Spring Chasing!

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

Swainson's Hawk

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

Crested Caracara

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

Great Horned Owls

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

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

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

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

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

Red-necked Grebe

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

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

Eared Grebe

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

Franklin's Gull

Have a great week everyone!!!

God Bless and BIRD HARD!!!

Caleb

A Well Needed Trip to SE AZ (Part 2)

Florida Canyon! The first two things that come to mind when an experienced birder hears that name is Black-capped Gnatcatchers and Rufous-capped Warblers. Both the BCGN and the RCWA are Mexican vagrants that have been known to breed in Florida Canyon in very small numbers. As I said in the last post, the Black-capped Gnatcatcher was my target bird for the trip, so you might ask "Why not the Rufous-capped Warbler?" Well at the time I didn't know where the RCWA was and I hadn't been to Florida Canyon before. But once Mr. John and I pulled into the parking area I was very exited to explore yet another new birdy area. I quickly jumped out of the car and started calling out birds "Gray Hawk, Broad-billed hummingbird, Plumbeous Vireo, Black-headed Grosbeak" before long I was up to thirty species, and I was still around the parking area! But there was one set back, Mr. John was tired by our previous day of hiking around the Museum. So we agreed that he would stay back at the parking lot and bird around the small but active area while I hiked up the canyon a ways. However, I came prepared and brought my walkie-talkies that I use back at home when I go birding by bike. As I literally ran up the canyon I came across a fellow bird-guide Mr. Richard Fray, who kindly gave me directions to where he had seen a few birds like Rufous-capped Wabler, Elegant Trogon, Montezuma Quail, and a possible Golden-crowned Sparrow. So becoming even more pumped (almost to the point where my brain could've exploded!) I started running even faster only in a "Bird Hard" fashion. Before long I started slowing down as the trails started splitting more and more. As I was hiking at a fast pace I had a couple of birds explode into flight from what felt like the tip of my nose, Montezuma Quail (Lifer #3 for the trip)!!! The two birds took flight in two different directions and trying to keep track of either one of them proved very hard. I then spotted a pair of Golden Eagles in the distance as they used the ridge line for transportation, but the birds were way to far for a photo. Soon after, I found myself about a mile up the trail where the habitat along the creek started disappearing so I started working my way back when I spotted a plain gray-faced Zonotrichia fly into the creeks thick brush. All it took was that very brief glimpse to identify the sparrow as a Golden-crowned (Lifer #4 for the trip and 350 for my life)! I then patiently waited and after a bit of pishing the bird came out!

Golden-crowned Sparrow 

Honestly, this has got to be the drabbest bird I've seen in my life!

The sparrow then flew down into the brush again, and as I was waiting for the bird to make another move when I got a call from Mr. John that he was staring at the Black-capped Gnatcatcher with Mr. Richard, and it was sitting on its nest!!! I then told him that I was on my way, but as I started running I spotted a Golden Eagle soaring overhead and a Gray Hawk was attacking it!

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle--And babam, Gray Hawk!

Once the Gray Hawk retreated I then continued running down the canyon for a half mile before I reached the parking area. I then found Mr. John and after scanning the tree branches we found our suspect (Lifer #5 for the trip)!

Black-capped Gnatcatcher--Female

Note the long bill and white undertail that separate this unique gnatcatcher from the others.

We then pointed out the gnatcatcher to some other birders and we continued snapping pictures.

Black-capped Gnatcatcher

After watching the gnatcatcher for a while we decided it was time to hit Madera Canyon, but on our way we stopped by a cow corral to see what we could find. I didn't find the male Black-capped Gnatcatcher that had been staying here but I did, however, hear and get a couple looks of my lifer (#6 for the trip!) Northern Beardless-Tyrranulet. I tried hard to get more looks and possibly a photo but that bird was just so darn small! We then continued towards Madera Canyon where we made our first stop by the Super Trail near the top of the canyon. I hiked about three quarters of a mile before I decided I probably wasn't going to crush any trogons on the trip. We then made our last stop of the day at the Santa Rita Lodge where we saw some cool birds.

Mexican Jay

Wild Turkey

I ended the two day trip with an awesome 6 lifers to talk about and 25 year birds bringing my year list to 250! I am looking forward to my next trip to SE AZ and who knows what lifers I might get on that trip. Thanks Mr. John, Mrs. Janet, Mrs. Jennifer, and last but not least Ren for an awesome trip!