Birding with tadoflamb 2017

[tadoflamb]

I bought a new camera! Here's a few of the results:

Spotted Towhee

2017 Year Bird #234 Western Wood Pewee

And the star of the day, 2017 Year Bird #241 Rufous-capped Warbler

 

[tadoflamb]

I know everyone is wondering, what's Tad's latest bird?

Well, last Sunday I went to kind of a strange spot, an old gravel pit, to find (#242) WHITE-FACED IBIS.

Here's a pic. Fascinating bird, isn't it?

And here's a picture of the backside of the beautiful 'White Dove of the Desert', San Xavier del Bac

 

[tadoflamb]

I finally caught a glimpse of a (#243) LESSER NIGHTHAWK from my backyard after sunset last night. I've been looking for a while now. That's year backyard bird #47 for those of you scoring at home.

 

[tadoflamb]

Alrighty! The wife and I took one of our favorite hikes on the mountaintop last Sunday. We took over 5 hours to walk 3 miles, but we saw a lot of birds, took a lot of pics and enjoyed a lot of song. Naturally, my targets were some montain warblers and flycatchers.

Immediately out of the car I heard the diagnostic call of the (#244) CORDILAREAN FLYCATHER (I have no idea why it's called that). Another target bird, the (#245) RED-FACED WARBLER was also abundant and easy to find along the trail. A (#246) VIRGINIA'S WARBLER was a nice surprise. The final new bird of the year was a local specialty (#247) GREATER PEWEE. It does come up from Mexico and it must be Catholic because it incessantly sang 'Jose Maria!'

 

[tadoflamb]

Some pics from the trip:

Female Western Tanager picking up nesting material.

Yellow-eyed Junco. See his yellow eye?

Red-faced Warbler

Horned Lizard

 

[tadoflamb]

wer m i?

(#248) CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE, (#249) BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, (#250) RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH

 

[tadoflamb]

wer wuz i?

(#251) PACIFIC LOON, (#252) BRANDT'S CORMORANT, (#253) PELAGIC CORMORANT, (#254) BROWN PELICAN, (#255) COMMON MURRE, (#256) PIGEON GUILLEMOT, (#257) TUFTED PUFFIN, (#258) WESTERN GULL, (#259) CALIFORNIA GULL, (#260) GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, (#261) VAUX'S SWIFT, (#262) SURF SCOTER, (#263) BLACK OYSTERCATCHER, (#264) PACIFIC WREN.

Western birders should be able to identify my location by my bird list alone, but here's a visual clue:

 

[tadoflamb]

I got to spend 6 hours walking through the mist of one of my newest favorite places, Tualatin NWR near Portland, OR. Some of these new birds were heard and not seen.

(#265) YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT, (#266) BAND-TAILED PIGEON, (#267) RING-NECKED PHEASANT, (#268) RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER, (#269) WILLOW FLYCATCHER, (#270) CASSIN'S VIREO, (#271) AMERICAN BITTERN, (#272) CALIFORNIA SCRUB-JAY and (#273) PURPLE FINCH

A Song Sparrow singing in the rain.

Savannah Sparrow.

If it's got hair, I don't care.

 

[tadoflamb]

It hit 115 degrees here in Tucson yesterday, so what else to do but go birding? I spent the morning in the lower reaches of the world class birding destination of Madera Canyon. I got my three main targets fairly easily.

(#274) BLUE GROSBEAK, (#275) VARIED BUNTING, (#276) BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHER (RARE!), (#277) SULFUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (squeaks like a rubber duck) and the appropriately named (#278) MAGNIFICENT HUMMING BIRD.

Arizona Woodpecker.

 

[Davidnic]

Lily got to add a few Birds to her life list on vacation at Myrtle Beach this year. The most exciting was a definite sighting of a young Autobons Shearwater.

Warmer-than-normal water plus some storms seem to be the cause of it being that far north at this time of year.

She looked at it and said: "Daddy the jizz on that is all wrong for what I should be seeing here, please get the book after I sketch the outline."

 

[Davidnic]

We also saw a bird sanctuary and park in North Carolina on the way back home that she says she wants to visit at some point. But she said that has to go in a different list because adding that to a life list is cheating.

