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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Hi all! Remember my "300th LIFER" post? Well, despite all that information I would like to clarify a little more on it, plus add some aspects that I missed before. First and for most, let's talk about North America's ecoregions. I don't find it a coincidence that there is a "type" of every species that fills in the 4 most important, largest, and most biodiverse ecoregions. To give you a picture of this, have you noticed that there are interior west, pacific, and eastern/taiga White-breasted Nuthatches in your Sibley Guide? What about the pacific, rocky mountain, and eastern Three-toed Woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers? in North America, the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest/California Coast, Taiga, and East Canada/US represent the most distinct, largest, and biodiverse ecoregions on the continent. Because they are so different from each other, when a type species fills in all 4 of those (like the continent-wide White-breasted Nuthatch), the different populations most reflect on where they are found. In a "type species" (I'll define a type species in a moment) found only in the west, than typically it has a Rocky Mountain/Interior West population, and a Pacific/California Coast population. The reason these populations should represent different ecoregional species, is because a species has its own genes, and "pure blood." OK, remember the Koloa Ducks I talked about? Subspecies don't have dominant or pure genes, therefore they will fade away when its full species counterpart breeds with it. So these so-called regional variations would have to be full species in order for their offspring and the generations to come remain specialized in that ecoregion. For example, the Red Crossbills have 10 different types, each specializes in the dominant tree species' cone in every ecoregion. So, if the Sitka Spruce Crossbill and Hemlock Crossbill were to breed, the offspring's bill size wouldn't be able to fit any cone because it would be inbetween the 2, right? So is it really a coincidence that each has a different call type? I mean, if you look at those same 2 crossbills' ranges, you'll see that their distribution parallels each other. However, their flight calls are extremely different, and their songs,too! It also makes sense that 2 crossbill species are found in that ecoregion, instead of the typical 1 per region. The reason it makes sense; The Pacific Ecoregion has such a huge diversity of conifers, that it's only natural that there's 2-4 conifers that dominate the forests opposed to the usual 1 or 2. From northern British Columbia northward, Sitka Spruce and Western/Mountain Hemlock are the predominant forest types, therefore, it makes sense to have a Crossbill that specializes in Hemlock cones and a Crossbill that specializes in Sitka Spruce cones in that region. So, now I want to define a "type species." A type species is a bird that has populations situated in the main ecoregions of, in this case, North America, that actually represent their own species. For example, the 4 Scrub Jays are all different species, but are also Scrub Jays. There's one Blue Jay, but there's Rocky Mountain and Pacific species of Steller's Jays. All though the Blue Jay, and the 2 Steller's Jays are in the same genus, only the Steller's Jays are types of each other, not with the Blue Jay. So bascically a type species is different populations that have subtle differences, but are still their own distinct species. For example, you could collectively call all the different Crossbill species that are red, Red Crossbill. Get the gist? I'm doing my best to make this extremely understandable. The Hemlock Crossbill must have its own unique song and flight call to stay in contact with and attract ONLY other Hemlock Crossbills. With many type species, contact calls, plumage, song ect. are consistent with the ecoregional populations. but then there's the Song Sparrow. Each variation sing the typical Song Sparrow song, they all make the same calls. Maybe it's because since the species is so adaptable in the first place, if a Southwestern and Eastern breed, the offspring will still eventually be able to specialize in the place it hatched anyways, either the east or in the desert. But does that make the variations subspecies or full species? The Fox Sparrow is far less complex. Each regional species consistently sings and calls differently than the others, plus plumages are all very different (except Thick-billed looks just like a big-billed Slate-colored). Besides, "Fox Sparrow" and "Red Crossbill" are way too generic of names! Lastly, I would also like to mention that there is technically a 5th ecoregion, the Arizona Mountains ecoregion. Because it is intermediate between the Rockies and the Northern Mexican Montane Forests it is a very fine mix of biodiversity from both regions. for example, the Red-backed Junco is a very interseting species of the area, with a range restricted to that ecoregion alone. In fact, it has a smaller distribution than the yellow-eyed Junco! Also, you're probably asking, so what happens to the subspecies after they've bridged into another species? We'll, to avoid compromising purity of the new species(s) (intergration), the subspecies would have to stop advancing forward, as in adapting, and eventually all of them die from age or predation. All, right, now I've covered all the taxonomy I wanted to cover in this post! Yippy! Lastly, on the 24th, I observed 2 VAUX'S SWIFTS flying behind our yard. This time of year is at least a month and a half early for them to be migrating through, but due to the unusually warm summer-winter we've had in Maricopa CO, early migrants are to be expected this year! So that's right, spring migration is going to coming to the GRPs sooner than you and I think!...
