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 guys! September 29th I had a chance to go to Yuma with one of my best friends, Caleb Strand, and Kurt Radamaker. In addition to that we entered California to bird a vagrant trap there. Yuma. You may be familiar with the large Mittry Lake that resides in the area. It hides away a tiny, dark, marsh bird that shouts "Kee-kee-kdeer!" Are any feathers fluffing up yet? Imagine a chickadee-sized dragon, one that follows mice to traverse through its extremely dense habitat. This minute beast also rumbles an intimidating growl, very loudly too. They call it: Black Rail. Yuma is in the Mohave Desert, on the border of California & Baja, Mexico. Because the desert surrounding this small city is so desolate & vast, eastern vagrants, particularly warblers, funnel through here on the way to the Pacific Ocean. These can range from anything mild to blazing spicy! Examples of what's been here in the past are: California Scrub Jay, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Orchard Oriole, Mississippi Kite, Black Swift (oddly a mega rarity for the state), Sooty Shearwater, Brown Booby, Couch's Kingbird, and Magnificent Frigatebird. The pelagic species were blown in by epic hurricanes (such as Nora). My goal for today was to get a few lifers and get my county list up to 100 species. Our first location after a 2 and a half hours of driving, was Yuma West Wetlands. Caleb said that COMMON GROUND-DOVE is abundant at this location: Fortunately enough, it only took a couple minutes for this pair to show up! I was glad to finally get both satisfying views & pics of this species. This tiny dove resembles a stumpy Mourning Dove, at least on the lower half. The breast is scaly with a pinkish hue, the crown is chalky blue. CGDO can look better than this, some are reddish brown, more like Ruddy Ground-Dove. Like the other ground doves this one has black tipped bright red-orange flight feathers. This dove is adorable. Another highlight was RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER, it has been almost a year since I saw one. It is basically a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with a red nape (or a Red-breasted Sapsucker with a black-bordered throat plus extensive white on the face. It is among my favorite woodpeckers. Field marks include: Red crown (with black border, defining red nape); black vermiculations (triangle marks) on gray underside; crimson throat with black border; vermiculated black & white back); Flight feathers black with white tips; upper area of wing, i.e the coverts black, lastly a white wingstripe, which is characteristic of the sapsuckers. I hope to obtain photos of this species when winter approaches, with HRP the best place for them in Maricopa. In the vegetation along the Colorado River a MACGILLVRAY'S WARBLER was skulking. This large warbler is an uncommon migrant in Arizona, almost always seen for a tiny period of time. Males are particularly attractive; olive above, bright yellow below; gray hood & white eye crescents. I did attempt getting a pic, but it decided it was done with me after a few seconds. This is an immature male American Rubyspot, a type of damselfly. I've seen adult males at HRP, the red patches on the wings are much more brilliant then. A Queen. Note similarity to Monarch, that is because it's in the same genus: Danaus. If you're interested in distinguishing the 2: Monarch: bright yellow-orange wings Queen: Chesnut-orange wings Monarch: Broad black border on bottom of forewings, strongly defining them from hindwings Queen: No black border on bottom, making hind & forewings blend Monarch: Abdomen black Queen: Abdomen orange-brown (with black spot behind thorax) Monarch: Thorax has thin white stripe down the center; tiny spots on sides Queen: Thorax has broad white stripe down the center; big spots on sides Monarch: Black veins on wings Queen: Veins same color as wings Next up we hit a vagrant trap that is decent for eastern warblers called Yuma East Wetlands (you can probably guess what its direction is relevant to Yuma West Wetlands). I say decent because it could be a hit or miss, like any vagrant trap (some are better than others though). For example, places farther east, such as in eastern New Mexico (Melrose Woods) you have a better chance for more hardcore passerines. These places are hit and miss in that, you will almost always get something from the east, such as Am Redstart, or Black and White Warbler, but these are mild peppers in western birding salsa. However, Cerulean Warbler is an excellent example of something that could make you faint. "Bruh, everyone thinks that only owls can do this." Cooper's Hawks were abundant, a couple of family groups with maybe 10 individuals total. As we walked underneath large Fremont Cottonwoods and willows, we came across a flock of passerines consisting mostly of BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS which were calling to one specific area up in a willow. This meant only one thing: owl. Much effort went into searching for this tiny owl sp, without result. It wasn't a complete failure, though. "There's a Black & White Warbler in the flock," said vagrant-finder Caleb. It took me a minute to find it, another few to get it into focus: What a great bird to hit #375 with! In Arizona, this warbler doesn't really count as a vagrant, considering it is regular throughout, find a stand of cottonwoods and your chances are good for finding one. Nonetheless, this is a very good find, considering its uniqueness. The obvious one being that it is the only completely colorless warbler (BTGW has yellow lores). It is famed for its nuthatch behavior of spiraling up & down tree trunks like a nuthatch or creeper. Its bill is even creeper like with that de-curve on the upper mandible. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher wanted his picture taken too. Despite lacking any yellow, red, blue, or orange of the other warblers, this species is among the most beautiful of them. Life history: Summer males look fantastic with significantly more black plumage than non-breeders. Imm females have the most white. It is a widespread species, broadly distributed across most of the taiga belt, northern midwest states, great lakes states, east coast states, and southeast states. Winters in southern Texas, Florida, Mexico, into northern South America. Because this warbler is so distinct it is monotypic of the genus Mniotilta. Our individual is a male because the auriculars (cheek patch) are very dark. I enjoyed my first BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER for about 15 minutes. The 3 of us continued to look everywhere in the tree still without resulting in an owls. Before the BWWA, my highlight within the flock was my first ever seen BELL'S VIREO. Variegated Fritillary. I better put it on inat: there are no records for any fritillaries for the site in Yuma! Our next spot in Yuma CO. Was south Mittry Lake. It is a huge artificial resivior with extensive sedge swamp & riparian habitat, and you know you can't go wrong with riparian! There is one tiny bird in particular that can't be found anywhere else in Arizona, thus gaining this lake fame. You guessed it, it's Black Rail. I got to revisit CLARK'S GREBE, looking through Caleb's and Kurt's scopes. For direct comparison, a Western Grebe was by its side. Then the Clark's did something awesome: He pointed his bill at a coot, lunged forward, and grabbed its wing! He pushed the coot away, and the coot burst to get as far away from the grebe quickly. Clark's Grebe is actually my favorite grebe, it is great, perhaps too cool to be affiliated with a coot. This photo doesn't do any right to this large bird's beauty. I can tell you though, the CLGR looked fantastic through the scope! CLGR: White lores (between bill & eye); white above & below eyes WEGR: Black lores; black above & below eyes CLGR: Brilliant orange-yellow bill WEGR: Olive-yellow bill CLGR: Flanks mostly white WEGR: Flanks mostly gray Both have bright red eyes, same size/proportions, and black cap. Both have an impressive courtship display: Pair runs across the water with heads held high, crowns fluffed out on the sides, and wings flapping rapidly. They are in perfect alignment the whole time, the most impressive aspect. The simultaneous style of courtship has been adapted by a lot of species. If they are not in unison, they are not compatible. Interestingly, this style applies only to monogamous species. After that it was the grand northern end of Mittry Lake: This is where the Black Rail lurks in the shadows. Once we arrived, Caleb brought out his speaker, which was connected to his phone, and boomed the song of the Black Rail... "Kee-Kee-kdeerr!"Responded a BLACK RAIL. It was in the corner of the lake, 80 or more ft. away. Caleb then played the song a second time: "Kee-Kee-kdeerr!" Only a minute had gone by & we had one singing right below, 20 ft! We were extremely fortunate to even hear a Black Rail at this time, let alone 2!! It was around 9:40 when they were singing, a bit late in the morning considering they are nocturnal or active before dawn. Belted Ringtail. Shortly after the second started singing, a 3rd rail joined into the chorus close by the one below us. Both of them started growling Black Rail style frequently. Since it's hard to describe what a growl from a palm-sized bird sounds like, I recommend listening to that unique vocalization on xenocanto.org or allaboutbirds.org. The Black Rail is tiny, only about 6 inches. It is scattered across North & South America, but virtually absent from Mexico. It is beautiful and mysterious-looking. The most epic feature of it are the intense, brilliant crimson eyes. It has a chestnut patch behind a coal-gray neck; The head & breast are also dark gray. Underside is black with white bars, tail is black with white dots, undertail coverts orange. Back & wings are dark brown to black with white feather tips. Its feet are disproportionally large, and the beak is like a Sora's, but shiny black. BLRA's ideal habitat, interestingly every population has its own version of grassy, dense marshland, each one unique. Heck, why not make that a goal: Observe/hear Black Rail in every habitat it's found in. You know, the rails were singing when I took these, so technically I've photographed it. Alrighty, it's time to move on from the BLRAs. Our next stop was Phil Swing Park, barely in California. Here is where I was brutally and mercilessly attacked by mosquitos. Emphasis on relentless. GRAY FLYCATCHER, rare overall in Cali, but a regular migrant along the Colorado River. Western Wood-Pewee. Other highlights included; Pacific-Slope Flycatcher, Green-tailed Towhee, and Yellow Warbler. After 28 minutes, we headed back into Arizona, and on the way- still in Cali- I heard my lifer RIDGWAY'S RAIL at last! We got out to look for it, which you would think to be easy considering it was right next to the road, but we never saw it. That's ok though, because I will see it one day. Our last highlight in town was an Osprey at the other side of Mittry Lake. Here are some pictures: The Osprey always has been and is going to remain one of my favorite birds. The first one I ever saw I was so enchanted by. I've always been so fascinated by its stunning hunting technique. Never ceases to amaze me.
Our last locality for the trip was the almighty Dateland. Wasn't almighty today- we had very few birds. It was definitely the deadest it has ever been that I've been there. No Yellow-bellied Flycatcher for us this time. Well guys I think I'm going to end it there. I might edit it to make it higher quality, but for now I should get it out there. Remember to #likecommetshare. Go ahead and follow me on G+ & FB so you know when I upload. If you have bird ID questions, email me @ [email protected]. Peace out!
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