg_bchgCn5N_8HmR-gWp4mtA2sK5Dsz4/s640/image_0036.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Bushtit</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpn2BUvguCgaOrbm8ZRSYUe_gxCW26F2YxHiGasoxJd65D0wPU-82TrPSPUWhk7ve2YEDq-MlYNzqgHVl13ulsgiFNOOLN11ZuJSsoOBzCUrQ-n05H22PL3aOpA6ISrfRYVpcbthUdwp0/s1600/image_0048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpn2BUvguCgaOrbm8ZRSYUe_gxCW26F2YxHiGasoxJd65D0wPU-82TrPSPUWhk7ve2YEDq-MlYNzqgHVl13ulsgiFNOOLN11ZuJSsoOBzCUrQ-n05H22PL3aOpA6ISrfRYVpcbthUdwp0/s640/image_0048.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Grace's Warbler</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRGCxdRNYZFvnzeF5JZg7LE92XFSwaYLJfWmzurK68edBG-lwnhbBZYSvS0qEBos2GvC5kkRNX7_lMXdN2oPZGKSbff3b3Blvwz-OqeZm7waP1YL7PrK32HNqPsfiHq3d5GYIg0Y1B-jt-/s1600/image_0015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRGCxdRNYZFvnzeF5JZg7LE92XFSwaYLJfWmzurK68edBG-lwnhbBZYSvS0qEBos2GvC5kkRNX7_lMXdN2oPZGKSbff3b3Blvwz-OqeZm7waP1YL7PrK32HNqPsfiHq3d5GYIg0Y1B-jt-/s640/image_0015.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>House Wren</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdcXbNcwmoGWDQoJWMUxqlAYV9Uj-BqD5TP9PBuQ4iWR5AgfUc9ZrttkucTstHk8R-JNcDPWUH8mEqs4EXZ9ticLzP9pjxLnq6XIjrYAQwF8R4jqEAg_GolouQc5Cfe_rqTL6Cc1zCO6N/s1600/image_0032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDdcXbNcwmoGWDQoJWMUxqlAYV9Uj-BqD5TP9PBuQ4iWR5AgfUc9ZrttkucTstHk8R-JNcDPWUH8mEqs4EXZ9ticLzP9pjxLnq6XIjrYAQwF8R4jqEAg_GolouQc5Cfe_rqTL6Cc1zCO6N/s640/image_0032.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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While Mr. Troy and I continued searching the area thoroughly we worried that we might miss one of my potential Maricopers, the Mexican Jay! Continuing with our owl-whistle-imitations and pishing, I then said "Hey look at that jay up in the tree!"<br />
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<b><u>Mexican Jay--Maricopa County bird #300!!!</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Wm2ikEiFEQAJ9zM_zK2qpcUEVyNA7ldjYG75YVJHR9LyPo6FWF_pkMhhPrMSxi1Fks9-2r69kuQ27OcoIqe_llIn43A_FB9i7GU6Pgv4MnFBcIeQB6lLxDYjqwolunMjyShpS4tJoiVr/s1600/image_0007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Wm2ikEiFEQAJ9zM_zK2qpcUEVyNA7ldjYG75YVJHR9LyPo6FWF_pkMhhPrMSxi1Fks9-2r69kuQ27OcoIqe_llIn43A_FB9i7GU6Pgv4MnFBcIeQB6lLxDYjqwolunMjyShpS4tJoiVr/s640/image_0007.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOq67I9gZDuZtOBRgxa3sEUD9-9E5ZaLAiBvkp_-18u9JAah2SPm0GmTqmOhc2NwnzzvfdVOBojB9xHR-ZtgwvcmRJcRC7lDa1flDm42KszMbirOO85DeHi-X2TZ6sl-CZ6JX9vvS73Nh/s1600/image_0030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOq67I9gZDuZtOBRgxa3sEUD9-9E5ZaLAiBvkp_-18u9JAah2SPm0GmTqmOhc2NwnzzvfdVOBojB9xHR-ZtgwvcmRJcRC7lDa1flDm42KszMbirOO85DeHi-X2TZ6sl-CZ6JX9vvS73Nh/s640/image_0030.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mr. Troy and I then continued exploring the Slate Creek area. While we were hiking at the base of a hill I randomly looked up on the hillside and spied a fat blob in a tree! "What the heck is a trash bag doing sitting on a tree in the middle of the forest???" is what half of me was thinking, while the other half was saying "NO!!! NO WAY!!!! IT CAN'T BE????!!!!!!!!" I knew exactly what it was before I even put my binocs on the bird. It wasn't a trash bag it was a Spotted Owl!!!!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>A Spotted Owl in Maricopa County!!!</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rkGjKRlhYlwNJw-oORIt4Sr1arByW628lN_hVhv9dxJch8wMvAerX48f_YhISzyiA96Vb6cUaUDbK60XW-Xx0oMu9f5NdfZD_vdNqtA3XTbJleKeQc2iu5l5PFJNEkWBOB0Ue2Wtd_tp/s1600/image_0053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rkGjKRlhYlwNJw-oORIt4Sr1arByW628lN_hVhv9dxJch8wMvAerX48f_YhISzyiA96Vb6cUaUDbK60XW-Xx0oMu9f5NdfZD_vdNqtA3XTbJleKeQc2iu5l5PFJNEkWBOB0Ue2Wtd_tp/s640/image_0053.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I was shocked that I had just found the first potential breeding Spotted Owl day roost in Maricopa County! Mr. Troy was also excited to witness his first Spotted Owl in Maricopa too!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>Spotted Owl</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfRWxQkcJ69whAipopD7caUwW_hqSWUJ6Nhj3Cc_ZPRp57P7JnA_Ov-qixx0XVgED-pXnipxSijN27RDhj7B7rLe-pvnwH0vfB3mafzsx29Lb3E1jl0IqU3nVvjdSHY1XTEZ2gbquFFTN/s1600/image_0066a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfRWxQkcJ69whAipopD7caUwW_hqSWUJ6Nhj3Cc_ZPRp57P7JnA_Ov-qixx0XVgED-pXnipxSijN27RDhj7B7rLe-pvnwH0vfB3mafzsx29Lb3E1jl0IqU3nVvjdSHY1XTEZ2gbquFFTN/s640/image_0066a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Spotted Owls were found for the first time in many years in Maricopa County in 2014 by Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben. Since then he and a couple other birders have searched for the Maricopa Spotty's day roost without success. I had thoughts that a Spotted Owl was at Slate Creek but I never imagined I'd find it on its day-roost!!!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUD_dh23LqKBkwX0vf05KxrEqbdwerBNqRIkmFDn05pyomcRuJO_L6ZWSF073U05YP2aMd6_UlQuZ__sFGWsY58rbF5x3JZHOtRS8oLqjppm3dXGIGz2840N6tPYBjighHMgSWKO97hZt/s1600/image_0058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizUD_dh23LqKBkwX0vf05KxrEqbdwerBNqRIkmFDn05pyomcRuJO_L6ZWSF073U05YP2aMd6_UlQuZ__sFGWsY58rbF5x3JZHOtRS8oLqjppm3dXGIGz2840N6tPYBjighHMgSWKO97hZt/s640/image_0058.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxnp0PO9NpZjU2MnjXOY3nTVh6U5J-HY8qFV4AJzwQuL7Fv4E559s0CLILL4gSZ0rPK4lIoOB_dxWlqcUEJz7hqIjuXA4u8k-G0wH942r8zdmnEebo2b_fqrjvGBrpDMvKAcL8FR2MymO/s1600/image_0062.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbxnp0PO9NpZjU2MnjXOY3nTVh6U5J-HY8qFV4AJzwQuL7Fv4E559s0CLILL4gSZ0rPK4lIoOB_dxWlqcUEJz7hqIjuXA4u8k-G0wH942r8zdmnEebo2b_fqrjvGBrpDMvKAcL8FR2MymO/s640/image_0062.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I enjoyed every second with the Spotty, but before long Mr. Troy and I knew we had to continue birding, for we had more ground to cover. Here's one last photo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3CkHeH1hddFlg8ivKjAkRdzJTdkFfsvLl-VnBKfwqJxGjk9u0YccHXpNGQEB40zNx5OGF0xRPUrp6ytul_mwkXTgSxES8btD0MyAbMYZ3NhyARxqjPe7dXdTpnpiLlUxTVP7oLnxIgkf/s1600/image_0024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3CkHeH1hddFlg8ivKjAkRdzJTdkFfsvLl-VnBKfwqJxGjk9u0YccHXpNGQEB40zNx5OGF0xRPUrp6ytul_mwkXTgSxES8btD0MyAbMYZ3NhyARxqjPe7dXdTpnpiLlUxTVP7oLnxIgkf/s640/image_0024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mr. Troy and I started hiking throughout the areas drainages. Red-breasted Nuthatches were fairly numerous in the Douglas-firs.<br />
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<b><u>Red-breasted Nuthatch</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXcZUfxe0njjmjJfCo01QO039JuOuuPjg-bAApaJRTzH1CX67HiLO6khIvJFvQrbUu6nZzCGgmxKDHEBWedsUUnBLuA1XgSlIV6Q6VAW8uF6M3tiBPIrP11Cv0G33CzjjVOa_0yX_562vD/s1600/image_0021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXcZUfxe0njjmjJfCo01QO039JuOuuPjg-bAApaJRTzH1CX67HiLO6khIvJFvQrbUu6nZzCGgmxKDHEBWedsUUnBLuA1XgSlIV6Q6VAW8uF6M3tiBPIrP11Cv0G33CzjjVOa_0yX_562vD/s640/image_0021.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Shockingly, we found a Lucy's Warbler singing its head off in a forest! What a strange bird.<br />
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<b><u>Lucy's Warbler in 6'000' elevation!</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqMHUTPbAm9NjYlWZ4zsplW-qH37if_9KXp79qS0Uq3P2exXm7bSdNP4k6lDP24Jtb0INYlehBVtzuUUZVFrby8Fgj3dicQWg3sC1jj9tnmC8s7Gqrd_-1xVz_NyKjO0yoVLMsvBPUOKH/s1600/image_0047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqMHUTPbAm9NjYlWZ4zsplW-qH37if_9KXp79qS0Uq3P2exXm7bSdNP4k6lDP24Jtb0INYlehBVtzuUUZVFrby8Fgj3dicQWg3sC1jj9tnmC8s7Gqrd_-1xVz_NyKjO0yoVLMsvBPUOKH/s640/image_0047.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Eventually we reached the end of where we were birding and it didn't take us long to find my third Maricoper of the day, some Dusky-capped Flycatchers!<br />
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<b><u>Dusky-Capped Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNngiEqJ3kXFOs9YGx7cJQ7f2YG-HNpcNlOseUN9UeE8lNeEFDe3OewpLXgMw-1dwwehQB4kSiryMUU3uVT1XAcKMe8i-V8MyDJu7VXse3mvjRwGxmr59Z7FRgxZCO6sllHcrzO4_YZKqR/s1600/image_0033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNngiEqJ3kXFOs9YGx7cJQ7f2YG-HNpcNlOseUN9UeE8lNeEFDe3OewpLXgMw-1dwwehQB4kSiryMUU3uVT1XAcKMe8i-V8MyDJu7VXse3mvjRwGxmr59Z7FRgxZCO6sllHcrzO4_YZKqR/s640/image_0033.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Having a triple Maricoper day was awesome, especially since my 300th MC bird was in there as well as a Spotted Owl!<br />
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My next birding expedition was on the 29th. I left my house before the sun was up to start biking to the Gila River to do the same bird count that I had done the week before. This outing was highlighted by my FOY Willow Flycatcher and two very interesting orioles. While I was birding along Dean and Beloat two orioles flew out from the thick riparian jungle and landed on the back side of a willow. One oriole, which was on the backside of the tree, appeared to be a bright male while the other one, which I could clearly see, appeared to be a female but it didn't look quite right. Since the female was so different I tried to get a look at the male. I could barely see the male but I could see a lot of bright colors, especially towards the face. The male bird then hopped to a stick out in the open with his back facing me. However, what I saw was shocking! A bright orange back with bold black streaks! My jaw dropped as the birds flew down into the riparian forest never be seen again (sounds like a horror story, huh? I kinda was!). I searched for these birds several times after this day but never found them again. Once I got back to my house a quick study on female orioles provided a perfect match for my female type bird, a 1st year female Streak-backed Oriole. My observation of these birds happened in a whole five seven seconds! To this day I'm sure that these were Streak-backed Orioles but with them being so rare it wouldn't be wise to count them unless one got great views or diagnostic photos. This was probably the biggest punch-in-the-face in 2015.<br />
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May proved to be an amazing month. I got a hand full of yearbirds, got my 300th bird for Maricopa County, and on top of all of that I got a Spotted Owl in my home county! What might June hold for me???<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">June</span></u></b></div>
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June is the year when my family starts camping in Happy Jack Lodge near Flagstaff, AZ. On June 6th I made a trip to the Hassayampa River Preserve with Mr. John Kafel. My target for here was the Tropical Kingbirds which breed here. It didn't take us long to hear one calling from high up in the canopy.</div>
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<b><u>Tropical Kingbird</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwp6HuFrsZA_i_MLAHoTwHeZnGBVEEJJIcfVcxJZIjFGiurx0BggsorTKfnvBKKcxWx8BUm8v1z7nPLhtlM1rWTEjHuNUleOp1xzJMwMKTtUxUtd2z3G-QvI6dLSVjSfLAwirfy2tZhHYC/s1600/image_0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwp6HuFrsZA_i_MLAHoTwHeZnGBVEEJJIcfVcxJZIjFGiurx0BggsorTKfnvBKKcxWx8BUm8v1z7nPLhtlM1rWTEjHuNUleOp1xzJMwMKTtUxUtd2z3G-QvI6dLSVjSfLAwirfy2tZhHYC/s640/image_0004.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After I got the kingbird for the year I did some chill birding before the blazing hot sun became too much.</div>
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<b><u>Bell's Vireo</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Gray Hawk</u></b></div>
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A short stop by the Glendale Recharge Ponds provided me with a rather young California Gull.</div>
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<b><u>California Gull</u></b></div>
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After a rather amazing trip the the Chiricahua Mountains I met a couple of my best friends, Walker Noe and Dalton. To read about that fantastic camp here are the two links to my two posts on the trip.</div>
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<a href="http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-first-young-birders-camp-chiricahuas.html">http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-first-young-birders-camp-chiricahuas.html</a></div>
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<a href="http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-first-young-birders-camp-part-2.html">http://birdingwithcaleb.blogspot.com/2015/06/my-first-young-birders-camp-part-2.html</a></div>
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After a rather exhausting camp I took a week long brake from birding. On the 23rd, however, I met back up with Walker Noe and we cleaned house and then some, at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife area and Tres Rios! We had two targets Barn Owl and Yellow-billed Cuckoo and on top of that we wanted to find at least one decent find (BIRD HARDNESS=all targets+at least one self found highlight) It didn't take us long to hear, and then see, a cuckoo flying throughout the area.</div>
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<b><u>Yellow-billed Cuckoo</u></b></div>
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We then searched for Barn Owls and it wasn't hard to spot them at all!<br />
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<b><u>Barn Owl</u></b></div>
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Woohoo! We got our two targets first thing in the morning! We then hiked over to Tres Rios in hopes of finding something cool. We walked through much good habitat and at one point there was this one basin full of green growth, perfect habitat for an eastern vagrant. Jokingly, I said to Walker "What if there was a Painted Bunting in here?" we both laughed at that thought, because, Painted Buntings are very rare in Maricopa County. However, both Walker and I had found our own PABUs in the last six months so nothing is impossible. While we were hiking east towards Tres Rios we flushed up what seemed to be an endless amount of Lesser Nighthawks!<br />
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<b><u>Lesser Nighthawk</u></b></div>
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Eventually I spotted a nighthawk on its nest!<br />
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<b><u>Lesser Nighthawk</u></b></div>
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It was about seven in the morning and it was already hitting 90 degrees! Anxiously, we reached the west end of Tres Rios and birded hard there for a few minutes. More Yellow-billed Cuckoos called from all around us, I even got Walker his lifer Yellow-breasted Chat! Continuing to the east, we heard a strange song. We walked around a corner and spotted a small songbird out in the distance.<br />
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I yelled Painted Bunting and Walker said "NO WAY!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" but he too was starring at the bird, we were both shocked! Mr. Pabu just sat there singing his head off in the 100 degree heat, and Walker and I jumped up and down like to teenage girls getting there first iPhones! The bunting disappeared after a while so Walker and I continued hiking east. Our bird hard mission was done. We got all our targets plus found a rarity! Now everything else was icing on the cake. Before long we turned around and took a different route back. A Least Bittern was quite cooperative along with a fly over by a few Caspian Terns.<br />
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<b><u>Least Bittern</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Caspian Tern</u></b></div>
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Once we started approaching on Mr. Pabu's territory we could hear him singing, yet again! This time he allowed face melting views.<br />
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<b><u>Painted Bunting</u></b></div>
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Walker and I continued to bird hard and we were rewarded with a Ridgway's Rail, more Yellow-billed Cuckoos, more Caspian Terns, and a strange Bonaparte's Gull. Let me tell you, I was not planning on getting a Painted Bunting in Maricopa in 2015!<br />
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I returned to show some friends Mr. Pabu on the 30th. I also got great looks at a beautiful Great Horned Owl!<br />
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<b><u>Painted Bunting</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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June was a great month! Getting to meet Walker and Dalton was great, they are two awesome guys! I ended June with 275 species bringing me just 25 species away from my goal! Sounds easy now, huh? Well unless I barely get to bird in fall, which might, or might not have happened.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">July</span></u></b></div>
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July 2nd marked my first day of birding in the hottest month of the year. On July 3rd Walker and I had plans to bird hard in the higher elevations of northeastern Maricopa County. But I was spending the night at Walker's house the day before, so before night came we took a look at Dean and Beloat in hopes of finding those orioles. Despite not have any interesting orioles we heard my lifer Gray Catbird calling from deep within the riparian jungle and I also heard my first for my patch, Yellow-billed Cuckoo! Here's a Burrowing Owl we had on our way back from D and B.<br />
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<b><u>Burrowing Owl</u></b></div>
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The whole night I had a great time with the Noe family and Walker and I planned for our upcoming day of birding. </div>
