Solitude In A World Of Chaos

This female Bobcat joined me in m my hike with her offspring behind. 

So much noise everywhere.  Have you ever tried to find a place where there wasn't any noise?  No construction.  No planes flying overhead.  No children screaming in the background. No TV or radio. NO TRAFFIC!  Just silence? 

A surprise Cassin's Vireo

Over the past couple weeks, I tried finding those spaces.  It was difficult.  But on one particular walk, I had a whole wetlands to myself. Free of human noise. Finally. I touched the bark of the willow and listened to the Marsh Wren rattle off his morse code to another bird in the reeds. A Song Sparrow shouted out his melodious sing song to a curious female. The signs of spring are upon us again. I stop to absorb everything around me.  Not just the birds. 

A Red-tailed Hawk takes flight at sunset

It's the birds I know best, but I had an amazing experience that made me geek out on the trails. 

Cats! As I crossed a path, I discovered a Bobcat doing what cats do best....cleaning herself. What I didn't know was that there were two of them!  Her offspring came out from behind a bush near me!

Like the deer with Celeste several weeks ago, or the Greater Roadrunner, or the Javelina, here I was again joined on the trails by one of Mother Nature's coolest feline species, the Bobcat.  I wasn't frightened.  They were close and moved towards me.  There wasn't any malintent.  One of the bobcats was talking to me like my cats do when I'm home.  It made me laugh. I understand "cat" well.  One time many many years ago, back in the 90's, I stumbled upon a Mountain Lion in the alley while I was taking the trash out in the early morning. Again, I laughed and said in a nervous voice, "Hello kitty." I then proceeded to slowly walk back inside the house never leaving my eyes off that huge cat.  Her body language wasn't threatening, but she was wild and it's better to be safe than sorry:)

I was like a giddy kid in a toy store.  It was the best way to start my Saturday!  Body language is everything in the animal world.  And there is a thing about getting too close to a wild animal.  The cats strolled along the path with me for about 20 minutes before they went off to take a nap.  Amazing!

Black-chinned Sparrow almost completes my sparrow set for the year in Pima County

It's those moments that center me.  They are intoxicating addictions and one of the reasons why I love my mornings!  It's the discovery.  The connections to nature.  And my happy place. 

Dark-eyed Junco

Next, I went to Mt. Lemmon.  The mountain was FULL of tourists. So when that happens, I usually go to the trails along the mountain. Most tourists never see the real beauty of this mountain because they're so focused on buying a cookie at the top of a mountain!  Anyway, a hiker walked past me and said there weren't any birds in the forest and that it was quiet.  Had she not been conversing with her friend, she might have heard their little chips.  They were all there.  I pished further up the trail and woke up the little birds.  Suddenly we were surrounded by kinglets, chickadees, and all three species of our Arizona nuthatches!  And in a first for that location(for me), 2 turkeys popped out of the forest to see what was going on.  My owls were still there.  And all was good.  Just doing my yearly check up.  

Mexican Jay

Mexican Jays surrounded us and casually foraged around the trail.  

This life is not easy.  It certainly seemed easier when I was younger, but as I age, the weight of the world seems to get heavier.  On Friday night, the day before my birding, I set a trap to catch drug dealers on our property. Living in midtown is wonderful, but it also comes with a few negatives. No one messes with my sanctuary.  I alerted my neighbors and called the police ahead of time knowing that it takes them forever to arrive at the scene.  And on that same Friday night, those drug dealers were shoe'd off the property for good:)  Nature walk was back on again for Saturday morning.

Sunset with our local Snow Goose

And then the worst news of all. I found out a former student had taken his life.  I couldn't attend the service, but I found out he was buried in a cemetery where I bird. After work, I went to the freshly dug site and sat on the bench.  There were birds. So many Vermilion Flycatchers around. I try to make sense of it all. That cemetery never had a personal connection for me. Now, I'll never look at it the same way. He better be ready for birds visiting his grave.  There were several empty bird feeders hanging there in a tree.  So now every time I go, I'll be bringing bird seed to place at his site. I've worked with thousands of students over the years.  When something like this happens to one of them, it's like I somehow failed them.  And I know deep down I can't save all of them.  It's just hard remembering their happy faces in class knowing that their adventures ended way too early.   

Working with the public takes its toll on a person. I wouldn't have it any other way except maybe be outside more:)  In my late thirties, I discovered the world of birding.  Almost 10 years later, my understanding of the natural world gets stronger.  In times of stress or loss, I am thankful it's there away from all the chaos.  And in that solitude I am reborn.

