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! This post goes way back. July 3rd 2015. The TIMELINE SERIES is supposed to be set in 2016 & 2017, but this adventure is just way too cool and memorable to not post! Plus, it has very great photos of some extremely cute birds! So let's go back almost 3 years, to Hatcher Pass, Alaska. CAUTION: The birds are very adorable. Press on. This is one of my favorite birds, the GOLDEN EAGLE. They are strong enough to overpower, kill, and eat adult Gray Wolves, fling mountain goats off steep cliffs and break a limb with a simple squeeze of the talons. But they are beautiful! They love to play and do crazy tricks in the sky, such as high speed dives, upside downs, loops, and simultanious flight between a pair. Contrary to what you believe, they are the FASTEST BIRD, not the Peregrine. My Uncle is a falconer, and he was one of the first or first to fly a Golden Eagle in the US. He found that it out-flies the Peregrine at between 250-260 mph (I'm pretty sure, I'll have to ask again). Then I found this ptarmigan sp. perched on a boulder out in the open. And I wanted to get closer... Mamma PT. wasn't alone, as you might guess since I called her mamma and there is an adorable baby ptarmigan in the above photo. There were 6 of them total. The babies wern't tame at all, they liked to do laps around the boulders while I failed to catch up. But Mom ptarmigan wasn't phased at all. She made soft clucking sounds and showed no sign of stress or agitation. She didn't mind me petting her tail either. I kept going back and forth with photographing the adult fem and babies. I think the babies saw that mom didn't care, because soon the stopped running away and started hanging out very near. Here they're waiting for me to chase them around the boulder! Did I mention they were very tiny? Well, they are. Think baby chickens, but only half the size! I love those big fluffy feet! Here mom wonders why we give her family so much attention. A baby's unfocused head is in this shot as well. Now, this pic is very adorable. He looks into the blurry distance and vast expanse of alpine tundra of Hatcher Pass, probably wanting some adventure... And that orange patch on his head looks like a piece of bread. Very cute. He's posing in this one. Like a little ptarmigan model. Mom stares blankly at me, grateful I haven't devoured the family, but instead, entertained them. At this point, I noted the adult was very small, at least smaller than I thought a ptarmigan would be in person. Along with a unique pattern, this lead me to the identification of WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN. A lifer at the time. This species is highly sought after by birders, having the smallest range of any ptarmigan, as well as being the least common. They're also the only ptarmigan that's resident in the lower 48 states, in the Colorado Rockies, and north-east Utah. An introduced population resides in east-central California. With such a tame White-tailed Ptarmigan with us, what better idea than "Hey, how bout' I get my picture with this bird?" I'm a Golden-crowned Tanager. And the little PT just stands there, with an inquisitive look on her face... I'm so glad I finally posted this adventure, because, it was an adventure. This is one of my very best birding memories, and probably the best of my early birding days. As we hiked back, though, there was another family, 6 babies and one adult fem, again!
Knowing these are the toughest PTs to find, makes my memory of them all the more exciting. It was also very cool to get really close up with a family of them! And, I petted one... How often does one pet a ptarmigan? I might be the first to ever pet an unrestrained White-ptailed Ptarmigan! Thanks guys for reading another one of my TIMELINE posts, and for reading one of my best memories of my early birding! Stay tuned guys!
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I am almost caught up with all my May posts, but I should have one coming up this week, hopefully going to Tres Rios with Caleb. Our biggest target is a male Painted Bunting, which might still be there. It has set up territory there for 3 summers in a row so far, so if nothing ate it, it should be returning!
There is a very colorful bird I saw recently, better yet, in my own neighborhood. In my last post, published yesterday, I mentioned Tommy saying that my neighborhood had some potential, considering the multiple grassy areas with shade trees included Velvet Mesquite. That evening, I attempted re-finding the first patch he pointed out to me, since I'd never been to that one. As you've already figured out by the use of the word 'attempted', I failed. However, I found something even better. I found a Fremont Cottonwood. Migrants are very attracted to these trees, as the are large, tall, and offer a lot of shade. Black-and-White Warblers and American Redstarts, both rare but annual transients/winter visitors, are often found foraging in these trees. But it's not just those 2, there are so many other warblers and vireos that have been found in these trees! Finally, it helps that the Fremont Cottonwood is a native species. So anyways, I returned to that cottonwood on May 13th. On the way there, I got a neighborhood first, BRONZED COWBIRD. Those things look way cooler than a Grackle. This bird was a male, shiny black with a fluffy ruff on the neck, and a cape like mantle that fluffed up in flight. When I arrived at my cottonwood, I waited, waiting for an interesting bird to show up. In the tree, I didn't expect to get any vagrants from the start, just some colorful neighborhood firsts like Lazuli Buntings, or Black-headed Grosbeaks. I waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And- "Hey, that looks like a kingbird." A bright yellow bird was flying overhead, only it didn't exactly look like a kingbird. It was smaller, and stockier, shorter-billed, shorter-tailed, and shorter-winged, making dips in flight like a Melanerpes woodpecker. So I gave this bird a second look when it landed in a tree. Not the cottonwood, but a tree that resembled a Russian Olive (probably was). "OH...MY...GOSH!!... OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. WOW. OK. OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh... And so continued the limited vocabulary for, I'm not kidding, 30 minutes. This bird was unmistakable, and it was only a matter of time before I saw this brilliantly-colored common migrant. It was a male WESTERN TANAGER. I thanked God for this beautiful bird, and continued to look at it for a while. The Western Tanager is a bird you recognize instantly, with a scarlet-orange head, a bright, very bright yellow underside and back, with coal-black wings and tail with double yellow wingbars. Oh my God, what a beautiful bird you created! The Western Tanager is so beautiful, it puts the Rosy-faced Lovebirds to shame, which, I did have some of those that day. Right after the tanager, a PRAIRIE FALCON soaring was a surprise! #firstforneighborhood. Thanks Tommy for your suggestion! No exploring my neighborhood= no finding a Western Tanager in it! Stay tuned for my next post! Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed MBD, and I hope you enjoy this! On the 10th, Caleb and I became set on going to the GRPs, again. We were going to go the next day, early morning on the 11th! But I got a very pleasant surprise when he sent this text: "BTW Tommy will be with me when I pick you up." A while ago I published a post about my adventure with Tommy Debardeleben at HRP. That was months ago, Sunday of October 22nd! Nearly 8 months later, I receive a text from Caleb that Tommy will be there on the 11th! Because he works at a hospital, Tommy has a busy life, with little room for blog posts these days. He's also is usually unavailable for birding. This day, was different, however. Around 9:30 on the 10th, I set my alarm for 3:43 AM. The reason was because my tablet is an hour behind, thus it would go off at 4:43. Caleb was going to be over at 5:00 or earlier, so I set my alarm so that all I had to do was wait for a few minutes, I had everything ready anyways. At 3:18 AM on the 12th, my alarm went off. I checked my tablet alarm time, seeing it was this time. I thought, OK, it's 4:18, a longer wait than I'd planned. But then I caught sight that the time on the top of the screen also said 3:18. This wasn't right, because only the alarm time was set on the Alaska time zone, not the actual tablet clock, it adjusts automatically to the current time zone. So I got up, and laid down on the couch to expect a wait. But a few minutes, I got curious to the times displayed on our other devices. Oven: 3:18 AM. Computer Monitor: 3:18 AM. So it was officially 3:18 AM. Dang it. Then a thought occurred: whenever I watched youtube time flied. If I kept watching 15 minute videos or less or more, Caleb and his minivan would be here in no time at all! So after eating cereal I went to the Brave Wilderness channel, and watched Coyote Peterson episodes I hadn't viewed yet. My early rising actually ended up working out for the better, because I ended up eating cereal before watching Coyote. Waking up at 4:43, I would've gotten up at 4:46, and would've been half asleep getting in the car. That would've left no time for breakfast, which would've added hunger as a problem. Plus, Coyote Peterson is awesome! It was about 4:50 when I heard what sounded like a knock, but it seemed too faint. Not even a minute later, Mom came in asking if they were here yet. Apparently a knock woke her up. So she told me to check out the car across the street. I was kinda skeptical, because I thought he would park right in front the house. But it was a minivan. Sure enough, when I got close, Caleb's voice said "hey Jared," as he was rolling down the window. So I turned around, gave a thumbs up to my Mom, and got in the back. And sure enough also, Tommy was up front with Caleb. They're best friends, even outside birding. Once in, I said, "Hi Tommy, how's it going?" He responded, "Good, how's it going for you?" I replied, "Really great, last week I did MBD." He's like, "MBD, what's that?" So I told him about my attempt to beat his record at Maricopa Big Day, and told him that I got so many lifers. Caleb was going a little fast over speed humps and Tommy said, "Dude, it's a 25 zone through here." Then Caleb replied, "The way I see it, the faster you go over them, the less you feel em'." Then Tommy turned to me and said, "I just don't want this boy to get fined. Or ticketed." Nonetheless, Caleb's a responsible driver. Also, there are way too many speed humps in Phoenix. Tommy's like, "What if we did an Obnoxious Big Day, you have 10 minutes at every location!" I laughed and said, "That would be insane and annoying." Maricopa is pretty big, so 10 minutes at every location is a huge waste of gas, and if you want any chance of world travel for birding, that is not the kind of big day to engage in. 10 minutes at every location on a Mat-Su Big Day, now that's just a colossal waste of gas, because that's a huge county (well, borough)! And because there's only one hwy going north (George Parks), one highway going east (Alaska Hwy) and one going south (Glen Hwy), if there's a Traffic Jam or construction zone on any one or all of those, say good by to your big day! Eventually we made it to the GRPs, my patch. Also Tommy's patch. Our first bird was a LESSER NIGHTHAWK, fluttering around for a few minutes before a return to the day roost. We didn't hear the singing Virginia Rail that was here last week. During summer at the GRPs, Cliff Swallows are extremely abundant, a couple weeks ago, I had 600! "Hey, is that a Solitary Sandpiper, it looks like one?" Tommy said. Caleb replied, "No, that's a LESSER YELLOWLEGS. Hey, that's flagged so get a doc photo." Tommy's like, "Dang, I always get that one wrong, the Lesser Yellowlegs, for some reason I always have trouble with the identification!" Poor Tommy was a bit rusty with his birding skills. The waterbirds weren't really interesting, with shorebird numbers very low. A few SPOTTED SANDPIPERS were present around the ponds, common migrants late April through early May. Usually this time of year, the ponds are great for various terns, but it's been a bad spring for them, Tommy said that if mudflats were present, so would the terns. This spring, water levels at the GRPs have been inconsistent, and very odd. Conditions have not been very ideal. The Willet didn't stay long. Nor did the BBPL (Black-bellied Plover). And no Snowy Plover has showed up yet! The usual waterbirds were present this time around, the diversity thins out as summer approaches. And you really can't blame them, it's really hot at this point. Here's my first decent pix of WILSON'S PHALAROPES. Phalaropes are fun shorebirds, I think they look like someone through a gull, tern, and Solitary Sandpiper in the blender. After all, in the sibley guide, they are the shorebirds closest to the gulls & terns, so either that's Taxonomy or Mr. David Allen Sibley agrees with me. Like the terns, my history with these guys is tough. I didn't see my first Red-necked Phalarope until 2017, and only recently did I get Wilson's. But I'm young. BTW, Caleb gave me the lens on these, as in, he let me use his camera. Normally I crop my pix, and detail them with clarity, vibrance, & exposure. It wasn't until I got home and plopped in my SD card that I realized they weren't completely focused. Phalaropes also have a lively feeding habit. These ones just look like boring old yellowlegs with their probing technique in these photos. When swimming in water, though, these guys go round and round in adorable little circles. I know they like it, its an excuse for these birds to have fun! #speakingofwhich, birds do have fun. I've seen Golden Eagles do some insane acrobatics over peaks and ridges, with their mates. I've never mentioned this, but I absolutely love Golden Eagles. Everyone's heard its name, it's the most well known Aquila. But are they really just typical raptors like the Red-tailed Hawk? No, not at all. #terriblephotoof YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS. I also got my first breeding-plumaged WESTERN GREBES, in Basin 3, They look really cool! Things got much more interesting in the riparian section. My first patcher was the TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, in all, we found 3! It was funny when Tommy said: "Hey that looks like a Green Heron! Wait, that's a grackle, no a dove!" Then he said, "It looked like a Green Heron'as beak facing down, like it was fishing or something." Caleb's like, "Sure, a Green Heron fishing from 20 feet up."I got another patcher, one from MBD, the BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK!! Still holds up as a beautiful bird. Of the few photos I got of this male LAZULI BUNTING, this one was the most decent. Like the BHGB, this bird still holds up as stunning! You can see that in midst of the brilliant turquoise-blue, there are patches of brown on the crown, rump, & mantle. This is because they are irridescent, meaning the blue appears because of tiny mirror-like structures, instead of pigment. Im pretty sure I read that all birds with blue coloration are irridescent, even Hyacinth Macaws and Bluebirds. If you look at many pix Mountain Bluebirds (such as I have), some will look more turquoise, and some will be Montana sky-blue, and of course every shade in between the 2 extremes.
