From a small town to a big city...
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A Birding Blog
By Jared Conaway
From a small town to a big city...
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Arizona's White Mountain range/region is both extensive, and remote. Of course, remote is a relative term. In Arizona, remote simply means a long drive away, and with small communities. Remote in Alaska means a long fly away, and with no communities. Overall, remoteness refers to somewhere isolated and especially somewhere beautiful. Some cities are beautiful. Some towns are isolated. But they aren't wild. The White Mountains are positioned in east-central Arizona, very close to New Mexico. Mt. Baldy is the highest mountain peak, at 11,420 ft. above sea level. In the lower elevations of the White Mts, the forest type is Ponderosa Pine with Alligator Junipers and Gambel/Emory Oak plus Boxelder, Rocky Mt. & Big-leaf Maples. Riparian consists of Arizona Sycamore plus the deciduous trees just mentioned. Above that is Ponderosa Pine-exclusive forest, the lowest-diversity forest bird habitat in North America. There are still the deciduous riparian species. After that comes Ponderosa, Doug-fir, and Aspen forest. Soon the elevation gets high enough for White Firs, and the riparian then transitions into Arizona Alder, Narrowleaf Cottonwood, & various cool-climate Salix willows, such as Peachleaf. And still, even higher, Blue Spruce, Common Juniper, and Southwestern White-Pine are added into the mix of tree species. Around 9,000 ft., Engelmann Spruce, Corkbark Fir, and Sub-alpine Fir are in the forest. 1,000+ ft. up, Doug-fir, Ponderosa Pine and Southwestern White Pine disappear, as well as most riparian trees. We are now at more than 10,000 ft. up, the Spruce-fir zone. This zone is primarily coniferous, because most riparian trees have been eliminated, with the ones remaining stunted, and the Aspens are shorter. Sub-alpine Fir, Cork-bark Fir, White Fir, Engelmann Spuce, Blue Spruce and Common Junipers are champions here. Even still, we haven't yet made it to 11,420 ft. Approaching 11,000 ft., it becomes to high for White Fir and Aspens, with the remaining spruces & firs are stunting in height. Above this all trees stunt, and towards the peak, Common Juniper disappears, and Engelmann Spruce dominates over Blue Spruce. Finally, at the very top, the remaining 4 conifer/tree species are very small. Combined with extremely high elevation and location of eastern Arizona, the White Mountains have some of Arizona's hardest-to-find birds here. It even has its own "Big Five" birds: Gray Jay, Pine Grosbeak, Dusky Grouse, American Three-toed Woodpecker, and American Dipper. This is the most reliable region in the state to see all 5, and is the only location for Pine Grosbeak and Gray Jay. Other excellent birds here are; Gray Catbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Mountain Bluebird, Downy Woodpecker, Red-faced Warbler, and Williamson's Sapsucker. The pure grasslands in the area have breeding Eastern Meadowlarks & Mountain Bluebird. The Little Colorado River has a breeding population of Gray Catbirds, 1 of 2 in the state (the other in Flagstaff) with this one being the larger. Additionally, all the high-elevation species I've just mentioned are more common in the White Mountains than elsewhere in Arizona such as in Flagstaff and Sedona. Take one look at the higher areas of the region, like Mt. Baldy, and this fact is understandable. The White Mts are far more beautiful than Flag and Sedona, as well as more isolated. It's the perfect summer home for Arizona's mountain species. It has been a goal of mine to visit the White Mts in 2018, particularly summer. Not only are birds everywhere that time of year, it is greener there, and of course, Phoenix is freaking hot. So, I did my research, looking at my friend Tommy D's website, which not only has a guide to birding Maricopa, he has a guide to birding the White Mts as well! I'm a hardcore birder, but my favorite habitat to bird in is high elevation coniferous forest. This provides the most beautiful birding backdrop, but low diversity comes with it. I had a conversation with Caleb last night, and he says that Tommy has the same style. He loves birding coniferous. Apparently Dara also enjoys the same habitat. Caleb on the other hand, birds mudflats, riparian, and migrant traps. He says this makes him a California birder. Why bird those habitats? Vagrants. Rare migrants. High bird diversity. Of those habitats, riparian is the best, which is especially great because it's also the most beautiful. But in terms of bird quality, mudflats do have one of my favorites. They have long & sharp wings, a forked tail, little