Our cat, Aurora, is in decline health wise.  There's nothing we can do except make her comfortable and happy.  She is 15 years old and I believe has a cancer that's slowly taking its time.  She can still jump and she can still eat.  So we give her all the extra love while we still can. 

Until next time.....

Mt. Ord

Mt. Ord

I've been trying to keep up with my birding, but it has been difficult.  Simply put, I can't.  Birds have been coming in left and right while I'm in the middle of a teaching lesson:) There are so many birds that I have to focus myself at times because it's overwhelming. What do I want?  Flycatchers? Warblers? Where should I go? Too many decisions!!! On a wonderful outing with Gordon Karre, Mark Ochs and Kathie Brown, we fled into the beautiful countryside of the Tonto National Forest. It was the perfect place to not have to make those decisions:)

Hutton's Vireo feasting on a tent caterpillar

It started off as a cold morning and then worked itself up into a hot afternoon.  We went from desert landscape into pine forest mountain tops.  It was a fantastic day full of cool finds and observations.

Hutton's Vireo

It was my first time meeting Gordon and Mark.  I love meeting birders.  I especially love watching the way they bird.  Gordon is very much like I am in that we search for target birds and try to get better shots and observations of birds we have already seen.  Kathie birds with a gentle heart and takes her time counting them all.  And Mark!  Why his style was the most interesting of us all!

Kathie saying hello!

He spoke in a dialect I recognized....Wisconsin!!!  Even though I lived in the Great Lakes region all of my childhood, I never learned to bird there. Something I hope to remedy in the future.  But I was constantly surrounded by people who loved the Green Bay Packers. Now I was never into football, but I was fascinated by Mark's strength and vigor towards birding.  He birded like he might play football. All I needed was some guacamole and chips to watch him bird. That sounds weird so forget that last sentence. Not once did he stop and not once did he miss out on a bird song.  A bird would sing and he would ID!  Incredible!  And all the while, he spoke in a loudish voice telling midwestern jokes using slang which can many times be lost on the rest of the world. I tried to spend time with all three while still snapping shots of elusive warblers and other small birds.

Grace's Warbler

And there were so many great birds.  But the heat!!!  Ugh!  We are reaching that time of year when I bird early morning until about 11 AM.  Then I go home and take a nap and if I get all my chores done, make for an evening birding somewhere close to home.  It would get hot.  I had my water pack on because I sweat way too much.  It's in my DNA. But even with all the water in the world, the body can only take so much heat.  I could see that Kathie was getting tired.  The protector in me watched over her.  I could see Mark far ahead.  The chaser in me kept tabs on Kathie and moved quickly to snap a shot of a Virginia's warbler.

Violet-green Swallow

There were truly so many incredible birds in this location, but I began to feel a bit...um....bloated.  It was not a good feeling.  We went up in elevation, walked in the heat, and had some food.  Not a good combo and for awhile, I kept my distance as air bubbles exploded inside my stomach.  It felt terrible.  Little did I know that Kathie was having the same issues:) Altitude sickness. We laughed about it on the way home.  And it's not like we haven't done these major hikes before but for some reason on this day, we didn't feel so good.  Gordon also reminded us that we did  get up at 3 in the morning.  And was it worth it?  Oh my gods, you bet!!! I wouldn't trade that experience for anything else in the world.  It was invaluable!

Up to Mt.Ord

It was great to get into a new area and count birds.  It was also interesting to note various bird species mixed in together that normally wouldn't intermingle together around Tucson.   It was a little jarring to find normally difficult birds in Pima county all around Maricopa county.   Very strange indeed.

Virginia's Warbler

Gordon called our day a "3 Tanager Day".  For here, we spotted the Summer, Western and Hepatic tanagers in great numbers.

Western Tanager, male

Also in great numbers were the Scott's Orioles and Black-chinned Sparrows.

Scott's Oriole

The road up Mt. Ord is a very rocky one so be warned:)  This day was super dusty and the photos were some of the most difficult to snap.  By the end of the day, I had over 1000 pictures and about 20 of them were worthy of posting.

Black-chinned Sparrow

A special thank you to Gordon for a lovely day.  It was a blast and hopefully I can return the favor and get you some lifebirds in the near future.  I am linking up with Stewart M's Wild Bird Wednesday. Stay tuned for more....

