Birding with tadoflamb 2017

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My arm is nearly normal and I've finally got my final tallies in eBird. Vermont continued to produce (#288) RED-EYED VIREO, (#289) BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, (#290) BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, (#291) TENNESSEE WARBLER, (#292) AMERICAN REDSTART, (#293) OVENBIRD, (#294) ALDER FLYCATCHER, (#295) LEAST FLYCATCHER, (#296) RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, (#297) COMMON TERN, (#298) GREATER-BLACK BACKED GULL and finally, (#299) INDIGO BUNTING.

In the end, I logged 67 species in Vermont with 20 new year birds, 47 Vermont lifers, and 5 North American lifers putting my total at 499.

 

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A few pics.

The 'yellow-shafted' version of the Norther Flicker

Eastern Kingbird, in the East no less.

Common Loon

 

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Common Yellowthroat

Gray Catbird

A really ratty looking American Redstart.

 

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Anybody care to work on their gull/tern ID skills?

 

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North Branch Nature Center near Montpelier.

 

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Three last shots, not the greatest, but I got kinda lucky.

 

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Went birding with the wife in world famous Madera Canyon after a 6:30 am mass at the cathedral this morning. We're experiencing what we call the 'second spring' here in southern Arizona. We've had a very wet July and the desert grasslands are green and lush with lot's of growth and water in the canyon.

I scored year bird (#300) SWAINSON'S HAWK perched in the mesquites in the grasslands approaching the canyon. The canyon itself was rather quiet and produced nothing new for the year but I did see and hear (#301) CASSIN'S SPARROWS skylarking in the grasslands. They nest in August after our summer monsoons begin.

They're super abundant this year, but amazingly, this was North American lifer #500 for me. For the American Birding Association (ABA) area which is north of the Mexican border, I'm still stymied at 499 (the Yellow-footed Gull I saw in Rocky Point, Mexico doesn't count) and for the lower 48 I'm still stuck at 498 (my lone Canadian lifer is the Northwestern Crow. I didn't realize there was such a thing)

In other words, I need another lifer to make myself really happy.

Leaving the canyon I talked the wife into visiting a local water treatment plant to see if a local rarity was still there. Sure enough it, we didn't even have to get out of the car to see an Arizona rarity, the Brown Pelican and his friend, local specialty, the (#303) BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING DUCK.

The pelican was Arizona lifer #341 and Pima County lifer #294.

Here's a picture of it.

And the duck

That's some heavy birding.

 

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Here's a picture of a Hooded Oriole from the canyon this morning.

 

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I had 21 White-faced Ibis fly over my house this morning.

That would be backyard life bird #117 for all of you scoring at home.

 

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Oh my it's been a while! It's getting to that point in the year where new year birds come much more slowly. I have been getting out in the field but not with the fervor I should and I have been chasing, which is something I said I wouldn't do, but becomes unavoidable if you really want to have a Big Year.

With so many guests in TLT these days, I thought it would be a good time to catch up a share with everyone the joys of God creation.

Weeks ago I did some target birding on the mountain. I found three (#303) HERMIT WARBLERS in fairly short order. I missed another target while circumnavigating a small lake but spied the rare (#304) COMMON BLACK HAWK soaring over the highway near the top of the mountain.

The following Sunday, I scored a family (Catholics are pro-family) of four (#305) TROPICAL KINGBIRDS at Sweetwater wetlands here in town.

Tired of the lull. Over Labor Day weekend I headed out to Lake Cochise to do some shore birding. I wasn't disappointed. One lap around the lake produced (#306) LONG-BILLED CURLEW, (#307) AMERICAN AVOCET, (#308) STILT SANDPIPER, (#309) WESTERN SANDPIPER, (#310)BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, (#311) WILSON'S PHALAROPE, but the winner for the day and probably the year was discovering two (2)(REALLY RARE!)(#312) ROSEATE SPOONBILLS, only the third record for Cochise County.

This is also the first time I've gotten my name on the Southeast Arizona Rare Bird Alert. Ego, ego,ego.

Here's a picture of some Cinnamon Teals seemingly wondering why these spoonbills are so far from home.

 

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Some more bird pics.

Long-billed Curlew

Stilt Sandpiper

@Colin this is an American Avocet

Chihuahuan Ravens

Baird's Sanpiper

Loggerhead Shrike

 

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I was hoping this would happen. I'm missing two warblers that I should have been able to pick up in spring migration. They both have been reported in the county recently, one in numbers, but I haven't had the gumption to chase them. Sure enough, a (#313)NASHVILLE WARBLER came by my water feature last Saturday. One more for the files of "How much God loves me". That would be back yard bird #56 for all of you scoring at home.

