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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In my previous post, I finally saw a lifer tern after 8 long years. I've only waited a couple short months for this epic bird, so that's why I'm revealing it in the title. Caleb and I met up at the legendary Glendale Recharge Ponds July 30th in the evening. Coming our way were some ominous black clouds, welcome to Arizona monsoon season. Also, welcome to Arizona fall migration!! I know what you're thinking; "spring migration just happened." Well, there are only 2 setbacks barricading the gateway to epic AZ migration birding: June & July. Fortunately there's just 2 before fall migration, but there's 4-5 before spring migration. That means there's a grand total of 6 boring months without beautiful migration. I have McKown's & Chestnut-collared Longspurs to find this winter... So yeah, peeps and bigger-than-peeps shorebirds are now migrating through, making for eventful birding. I had 2 goal birds on this exped, one a lifer, the continuing Black Tern, and a shorebird that I haven't seen since 11 months ago, Stilt Sandpiper. About 15 minutes in, a flock of 4 STILT SANDPIPERS flew low over us, fulfilling my dream. Technically my objective was to finally see one in breeding plumage since my first was, gray. Now here's the thing about Stilt Sandpipers, they're freaking awesome! Their flight style is reminiscent of a dowitcher, and appearance a cross between that & Solitary Sandpiper. It's funny, because it's a Calidris. I wish I had a photo... Copyright this person. Copyright this person. Copyright this person. Copyright this person is a better photographer than me. I never do this. God forgive. Copyright this person. I know, I know, I know, but I had to do it. Isn't that what Google's for? Well, Mr. Individual who's name is in tiny text that is top-half-blocked-out by a bar that allows me to edit text & paragraphs, this message is for you: Your photo is on my blog. If you want to show your blog viewers what a Mexican Jay looks like, I have some photos you can use, not to brag. Well anyways, this shorebird is lit, right? #Rhetoricalquestion. Soon I'll have my own pix. And 5 minutes later (that's right, no suspension this time around) it happened. "The word 'it' is only to be used when a Black Tern flies across the GRPs." Yeah, I can be random. Here's what the BLACK TERN is: I took 30 photos of this epic lifer, and this was the ONLY UNO that was good. R.I.P Jared's Photography Skills. "Forever remembered." Nov. 2, 2017- July 30, 2018 I'm just kidding guys! The tern was flying really fast... Also, one may think that calling this bird a Black Tern is false advertising, but it's not my fault because this Black Tern happens to be a young individual. An adult has a smoky black head & underside, white undertail coverts, gray back & wings with white lesser coverts, and a short gray tail. This is also one of the smallest terns, only slightly larger than Least. Let me tell you, a tiny tern such as this one is adorable. Caleb asked me, "Out of the 3 terns you've seen, which one would you say is your favorite?" "I think Caspian," replied Yours Truly. "If this Black Tern was an adult, I'm sure it would be your favorite." Is that a challenge, Positive Encouraging? Maybe It's time him and I bring the idea of The Annual Battle of The Fave Terns into the light... speed test, endurance, bill dueling, flight tricks, appearance competition, exclusive to The Annual Battle of The Fave Terns. Caleb, go get the fliers. As mentioned earlier, shorebirds are starting to stream through, the ones we got this time around were 8 WILSON'S PHALAROPES, a few SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, so many Least Sandpipers, 2 SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, 85 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, WESTERN SANDPIPERS, and 65 Greater Yellowlegs. I'm excited for when shorebirds flood in, which isn't too far off, because that's also when rarities come in and more photographic opportunities. Of the shorebirds available, I would say Solitary Sandpiper is still the best this fall, not the Phals because they aren't wearing their beautiful feathers right now. Also, here's epic vagrants to look out for this fall at the GRPs: Whimbrel, Red Knot, White-rumped Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Sanderling, Red Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Hudsonian Godwit, American Golden-Plover, and Snowy Plover. This place, as well as the whole county, has great coverage this time of year, which means that the chances of a rarity being overlooked is very low. Heck, a Tropical Kingbird (first for the location) was discovered there just yesterday by Steve Boyack (photographed). Lets hope it is still there. Some other highlights we had were: 10 PEREGRINE FALCONS, a BANK SWALLOW, and some HORNED LARKS (over 2 years since my first one) This was a new insect for me, the THISTLEDOWN VELVET ANT, a wasp in which females are wingless, and have one of the most painful stings of all insects! This thing was skittish, I had a hard time photographing it. And then came the dust storm. About 15 minutes after I took this picture, it hit. Hard. Gravel, pebbles, and course sand collided into us in 40+ mph, making for a painful experience. We also had to hold our shirts over our mouths to breathe. Eventually the storm got so bad that we couldn't see over 10 ft. in front of us. And of course, my hat blew off. Twice. So we decided it was a better idea that I should just hold onto it, because wearing it just wasn't working. Caleb said, "Well, you won't be seeing any Black Terns now!" Caleb's funny. As much as it hurt, and as scary as it was, we were both laughing almost the entire time. Fortunately we found the parking lot, eventually.
Looking back on my past 2 experiences with terns, I'm thinking that they've been some of my hardest-earned birds. I nearly got heat stroke after the Caspian Tern, I had a headache by the time we got back to the parking lot (Dara's electrolytes fixed that problem pretty fast). And of course a week ago I got sandblasted for a Black Tern. And, on top of that, I've had to wait 8 years for both species. It was all worth it though! So, with that said, this post is finished. Please do share with your friends and fam, follow @ G+, comment down below, leave a thumbs up, it would greatly appreciated, and stay tuned for my next post!
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About meJared Conaway Month Archives
December 2019
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