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 everyone! Today's post is a 2-parter, and I plan on going chronologically, so with that being said, dive in! January 12th: "A Miracle Dove:" I had just finished math, I was outside enjoying some polluted air when suddenly, out of nowhere a dove swooped from behind me, past my head and over the wall. Huh, was it just the light playing tricks on me or did that dove seriously gleam orange in the sunlight? Just a few minutes later, when my Dad was out there a dove came from the same direction the other one had gone. This time, it swooped around to the front of me so I was looking at its side view, and was surprised to see a stubby little tail. As it flew by, 2 Inca Doves raced right ahead of him, and they all turned back around to land in "the Lovebird Tree." I raced back inside to grab my trusty binos, as I had I feeling about what I had just seen. When I was out, I scanned every last branch leaf and section of the tree, only to have Inca Doves in my sights. Soon there after, all the doves took off to regroup in a tree across the street from our front yard. I must have been attempting to relocate the bird for close to an hour, to no avail. When I finally gave up the search, I decided it was now the time to consult my trusty field guide (David Allen Sibley, you are awesome! Your field guide has helped me confirm bird sightings far better than the outdated Audubon field guides). I knew what species to study, the Ruddy Ground-Dove. According to the ultimate guide, Ruddy Ground-Doves are found in well irrigated lawns and associate with groups of Inca Doves often. Well, lots of greenery and irrigated lawns are abundant in my hood. In fact, it was only a matter of time before this Mexican vagrant was to be found in my part of town. My sighting of a Ruddy Ground-Dove has been far from the first of this species being reported in Maricopa CO. All winter, I've kept a close eye on the reports flooding through from almost 10 locations! This winter has been a extremely great winter for this species, perhaps from the unseasonably warm weather. Anyways, all reports have bored me with their far distance or happening to be somewhere we've never been before. It's been a much-anticipated bird for this winter, I didn't want to wait all the way into next year. I was incredibly happy when at last, I confirmed it as a RUDDY GROUND-DOVE! This bird was also a very well placed lifer, as it was my 290th species total! Also, it's a rarity that I discovered, making it all the more surprising and special! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for part 2 of my weekend adventure! January 13th: "Coconino County: The Fun First Five!:" We were all sick of the city, Dad wanted to hike, I wanted to bird in the forest again, and so sprouted the idea that as a family, we head off to hike in my favorite county: Coconino! As you know, it's been over 2 months since my last visit to beautiful city of Sedona. A revisit has certainly been long overdue, and that changed on January 13th. When we arrived, I was very eager to listen to the songs of Coconino National Forest's resident birds. The habitat looked very promising and STUNNING! Already I caught sight of the dramatic red cliffs and towering conifers that erupted from the ground. I could here the un-ceasing chips and chatters of little gray birds in the trees above. They were my favorite subsp of the Dark-eyed Junco, RED-BACKED JUNCOS. I even managed to get some decent shots of one a foraging a few feet from my feet (say that 5 times fast)! Then, something more serious happened. I heard a bird call note that had to have been a woodpecker. Just a few moments later, an instantly distinctive black and white woodpecker took flight from the direction of the sound, calling, and landed at the base of a tree not far from me. I was exhilarated, it was the very recognizable ACORN WOODPECKER I'd just seen! This woodpecker is one of my personal favorites, and one I have been dreaming so much of seeing since we'd moved here. As the bird quickly scaled the Sycamore, I had to franticly take my camera out of my pack. By the time I had it in hand and ready, the bird was at the top of the tree. Unfortunately, I had just gotten a back shot, but I could try again on the way back, and I could get better binocular views, I really wanted to see the birds distinctive face, that looks perpetually surprised. Anyways, once we got to hiking, the beauty of this place really started to pick up. MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES Chickadee'd throughout our 7 mile hike, echoing their songs across the immense canyon walls. We were hiking West Fork Trail, a famously stunning hike through Oak Creek Canyon. At the beginning of the hike, I just couldn't stop gazing straight up into the crowns of trees that were clearly over 100 feet tall! Then, an unforgettable sight on the ground caught my attention away from the trees. It was SNOW! My first snow I've ever seen in Arizona! So I picked some up and flung it at my Brother, Brian. Ha ha ha! There were a lot of stream crossings through the canyon, but getting a little wet wasn't a big