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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Yeah, early last week has passed, we are now mid-week into the end of November. I'm currently working on that November 2nd post I've mentioned a couple times. I haven't worked the other posts lately because I'm still awaiting the re-instillation of Lightroom, my photo-developing program. It is important because I use the photos as visual paragraph/subject spacers. Whatever photo I place own, it determines what the next subject is going to be about, or it is a transition into the next paragraph.
Here's what the next posts are about: July 5th-10th- Summer Camp with youth group (same location as Winter Camp), a short trip to California. The one lifer I received in California was a huge surprise... September 29th- All day in Yuma with Caleb & Kurt Radamaker. Received a few lifers, 2 heard only. Went into California (barely). November 3rd- All day with Caleb at Tres Rios Overbank Wetlands, Agua Fra riverbed, & GRPs. A couple lifers and a couple Caspian Terns! November 10th- Estrella Mountain Park monthly birdwalk, birded all day afterwards with Caleb. Went to Selleh Park, Higley & Octotillo Road ponds, & GWR. A couple lifers. November 17-18- Camped with Caleb, Laura & Pat Ellis in Four Peaks WA. I lifer. It was so refreshing to be back in the high country, and the riparian on the way up was gorgeous! There you go, now at least y'all know what posts I'm working on, and what they're about. Stay tuned, and please have patience... Peace.
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Progress. That's what's happened in a "year" of blogging (quoted year because it wasn't actually 365 days). So far, I've enjoyed writing this, when I have time. Some of y'all might get the vibe that I don't, considering how much I slack off. Believe me though, I love it and am so grateful that I jumped into this project! Anyways, lets get into this!
First, a heartfelt thank you to all of those who view my blog, and especially for those who have been around since the name change (For a month or so it was "The Birding Life"). I am thankful that I have support for my beautiful birding story. God bless you guys! I also want to mention that this blog will continue to flourish, and grow- it's not ending anytime soon. I am so excited for what the future holds, where I'm going, what I'm going to see, who I'm going to meet. What I know for now: This is my birding story, it and the people in it are so valuable to me, I'm thankful to God that I get to share it with the world! So, for this post, I have a few announcements! I'll start with: I'm really hoping to go on a road trip with Caleb, Josh, and David in all of New Mexico & the Chisos Mnts. of Big Bend NP, Texas! My hardcore goal for this trip is to get Boreal Owl. It's one of my favorite birds, and receiving it in the southernmost extension of its distribution would be phenomenal! This trip will occur in mid-May if I can go. Also, I should introduce Josh and Dave right now: Josh I've talked to on the phone quite a few time s, but never directly met him. He's a great Christian birder 20 years of age, residing in Fort Collins Colorado. He used to be one of my kind; The Maricopers. However, he went to College in Colorado a couple years ago. Dave is an excellent birder, Caleb was his first mentor, but then a couple of the best birders in the country came along... He's also Christian, and 18. "Jared Conaway. Joshua Smith. David Tonneson. Caleb Strand(oski). Their going to bring fire to the birding community!" -Morgan Freeman My next announcement: Ladies and gentlemen, I am eventually going to be a youtuber, hopefully in 2019. I'll sharpshooting towards good to great quality content. I want it to have a cinematic/vlog vibe. While I can't certainly guarantee it's gonna be like that from the start, I'm hoping that time & growth will tell. So, please hit the mental subscribe button until I kick start my channel into action! Who knows, maybe God will find me someone to help with this endeavor... Also, when I get enough viewers I'll do scheduled live streams involving birding Q&A! Surprisingly- as far as I know- nobody's done that yet! I'm so excited for this project, as it's something I never thought of doing- but something I feel I need to do. Additionally, it will be the first birding "vlogumentry" series, because while there are currently a few good bird-topic channels, there are none with a vlogging style. This next goal is for the future in general, I'm not planning for it to be completed in 2019. I'm writing a Matanuska Susitna birding guide on this website. It will include every species recorded followed up with illustrations, likely species to occur that haven't yet, ebird hotspots with a rundown of habitat, birds present, and potential dangers. By the way, the illustrations will be drawings I did with my finger on my tablet. I just need to get them on the computer. I'm hyped for