Then we were walking towards Matt Haberkorn. I told Tommy and Caleb how one time when I was with him, we saw Buffleheads wagging their tails. So Caleb's like, "Oh yeah, Tommy wags his tail, he loves wagging his tail!" Tommy: "Yeah I like wagging my tail." They're funny. I busted up laughing at the sheer randomness of the remarks, but bring up Buffleheads wagging their tails is pretty random. Our talk with Matt was brief, we asked what he had and he said he heard a Virginia Rail singing. When we got back to the parking lot, no Virginia Rail, but a couple VAUX'S SWIFTS flew around with some Cliff swallows. I also had a MYRTLE WARBLER in a cottonwood. And that raps up my adventure with Tommy D and Caleb Strand at the GRPs. There were a lot, I mean, A LOT of birds I did not mention, not because I forgot, I just wanted to point out the most important ones in this post. In all, we had 75 species (remember when I thought 35 species was exciting!?), a very good day! A good bird I did forget to mention was a PEREGRINE FALCON, perched on a telephone pole. And I guess I should mention the singing HORNED LARKS and BULLOCK'S ORIOLE (imm) and 4 CINNAMON TEAL. That's right, Horned Larks. Cinnamon Teal. Birds that would've been helpful on MBD... However, because I did not mention a huge amount of species we saw that day, our shared checklist is @: ebird.org/view/checklist/S45575291. Thank you so much Caleb for the fun and for taking me to join the fun at the GRPs, and thank you so much Tommy for the guide to Maricopa birding! One last thing, Tommy said this as we were driving through my neighborhood to return me to my house: "Hey Jared, in these green patches you could get birds like Dickcissel or Rufous-backed Robin, in winter. Your neighborhood has a lot of potential, you got some good birding patches." And that suggestion resulted in some great birds, including the star of my upcoming local post, a very, VERY brilliant bird! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next post! Tommy is the cool guy on the left, and Caleb is the cool guy on the right. Hi all! In Alaska, Puffins, and Yellow-billed Loons are a reality. But then we have Asiatics, but what it costs: A fat wallet and a colossal bank account! You might as well be saving up to got to Indonesia while your at it! It's the once place on the continent where you can see Taiga Bean-Geese and Tundra Bean-Geese side by side. It's also the only state that doesn't have egrets on a regular basis, but when we get egrets: Say hi to your lifer Chinese Pond-Heron, Intermediate Egret, Yellow Bittern, Pacific Reef-Heron, and Gray Heron! Even so, such egrets are a dream in the minds of American birders, such as myself. So, what do you do when these birds are within your grasp, but not? You long to go to Arizona. Living in Alaska, Orioles, Grosbeaks, Tanagers, Ibises, double digit amounts of warblers in one day, even American White Pelicans, Rufous-backed Robins, Elegant Trogons, alongside with about 375 other beautiful birds, were a distant dream, conjured up only through Sleep Kingdom. To see these birds while awake was more of a hope, or a "what if???" Instead of a fact. In 2016, Lynn Barber did an AK Big Year. She shattered the record of 287 birds with 307. Among those 307, were Alaska's first Lewis's Woodpecker, a few male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a Curlew Sandpiper, and Tropical Kingbird. I had longed to tag along with Lynn to travel the state that I'd lived in for 10 years! My lifers were limited to the Wandering Tattler, Blue-winged Teal, Hudsonian Godwit, and American Pipit, among other common birds. It's not at all that these birds were worthless, the Wandering Tattler is one of the coolest shorebirds I've ever seen. But birds like Ruddy & Black Turnstone, as well as my favorite woodpecker, Lewis's, would've been excellent editions. But there was one bird that Lynn had seen that I wasn't going to miss, the Pied-billed Grebe. I also had to strike out multiple times to see a roadside Northern Shrike that Lynn had been seeing, only to see it very, very, very far from the roadside. I received very distant views of the cool over-sized chickadee that thinks it's a Northern Hawk-Owl. May 2017 came, I found Anchorage County's first South Polar Skua. July 22nd came, I found Mat-Su's first Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. The camera was zipped up in a backpack in a locked car 30 ft. away when the Skua flew by. The Flycatcher happened to move into a deep thicket when Dad raised his camera up to it. I don't want to just see the birds anymore, I want to photograph them. I'm thinking of seriously upgrading to a superb camera in the near future, once I get that thing called a job. It has been a camera-less adventure living in Alaska, but now, North America's most colorful birds are a reality now! But... Alaska will see me again, hopefully next year, I want to bird Denali Highway harder than it's ever been birded before! I had a blast a couple weeks (slacker) ago going out for a full day of birding, exploring the best hotspots of Maricopa CO. I didn't beat Tommy's record, I mean, 168 is ridiculous!!! However, I did see many species vital to winning the day, but what we had in rarities, we lacked many expected species. Oh don't worry, we saw pigeons and Collared-Doves, but when it came down to waterfowl and shorebirds, they weren't anywhere!!!! Justin Saunders must've scared them off. I've never met the guy, but I just found out he was at Gilbert Water Ranch! Why so funny, because he is from Palmer, AK! He's Mat-su's Owl King, just look at his checklists, you'll find Great-horned Owls, Short-eared Owls, and many others- a lot without any comments. How do you go out every day at different locations, and just happen to see a Great-horned Owl for every one of them? Sure, their common, probably the most expected owl to see ever, but seriously, he's pushing it. So, I'm very suspicious of him. In Alaska you see Bald Eagles every day, not owls!! For the sake of awesomeness, I am writing this from the standpoint of the end of that day, instead of a 2-weeks-later standing point. Our first location was the GRPs. We started about 5:35, with our very first non-junk bird being a calling VIRGINIA RAIL, in the reeds in the parking area. This was very cool, because they're usually far west, in the Buckeye & Arlington area, though their regular at Gilbert Water Ranch. We quickly grabbed GAMBEL'S QUAIL, CLIFF SWALLOW, EURASIAN COLLARED DOVE, ROCK PIGEON, GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, MALLARD, MOURNING DOVE, HOUSE SPARROW, ABERT'S TOWHEE, and EUROPEAN STARLING before entering the parking lot. My plan for the GRPs was to do the riparian section first, as usually we start at the ponds. A few minutes in, a flock of 7 VAUX'S SWIFTS were with a few Cliff Swallows, fluttering in circles. It was nice to make that one official! They're very cool birds! Then, in the weedy section, a small bird jumped around on the ground. "LARK SPARROW!" I exclaimed! This bird has long been a nemesis of mine at the GRPs, and today, a lifer! No one ever specifies where they find them at that location, which is frustrating, because like I just mentioned, it's a lifer! Surprisingly, only a few other birds were in the riparian section, singing COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, a SONG SPARROW and a calling SORA. And the ponds weren't exactly crowded either. Last week, the ponds had tons of great birds all over, Red-necked & Wilson's Phalaropes, 2 Semi Plovers, Yellowlegs, a Green Heron, Brewer's Blackbird, a Wood-Pewee, Lazuli Bunting, and American Goldfinch. None of these were present today! No yellowlegs, not even a single phal, no gulls, no terns, not even a freaking Least Sandpiper! What we did get: AMERICAN AVOCETS, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, KILLDEER, BLACK-NECKED STILTS, WESTERN SANDPIPER, SNOWY & GREAT EGRETS, GREAT-BLUE HERONS, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, AMERICAN COOTS, RUDDY DUCKS, RING-NECKED DUCKS, AMERICAN WIGEON, BALD EAGLE, NEOTROPIC CORMORANT, CANADA GOOSE, WHITE-FACED IBISES, and SAY'S PHOEBE. That's it, not even a Cinnamon Teal!! There were 65 last time we went! Here's our Dowitcher. We had 3 really awesome MBD birds that would be vital for winning- right at the beginning, but from there only the most typical GRPs birds made it on the day list. Don't worry though, cause' the day gets better! 