A Big January

Recently added to the Maricopa Ebird count, this Rosy-faced Lovebird was found at Encantada Park in Phoenix

Have you ever found something in your life that you wish you could devote all your time to? I have felt this intense focus several times in my life, but last month, Ms. Kathie Brown and I worked on a "Big January".  Sometimes we worked together and other times, we worked alone because of our schedules.

American White Pelicans at Gilbert Ranch

The whole idea of a "Big January" is to count as many different species of birds as you can in your own state.       In the process, you count birds and submit them to Ebird which then shares your results with others who participate in the state.  At one point, I was number one, but work started up and interfered with my counts and travel.

Red-tail Hawk

It was so bad that at one point, I sat down and had to create a master plan of all the hot locations where diverse numbers of birds were seen.  In a sense, backtrack over all the previous locations where I had spotted my rare birds etc.  And in the process, I picked up over 15 new lifebirds!

Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw

But I had a real challenge.....turning it off!  When it comes to investigating areas, I am really really OCD.  As a teacher, I use a lot of the strategies from my classroom for this hobby and it's a pretty powerful tool!  But turning it off and learning to say "NO" to that bird chase while someone else is finding them.....well that is super difficult. This is a competition!:) It's like the time I tried getting my Master Gardener title.  How can any non-retired person do something like this when they have a full-time job!!!????

Cactus Wren at Kennedy Lake in Tucson

There are so many stories from the chases and hunts with and without Kathie. They were so much fun.  Whether it was freezing from extreme temps, escaping snow storms, avoiding a Coati climb into my car for crackers while tracking a Hepatic Tanager, chasing lovebirds in a park full of homeless people in Phoenix, or sitting with some fishy smelling American White Pelicans as they got super close to me hiding in the reeds for those "perfect" shots, this challenge created a monster inside of me. And this really bad run-on sentence:)

Ferruginous Hawk

If I didn't see the target bird, I would get angry at myself. And if I found the bird, but took terrible pics, I would get frustrated.  Several were rare finds and it was irritating that I didn't move fast enough with my camera or get more observation time with the new birds. Tomorrow, I will have a special post showing you all the "okay" photos of the rare and exciting finds.  They have so many stories to go with them.

Savannah Sparrow 

The month flew by as the clock ticked.  Who would be the number one birder in Arizona? Well certainly not me.  After all I have a job!  And I'm not sure how the other birders do it. Unless of course, they are retired. However some of these people on the list are NOT retired.  Could it be an addiction?

I know that when I get up early in the morning, there are treasures just waiting to be found.  And they don't necessarily have to be birds.  It could be a skunk, a bear, a bobcat, etc etc that makes my day.  The thing is.....I never know what's going to be out there.  This "Big January" has forced me to really stay on top of my game.  I did get nervous about the birds I hadn't seen as I don't know their behaviors.  But the ones I do know, I could find easily!

And if there's one thing to say about a "Big January", it's really a review of our year working with our local birds....knowing their hangouts, the hiding places, and learning about their habitat.

Cassin's Kingbird

Many times, I would find myself in uncomfortable situations.  Driving random dirt roads that seemed to lead to nowhere or sitting in the bushes super close to larger birds like the American Pelican below.  I'm not a fish person and the smell of it on the pelican's breath is disgusting.  Trying not to throw up,  I got my shots and got out:)

So snakes may not be active around our desert right now, but it seems every mammal has been.  On a recent outing, I was searching for wild turkeys and found a skunk!  And I almost got sprayed.  Luckily I back away slowly from the raised tail, got my shots and turned around.  Unfortuneatly, a family and their aggressive dog weren't so lucky.  Had they been polite, I may have alerted them but I figure they'll have good bonding time after that experience.  It stunk pretty bad.

Snowy Egret

Tanagers in our desert are very uncommon during the winter.  But birders have spotted Summer, Hepatic, and Western Tanagers all around the Tucson area.  To our delight, after a long day hiking a trail, this Hepatic Tanager popped out for some dinner.  Birders everywhere snapped shots and then left the area.  It was weird.  The sun went behind the canyon and everyone went home.  "Big January" indeed.

Hepatic Tanager

I should also point out that while I've seen and heard many of the birds in this set of pics today, the one below is the one I'm proudest of.  A difficult bird to film is the wren......especially the Marsh Wren.  On this particular cold day, the Marsh Wren would appear briefly from the reeds at the Whitewater Draw allowing me first time observation of this secretive and fast bird. The coloring of the feathers is absolutely stunning.

Marsh Wren

Hawks.  Hawks.  And more HAWKS!  Red tail hawks have so many looks that it can drive a birder crazy.  We always think we've spotted something different until the marks lead us back to the.......Red Tail Hawk.  Our running joke was/is "Red Tail"!  Before we'd stop at every telephone post.  Now we slow down when we can and look for the various field marks.  It can drive this birder nuts.  But no matter how many times you see the Red Tail Hawk, it's always a beautiful thing!

So my count? 168 species. Pretty much everything is new this year for me as I just began the EBIRD craze so there isn't really anything to compare from previous years. So much goes into birding.  There's the people.  The experience.  The Observation.  Playing detective.  Getting the picture. Documentation. The Planning. And for what?  Personal satisfaction.  Knowing that you're helping out people who work with our birds around world.  The sport.  The experience. And to put it simply....it relaxes the body and excites the mind.  It's being an explorer again like those only centuries ago.

Yellow-throated Warbler

And the rank?  In Arizona, 9th place(for now:).  In Pima County, I'm tied for 6th place.  My goals this year are to find all the "regulars" in Arizona and develop strategies for my birding ventures outside of the state.  I am really wanting to maximize my time while birding abroad this year and the best way to train is here in Tucson:)  Every species of bird has their "thing".  If I can figure out the habits of thrushes, warblers, raptors, thrashers, sparrows, wrens, etc etc etc, I can pick up more species for that lifelist while understanding their habitat better.

Pacific Loon

Stay tuned for the final "Rarities" post.