feet, and a thin bill. Terns. Sometimes cool raptors are seen on long drives, other times, Red-tailed Hawks get hopes up only to shatter them. Luckily the former was the case this time around, though we did see some Red-tailed Hawks. In Maricopa CO, I saw a ZONE-TAILED HAWK perched on a Juniper as we were driving by. Cool. As y'all know, the Zonie is one of my favorite hawks. You also know the Harris's Hawk was once a Zonie Phony... Did you also know the Zonie is a Turkey Vulture phony? It holds its wings in a dihedral (V), and has that half black half gray wing pattern. Luckily God threw in some white tail bands and wing barring to distinguish it in flight. Additionally, people say it's very "Accipiter-like". So which is it, a vulture or a Sharp-shinned Hawk? Truthfully it's a Buteo. Huh, birders are weird... In Gila CO, I saw a COMMON BLACK-HAWK on a nest in a Ponderosa Pine snag. As you know, I've only seen 1 Common Black-Hawk prior to this, nearly 2 months ago now! It was a bit odd seeing one on a nest in a pine snag, they prefer large AZ Sycamores & Fremont Cottonwoods (I think other large riparian trees, such as massive Gambel Oaks, Velvet Ashes, and Willows). Can be identified when perched at a distance in a drive-by observation by: Take a look at the cere, the facial skin in front of the eyes. Larger on COBH, additionally brighter yellow. They have a thicker bill, and short tail can be useful. Don't use any one field mark at a time, use combination of these differences to identify. Common Black-Hawks are cool. Soon after that I saw another nesting raptor, also in a pine. It had a large blocky head, smallish bill, and was whitish below, gray above. This bird was most likely a male NORTHERN GOSHAWK, always an excellent find. It's especially great to see a nesting individual. We were driving through Navajo CO when I saw my first summering SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, pretty awesome! It was hovering and being acrobatic, looking cool in general. Often times fly-bys can be really great birds, but sadly you have a tiny amount of time to observe them, with all that short time taken up by identifying it, which means you have no time to enjoy it. And then my first lifer of the trip happened. No photo. That's just, just... "Sigh". Let me introduce you to the bird that is celebrated as Thanksgiving dinner. Well, that's just the Domestic Turkey, but lucky for me, these 4 (2 males + 2 fems) were MERRIAM'S TURKEYS! Merriam's is a ssp. that inhabits the Rocky Mts./AZ Mts./Mogollon Rim ecoregion complex. There are 2 turkey species, both of Meleagris. The other one is Ocellated Turkey. And yes, turkeys are spectacular birds. Wild Turkeys are beautiful enough, but the Ocellated Turkey is a Meleagris following the example of a Peafowl. Eventually, I'll get around to world traveling. When that happens, there should be a post about the stunning Ocellated Turkey. By the way, ocellated means "many-eyed". Unfortunately turkeys aren't viewed as gorgeous birds, and that's because of overweight domestic turkeys. They appear to be displaying when they're not. The meat underneath fluffs up the feathers. Why so plump? Because a well-fed turkey= a well fed human. Among North American birds, Turkeys are out of place in many ways. For one, they highly resemble a pheasant. But there is a reason for that. Most bizarre about the Turkey is that despite no pheasants in the Americas, they're clearly pheasants. For one, they have spurs, something male grouse lack. They have a bare face and wattle, restricted to pheasants, grouse have air-sacs and eye combs. They also fluff up they're mantle, something a lot of pheasants do (such as peacock) and grouse never do. They have spectacular, impressive iridescence, which isn't lacking in grouse (Western Capercallie for example) but is far more consistent in pheasants. Lastly, the tail is proportionally large, and the legs/feet aren't feathered. Although the Turkey seems consistent with pheasants in nearly all respects, there is something off about it: The fact that it is in North America and not similar climates. OK, here's the thing: We're all pretty certain that the continents were all connected a long time ago. I mean, this would explain why many terrestrial species and birds that aren't capable of crossing oceans are found on multiple continents, such as Willow Ptarmigan. However, not all turkeys would have flown over to America. There are many places in Europe and Asia that parallel habitat types of North America, so they could've just gone to those locations. Here's the catch though: No turkey fossilss in Asia or Europe. Either none have been found, or the Turkey is a newer bird. The only way it could be new is