35 species total for the GRPs. Before Hassayampa River Preserve, we made a quick stop-by at Verrado Town Sqare, where we could easily get Great-horned Owls. Imagine my surprise when a walked to the front of the nesting palm, and see that they weren't there! Apparently, the baby owls haven't left the area, just the nest, and continue to hang out with mom. I did add AMERICAN KESTREL and WHITE-WINGED DOVE to the day list. The Kestrel turned out to be lucky in the end, bacause that was our only one for the rest of the day! Hmmmm, that's weird. Rule of thumb: many birds named after America are common. Many birds named common, are uncommon to rare. Common Ground-Dove was named by someone who didn't understand the word common, not well at all. Although, common in birding & Ornithology means widespread, not abundant, that's what I've learned The Common Gallinule is widely distributed, but is uncommon overall when speaking in terms of abundance. Same with the Common Black-Hawk and Common Ground-Dove. Our next stop was HRP, where I was hoping to meet up with Eric Hough. He is a park ranger there, and I birded with him and his group on the CBC this year. Gosh, it's already been nearly 6 months since then! In the additional parking - the main parking was full- I got my first HRP addition of the day, a NORTHERN CARDINAL. In Arizona, the cardinals actually look different than the standard eastern subsp. Their a brighter red, larger-billed, and instead of a smooth triangular crest, its higher, rounder, and fluffy. The black on the face is very limited. To me, the Southwestern Northern cardinal looks something in-between the Pyrrhuloxia and Eastern Cardinal. Another cool fact about this crested grosbeak, my first ever ones were in Hawaii. The females there are slender and black-billed, and the males look darker than the standard eastern birds. He was a nice-looking male too. In the parking area itself, a pair of Gambel's Quail ran across. On the hummingbird feeders, a few ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS & BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD were crowding around the sweet sugar water. On the passerine feeder, I quickly received a few LESSER GOLDFINCHES and HOUSE FINCHES, new day adds. then we entered the VC (visitor center) to pay, and on the way out the center, I couldn't resist petting the stuffed female merganser. I wish I owned a merganser, or maybe a Bufflehead, with their wagging tails... Well, that's besides the point, well within the point that mergansers are soft, but outside the more important point, big day. Once we walked out of the VC, huge Fremont Cottonwoods were dense with crisp green leaves. One of the many interesting things about the preserve; Is that it has one of the very few extensive cottonwood/mesquite/willow riparian habitats. That it is, when Willows Cottonwoods, and Velvet Mesquite, as well as other acacias, are combined, it usually accounts for a tiny area. The fact that this habitat is extensive in and around the preserve, allows for a massive diversity of bird species. That massive diversity of birds includes this adorable and epic lifer, WARBLING VIREO, an abundant bird here at the Hass. I was looking in some cottonwoods and Gooding's Willows when I got the bird in my binos! That is the cutest face I've ever seen a bird give in any photo I've ever taken! Oh yeah, this is my very first vireo photo! Kinda crappy, but seriously, the look on this vireo's face just perfects this picture... ...My second photo... But in the words of Kenny Bostick, or Sandy Kamito, "No one remembers who comes in second." Sorry Mr. Vireo can't remember you by your second photo, only the first. In all, I snapped 4 pix, but those won't be posted since the birds puffy cheeks, beady eyes, and stubby bill are not visible in them. #43 Before the vireo, we had a pair of PHAINOPEPLAS in some dry reeds. We stayed with the vireo for a few minutes, to wait for any other awesome birds. I got my first male BULLOCK'S ORIOLE, which, I'm very sorry, no photos of that bird. He made sure to remain inaccessible to pictures, by flying around quickly, briefly landing, and going behind the cottonwoods. I also got my first ever male SUMMER TANAGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Exclamation marks don't even come close to describing how bright red this bird is. But keep in mind, the Scarlet Tanager is EVEN brighter red!... It only took us a few minutes of walking around to find another lifer, the YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT!! The YB Chat often isn't so cooperative for photos. Not because their shy, but it's because their known as a "skulker." That term refers to birds that stay in dense foliage low to the ground, have loud songs and calls, make sure that they're heard, and don't stay still for long periods of time. This criteria applies to chats, smaller wrens, riparian warblers (members of the genus Geothlypis) some Setophaga Warblers, Some Thrashers and Gray catbird, and etc. I still kick myself for not getting a freaking photo of that Pacific Wren of last week, but that wren should be wing-slapping itself for what it did. A cool new day add was a heard only AMERICAN ROBIN calling, a new Maricoper! Then I had brief views of a HERMIT THRUSH. As we walked around, in some willows, 6 beautiful male/female MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS were flitting around. I even got great brief looks at a male! As a Geothlypis Warbler, they are skulkers, so brief views are to be expected. This was actually my very first time offically seeing this bird! When Caleb and I met, we heard a few of them, and that was back in fall migration. I also got LINCOLN'S SPARROW, and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. If only I could have this Cardinal's face in the shot. Dang. And if you're a big fan of crimson birds that "conveniently" cover their faces, these may just be the right photos for you. This camera doesn't actually seem to pick up the color very well. My personal camera brings out that color really well, but feather edges, sharpness, and vibrance are a bit low. Speaking of my personal camera, have you noticed that for the past few posts, since the Chiricahuas, the pix displayed have been solely from my Dad's canon? Well, I'm afraid my camera battery has died. The kind of "death" that can't be revived via charger. But hey, that gives me a better camera to use! While going through one of the Mesquite bosques, I saw my first WILLOW FLYCATCHER, likely a FOS (first for season). In Alaska, we have the very similar Alder Flycatcher. The southwestern ssp. of Willow Flycatcher- which breeds at the preserve- is endangered, and fairly uncommon. Additionally, there were tons of VERDINS making alarm "chips" and contact calls. On the River Ramble Trail, over 100 ft. from the path's intersection with Palm Lake Tr. and Mesquite Meander there is a tiny bridge to get over a stream. A little before the bridge is an open sandy area surrounded by large cotton woods and willows. I'll try to explain as best I can, my perspective of a streaky brown warbler. Looking forward in the direction of the intersection, but to the right, I saw this bird perched on a fallen willow branch arching into the Hassayampa River. It's one of those trees that stands at the very edge of the river