I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned, for my next post! Expect to see some knew bird names appear on my Blog Life List... I'll explain their meanings next time on my blog.
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Hi everyone! Welcome back to the TIMELINE SERIES, you know, the series that Jared's been slacking on doing! Honestly, I was being lazy. I probably have about 25 more adventures to write about from Alaska, plus I finished school early today, so I have no excuse to not be typing write now (get it ;). Here's the thing, I don't remember exactly what day I saw this large, fluffy bird, I just know I went searching for it again 5 times or so after seeing it. So with that, let's dive into my 6th TIMELINE post!
It was a gray day. A perfect day for a spectacular bird. A bird that I almost couldn't believe seeing. My favorite animal. For a while, a GREAT GRAY OWL was being reported on the Palmer Hay Flats, a few times. The bird's distance from the road didn't allow for any photos from anyone, but was still positively identified. I couldn't believe it, a Great Gray rarity just 15 minutes away!!! I had always wanted to see this amazing bird, it was a dream of mine. I couldn't just let this bird slip away, not without a chase. I mean, this is the GREAT GRAY OWL we are talking about. It's not just a Pied Wheater that ended up in Nome ;), this is the Great Gray Owl! On Monday, I got up too late for the chase, it was to be done around 8:00 in the morning, so Tuesday it is! on Tuesday, I got up a little more decently, but my brother and I left a little later than the ideal time. The day was very gray. fog and light rain, a perfect back drop for a foggy looking bird. It didn't obscure my view by much, in fact the lighting was decent, and would make my owl sighting more ominous. In the fog and rain, a large lump on a dead Black Spruce would stand out pretty easily. As we drove, many HARLAN'S HAWKS were perched on the various snags out on the flats. Harlans' are a very different shape from a Great Gray Owl, so it didn't cause any difficulty. At least 4 of them were perched on snags, that I could see, but many more had to have been further away from the road. Then, about a minute away from the Harlan's, a huge bird- wide from head to breast, tapering towards the tail, giving the appearance of an upside down tear drop- was perched on a tall snag less than 50 yards away! OH MY GOSH, I thought, I THINK I JUST SAW THE OWL, OH MY GOSH!!!! My thoughts were going wild, the word "Great Gray Owl" rang in my head, I got that weird feeling that I'd just seen my target lifer, I was excited, but I couldn't believe I saw it. You couldn't even tell I was excited as I sat still, quietly, and with a blank expression on my face as I thought about what just happened. As I sat there like an idiot (an idiot because I should have told my brother to turn around, as soon as the owl was spotted) my Great Gray thoughts kept coming closer and closer to the top of my head, until finally, I blurted out, "um, Ken, um, I think I just saw the Owl back there." I have this habit, when I know I just saw a lifer I really wanted to see, I never scream that i saw it, I just state it in the most calm voice ever, because I just can't believe I saw it. The issue was, there wasn't a single pullout along the road until Reflections Lake, about another 5 minutes away. Once we turned around, I kept both eyes sharp and on the flats. I don't really remember whether or not I re-located the bird, you would think I would have seen it again, but as far as I could remember, I don't think I did re-find it, that day. That's right, I did say that day, so the story doesn't end there! I can think of a couple times I saw the Owl again there. One day, it was very sunny, we were either coming back from Anchorage or Reflections Lake (if it was Reflections Lake, then that was the day I saw my lifer WESTERN WOOD-PEWEES) and I raised my binoculars to a distant raptor. I was extremely happy to see the Great Gray owl again, this time I could clearly see color, and saw his characteristic bow-tie neck pattern. He was very distant, so I couldn't see every detail, but I saw color, patterns, and shape well enough to confidently ID him as a GREAT GRAY OWL, that is, the Great Gray Owl!!! I was also very happy because although he was still on the same side (on the left coming from Palmer) he was quite a ways from his original location, and it'd probably been a few weeks or a month since my last, confirmed observation. A few times I was very skeptical, and not sure enough to identify a raptor as the Great Gray, but at least 2 times, my first and last sighting, I confirmed him! And that's one of my most cherished memories from birding in my old home state! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next TIMELINE post! Leave a LIKE if you want me to draw the Great Gray Owl, and HAPPY BIRDING! Hi all, I had a weekend packed full of fun, laughs, and a bush man @ Tonto Rim Christian Camp! I went with my church youth group, and on the last day got my 300th life bird, but didn't realize till I played the birds' flight call at home! One of the great aspects of the camp I was excited about was exploring Gila, a new Arizona county for me. Before some good birds, plus my lifer, let's talk mammals. ABERT'S SQUIRRELS and ARIZONA GRAY SQUIRRELS were very abundant, with a few of each being present at camp. 3 COUE'S WHITE-TAILED DEER were present on the second & last day. Our lunch host and announcer was talking when, all the sudden, everyone says WOOOOOOH!!!! I turn around to the dining hall window when a deer leaps across gracefully, bounding away from whatever disturbed it. On the last day, as we were positioned for pictures, 3 ran across the gravel area in the distance. The biggest highlight of all, maybe more so than my lifer, was this story: We hiked up a large hill at night, after 10:00 or so, and were promised a cave to crawl into. I didn't want to crawl through because of my camera, plus I wanted to see those little fluffy things with wings. ;) Hayden jokingly kept saying, "guys, there's bats in this cave!" I could identify the sarcasm, but I really wanted to see a bat in there. I investigate a small side cave with many crevices and ledges, and no one was in there too. I'm shining my flashlight all over the walls, when right above me, I focus my light on a tiny, brown, fluffy thing with wings folded close to its body! As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what it was (well the family it was in at least). I called out to my nearby youth group, "guys, there is SERIOUSLY a bat in this cave, NOT JOKING!!!!!" I said it about 3 times before the group worked their way over there. I didn't specifically say where the bat was, so they searched in the opposite direction. So I said, " over here, where I'm shining my light." The fluff-ball was thought of as dead at first, but then it started breathing, very noticeably. When Mr. Adidas, I mean Isaac held my jacket and light for me, and everyone else held lights up to it, I fired away with my camera, getting reasonable pix of him. The little mammal was in a deep sleep, in sort of a hibernation phase for now, heck, as I type this he's almost certainly in the exact same spot... Even with flashlights, my camera doesn't do well in the dark, so the photos are only decent, some poor. Back at home I went onto iNaturalist.org and identified my bat as a DARK-NOSED SMALL-FOOTED MYOTIS, Myotis melanorhinus. YIPPY! A lifer bat!!!! What a name, too! Now let's move on to the flora, I'm just gonna go all out and put a full list of the location's predominant flora (that I saw) below. Here goes:
The Sonoran Scrub-Oak Quercus sp. probably Gray Oak or Arizona White Oak. Quercus sp. Probably Emory Oak. Alligator Junipers. Alligator Junipers are far bigger than any other Juniper I encountered. At night I attempted to photograph some ENORMOUS ones, some possibly 55 ft. tall! They are also very thick and wide. The Sacahuista, a lifer Yucca FIRE! We have this guy to thank for very delicious s'mores... My amazing discovery, the DARK-NOSED SMALL-FOOTED MYOTIS That was a great weekend, and along with lots of fun wildlife, I had a great time getting to know my youth group! We kidded, joked, conversated, laughed, and played dodge ball. And overall, had tons of fun with one another. The bush man was fun too, he shall remain a mystery... Also, I've gotten back into the groove of sketching birds. On Tuesday, I drew my 300th lifer as a tribute, and the night before the Pyrr chase, I drew the Mountain Bluebird, I want that bird really, REALLY bad! Now I'm going to cover to topics that are left unanswered by many: Why do we bird? I believe, deep inside, we get hooked and stay hooked on birding because it takes a black and white, monotone life, and turns it into a colorful life. A life of fun, a life of adventure, and the thrilling feeling you get when you see a lifer. You