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We woke up at 2:00 A.M. and started driving out to Bushnell Tanks where we were gonna bird at for a good portion of the morning. On our way, we spotted the first bird of the day, a Lesser Nighthawk. We arrived at the tanks by 4:30 A.M and it was still dark. Northern Mockingbirds were calling like crazy but in the distance we could hear an Elf Owl, a Great Horned Owl, and a Common Poorwill. We made our way down the road and once the sun was getting ready to rise we started heading back to meet up with Mr. Gordon Karre, who decided to bird with us at Bushnell. On our way back we heard our target Indigo Bunting singing back in the riparian jungle! We then met up with Mr. Gordon and started hiking further down the trail. The further we hiked along the road the more strange Indigo Buntings we were finding!<br />
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<b><u>Indigo Bunting</u></b></div>
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Songbirds learn their songs by listening to the loudest song being sung near them, which is almost always their parents. However, this young Indigo Bunting was singing a strange version of a Blue Grosbeaks song, weird!<br />
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<b><u>Indigo Bunting</u></b></div>
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And then you can't forget about the occasional hybrid!<br />
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<b><u>Indigo X Lazuli Bunting hybrid</u></b></div>
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A pair of Zone-tailed Hawk monitored us quite well.<br />
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<b><u>Zone-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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After getting Walker his lifer Gray Vireo we made our way back to the car where we continued birding, and Mr. Gordon packed for a trip to Mexico. Walker and I had been birding for four hours and our day was only a sixth of the way over! We then drove through Sunflower in search of Common Black-Hawks but we dipped. Now we were on our way to Mt. Ord, where we'd spend the next 12 hours birding at (12 hours!!!!). A quick stop on the lower slopes provided us with Black-chinned Sparrows (a lifer for Walker), Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Scott's Orioles, Gray Vireos, and more! We then went to our next and last stop on Mt. Ord, Forest Road 1688. Walker and I had good hopes for here. Walker wanted one lifer here which was the Olive Warbler. Everything else would be icing on the cake. We started hiking along the 1688 and before long we had reached the end of the good forest habitat (two and a half miles away from our car). Now we hadn't encountered any of the really active mixed feeding flocks so we decided to sit in one area for about an hour. Here we had Black-chinned, Anna's, Costa's, and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds entertaining us along with a few Hutton's Vireos.<br />
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<b><u>Costa's Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Hutton's Vireo</u></b></div>
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After eating lunch we decided to do something crazy! Near the end of FR 1688 there is a nice drainage that runs almost all the way down the mountain. Now Walker and I, being the young kids we are, decided it would be a great idea to hike down the drainage at least a mile! Now it wasn't a dumb idea by any means, but I'll tell you we were beat once we got down the drainage! Walker was tired too. With only getting an hour or two of sleep the night before Mr. Fly was loosing gas. I heard an Olive Warbler call and pointed it out to Walker and after he got a glimpse his lifer in flight he decided to hit the hay, or in this case, fall asleep on a log that was narrower than the width of his body! While Walker was down for the count I hiked a little ways down the drainage. All of the sudden the forest got really thick and shady and I nearly stepped on a Spotted Towhee before it burst into a loud flight! At the time I was a bit paranoid, and the freaky forests were getting to me. I continued searching the area in hopes of finding an owl on its day-roost or something else neat. I started getting less paranoid and more comfortable with forest when all the sudden a Black Bear jumped out of a bush right in front of me and ran the opposite direction from me! After the Black Bear incident I thought I heard Walker call my name but I wasn't sure. I hiked back up the drainage and sure enough Walker was awake. He asked me "Man, how long have I been asleep, an hour or two?" I told him that it had to have been less than a half hour that he was asleep. Okay, it was time to head back up to the car, we needed a break! The mile hike up and out of the drainage was a killer and it seemed never-ending! However, we were about ready for a break I spotted the 1688 and our eyes glowed! Tired and sore, Walker and I made our way back to the car and rested in it for a good ten minutes. We then decided to drive down to the hot Sunflower area and bird there for a good hour. At this point of the day we were both really tired and were almost ready to be done!<br />
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<b><u>Walker (left) Me (right)--Photo courtesy of Walker Noe AKA Mr. Fly!</u></b></div>
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After I was done talking to a Zone-tailed Hawk in Sunflower we gave Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben a call. Walker and I call him our motivational speaker, because, he always gets us pumped on the birding possibilities! So after getting our motivational speech for the day Walker and I drove back up to Mt. Ord to do some owling. When we arrived, once again, at the 1688 the scenery was amazing!<br />
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We then arrived at the end of the 1688 and waited for darkness to fall. A calling Northern Pygmy-Owl got both Walker and I pumped! We hoped that the pygmy-owl was only the start of our owls but once darkness fell we only had enough time to hear a few Common Poorwills before it started raining! Walker and I walked and even ran the two and a half miles back to the car where wen then drove down to our last birding spot for the night, Coon Bluff! I didn't take us long to locate a family of Western Screech-Owl<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--adult</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl-juvenile</u></b></div>
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After watching the owls for a while I learned that they can give you some strange looks!<br />
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--adult</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl--juvenile</u></b></div>
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The owling was fairly good other then missing Elf Owl and getting attacked by a feral horse! While Walker and I were having the Western Screech photo shoot a psycho horse ran by us at full speed which seemed strange, but then a came back and was running strait towards Walker who was only a few feet away from me! Fortunately, the horse veered away from Walker before it would've made him toast. It was about mid-night by then so we decided it was time to call it a trip! We ended the day with nearly 100 species (pretty good for the summer in only a couple habitat zones), hiking about 16 miles, birding for 22 hours, coming close to death a couple times, and getting one Maricoper while Walker got a few lifers! What a day of bird hardness!!!<br />
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My next, and last birding expedition in Maricopa County in July was to Tres Rios on the 7th to show Mr. John Kafel the Painted Bunting. The bunting was showy as normal but it was about the only thing of note out there.<br />
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Although I didn't hardly bird at all in July, that 22 hour day of birding was enough! Thanks Walker for the bird hard day!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">August</span> </u></b></div>
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On the 4th I did some local birding on my patch. the migrants had just started to come in and among the many birds I observed, I got my FOY Nashville Warbler<br />
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<b><u>Nashville Warbler</u></b></div>
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On the 13th I woke up early in the morning to bird at the Dean and Beloat Riparian Area. Migrants were hitting this spot in good number and along with the 9+ species of warblers an American Redstart and an American Redstart X Parula sp. hybrid highlighted the morning.<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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<b><u>American Redstart X Parula sp. hybrid</u></b></div>
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I also had great views of a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a Barn Owl.<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-billed Cuckoo</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Barn Owl</u></b></div>
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On the 17th I birded at the Glendale Recharge Ponds and found my lifer Semipalmated Sandpiper among the many other peeps. Unfortunately it was too far for photos.<br />
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On the 19th, I believe it was, I chased a Sabine's Gull and Sanderling at the Glendale Recharge Ponds. With the small time-frame I had to bird, I wasn't able to locate the Sanderling but I did get the Sabine's Gull!<br />
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<b><u>Sabine's Gull</u></b></div>
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I also had a rather long-billed Semipalmated Sandpiper.<br />
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<b><u>Semipalmated Sandpiper (foreground) Least Sandpiper (background)</u></b></div>
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A return visit to the Glendale Recharge Ponds on the 29th proved to be very productive! Among the many birds, I had the continuing Sabine's Gull, my Maricoper Sanderling, two Semipalmated Sandpipers, my FOY Pectoral Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, FOY Short-billed Dowitcher, and FOY Semipalmated Plovers!<br />
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<b><u>Sanderling</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Semipalmated Sandpipers</u></b></div>
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On the 30th I made another trip to the Dean and Beloat Riparian Area to see what I could find. This turned out to be a very eventful morning! After already checking the area once I was on the way back from my second check through the area when all the sudden I spotted my lifer Vauxe's Swifts flying over me! I just happened to look up at the perfect time! I was ready to call it a day when I convinced myself to check one more area before heading back. I spotted a warbler, and like I always do, I put my binocs on the bird to find that it was my lifer Prothonotary Warbler!!! A double lifer day! My jaw dropped and the bird gave me great five second looks before it flew down the riparian area. I looked for the bird for about an hour before I called it quits. I came back the following day in search of it but the water level had dropped all the way down and I didn't see much of anything.<br />
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August ended the month with 286 species for the year. My pace dropped but it was time to turn that around and start birding hard again, however, it's much easier said than done.<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">September</span></u></b> </div>
On September 2nd I birded both the Arlington and Gila Bend Areas. The day wasn't too good but I managed to find a few cool birds. A Short-billed Dowitcher at the Gila Bend Sewage Ponds was nice. The best bird of the day had to be a super cooperative pair of Great Horned Owls at Paloma Ranch!<br />
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<b><u>Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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A Western Kingbird X Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was a strange bird to see in the Arlington Area so I snapped a couple photos to document this rarity before a couple dogs chased me off.<br />
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<b><u>Western Kingbird X Scissor-tailed Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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On the 11th I showed Mr. Ford the Dean and Beloat Area for the first time and he loved it! Many warblers showed off for Mr. Ford and I even spotted a Vauxe's Swift flying in the distance.<br />
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On September 16th I had a Crested Caracara fly over my house which was a nice surprise! Also, sometime during mid-September I explored the Gila River with Alexia and we flushed a Great Horned Owl who was quite friendly!<br />
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<b><u>Alexia with Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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September was a fairly good month of birding. I cleared house on my shorebirds and got quite a few rarities. I ended the month with () species for my big year. Only () more to go!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">October</span></u></b></div>
On October 3rd I birded across the West Valley with my bro, Dalton! We started off at Dean and Beloat, where I showed him around and he even got his lifers Green-tailed Towhee and Virginia Rail! While we were exploring this awesome area I even found my first for my patch, Canyon Wren! We then drove over to the the B and M where we walked to the west end of Tres Rios in search of rarities. At the B and M we were surprised to find some Cassin's Kingbirds which are a good find for the lowlands. At Tres Rios we were unable to find any of our own rarities but we did relocate a Horned Grebe previously found by Mr. Robet Bowker.<br />
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On the 7th I birded, yet again, at Dean and Beloat. Finding my FOS (first of season) Black-and-white Warbler and Evening Grosbeak was really nice! I actually had a rather late juvenile Swainson's Hawk which I believe to have been one of the offspring from a pair of Swainson's that spent the summer at Dean and Beloat! Things got crazy though when I spotted a rather small buteo hawk flying in and identified it as my lifer Broad-winged Hawk!!!<br />
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<b><u>Broad-winged Hawk</u></b></div>
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On the 17th I found a Lapland Longspur and McCown's Longspur in the same field which I had them in earlier in the year. And on the 24th I had a few Lawrence's Goldfinches fly over me on my patch while I was fishing with my friends.<br />
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On the 31st I was attempting to relocate the longspurs on my patch for Mr. Gordon Karre, Ms. Susan Fishburn, and my sister Barbara Meding (inside joke) but we had no luck with the McCown's or Lapland. However, I found 2 Sprague's Pipits and a Chestnut-collared Longspur!!! The pipits were rarer than both of the longspurs combined, and the Chestnut-collared was an overdue Maricoper. Unfortunately neither of these species allowed for pics that day. I then showed them around Dean and Beloat and we found a pair of Wood Ducks and my first for my patch Dusky Flycatcher! A late Townsend's Warbler was also cool.<br />
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I ended October with 289 species for my big year! This is getting close! 11 birds left!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">November</span></u></b></div>
On the 1st I decided to try to photographing the Sprague's Pipits on my patch but failed, even though I found three! Photographing these pipits was a challenge! I'd search for them for an hour continuously riding my bike around the many fields in the area, and all of the sudden one, two, or maybe even three would burst into flight and fly out into the distance until I couldn't see them any longer and they would then dive strait down into a distant field! These fields were thick too! SPPIs are 6.5" tall and these alfalfa fields had to be about eight inches tall! I was losing hope on photographing these birds but I couldn't give up! So I tried again on the 2nd. This time it took me a couple hours until I, all the sudden, heard one of the birds giving its "squeet squeet" flight calls. I noticed that the bird was getting closer so I kept my eyes to the skies. Then all the sudden two birds flew over me and landed about 300 yards away from me. Now I couldn't see them at the time so keeping track of where they were was key! However once I got to where I thought they were, I couldn't see anything, and at the same time they weren't flushing. I walked back and forth down that field a couple times before I caught sight of a bird that popped out into a small bare patch in the field! "Please don't be a Savannah Sparrow" I begged, and as soon as I lifted my binocs onto the bird my jaw dropped.<br />
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<b><u>Sprague's Pipit--Finally!!!</u></b></div>
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The bird then ducked back down and started walking around the field and I lost it. But then all the sudden four Sprague's Pipits burst into flight in front of me! One of which I got a crumby flight shot of.<br />
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<b><u>Sprague's Pipit</u></b></div>
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On the 6th I road my bike down to Dean and Beloat to bird there for a while. Like when I found the Prothonotary Warbler, things were very quiet at first. But later on I found a Black-and-white Warbler and a very interesting Blackburnian/Townsend's Warbler which I couldn't ID in the field and the photos that I got aren't diagnostic.<br />
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<b><u>Black-and-white Warbler</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Blackburnian/Townsend's Warbler</u></b></div>
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This warbler sure did leave its burn marks on me, as I am leaning towards Blackburnian, but it wouldn't be wise to count it with me not being 100% sure. A couple of flyover Evening Grosbeaks also added a little spice to the morning.<br />