bank, with the top bending and the roots slithering into the water, and that falls down so the bendy top smashes into the river bottom, creating that cool arch. Alright, now that I've thoroughly explained my visual perspective of the warbler's perch, let me describe the bird. "Hey, that looks like a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH," I said as I examined a large warbler, washed with olive-yellow with a spotted throat, thick brown streaks flowing down the breast and the flanks, with a whitish supercilium, thin, long bill, and a tail that bobbed up and down. This is a cool warbler that I will not see often anymore, as they are rare, though regular, in Maricopa CO. This is one of the many birds we saw that day that were like striking gold for a Maricopa Big Day. Because Hassayampa River Preserve meets their desired habitat preference, this is the only location (so far) that hosts them on an annual schedule. Therefore, this bird is of big aid in winning a big day within this county. On the bridge, I encountered a cool species, a birder, a female too. I asked her if she'd seen anything cool, and she replied, "I just had a couple of Tropical Kingbirds and a Thick-billed Kingbird. So I asked, "were they still there when you left?" "No, they flew off after we watched them for a couple minutes." "Where were they at?" "About a half a mile down Mesquite Meander." "Thanks, awesome!" And so it was time to go to Mesquite Meander. Except, the kingbirds flew off. Uh-oh. I absolutely love the brilliant yellow of this cooperative Yellow-breasted Chat that sang in a Velvet Mesquite! The song of this bird is rich, warbled, and varied. That was how I found this chat. This neat little lizard was very numerous on every trail, though particularly on Mesquite Meander. They are fast, and run on there hind legs and spin their zebra-tails. Yes, this is a Zebra-tailed Lizard. Here's an even cooler herp, the Tiger Whiptail! What an awesome looking lizard! However, I wouldn't say it earns the reign to the title of Coolest Herp of The Day, just wait and see! Hint: It eats rattlesnakes. I photographed the whiptail as he went under a bench, that's why the lighting is weird. Right after the whiptail, Eric and his group were coming our way! Among them was Barb, the lady who is friends with Caleb that mentioned him to us weeks ago at FR 1688 (Mt. Ord). She was waving at me as I was saying hi to Eric. And by that I mean I said hi, followed up by how I was doing. Eric's a great birder who I certainly recommend birding with when visiting HRP. I also recommend visiting HRP! Reason for recommendation (RFR): Hassayampa River Preserve is AWESOME!!! Then we walked down into the riverbed. Within minutes, Eric said, "I've got a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Townsend's Warbler. Eric specified on the warbler, helping me find it. When I spotted the bird, I was breath-taken!! The TOWNSEND'S WARBLER is nothing short of GORGEOUS! #56. And what's better, this individual was a male! Not that the females are dull, but the males are very striking and brilliant! #itisimportanttonote that in Alaska, on a sunny summer day I went to Jim Lake. It is the most reliable location to have Townsend's Warbler in the county. On that sunny summer day at Jim Lake, I looked in the direction I had heard an unfamiliar song. I got some nice but distant binocular views of a brilliant black and yellow warbler. A plumage characteristic I'd never seen in any warbler was a black throat flowing into a band across a bright yellow breast. The only warbler in Alaska that bears this trait, is the Townsend's Warbler. I guess I wasn't satisfied with my lifer view, and that's why it never made it onto my Life List. Sometimes lifers are like that, you know what you've seen, but it had gone as fast as it had come, or too far away, for you to give it a proper place on the Life List. Or maybe, it's because that was the most beautiful bird I'd ever seen in Alaska? This warbler was unmistakably colored and patterned, yet I said "no" to placing it on my Life List. It was too beautiful to believe, I was skeptical. Looking at that Townsend's Warbler foraging along the river embankment at HRP, I whispered to myself, "That looks exactly like the bird I saw at Jim Lake." We climbed up a small slope to get back on Mesquite Meander. A VERMILLION FLYCATCHER gave us great views! We also had an exciting day add: The MEGA-RARE RED-TAILED HAWK!!!!!! We also observed some high-flying VIOLET-GREEN/NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS, adds #59 & #60. And many GILA WOODPECKERS. This here is a Contopus. Have you ever come up with creative terms in birding? Well, this here represents one of mine. Did you know there's wet and dry flycatchers?! One does not simply bird and not come up with funny terms like that within the duration of their passion! So, what makes a wet flycatcher wet, and a dry flycatcher, dry? Contopus & Empids are wet. Emps are residents of lowland forests, where rain prevails mid-summer. Contopus flycatchers love marshy, boggy, or riparian areas, often with a lake or river present. Then there's the dry flycatchers. The kingbirds and phoebes. Black Phoebes live in arid deserts in the lowlands, Say's Phoebes can be found in open fields, urban areas adjacent to these fields, or on mountain slopes or cliffs. Kingbirds love farm fields, or open parks. However, this is just general, because the Vermillion Flycatcher is just a stubby phoebe, breeding in riparian corridors. The Gray Kingbird is found in mangroves. Tropical, Couch's, and Thick-billed Kingbirds are found in riparian areas. Eric identified this bird as an Olive-sided Flycatcher So why not all-caps, because Sean, the regional ebird reviewer, said it's actually a WWPW, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, nonetheless, day add #62! This is a BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, but since this bird has a white throat (and fainter streaking) this is a female. This is my first of the day, first ever visual, and my first photo! It's always so exciting when a bird isn't new in just one way! In Maricopa, this species breeds in high elevation pine/oak forest such as on Mt. Ord, Slate Creek, & Four Peaks WA. To me, the BTGW looks like a Townsend's Warbler in the 1940's (black & white photography)! Here's another Western Wood-Pewee. How much wood could a wood pewee pewee if a wood pewee could pewee wood?? But would a wood pewee even pewee wood? We continued to see Summer Tanagers as we walked on, and a few calling LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKERS. One of the guys in the group had a Canyon Wren ringtone, and it was pretty funny when I heard a CANYON WREN respond, instead of the guy on the other end of the line! #speakingofwhich, I heard a skulking BEWICK'S WREN before meeting up with the group. In the distance, a GRAY HAWK made its characteristic peacock call!! It wasn't cool that it was heard only though. Eventually, the group left, leaving just me and Eric. While I was with Eric, added a few more day birds, but no lifers. And I continued to get some awesome views of male Summer Tanagers! 