also build wonderful memories you never could have without birding. In a life of birding, you go places you would never go to in a normal life. Like I stated in the Alaska Photo Gal, "birding can take you to the most spectacular places on earth," and usually, it does! Birding is a life that's very close to people, but what's unique is that at the same time, it's also a life that's very far from people. Birding is a network, a connection, maybe even a family, of people who share a beautiful passion. And the adventures you go on to see birds are phenomenonal! Whether it's a drive across one of the most remote North American highways, venturing far off trail in Colorado, or hiking the 15 mile long, stunning Primrose Trail of Lost Lake, birding takes you to some far away places! When you bird, you don't just see birds, whether you like it or not, you see the World. The places that birding takes you, may likely just remain dreams for those who don't bird, or maybe not, if world traveling is their passion. So do you see my point, because I know these are the reasons I bird, I mean, it's for the birds, but can you really say no to the scenery I've witnessed, and I think it's why we all bird. So now I'm going to water it down: The thrill of getting a lifer. The fun you have when you share a lifer with someone, or help them obtain a lifer. An adventurous, colorful life. The places you go to see birds are usually stunning and spectacular! You visit very remote areas of North America and/or the World. The second topic I want to cover is the criteria and definition of a bird species: If you look at Wikipedia, they give a very complex and confusing definition of what a species is. This is my definition that is sort of based off that, is my own understanding, and is more watered down: A species is a population or more usually a series of populations of the smallest unit of taxonomy. A species will change under shifting climate conditions or to have an identical role as a sister species. For example, American Black Ducks and Mallards, both full species, have identical roles in their ecosystem, and there's wide range overlap in the North East US. The Mallard, or sister species, is present because if say the Black Duck goes extinct, the Mallard will be there to play the same role, and eventually will re-adapt into Black Ducks after a few generations. Make sense. It's the same concept as 2 chicks instead of 1 in a nest, in case one dies, the other will take its place. So, that's why species ONLY within a genus (I don't believe in evolution) are ever changing, both with shifting conditions and mainly because there needs to be plenty of birds (such as Empid flycatchers) in case one or many go extinct, the others will fill its role and eventually re-adapt into that species again. Think of it this way, there is one species of dabbling duck, the American Black Duck, if it goes extinct, no Mallard will be there to come to rescue and fill the gap that has just been made, the ecosystem will fall, leading to the extinction of the rest of the ecoregions and ecosystems. It's liturally the domino affect, on a HUGE scale, if one falls, they all go down. And it doesn't matter if one falls from the middle, the front, the back, they ALL go down in the end! So the universe came about by probability? Ha, yeah right! We all know, whether we believe in it or not, that God created everything once. So if there was always only one of each species ever, in any family, genus, etc, extinction of just one of them, or a few would mean the collapse of the natural world! God had to have given species the ability to adapt, especially with an ever changing planet. After all, there was like 1000 animals on Noah's Ark, but we have literally millions of species of animals today. This very well explains why Dusky, Hammond's, and Pacific Slope Flycatchers breed and live side by side in many areas of where they are found. If the Dusky falls, The Hammond's will be there to fill in until it adapts into a Dusky. Then there's hybridization. Because of many species hybridizing, Ornothologists often propose lumping birds like the Hoary and Common Redpolls, and Iceland and Thayer's Gull. For example, the Thayer's Gull is now the same species as the Iceland, but represents a subspecies. A subspecies is a bridge between 2 species, so one species can converge into another. A good example of this is the Gray-headed Junco, Red-backed Junco, and Yellow-eyed Junco. The Gray-headed Junco