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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Hello all! Before I go ahead and discuss today's adventure I would like to mention 2 highlighter birds on Saturday! 1st highlighter: I looked out the window and there just so happened to be a large-headed, small-bodied hummingbird sitting completely still on the feeder. I slid the sliding glass door open to approach the little bird. I quietly walked up to him, and even when I was within a few inches of him, he didn't budge! This was my Costa's Hummer, as his small size, proportionally large head, and tame behavior are what determined that. So I decided I could pet him. I ran my hand along his fluffy back, and it was amazing, as this wasn't just a brief touch, he actually let me gently stroke him! (!) So after I petted his back, he took off to continue on with his daily routine. That was officially the first time I was able to pet him! WOW! 2nd highlighter bird: I was out in the yard of my Mom's Friend's house playing with their puppy when I spotted a hawk circling exceptionally low, flapping wings occasionally. At first I thought it was a Peregrine, which got me worried about the puppy. When It flew directly above, I saw a pair of stout, broad wings and a long, floppy tail. This was Definitely a Accipiter sp., either Cooper's or Sharp-shinned! After some study of the hawk I finalized that he was a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK! This was determined by flapping wings at a faster rate than a Cooper's, tail appeared squared at the end, not round, was exceptionally smaller, and the bird had a stocky and bulky physique, rather than the slender shape of the Cooper's. The concluded ID of a Sharp-shinned got rid of my worries for the dog, as a Sharp-shinned Hawk is much too small and has too thin of legs and talons to kill a puppy. Besides, he was too busy hunting for his primary diet of small birds and rodents. EXCITING FIND! And now to get on with the present birding adventure! Immediately after exiting the car I spotted a birder. I asked if she had seen the Red-breasted Merganser, a bird I already had for Alaska, but would be interested to observe here in the sunshine state. She said she hadn't but also was looking for it and another uncommon AZ visitor, the Common Goldeneye. I raised my binos to scan pond 4, and found a higher number of GADWALLS, and much lower numbers of AMERICAN COOTS. There was still the high amount of AMERICAN WIGEON, SHOVELERS, RUDDY DUCKS and MALLARDS, although there was only about 50 of the latter. There were about 15 GREEN-WINGED TEAL present as well, a higher number than last excursions there. We moved on to pond 5 where I spotted about 10 LESSER SCAUP! This was a new Arizona life bird, which also makes it a county lifer, which also makes it a cool bird! When I moved my binos forward away from the Scaup and towards some Ruddy Ducks to spot something cool, I did indeed! A COMMON GOLDENEYE was lagging behind a raft of drifting Ruddy Ducks! I had seem about 40 or 50 on my August 14th Pied-billed Grebe chase in 2016, which was a successful chase, by the way. Nonetheless, first time for AZ, and again, making new Maricoper, and again, making it a cool bird! Just so you know, this was the 2nd bird in genus Bucephala of the day, the other being the gorgeous male BUFFLEHEADS! (6!) Today's trip was fun, especially because I met another birder, which is always awesome because I get to conversate with someone who shares my passion. Not huge amount like last trip, but still a great change in my typically boring homeschool schedule! Other Great birds include; RING-NECKED DUCK, CANADA GOOSE, CINNAMON TEAL, NORTHERN PINTAIL, AMERICAN AVOCETS, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, RED-TAILED HAWK, NORTHERN HARRIER, BALD EAGLES, BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, SONG SPARROWS, LINCOLN'S SPARROWS, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, ABERT'S TOWHEE, GREAT-BLUE HERONS, GREAT EGRETS, EARED GREBE, NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, AMERICAN PIPIT, and AUDUBON'S WARBLER. Typical trip birds; Least Sandpiper, Killdeer (interesting seeing a flock of 100 of them though), Great-tailed Grackles, European Starlings, Curve-billed Thrashers, Say's and Black Phoebes, Eurasian-Collared, Mourning, and Rock Doves. Overall a great trip! TTBs: 41 species!
Sorry for poor photo quality of the Goldeneye, very distant bird, photo cropped. Please leave a like and a comment, I would love to read what you have to say. Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next post!
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December 2019
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