Escapism

Black-capped Gnatcatcher on the Proctor Road Trail

Nature is very powerful. It mends all wounds.  It brings balance and centers me.

Lower Madera Canyon

The darker the mood; the more focused I become. Without birds, I would go crazy. The human world is chaos. Instead of running down a trail, I will stand quietly still and listen.  I can move at my own speed and just absorb the bird song or snapping twig. 

The Rose Garden at Reid Park

Noise pollution is my worst enemy.  The rose garden in my nearby neighborhood park is lovely.  You might think this garden was absolutely quiet, but I assure you that it was quite loud!  Everyone including Tía Rosa were out celebrating the holiday weekend.  The air was scented with carne asada and rose blooms.  

The Black-crowned Night Heron at Reid Park

During this past weekend, I went to bird various areas.  It kept my mind occupied as I surveyed three different spots.  One was a fun chase with Magill up in Phoenix.  The second was at Reid Park.  And the third was at Madera Canyon. 

Band-tailed Pigeon at the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon

I forgot that everything was going to be crowded. However, it wasn't all bad news with the screaming and littering people.  If you think like a bird, you'll know where to find them:) So I listened and followed my ears instead of my eyes.  Before I knew it, I stood alone surrounded by birds. 

Nesting European Starlings at Reid Park

The smell of the roses.  The sounds of water running in the canyon. Blooming trees. Spring=Perfection 

Neotropic Cormorant

When the world becomes too much, I run away to the trails and get lost.  Yes, I am addicted to the outdoors. How can I stand for hours in one spot and not realize how quickly the time passes??!!! I love the Arizona landscape. 

Black-necked Stilt with a rare American Golden-Plover somewhere in Phoenix around a farming pond

My ebird reports are usually quite revealing.  When I hit the "calculate time" button on my phone, I am always shocked by how much time has passed!  It's easy to get lost in the moment. Even worse when you're hanging out with friends!

Black-necked Stilt close up

This weekend allowed me to "air" out my heavy thoughts and feelings.  Today I was much more balanced as I stood in front of my classroom. I smiled at my teenage students listening to their crazy weekend stories keeping my own to myself. I am reminded that it's about the times we share together. It's about making the most of each and every day. And most of all, it's about appreciating the time we have together.

A Slight Headache

White-faced Ibis

When one is addicted to birding, one will do whatever is necessary to find the birds.  On today's post, I drove a long way to find some birds.  It was a big deal, but it was also going to be one of those birding days.  I couldn't sleep the night before because there were potentially 3 new lifebirds to be found south of Tucson in the Willcox and Safford areas.  I got up at 4 AM and drove.  These birds weren't birds I was truly excited about seeing, but they were new birds for my Arizona list.  I left Pat at home to sleep while I did my job.

Forster's Tern

It was a tricky morning full of ID hell.  There are some birds out there that look similar to one another.  There's the Pacific-slope Flycatcher vs. the Cordilleran Flycatcher.  There's the Baird's Sandpiper vs. the White-rumped Sandpiper.  And of course, there are many many more that present challenges for birders. Today's challenge was......Forster's Tern vs. Common Tern.   While the Forster's Tern wasn't a lifebird for me, it was my first find for the AZ list.  I began to doubt the Common Tern label.  The marks were slightly different.  It came down to the primaries(the tail feathers) and absent black patch on the wings that helped me ID this bird as a Forster's Tern. It reminded me of my studies on the gnatcatchers.  Same type of issues, but the behaviors and sounds are different between these two birds.

Luckily the White-faced Ibis are easy to ID as they are common this time of year around Arizona.  BUT they can also present challenges when the Glossy Ibis are found in the same areas.  Luckily for me, they aren't.  A few sometimes will make it to Arizona, but today, they were the easiest to ID:)

Laughing Gull

But then we get to the gulls!!!!!  Thankfully gulls aren't very common around our areas.  Nor are there many.  I look at them as lifebird gifts.  Some are easy to ID while most are not.  One of my target birds was this Laughing Gull.

Tricky tricky.  It's obviously not in full plumage, but turns out that it does resemble another bird!!!!  The Franklin's Gull!  This bird in its first year plumage looks almost exactly the same!  Again it came down to the tail feathers for me.  The long black tail feathers at the end are signs of the Laughing while with the Franklin's Gull, we'll find some white "dotting" mixed into the end feathers. Putting that all aside, the easiest way to ID is from the gull's call.  It sounds like a laugh which helped me pick up this lifebird number 338.

Black-neck Stilt, Laughing Gull, Killdeer

This is a terrible pic above but I had a good laugh.  They are all so different looking which made for an interesting shot.

Blue-winged Teal

For some reason on this blog, I've never shown people the Blue-wing Teals.  They are never in great numbers here, but they can be found around our waterways.  They are some of our most timid ducks.  Green-wing Teals and Northern Pintails can also be very shy around people which makes getting pics of them tricky at times.

Back to the Terns.  Another tern was also reported at Roper Lake State park.....the Least Tern.  This bird also changes in appearance over the years. This is a Juvenile below.  Normally, this bird will have a yellow bill. I always question the birds being reported.  Was this a Least Tern?  After 30 minutes of reading/research, I could easily say YES.

Least Tern

It's definitely a small tern compared to the larger Forster's Tern that was flying around the lake. This lifebird was number 339 for me.

I know I've seen a lot more birds than this in my lifetime, but since I didn't document any of it, I had to start from scratch.  Speaking of scratch, I scratched my head on the sandpiper below.  It wasn't a Western.  And then I realized another Baird's Sandpiper popped up!  I was finally able to obtain an ID shot of this bird.  Some sandpipers are major headaches!

Baird's Sandpiper

Birding is mostly fun, but sometimes it's tedious work.  A simple post like this can take hours of time to put together.  After I got home from this 4 hour trip, I went to bed and slept!  Mission accomplished.

More to come from Las Aventuras......