Las Aventuras: The USS Betty White

My shuttle, the USS Betty White in her native habitat. I'll admit it, I'm a little too in love with my car but it has made for the best birding vehicle ever.

OH how I love my Betty White. She makes everything better. This past weekend we went on a mission with Tucson Audubon to save the Chestnut-collared Longspurs in the scenic grasslands known as San Rafael.

The guardian angel of the grasslands, the White-tailed Kite of the early morning

We do these counts every year to protect the habitat for this species of declining longspurs. In fact, the grassland species on a whole have had the largest impact with declining numbers due to loss of habitat. So it's important to protect these spaces for birds.

The USS Betty White is a survey vessel used for research and saving birds

I love the grasslands. And I especially love any sparrow or sparrow-like bird.

It's challenging and requires a little know-how but our collective experience helped us find quite a few of them.

The team listens carefully for longspurs, makes note of the grass that they are in and searches for any movement

It's hard not to notice some of the other beautiful birds that winter in the grasslands like the White-tailed Kite below.

When the world seems like it's falling apart, I only need to stroll in the open air of the grasslands to forget all of it.

As we walk towards the cattle tanks, we hear the high "tribble tribble" of the longspurs as they prepare to fly.

Chestnut-collared Longspurs are amazing.

As they flush from the grasses, the longspurs fly in a popcorn pattern zipping here and there every second they are up in the air. This is one of the most challenging bird species to capture in photos. They are secretive and fast when discovered.

Most people just see little brown dots vanishing into the grasses.

Maureen is a pro and was a lot of fun to work with

To make a great day, you need great birders. And we had it all. The worst part of looking forward to something is that it also ends before you know it. To say that I was on a high would be an understatement. Grasslands, friends(new and old), Betty White, the target bird and fantastic weather made the event fly by like...well....the longspurs.

Sure they are sparrow-like and brown but they are fascinating birds. To not have these birds around in the winter would break my heart. They belong here. It's why we do these surveys.

To find wintering AZ longspurs, you'll need your ears, some good grassland habitat and cattle tanks/ponds. And a little luck😉

It's an incredible experience and one that every birder should celebrate.

After our "work" was done, me and the Betty headed over to Paton's to do some birding there.

White-crowned Sparrow

It was super active and the birds put on a good show.

Canyon Towhee

Especially the Cedar Waxwings!

Cedar Waxwings

As always, I'd like to thank Ms. Jennie Macfarland for leading up this survey and inviting me and the USS Betty White to explore strange new grasslands and seek out all things longspur.