Slow But Steady

A Rock Squirrel keeps on the look out for a very hungry Red-tailed Hawk in the area

Before my trek to Oregon, I began to feel pain around the left side under my rib cage.  This routinely has happened to me since I was 32 and always during the same time period.  I'm not sure what it is, but I end up in the ER every time and every time they tell me I'm fine.  And then I throw money out the window. Money that could be used to pay off bills OR go on a birding adventure. 

Chipping Sparrows at Reid Park

For the remainder of the year, I have decided to stay in Tucson.  I was going to head to Mexico City over the holidays, but I think I need to let this body rest.  I will say that it has been nice NOT having plans over break. Instead I'll be working on making better habitat for my birds in the garden. 

American Pipit at Canoa Ranch

While the pain has subsided quite a bit, I still don't feel 110 percent. I'm running at 80 percent right now.  I've found that if I relax, everything gets better.  I've been go go go for so many years that I think my body is telling me to stop and just be present in the moment. 

A Verdin interrupts a Brewer's Sparrow's alone time

And not so far away from my home, I can find so many wonderful local birds and still be home by the late morning.  I get anxious if I don't go birding.  I have to bird at least one place once a day for at least 15 minutes. So it's fun birding my own backyard and I am thankful for my feeders. 

Grasshopper Sparrow at Canoa Ranch

And for everything that has happened over these past weeks, I have a better appreciation for those who want to bird but struggle with health or aging issues while on the trails. 

A Red-tailed Hawk hunts and jumps off a perch

I find that birding keeps my mind distracted from my own issues. And birds are amazing. 

Vesper Sparrow

And while I'm resting, I've been doing research on several countries for next year's treks.  Travel is a marvelous thing and reading up on new species of bird takes time. My office is cluttered with bird books and magazines. 

Phainopepla

I bird the local parks with vigor observing closely the birds that I know well.  And with that pent up birding energy, I've discovered some amazing birds without having to drive far.

Black-crowned Night Heron, juvenile

Winter has arrived in the Old Pueblo.  As of this write, yet another rain storm is projected to hit us by Thanksgiving. 

Black-tailed Prairie Dog

Like always, we keep our eyes out for rarities.  So even when I'm sick, I still make a little time to look for something new at a local hotspot.  Hopefully things will get better and I'll be on that road again soon searching for new species.  To all of my US readers, have a wonderful Thanksgiving. And to everyone else, hope you have a great week ahead.

A rare Ruddy Ground Dove on my survey grounds at Reid Park

Until next time friends....

The Rubberband

Oh trouble was brewing at the Rohrer household.  A little demon child known as J-man kept his Uncle and Grandparents busy. His ailing grandfather needed some quiet time to heal after his heart surgery. And so his uncles and grandma kept both he and his adorable baby sister busy. 

Baltimore Oriole

Birding with family can often be difficult. Still, it can be done, but it requires careful planning.  Here are some things I've learned from over the years to accomplish my birding goals while spending that quality family time that is much needed. 

Family fun at Bay Beach.  Also near the site of secret breeding Piping Plovers!

1. Find ways to include light birding while spending quality time with family.  My personal goal is to blend birding into the outdoor activities.  We have to begin somewhere and teaching our young minds is important to the future of birding. It starts off with curiosity.  A trip. A pair of binoculars and some hands on experience with birds. Toddlers are tactile.  So are Canada Geese. 

Over a hundred Canada Geese overtook J-man and one gave him a little nibble. The child who caused terror to others was terrorized himself, for a moment. There was a scream and then some crying involved. He flew up to Grandma for protection and for fun, I threw a little more corn around Grandma's feet to hear her yell out. I'm terrible.  I know:)

2.  Stay close to home. You never know when you will be needed for.....
a. family pictures  b. family dinner  c. babysitting
d. running errands or e. all the above:)

A fledged Chipping Sparrow

3.  Be clear on what you want to accomplish.  You can't do it all, BUT you can knock off some birds from that much wanted list. 

So many nephews and nieces

During my trek home, I was only focused on warblers and sparrows.  There was a possibility of adding two new lifers to the list. The Hooded Warbler was one of those warblers.  It was only 10 minutes away from my parent's home. 

Hooded Warbler

4.  Do your birding in the morning or early afternoon.  Birding is best in the morning, but sometimes there are errands that have to be run.  Most people work during the day.  Family generally meets at night or on the weekends.  If you can't go in the morning, try for the early afternoon when the grandkids or nephews/nieces are down for their nap. 

Family photos are NEVER easy. 

But they are always memorable and a necessary evil:) Never take those moments for granted because you don't know if you'll get the same opportunity again.  So much can change in a short time. 