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On the 8th a casual stroll around the patch produced a returning Gray Flycatcher (2nd winter in a row at this spot) and a very late and strange Western Kingbird.<br />
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<b><u>Western Kingbird</u></b></div>
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A quick trip to Blue Point along the Salt River proved productive. We chased my Maricoper Surf Scoter and got it within a few minutes of arriving!<br />
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<b><u>Surf Scoter</u></b></div>
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The scoter was entertaining to watch but Mr. Troy Corman had just had a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the area so I spent the last hour or so searching for the sapsucker. Although I couldn't relocate it, a few Gray Flycatchers were fun to watch.<br />
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<b><u>Gray Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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On the 11th I lead a birdwalk for the Sonoran Audubon Society to the Arlington Area. This day was great! The birds were cooperative and the birders were excited (the two best things for a leader of a bird walk). On our way to the Arlington Wildlife Area we stopped on the side of Arlington Canal Road to check out some Sandhill Cranes. Once we pulled over I noticed a Common Grackle about three feet from the car!!! But my camera was in the trunk! So I ran as fast as I could to get the camera and was able to take one diagnostic photo of the grackle before it flew off.<br />
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<b><u>Common Grackle--#290 for my big year!</u></b></div>
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At the wildlife area I got my FOY White-tailed Kite hunting throughout the area.<br />
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<b><u>White-tailed Kite--#291!</u></b></div>
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A Great Horned Owl also put on a show.<br />
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<b><u>Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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I flyover Red Crossbill was also quite interesting. After I was done with the birdwalk, I continued on with Ms. Susan and Ms. Barbara to the Glendale Recharge Ponds where we looked for a Lapland Longspur for Ms. Susan's AZ big year. Unfortunately, the longspur was a no-show which ended our day.<br />
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On the 14th I attended one of Mr. Ford's monthly birdwalks at Estrella and then later on birded with fellow young bird, Joshua Smith. Estrella didn't have much of note so I continued onto my patch where I guided Josh around Dean and Beloat. The highlight here was a Lawrence's Goldfinch which flew over calling. We then continued onto Tres Rios. A calling Yellow Warbler was the highlight for here.<br />
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On the 17th I returned to Arlington to do an IBA count. The Wildlife Area was highlights by a flyover Sprague's Pipit (!!!), a few Mountain Bluebirds, and some Sandhill Cranes. In the Arlington Valley the continuing light morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk put on a show.<br />
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<b><u>Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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On our way back we stopped by the Lower River Road Ponds and I was quite surprised to spot a Zone-tailed Hawk flying low overhead!<br />
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<b><u>Zone-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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Some local birding on my patch provided me with some cool Burrowing Owl shots!<br />
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<b><u>Burrowing Owl</u></b></div>
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On the 18th an IBA count at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area was fun. I didn't take many photos but among the 60+ species seen highlights included a couple Barn Owls, some American Goldfinches, some Red Crossbills, a Hooded Merganser, a Cedar Waxwing, and a Yellow Warbler.<br />
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The following day I birded at the Glendale Recharge Ponds for about an hour and a half. After scanning the area once, I decided to look through the many waterfowl more carefully, and sure enough I picked out a Greater Scaup hanging out by itself (#292!). Once I returned to my house I saw that Joshua Smith had just found a Pacific Loon at Dos Lagos Park in Glendale! I gave Mr. John Kafel a call and before I knew it, he picked my up and we were on our way! By the time we arrived, the sun had just set so I knew that photos were gonna be hard but sure enough I spotted the loon actively diving in the fairly small pond (NICE FIND JOSH!!!)<br />
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<b><u>Pacific Loon--#293!!!</u></b></div>
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Out of the many photos I took of the loon this has to be my favorite though!<br />
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<b><u>An Inland Loon looking at a Pacific Loon!</u></b></div>
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Before we left the spot, we took a quick look at Lenard the Eurasian Wigeon to see how he was doing.<br />
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<b><u>Eurasian Wigeon</u></b></div>
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My last birding expedition in November was on my patch. I wasn't really expecting to get much in the quick search but I was surprised! It first started off with my Maricoper Clay-colored Sparrow mixed in with a sparrow flock!<br />
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<u><b>Clay-colored Sparrow--294!!!</b></u></div>
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However, this was not the best bird I had on my short survey on my patch. While I was scanning a local mesquite bosque I all the sudden spotted a kingbird fly over and land in front of me! I observed the bird for a good ten minutes, and I could clearly see that this was a clean-cut Tropical Kingbird (a first for my patch!)<br />
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<b><u>Tropical Kingbird</u></b></div>
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It takes much caution in identifying Tropical/Couch's Kingbirds. As a matter of fact, most of these birds aren't identifiable by looks alone. Tropical Kingbird has a fairly long skinny bill while Couch's had a thick shorter bill but this isn't usually a good field mark, as there is much overlap. However, my bird was one of the more extreme Tropical Kingbirds with a clearly longish skinny bill.<br />
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I ended November with 294 species! At this point I was starting to worry that I wouldn't get those six birds and I really just wanted to get them and be done with it! To be honest, I really didn't know how this was gonna pan out! SIX BIRDS TO GO!!!!!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">December</span> </u></b></div>
This was it, the last month of the year! However, I had plans to go up to Idaho/Washington on the 29th to visit Walker and his family who had just moved there. It was time to go big or go home!<br />
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On the 1st I called Mr. John up and we headed out to the Gilbert Water Ranch to chase some Purple Finches that Tyler Loomis had just found.When Mr. John and I arrived it was very quiet. There wasn't much bird activity and we had walked back and forth along the Tiger Moth (3/4) Trail a couple times now. So we decided to get a quick bite at Culver's and then return and search for a little longer. Mr. John gave me an hour to search for these birds before we would head back. So I ran all the way to the other side of the preserve and started scanning. Once I reached the area where they had been reported I quickly picked them out!<br />
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<b><u>Purple Finch--#295!!!</u></b></div>
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The following day a quick survey of my patch turned up the returning Greater Pewee (2nd winter in a row!).<br />
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<b><u>Greater Pewee</u></b></div>
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On the 3rd a quick stop by the Glendale Recharge Ponds got me two yearbirds, Snow Goose and Clark's Grebe!<br />
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<b><u>Snow Goose (left) and Ross's Goose (right)--#296!!!</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Clark's Grebe--#297!!!</u></b></div>
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An amazing phone call came from Mr. Tommy the day before! In order to hit 300 I knew I was gonna have to go to the East Valley, but I had no rides! I was really troubled and was doubting that I'd get 300. I was almost becoming depressed! But on the 1st Mr. Tommy gave me a call telling me that he'd like to drive me around and help me get 300! I was so pumped, you wouldn't believe it! I now only had three birds that we needed to get on the 3rd! Will we get them or not. Read bellow to find out!<br />
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Early on the 3rd Mr. Tommy and I headed out to the East Valley in search of yearbirds. Our first stop was at the Scottsdale Ranch Park where we searched for a Red-breasted Sapsucker. Mr. Tommy and I arrived at the spot before most of the birds were awake so we just hung around until bird activity picked up. We found a tree that looked good for sapsuckers and before we got under the tree the Red-breasted Sapsucker flew in from across the street and landed right in front of us!<br />
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<b><u>Red-breasted Sapsucker--#298!!!</u></b></div>
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Mr. Tommy even decided to snap a few shots with his iPod!<br />
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Even though observing this lifer was awesome we knew that we had to move on! I was going rock climbing with Alexia in the afternoon and I wanted to be back on time, so we had to be pretty speedy! Our next spot was Coon Bluff where we searched for a Reddish Egret that had been seen off and on. We spent quite a bit of time searching for this bird without success so now we were getting a little nervous that we might not get #300 that day. We then made a beeline to Higley and Ocotillo Roads Ponds. Here we had two possible yearbirds, Eastern Phoebe and Dunlin. I scanned the riparian habitat for the phoebe while Mr. Tommy scanned the mudflats for the Dunlin.<br />
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<b><u>The King of Maricopa birding hard!</u></b></div>
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Before long Mr. Tommy called me over so I ran full speed knowing what I was gonna see next!<br />
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<b><u>Dunlin--#299!!!</u></b></div>
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ONE MORE BIRD LEFT!!!!!!! Mr. Tommy and I teamed up and started scanning the whole area. Mr. Tommy mentioned that we should head back but I wanted to bird further on, because, the habitat only appeared to be getting better. Mr. Tommy had just turned back to start walking back to the truck when I said "Hey I have a Harris's Sparrow!"<br />
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<b><u>Harris's Sparrow</u></b></div>
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Mr. Tommy jumped when he heard me say that I had a Harris's Sparrow. He quickly came over and we both enjoyed great looks at this fine rarity. After documenting this rarity for a while Mr. Tommy agreed on the idea on heading further along the road in search of any other interesting birds. However, it got very quiet very fast and the songbirds were no longer active, so we decided to call it quits. BUT WAIT! Since Mr. Tommy and I didn't hit any traffic on our way back we decided to make a quick drive by Crystal Gardens in hopes of finding a Cackling Goose which would be a Maricoper and more importantly, at the time, #300! Once we arrived at Crystal Gardens we noticed that all of the geese were starting to take off, but we continued working our way down the ponds. All of the sudden we located a Cackling Goose!!! Our views were fairly good but the bird took off before I could snap any photos. CACKLING GOOSE--#300!!!!!!!!!!!! We were both pumped that we got my 300th bird for Maricopa County in 2015! Boy I really enjoyed the rest of that day. Mr. Tommy and I then drove over to the rock climbing gym and I spent the rest of the day climbing and hanging out with my best friend, Alexia. What a day!<br />
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On the 6th I had a small interview type thing from PBS at Rio Salado. Of course I birded before the interview and had quite an active morning. At one spot I sat down and heard a Winter Wren and Red-shouldered Hawk calling at the same time! After the PBS thing we went to the B and M and Tres Rios. Not much of note here except for a Slate-colored Fox Sparrow. We then went to our last stop of the day, Dean and Beloat. Here I heard a Western Screech-Owl call briefly but that was it.<br />
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On the 9th I had plans to bird at the Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands with Mr. Ford. We started out with scanning the wetlands from the fairly tall bank. While I was scanning the wetlands I heard a strange warbler call, so I checked it out. It was in the same area that I had the Yellow Warbler in a while back with Josh, so I wasn't expecting this bird to be anything but I turned out to be very wrong. I starred at the cottonwood trees from across the marsh, which was about 100-150 feet away, for about five minutes before I located the bird, it was a Yellow-throated Warbler!!!<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler--#301!!!</u></b></div>
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I was absolutely shocked when I saw that the "mystery warbler", which was more than liklye just another Yellow Warble,r was actually a Maricopa 2nd ever (as far as I can find) Yellow-throated Warbler! Eventually the warbler flew across the marsh and closer to us.<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler</u></b></div>
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Mr. Ford and I enjoyed great views of the rare warbler for about a half hour before we decided to move on. I gave Mr. Tommy a call too, as this would be a Maricoper for him, but he didn't answer his phone so I left a message. As we continued birding I found an American Redstart, awesome!<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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I got a hold of Mr. Tommy and he said he was on his way, so Mr. Ford and I started walking back to where the Yellow-throated Warbler was. While we were waiting for The King of Maricopa to arrive I spotted what appeared to be a T-Rex X Bald Eagle hybrid flying in!<br />
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<b><u>Crested Caracara!!!</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcKn6SftC4OLoZZkGqrh-xFiUK9EK458VkgHcfNvxM-4w5d9UwWUyH94IsVaCCWCQnBdgonz0E9Q5uSyYOju9Cxp-9X1di7jNGSprK1b6G4P9UHQ58wXjsn3vE7G5QnZwomwoVfp6zboe/s1600/image_0049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibcKn6SftC4OLoZZkGqrh-xFiUK9EK458VkgHcfNvxM-4w5d9UwWUyH94IsVaCCWCQnBdgonz0E9Q5uSyYOju9Cxp-9X1di7jNGSprK1b6G4P9UHQ58wXjsn3vE7G5QnZwomwoVfp6zboe/s640/image_0049.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Soon after the caracara flew over, Mr. Tommy arrived and I got him his Maricoper Yellow-throated Warbler, which is now his rarest warbler for his Maricopa list!<br />
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On the 12th I attended Mr. Ford's birdwalk at Estrella. The highlight of the morning were two Bonaparte's Gulls!<br />
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On the 18th I had plans to bird at Dean and Beloat for a few hours. I had two targets, Northern Parula and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Now both of these birds have become nemesis birds. On my way to D and B I found a first for my patch Mountain Bluebird!<br />
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<b><u>Mountain Bluebird</u></b></div>
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I started strong when I noticed a woodpecker up in a willow and found that it was my lifer Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--#302!!!</u></b></div>
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I was pumped to get the sapsucker, now it was time to get the Northern Parula! Well four hours later I knew it was time to give up...oh well.<br />
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On the 19th, after an awesome morning of rock climbing with Alexia, I returned to my house to find that Ms. Melanie Herring had found a few swans that she couldn't identify. Either Tundra (which was likely what they were) or Trumpeter (which would be a first county record) would be a yearbird for me so I chased them later in the day with my mom. We arrived at the spot in Palo Verde to find that we were just a mere two minutes late of the birds being flushed, and to add salt to the wound they said that they were leaning towards Trumpeter! I stuck around at the spot for about a half hour, and from the pictures Ms. Melanie showed me I had good thoughts that these birds were Trumpeter, but no one really took my word for it. Unfortunately, I had to leave and didn't see the birds. BUT WAIT!!! When I got back to my house and was laying around in my failure I got a call from Mr. Tommy telling me that he was on his way to my house! WHAT?!?!?! I met up with Mr. Tommy and Ms. Susan and we drove up to the birds (second time that day for me) and sure enough there they were!<br />
