Hitting the Jackpot!!!

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

Osprey

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

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

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

Barn Owl

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

Lesser Nighthawk

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

Painted Bunting!!!!

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

Least Bittern

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

Caspian Tern

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

Painted Bunting

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

Painted Bunting

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

Painted Bunting

Great Horned Owl

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

Birding at the awesome Ashurst Lake

In the Flagstaff area there are many lakes. Mormon Lake (water seasonally) and Lake Mary being the largest of them, are the most visited.   Smaller ones like Marshall Lake, Vail Lake, Ashurst Lake, Indian Lake, Ducksnest Lake, Kinnikinick Lake, Morton Lake, Rajkoo Lake, Long Lake, Soldier Annex Lake, Tremain Lake, and Stoneman Lake. Many of these are waterless. I have only been able to visit three of these smaller lakes,  my favorite of them would hands down be Ashurst Lake. It has the perfect mixed habitat for waterbirds, raptors, and songbirds! On my most recent visit with Mr. Joe Ford and Alexia Grace I was able to get a total of 44 species which was pretty good considering the time we spent there.  Before we even got to where we could see the lake I spotted my target bird, the Mountain Bluebird! On my last trip to this lake I saw a few MOBL's but they kept there distance and didn't allow me to get any awesome photos, but I was hoping that would change today! Once I showed Mr. Ford and Alexia the birds I set out to crush these beautiful photo-shy monsters. As usual right when I saw the birds they would fly to a further perch, but I eventually had a female sit still for at least one photo.
                                                                     Mountain Bluebird

                                                                 Booya year bird 251!!!
I then set out to try to photograph a male but there were only about three males in this flock, I still managed to get a couple of diagnostic photos of one.
                                                                     Mountain Bluebird

We then drove down to the lake, parked at one of the camp sites, and ate our lunch. This is a photo that Alexia took of Ashurst Lake.

 Thanks for letting me use this photo Alexia!
 While we were eating our food, Mr. Ford saw a gull looking bird flying over the lake but once it started towards us and I got my binocs on I found it was a Forster's Tern! This is only the second FOTE I have seen, with my other sighting being earlier in the year at the Glendale Recharge Ponds. The bird flew over the area a few times before landing on a dead tree in the water.
                                                                  Forster's Tern

 There was also an amazing Osprey that caught a fish on the lake.
                                                                          Osprey

  This American Crow along with a few others kept a close eye on us just in case we dropped any food.
                                                                      American Crow

Once we were done eating we birded along the shore, and while we were scanning the lake little did we know that a Lewis's Woodpecker was watching us from behind. Unfortunately the bird had the sun behind it.
                                                                   Lewis's Woodpecker

 Booya year bird 252!!!
After birding the lake we started looking for some songbirds. Mr. Ford had Hermit, Yellow and Virginia's Warblers all in one juniper! There were also Black-throated Gray Warblers in the area.
                                                        Black-throated Gray Warbler

                                                                 Virginia's Warbler

We had a nice morning at Ashurst Lake and we still had to bird the Lower Lake Mary spot which stunned all of us with a very high count on a very secretive bird, but that will wait until my next post.

Birding the Glendale Recharge Ponds (The quest for 250)

On August 5th I took a trip to the Glendale Recharge Ponds with my friends Mr. Joe Ford and Mr. Paul Doucett. My main goal was to find at least one year bird, to finally reach 250, which was my year list last year. When we first arrived we found many Lazuli Buntings in the reeds, we waited a bit to see if the buntings would come closer but they didn't. We then parked at the east parking lot and a young male Costa's Hummingbird greeted us with his bright colors.
                                                              Costa's Hummingbird

We then headed to the ponds and started scanning. The first shorebird we saw (after the Killdeer) was the Long-billed Dowitcher which were now in their beautiful breeding plumage or at least most of them were. You can see the non-breeding bird in the back.
                                                              Long-billed Dowitcher

Along with the dowitchers were a couple of Least Sandpipers.
                                                                       Least Sandpiper

There were also a couple of very entertaining Wilson's Phalaropes swimming around.
                                                              Wilson's Phalarope

As we scanned the ponds I quickly found my FOY Baird's Sandpiper feeding with the peeps. This photo that I am going to show you might not be the best photo but this is my 250th bird for this year, it's time to celebrate!!!!!!
                                                                       Baird's Sandpiper
 
 It was a great relief to finally get 250.  Yes, I knew I was going to beat it sooner or later but the sooner the better. Now every year bird after this bird is just icing-on-the-cake as they say! I spent quite a bit more time observing my 250th bird, but I knew that I must press on and hopefully find another year bird. One of my target birds was the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher X Western Kingbird hybrid, but I came up empty handed. I looked through every kingbird looking for him, without luck here are a few of the birds I came up with while I was on the chase.
                                                               Western Kingbird

                                                        Ash-throated Flycatcher

                                                    Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

                                                        Black-chinned Hummingbird

                                                                      Osprey

We spent a total of four and a half hours birding the ponds, with a total of about 60 species of bird! A new record for Mr. Paul, and I got my 250, we were all happy!
Here are a few Canada Geese to close out this post.
                                                                      Canada Geese