Did a little chasing last Sunday and went up on the mountain to look for a rare hawk. Made my first stop at a place called Inspiration Rock which overlooks the canyon where it's been reported. (Incidentally President G. W. Bush gave a speech here 2003 after the catastrophic Aspen fire. The hillside behind him was burnt as a crisp and he used it as a back drop and an excuse for logging on our national forests.)

It was really windy up there and it didn't produce anything bird wise except some ravens, some vultures and a Peregrine Falcon. So, I ventured down into the canyon to look continue my search.

Here's a photo of one of the vultures.

Upper Sabino Canyon is a sublimely beautiful place with large volcanic rocks and towering pines. I headed up a trail to find a outcropping with a good view and soon heard the high pitched screams of a raptor with which I am unfamiliar. I was able to catch a glimpse through the tree tops of a (#314) SHORT-TAILED HAWK defending it's territory against a Red-tailed Hawk. This makes life bird #500 for me for the ABA area. I wish I had gotten better looks at this very cool bird, so I've already a return trip planned in the area next Sunday. It's one of my wife's and I favourite hiking spots.

Other interesting sights were five migrating Vaux's Swifts barreling south down the canyon. Looking like 'cigars with wings', these are birds that I had seen earlier this year in Oregon, so it's fun seeing them on their way to their wintering grounds in a habitat similar to their breeding grounds.

Also, a kettle of migrating high flying Swainson's Hawks were dinged as rare on eBird. Here's a heavily cropped photo of one of those hawks. They were far, far away.

Overall, a great spot to be still, be aware, and experience the cycle of life around you.

 

[Colin]

I saw a robin this morning......a good start to the day .

 

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I had a little time after an early morning dental appointment of the other side of town so I treated myself to some birding in one of the nearby parks with a large lake in hopes of picking up some vagrant waterbirds. No avian vagrants were found but I did get some good birds. The first was a bit of a surprise, a Tree Swallow flying north. That's Pima year bird #214. A small number of Purple Martins were picking insects off the surface of the lake. These are beautiful and superb flyers. They're also a little strange to see here in the Sonoran desert, but they are residents. Ornitholigists want to split them off into their own species.

I also got really good looks at a Nashville Warbler. Here's it's picture.

Here's a low elevation Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. I'm pretty happy that I was able to get a decent shot of this tiny, hyper-active bird.

 

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I saw a robin this morning......a good start to the day .

That's fantastic.

 

[Colin]

That's fantastic.

And seeing a robin has special meaning for me......

 

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Some of my more observant readers might have noticed I've seen every North American species of the notoriously difficult to identify genus of Empidomax flycatchers (aka empids) save the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. How am I able to do this you may ask? Well, dear friends, I've found this chart extraordinarily useful.

Happy birding!

 

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Took another trip up the mountain yesterday to try to get a better look at that Short-tailed Hawk. Missed the hawk but had a great time anyway wandering in the wilderness. My first stop was at the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Area. It's a mid-elevation birding hotspot located on the former grounds of a WWII era prison camp for conscientious objectors an in Gordon's case, refusing to go to a Japanese-American internment camp.

It's an interesting place with some rock works and crumbling, colored cement floors being the only reminder of that which once was.

A little slow bird wise, though I gleaned a number of first-of-season (FOS) Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Chipping Sparrows. I'd seen plenty of individuals of both species during my travels to the northern tier this year. It was good to see them back on their wintering grounds. Sometimes I wonder if the birds I see on my travels and I ever cross path again here in Arizona.

Anyhoo, I got a quick glimpse at (#315) TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE, a bird that spends it's summer's in the sub-alpine forests of the Rocky Mountains.

A subsequent search at the top of mountain didn't produce said hawk, but I did see a really interesting (#316) OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. I couldn't figure out what it was until I got home and looked at my photos. It's a new bird for me at this location as well. @Colin would be interested to know that this bird's call sounds like 'quick-three-beers!'.

Here's a really bad picture of it.

Turns out hawk watches are good for hawk photos. Here's two different Red-tailed Hawks.

Here's a stellar Steller's Jay. Named after a German of all things.

 

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My childhood birding buddy who works for the National Park Service is currently on his way back to St. John's in the Virgin Islands for a few days. He posted this picture of a Brown Booby. I'm proud of his improving photography skills.

 

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Ladies and Gentlemen, Backyard Bird of the Year #57 Red-naped Sapsucker!