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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You wish for a lot of things when you bird without a camera, particularly a camera. I must inform you that this post is without photos. Sorry.
Hi guys, I recently had a fantastic time with my youth group and some excellent northern birds. Other animals highlighted the trip too. I will keep this post relatively short, I need a break. Day 1 (July 5th): First and foremost, a family of PAINTED REDSTARTS in the riparian of Craggle Creek (#nottherealname) on day #uno. As you know, Painted Redstarts are cool, and they look fantastic with the white eye-arcs on the black face, crimson underside, and white wing-panels. Usually they're active and are major showoffs, but an adult male was very kind to provide my best looks ever of this species. Day 2: The second day was far more productive regarding nature stuff. I got to birding right after breakfast. Right next to my cabin a male GRACE'S WARBLER foraged for its baby right in front of me! I'm used to seeing these spectacular birds extremely high up in the canopy, and this thing came down to the ground. Seeing a Grace's Warbler 50 ft. above me was awesome enough, but for this to happen, is there a right word for the experience? Well, at the very least, it's beyond epic, and you guys probably know what this bird looks like by now, so you should know what I mean by the use of the word 'epic.' I could even come up with a rap: "E-P-I-C, that's what the Grace's Warbler is meant to B-E!" With a lot more lyrics, that could be a masterpiece. My fellow blog-viewers, I challenge you to comment below some bird raps. Right after that, I heard a branch snap below. "Oh snap, pun intended." A female Mule deer looked up at me. Since I saw Austin go inside before this, I was going to get him, because deer are cool. Well, this time at least. When they're skittish they're also boring, because you just saw a neat animal, and a fleeting glimpse is all you get. But this particular individual was amazing. It just walked around, ate, and went under the barbed wire fence. It didn't have its attention on us at all either, not once didn't turn its ears towards us, and we were talking loud too. Instead it listened carefully to far more distant sounds. We also were within 3 ft. when it crossed the fence, it probably would've let me pet it... In the afternoon I caught a Ten-lined June Beetle (big beetle) by knocking it down from a window on the front of our cabin with a stick. This creature squeaked, it was funny. Also I showed a lot of people, and a positive response to this adorable thing was what I got from most. I also received my best views ever of Acorn Woodpeckers. When I followed up on an individual flying through the forest with my binos it felt like one of those high-quality B-roll shots in a documentary. There was also one with a 90 ft. stash tree all to itself. For those who don't know, Acorn Woodpeckers drill up to 100s of holes in a tree and fill them with appropriately-sized individual acorns. Near my cabin another Acorn Woodpecker allowed for excellent quality of an observation and stood still for almost the entire time. I could easily see every single detail, it was beautiful. The final interesting Acorn Woodpecker had almost the entire top of its beak snapped off. It didn't have any problems foraging though, so I'm sure the bird will be find. It took awhile, but a lifer finally happened on the trip. A flock of 4 BAND-TAILED PIGEONS flew right over the canopy, and while a fast observation, I was able to see all the features that make this a freaking cool pigeon. The lilac-lavender plumage, yellow bill and feets, huge size (bigger than a Rock Pigeon), long wings, long tail, and pale band on the outer half of the tail. I will be going up north for 3 days starting this Friday (July 27th), so I'm hoping to see this species again then. A CORDILLERAN FLYCATCHER was another bird that was cooperative. I observed one low in an Alligator Juniper (only 10 ft. up in the tree, and right above me). That reminds me, I have a post regarding my Yellow-bellied Flycatcher I'm going to write soon, because the 22nd was the 1 year lifer anniversary, and it turns out that I saw the bird in Matanuska CO. Another day 2 highlight was my first for Gila CO. MEXICAN JAY. This beautiful corvid was much more skittish than the Chiricahua ones, though I still received great looks. Although this species is known from Texas and southeast Arizona, you'd be surprised that they are found as far north as the White Mountains region. I also still need to get to Slate Creek so I can add them to my Maricopa list. We also went to Woods Canyon Lake on day 2. My church doesn't know the history I have with this particular lake. But you guys do, Pacific Wren ring a bell? Recap: I failed to photograph a Pacific Wren there, twice. Now, I get that it's a wren and that that group of songbirds are some of the toughest to photograph, but we must acknowledge that this Pacific Wren was EXTREMELY CLOSE to me, less than arms length away!! Fortunately I know a location within my home county that is reliable in the winter time, Seven Springs Rec Area. This time, I was on the opposite side of the lake. The typical Violet-green Swallows were present, I really enjoyed 3 OSPREYS, which are always a highlight. One Individual even performed the epic & famous plunge-dive. There were also at least 3 swallows that gave me a PURPLE MARTIN vibe, though they were very