is the last stage of conversion to the Yellow-eyed Junco, with the Red-backed Junco being a bridge species to connect the 2. Even though the Red-backed Junco is a full species, it's the same concept as a subspecies. The reason the Red-backed Junco must be a full species is because it has an isolated breeding range from both Dark-eyed Juncos and Yellow-eyed Juncos. A good example of a bridging subspecies is the Hawaiian Duck. The Hawaiian Duck is considered a full species by all authorities, however, I've figured out that it's not. It may seem weird, because the bird is an ocean away from wild Mallards. The reason it's a subspecies is simple, every When a Koloa and Mallard breed, the offspring will always have dominant Mallard traits. To explain this I have to back track a little. A subspecies is a bridge right, which means a species is what's at the beginning of that bridge and the end of it. So what is a subspecies? When 2 subspecies cross, the offspring, and the generations from that original offspring, will always show more traits of one subspecies and never the other. Basically, what this means, is the Koloa is always the recessive subspecies to the dominant northern Mallard, never the other way around. It's because the Koloa isn't a fully developed species, therefore, its genes don't act dominantly, or evenly with northern mallard genes. Make sense. If the Koloa was a full species, the offspring would either be half and half, so half Hawaiian Duck half Mallard, or they would would be every where between. So, when a full species and a subspecies of that same species breed, only the full species' traits will dominate in the offspring, since its genes are individual and unique to that species. So a full blown hybrid of 2 full species, will either be 50 50 of the 2 or sometimes it'll look more like a Hoary Redpoll and other times it'll look like a Common Redpoll, and that's how you know it's a full species. So since I've described it a couple times, I would like to dive into the latter of the 2 outcomes. OK, we know a full species will have 2 outcomes if it hybridizes with another species, and there's only 1 outcome when a subspecies and its original counterpart intergrade. For this I'll use the Redpolls again. Common Redpolls and Hoary Redpolls were almost lumped, and probably will be lumped because there was so much hybridization, and the offspring didn't have half Common half Hoary traits usually. There were ones that looked almost like Hoary but not quite, and other times mostly Common but a little pale, and more often everything was indeterminate. Because of this, birders often times leave questionable birds as Hoary/Common Redpoll, since they are unidentifiable. So then came the proposal of lumping the 2, since neither was probably a full species. Basically, many so called Hoaries were intermidiate, not full-blooded individuals but intergrades. The Hoary extreme was too rare and hard to come across. But, like I said early, if 2 species have identical roles in their shared ecosystem and the only reason the other birds are around is as an insurance policy, then that means hybrids have the same purpose. Anyways, since Hoary Redpolls and Common Redpolls can show either extreme, or have 50/50 offspring, they are the opposite of what scientists say they are, they are full species. The same goes for the Iceland and Thayer's Gulls, because there is so much variance between the birds and lots of 'intermidiates' they were lumped together. Let's look at one more example to sum it up: The Flickers. The offspring of Yellow-shafted and Red-shafted Flickers almost always show 50/50 traits, basically the 2 subspecies that are parents are evenly divided into the offspring. This means that the 2 Northern Flickers are full species. It's funny, because I myself always thought of the Northern Flickers as one species. But with this new criteria and definition of a species I came up with, I may split quite a lot on my Life List! So, one more time: If there's lots of overlap and variance within 2 species, like Iceland Gull, and the Redpolls, it's a full species. If other times 2 parents of 2 sister species are evenly divided into the offspring, it's a full species as well. If only 1 parent of 2 different taxa of 2 parents is dominantly expressing traits in the offspring, then that dominant parent is a full species, and the other is a subspecies of that species, regardless if the dominant parent is male or female and the recessive parent