Birding with tadoflamb 2017

[tadoflamb]

77.) Sharp-shinned Hawk

(backyard)

 

[tadoflamb]

Last Sunday, I did what I said I wasn't going to do, and chased birds all morning. Chasing is when you have target birds you want to see, and you chase them. Many times they can be rare and lot of angst can be involved.

My first target was a corral in Ironwood National Monument. The monument (established by President Bill Clinton by Presidential Proclamation in 2000) lies west of Tucson. The part I visited was a very bleak area of desert dotted with creosote, a few mesquites, ironwoods, and very little else. Yet, at the corral, I found a small flock of (#78) SAGEBRUSH SPARROWS.

This is what a Sagebrush Sparrow looks like.

Continuing on past the monument I stopped for a quick look over some recharge basin where I saw five (#79) NORTHERN PINTAILS.

Driving along through the desert, I was fortunate to pick up a local specialty, (#80) a GILDED FLICKER posting up on top of a saguaro.

From there, I went to a waste water treatment plant where I found six (#81) LEAST SANDPIPERS , two (#82) KILLDEER and (Colin will be interested in this) an (#83) AMERICAN PIPIT.

From there I went to the edge of some alfalfa fields just north of the San Xavier Mission and the Tohono O'odham reservation where a (#84) SAVANNAH SPARROW showed nicely and I was able to observe three (#85) CRESTED CARACARA.

This is what a Caracara looks like.

Later that afternoon in my backyard, (#86) a BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD showed up at one of my feeders.

 

[tadoflamb]

Time to catch up my intrepid readers.

I've been out in the field two times this week. The first was last Thursday morning after a very early dentist appointment. I was going to go to a nearby local park, but I got out in enough time that, on a lark, I decided to go chase a couple of birds I had 'dipped' (dipping is when you chase a bird and don't find it) on a few weeks ago.

My lark turned out fairly well at first as I identified (#87) a small flock of HORNED LARKS and many more (#88) LARK SPARROWS. I was also able to make the tricky identification of a (#89) CHIHUAHUAN RAVEN by comparing it to the local Common Ravens.

I got one of my target birds when a flock of 4 (#90) MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS showed up. Mountain Bluebirds spend their summers in the mountains of Montana which is where I first became fond of them.

 

[tadoflamb]

Yesterday, after the 7am mass, once again I headed out to field and once again made my third trip to the above mentioned park to seek out a rare warbler.

Although I enlisted the ranks of a birding tour group and a lovely English birder, after almost two hours I couldn't turn up the bird. I did, however, pick up (#91) a PRAIRIE FALCON winging over the park.

So, I headed out to one of my favourite birding hotspots, Florida (pronounced Flor-EE-da) Canyon. Florida Canyon was typically quiet for a warm, late January afternoon, but I was able to see and identify many of the local specialties one would expect to find in there including (#92) BRIDLED TITMOUSE, (#93) WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, (#94) BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, (#95) BEWICK'S WREN, (#96) MONTEZUMA QUAIL, (#97) MEXICAN JAYS (walls don't work for them), (#98) GRAY FLYCATCHER, (#99) ARIZONA WOODPECKER, (#100) NORTHERN-BEARDLESS TYRANNULET, (#101) HOUSE WREN and (#102) HERMIT THRUSH.

All in all, a good morning in Florida Canyon.

Driving back to Tucson, I decided to make a fourth stop to try to pick up the rare and elusive warbler. After ten minutes I was rewarded with (#103) a PALM WARBLER running along the ground and gleaning insects off the penstamens.

But wait......!

On I-19 just south of the historic San Xavier Mission, I saw a (#104) Black Vulture (rare for Pima county) soaring over the freeway. A great finish for a great day in the field.

 

[tadoflamb]

For all of you scoring along at home, your intrepid author is
#17 among all eBirders in Pima county (61 species behind the leader) and I just dropped out of first place for most backyard birds at 27 species (down by two species).

I'm still very pleased with my start. Anytime I can get a 100 species in a month I'm happy and I'm way ahead of my 2013 Big Year pace. I'm having a lot of fun out in the field, and it's good to get my mind off of politics and all the other junk of the world.

 

[tadoflamb]

Here's a picture I took of one of the Mountain Bluebirds.

 

[tadoflamb]

And here's a few shots of Florida Canyon.

