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!!!"

The monthly post on my patch: November

November is one of the best months of the year to find rarities in Arizona. With myself only being a hardcore birder this year, (hardcore meaning: looking at the local blogs, rare-bird alerts, eBird reports, and the listserve a couple times a day) I did a lot of searching in a lot of new areas, but during the first week of my searching I came up patch-birdless. I must admit that the reason I was not finding many notable sightings on the first week was because I didn't have enough motivation. When someone goes out birding and wants to find a nice rarity, sure it's possible that you might find one while just taking a stroll through the old park, but if you want to clean house at a hotspot you have to bird hard!!! For instance almost all of the rare birds I have found near my house are from when I was exhausted, but decided to at least bird one more field, patch of weeds, or tree line. Now on November 8th I had just gotten back from one of the monthly birdwalks at Estrella Mountain Park lead by Mr. Joe Ford, I was a bit tired (just getting back from a concert the night/morning before) however, I pushed myself to take a birding trip around my patch. The main place that I birded for the evening was a pond that runs off from the Buckeye Canal. As I peeked through the thick vegetation that surrounds the ponds I found three American Wigeons feeding on the duckweed that covers the pond but once I looked to the right of the birds I saw a beautiful adult male Wood Duck!

Patch bird #192!                 

 

After observing this awesome patcher I walked down along the edge of the salt-bush bordered pond. When I got to the area where the duck was I could see it was already hiding.

 

 

Throughout the time that I observed this very handsome duck it never came out in the open for very long. In November I also took many trips down to the Gila River with good friend and wildlife-enthusiast,  Alexia. We found an awesome Great Horned Owl, I heard my patcher Least Bittern and Virginia Rail, we had a glimpse of a donkey (I have no idea whether it was wild or not), there were many signs of beaver, and we also found a lot of marsh habitat that I suspect is breeding territory for Ridgway's Rail.

 

 

With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day rolling in my family was very busy with preparing,  but I was able to cram a few biking trips around the patch. On the 25th I went out birding to try to find some Sagebrush Sparrows. I found one area earlier in the month but after revisiting the spot the salt bushes looked to thin to have any SAGS's. As I continued birding I saw a large dark buteo perched on a tamarask I was already 90 percent sure that it was a RTHA but I got closer anyways. The bird then took flight,  but the area where the hawk was had a bit of greenery around it, so I said to myself "Ah, I might as well check it out". Here is a photo of this small wet patch.

 

 

Once I walked down near the patch of grass I saw what looked like a Swamp Sparrow but my looks were to brief and bad to call it for sure. As I walked around the area a little more I saw a small greenish-bird fly up into one of the tamarasks.

 

 

It only took one glimpse to find out  that it was a female Painted Bunting!!!

 

 

I was very exited as this bird is casual to uncommon in SEAZ but very rare to accidental in Maricopa County. On the following day I came back to this spot and showed Mr. Ford the bird.

 

 

Mr. Ford has seen many Painted Butings across North America including many males, but he has never seen one in AZ so this was a very nice bird for him. After getting back I gave Mr. Tommy D. a call and the next day we arrived at the bunting spot just after 7:00AM. It took the bunting a while to make it to the patch of grass but once it did we were stoked, this was a maricoper for Mr. Tommy, and to add onto all of the awesomeness it was Thanksgiving Day!!! 

 

Maricoper #365, Booya!!!

 

Two days later on the 29th I decided to try to dodge the weekend hunters and make my way over to the bunting and attempt to get some crushes on the bird. As soon as I reached the spot I could see the bird in the patch of grass, so I made my way down to the bird and started snapping away.

The "bunting patch"

After getting to observe the bird for a while I headed back to my house to end the day. On the 30th I took a trip to look for Sagebrush Sparrows some more and Lark Buntings as well. The SAGS's would be patchers and the LARB's would be lifers, so both of them would be good. Before I reached Cotton Lane I heard the distinctive "zeet" call of the Eastern Meadowlark and after scanning the field I was rewarded with good views and even a photo.

There was also a large flock of American White Pelicans that were flying over the river, but I was too focused on the meadowlark to take a photo of them. Once I crossed the river I biked back west only on the south side of the Gila. I came here before earlier in the month and saw hundreds of American Pipits in the fields that are surrounded by the desert. I was very pleased to find some awesome sage habitat and with sage-brush comes the Sagebrush Sparrows. So after birding the area I came up with over a dozen Sage Sparrows and I was able to identify a few Sagebrush out of them.

After observing the sparrows I started heading back as I was low on water, but I knew that I wasn't Lark Buntingless yet! There was one more area to check, sure enough as I was riding through my  last stretch of hope I had 5 of them flush up from the ground! The only problem is that I did not see where they landed, so I started searching the area, and after looking for a good ten minutes I found them foraging along the edge of the river.

As you can see in the above picture, the bird was very exited after it caught a grasshopper. I then had three of them fly up onto a tree right above where I left my bike!

 Once the birds flew up high into a eucalyptus I finally started heading back,  I took a quick stop by the bunting patch and came up empty. I ended November with many highlights, I ended the month with 108 species, I set a new big day record for my patch at 73 species, and I found two lifers with both of them having bunting as their names.