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<b><u>Trumpeter Swan--#303!!!</u></b></div>
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These Trumpeter Swans were my last Maricopa yearbird for 2015 leaving me at 303 birds!!! However, this wasn't the last time I birded Maricopa in 2015! Here are a couple victory photos from that night!<br />
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<b><u>Ms. Susan and Mr. Tommy</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Mr. Tommy and I</u></b></div>
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On the 24th I birded with Walker Noe, Mr. David Noe (Walker's dad), and Mr. Tommy. We did some local birding around in the morning but then hit Crystal Gardens where we got great views of Greater Whit-fronted and Cackling Geese!<br />
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<b><u>Cackling Goose</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Greater White-fronted Goose</u></b></div>
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We then continued onto Tres Rios where we easily found the continuing Yellow-throated Warbler and some Yellow Warblers.<br />
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The last little bit of birding I did was on the 26th. I got Walker his lifer Sandhill Cranes and we birded hard around Maricopa but couldn't find anything of note. This day marked the last day of my Maricopa big year!!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Summary</span></u></b> </div>
2015 was my best year of birding in Maricopa County, by far! I saw 303 species in only 2015, out of those 303 species 14 of them were chased by the Arizona birding Community's reports. I did the math and that means that I got around 4% of the birds in Maricopa in 2015 from other people (14 our of 303)! And out of those 303 species I saw about 205 of them were seen from biking from my house!<br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Top 10 Birds From My Maricopa Big Year</span></u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">10. Trumpeter Swans</span></u></b></div>
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On the 19th after an awesome morning of rock climbing with Alexia I returned to my house to find that Ms. Melanie Herring had found a few swans that she couldn't identify. Either Tundra (which was likely what they were) or Trumpeter (which would be a first county record) would be a yearbird for me so I chased them later in the day with my mom. We arrived at the spot in Palo Verde to find that we were just a mere two minutes late of the birds being flushed, and to add salt to the wound they said that they were leaning towards Trumpeter! I stuck around at the spot for about a half hour and from the pictures Ms. Melanie showed me I had good thoughts that these birds were Trumpeter but no one really took my word for it. Unfortunately I had to leave and didn't see the birds. BUT WAIT!!! When I got back to my house and was laying around in my failure I got a call from Mr. Tommy telling me that he was on his way to my house! WHAT?!?!?! I met up with Mr. Tommy and Ms. Susan and we drove up to the birds (second time that day for me) and sure enough there they were!</div>
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<b><u>Trumpeter Swan</u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">9. American Restart</span></u></b></div>
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Okay, okay. I know that a lot of you might be saying "American Redstarts are so common!". With this species being uncommon in AZ it's a pretty good bird! But that's not why I chose that species for #9! This year I saw my first adult male American Redstart. It almost looked like a mini Red-winged Blackbird from a distance! They are so beautiful and have such distinct feeding habits, so that's why American Redstart made #9. </div>
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">8. Pacific Loon</span></u></b></div>
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On November 19th, after returning from a school class and a short birding trip to the Glendale Recharge Ponds, I browsed through eBird to find that my friend, Joshua Smith, had found a Pacific Loon in a small pond at Dos Lagos Park in Glendale! Afraid that the loon might leave at night, I made a last second trip out there with Mr. John Kafel. We arrived at the spot just after the sun was setting so photos weren't great but I was pumped to simply see the bird! Loons are one of my favorite family of birds, and I've always wanted to see a Pacific Loon in Maricopa County, so that's what made Josh's Pacific Loon #8. Great find Josh!</div>
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<b><u>Pacific Loon</u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">7. Western Screech-Owls</span></u></b></div>
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Prior to 2015 I had only seen one Western Screech-Owl ever, and that was briefly on a CBC with Mr. Troy. I never imagined I would be within three feet of a wild owl but that was the case with the Coon Bluff Western Screech-Owls! As many of you know, owls are my favorite family of birds and it would be hard to leave such an experience, like I had with these screech-owls, out of the top ten! And both times I went to Coon Bluff I had great company (first time was with Alexia, Mr. John, and Mrs. Janet and the second time was with Walker). So with me pretty much being within petting distance of a wild owl these Western Screech-Owls had to be #7 in my top ten!</div>
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<b><u>Western Screech-Owl</u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">6. Ridgway's Rail</span></u></b></div>
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The Ridgway's Rail is one of my favorite birds. Ever since I first heard my first Ridgway's I've always wanted to see one, and that happened for the first time last year! Since then I've had outstanding luck with Ridgway's Rails. This year I got my best pictures yet of a Ridgway's Rail from about eight feet away! WHat made it even better was that the bird came out in the open, which is very rare for rails. With this being one of my favorite birds, and getting such amazing views the Ridagway's Rail has to be bird #6!</div>
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<b><u>Ridgway's Rail</u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">5. Sprague's Pipits</span></u></b><br />
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On November 31st while I was attempting to show Mr. Gordon, Ms. Susan, and Ms. Barbara some longspurs that had been staying on my patch I found two Sprague's Pipits! Now Sprague's Pipits are rare in Maricopa and It's always been a bird that I've wanted to find on my patch. Now I really wanted to photograph these birds and they proved to be very challenging! On the November 1st I decided to try hard at photographing the Sprague's Pipits but failed, even though I found three! Photographing these pipits was a challenge! I'd search for them for an hour continuously riding my baike around the many fields in the area and all of the sudden one, two, or maybe even three would burst into flight and fly out into the distance until I couldn't see them any longer and they would then dive strait down into a distant field! These fields were thick too! SPPIs are () tall and these alfalfa fields had to be about eight inches tall! I was losing hope on photographing these birds but I couldn't give up! So I tried again the next day. This time it took me a couple hours until I all the sudden heard one of the birds giving its "squeet squeet" flight calls. I noticed that the bird was getting closer so I kept my eyes to the skies. Then all the sudden two birds fly over me and land about 300 yards away from me. Now I couldn't see them at the time so making sure I knew where they were was key. However once I got to where I thought they were I couldn't see anything and at the same time they weren't flushing. I walked back and forth down that field a couple times before I caught sight of a bird that popped out into a small bare patch in the field! "Please don't be a Savannah Sparrow" I begged and as soon as I lifted my binocs onto the bird my jaw dropped.</div>
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<b><u>Sprague's Pipit!</u></b></div>
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With me always wanting to find a Sprague's Pipit on my patch, finding not one but four Sprague's Pipits, and later on finding one in Arlington, this bird had to be my 5th best bird in Maricopa County in 2015!</div>
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<b><u>Sprague's Pipit</u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">4. Black-and-white Warbler</span></u></b><br />
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Now the Black-and-white Warbler had been a nemesis bird for about three years by the beginning of 2015, and I hadn't missed it by lack of chasing! As a matter of fact, my mom had seen a Black-and-white Warbler while I was birding with her and I just missed it by a minute! It was getting pretty ridiculous! Black-and-white Warblers are uncommon to rare in AZ and I should have had one by then! On January 17th, while I was birding at Dean and Beloat, I heard a Black-throated Gray Warbler calling so I attempted to track it down to make sure it wasn't anything rare. A black and white songbird then flew into a willow and once I got a glimpse of it climbing up the trunk of the tree I had good hopes! All of the sudden, I got a clear view of the bird and saw that it was my lifer Black-and-white Warbler!!! FINALLY!!!!!</div>
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<b><u>Black-and-white Warbler</u></b></div>
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Since seeing this Black-and-white Warbler I have seen at least three other Black-and-white Warblers! I guess that's how it goes with nemesis birds! With the Black-and-white being one of the coolest warblers I've seen and it being the biggest nemesis bird for me so far, it had be #4.</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">3. Yellow-throated Warbler</span></u></b></div>
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Here we go! The top three birds of Maricopa County in 2015! On December 9th I birded at the Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands with Mr. Ford. Now I didn't exactly expect much but I was sure wrong! While we were up on the tall bank scanning the wetlands I heard a Yellow Warbler-like call, but I checked it out just to be sure it wasn't one of those eastern warblers. The warbler was about 100-150 feet away, across a marsh, so it took me nearly five minutes of scanning the trees it was in with my binocs before I found that it was something much rarer than a wintering Yellow Warbler, it was a Yellow-throated Warbler!!! Here's what the bird looked like through my binocs, can you see it?</div>
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler</u></b></div>
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After losing the bird, we continued scanning the trees when I looked at a bush near us and saw that the bird had flown across the marsh to investigate us!</div>
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler</u></b></div>
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This Yellow-throated Warbler is what I believe to be the second ever record for Maricopa County! I was also able to show Mr. Tommy the bird that same day. Mr. Ford and I were pumped with how our day went at Tres Rios! With this being such a rarity and an awesome bird too, this was to no doubt #3 for Maricopa in 2015!</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">2. Painted Bunting</span></u></b></div>
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On June 23rd Walker Noe and I birded hard at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area and Tres Rios! Walker and I had recently met at a Young Birder's camp in the Chiricahua Mountains. We had such a blast at that camp, as a matter of fact, on the three day camp we got just over four hours of sleep, because, we birded so hard! After this camp we knew that we had to continue with our one two punch of awesomeness! We picked the B and M and Tres Rios, because, we knew that this would be a great spot to show off our skills. **BIRD HARDNESS=All targets+a self-found highlight** So after Walker and I got our two targets (Barn Owl and Yellow-billed Cuckoo) we knew we had to find something. While we were on our way to Tres Rios I pointed out some great habitat, and I jokingly said "I bet there's a Painted Bunting in there" we both laughed because of how rare PABUs are in Maricopa but we knew it wouldn't be impossible because Walker and I both found our own PABUs in Maricopa in just last winter. Once we reached the west end of Tres Rios we took a short break, but soon after continued hiking east. We heard a strange song and after clearing a corner we put our binocs on it and both of us melted right there(not by the 100 degree heat but by the pure handsomeness of this bird!)! </div>
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<b><u>Painted Bunting!!!</u></b></div>
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Both of the birds Walker and I found last winter were females, so finding this male kinda completed our Painted Bunted status in Maricopa County! After the bird dove into the thick mesquite bosque so we moved on, but later, on our way we found Mr. Pabu in the same spot!</div>
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<b><u>Painted Bunting</u></b><br />
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Mr. Pabu made spot #2 not just because of Walker and I's luck with that species, but because how beautiful this bird was, how rare it was for Maricopa, how many birders got to see it (somewhere around 100 birders), and the circumstances we were in when we found this bird!</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">1. Spotted Owl!!!</span></u></b></div>
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On May 25th I explored the Slate Creek Divide area for the first time with Mr. Troy Corman. After checking out a few spots and getting me my 300th bird for Maricopa (Mexican Jay) we continued birding the area. Now a Spotted Owl had been seen at Slate Creek the year before by Mr. Tommy, but he had only seen the bird(s) at night. He had spent so many times searching the Slate Creek area for Spotted Owl day-roosts but he couldn't find one. For that reason I just threw away the thought of finding a Spotted Owl on my Slate Creek expedition. "If the King Of Maricopa can't find a Spotted Owl day-roost why would I be able to find one" is what I thought to myself as I scanned the through the forest. While Mr. Troy and I were hiking throughout the area I happened to look up a hill out in the distance and as soon as I spotted what appeared to be a fat blob in a tree I knew exactly what it was, a Spotted Owl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</div>
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<b><u>Spotted Owl!!!!!!!!!!</u></b></div>
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I quietly screamed (in other words, yelled) "Spotted Owl!!!" And Mr. Troy quickly turned around and calmly said "Really?! Where?" I pointed out the bird to him and we both had fantastic views of our Maricoper Spotted Owl! With Mr. Troy and I knowing the behavior of the Spotted Owl we approached the bird closer, only at a safe distance, and enjoyed amazing views of this threatened species.</div>
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<b><u>Spotted Owl</u></b><br />
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While we observed the Spotty for a few minutes it probably only opened its eyes a couple times but when it did you could clearly see its amazing black eyes starring into my soul! Here are a couple photos of Mr. Spotty in his habitat.</div>
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Mr. Troy even snapped a photo of me and Mr. Spotty together! You're #1 Spotty, smile!</div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">THANK YOU!!!!</span></u></b></div>
Now I have a lot of people to thank for my big year! I must thank my parents first of all! Without them it wouldn't have happened, and they pretty much controlled how my year went. Thanks for being awesome, Mom and Dad!<br />
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I also want to thank my awesome friend, Alexia, for encouraging me not just on birding but on everything. Thank you for going birding with me so much, to put how much of an awesome friend you are into words is impossible (YOU'RE AWESOME AL!!!)<br />
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I then want to thank my three main birding mentors, Mr. Joe Ford, Mr. John Kafel, and Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben for teaching me everything!<br />
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Mr. Ford, you taught me pretty much how to bird, ever since I was a 12 year-old boy, and without you I'd be limited on my birding skills, you're an awesome teacher Mr. Ford, perhaps the best I know!<br />
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Mr. John, you have been encouraging to me in my birding carrier for a long time now and have taken me on chasing trips so many times, 300+ species in Maricopa County in one year wouldn't have been possible without you, thanks Mr. John!<br />
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Mr. Tommy, to be honest you are, no doubt, the best birder I know! You have taken me on many very important birding trips to get me many awesome birds for Maricopa and you have helped me a lot on birding-by-ear. Every time I go birding with you I learn knew things, you will always be The King Of Maricopa! You're an awesome friend, Mr. Tommy!<br />
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I also want to give a special thanks to my friends the Noe family!<br />
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Thanks Walker for being my BIRD HARD (!!!) partner in 2015! We tore up Maricopa County while you were here! And we will continue to tear up wherever we go!<br />
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Thanks My Bro (you know who you are) for also birding hard with me! You're awesome and you'll be a crazy good birder when you get older!<br />