 

[tadoflamb]

It's been over a week since I've been out in the field. I didn't get out over the weekend because I was finishing up some watercolors for a show being hung this morning, so after dropping off my paintings I set off to some Tucson parks for some urban birding.

My first stop, Fort Lowell Park, I finally saw a (#105) EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE. They're an invasive species that have spread rapidly through the US in my life time. I was surprised it took me so long to see one this year.

I also picked up my target species (#106) and (#107) WESTERN and EASTERN BLUEBIRDS. The Eastern Bluebird population in southern AZ is part of an isolated population in Mexico. Ornithologists are thinking of splitting this population from the eastern population. They want to call it the 'Azure Bluebird'. I hope they do. That means I get an automatic new bird for my life list.

Next stop, Reid Park, looking for a Wood Duck. Dipped on the duck but scored on a rare (#108) RED-BREASTED MERGANSER and a pair of (#109) DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS hanging out with the Neo-tropics.

I then spent three hours at Sweetwater wetlands where I saw my first (#110) PLUMBEOUS VIREO, (#111) NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, (#112) CINNAMON TEAL amd (#113) COMMON GALLINULE. A huge surprise came when I saw a strange, large bird winging well above the wetlands. Once I got my binoculars on it, it was easy to tell by the all white body and black wing tips that it was (#114) SNOW GOOSE. Quite the site for southern Arizona.

 

[tadoflamb]

You may have been wondering, what's tadoflamb doing? Well, yesterday I got up with the birds and went to Sabino Canyon a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery popular hiking destination on the outskirts of Tucson to look for some of my sparrow friends.

There were a ton of noisy people there but eventually I got away from the maddening crowd and enjoyed some quiet time with my targets. The first and most expected species (#115) BLACK-THROATED SPARROW came fairly easily.

Here's a picture I took of one of them. Cute little guys, huh?

I enjoyed the short mile long hike to a small dam and riparian area on Sabino Creek. Once there, it was a little quiet bird wise, but I did get to enjoy one of the most beautiful songs in the bird world (#116) CANYON WREN.

Here's what a Canyon Wren sounds like.

A was also treated to a great look at a pair of (#117) HUTTON'S VIREOS, one of our local specialties.

Returning the way I came I decided to check out a hillside on the other side of the creek. There, I ran into a wonderful mix of sparrows. Aside from the Black-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, I also found my target, and local specialties, (#118) BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW and (#119) RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROW, a (#120) CANYON TOWHEE as well as a Northern Cardinal rounded out the sparrow spectacular. Here's a picture of the towhee and the cardinal. The towhee seemed to have something going on for the cardinal.

And here's one final shot of this special desert oasis. There's a lot of snow melt so there's a lot more water than usual.

 

[tadoflamb]

You don't think I could let a Sunday get by me that easily do you? After mass, I ran some errands around town and made one more attempt at getting the (#121) WOOD DUCK at Reid Park.

I got it.

 

[tadoflamb]

Today, I was able to make a late start to Sweetwater Wetlands. This was different for me as usually I'm there at sunrise. My target was a rare warbler from back east that I first became acquainted with in Central Park. In spite of several long trips to the wetlands I still hadn't turned up the bird.

Ironically, what I did manage to turn up was a male and female, (#122) BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER which are the local look a likes for my target species.

What I think was an (#!@%) EASTERN PHOEBE was in a maddeningly difficult spot to get a close look at. I did get some pix. What do you think? Eastern Phoebe or no?

Determined to hit my target I combed the wetlands until I spied a small black and white bird climbing nuthatch style through the trees (#123) BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER.

Here's a photo of a Black-throated Gray and a Black-and-white Warbler. (not mine)

Towards sunset the blackbirds started to come in and make a spectacle of themselves. Aside from the 80 or so Redwings and 300 Brewers I found two (#124) YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRDS and 50 (#125) BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS. My camera ran out of batteries, otherwise I would have tried to get some pics.

That's it for now, well see what the experts say about the Eastern Phoebe but I think it the photo looks good.

See something rare for me!

 

[tadoflamb]

What I think was an (#123) EASTERN PHOEBE was in a maddeningly difficult spot to get a close look at. I did get some pix. What do you think? Eastern Phoebe or no?

View attachment 189911

SUBMISSION REJECTED!

The experts tell me this is not an Eastern Phoebe but a young, female Vermilion Flycatcher.