5 more adds: BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, YELLOW WARBLERS, PACIFIC-SLOPE & HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, and WILSON'S WARBLERS. We spent about an extra hour(!) over the intended time limit, but did this work out for the better, or worse, why don't you ask this cool snake. I actually have the snake to thank for 2 extra lifers, and an even more exciting time, here's why? We were so close to leaving, we had just split up from Eric, and all we had to do was walk up 4 little steps to get to the visitor center. A black and white plastic snake was laid out across the second step. Or so I thought. As I approached it, I could see I was looking at a real snake! His head was lying on its side, appearing dead. Then he started moving. I looked back at Dad, then turned around and pointed at the CALIFORNIA KINGSNAKE. "Snake, right there! There's a freaking kingsnake right in front of us!" I was not exclaiming this out of fear like most, no, I was excited. After reading about 2 snake encounters on my blog, you guys know by now that I love finding them! I mean, just look at that gorgeous bold black & white banding! And of course, there's no holding me back from a photographic opportunity of a snake! So I got in close... Here you can really see the sand on his head, that's because he was laying his head sideways in the dirt, the adorable little snake was likely sleeping. In the above photo, the kingsnake looks absolutely cute, and stunning! He's curling up because he's about to turn around, if he was in a strike pose, his head would be up. He slowly slithered away into the leaf litter, but before he could fully disappear, I... petted him! He was very soft. It was awesome to have finally petted a wild snake! This snake is one of the most harmless in the world, very reluctant to bite, and often wild snakes are tame when held. This Colubrid has every right to have the title of king, because although completely harmless to humans, the same cannot be said for its prey, rattlesnakes! So how did this snake add an additional 2 lifers? Well: After petting the snake, I ran over to where Eric had been, and he was still there. I told him about the kingsnake encounter. Then we headed back toward the visitor center. But this gave me a second chance to bird that little area, because the first time heading that way, I didn't pay attention to the cottonwoods, being pressed for time. Immediately, there was a large flycatcher that I almost left without, a BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER! #Ithasoccurredtome, this is my first Myiarchus I've featured on my blog. Speaking of, the Myiarchus can't really have a general placement in one category over another regarding wet or dry. I forgot to mention that the ponderosa pine/oak species fall into the dry category. Therefore, Nutting's, La Sagra's, and Dusky-capped Flycatchers are dry, Great-crested & Brown-crested Flycatchers are wet, and Ash-throated Flycatcher is half in half. Though it's said the ATFL prefers drier habitats than the others, I've had a half a dozen in the riparian area at the GRPs. So really, the Myiarchus can't be generalized like the others, since it's 50/50. My second lifer came when I had a female HOODED ORIOLE in some bare branches up high. Even the females are beautiful birds! On our way out, we waited with Barb for a Pine Siskin one of the birders in our group had earlier. Unfortunately, our wait was made short, we were now even more pressed for time. We were at a stoplight, on the highway looking over the canopy of the riparian area of the Hassayampa River. Usually stoplights are boring, except when you get a visual of a GRAY HAWK!!! I had spotted it when it swooped up onto a snag. Right after, it launched itself up, very briefly ascending, then making a sick, completely vertical dive! Just after he dove, the stunning raptor made a sharp swoop upward to get back on his snag. And that is all for HRP, I had a phenomenal adventure there, and obtaining a visual on one of my top fave Buteos, concluded my time there really well! And so continues my MBD! Up here on the Ord, things are not at all Ord-inary, and lifers can practically be Ord-ered as often as burgers! Birders, I present to you, the extra-Ord-inary Mt. Ord, of the very north-eastern corner of Maricopa CO., in the Mazatzal range! And here's an un-focused photo of an extra-Ord-inary (Ok I'll stop) bird, the BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK!!! #75! There couldn't have been a better bird to start our time up on Ord! And when this bird took flight...- SPECTACULAR!! I feel very blessed living in a state where such colorful birds are a reality! Next, the abundant Ord-resident WOODHOUSE'S SCRUB-JAY made 76 when we were within its favored chaparral habitat. Then we got to FR 1688, by the seep, where the Ponderosas begin. Sure, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER should've been easy, but this was to be our only one for the day! It was cool to see one in a pine forest. PAINTED REDSTARTS were singing, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS were skulking, and a female Bullock's Oriole in a Gambel's Oak was a nice surprise. Plus a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER. In a Ponderosa Pine, I lifered with a pretty female HEPATIC TANAGER! Although beautiful to some degree, she really doesn't compare to the stunning crimson males. But then a huge surprise occurred. a large swallow was flying high in the sky over the south side of the mountain (chaparral). I raised my binoculars to it, and for one, it was massive (by swallow standards), additionally long-winged, notch-tailed, and shimmering black. "Oh my gosh, it's a PURPLE MARTIN!" To have a Purple Martin- especially as a Big Day bird- up on Mt. Ord is phenomenal, and shouldn't be expected. Caleb has told me that HRP usually has them annually, as a migrant, 1-2 birds a year. Then we progressed on the road to get to the top, where a certain woodpecker was. We stopped the car. In a pine near the FR on the slope, was a stocky, medium-sized bird. "Wow, a male Hepatic Tanager!" Because this bird has various gray tones on the flanks, back, and face, the red areas actually appear deeper and stronger than the all-red of the Summer Tanager (sometimes appears orange). Additionally, It's our largest tanager. Tanagers are cool, and beautiful! Another stunning bird we had on the way up was a male Townsend's Warbler, and this time, I got excellent views! He was in a low pine branch overhanging above and in front of our car. We were so close to the top, when I saw a large, shiny black flicker-like bird perched on a bare oak branch. I had a very good idea of what it was. Sure enough, my very good idea was confirmed. My favorite woodpecker, the woodpecker that doesn't even drum, I give you: The LEWIS'S WOODPECKER!!!! #83! There are many aspects about this bird that make it unique, and unfamiliar among North America's most familiar birds. Have you ever seen the documentary about the Lewis & Clark expedition? Never once do they mention the discovery of this beautiful woodpecker by Mariwether Lewis. It is one of the very few newly discovered specimens that survived the expedition, originally named the "Black Woodpecker". Except, this woodpecker isn't just black. It's a combination of colors that make it unique among its kind. It is the only one with a pink underside. Additionally, it has a broad silver collar, crimson face, and green-blue wings & back, with a black tail & head. The Lewis's Woodpecker is of the genus Melanerpes, but looks more like a flicker. For one, the 12-inch length it shares with the flickers, as well as the long primaries, long, thin bill, and spike-like central rectrices. And despite the name, this bird doesn't peck into wood to obtain food- at least, not as often as the others. No, they fly-catch, and I observed that with this individual, which is very entertaining to watch! Lastly, they make a sound unlike any other woodpecker. I like to describe it as "a raspy, metallic whistle". All other North American Melanerpes woodpeckers make a crisp, vibrating rattle, such as "dlurrrrrrrr!" or "blurrrrrrrr!" I absolutely love this woodpecker, everything about it is unique among its genus, and family! From its shimmering colors, bizarre voice, huge wings, flicker-like appearance, and fly-catching habit, it's hands down, my favorite woodpecker (so far, tropical woodpeckers are brilliantly colored)! Another aspect that makes this guy cool: They are rare in the county, and during the winters they do occur, it is insane for one to stay this late