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Also, thanks Caden for the encouragement on this post. You're awesome!<br />
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Other people to thank for my big year include: Mr. Troy, Joshua Smith, Mr. Paul, Ms. Haylie, Mr. Kurt, Ms. Susan, Ms. Barb, Mr. Gordon, and the whole Arizona Birding Community!<br />
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THANKS EVERYONE, IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU I REACHED 300+ IN MARICOPA IN 2015!!!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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Caleb</div>
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-89537522344957854652016-02-24T13:19:00.001-08:002016-02-24T13:19:19.020-08:00Recent Birding--Local and Non-Local 2016 has been a great year for me so far! I started the year in Idaho and Washington where I got three owl-lifers, then I came back to AZ. I thought I was back in the "Grand Canyon State" for quite a while until I found out that I was going to SoCal! California is perhaps the birdiest state in the US, and it never gets old! Although I have seen nearly all of the CA specialties, there are still a couple that I need from the mainland (Mountain Quail and White-headed Woodpecker) as well as a few offshore. On this CA trip there was a Pine Warbler that had been spending the whole winter at the Santa Fe Dam Rec. Sight and I had never seen one so that was what I spent my morning of birding doing. I arrived at the dam fairly early to find a group of nearly 30 birders looking for the same bird! I also met former young birder of the year, Dessi Sieburth and his mom. It only took me about 20 minutes of searching to locate the Pine Warbler slowly feeding in the pine trees (what a fitting place). I ran back to tell Dessi and the group that I had just found the bird and after the group arrived it was a nightmare for getting photos! Here's the best of what I could get.<div>
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<b><u>Pine Warbler--Lifer!!!</u></b></div>
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I also spotted a Great Horned Owl sitting quietly on its nest.</div>
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<b><u>Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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I the surrounding area a Ross's Goose and his step brother, a Ross's X Snow Goose hybrid, were chilling with there rather domestic friends.</div>
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<b><u>Ross's Goose</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Ross's X Snow Goose hybrid </u></b></div>
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At my Grandma's house I photographed Allen's Hummingbird for the first time (took me long enough).</div>
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<b><u>Allen's Hummingbird</u></b></div>
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As you can see I didn't do much birding on this trip but I did what I could and I'm happy with how it went. Now back to Arizona! This winter there has been a pair of Rusty Blackbirds that have been hanging out along a short stretch of river at Coon Bluff. Now I had been to this spot two times in search of these birds with both times being complete fails! Once I got back from California I made plans to chase these birds with my friend Mr. John Kafel. Before I knew it I was at Coon Bluff, scanning the river for these beautiful blackbirds. Strangely enough one of the first birds I saw on the river was a Rusty Blackbird!</div>
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<b><u>Rusty Blackbirds--Lifer!!!</u></b> </div>
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This pair of Rusty Blackbirds were my first Maricoper for 2016 (the Maricopers are thinning out)! What might my next Maricoper be? Who knows. Anyways, here are a few photos I've taken in the last couple months, thanks for reading and enjoy!</div>
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<b><u>Marsh Wren</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Swamp Sparrow</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Red-naped X Red-breasted Sapsucker hybrid</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Virginia Rail</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Eurasian Wigeon</u></b></div>
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-563086315645109182016-01-18T16:01:00.001-08:002016-01-25T19:45:04.146-08:00The Frigid Northwest (Part 2) Ding ding ding!!! It was New Years Day!!! One of my favorite days of the year. The day when I look back upon all of the highlights from the previous year which seemed to be just a day ago (because it was). However, I was up in Idaho, and I had to continue birding hard!<br />
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<b><u>Day 3: Chilling out...</u></b></div>
When I woke up early in the morning the first bird I saw in 2016 was my lifer flock of Bohemian Waxwings flying out in the distance! What a way to start the year! January 1st was one of the few days when we decided to take it easy and just do a little local birding. While the Noe family and I hiked around Post Falls along a scenic river, with a lake and some falls, I noticed some birds flush up out of the running water and onto a rock. I borrowed Walker's binocs and saw that they were our lifer American Dippers! The American Dipper is the only songbird in the United States that swims underwater.<br />
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<b><u>American Dipper</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Day 4: A triple owl chase!</u></b></div>
Walker and I's birding luck lately hasn't been as good as it had the first couple of months we first birded together. The first time we birded we had a multi day trip in the Chiricahua Mountains and we got several lifers (including some clutch Mexican Chickadees at their nest!). The second time we birded we cleaned house and then some at Tres Rios and the B and M when we found a Painted Bunting, got the all-time high count of Yellow-billed Cuckoos for AZ, found a strange Bonaparte's Gull, some Caspian Terns, a Ridgway's Rail, and more! And our blessed birding continued on! However, our most recent birding expeditions haven't been nearly as good, so to make up for our slacking off we pretty much had to throw a hail mary and pray that it would work! Our hail mary was to wake up at four in the morning, drive to look for a Northern Hawk Owl that was four hours away, then look for day roosting Northern Saw-whet Owls, and then finish our day with a Snowy Owl search. So walker, Dalton, and I woke up long before first light and headed out the door praying for the best. To be honest, both Walker and I were nervous that the day was gonna be a total fail like our recent Snowy Owl search, but neither of us let each other know. A song that has strangely seemed like our good luck charm, The Final Count Down, was now playing and we were very anxious to see some owls! As soon as we turned off the highway onto Cassimer Bar Road we kept our eyes peeled for the fearless Northern Hawk Owl. We weren't exactly sure where the bird had been seen but we saw a car parked and hoped that they were looking at the bird. We then stopped and I spied a bird high up in a dead tree.<br />
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It was the bird!!! I yelled "GUYS UP THERE ON THE TREE!!!!!!" The Hawk Owl also put a show on for us as it actively hunted in the -5 degree weather!<br />
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<b><u>Garth The Northern Hawk Owl!</u></b></div>
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Later on we said "Peace out Garth!" and he said "Peace out, good luck on your search guys!"<br />
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<b><u>Peace out!</u></b></div>
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We named the Hawk Owl Garth because the name seemed to fit him well. Garth was fearless, tough, a little scary, and he did what he wanted, until the land owner shot him a week later! The whole story about Garth, the Northern Hawk Owl being shot and killed is a whole different story and I don't really want to get into it too much, but if you want to get into it just google "Washington Tweeters Northern Hawk Owl" and I'm sure you'll get enough drama for your week! Anyways, back to the story. While we were watching Garth the car that we thought was watching the owl drove up to us and a guy rolled down his window and said "Well we've been here since sunrise and haven't seen the Northern Hawk Owl yet, but we aren't done looking yet." We chuckled a little and pointed up to his perch and said the three best words "There it is." The man said "really?! Are you sure?! And then we let him take a look through my scope and we could tell that he was pumped. As a matter of fact, this was his 730th ABA bird I believe. After observing the Northern Hawk Owl for about a half hour we decided to look for a day roosting Northern Saw-whet Owl. Before long we parked at the large park that they had been seen at recently and started scanning the coniferous trees. However, after about a half hour of searching we started loosing hope. Could the Northern Hawk Owl be the only life bird I got that day? Could the rest of the day be a total waste? No, I couldn't think that way! I had to keep my head high and keep on searching. After another fifteen minutes we decided to leave, but just before we left a car of birders came in with the good news that they had just found a Northern Saw-whet Owl on its day roost! After getting directions we drove up to the tree that they described and started our search. We stood under that tree for a good five minutes before Walker said "Caleb, I see it!" I then walked over to where he was and the bird was only about eight feet from us! We named the Northern Saw-whet Owl Jimmy.<br />
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<b><u>Jimmy the Northern Saw-whet Owl</u></b></div>
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Jimmy was a nice bird. Pretty much the exact opposite of Garth. Garth looked like he wanted to tare my heart out, Jimmy looked gentle and laid back. Garth kept his distance from us, Jimmy would have let us pet him if he weren't too high. And so on... Now the time was coming, the last target bird of the day, the Snowy Owl! As you would imagine we had mixed feeling for this chase. We were pumped at the thought of getting a Snowy Owl yet we were afraid that we'd end up spending the rest of the day searching for this bird without success, like we did the other day. However, you can't just pass up a chance at chasing one of the coolest birds in the world! This bird was what could possibly make the trip a total success.<br />
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There we were, on the road heading towards what could potentially be our best bird of the trip! Our hopes dropped though after we found that the fog was super thick. As a matter of fact we could barely seen 80 feet in front of ourselves! Our hope was fading with every mile we drove, at one point Walker asked me "Caleb, you wanna head back?" and I thought about it but we both came up with the conclusion that since we were close to the owl's territory we might as well try. However, once we entered the Snowy Owl's territory the fog had only gotten worse so we decided to pull over and just wait the fog out. Unfortunately the fog was only getting thicker so we started doing some research on where the owl had been seen most of the time. According to past reports the owl was usually scoped out from the road WAY out anywhere across its six square mile territory! The news only made us taste defeat even more. While Walker was doing research and Dalton was trying to catch up on some rest I starred out into the thick fog. I then noticed a large bird flying strait towards us! The bird's flight style was distinct and I proclaimed the sighting of our large white owl by screaming "OH MY GOSH!!! OH MY GOSH!!! OH MY GOSH!!!!!! GUYS IT'S THE SNOWY OW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The moment was so serial! But it only got better when the bird landed on a telephone poll directly above us! The Snowy Owl, which we named Bianca, just stood on the top of that poll proclaiming her amazingness!<br />
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<b><u>Bianca the Snowy Owl!!!</u></b></div>
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After watching this crazily awesome bird for nearly a half hour she decided to fly to a distant rock pile when we decided it was time to head back.<br />
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Bianca, the Snowy Owl, was queen over the day and even the trip. But wait, The day wasn't over yet! We still had a couple of spots to stop by on our way back. On our way back we got some nice birds including a Ring-necked Pheasant, Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, Chukars (lifer!), a Barn Owl, and an American Tree Sparrow (another lifer!).<br />
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<b><u>Ring-necked Pheasant--female</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, and Horned Larks</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Chukar</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Barn Owl</u></b></div>
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<b><u>American Tree Sparrow</u></b></div>
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The rest of the trip had nothing to compare with our triple owl day and I didn't bother taking too many photos. However, I got some more lifers including Iceland Gull, Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, Red-necked Grebe, and Glaucous-winged Gull!<br />
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Man I still can't get over that Snowy Owl!!! Even now,nearly three weeks later, I'm still thinking about that awesome experience! All in all, seeing the Snowy Owl was a miracle! And for that I praise my savior Jesus Christ for blessing me with such an amazing bird and trip!<br />
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Overall, my Idaho/Washington trip was a HUGE success!!! Thanks Walker, Dalton, Emmie, and Mrs. Noe for having me over and birding hard with me! This trip was one I will never forget!<br />
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In the mean time, I hope to add photos of the scenery later on and maybe a few bird photos. Have an awesome week everyone!!!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!</div>
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Caleb</div>
<br />Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-58964105893522719512016-01-15T14:45:00.001-08:002016-01-18T16:01:34.642-08:00The Frigid Northwest! (Part 1) Here it comes! Birding With Caleb (BWC) has moved to Coeur D' Alene, Idaho for a week! "Why Idaho?" you might ask. Well my good friends, the Noe family, moved from Phoenix, Arizona to Coeur D' Alene, Idaho recently. I, of course, took advantage of this opportunity to bird new ground and decided to fly up to the north for a week and bird with my fellow "bird hard" friends, Walker and Dalton. In the past I had only birded in Arizona, California, and a very brief stop in the southwest corner of New Mexico (along with a trip to Alabama when I wasn't a birder, but I saw Blue Jays, Carolina Chickadees, and Pileated Woodpeckers, which were all lifers). So lo and behold, on December 29th I flew up to the Spokane, Washington Airport to start our week of bird hardness! However, because I wasn't flying up to Spokane until the evening I had to wait until morning to bird.<br />
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<b><u>Day 1: Prairies and Lakes--December 30th</u></b></div>
After a good night's rest on the 29th I woke up to the frigid cold weather of the Northwest! Upon getting ready for our first birding expedition of the week long trip, I heard my lifer Common Redpoll calling, lifer #1 of the trip! We were then ready for take off and decided to spend our first day birding the prairies and lakes of Kootenai County. Upon reaching the prairies I spied my second lifer of the trip, a Rough-legged Hawk, perched high upon a telephone pole!<br />
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<b><u>Rough-legged Hawk</u></b></div>
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Our #1 target for the day was the Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. Recently, there had been a flock that had been feeding on a few hay bales in the area.While we drove through the area I picked up my third lifer of the day, a distant Black-billed Magpie.<br />
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<b><u>Black-billed Magpie--Distant but still distinctive!</u></b></div>
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Laugh as you might, northwestern birders, but lifers are lifers! After scanning the prairies for a good hour we decided to check the hay bales one more time for the rosy-finches, and as soon as we stopped I could see movement!<br />
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<b><u>Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches--Lifer #4</u></b> </div>
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In the rosy flock there were both subspecies. Hephburn's (gray-cheeked) and a Gray-crowned.<br />
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<b><u>"Hephburn's" Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch</u></b></div>
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<b><u>"Gray-crowned" Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch</u></b></div>
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The Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches were a lifer for all three of us and we were pumped to get one of our main targets! Birding the prairies is a lot of fun, because, you can never get everything in just one pass through the area, so the more you bird the area the more you'll get! While driving through a small town I spotted my lifer Northern Shrike perched on the top of a dead tree.<br />
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<b><u>Northern Shrike</u></b></div>