My lifer Hooded Warbler in the dark forest of Point Beach State Forest

5.  Challenge yourself and stay within your own county.  You may have seen a Wild Turkey a million times in a million other places, but did you see one in your hometown? Be a kid again and play detective working on hunches.  

Wild Turkey

6.  Remember to stop birding as well. I speak to the choir here when I say it's hard to turn off the birding gene, but try and do it.  I was proud of myself this summer when I could completely let it go and not keep looking at every bird flying past my radar. 

I feel like Cambrie in this shot.  Trying to get that perfect family pic is NO easy task. 

7.  Carefully choose the places you'd like to bird. Keep the family in the loop where you plan on birding.  Keep it a half hour or so, no more, from home. 

American White Pelicans hang out near the Manitowoc Marina

8.  On occasion, treat yourself to a full day of birding.  Don't feel guilty.  It's your holiday and you deserve some quiet time away from the family. 

Cerulean Warbler

Even though I had seen the Cerulean Warbler once before, I wanted to see it again.  It's one of my favorite warblers.  And it was on my short list of birds I wanted to see while back home. 

Purple Martin

9. Let yourself just flow with the family plans.  Ebird wherever the family goes.

My brother Adam bought a pontoon and it allowed us to count birds along the river in his backyard.  We discovered several new bird species breeding along the river like Spotted Sandpipers. 

10. Create new hotspots for the public. You know your hometown best. 

When I was home, I discovered this beautiful rare Horned Grebe(below) near my brother's cabin.  There was no ebird hotspot so I created one. We can discover new birds by just paying attention.  This Horned Grebe completed an atlas block for someone. They were thrilled. 

A rare Horned Grebe!

I am more aware now of the world around me. Birders can make anything work with a little ingenuity. I use the word "rubberbanding it".  I'm never too far from home and if I'm needed back home ASAP, I am able to "snap back" in a second. I don't see it as limiting in any way.  It just makes me a little more creative with my birding. 

Who added the dog?!  

Hope you found these tidbits useful. Everyone has a different situation so do what's best for you.

Until next time.....

Keeping Hope Alive

A covey of Gambel's Quail

A week went by and I sat behind my desk.  I did my lectures, graded papers and kept thinking about the White-eyed Vireo. It's what any normal middle aged person does, right?:) And then there was THAT report. Trapped behind a desk, I kept muttering the words "purple" over and over. So what could be worse than dipping on a vireo? How about reading a report stating that there was also a Purple Gallinule hiding in the reeds around the same area of the vireo??!!!  This was indeed a RARE bird alert!  But would it stick around the entire week?

After school was out, I went to several places in Tucson and just let my mind unwind.  I'm not sure if it's the stress or the heat, but these days, this birder struggles to maintain his sanity.  Our neighbor was placed into a jail where he should be left for a long time. But we know he'll be back. I've never seen so many people show up at one of these HOA functions! After it was all done, our community developed an action plan against this dangerous man. It has been both mentally and physically exhausting for all the residents here.  But I will not let this all interfere with my passion for the outdoors.  And during a moment of quiet solitude at Sweetwater, a covey of 20 Gambel's Quail surrounded me. 

They scurried around me feeding underneath the mesquite trees. We all spent a moment together in harmony. At one point, I just put the camera down and took it all in.

Granite Basin Lake

Come to find out, I wasn't the only one with the vireo flying around inside my head. Apparently Magill was in the same mind frame.  We are cheeseheads and very stubborn.  So we went back to the Granite Basin Lake in Prescott for both the White-eyed Vireo and Purple Gallinule.  This time, we would not dip. And for the records, there is only one version of "dip" that is good and it involves food. 

A VERY Green Heron

 I moseyed my way up to Phoenix stopping in Chandler to find an American Bittern.  But I ended up watching all the other birds instead!  There were so many flying around the riparian areas of this park.  The Yellow-headed Blackbirds are back and I ended up observing them instead of chasing a rare bird. 

Black-tailed Jackrabbit

There were Black-tailed Jackrabbits everywhere along the path and it was so much fun to observe them hopping...or leaping...around the various cacti. 

Chipping Sparrow

 Afterwards, I met up with Magill and we headed back to Prescott.  This time we discovered that it wasn't a hike that was needed but a bit of strategy and patience.  Actually, a LOT of patience.  People were active around the entire lake with their splashing dogs and crying children. We simply sat on a picnic table overlooking the entire lake with a scope and waited.  Another birder joined in the search and together we had every angle covered.