into the year! Of note is that the Verrado area had at least 5 individuals that stayed throughout the winter, with 2 that stayed the whole time, another 2 that stayed for most of winter, and 1 that was there for a short time. Winter is gone, summer is coming, if not here. No wonder I live in a city named after a flaming bird. A few minutes later, we were on the top of Ord. And the first thing I heard was a strange metallic, raspy whistling (kinda sounds like chimes) echoing from down-slope. I went over to the unique call, and was surprised to see ANOTHER Lewis's Woodpecker! This one did not stand still like the other one, perching briefly to scan surroundings for insects. Then the massive wings would spread, and the bird would make upward swoops, horizontal dives, or dips in flight to snatch its prey. In flight, this woodpecker looks more like a crow, flying in a straight line with rowing wingbeats, while all others (except Campephilus & Dryocopus) have that familiar undulating flight-style. Also to mention is that this bird appears entirely black from a distance, just about matching its appearance to a crow. Lucky for me, outstanding views stand still, and don't fly off to catch flies... This Black-throated Gray Warbler's curiosity helped out a lot. Never once have I ever had such a cooperative, and inquisitive warbler! He stayed nearby when I was in his little section, probably a warbler-sized territory! He and about 14 other buddies were singing all over the place up on top of Mt. Ord. This sharp-plumaged Setophaga was in a Gambel's Oak. So was our first Lewis's Woodpecker. Notice how Lewis's tree had leaves, and this guy just has buds. That is due to increase in elevation. Despite being a just a small increase, it still effects the opening time of the buds. The BTGW and LEWP were the only 2 species on top, so we decided to head back down to the water tub area. Then it happened. There were 3 Lewis's Woodpeckers now, where there had just been 1! They were actively fly-catching from the same snag that had our first bird! All of the sudden, ! bird chased the other 2, with the 1 in front splitting off to fly right and down-slope, while the other 2 stayed left and flew up-slope. To avoid double-counting our first, we had a total of 4 Lewis's Woodpeckers! After them I quickly got another Melanerpes, a few ACORN WOODPECKERS. Then came a COOPER'S HAWK that flew across the FR, directly in front of us! #85. As we continued down, a STELLER'S JAY flew in front of us, #86! Down there I found 3 PLUMBEOUS VIREOS actively foraging in this Ponderosa Pine. #87 for the day. This is my first pic of one, you can take the time to find him if you like. Here he is. Ah! So much better! Vireos are excellent at being adorable, and according to birders and field guides, slow foragers. I wouldn't say these PLVIs were slow... In the same tree, I got lucky and found a GRAY VIREO, #88, among them! I finally obtained a decent view! And the vireos didn't end there, they ended when I got a HUTTON'S VIREO in a nearby pine! a couple VIRGINIA'S WARBLERS were singing, becoming our 89th bird. Getting closer to breaking 100. But don't worry, the number will get higher. And higher. And higher. I heard a song I was now very familiar with. A song that belonged to only one species of warbler. Of course, this warbler is so astonishingly beautiful, one, especially me, cannot simply here its distinctive "che che che che che-che-che-che-che" song and just walk away. Quickly I located the bird trilling from the mid-level of a Ponderosa Pine. "Oh, I got a GRACE'S WARBLER!! Wow, gorgeous bird!" You guys know how much I love that bird. Really, I don't think the words gorgeous, beautiful, stunning, or spectacular lift the bird as high it could go. In other words, they don't come close to describing just how, beautiful this bird is. And something that makes this bird even more great, is that you can't find this bird in an urban setting during migration like most colorful warblers, such as Yellow & Townsend's. #90. Then 2 BUSHTITS were actively moving around in a drainage, giving contact calls back and forth, confusing me on where they really were. As we were driving back down the mountain, we were greeted by our Black-headed Grosbeak friend. The center photo is definitely my favorite, it turned out the best! We stopped at the green corral in the chaparral of lower Mt. Ord to grab Rufous-crowned & Black-chinned Sparrow. Neither of which was singing, and lack of any activity or movement suggested they weren't even there! However, I did obtain decent views of a CHIPPING SPARROW, #92! At the very, very bottom of the mountain, before you got on the highway, came an unexpected Ord bird. I got excellent views of a BREWER'S SPARROW in a leafless bush, right next to the road. And so made for our 93rd bird. Our next location was N. Beeline Hwy. First thing was first. Get that Long-eared Owl. I found the nest, found the bird, and snapped away to prove once and for all that it was 100% a LEOW. But only a dark, obscured bird was in the pix. So I'm like, "Alright, I'm just going to look through my binos!" The shiny black plumage and heavy bill said it all: It was a Common Raven. A Common Raven. A raven. A raven that is common. That's frustrating. I had the bird earlier in the day, but didn't mention it yet, so #94. Also, I haven't mentioned Turkey Vulture, so that's #95 But then, I saw some little birds hopping around, and one of them perched on a fence. I raised my binos and my jaw dropped! #96, my very first male LAZULI BUNTING!! Oh my gosh that bird is beautiful! But the fun continued when I saw that Lark Sparrows were everywhere! And here was my chance for a photograph, I wouldn't miss it this time! This is one of my favorite sparrows, because of the unique facial pattern. I was worried I wouldn't even see this sparrow once that day, I saw it twice, with a count of about 35 at Beeline! Then we came to the sycamore with the nesting Common Black-Hawks. I looked up, raised my binoculars, and, of course... ...I obtained photos! EPIC RAPTOR! My 97th bird. Our final location before home: Riparian Preserve @ Gilbert Water Ranch (GWR) First, here's some photographs: I am going to keep the events of GWR short, since this very long post is at last coming to close. Our first add for Gilbert was a surprise VESPER SPARROW, #98. Then we found the long-overdue WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, this is the best hotspot to see them. Eventually we finally found the BLACK PHOEBE, another long-overdue bird for the day. That was our 100th bird. We searched for a while trying to find rarities such as Common Poorwill, a cooperative Least Bittern, and Swainson's Thrush, but never found them. 2 things really didn't help in this situation, for one, GWR is a huge area, and there are so many trees you lose track of where you've been, and where your going. As a result we kept getting lost. We also couldn't find any birders to help us out, just the normal people who have never heard of a Yellow-rumped Warbler. There was a 3rd thing that didn't help: We thought for sure the waterfowl, grebes, shorebirds, and maybe even terns we missed at the GRPs, we would get here. But how are you supposed to do that when terns are absent, shorebirds are absent, grebes are absent, and the only waterfowl species present - and I'm not kidding, only one- is the Mallard? Our last edition was an INCA DOVE, again, what is up with the overdue birds? Well guys, I did it. I broke 100, with 101 for my blog! However, my MBD checklist that I made totals 109. May 5th 2018, was the very first time I broke 100 for 1 day of birding, but considering the county I live in, I know I can get a much higher number. I know this because my friend Tommy Debardeleben had 168 species during his big day of April 2014. Jared's Maricopa Big Day will return... Stay tuned, for when that day comes...