this project! Also, in fall, if I get a scholarship in time, I could go on a WFO (Western Field Ornithologists) expedition in Albuquerque, NM. This means potential for 2 trips to that state next year! This also introduces a second chance for Boreal Owl, in case its a no-show on our New Texico road trip. With my plans for 2019 bagged, now I'm going to talk about great birds that I never planned on having dedicated posts for (because the stories on their own would've been too short). I had a surprise encounter with an adult female CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD while on a walk through the hood Oct. 2nd. I look for birds in my own hood typically every week. I've only seen a Calliope once before, at GWR, that was an immature male. It was a brief sighting, but just enough to determine identification by absolute tiny size, pale buffy flanks, dark central rectrices, spotted throat, rounded wingtips extending beyond tail, large head & shorter bill (than Costa's). As I've mentioned before, this species is an impressive long-distance migrant, grasping the longest migration for a bird its size. It occasionally passes through the lowlands of central Arizona as part of this migration, more often through mountains in the eastern region of the state. I had another neat bird & hood add the same day; A MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLER in my yard! A lifer that I've never mentioned, but meant to, was a female AMERICAN GOLDFINCH that I saw at the GRPs way back on April 30th. This charismatic, fashionable finch is a well known and desired visitor of feeders across its wide range in Canada, the northern US, and east. The males are brilliant yellow, with a black cap, black wings sporting white wing-bars for contrast to the yellow, and an orange beak. Even females are beautiful: Light brown back, black & white tail, black wings with white wing-bars, pale yellow face, dark bill, and buffy on the rest of the body. I had some other great birds there as well; My lifer Lazuli Bunting (a fem), a late, tiny SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (believe that was a patch add), 2 very early migrant SAVANNAH SPARROWS, and 600 Cliff Swallows. Oh yeah, that was also when I had a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (with many WIPHs). Lastly, I had 13 species of shorebirds, which is a decent amount. I've been frequenting a golf course in my hood for a while now, in search of a particular bird: Lawrence's Goldfinch. We are having a big eruption of them this fall/winter. There is a large, mostly bare eucalyptus in it that is excellent for flycatchers. On September 24th I discovered an unusual one perched in it: WILLOW FLYCATCHER. Identified by stocky build, large peaked head, and broad bill. Plumage was mostly brown. It was harassed by an Anna's Hummingbird. The same day, I had a YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD (also a bizarre bird for the hood) and finally a COMMON GROUND-DOVE. Other days I've had; Vermillion Flycatcher, Say's Phoebe, a Tropical/Western Kingbird once, a BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER (another bizarre urban presence), OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER, and a Dusky/Hammond's Flycatcher (leaning towards Dusky). On May 11th, I had a pair of TROPICAL/COUCH'S KINGBIRDS really close to my house! They intimidated a WEKI, slightly smaller and much thinner than them, scaring him away. Bill were proportionally long, heads were large, body was stocky, tails long (didn't get chance to see shape & color), and yellow was brilliant, extending up to chest. They didn't vocalize. I talked to Caleb after my sighting, and he said because I didn't get a good enough look at the primaries, couldn't determine if the bills were broad-based, and especially because they didn't vocalize, that I should leave them as TRKI/COKI. So I did. Through this year my passion for writing about my birding life has grown, and now I really let my personality flow into it. I'm looking forward to the growth of this blog; going to more places, increasing the quality of this blog, adventuring on huge dedicated trips, etc. God has a beautiful life in store for me! He does for you too! That's it for this post, stay tuned for upcoming ones, and stay tuned for the future! Hi guys. This time I actually have a very good reason for leaving y'all hanging. The computer's power source died. My Mom's phone is my blog's power source for now. I won't be able to blog until the end of this week or the beginning of next week, because all my photos are on the computer, and I have some on my camera from my most recent adventures that need to be imported into lightroom first. Speaking of: I've birded alot recently, and I'm camping in 4 Peaks (near Mt. Ord) for a night with Caleb and a couple others. Anyways, I'm gonna have to leave you hanging a little longer on the 2 announcements and upcoming posts. Stay tuned, sorry for the late reminder.