is male or female. Furthermore, because the Mallard is always dominant to the Koloa with traits, and Mallards typically breed with the Koloas before the Koloas can breed with another Koloa, they are quickly turning back into Mallards. The Koloa bridge is fading away back to square one, but after a while those introduced Mallards will adapt into Koloas, and hopefully into another full species.The reason Koloas are adapting so slowly, and now backwards, is because a tropical island in the middle of the ocean is a very different ecoregion than where they originated from. Make sense. Animals always adapt quicker in a place they don't belong, rather than where they do belong. Koloas (Hawaiian word for Hawaiian Duck) belong in Hawaii. Mallards do not. The Koloas adapting is reversing, because the introduced Mallards are breeding with Koloas before the Koloas can breed with their own kind. The Mallard is already well established in Hawaii. Funny how the Koloa originated from the Mallard! But the Mallards came there to adapt into Koloas so they could be prepared to play their role in the Hawaiian islands ecoregion. So that's my criteria for a species, and a subspecies. I know it may seem complicated, but this is a much more simple, accurate, and realistic than some other definitions. Yes species can change, but they are limited to their own genuses only. It sounds like a fairy tale when they say "over 100s of millions of years, the salamander-like creature turned into something like the Gray Wolves we see today." Hopefully I've given you a better understanding and less confusing definition of a species. After, the most complicated, neatest, answer, isn't always the right answer.
I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next post! I've really been slacking on the TIMELINE series. I'll also try to do a post on my 2 recent drawings. Have a great week, and a great birding life! Hey everyone! Like the new blog cover photo? I really think the color scheme of this new cover goes better with my blog page, plus, I'm a Costa's Hummingbird kind of guy, I've made that clear. Nothing against the Anna's, but for 1, this pose is EPIC!! For 2, the Costa's Hummingbird is now one of my favorite North American Birds. For 3, That violet gorget is incredible, and looks cooler than the Anna's red throat. 4, this bird has a blue-sky background, and is perched on a branch, its natural habitat, whereas the Anna's has that ugly yellowish background, and is perched on a feeder. On that note, let's get on with today's adventure! I'm sure there's birders my age reading this right now, birder's who go to school every day, and have to save their birding endeavors for the weekend. It's OK, that was me until 10th grade (my current school grade), I can't go birding every week, but sometimes I'm out birding when every body else is studying math. I remember, Mom and I would go to the GRPs 2 or 3 days every week when we first moved. That's over now. Today did not have the typical Monday feel, and for the better. For a while now, a PYRRHULOXIA, WESTERN SCHREECH-OWL, and some WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS have been consistently reported at the Desert botanical Garden (DBG). Today was my day to go after all 3 of those! We arrived at about 10:00, maybe after, and we (Dad and I) spotted a few CACTUS WRENS, AZ's state bird. My lifer view of one was just its silhouette, at the very close-to-DBG Phoenix Zoo. Although I couldn't get an ideal photo at first because the bird was a mover, I got many fantastic pix shortly after some patience. Curve-billed Thrashers were abundant around the gardens, and Verdins were a particularly common species. We weren't here to see typical Sonoran Des' birds, I needed some Lifers, after all, this was my chance for a shot at 300! At first, nobody could point me to any of my 3 targets (non-birders, am I right). Then, we were saved in the form of 2 female birders talking about flickers, it sounded like the one was telling the other one how to tell a Gilded from Northern. I asked one about (I wish I had her name) the Pyrrhuloxia, and she said they were actually heading towards its hang-out spot. Apparently, and I didn't know this before, DGB has Monday-morning bird walks, and in the afternoon the birders meet up at the Terrace to fellowship and compare lists. We were headed towards the terrace. Birder's were filling all 25 or so tables, and those who weren't, were birding the surrounding Sonoran