-Jared Conaway Hey birders! I got to admit, I've been slacking on my blog lately, but I've got a few posts coming up! But every once in a while, there comes adventures that I can't be lazy about posting! Remember Desert Botanical Gardens, well, guess what showed up there? On May 14th, Don Witter reported a Flammulated Owl @ the DBG during the Monday morning bird walk. Later today, Caleb texted me regarding if I wanted to be picked up to go chase the bird with him! After telling Mom how spectacular of an experience (and rare) I could have this evening, looking at a lowland Flam Owl, Caleb called me back and asked about the situation. I told him that it was a yes, and would be at my house in 45 minutes to an hour. Including that Tommy would also be coming! I haven't finished the post yet, but just on Friday, I teamed up with Tommy and Caleb to bird the GRPs. Dara was to meet us to show us the Flam as well, as she saw it earlier today. About 45 minutes later, Caleb and Tommy arrived. Tommy then gave me a guide to Phoenix and Maricopa birding. He's actually one of the authors of the book. The DBGs are a bit far from my house, almost an hour, and adjacent to the Phoenix Zoo. Once we arrived, we waited near the entrance to meet Dara Vazquez. After about 5 minutes of talking and hanging out, Dara came to us. The 4 of us got through the entrance, and with excitement, Dara lead us to the Flam's tree. Less than 5 minutes into the walk, a couple people told us they just had a Western Screech-Owl sleeping in an Ironwood in front of us. Looking straight up, I saw my lifer WESTERN SCREECH-OWL as a ball of fluff with a stubby tail looking the other way!! Tommy let me use his camera for this amazing lifer, I just had to plop in my SD card! As you may know, I missed this owl on my first run to DBG, for the Pyrr. It's funny, because about a minute before we saw this little owl I asked Caleb, "Remember that Western Screech they had here? I missed that bird." Caleb replied; "Yeah it's still here." Caleb with his sharp eyes found this bird after the other people. A few minutes later: "Oh there's the Flam! Right through that little window of branches towards the end of the tree!" Dara exclaimed this, though I couldn't see the tiny Flam for a few minutes. But those few minutes were short when Caleb pointed the bird out to me really well!!! Please congratulate me on my 345th LIFER! This is my FIRST photo of the FLAMMULATED OWL!!!!!!!! #YEAH!!!!!!!!!! It is so unreal that my first ever Flam, I got here, in this lowland desert area! This tiny owl stands at a short 6 inches in height. Its breeding habitat consists of high elevation Ponderosa Pine dominated forest, with mixed oak and Doug Fir. Caleb says he always has them 10 ft. from the tops of pines, perched in the basin of a forked branch growing off the trunk. The Flam Owl winters in Central America, southern Mexico, and northern South America. In Arizona, the Chiricahuas, Flagstaff, and the Mazatzals hold great breeding habitat for them. The forest canopy has to be very open in their breeding range, so the forest will have just Ponderosa Pine or sometimes very few Doug Firs and some oaks. In this awesome photo, it's clear that this bird is ideally camouflaged on his day roost branch. This owl is also VERY tiny, only 6 inches tall (or short, I guess)! Having a Flam in the lowlands like this individual isn't impossible, it's just that during migration, the bird will have a dayroost in a very dense spot of a tree. Being camouflaged to begin with, many of these lowland birds are overlooked. Also their stay is very brief, since they're just migrants. We were lucky this awesome little owl decided to stay another day! Tommy said that while all others would tick this bird (get it on their Life List) and move on quickly, we were going to stay with this epic bird until after 8:00. As a small owl, this species is primarily an insectivore, though will take shrews and voles. We were hoping to see him overpower the Mourning Doves relaxing on the branch right in front of him. Next to the doves, this bird was freaking small! After a while, maybe 40 minutes or so, the 3 or 4 doves closed their eyes, with a couple sleeping! Please enjoy this series of photos I took of this adorable owl!! Below is my very best photograph of this gorgeous owl, my VERY BEST! Thank you so incredibly much Tommy D for letting me uses your awesome camera! I didn't order these first to last, but the 4th pic down shows the Flam with his left eye almost fully open, with his other eye squinting. Around 7:30-ish, Tommy clicked his flashlight on, shining it at the owl. It was amazing, the Flam's jet-black eyes opened fully!!! Believe me, the Flammulated Owl has BEAUTIFUL EYES!! Personally, I think the Flam's eyes are the coolest among American owls. Often, when thinking of owls, a pair of large yellow irises with black pupils comes to mind. But the Flam has entirely black eyes! I think that's cool. Also in all of these photos, you can see the tiny feet and talons of this owl. Very cute. A few minutes later, I asked Caleb to do his Western Screech Owl hooting to see if we could call them in. Within minutes, first one, then a second bird started calling. Then one landed in a small, open tree on a prominent branch, around eye-level. Tommy adjusted his camera for me, but then the bird flew off. Dang. But then Caleb found the bird again, this time above my head! In the above photo the WESTERN SCREECH-OWL is actually hooting. It's a rapid descending whistling sound. As it was doing this, its body vibrated, and its wings and tail twitched. This owl's eyes were stunning! This bird kept looking straight into mine, when trying for pix. It made direct eye-contact very brief, but in the second photo I managed to capture the experience!
And an experience it was! We checked on our Flam quickly, to see if he was still on his perch. He was, and I got 4 more pix, but they were very poor. Then we got back to our Screech-Owl, and we watched him fly off quickly. Then we turned back to Mr. Flame, but he was gone! We tried for a while to find him again, but didn't. Flams prefer to hunt right after sundown, and that was the time, so that was likely why hed flown off. To hunt for moths. We were hoping to see him active, but missed that. Oh well, why complain, what an EPIC LIFER! Earlier Dara showed us an really nice photo of 2 Bullock's Orioles males fighting, and Tommy said, "That's me and Jared fighting over the Glendale Recharge Ponds." He said this because earlier I'd said something about the GRPs being my patch, and Tommy's like; "No it's not Jared, it's not your patch, it's my patch, I claimed it already." Of course, Tommy D was joking, though yes, it is also his patch. It was also really fun seeing Tommy dance to some rap in the car on the way back, he's funny. Oh my gosh guys! I never thought I'd see a Flammulated Owl at DBG! Or in any lowland desert habitat, or even so soon! Thank you so much Tommy for the Maricopa/Phoenix bird guide! Thanks to Caleb, Tommy, and Dara for the DOUBLE lifer owls and getting me out of the house, for the second time today (Went to Phoenix Herpetological Society for a couple hours with uncle and brother)! And, thanks Mom for allowing me to join the adventure! Finally, thank you Tommy D for giving me the Birds of Phoenix and Maricopa County Arizona! OH MY GOSH guys, the FLAMMULATED OWL was spectacular! And how could I ever forget the eyes of that WESTERN SCREECH-OWL?! The Flam left me speechless, and if you guys ever see one, or have seen one, it will do that to you. A few new blog posts are coming soon, including part one of MBD and also my previous adventure with Tommy and Caleb. Thanks again guys! I'm Jared Conaway, we also had some GILDED FLICKERS, and stay tuned for my next adventure! My Maricopa Big Day is TOMORROW!!! I am super hyped- can I beat Tommy D's 2014 record of 168?! Stay tuned, because here's my stragety:
I plan on working my way from lowland riparian, up to upland riparian, then highland ripaerian, and just a few minutes from highland riparian, is chapparel, then Ponderosa Pine/Douglas Fir/Gambel Oak/and maples. Then it's back down to lowland riparian, on the east side. Essentially, I'm working my way from the west side of Maricopa to the east side, with 4 out of 5 locations riparian. At 5:30 A.M., it's the GRPs, we'll be there until 7:00 A.M. Next, we're at HRP from 8:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. Then it's up in the east and into highland riparian on North Beeline Hwy (remember last week?) We'll spend about an hour there, going from 1:15 P.M. to 2:15 P.M. Once off that short road, the turn-off for Mt. Ord is right there. We'll drive up to the Corral, grab the lowland Chaparral species, then drive further up the mountain, and grab Scott's Oriole and if Cassin's Finch if it's present. Both are found in higher elevation chaparral, the latter can be found at higher elevations though, so from there it's up into the pines where a plethora of migrating and breeding warblers, among others. Higher up, if I'm extremely blessed I will find the continuing Flam Owl pair, and grab Lewis's Woodpecker at the very top, by the cell tower. Will drive back down, stopping to get what was missed, if there are any, then finish the day off with east-side lowland riparian at Gilbert Water Ranch, which will be from 6:30 P.M. to 7:30 P.M. Wish me luck, God Bless, and happy Global Big Day! It's going to be EPIC!!! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for tomorrow! |
About meJared Conaway Month Archives
December 2019
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Life List
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