deal. And it certainly paid off! Before long, I spotted my 2nd lifer, the PYGMY NUTHATCH, 2 of them! I pointed them out to Dad, and also thought it was a nice change from the many RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES we'd already observed and heard throughout the hike. Earlier in the hike we'd also seen a BROWN CREEPER creeping up a fir tree. They don't call them creepers for nothing, right? They're also one of my favorite non-lifer to see on birding outings. In addition, I got my best views yet from a CANYON WREN as many echoed their songs across the canyon walls. I also became more excited about a couple of HAIRY WOODPECKERS since the day I first saw one! The reason is because, unlike in Alaska where they're a typical suburban woodpecker, here they are found in remote and high elevation stands of very large conifers. Back up in Alaska, the Hairy Woodpeckers seem to prefer decidous trees. The 3rd and final woodpecker sp present were 2 NORTHERN FLICKERS. As we progressed on, I started to gaze up at even larger trees than before, a few being 150 feet and taller! The 2 large trees that dominate the Oak Creek Canyon are WHITE FIRS and PONDEROSA PINES. ROCKY-MOUNTIAN DOUGLAS-FIRS are in lesser numbers in the canyon, and don't grow nearly as enormous as the other 2 conifers. While we're still on the subject of the canyon's flora, I also obtained a few Tree-Lifers; COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE, ROCKY MOUNTAIN MAPLE, GAMBEL OAK, TURBINELLA OAK, EMORY OAK, GRAY OAK, ARIZONA OAK, VELVET ASH, ARIZONA WALNUT, ARIZONA ALDER, and a rare species, KNOWLTON HOPHORNBEAM were newly obtained lifers! I even got a couple new maples, including; BIGTOOTH MAPLE and BOXELDER MAPLE. With the abundant diversity of trees large and small, this magnificent canyon has to be one of the most beautiful birding locations I've ever visited! So with that, back to birding West Fork Canyon (Canyon that branches off of the main Oak Creek Canyon). As we nearly made it to the end of the hike, a group of nuthatches noisily foraging in a sycamore above us caught my attention. Among a few Red-breasted Nuthatches, I found a single WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH! My 3rd lifer so far! That's not the end of it though, the trail is not a loop, so you go as far as you can through a narrow canyon passage, until the water forces you to persist no further, unless you have the proper hiking gear, which we didn't. From there, you have to turn around for another 7 miles to get back to the trailhead. For some reason, on the way back I noticed much larger trees than I had going the other direction. I would run up to enormous trees, and gaze up in awe at their unbelievable size, as well as obtain killer-shots on my camera. The largest Ponderosa Pines and White Firs I estimated could not possibly be any less than 230 FT. IN HEIGHT!!!!! Many Colossal trees and younger ones even, were scarred from a fire many years ago. The Ponderosa Pines faired much better than the White Firs, most Firs that had been burned were dead, whereas the Ponderosa Pines were still going strong! Also, many little gray birds chirped and skulked up high in the trees, which a later confirmed as Lifer #4, BUSHTITS, and Lifer #5, JUNIPER TITMOUSE! At the end of our hike, I got semi-distant shots of an Acorn Woodpecker, and one showed its face! What a successful trip! Note: The dense foliage means I wasn't able to photograph the other 4 lifers, but the foliage itself became the main subject of photography, so please understand the difficulty of bird photography and please enjoy breath-taking pix of this beautiful place below! The ACORN WOODPECKER! ENORMOUS conifers! The largest White Firs and Ponderosa Pines could have been over 240 ft, but I can't make exact measurments And let's not forget the 700 ft tall canyon walls... It's also awesome to step out of the cold, dark, shady areas of the canyon and into a sunny grove... And here are some lifer trees... from left to right moving in rows; ROCKY MOUNTAIN MAPLE, ARIZONA ALDER, COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE, TURBINELLA OAK, and KNOWLTON HOPHORNBEAM left to right; Abert's Squirrel and WESTERN GRAY SQUIRREL RED-BACKED JUNCO and a few more trees... Pictures really are worth 1000 words... I ABSOLUTELY LOVE West Fork Canyon and CNF (Coconino Nat. Forest), and I'm am very satisfied with my first 5 290's birds! So you know what that means, hopefully on my next birding outing I will see my final 5 birds before 301! Looking at these photos, I'm already getting sick of Glendale again, I'm ready any day, to visit this beautiful canyon that has been carved into the earth by God himself! I'm Jared Conaway, and stay tuned for my next adventure!
Note: Well, apparently I never put the Red-breasted Nuthatch on my lifelist! I was scrolling down my blog lifelist, and the word "nuthatch" wasn't popping out from anywhere. So I checked my excel lifelist, used the find and search icon, typed in "Red Breasted Nuthatch", and there was no match for it! So that's right, I have only 4 birds to go before 300!
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