Desert. Hardly any birds were around, aside from a family of tame quail and House Sparrows. The birder said that around lunchtime, many birds emerged to forage for scraps. We weren't seeing any of my targets, so we moved on to explore the gardens, and would return later to see if activity would pick up. The birder also pointed us to many COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRDS, all females. Interestingly, I've never even seen a female Costa's until this trip! We eventually crossed paths with the same birder-lady, and she asked if we'd seen the Rufous Hummingbird yet. I said no, so she had us follow her over to a bush, where I immediately spotted the continuing young male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD! Not a lifer, but an amazing migratory bird I'd seen at the Anchorage Wildlife Preserve in 2014, a lifer then. I also took a crappy photo of a hummingbird at my feeder September of last year that could have been that or Broad-tailed. They migrate through the county every year, and are reported often, but yet still flagged as rare here. After a few less-than-perfect photos, she disappeared. After a bit a exploring, I suggested we check back on the Terrace. We kept going the wrong direction of it, since the DGB can be confusing to navigate, and we didn't know the exact location of the Terrace. We found it on the map, all the way at the other end of the garden. Once we finally re-discovered the place, it was void of any birders, and a few people were sitting down eating lunch. The Terrace was teaming with birds and bird activity. The Gambel's Quails from early were wanting food, and hung around the tables and right behind the stone border that separates the patio from the desert. Abert's towhees were hopping around on the ground, multiple Cactus Wrens were foraging, flying, and singing in the area. While I was eating my mozarella meatball sandwich, I spotted 2 instantly recognizable birds flying with supreme agility in the sky surrounding the adjacent butte. "WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS!," I exclaimed to Dad. I was awestruck by their magnificent flight pattern, and was very excited that I had finally seen a Swift! Even though I'd never seen one until today, the moment I saw those birds, I knew they were swifts, they are too recognizable to misidentify ( Swifts are often confused with Swallows, but only Swifts were reported at the gardens, and there are many characteristics that set them apart from Swallows). After lunch, I spotted a GREATER ROADRUNNER that was in a little open patch right next to the patio, surrounded by shrubs. I got incredibly close, and I always had observed very skittish Roadrunners, I never thought of them as tame. This one completely dis-proved that , because it even walked up to me, and looked at me in a way as if to say, "hey bro, give me some food or I'll stab you with this giant beak of mine, then we'll figure out just how sharp it is." The Greater Roadrunner looks menacingly like a velociraptor, with those intimidating eyes, raptor physique, and that long, razor-sharp bill. We looked all around the patio and surrounding desert, only to see much more of what we'd seen already. I told Dad that we have to wait, and watch for my 2nd target bird, because the birds were emerging from the desert to feed at the patio, just like the birder said they would. The Roadrunner came out to forge, like she said it would. The Thrashers, Cactus Wrens, and Quail were becoming very active just as she had said they would as well. Now if the Desert cardinal could just show himself... I kept looking around the desert to spot a red and gray crested bird with a oddly shaped yellow bill. Then, I just happened to turn around, and I completely froze and felt an odd felling as I saw the PYRRHULOXIA apPYRR right in front of me about 6 ft. away, on a chair of all places, with bread stuffed in its mouth! I spotted it immediately because it was a completely different bird from the familiar Thrashers, Mourning Dove, and House Sparrows surrounding the chair. Yes, the only reason I spotted the Pyrr-Cardinal was because I spotted the not-so-spectacular birds that I had expected to see when I turned around to look at that table. The Pyrr (Pyrrhuloxia as in peer-hue-lox-E-uh) flew back and forth from the table to the desert, and I got great photographs of it in both areas, in fact I photographed him as soon as I saw him on the chair! After we left the Terrace, I spotted