to adapt from a member of the same genus. Of course, if of newer origin, than it is more than likely after the great flood and Pangea. That means a few pairs or so had to cross the ocean. There are turkey fossils in America. There used to be a California Turkey, but they have the entire skeleton, so the fossil isn't an ancient one. Unlikely as it may seem, something like an Indian Peafowl could've crossed the ocean to adapt into a Wild Turkey on the east coast. They would probably make it to the other side alive because the climate would slowly change as they fly, transitioning gradually from tropical to temperate, allowing them to acclimate. Of course, we haven't discovered any fossils of our mystery pheasant, which makes sense since nobody really looks for fossils of any kind in the east. Anyways, it would've taken a very long time for this pheasant to adapt into a Wild Turkey, so this had to take place 100s or even a thousand years prior to their discovery. Tangents aside, other facts: *In the east, Turkeys live in lowland forests, primarily deciduous, as well as adjacent clearings and grasslands. In the west, they live upland and prefer coniferous such as open Pine/Oak woodland. The Wild Turkey is isolated from the Ocellated Turkey, with absolutely no range overlap. Not to mention the Wild Turkey's distribution is scattered and inconsistent. *In captivity, they are too overweight to fly, but in the wild it's something their good at. *Wild Turkeys are more bronze in the west and more green in the east. *Eventually the Wild Turkey won't be just 1 species anymore! You see, because of its scattered distribution, there are many populations that are isolated from each other with no overlap, and can be visually identified. As I previously mentioned, Merriam's Turkey is the ssp of east-central & northern Arizona. My goodness, That was a lot of info on the Wild Turkey, and I was the one who had to write that. So by now you may have forgotten that this is a post about the White Mountains. I kinda did.... BTW, Merriam's Wild Turkey is #349! Cow says "moo." Once past Heber and into the sky-grasslands of the White Mts, moo moos were everywhere. But what wasn't in sight. Mountain Bluebirds. Mountain Plovers. We did see some of those birds I just can't seem to get away from, you know, Say's Phoebes. Although I did have one of those "hmm" moments when I saw a bird that looked like a female Mountain Bluebird. I knew this was a female Mountain Bluebird, but you see the Mountain Bluebird is one of few birds that I won't make any exceptions for to include on my Life List. It can't be a drive-by lifer. It can't be a brief observation. It's got to be a brilliant male. The backdrop has to be wild, i.e no buildings in the background. Of course I've got to obtain a photo that is above decent. I would also prefer if the sky was blue. This might seem a bit over-the-top needy, but guys, all these conditions could be met in the grasslands we were driving through. And the sky was a perfect blue color. You'll see in the photos. The only condition that wasn't met: No male Mountain Bluebird. I made an exception. In the previous post Dara made me feel bad. #350 (milestone bird. I mean, excemation mark!) So guys, right now, it's the dry season, the peak. Because of this, many roads and trails are closed. The quickest way to Greer was one of those roads that was closed. We had to go the long way around. But there's nothing wrong with that when you stop at West Baldy Trail Head. The White Mountains are spectacular! I told you guys! Now let me show you something really cool. This is a cropped photo of the 2 trees on the far right. They actually belong to 2 separate conifer groups. The left one is actually a tree lifer, CORKBARK FIR. The Corkbark Fir ranges across the Rocky Mountains and interior west, and because the White Mountains are an extension of the Rockies, it is the only location where Corkbark Fir occurs in Arizona. Interestingly, both Subalpine Fir and Corkbark Fir occur side by side in the White Mts. The right tree is an ENGELMANN SPRUCE. Because of the similarity of these 2 species, confusion is common. Engelmann Spruce also has a limited range in Arizona, present only at really high elevations. When it gets too high on the mountain for other trees to be present, there is a forest type called Spruce-fir. 2 species of spruce, Engelmann & Blue, and 2 firs, Subalpine & Corkbark Fir are in this zone. Up here, Gray Jays, Pine Grosbeak, and Swainson's Thrushes dominate, among others. The cones is the only obvious difference, but combining multiple subtle differences allows an obvious ID. On a fir, cones stiffly stand up straight. On a spruce, cones hang. Also note how the fir cones