Out On A Limb

Sometimes I find myself out in the middle of nowhere searching for a bird.  Of course, there are the wins and the losses known as "dipping" or "finding the target bird".  I've gotten to the point now that I will find what I find and try to get the best observation and documentation that I can while out in the field.

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

The wins are absolutely thrilling.  A strange bird flew into the bushes. It was a sparrow.  Or was it a towhee??  I needed to be sure because the behavior was different.  During this day, both Kathie and myself found ourselves in Box Canyon in the Santa Rita mountains. For this one particular bird, I pished and pished with all my heart.  And the bird came out.  For several minutes, we looked at one another.  It was indeed a sparrow....just not one I had seen before.  Large.  Angular bill.  And an interesting looking crown. And so it would be that I would spot the Rufous-crowned Sparrow. A lifebird.

Black-throated Sparrow

If I find my "target bird" on that outing, everything else for that day is gravy.  Then I begin to play with my photography more on random things like the Black-throated Sparrow.  In Arizona, we have almost every sparrow possible(minus a few) and it's rather exciting and frustrating all at once.  While they can be tricky to ID, they make me a better birder.

Red-tail Hawk with Loggerhead Shrike

Sometimes I(we) dip on the target birds.  And I will get frustrated.  When that happens, I find that taking creative shots from already known birds helps take the edge off of the hunt. We will travel hours into strange places to find those uncommon birds.  During our visit into Box Canyon, Kathie blew out a tire on the dirt road.  What normally would have been a stressful moment turned into a fun practice changing tires.  It felt good changing that tire.  And at the end, no stress involved.

Cooper's Hawk

Back at home, the hawks continue to circle my feeders.  I'm trying to attract Orioles, but not when there are Cooper's flying around!  But still, I do like their visits:)

Savannah Sparrow

And yet another sparrow....the Savannah Sparrow. We've hiked and hiked miles upon miles.  If my Doctor gives me a hard time about exercise, I'm going to give her an ear full:) This passion requires one to be in somewhat good shape.  I've met several people now who love birds but can't get into the difficult/dangerous areas needed to view them.  An older man sat with reflective eyes on a concrete slab and asked if we had seen the Rufous-capped Warbler at Florida Canyon.  He couldn't climb the huge slippery rock to access the upper canyon trail.  I could see that he really really wanted to climb up that slippery rock.  If it hadn't been for his spouse, he may have tried the hike up that slippery rock:)  It's the same one that Kathie fell from. I am reminded to seize the day now because who knows what tomorrow will bring.

I was thrilled that Kathie finally found her Arizona Woodpecker.  Lovely birds, they are.  But even better with a sillouette shot next to the agave stalk.

These trips must be calculated precisely.  We never waste time searching for birds, but why drive all those miles without a plan?  Maybe not having a plan is better, but then again, missing out on some rare birds can be a kicker.

Box Canyon before the blowout

Arizona is full of diverse habitat.  I am sometimes astonished at just how large this state is!  And there are times, I will pause to feel the wind against my face.  Why else hike?  Why else spend money on gas?  Isn't there something bigger out there than birds?  Birds are awesome, but so are the landscapes, wildlife sightings and random lunches/dinners in bizarre diners.

Roosevelt Lake

Finding the target birds within nice camera range can be difficult and not always possible.  In my next post, I'll write about those lifebirds who escaped my camera lens.

Recently, I've made treks to the Grand Canyon to find the nesting CA Condors. 7 miles of hiking! I brought camelbacks for the trek.  I dipped on the Condors, but picked up Red Crossbills, Common Goldeneyes, American Crows, Pygmy Nuthatches and Pinyon Jays.  So one trade is made for another.  Sometimes you are alone.  Sometimes you are with a friend.  And sometimes you spot a friendly rival birder on the road beeping their car at you as they drive off to their next secret destination.  I then wonder, "So what did they see?"  On our time in the mountains of Flagstaff, I'd dip on pictures of the Rough-legged hawk and Evening Grosbeaks!  Drats:)  But I did see some awesome elk up close:) Sometimes, I am much too difficult on myself.  "What are those bird sounds?  Who is that? Stay put!"  My friends have a good time as the views and hikes are great.  Plus they learn something in the process.  Sometimes they wonder where I am taking them, but I always assure them that it's legit.  Plus the game is afoot.  Keep the eyes and ears open for anything that moves! And it becomes a game of exercise for the brain and body.  It's exhausting at times. While I'm with Kathie, I'm the student.  When I'm with photographers/friends, I tend to be the teacher.  No one is left out on a limb.  Together we play, learn and grow.  And thank the bird gods for those Sibley Guides!!!