an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, a bird I haven't seen in Arizona in a while, hence all caps. There were many extraordinary cacti, agaves, and trees alike in the gardens, but most birds were typical non-lifer Sonoran Desert species. Eventually, returned to the Terrace one more time to get a last-look at the Pyrr. We thought he'd gone back uphill and out of sight, but then we actually found him in a desert shrub with a Thrasher. Next to a Thrasher, the Pyrr's red really stands out, adding to the beauty to the Sonoran Desert! Below are some pix of today's birds (and mammals), excluding the WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS and some others, like the flyover OSPREY and NEOTROPIC CORMORANT. This time, the birds were photographed with my camera, not the other one (I would of if I charged it last night). They are still some amazing photos considering the camera used. The tamest Greater Roadrunner I've encountered... ADORABLE Harris' Antelope Squirrel Equally adorable Round-tailed Ground-Squirrel Extremely tame Gambel's Quail The Cactus Wren... The continuing Rufous Hummingbird The chair of Pyrr?! Nobody told me about the chair of Pyrr! The continuing Pyrr in its real habitat... What an amazing adventure, despite never locating the sleeping owl! With the PYRR and WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS for today, I'm now up to 299 species! Just 1 more... And then 100 more after that! I'm all pumped up for some 2018 birding, are you? Yeah!
I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next post! Hi all! I've been slacking on posting lately, because I'm busy with homeschool. Today, however, I was done before noon, so I went outside for fresh air. Just so you know, the TIMELINE series has NOT ended, it's just I'm having trouble remembering exactly what happened on these endeavors, and also, these photos are NOT of the Costa's that likes to be petted. I haven't found time to say this, but, the Costa's Hummingbird that I pet has been gone about 2 months! All because of the most pugnacious, aggressive Hummingbird ever chased him- and the mean Anna's- away for good! That hummingbird is none other than the one in the photos below. He also has the longest gorget extensions I've ever seen on a Costa's Hummingbird! I wonder if his hyper-aggression has to do with his extra long gorget. Anyways, I've seen him preening a couple times already, but I just happened to have a perfect opportunity to photograph him today! I immediately saw him when I walked outside, then I remembered Dad had his camera on the desk today. I was back outside, camera in hand, in a matter of seconds. This hummingbird also preens more than any hummingbird I've seen (probably because he chased off hummingbirds faster than I could blink, so they never had time, still, even before he infamously arrived the Anna's never really preened). He also sings WAY more than any hummingbird, never ceasing to be silent, except of course when he's preoccupied with doing other important hyper-aggressive hummingbird stuff. Anyways, there's his life story, which could be summed up in just 1 word: MEAN. I quickly took some epic killer shots of him, as twisted and turned his body in very odd, but cool ways. After about 15 amazing photos, I finally noticed a message on the camera screen: "No memory card insterted." After that I did Darth Vader's "noooooooooooooooooooo-" I'm just kidding, what I really said was; "Ah dang it, man." But don't feel really terrible for me, because I grabbed the memory card, inserted it, and then fired away with more hummingbird-preening shots. Now I actually think my current photos ended up much better than the ones with no memory card did. In the end, I also ended up with 29 pix instead of 15. There's today's story, and more TIMELINE posts are yet to come, very soon too! Please enjoy Mr. Hyper Aggressive-ness's photos below! Sqeeeeeeze POP!! "I'm won hot hummingbird!" "I'm leaning towards you, baby!" More pix of a preening Hummingbird. As you can see, he has VERY long gorget extensions, and he is absolutely stunning!
I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next non-TIMELINE post (and my next TIMELINE)! I really do miss the very tame hummingbird that could be petted, but this guy still allows for very close approach... |
About meJared Conaway Month Archives
December 2019
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Life List
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