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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Yo. I've been busy. Not. I know it's been a while, and yes I do have a write-up on the way, because I went to Oak Creek. I've been working on little things lately, like looking for birds in my neighborhood, joining the ABA Young Birders competition (ok that one's big), writing a online guide to Mat-Su birding (not finished), and studying Caribbean birds. So I have been a little occupied, but not enough to justify slacking on my blog. I believe a while ago I said I wanted to move forward a lot by expanding this blog a lot. What I haven't said yet is that I'm going to make an online guide to Matanuska-Susitna Borough (my home county) on this website. Most of the time bar charts on ebird are really good for planning birding trips, and can get you very far. Mat-Su is a bit different, because its bar charts are lacking in data. So I've studied up on habitats in the different hotspots to determine potential birds and chances at common species. Plus I have personal experience at a lot of spots. There are a lot of birds lacking in this county that shouldn't be (talking to you, White-rumped Sandpiper), so I've looked at what spots are likely to gain what new birds (location and county records). I think the burning question is; Why is Mat-Su so void of data? Even though I gotta promote it for my guide, I'll just say it: It's a boring county. Alaska doesn't have a lot of birders, and most that are just visitors. As such, Adak, Attu, Gambell, and St. Paul Island are usually on the mind, because these visitors are retired birders who can afford to see Asiatic species, and they've waited for the opportunity their whole birding life. Most of them are not looking for Alder Flycatchers. Now, there are of course birders that do live in Alaska. Perhaps they can't afford to explore the wonderful Bering Sea. However, they want lifers. They don't have Rose-breasted Grosbeak, or Cassin's Vireo. So they like to spend their time in Southeast Alaska. SE Alaska is pretty amazing, you get both Western and Eastern species setting up territory. With that out of the way, why Mat-Su county? Back to the bar charts: Mat-Su has an average amount of data for a location in Alaska, but this a very low amount compared to the lower 48. So, I want to promote data-collection for such an underbirded "county". This would benefit everyone. Anyways I said it was boring. This isn't necessarily because of lack of birds- even though it doesn't have the best geographic location- but it's rather a lack of active birders that's the problem. Even though I just said it doesn't have the best geographic location, it does have an advantage over other inland counties: it has open salt water. A good amount of cook inlet lies within the MS borough, which is essential for first records of coastal species such as Pelagic Cormorant and South Polar Skua. I mean, just last year in June the borough had its first Aleutian Tern- an astonishing discovery! This was likely an individual that failed to breed, so it could've been looking for another tern population to nest within. Failed breeding can be common- depending on year- and so this tern represents the possibility of more that could show up. Here's another example: Mat-Su county has a lot of boreal forest, but no Least or Yellow-bellied Flycatchers. Now, while birds do have a general limit to their distributions, I've learned that sometimes eastern passerines set up territory in riparian areas here in Arizona. Mexican species will do a similar thing in canyons north of the Sky Islands (for example Elegant Trogan near Payson, or Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher at Sycamore Creek). However, even though lost birds are rarely ever found in Mat-Su, there is even better chances than in Arizona. Here in Arizona, decent riparian areas are few and far between, whereas is Alaska the habitat for boreal Warblers and Vireos is extensive. So, my goal is to encourage you to visit this wonderful county, and of course provide helpful information before you embark on your journey. After all, this is my home county, and if I became a birder sooner, and knew what I know now, I would've totally through in more reps than I did. Of course I will go back, with my grand objective being to find some birds for 'dem bar charts. One more thing on this subject before I move on: what I mean by "knew as much as I know now" is that Caleb's "California birder" mentality has rubbed off on me. As in, I am always thinking about what vagrants I can find whenever I'm birding in riparian. Here's an example: Upon looking at the Creekside deciduous forest at the lower end of the Hatcher Pass road, I determined that it looked good for Warbling Vireo. So yeah, I'm always thinking about the potential stuff now. Another example is me taking note of the fact that there are a handful of reports of Hoary Redpolls near the mountain range that has Mt. McKinley ebird.org in it (forget what it's called) in the middle of summer. I theorize; "Are they post-breeding dispersals? Failed breeding? Setting up territory?" So there's that out of the way. I way follow this project up with information on other counties in Alaska. Alrighty, so here's another thing: I want to do an educational series called In Depth Identification- IDID. It'll cover type species (like northern Catharus thrushes, and solitary vireos), species types-not to be confused with the former-(example would be the different bills and calls of Red Crossbill), hybrids, morphs, variants, subspecies, and other crap. Like I mentioned earlier; I want to expand this blog by making it very educational. When I was a younger birder I didn't know about this info. Plus internet was slow in Alaska. So I want to have a ton of information on just one website. On top of that, links to articles will be included in IDIDs if they exist, and right now I'll point you to ebird.org because that is a current source of a vast amount of bird info. {[(random note)]} I see you Black-bellied Duck. Do you not whistle? So, here's what the IDID project will include: links to the macaulay library for sounds and photos, descriptions of the sounds, descriptions of visual field marks, and maps. This is a project that I hope to work on with my birding allies Josh, David, and Caleb. So, next thing: I joined the 2020 ABA Young Birders competition. The contest is held in 2019 (I know, confusing). The reason it's called 2020 is because February of that year is when the winners are announced (which is probably because Big Year winners are announced then as well). I'm going for the grand prize, so I'm participating in 3 modules: Illustration, Writing, and Field Notebook. This will be fun, but I have to amplify my skills in order to win. This next announcement is a bit sad: I did not make it on the Texas trip that Josh, David, Caleb, and Tommy went on. However be sure to check out tommy's series on it called "Texas Times." It's hard to stay sad when I have Caribbean birds to look forward to! There is another thing I'll be working on but I don't want to announce it until it is set forth. I've been birding the neighborhood recently- the only birding I've done for a while. A month ago I stumbled upon a family of Great-horned Owls that included 2 young ones and 1 adult. They were already soon to be fledged, and since then I've seen 1 a day flying around the gold course twice this week. Last week I found one being mobbed by a Western Kingbird. Recently, I had up to 4 Bronzed Cowbirds on the course (3 males, 1 female). It is a bulky shiny black bird with red eyes, purple-blue wings, and a ruff on the neck. In April I got to see a male display to a female. It was amazing: He rapidly flicked his wings running in front of the female and sometimes bowing his head. The female then ran up to him, he jumped up and hovered by spinning his wings (he wasn't just flapping them), then he fell down. Wings down, head up, and then bobbing up and down. Lastly, he puffed up and let out a piercing metallic squeak before flying onto the fence in front of me. I got the whole thing on video via my phone. Another awesome flight display that I often see on the golf course are Vermillion Flycatchers puffing their crests out and holding their heads high while hovering around. They sing as well, which is an uprising, liquid bubbly whistle. One day there were 2 doing it at the same time, they had a bit of a showdown as they smacked each other with their wings while doing the display. Then of course there's Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Cedar Waxwings in May (those were fun), Hooded Orioles in April (absolutely stunning bird), and a Western Wood-Pewee in early June. It had equally bright wingbars which made me think of Eastern Wood-Pewee. There is a pair of Red-tailed Hawks, a light morph that I think is female and a dark morph which I think is male. I watched the light morph carry a kitten while being mobbed by grackles. A few days later I was told by a resident that the kitten was dropped, and survived, and is now his pet. Western Kingbirds are there daily, guarding the California Fan Palms. Here is one of the young owls: I would say that's it. I realize I've been a bit off the grid on this blog so I wanted to let y'all know the amazing stuff that's happening/going to happen. You can like, comment, and share if you want. Have a great June & the rest of the year!
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December 2019
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