are green-blue and spruce cones are brown. But during the time cones aren't on the tree, you can do this: Here you can see on the first tree, CB Fir, has bark similar to Quaking Aspen, and Engelmann Spruce has rough, flaky, and gray-brown bark, characteristic of all Picea. Note that the tallest tree has a spire-like appearance, this is because the base of the tree is already narrow, with the crown extremely narrow. This is either Corkbark or Subalpine Fir, most likely the latter because the needles are greener and bark doesn't resemble Corkbark. We'll get to birds, don't worry. This photo is the same one above, further cropped. The center tree is a definite Corkbark , note blueish foliage. However, note the thin tree right of it. That is a Subalpine Fir, note how bright green the needles are (same color as the Engelmann Spruce, left of Corkbark). Another Corkbark, Engelmann Spruce behind it. Note how the needles generally face upward on the fir and downward on the Engelmann. This is why the cones face different directions in the 2 conifers. You can also kinda see the bark on the Fir. Because of the needles facing up on the fir and down on spruce, firs have a stiffer appearance. Now you should be able to look at this forest and pick out Subalpine Fir from Engelmann Spruce, Corkbark Fir from Engelmann Spruce, and Subalpine Fir from Corkbark Fir. How about this forest? Blue Spruce & Doug-fir are added to the landscape in this one. Blue vs Engelmann Spruce isn't a challenge, Blue Spruce has distinct stiff silvery-blue needles. What a spectacular forest... American Dippers and Gray Catbirds breed in this stuff (riparian photos). And now back to birds, that is what this blog is about, right? Jared's Birding Blog. RED CROSSBILLS, (not sure which type) flew over in small flocks a few times. Many GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS & RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS were singing in the riparian habitat. American Robins were also around. The GC Kinglets & crossbills were my first for Arizona, but heard only. Special birds that are heard only drives me crazy. I hate to think about it. American Robin parenting can be tough, but the photo-shoots are worth it. The longhorn beetle on top of the pile looks alive. Right now we're in the town of Greer looking for a birding hike. Our options were cut back because it's the dry season (wet season while I'm writing this, slacker) The point is that it was very dry, a self-explanatory fire hazard here in Arizona. I thought we were in central Colorado. Thanks fire hazard for reminding me of what state I'm really in. Anyways, the American Robin helped us decide where we should start. He said, "Just follow me. On Twitter. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!" Pining him down and yanking food out of his bill resulted in finding out about this place. #thatsnotwhathappenedatall. ARIZONA ALDERS are cool. By the way, that small plant that I said was Arizona Alder in my West Fork Canyon post wasn't an Arizona Alder. Are you guys ready for a cool bird. It was probably our best bird of the entire day. I remember hearing the faintest tapping above me, and I looked up, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, I didn't see what was doing that. And then I did! I thought, 'Oh neat, an American Three-toed Woodpecker... Oh my God AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER!' God is good when this bird shows up. And it's not even a lifer. Just one of my favorite birds now! For one, this was a really cool experience because the second thing I thought was, 'I can't believe I'm seeing this woodpecker in the same state as the Gila Woodpecker.' It really doesn't add up. Everything about the Am 3-toed WP is really neat. Its distribution consists of the northern taiga belt from southwest Alaska to Newfoundland, and the interior west & Rockies across western Montana, east & central Idaho, central Utah, western Colorado, northwest New Mexico and eastern Arizona. There are also scattered, isolated populations in central Washington & Oregon, northeast Wyoming/southwest South Dakota, southern New Mexico, and eastern Nevada. Oddly enough it doesn't have a California population, but the Black-backed Woodpecker does. There are 3 core regional variations across its distribution, with the Rockies birds most distinctive with extensive white on the back and lots of white on the face, looking similar to Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers. I think it's cool that they have a yellow crown patch instead of a standard red one. They flake bark to eat the larvae of beetles that were underneath that outer wood. This exposes the inner bark, which is lighter in color