Hi everyone. For a few months now I've helped my friend Caleb Strand lead bird walks on the second Saturday at Estrella Mountain Regional Park. But you good sir/ma'am, can just call it EMRP. I'm not going to cover it much because we didn't see a whole lot. The scenery here is typical golf course mixed with Sonoran desert; and there is a gravel-pit-lake that we visit everytime. Most notable birds were; Myrtle x Audubon's Warbler (intergrade, not hybrid), Song Sparrows, Marsh Wrens, and Lark Sparrows. The last one has been there in good numbers every time I've gone. Lark Buntings are known to associate with them. After a good walk without rain this time, Caleb said we had the rest of the to just... bird. It was just a matter of figuring out where to go, then go there. At first he said Lake Pleasant, which was a good idea until I thought of the Wood Duckies at Selleh Park, in Tempe. Lake not-so-pleasant was also going to be a nightmare with lots of people. So with begging and thought, we were headed to east valley: Selleh, Higley & Ocotillo Rd ponds, GWR. I really wanted to see the ducks because they're just so beautiful, and this pair was reliably approachable. This is a Ringed Teal. A park pet reported on ebird, otherwise know as website abuse. If the bird is a pet, it shouldn't be on ebird. Also, everybody's called it an "escapee". Nonetheless a beautiful bird; one of the world's smallest ducks. Also, you can see the water is excessively blue. Bet it taste like bleach. Perhaps the Ringed Teal has something to do with it. Hmm. My theory is these teal have special glands in their beaks that produce blue dye. I'm just kidding. After searching for 10 minutes, we found the pair tucked back into a small tree. Makes sense, they are tree ducks. Getting photos was difficult when they were in the eucalyptus, the female made it easy first, swimming into the open a little bit. She was getting excited at us throwing pebbles in the water, thinking it was food. It was cute. "Nope." Following his girlfriend. Leading her away with pebbles is all it took for him to give up his comfortable position. Eventually she got back in the tree to make friends with a turtle, clumsily scotching closer to Mr. Turtle. Yeah, Wood Ducks are terrible at walking. Mr. Turtle was disturbed by this foreign limb movement, saying "nope," then diving into the ultramarine water. She thought I wasn't looking, proceeding to dab on me. #properwaterfowldab. "Oh." After enjoying the WODUs for a while we went to Higley & Ocotillo Rd. ponds. Caleb found my lifer MEXICAN DUCK. This duck of the genus Anas was started out at species status: Mexican Mallard, Anas diazi. For a long time it was re-evaluated to ssp. status, until 2018 were it returned as a species on ebird. Pure birds can be identified from hybrids by lack of curled rectrices (on males), pale head that contrasts with dark brown mottled breast, and turquoise speculum (variable). Hybrids look similar to male Mallards in eclipse plumage. Speaking of plumage, from now on I'm replacing non-breeding & breeding with basic & alternate plumage since it's more favorable. GREEN HERON, my best pic so far. Still my favorite common heron/egret here in Arizona. This is a BLACK & WHITE WARBLER that we pished in. It gave a sharp, unique call note. It is a rare warbler throughout the state, but annual & many are found all over the place. In fact, it is the most common of the rare warblers, easy to find & likely in any low to mid-elevation riparian system or migrant trap. This adult female was my 4th of the year & life. It was also my 4th seen with Caleb. Man, I need to find one on my own. It's the most realistic vagrant to find in my hood. BAWW has an extensive breeding distribution from northwestern Canada (eastern Yukon) across the northeast & southeast states. It winters in Baja, Mexico, Florida, Gulf Coast, and Central & northern South America. Additionally there were lots of dabbling ducks- hundreds, that included a few Mexican, too many Mallards, wigeons, Pintails, and an Aflac duck. Our last location was Gilbert Water Ranch, which was crowded beyond comprehension. Caleb's never going there on a Saturday evening ever again now! When there's lots of people around, it's hard to bird. Anyways, here's a Wilson's Snipe and a very scary coot: Another great time with Caleb, thanks buddy! The birds of the day were definitely the Wood Ducks, between epic alternate plumage, and adorableness to go with it. Alright, that's one overdue post done, a few more to go...
Peace out, as always, remember to likecommentshareplz! I want to get this blog out there. |
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December 2019
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