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As you can see, the bird was distant and my views weren't too long but you have to take what you can get. The lifers just wouldn't stop! A few Ring-necked Pheasants and a Ruffed Grouse kicked up from the roadside to add to my chicken list.<br />
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<b><u>Ring-necked Pheasant</u></b></div>
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In the northwest there aren't nearly as many birds as there are in the southwest, like AZ for example, but the birds are super awesome and very rewarding to watch. After a half-day in the prairie we decided to bird Coeur D' Alene Lake. It took me quite a bit of scanning, but mixed in with the many Ring-billed, California, and Herring Gulls I found my lifer Thayer's Gull! However, the bird was way too distant for a photo so I will have to live without a photo of this gull, for now that is. While I was watching the gull I could also hear my lifer Black-capped Chickadee calling from high up the mountain side.<br />
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<b><u>Day 2: Prairies for Snowy Owls--December 31st</u></b></div>
On our second day of birding we decided to spend the whole day looking for Snowy Owls around Walker's house and at a spot in Washington (a three hour drive!) where a pair had recently been found. While we searched the prairies around his house a flock of Gray Partridges flew across the road and provided distant scope views.<br />
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<b><u>Gray Partridge--Yes, it is that brown lump</u></b></div>
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After getting the partridges we drove down to the desolate prairies in Washington. On our way to the Snowy Owl spot we drove through some good habitat and came out with the fallowing species plus my lifer Snow Buntings which flushed out from the highway road.<br />
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<b><u>Gray Partridge</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Black-capped Chickadee</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Rough-legged Hawk</u></b></div>
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Before long we arrived at the Snowy Owl spot and I located a nice California Quail greeting us.<br />
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<b><u>California Quail</u></b></div>
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We searched long and hard for the Snowy Owls and we spent the entire day scanning through the snowed in prairies but we couldn't find a single Snowy! We were pretty frustrated, because, we spent the whole day looking for one of our top targets but couldn't find it! And to put the icing on our cake, a couple of locals said that they had just seen one of the owls along the roadside the day before! I can't really put into words the way we felt after missing the Snowy Owls that day but we barely said anything driving back from our failure of a day. However, this young Northern Shrike put a tic down on our photo life list.<br />
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<b><u>Northern Shrike--Juvenile</u></b></div>
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Don't fall asleep on me now! This was the more boring half of the trip, and I promise you the next half will be much more exciting! So stay tuned for my better half of the trip, all I'm gonna say is Garth, Bianca, and Jimmy, the three birds that made the trip!<br />
<br />Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-53283416027699902312015-12-28T12:34:00.001-08:002015-12-28T12:34:32.760-08:00Birding Hard with the Noe! Recently, my good friend Walker Noe has come back down to his hometown of Phoenix, AZ, to visit with his friends and family, and of course BIRD HARD!!! To start off the bird hardness Walker, Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben and I started off with Crystal Gardens in search of the recently reported geese in the area. It didn't take us long to find a Greater White-fronted Goose and a Cackling Goose mixed in with the many Canada Geese.<br />
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<b><u>Greater White-fronted Goose</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Cackling Goose</u></b></div>
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After Crystal we spent a little time at Tres Rios before I had to head out. The continuing Yellow-throated Warbler along with a few other ongoing rarities made this stop worth the gas. Our next BIRD HARD trip was at the Santa Cruz Flats near Casa Grande. We had three main targets and they were 1. Mountain Plover, 2. Sprague's Pipit, and 3. Crested Caracara. On our way to the Flats we got Walker's lifer Sandhill Cranes in the Arlington Area. Upon reaching the Santa Cruz Flats, I spied a few distant birds in a dead-grass field and found that they were our lifer Mountain Plovers!<br />
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Photographing MOPLs is not easy. The flat short-grass fields that they prefer make approaching these birds unnoticed is nearly impossible! However, two plovers, named Jackson and Albert, allowed close views, and they literally walked towards us even though we were already close! Jackson was our main subject for photography though.<br />
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<b><u>Jackson the Mountain Plover</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Jackson and Albert waving "Bye!"</u></b></div>
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While we observed the many Mountain Plovers in the area Walker and I found 7 Sprague's Pipits! Only one SPPI allowed us to get fairly close views though.<br />
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<b><u>Sprague's Pipit</u></b></div>
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We then drove over to the Red Mountain Feed Lots to look for our last target for the Santa Cruz Flats, the Crested Caracara. After looking for a while we noticed 7 caracaras in a field but they were too far for my camera to get a half-decent shot. The rest of the day was full of dips (fails) and we pretty much spent the rest of the day hanging out. The next day we woke up super early in the morning to drive out to Yuma in search of a recently reported Streak-backed Oriole at a place called Riverside Park. After a long drive we parked near the windy park and started scanning the area. After Walker, four other birders, and I scanned the area for over a half hour I spied the bird in a distant tree!<br />
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<b><u>Edwardo the Streak-backed Oriole</u></b></div>
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The bird then flew into a much closer group of trees and we had amazing views of this Mexican rarity.<br />
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<b><u>Streak-backed Oriole</u></b></div>
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After observing this bird for a few minutes more he flew up high into a large tree and we yelled "Bye Edwardo!"<br /><br />
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Walker and I then continued birding around the area and noticed a female American Redstart foraging in a distant cottonwood.<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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After one more look at the Streak-backed Oriole Walker and I drove back down to Phoenix and ended our "Dream Team" birding for AZ. However, this is only a near 6th of my birding in the next week! "What do you mean" well Birding With Caleb is moving up to Idaho and Washington for the next week!Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-52347832157329605642015-12-10T18:32:00.000-08:002015-12-14T13:01:12.352-08:00Birding Hard for Maricopa Big Year #300 The closer I get to #300 for my Maricopa big year the more I want it! It has been driving me crazy! I have never set such a hard goal in my birding career. Sure aiming for 300 species in one year is possible for someone who is able to chase a lot of birds and has a car but I can barely ever chase birds and I don't have a car. However, I am not one who lets low percentages stop me! Like I said in my last post I have been very blessed as to being able to chase quite a few birds from across the Valley (nearly all West Valley) and I must thank all of my friends and family for taking me birding! On December 3rd I had the opportunity to stop by the Glendale Recharge Ponds and see what I could find. I started working the ponds and quickly found a continuing Clark's Grebe.<br />
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<b><u>Clark's Grebe--#296!!!</u></b></div>
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I then continued my way around the ponds and found my FOY Snow Goose along with a Ross's Goose!</div>
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<b><u>Snow Goose (left)--#297!!!</u></b></div>
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Setting myself only three species from 300 was crazy! However, I had no way to get out to the East Valley to chase some potential year birds. I was desperate and needed a miracle, and a miracle I received! My good friend Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben had texted me and asked me if I wanted to go on a chasing spree out in the East Valley! I almost asked Mr. Tommy if he wanted to do so before he asked me but I asked God that if Mr. Tommy wanted to go birding with me if he could have Mr. Tommy ask me. Doesn't God work in awesome ways! So early on December 4th Mr. Tommy and I found ourselves at Scottsdale Ranch Park chasing my lifer Red-breasted Sapsucker. We arrived at the spot before the sun had even risen so we decided to check the lake before all of the birds woke up. After picking out a Lawrence's Goldfinch we walked over to one of the trees that the Sapsucker favored. Once we approached the tree the sapsucker must have seen us coming and did the opposite of what most birds do, it flew up to us! At one point the sapsucker looked at me from about ten feet away and flew six feet closer right up to my face! Here's a shot of Mr. Tommy documenting this rarity with his iPod.</div>
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<b><u>The "King Of Maricopa" photographing his second ever Red-breasted Sapsucker for the county</u></b></div>
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I could have sworn that the sapsucker at one point winked at me!</div>
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<b><u>Red-breasted Sapsucker--#298!!!</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUkyf2gWp7DddC3divXxxHASiEJ74aVHp2vscPlI2tKuzy_SrzvGIO7DLaKmMcr5i4AA3QyRzO5UYnZrdRRdrG-CjiH8VmqvI0v5xnLqZENE60ZtZ-ycvhQEfv-xBVGVLjoHgk3UTATel/s1600/image_0007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUkyf2gWp7DddC3divXxxHASiEJ74aVHp2vscPlI2tKuzy_SrzvGIO7DLaKmMcr5i4AA3QyRzO5UYnZrdRRdrG-CjiH8VmqvI0v5xnLqZENE60ZtZ-ycvhQEfv-xBVGVLjoHgk3UTATel/s640/image_0007.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After watching this fascinating lifer (for me), Mr. Tommy and I drove over to a lake in Scottsdale that has been good for Northern Parulas in the past few years. The Northern Parula is one of my three nemesis birds (Mexican Whip-poor-will, Northern Parula, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker). Even though this spot has had NOPAs here almost every winter, Mr. Tommy and I couldn't find anything notable except for a nice Plumbeous Vireo. After we were done looking for the seemingly non-existing Northern Parula we drove over to the Coon Bluff Rec. Site along the Lower Salt River. Our target for this stop was a juvenile Reddish Egret that had been seen off and on at this site. Well all I'll say is today was one of its off days and our best bird was a lowland Bridled Titmouse. We then made our way to the Higley and Ocotillo roads ponds. At this spot there were two potential year birds, Dunlin and Eastern Phoebe. Mr. Tommy scoped for the Dunlin while I searched for the Eastern Phoebe and any other songbirds in the area.<br />
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<b><u>Mr. Tommy birding hard for my 299th bird of the year, a Dunlin!</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1toLtNu-Dqm9KLTYelVg5lFF1BIqkJEwnFfPZkeLMn7tv6aK6kT8l3tQHeZSFm029I1m4AXhNq8PpFolaCAUkL9j1-_NOdqdFAu6_Ao8_8JhpC1RQPCaz5xamhAh8eFWaT7nvD6PMdBc6/s1600/image_0019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1toLtNu-Dqm9KLTYelVg5lFF1BIqkJEwnFfPZkeLMn7tv6aK6kT8l3tQHeZSFm029I1m4AXhNq8PpFolaCAUkL9j1-_NOdqdFAu6_Ao8_8JhpC1RQPCaz5xamhAh8eFWaT7nvD6PMdBc6/s640/image_0019.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Before long Mr. Tommy called my name and right then I knew that he had found the Dunlin!'<br />
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<b><u>Dunlin (foreground)--#299!!!</u></b></div>
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I was pumped! Only one more bird to get before I would reach my year's goal! We continued hiking further through the area when Mr. Tommy said that we should head back to the Eastern Phoebe spot. I, however, had a feeling that we should continue further because the habitat looked to only get better as we got further. Right when Mr. Tommy had turned around to start heading back I spotted a Harris's Sparrow!<br />
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<b><u>Harris's Sparrow</u></b></div>
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I laughed when I found this bird because it was the rarest bird we saw that day and it wasn't even a county yearbird! Mr. Tommy was quite excited though.<br />
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<b><u>Harris's Sparrow</u></b></div>
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We continued checking the area until we covered almost all of the habitat. I had to be to Glendale by 4:00 P.M. to go rock climbing with my best friend, and I we were running out of time. We had one more tiny chance to hit 300, and that was to go to Crystal Gardens on our way to Glendale. The last few winters Crystal Gardens has had Cackling Geese but no one had found any yet, so our chances were slim. We had less than a half hour to find a Cackler in the midst of the many Lesser Canada Geese. After scanning for a while Mr. Tommy and I spied a Cackler!!!!!!!! #300!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, some confusion happened and the birds took off before I could snap any photos but hey, I can't argue with my goal bird! Hitting 300 species of bird in Maricopa County in one year was amazing! </div>
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December 4th, of 2015 was a serial day overall! Spending over half the day birding with Mr. Tommy, perhaps the best birder that I know, and then spending the rest of the day rock climbing and hanging out with my best friend, three of my favorite things all in one day was fantastimazingly awesome (that's right)!</div>
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Another birding highlight came from when I went birding with my birding-mentor, Mr. Joe Ford. Now Mr. Ford has put MANY hours into my birding career, especially while I was a beginner! I'm not exactly sure if I would even be much of a birder without the extremely helpful teaching of Mr. Ford. Our last birding adventure was a morning of birding at the Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands. Mr. Ford and I started out scanning the fenced off wetlands from the tall bank. While we were scanning I heard a really distant Yellow Warbler-like chip call. Now a lot of warblers (nearly all eastern warblers) give calls that sound very similar to the call of the Yellow Warbler. So just to be sure I checked out the bird. Unfortunately the bird was calling from a distant cottonwood that was on the other side of the nearby marsh, and we couldn't get any closer. After scanning the fairly small yet thick tree for nearly five minutes I finally got a look at the bird and I found that it was a Yellow-throated Warbler!!!!! Here's a photo of what the bird looked like through my binocs.<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler--Can you spy the bird???</u></b></div>
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Here is a photo of what the bird looked like through my scope, except the scope was clearer.<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler--#301</u></b></div>
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After getting brief views for nearly twenty minutes Mr. For and I were pumped!!! This was a lifer for both of us and I believe it is only the second or third record for Maricopa County. Before long the bird stopped calling but we still stayed in the same spot when I noticed the bird had flown across the marsh and into a nearby bush!<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler</u></b></div>
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Then the bird flew into a closer tree and gave us face-melting views!<br />
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<b><u>Yellow-throated Warbler</u></b></div>
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After the bird flew into its normal tree again I gave Mr. Tommy a call letting him know that I had found this bird, because, it would be a Maricoper for him but I had to leave him a message. Mr. Ford and I then decided to check out more of the Tres Rios area in hopes of finding some more cool birds, and more cool birds are what we saw! The next highlight was a beautiful adult male American Redstart.<br />
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<b><u>American Redstart</u></b></div>
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Mr. Tommy then gave me a call back to let me know that he was on his way over, so Mr. Ford and I started heading back to the YTWA spot. On our way over I spotted a Crested Caracara flying by us!<br />
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<b><u>Crested Caracara</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XX2emVmzpjov6zSRytY9ThJfezX5RTADxQN6wLjNplOe1e3RJ77uHArADwn9L_jyABNcxpKozK6o9l-8y3GMCDvtXo9dPGwB8FRv5YmsLUW2Q7oUm26hMqHhcU1PTmvDaW_ZJ585DPcO/s1600/image_0056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XX2emVmzpjov6zSRytY9ThJfezX5RTADxQN6wLjNplOe1e3RJ77uHArADwn9L_jyABNcxpKozK6o9l-8y3GMCDvtXo9dPGwB8FRv5YmsLUW2Q7oUm26hMqHhcU1PTmvDaW_ZJ585DPcO/s640/image_0056.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Spotting Mr. Tommy running towards us made me smile! Mr. Tommy is one of the most hardcore Maricopa birders and he definitely deserves every single bird on his Maricopa list! It only took me about two minutes to get the warbler in the scope for Mr. Tommy.<br />