 

[tadoflamb]

Saw (#126) a White-winged Dove on my way home from work last Wednesday. They'll be showing up here in numbers shortly.

My Pima county list is still at 126.

 

[tadoflamb]

We took our first trip out of the county for year and went up north to red rock country for a three day weekend. A winter storm had settled in the area making for some wet, but very beautiful birding.

Year bird (#127) was an (Colin would be interested to know this) American Robin. The place where we stayed was thick with them. I ended up counting 44 at one time. I also saw (#128) a Dark-eyed Junco that evening.

The next morning I was treated to at least 50 (#129) Cedar Waxwings feasting on the elderberry bushes outside our room. Quite the sight to see so many of these beautiful birds at one time. Subsequent hikes into the mist produced (#130) Red-naped Sapsucker, (#131) Spotted Towhee, (#132) Woodhouse's Scrub-jay, (#133) Bushtit and serendipitously the local specialty (#134) Juniper Titmouse.

Nothing I won't see later in Pima county (except the Juniper Titmouse, that's a tough get) but some nice birds in a spectacular setting.

 

[Kenny G]

I don't like crow. I see many to scavenge near my shopping mall garbage bin.

 

[tadoflamb]

I don't like crow. I see many to scavenge near my shopping mall garbage bin.

I haven't seen a crow yet this year.

 

[tadoflamb]

Last Thursday, while driving to work, I spotted (#135) a NORTHERN HARRIER soaring over my street. I didn't quite have time to go back home to log it as a backyard bird.

 

[tadoflamb]

Sunday was my first big day in the field. I spent it in town chasing rarities. My first foray was to Sam Lena park to look for some rare ducks and a waterthrush that had been reported. I dipped on both the ducks, but a nice man pointed out the waterthrush to me. There has a great water (thrush) war going on here in S.E. Arizona with the ID of the bird in dispute. I returned later in the day for another look at the bird, but only found an overly ambitious birder standing in the spot where I had spotted the bird that morning. Gosh, I wish they wouldn't do that. In the end, the experts agree, what everyone was seeing was a (#136) NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH.

I spent the rest of afternoon wandering around Sweetwater Wetlands looking for the one merganser species I still need. Missed the merganser, but met a very nice and expert French birder. I also picked up a very, good looking (#137) BLUE-WINGED TEAL pair which completes my teal trifecta for the year.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at home where I had the good fortune of spying (#138) Merlin winging over my back yard. Inspired by this success I took my spotting scope up on the roof to see why I could see from up there. I was immediately surprised by a Red-tailed Hawk (back yard bird #30) and a pair of (#139) GOLDEN EAGLES and lifetime backyard bird #116.

 

[tadoflamb]

+ Quote



Since I've run out of birds to chase in the lowlands I decided to spend my Monday up on the mountain exploring the habitats up to 7000'. My first stop was at Molina Basin in hopes to see the roosting Long-eared Owl. It would have been a lifer for me, but once again, when I arrived the bird was not there. The whitewash on the branch was little consolation.

After wasting 45 minutes looking for the owl, I went a little higher up to the Oak/Pinyon grassland type habitat at the Gordon Hirobayashi Recreation Area. This rec area is located on the site of an old prison camp that was used for conscientious objectors during WWII. Gordon Hirobayashi was a Japanese/American who resisted going to the internment camps and so was instead convicted and sentenced to serve at this camp.

Asides from picking up a lot of the birds for Pima county that I saw last weekend, I also found a small flock of my FOY (#140) PINE SISKIN.

My nest stop was Rose Canyon Lake at about 7000' feet and in pine forests. There was still some snow on the ground and a lot of fallen timber but I was still able to find lots of (#141} YELLOW-EYED JUNCO's, (#142) RED CROSSBILL, (#143) PYGMY NUTHATCH, (#144) MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE, (#145
)STELLER'S JAY and a (#147) NORTHERN GOSHAWK thought the eBird reviewer says he needs more details before he can accept my entry.

One final stop produced an (#147) HAIRY WOODPECKER in with three other species woodpecker and 11 members of two species of jays. Not sure why they were all gathered in one spot like that.

 

[tadoflamb]

For all of you scoring along at home I didn't get to 147 US species during my Big Year in 2013 until March 25th and I didn't hit 144 Pima county species until April 13th, so I'm way ahead of my 2013 pace.

Currently I'm in 8th place for Pima county eBirders and in 2nd place for backyard birds.

Woo hoo!