than the outer bark (see first photo). These bark beetles emerge after major fires (the burn weakens the wood allowing for the beetles to bore through), which is why the woodpeckers establish in scorched areas. The White Mountains are the state's best location for this species because of a massive fire that was started by 2 morons back in 2011. My friend Tommy explains why they're morons: "Have two wrongs ever been known to make a right? I don't think so. What happens when two morons come together and make a fire during dry seasons? They use Jolly Rancher wrappers to test whether it was dead or not. When the wrappers don't melt right away, they assume the fire is safe to leave to burn out on it's own. Never mind the fact they can pour water on the fire. But no, they decide to leave. When they get back to their campsite, they realize they have started a bit of a fire. One of their two dogs even burned in the fire's early stages. So then they go into complete retard mode and leave the fire. Yet, at this point, it is containable. They would get in trouble if they got caught. But what if they didn't get caught? By the time the fire got reported in early summer, it was too late. Dry circumstances in the forest combined with high winds is not good. Some 500,000+ acres and over a month later, the fire was contained. Sadly, this happened in the White Mountains. I hate these two idiots. The fire started south of Alpine and ventured too far north, south, west, east, and everywhere else. Greer even got hit hard by the fire, and other places have been destroyed. The Wallow Fire of 2011 is a true story, one that I'm sorry to say happened. Luckily, the White Mountains are still a beautiful place, but sadly, a lot of it is gone. One of my favorite places, Escudilla Mountain, was one of the Wallow Fire's victims." -Tommy. It really is sad to think that the White Mts is a location with a devastating history. American Three-toed Woodpeckers aside, many HOUSE WRENS sang. Here's one looking at a house for sale. "This person and his wife are looking for a home in Austin, Texas. They need at least 3,000 square feet to support their current kids and the upcoming baby. They are hoping for a large master bedroom with a walk-in closet, a large yard with enough space for the dog, 2 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms." Remember that show, House Hunters? Is it still around? I wouldn't know, because I don't have cable. But I have birds to enjoy instead. And then, another exciting woodpecker showed up, DOWNY WOODPECKER! Nobody's down when it's a Downy. American Three-toed Woodpecker and Downy Woodpecker within 10 minutes of each other, could it get much better? The excitement for both these Picoides was equivalent to that of a lifer, especially the former, because it has been awhile since I last connected with them. It was amazing to see them in Arizona too, adding to the lifer feel, even though they were expected targets for this trip. It really comes to show that no matter how long you've been birding, no matter how much you think you know in birding, you find yourself being surprised. But I haven't been birding that long. Also, it is important to note that both birds were female. My first ever woodpecker was a heard-only Downy Woodpecker. It wasn't until years latter that I saw my first one. That same spring, a pair of Am 3-toed Woodpeckers fought with a pair of Downies for a small snag near my yard. These yellow coneflowers hosted a variety of new pollinating insects for me, NOKOMIS FRITILLARY (orange butterfly), HUNT'S BUMBLEBEE (on the lowest flower), a flowerfly sp. (with the bumblebee), a green Orchid Bee sp. (with fritillary), and a Thread-waisted Wasp (Ammophila pictipennis) on the left coneflower. COMMON RINGLET with a small bee, they're buddies. When I didn't have the camera, a male AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER foraged right above me with a Downy. I really wish a had the canon then, it seems whenever birds get extremely close, I don't. That needs to change. Also, I mentioned this earlier, but Rocky Mountain Three-toes look very different from Alaskan ones, with a lot more white in the back. Anyways, that Am 3-toed Woodpecker didn't mind me being 2 ft. away, that's awesome enough without a photo. Finally I have photographed all 3 American nuthatches! PYGMY NUTHATCHES were the most common bird around. This bird was a lifer only earlier this year. The Three-toed Woodpecker left me, the Downy stayed behind. As you know, I'm bad at photographing Empids, this pic further proves that. This is a CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER, lifer #351. I saw this species 2 times after this. They (American Birding Association) are