 

[tadoflamb]

Lily got to add a few Birds to her life list on vacation at Myrtle Beach this year. The most exciting was a definite sighting of a young Autobons Shearwater.

Warmer-than-normal water plus some storms seem to be the cause of it being that far north at this time of year.

She looked at it and said: "Daddy the jizz on that is all wrong for what I should be seeing here, please get the book after I sketch the outline."

That's fantastic. I'm really weak on my pelagics. Was this from the shore? If so, that's even more amazing. The only time I've seen shearwaters was in October in Oregon. Just for kicks I focused my spotting scope as far as I could out into the Pacific and there I saw an huge stream of birds heading north, stretched out as far as the eye could see in either direction. It had to be close to a million birds. Years later a local birder told me they were Sooty Shearwaters, though I haven't counted them as a lifer yet. I'm going to hold out for a closer look.

 

[tadoflamb]

We went to northern Arizona to get out of the heat this weekend. I can't say I was much of an inspiring birder, but while laying in bed I did hear a (#279) COMMON NIGHTHAWK, and on a short hike up high in the San Francisco peaks, as predicted, I found a (#280) GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET.

Here's two photos of a couple of young Red-breasted Nuthatches taking a bath in a pool of fresh rainwater on top of a large boulder at the Kachina trail head. They were really fun to watch.

 

[Davidnic]

Yep it was at the shore and there was a bunch of storms coming in all out from the ocean. I was pretty shocked. At first I did not really think we had it right because close to shore is rare. But it was pretty clear. There are lots of sightings further out to sea up north from where we were, and that is where the storm was spinning back from. So my guess is that had something to do with it.

It was funny because just the week before Lily and her mom went to a local birding presentation that talked about why we had some of the odder birds here in State College because when the eye of a hurricane was over us years ago some Coastal birds wound up here. One birder came out of his house and saw one by his mail box in serious distress and knew it should not be here. They were telling the story of how the local birders helped to get the birds back to where there was a better habitat. But some were able to adapt so we see more gulls than we should and such.

She is excited there are some bird banding events locally later this summer. We are fortunate to have lots of state parks nearby. I told her about one of them that is a good birding spot for warblers. So I am sure we will hit that up.

She is getting into it all more and more. I have some ideas for Christmas with some things to help identification skills, and a vest. For Vacation the first thing she packed was binoculars and her guide.

On the way down to vacation we stopped at a rest stop and Lily grabbed my phone because she saw her first Killdeer.

 

[tadoflamb]

The heat and the fires must have me down because I have very little to report besides an unexpected (#281) TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE over the 4th of July in northern AZ.

Here's a picture of Luna Lake in the smoke. Strange colors but kinda pretty.

And, Ladies and Gentlemen, here is the first and only Lesser Yellowlegs to be reported in Apache County on eBird in 2017! (We have to settle for the small victories)

 

[tadoflamb]

Today I saw (#282) CHIMNEY SWIFT in Glen Falls, NY.

*edited to add (#283) FISH CROW, heard in Glens Falls.

 

[Davidnic]

Lily got to see an Indigo Bunting really clearly today. It is her favorite Bird so she was happy.

 

[tadoflamb]

On the way down to vacation we stopped at a rest stop and Lily grabbed my phone because she saw her first Killdeer.


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That's great. We have a lot of retirees picking up birding around here who are also carrying around very nice cameras. It kills me when they proudly post pictures of their lifers. Usually birds I saw when I was little more than Lily's age.

I saw a bunch of young Killdeer over the 4th of July weekend. For a while I thought they might have been Semi-palmated Plovers, until one by one all four of them had their heads stuck into their mothers breast feathers. Really cute.

 

[tadoflamb]

And in other birding news, I picked up a (#284) GRAY CATBIRD at Lake George this afternoon.

We're in Vermont now at my brother's house. It's out in the country. We'll see what the morning brings. Indigo Buntings would be a good possibility. I haven't seen one yet this year although there is a small population in one of my favorite canyons near Tucson.

It's blessedly quiet out here.

 

[tadoflamb]

My brother's small plot of land seems to be a sanctuary for (#285) CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER.(lifer!) Other birds for the morning included (#286) VEERY (lifer!) and (#287) BLUE-HEADED VIREO (another lifer!) The birding here is difficult because of all the foliage, but interesting and rewarding since it's a whole new cast of characters.