Birding 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!

Mexican Chickadee

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!!!!!!!

Slate-throated Redstart

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!

Slate-throated Redstart

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!

Blue-throated Hummingbird

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!!!

American Redstart

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.

Painted Redstart

A super tame Western Wood-Pewee was quite cool to see as well!

Western Wood-Pewee

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.

Suphur-bellied Flycatcher

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.

Whiskered Screech-Owl

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!

Whiskered Screech-Owl

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!

Elf Owl

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!

Western Screech-Owl

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!

Western Screech-Owl

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.

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 WESO call. Whiskered, on the other hand, gives a descending serous of hoots lowering in pitch (listen here) along with a mores-code-like song of fairly high-pitched hoots (listen here). Whiskered also gives a barking contact call which is sometime mistaken for the barking call of the Spotted Owl (listen here)

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.

Whiskered Screech-Owl (left) and Western Screech-Owl (right)

 

 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!

Birding 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.

Greater White-fronted Goose

Cackling Goose

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!

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.

Jackson the Mountain Plover

Jackson and Albert waving "Bye!"

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.

Sprague's Pipit

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!

Edwardo the Streak-backed Oriole

The bird then flew into a much closer group of trees and we had amazing views of this Mexican rarity.

Streak-backed Oriole

After observing this bird for a few minutes more he flew up high into a large tree and we yelled "Bye Edwardo!"

Walker and I then continued birding around the area and noticed a female American Redstart foraging in a distant cottonwood.

American Redstart

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!

Birding 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.

Clark's Grebe--#296!!!

    I then continued my way around the ponds and found my FOY Snow Goose along with a Ross's Goose!

Snow Goose (left)--#297!!!

     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.

The "King Of Maricopa" photographing his second ever Red-breasted Sapsucker for the county

     I could have sworn that the sapsucker at one point winked at me!

Red-breasted Sapsucker--#298!!!

     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.

Mr. Tommy birding hard for my 299th bird of the year, a Dunlin!

     Before long Mr. Tommy called my name and right then I knew that he had found the Dunlin!'

Dunlin (foreground)--#299!!!

     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!

Harris's Sparrow

    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.

Harris's Sparrow

     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! 

     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)!

     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.

Yellow-throated Warbler--Can you spy the bird???

     Here is a photo of what the bird looked like through my scope, except the scope was clearer.

Yellow-throated Warbler--#301

     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!

Yellow-throated Warbler

     Then the bird flew into a closer tree and gave us face-melting views!

Yellow-throated Warbler

    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.

American Redstart

    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!

Crested Caracara

    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.

     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!!!