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The year's not over yet so I'll be birding in the county a bit more before the year is over! Keep you eyes out cause Caleb Strand is coming!!!<br />
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-66234197850080486542015-12-02T11:03:00.001-08:002015-12-02T18:49:07.135-08:00Maricopa Birding Recently, I have been working hard on my Maricopa County "Big Year", and I have, thus, been a bit busy and haven't been able to do much blogging. But I have finally built up the strength to write a post. Doing a big year in Maricopa County isn't exactly the easiest thing. Because, 1. it is the 15th largest county in the country, 2. we don't have any ocean, and 3. not being able to drive doesn't help at all! My #1 goal for this year is to break 300 species of bird in Maricopa County IN ONE YEAR. Only one human being on this planet has ever done this before and that is, to no surprise, <a href="http://tommysbirdingexpeditions.blogspot.com/">Mr. Tommy DeBardeleben</a>. Luckily, I have been very blessed with people who take me birding and I have had the opportunity to bird quite a bit lately. The beginning of my late-fall birding started with a chase along the Lower Salt River at a spot called Blue Point, for a Surf Scoter and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (which is now my nemesis). I have seen a couple SUSCs in CA but not in AZ and more importantly to me, Maricopa. Mr. John Kafel was to thank for this chase. After an hour or so drive from my house to the scoter spot we arrived at around mid-afternoon. It didn't take me long to find the Surf Scoter feeding along the narrow river.<br />
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<b><u>Surf Scoter--#289 for my Maricopa County big year</u></b></div>
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After watching the scoter for a while I then moved on to the area where the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had recently been seen. Unfortunately, I dipped on (failed to locate) the bird but I enjoyed getting to observe a few Gray Flycatchers.<br />
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<b><u>Gray Flycatcher</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tip to identifying empids; Gray Flycatcher is the only empidonax that dips its tail downward, the rest flick their tales up.</span></div>
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My next "big" birding moment was when I lead a birdwalk for the Sonoran Audubon Society to the Arlington Valley. While we were driving to our first location, the Arlington Wildlife Area, we pulled over to the side of the road to see some Sandhill Cranes when I spotted a Common Grackle!!!! I jumped out of the car and yelled "COMMON GRACKLE!!!" and everyone kinda gave me a weird look because they are one of the most common birds in the east. I quickly opened the back of the car to get my camera and aimed and shot!</div>
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<b><u>Common Grackle--#290</u></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note the bluish head, golden back, yellow eyes, medium sized bill, and fairly long tail.</span></div>
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The Common Grackle was actually my 400th life bird! I had a little confusion with my list and it turned out that the California Gnatcatcher was my 399th life bird and not my 400th. After watching the cranes for a while we then headed over to the Arlington Wildlife Area where we spent a good portion of the day. Shortly after arriving at the wildlife area I spotted my FOY (first of year) White-tailed Kite flying out in the distance.</div>
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<b><u>White-tailed Kite--#291</u></b></div>
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The kite was a nice highlight for many of the people in my group, but this Great Horned Owl was another highlight.</div>
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<b><u>Great Horned Owl</u></b></div>
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Another visit to the Arlington Wildlife Area proved productive. This Savannah Sparrow greeted us early in the morning.</div>
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<b><u>Savannah Sparrow</u></b></div>
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Somewhere around seven or so years ago Melanie Herring found a light-morphed Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk in the Arlington Area and it has now spent the winter here ever since! Harlan's Red-tails are rare in AZ and the light-morph portion of this subspecies makes up less than one percent of all Harlan's, so having a light-morphed Harlans in AZ is CRAZY!!! On our way to the wildlife area we spotted the Harlan's sitting its perch.</div>
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<b><u>Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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At the wildlife area a flyover from a Sprague's Pipit was quite a surprise as well as three Mountain Bluebirds that were working the fields just adjacent to the Wildlife Area. After finishing our IBA (Important Bird Area) count we drove over to the Lower River Road Ponds where I scanned though around 70 Ring-billed Gulls without anything interesting. A strange juvenile Zone-tailed Hawk decided to fly over us though.</div>
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<b><u>Zone-tailed Hawk</u></b></div>
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The next day I did another IBA count only at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area. Although I didn't see anything interesting, other than seeing a couple of Red Crossbills and American Goldfinches, I did, however, get perhaps my best photos of a Common Yellowthroat and watched the long staying pair of Barn Owls.</div>
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<b><u>Common Yellowthroat</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Barn Owl (female left, male right)</u></b></div>
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On November 19th I had just returned from an afternoon trip to the Glendale Recharge Ponds where I found my FOY Greater Scaup (#292), when I was looking through some ebird checklists and saw that my friend Joshua Smith had just been to Dos Lagos Park. Curious at whether or not he had seen the Eurasian Wigeon that has been spending the last few winters at this park, I looked over his list to see that he had not just seen the wigeon but had found a Pacific Loon! Now Dos Lagos Park has two ponds and they are both fairly small and not nearly large enough for a loon to hang out at but Josh knew what he was talking about and I found myself in the car with Mr. John on our way to Dos Lagos that night! We didn't arrive at the park until just after the sun had set but I spotted the loon before I had even gotten out of the car!</div>
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<b><u>A loon looking at a loon!</u></b></div>
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The loon was diving an awful lot but I managed a few photos before it got too dark.</div>
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<b><u>Pacific Loon--#293</u></b></div>
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Loons are awesome! A big thanks to Joshua Smith for finding this bird and reporting it on ebird! After observing the loon for a while I decided to make a really quick stop to see the Eurasian Wigeon before heading back home.</div>
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<b><u>Eurasian Wigeon</u></b></div>
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A week or two later I was making a regular biking trip along the main stretch of my patch (the Buckeye Canal) and I found my Maricoper (first for Maricopa), Clay-colored Sparrow!<br />
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<b><u>Clay-colored Sparrow--#294</u></b></div>
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I continued searching my patch after the sparrow left. Once I started heading back I noticed a bright yellow bird fly into a palm tree! Once I threw my binocs onto it I noticed that it was a Tropical Kingbird!!! I continued observing this bird for about 15 minutes before I had to go.<br />
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<b><u>Tropical Kingbird--My first for my Patch</u></b></div>
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Although the Tropical Kingbird wasn't even a yearbird it was still my best bird of the day, it was also the first time I've seen one in the winter. The day after my patch madness I started my day normally until I saw that someone had relocated a few Purple Finches at Gilbert Water Ranch that Tyler Loomis had found the day before. I then gave Mr. John Kafel a call and before long I found myself in Gilbert! We arrived at the Water Ranch at around 1:00 P.M. and searched the area where the finches had recently been seen without success. Mr. John and I decided to go out to lunch for a while and return a couple hours later. After having some delicious burgers Mr. John dropped me off at Gilbert and gave me an hour to find these birds. It didn't help much that these birds were on the opposite side of the preserve but I'm young and I can run! Atter running for about a half mile I got a stomach-cramp and the thought of walking crossed my mind but it's not like I just say "BIRD HARD!!!" for no reason, I had to keep on! Once I approached the Tiger Moth (3/4) trail I started to slow down and keep my eyes out. Before getting far I spotted all three of the Purple Finches near the top of a mesquite tree! #295 for the year and #318 for Maricopa County all-time!!!!!!!<br />
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<b><u>Purple Finch--#295!</u></b></div>
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I now have only five more year birds to get in less than one month to complete my goal! I'm not sure if I'll reach this goal but it means a lot to me to reach 300 species of bird in one year in Maricopa County! I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me out and encouraged me in my goal for this year!<br />
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God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!<br />
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Caleb</div>
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-9454154547292869822015-10-28T19:32:00.003-07:002015-10-28T19:32:51.399-07:00The Return To SoCal--The Quest For #400! This fall I have been really busy! With me having more school, going camping every other weekend, chores, and a bucket-full of other things I just haven't had much time to blog. In the midst of my fall craziness I found out that my family and I were going to Los Angeles, California to visit my Grandparents! I was shocked that we were going to make a second trip to SoCal in the last few months! Once I surpassed the shock I immediately started thinking of potential lifers, but a problem arose, I had seen almost all of the Southern California specialties! However, the was one that I hadn't seen, and that was the California Gnatcatcher. On top of this being one of the last SoCal specialties that I have not seen, the CAGN was also the only gnatcatcher in the North America that I hadn't seen (North American gnatcatchers include: Black-tailed, Blue-gray, Black-capped, and California).<br />
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After the seemingly speedy six hour drive from Buckeye, AZ to Pasadena, CA, we arrived at my grandparents house to find that it was hotter there then it was in Phoenix! Maybe we brought the heat with us? But 90+ degree heat isn't the most pleasing weather to be welcomed by! After keeping an eye out on the local RBA (rare bird alert) I saw that a Canada Warbler was spotted near Long Beach, at West San Gabrial Park along a nice nature trail. However, the park wasn't too far from another crazy-good birding hotspot called Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. So after running the plan of hitting both of these places by my parents and getting the okay, I found myself at West San Gabrial Park before the sun had even risen! I thought that the Canada Warbler was just hanging out in a few trees in a small area and that it would take me maybe a half hour to locate this bird but I was wrong! It turns out that The CANW was known to cover about a quarter mile stretch of a LONG tree line! A bit overwhelmed at the fact that this bird was gonna take longer to find then I thought, I started birding hard!!! While I was scanning the long stretch of trees a group of birders appeared and we all started scanning the trees. Finally, while I was talking with one of the local birders I noticed a warbler fly into a magnolia tree and once I lifted my binocs to the bird I was pleased to see that it was my lifer Canada Warbler! I then directed the other birders to the bird and for the first fifteen minutes of watching the warbler we had okay but fairly distant views.<br />
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<b><u>Canada Warbler--Life Bird #396</u></b></div>
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After losing the bird for a few minutes I relocated it down lower in a nearby sycamore tree.<br />
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<b><u>Canada Warbler</u></b></div>
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Getting to show the group of birders this awesome vagrant was awesome, and I even pointed out where the warbler was to Kimball Garret (one of California's best birders). After San Gabrial we drove over to Bolsa Chica where we birded for a few hours. As soon as we drove up to the parking lot I could see that this birding hotspot was crawling with birds! One of the first birds I saw was my lifer Parasitic Jaeger!<br />
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<b><u>Parasitic Jaeger--Life Bird #397</u></b></div>
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Forster's Terns were one of the most abundant species of birds I saw at Bolsa Chica.<br />
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<b><u>Forster's Terns</u></b></div>
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While we continued hiking between the many ponds I spied my third lifer of the day, one of two Reddish Egrets that have been spending the last couple years at this amazing spot.<br />
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<b><u>Reddish Egret--Life Bird #398</u></b></div>
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As you can see in the photo, this bird was very far! But fortunately REEGs are distinctive at all distances. Even though we weren't at Bolsa Chica at the most bird-active time of day, this place was crawling with birds! Once we reached the area where California Gnatcatchers have been seen before I waited and waited and nothing but a flock of Bushtits came out. On our way back to the car I kept an eye out for the endangered <i>Light-footed</i> Ridgway's Rail, and thanks to awesome directions from fellow bird-hard-blogger, <a href="http://walkerswings.blogspot.com/">Walker Noe</a>, I got amazing looks at these seemingly trashy birds!<br />
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<b><u>Ridgway's Rail</u></b></div>
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The Ridgway's Rail is one of my favorite species of bird and to have seen both the Light-footed and Yuma subspecies is awesome! After a very productive day at Bolsa Chica we were on our way to get lunch when I spotted a Reddish Egret fairly close to the highway, so I asked my my to pull over so I could photograph it. Once I walked towards the egret I noticed that there was my fourth lifer of the day, a Red Knot!<br />
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<b><u>Red Knot--Life Bird #399</u></b></div>
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Life bird #399! One more! After observing my last life bird in the 300s I went on to scanning along the shore and photographed the fallowing species.<br />
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<b><u>Black-bellied Plover (top left) and Ruddy Turnstone (bottom right)</u></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEB1bRZr4pBxl3CFYt4tBuH4Sx8aq8yN43afcUBBD4amtk9blhN1Dv5iW-j8vhucoflN2-Gh-gJ3BOvTVkEg7WJ5wvcUy2SyadCEbpGmwF1MFnqh8kE9XVlTKbjar_3ofBsoeObRxxqZh/s1600/image_0033.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEB1bRZr4pBxl3CFYt4tBuH4Sx8aq8yN43afcUBBD4amtk9blhN1Dv5iW-j8vhucoflN2-Gh-gJ3BOvTVkEg7WJ5wvcUy2SyadCEbpGmwF1MFnqh8kE9XVlTKbjar_3ofBsoeObRxxqZh/s640/image_0033.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Surf Scoter</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCorLtozJ6stvPgf5AHQEIb_MSP3gzswmSzuPDQLRPxkJO4V9qa8nqu6HjlYgq02AGY2ephSTmDmIlWkB3nYnKzJ3ENlIxpUXXpRNDSFunMkCjif4Nb_MrPDxgCCnaiA2SgtgWoIv8iRD/s1600/image_0054.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCorLtozJ6stvPgf5AHQEIb_MSP3gzswmSzuPDQLRPxkJO4V9qa8nqu6HjlYgq02AGY2ephSTmDmIlWkB3nYnKzJ3ENlIxpUXXpRNDSFunMkCjif4Nb_MrPDxgCCnaiA2SgtgWoIv8iRD/s640/image_0054.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Snowy Egret</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lN0gPmhbE9J6wCHME8X4Wrf3TNMErcFrqhiMJ2X6TJnf_jWUhWhay_BhYXDtDEW2fZaFooyj9rx8mxTrgEPCj6BWUYkh-YyevTJPRmvxcqmexHvb4uM9SzAXXPQVUj8a0d460SytwZQ1/s1600/image_0052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lN0gPmhbE9J6wCHME8X4Wrf3TNMErcFrqhiMJ2X6TJnf_jWUhWhay_BhYXDtDEW2fZaFooyj9rx8mxTrgEPCj6BWUYkh-YyevTJPRmvxcqmexHvb4uM9SzAXXPQVUj8a0d460SytwZQ1/s640/image_0052.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><u>Reddish Egret</u></b></div>