distant. This lake is a reliable locality for that species. As you know, my first Purple Martin was on Mt. Ord, which was an epic sighting by the way! I had fun there, besides watching Ospreys, such as canoeing, which I haven't done in a long time. On the way back from the lake, I saw 2 GOLDEN EAGLES, always an ultimate highlight. Golden Eagles are popular and recognized for their power, but people don't know just how much of it they have. let's just say that not even an adult Gray Wolf can escape the insane strength of a wild Golden Eagle. Day 3: This day was interesting. My first highlight was yet another Golden Eagle in the afternoon. It flew right over the canopy, which was fairly low. Again, an excellent highlight despite being a brief one. Golden Eagles are freaking epic! One of my friends found a giant beetle by the volleyball court. It turned out to be a Ponderosa Pine Borer Longhorn, about 3 inches long and reddish-black. It has massive jaws that are painful and strong, long antennae, and a 5-inch wingspan! At night 2 amazing animals were caught by yours truly. First and foremost was a large male Cottonwood Stag Beetle. These huge insects are almost 2 inches long, with 2 spiky jaw-like horns curving on its head. Next up was a Wright's Mountain Tree Frog (state amphibian) that my peeps found right outside the cabin. It had been way too long since I caught my last frog, so it was only logical that I got my hands on this one! It is a cute little frog that lives in deciduous trees such as Boxelder and Sycamore He was about 1 1/2 inches, with big black eyes, bright green skin with brown patches. Day 4! We packed up and headed to California. The city we were headed is Santa Clarita, inland from Ventura. To get there, we drove through Los Angeles (which is way too big), with spectacular huge mountains. The tallest of which is Mt. San Antonio, of the San Gabriel Mts, at 10,064 ft. One of my favorite trees is a part of the lush Cali coast montane forest in these mountains, the Sugar Pine. It is the tallest pine in the world, over 300 ft. tall! The cones are also the longest, an insane 28 inches long! The needles are short, branches are whip-like. The flora present in these mountains are diverse: Parry Pinyon, Gray Pine, Coulter Pine, Jeffery Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Big-cone Douglas-Fir, California Sycamore, Coast Live-Oak, Canyon Live-Oak, Chaparral Yucca, etc. Y'all know what I've taught you: Many plant species = lots of birds! The same applies to insects, except for them it's relevant to a diversity of flowers. Birds present here reflect many of the mountain species found in Arizona, except as coastal counterparts. For example, Acorn Woodpeckers in Cali have longer bills. Some specialty birds hiding in the chaparral include California Towhee, California Thrasher, Wrentit, and California Gnatcatcher. Can you guess which state 3 of them are found in? It's too bad visiting these beautiful mountains wasn't part of the plan. Day 5: We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain for the day. I had a great time, despite very few birds. But hey, birds don't define a great time every time. Though I must say, depending on the bird(s) present, the awesomeness scale can be highly amplified. I went on a few rides, one of them I don't ever want to go on ever again, called the X2. That thing made me vocalize like a non-16-year-old. "There's a blonde-crowned Jared in the mixed flock foraging in the underbrush. Let's pish him in. Whoa, that was an unusual flight call, Jeff, take note on ebird, be sure to describe it well. Say, it sounds like a 'higher-pitched elongated Varied Thrush song.' ok?" Day 6: Ok, no more suspension, this was the final, and best-bird day. What I saw on the way back home was totally unexpected but took on with excitement. I was car-pooling with a portion of my group and as we drove through the chaparral a medium-sized, black bird with a tiny beak, long, sharp, arched back wings and broad tail soared over a low slope that was little above eye-level and close to the car- not too close though. "Was that a Black Swift," I questionably mumbled to myself. I knew it was- everything about it was so distinctive, even within such a brevity of an observation- but I was in absolute disbelief. That's all I could say, "was that a Black Swift." I did not expect to see one at all. It was in the very back of my mind. Then I thought, "wait, this is my only lifer for California, that's insane!' Looking back I'm also surprised by how well it was seen despite being brief. By now you all want to know what makes the BLACK SWIFT so epic. This swift is the least known of all North American breeding birds next to Gray-headed Chickadee. Its summering range consists of the towering mountains in: southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, E Idaho/W Montana, Colorado, and central & southern California. Very few nests have been accessed due to its habit of brooding in caves and behind waterfalls at very high elevations- laying only one egg. It migrates all the way to South America with its pair of elegant wings. It is uncommon wherever it occurs. For me to see one so low in the sky was also unusual, as they forage for insects high in the air. Low cloud cover (which was present) causes them to soar closer to the ground. This individual had most likely just left behind its breeding grounds closer to the peaks to head south for the Bahamas or S America.
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