The secret to finding a rare Purple Gallinule is part luck and part understanding of its habitat requirements(lily pads near reeds).  It sounds simple enough but the bird is also known to be secretive. And rare for Arizona. Oh and purple. During the previous weekend, Magill and Gordon had joked about finding a Purple Gallinule in the area because the lake had all the right requirements. They both had a nerdy birder's laugh that sounded a little like a Sora calling:)  Little did we know.  Anyhow, back to that moment, Jeanine McCabe gave us the bat signal that the bird was visible.  We grabbed our equipment and headed to the area observing this secretive bird using the reeds like a staircase. We were able to watch this bird for a few minutes before a screaming child entered the picture.  Of course.  Another kid showed up and wanted to demonstrate to us how he could throw rocks in the water.  He instead got an education about how it's best to be quiet so you can find purple birds. His Dad didn't seem to mind:)

Purple Gallinule

 While we waited for the Purple Gallinule to show up, we heard the White-eyed Vireo call from across the lake a couple times. I had seen the bird before and am familiar with the call. Instead of chasing the bird for a pic, we just made note of it on our report. I have a pic below of the bird from a trek last year to Corkscrew Swamp in Florida. 

White-eyed Vireo

While they weren't lifers, they were important birds for us to add to our Arizona list.  Sometimes it pays to be stubborn:)  I can now begin my work week with a clear mind. One last story....

I met my first Purple Gallinule back in 2011 in the beautiful town of Gamboa.  I was having a nice drink with my friend on the Changuinola River during a beautiful monsoon storm.  I wasn't a birder at this time in my life but I couldn't help but notice a "purple duck" walking towards us.  It tripped me out.  Was this bird real?  Did I have too much to drink?  My friend, however, said the words, "Purple Gallinule".  While the Lance-tailed Manakin "sparked" my interest into this epic birding adventure,  it was this "purple duck" that helped tip the scale from amateur photographer to amateur birder.  Every life bird has a story.  And every time I see one of those birds from my life list, I remember that first moment observing them.  Here is a video from that special moment. At 1:50, the Purple Gallinule makes an appearance. 

Until next time friends....

The Little Bitty Birds

Painted Redstart

Today's post is fun and incredibly awesome.  There were many lifebirds here for me and during my stay at the Birder's B & B in Portal, AZ I was able to drink coffee, read my book and bird!!!  Many people ask if it's worth spending your money on birding places and my answer is "YES!"  

Black-throated Gray Warbler 

While my hikes were productive, much of my finds happened outside of my cabin door!  There's nothing better than to have birds surrounding you at all times because you never know who will drop in.  These were some special finds......like the Blue-throated Hummingbird.

Blue-throated Hummingbird

Granted the lighting here isn't great here but I was so close!!!  I wasn't expecting this hummingbird around but apparently 2 pairs nest all year round here.

Hammond's Flycatcher

Of course during the quiet of my reading, a lot of these little birds would fly right up to the running water.

Hermit Thrush

I discovered over my 3 days here that the warbler and small bird invasion happened during the hours of 8:00 AM til 9:00 AM.  Well this was the best viewing that I had all day of these birds and it's one of the few times they would come out into the open for me to capture on film.

But it was incredible.  The Warbler Invasion was awesome.  I've heard about this happening in other places but never had I witnessed it in person.  Not only did the warblers come in great numbers but so did lots of Sparrows, Bridled Titmouse, Painted Redstart(also considered a warbler), Flycatchers, and hummers!  It was like a small bird party.

I sat smiling in the cool temps of Portal drinking wonderful coffee and reading a great book.

Chipping Sparrow

My personal thrills for this day were the Black-throated Gray Warbler and Painted Redstarts!  I think I jumped out of my seat.

They had been reported at Sweetwater in Tucson but I wasn't having any luck finding them.  Plus I wasn't even sure I'd know one if I saw it.  Then in Portal, I saw the tiny flying skunk in the sky:)  And I knew I had found myself a new lifebird. 

And while all of this was going on up in the canopy of the trees, I was watching the sidelines. Lots of fun action happening from previous birds I had already seen.....but they're still cool to watch:)

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Most interesting was the display that the Blue-throats were putting on around the property. 

And here we see some fancy flight work going on.   While I was having a conversation with one of the owners, I was taking pictures:)  Fascinating stuff here.

This Blue-throat looks like a young one as he was a smaller male compared to the rest.

The difficult part about the warbler invasion came from the huge variety of warblers that were out there.  And I know I missed a lot more.  But I did witness my last lifebird below.  Not only was my stay at the Bed and Breakfast relaxing; it was also rewarding.  It truly was a birding oasis and that's what I love about these places.  When you're not hiking, you can still relax in a rocking chair with a cup of coffee and watch birds.  More tomorrow....

Townsend's Warbler