Loggerhead Shrikes may dart.

European Starling

European Starlings may watch.

But the adventures will continue......

Rarities

Mexican Jay

Okay, I had to put in one awesome shot.  And I cheated.  I love the Mexican Jay.  I love their curious and aggressive nature.  So I had some chips and I......"encouraged" the bird to come closer:)  Today's post is a part two follow up from yesterday.  The shots are different but not masterpieces.  In this day and age when submitting reports to EBIRD or any bird agency becomes very important, it's important to have photo documentation for evidence or ID.  When I'm out in the field alone or with Kathie, the camera always comes along with a notebook.  We both observe but Kathie writes and I snap shots. Proof.

Barn Owl

Owls are difficult to find.  They are everywhere and sit hiding blending in with their surroundings.  It's amazing how difficult it is to find them.  Once you know where they hang out, it's not hard at all to spot them.   But on this very cold and windy day, Kathie would be the one to spot this bird. And that's my life with owls. I know, or sense, where they are but can never find them.  It's always my birding party that will point them out!

Ruddy Dove

An incredible find was this really rare Ruddy Dove.  They are down in Mexico and Central America.  Why this one chose to come to Arizona is a complete mystery?  It was a very skittish bird so I had to keep my distance to get the picture.  And speaking of skittish, the Lawrence goldfinch stayed far enough away  for an ID shot.  But not much else:)

Lawrence's Goldfinch

Or the Bald Eagle?  Ravens chased this bird out of a patch of grass.  The flight was different and called my attention.  I took the pics for ID and it's good enough to pick out the white head and wing features.

Bald Eagle chased by Ravens

Birds will hold their ground.  These curlews below numbered over a hundred with a random Snow Goose.  But I took the shot for proof.  ID is important when we document.

Curlews with Snow Goose

Warblers, Parulas, Redstarts, Kinglets, etc etc etc......are so difficult to capture on film.  The problem with "Big January" is that one must find as many species as they can.  In other words, you only stay long enough to ID and observe the bird.  And then move on because daylight is a premium. So photography as an art becomes secondary.

Northern Parula

And yet when a lifebird comes my way, I try to do the best I can.  Maybe I could do better but I have to work with what nature provides.  Small birds stay in one spot for seconds and then move.  As a photographer, I wait for that perfect shot.  Sometimes it doesn't happen but many times I can predict where they will move.  But with a "Big January", you don't have time to wait for that perfect shot.  ID and field observations are first and most important.

Black-chinned Sparrow

OR!!!  I got sick of my camera coming along on the trips and only brought my IPHONE for a more mobile hike. That's when grainy shots like this below happen!  But it's an ID shot:)

Gray Flycatcher

Or in the case of this SUPER RARE bird for Tucson, the Eastern Phoebe, the shots were terrible because the bird was too far away from my camera.  BUT an ID photo is required.

Eastern Phoebe

Another lifebird was the Common Merganser.  I was able to get an okay shot of this bird.

Common Merganser(female)

The competition was hot.  There was a lot going on.  Some places were gorgeous and others were bizarre and alien worlds.   I think I have a greater appreciation for Arizona after this past month.  Such diverse landscape.  When people think of our state, they think it's all desert.  Not true at all.  It's one crazy locale full of mountain top forests, canyons, grasslands, dry cracked desert, lush desert, and a few winding rivers.

Northern Harrier

And when you least expect it, the Rufous-backed Robin appears out of nowhere.  I wasn't looking for it.  It just.....appeared.  A real gift to the list.  It's a beautiful tropical bird(coming from the warmer Mexico). It's something we all hope to see in Arizona, but it can be quite elusive.  On this day, a group of 6 birders would exhaust their ears and eyes locating this bird.

Rufous-backed Robin

Next week, I have another special report.  Today also marks my first work with Birding is Fun! I'm excited to join their birding team and feel honored to be asked to write for them.  I'll be posting work every other month from my travels.  Birding isn't just about the birds.  It's also about the experience behind them. And within that frame of mind, I am finding myself lost in a world full of exciting surprises and discoveries.

Loggerhead Shrike

Until next time......

Plumbeous Vireo