thinking of eventually lumping COFL and PASF (Pacific-slope Flycatcher) because of overlap in range, calls, and song. If you had an identical cousin, you'd be confused on which song to sing too. So you know what I'm doing, I'm keeping it on my Life List, not for an extra bird, but because Ornithologists can't come up with good reasoning to lump. Don't trust what you see on the WEBB, because I thought this was an Eastern Bluebird. Admit it, that was a good banding code joke. We explored the tiny town of Greer, but had a strikeout on Gray Catbird, though I could almost guarantee I heard its song. BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS in Greer are like Phoenix's Grackles: Very common Icterids. BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS were abundant too. NARROWLEAF COTTONWOODS. A high elevation riparian species in Arizona. We were going to Greens Peak to hit Mountain Bluebird, Williamson's Sapsucker, and Dusky Grouse, but the road to get up the mountain was closed. So we went to Carnero Lake instead. AMERICAN COMMON JUNIPER, a high elevation species that is local in Arizona, found above 9,000 ft. It's the only juniper that retains needle-like leaves (all other junipers have needles as juveniles, scale-like as adults). COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE, rarer in Arizona than Engelmann Spruce. One of my favorite birds, the OSPREY! He caught a Rainbow Trout, though I missed the plunge-dive (I have seen the epic dive before, including recently). Back when I lived in Alaska, the first time I saw an Osprey do this was at Matanuska Lake, it did it quite a few times in a row, because it was a young individual practicing. Fortunately I had excellent views of it diving, very fun. Also Ospreys are hard to find in Alaska, in fact probably only a dozen pairs live in Mat-Su valley, or less. The White Mountains consist of extensive high elevation grassland that may hold a breeding population of Mountain Plovers. If so it would be the only one in the state. Here's a cropped photo focused on the 2 trees on the bottom left of the first pic. They're SOUTHWESTERN WHITE PINES, my second-to-last conifer for Arizona. They are very local and grow alongside Ponderosa Pines above 9,000 ft. They can be identified by gray-brown, rough bark (lacks plated texture of Ponderosa Pine), smooth gray twigs, and short needles in bundles of 5, sometimes 4. The Southwestern White Pine nearly completes my conifers of Arizona, with the last one being California Juniper. Just recently I found out that species was found in the state. They are local at lower elevations than other junipers in the Havasu area in northwest Arizona near California and Nevada. So, since I've nearly reached a milestone, here's a list of all the conifers I have seen in Arizona, with photographs: SUBALPINE FIR (center tree) CORKBARK FIR WHITE FIR ARIZONA PINE APACHE PINE PONDEROSA PINE CHIHUAHUAN PINE SOUTHWESTERN WHITE PINE ROCKY MOUNTAIN BRISTLECONE PINE LIMBER PINE (both on the peak) JOHANN'S PINYON MEXICAN PINYON BORDER PINYON TWO-NEEDLED PINYON SINGLE-NEEDLED PINYON (taken through a car window while moving) COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE ENGELMANN SPRUCE COMMON DOUGLAS-FIR SMOOTH ARIZONA CYPRESS ARIZONA CYPRESS REDBERRY JUNIPER ROSE-FRUITED JUNIPER PINCHOT JUNIPER (no photo, Chiricahuas) ALLIGATOR JUNIPER ROCKY MOUNTAIN JUNIPER ONESEED JUNIPER UTAH JUNIPER AMERICAN COMMON JUNIPER So that's the list, 27 species in all, pretty cool! On the way back home, we stopped at West Baldy Trailhead again. This time we spent more time there, birding the riparian. And this is what the riparian looks like. A huge highlight happened when an AMERICAN DIPPER flew up right in front of me. I followed it and it flew up again. This was only my second one in my life, and is our continent's only aquatic passerine. I also heard another American Three-toed Woodpecker flaking bark somewhere. Red-faced Warblers and Yellow Warblers sang frequently (Red-faced a lifer, but it's a lifer that I won't count if it's just heard). Finally, this WANDERING GARTER SNAKE ended our White Mountains trip. On the drive back home, a CLARK'S NUTCRACKER (#352) flew by. I did count it, but I would like to see it better soon. It is a spectacular mountain bird! "Son, on the top of that mountain, by those telephone poles, I saw 4 Lewis's Woodpeckers." One day I'll be able to say that.
One day I'll explore the entire White Mountains region within a week, I can't wait! I have a post coming up about my time at Summer Camp (same place as Winter Camp) regarding birds, and a very special bird I saw in southern California. So, stay tuned!
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