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After getting a bite I found a location called the Montobello Hills where people seem to have seen California Gnatcatchers at before. However, once we drove up to where the GPS took us I noticed that the whole area was fenced off and surrounded by houses! I had to think fast, and thinking fast is what I'm good at! I decided that we could hit all of the Cul de sacs that backed up to the hills and I could listen and wait. On about the fourth and last cul de sac that we tried I could see that there was a gap between two houses and I decided that this would be a good place to listen and wait. The pressure was on! Not only was this now the only gnatcatcher of which I hadn't seen in North America but this would probably be my only chance to get life bird #400 during this trip! I started pishing and owl-whistling and I got a Bewick's Wren to start calling but no gnatcatcher. Finally after waiting for about ten minutes I was starting to walk back to the car and call it quits but then a gnatcatcher popped out of a hedge and into the scrub! I then ran back to the car which was only about 40 feet away and grabbed my binocs and camera. Sure enough the bird had a nearly all black under tail with a few white edges on some of the feathers and it had quite a bit of brown in its back!</div>
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<b><u>California Gnatcatcher--Life Bird #400!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</u></b></div>
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After observing life bird #400 on the fence for a while it started giving its very unique mewing call which I'd say is hands down the most awesome call of the North American gnatcatchers! Eventually the CAGN flew back into the hedge and gave me one more look before disappearing into the rolling hills.<br />
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<b><u>California Gnatcatcher</u></b></div>
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This California trip was a huge success especially with the fact that nearly all of my birding was done in half a day! I look forward to my next trip to SoCal, but in the mean time, birding in AZ has been really good so far!</div>
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-85163645946620498682015-10-22T20:00:00.001-07:002015-10-22T20:00:14.110-07:00Southern California Birding (Part 2) The second half of my CA trip wasn't exactly as birdy as my first half but I racked up what I could wherever I could. The morning after my pelagic excursion, I went to the beach with my family and we walked along the shore. While I was near some chaparral habitat I heard the distinctive song of the Wrentit (lifer)! The bird was calling from across a lagoon so I didn't see it but I sure knew what it was! While we continued walking along the shore a Whimbrel posed to be photographed.<br />
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<b><u>Whimbrel</u></b></div>
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Once we reached the end of our walk we headed back in the same direction.While we walked by the spot where I heard the Wrentit I kept an eye out and after a little waiting one came out for amazing views!<br />
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<b><u>Wrentit</u></b></div>
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Once we were done with the beach we drove over to my mom's cousin's house. Luckily her house is right next to a hill full of great oak habitat, yeah, you know where I'm going with that! So with great habitat comes great birds and great birds are what I saw! For example, this California Thrasher and Oak Titmouse.<br />
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<b><u>California Thrasher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Oak Titmouse</u></b></div>
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Both the CATH and the OATI were photo lifers for me, so I was excited to finally photograph these bush-dwelling birds. While I was birding on the hill I heard some weird flight calls which I had never heard before, and after trying to get a look at the birds that were calling I finally got a good enough glimpse to see that they were Scaly-breasted Munias! The SBMU is an exotic finch that has built a population in California. I was not expecting to get this bird on this trip but lifers are usually unexpected.<br />
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<b><u>Scaly-breasted Munia</u></b></div>
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The next day was my last day of spotting any "cool" birds. We started off with hiking a boardwalk and before we even reached the ocean I spotted my 17th lifer of the trip, a Surf Scoter!<br />
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<b><u>Surf Scoter</u></b></div>
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The SUSC was my last lifer of the trip ending my CA trip with 17 lifers was awesome, especially since I was hoping to get 10! Before I end the trip let me show you some more of Southern California's birds!<br />
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<b><u>Pelagic Cormorant</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Western Gull</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Heerman's Gull</u></b></div>
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Yes, my California trip is done, but wait what is that?! Another trip to So Cal coming up???Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-56193890023307361582015-10-17T16:12:00.003-07:002015-10-17T16:12:24.915-07:00Southern California Birding (Part 1) The summer of 2015 has been an awesome season for me birding-wise. As a matter of fact I've been traveling back and forth from Flagstaff to Phoenix all summer, and I even went to California once. When I found out that I was going to visit my parents family in Santa Barbara, CA, I was pumped! Before this trip I had only been to the beach as a birder once, and on that trip I racked up a lot of lifers. Whenever my family has a road-trip like this they usually allow me to have half a day and sometimes even a whole day to bird. That might not sound like all that much but I always make the most of those precious hours of birding on new ground. So, once I found out which day I was going birding I figured that my mom and I could go on a boat out to Santa Cruz Island while my brother and dad went fishing on another boat. But anyways, long story short my day of birding was spent looking for shorebirds, pelagic birds, and the sought after Island Scrub-Jay, which is endemic to Santa Cruz Island. When we arrived at my Aunt and Uncle's house I was greeted by a family of California Towhees, how fitting.<br />
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<b><u>California Towhee</u></b></div>
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<b><u>California Towhee--juvenile</u></b></div>
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The next day came around fast and I couldn't believe that I was going pelagic-birding! My Mom, her cousin, and I all arrived at Ventura Harbor at about 7:30 A.M. and we had a few minutes before our boat was ready to leave, so I literally ran to the shore to see what I could find and was greeted by this beautiful view.<br />
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I quickly started scanning along the shore and spotted my lifer Black Turnstone!<br />
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After taking the picture above, I put my binocs back on the bird and noticed that this time I wasn't looking at the BLTU but a Ruddy Turnstone (which you can see a little to the right of the BLTU in the above photo)! Two lifers within ten seconds! After watching the turnstones from afar for a while I approached them and had great looks.<br />
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<b><u>Black Turnstone</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Ruddy Turnstone</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Ruddy (left) Black (right)</u></b></div>
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After observing the turnstones I set my binocs on some terns that were flying in and noticed they were my third lifer of the morning, my overdue Elegant Terns!<br />
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<b>Elegant Tern</b></div>
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I then took my attention off the terns and started scanning through the many Willets and Whimbrels and found my fourth lifer in only seven minutes, three Wandering Tattlers!<br />
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<b><u>Wandering Tattler</u></b></div>
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I was shocked at how many lifers I had gotten in such a short time, and the lifering didn't stop! While I was walking back to where the boat was, a couple of Black Oystercatchers (lifer!) and an American X Black Oystercatcher hybrid flew by!<br />
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<b><u>Black Oystercatcher (left) American X Black Oystercatcher (right)</u></b></div>
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I met back up with my mom and her cousin as the boat was just about ready to depart, and before long we were pitching and tossing (if you've been on a boat or seen the "Big Year" movie you know what I mean).<br />
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Before we got out into the ocean I found another lifer, Pelagic Cormorant, which was mixed in with these Brandt's. Can you find it (hint: it's smaller and skinnier than the surrounding Brandt's)?<br />
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Taking a birding-boat and a regular boat are **TOTALLY DIFFERENT**!!! Birding-boats will slow down so you can get GOOD, STEADY views of the birds while regular boats only slow down for whales, dolphins, and other MAMMALS. Even though it was very hard to get good views of the birds we were riding by I made the most of it and had a good time! Before we get into the ocean, let me show you a third of the Elegant Terns I saw that day.<br />
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<b><u>Elegant Terns and other awesome birds!</u></b></div>
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Finally, the time was coming for the pelagic birds! I kept my eyes peeled on the seemingly never-ending ocean waiting for my first pelagic bird to fly by. Before I get to the pelagic birds I have to apologize because you are about to see some terrible photography! The further and further we rode into the ocean the more and more I was on the lookout, and then bam, my first pelagic bird, Pink-footed Shearwater!!!!!!<br />
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<b><u>Pink-footed Shearwater</u></b></div>
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After the Pink-footed Shearwater flew by I spied another lifer, a Black-vented Shearwater!<br />
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<b><u>Black-vented Shearwater</u></b></div>
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My next lifer after the BVSH was a flyby Sooty Shearwater!<br />
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<b><u>Sooty Shearwater</u></b></div>
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While I continued scanning the waters I spied a crazy South Polar Skua (lifer!) chasing a tern way out in the distance!<br />
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<b><u>South Polar Skua chasing a tern</u></b></div>
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Then a Common Murre flew by!<br />
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<b><u>Common Murre</u></b></div>
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Soon enough we were approaching the island. The fog was starting to lift, and what seemed like a small rock in the distance turned into a huge island! Before we reached the island though an awesome Pomarine Jaeger flew over the boat!<br />
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<b><u>Pomarine Jaeger</u></b></div>
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We then reached the island and dropped off over half of the people at the first stop. On our way to the second spot I got my lifer Cassin's Auklet and Pigeon Guillemot but they were just too far or too fast to photograph. After lifering it hard on my way to the island I was finally there! The only target I had for the island itself was the Island Scrub-Jay so I didn't really have to bird too hard here until I found one. We decided to do a five mile hike to a spot where the boat would pick us up, so I did a little searching for the jay before the hike. After searching for a little over five minutes I located one of the jays, which happened to be our first of over a dozen we saw that day!<br />
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<b><u>Island Scrub-Jay</u></b></div>
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After watching the ISJA we began the hike. During the hike I didn't have much time to go off and bird but I heard quite a few birds. After the hike, while we were waiting for the boat to arrive, I had some awesome birds to watch while we were waiting.<br />
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<b><u>Black Oystercatcher</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Pigeon Guillemot</u></b></div>
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Once the boat picked us up we made our way to pick up the other half of the group before heading back to the mainland. After picking the people up three Cassin's Auklets flew by our boat, as well as a close fly-by from an Elegant Tern.<br />
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<b><u>Cassin's Auklet</u></b></div>
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<b><u>Elegant Tern</u></b></div>
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My first "pelagic trip" was a huge success! I racked up 14 lifers on my second day of the trip and I still had a few more "non-birding" days (for you who know me, know that I am never not birding!). Stay tuned to see how the rest of my trip goes!Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4629544828578154752.post-28278428734964375482015-09-09T16:21:00.005-07:002015-09-09T17:19:19.288-07:00Happy Owling!!!Recently, I have been behind on posting about my birding adventures, but I have finally broken that curse with this post! As usual the summer marks the time when I go camping with my family to Happy Jack Lodge every other weekend. During the first few weekends that we were there I decided to spend my time birding during the night instead of the day, or at least for the most part. So this summer I have spent many nights owling in the cool pines of Happy Jack. Most of these hikes were unproductive (with many of them producing no birds AT ALL!!!), however, there were two or three trips that were pretty awesome! The first night I owled was just flat-out depressing, because, I didn't hear a single bird! The next night I went owling again only in a slightly different area. After hiking for about a half mile I stopped and listened and could hear two super distant Flammulated Owls, lifer!!! I have to admit though, hearing these birds was pretty cool but I was trying for what only a hand full of people have done, and that is to not just see this elusive species but to photograph it! The second night I didn't have the chance to do so, but I did end up hearing three different Flams calling! The third night I owled was unproductive as well as the forth and fifth nights. The sixth night I wasn't planning on owling but I decided that I would walk up to the edge of the forest to listen for a couple minutes. While I was listening I all the sudden heard a Flam give its single "poot" call a few times!!! I then ran back to camp to let my parents know that I was gonna hike down into the forest to search for this bird when my mom offered to come with me. So there we were, my mom and I hiking down the dark and nearly endless forest in search of a 6.75" tall bird! Once we reached the spot where I was hearing the bird I was pumped to hear that the bird was still calling! Once I locaed the direction where the bird was calling, we quickly started hiking towards it. Once we reached a spot where the bird sounded like it was fairly close we started scanning through the treetops with my flashlight when we both caught sight of the bird flying away! We then followed the direction of where the bird was when we again reached a point where the bird sounded fairly close. This time instead of the bird flushing from about 20' away it flushed from 5'!!!!! I was totally confused at how the bird sounded like it was 20'-30' away when it was only 5'! This time when the bird flew off I kept the flash light on the Flam as it flew and saw where it landed!!!<br />
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<b><u>Flammulated Owl (taken without a flash)</u></b></div>
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Once I got my mom on the bird we then walked a little closer to the bird and had even better views!<br />
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<b><u>Flammulated Owl</u></b></div>
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Watching the Flammulated Owl and getting to observe it while it actively hunted for nearly an hour was probably my best "Booya Moment" bird-wise! While we watched this guy for a while his mate even came in to see what was going on, but she didn't stay around very long. By the time my mom said that it was getting late I had a whole bunch of photos of this guy!</div>
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<b><u>Flammulated Owl</u></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHxccDdT2WzH7blshuB3_aZByIMYgGG_Gg9jmdidgBRhiWOa1m8ZSeYEDEH8i3_Zm_pXa7q6cjicCapWN2xGxqX_YBjH9i2Sk9sXZSFBEx475MNT5gcnsDvQL48c9yzpKtKaTsirU95up/s1600/image_0113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHxccDdT2WzH7blshuB3_aZByIMYgGG_Gg9jmdidgBRhiWOa1m8ZSeYEDEH8i3_Zm_pXa7q6cjicCapWN2xGxqX_YBjH9i2Sk9sXZSFBEx475MNT5gcnsDvQL48c9yzpKtKaTsirU95up/s640/image_0113.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After that night of owling I didn't have any extreme birding moments like that but I did see that Flam two more times and even heard my second owl lifer at Happy Jack, a Long-eared Owl! I hope you enjoyed my Flammulated Owl post and I look forward to seeing this species again in the future! Cheers to the Flams!!!</div>
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Caleb Strandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03745287870823090848noreply@blogger.com11