Strides of Blue

This week's adventure takes us to the beautiful Channel Islands for some in depth study on a part of the Santa Cruz Island I had never been....Prisoner's Harbor. I'll also have some updates for people who have been thinking about visiting these amazing islands. 

I was feeling trapped inside with this terrible Tucson heat over the past several months and I very much needed something new and different to study with friends Celeste and Cheroot.  Originally, I had planned to stay in Antigua, Guatemala during my fall break for a very much needed Spanish retreat at this sanctuary in the hills, but Covid changed that plan.  Instead, within a safe 6 hour drive from Tucson, we headed to Ventura for specific wildlife studies. 

Cheroot brought his squirrels.  We brought our coolers for day lunches out on the beaches and parks. We contacted Island Packers for a mini pelagic out to Santa Cruz Island.  I was hoping for some whale and dolphin action in much needed cooler weather.  It did not disappoint.  In fact, for most of our stay, we were on the water. 

The boat ride is a little under an hour and a half.  Birds were on our itinerary but really it was all about the whales. 

Every time I've gone over to those islands, we've seen something special like a pod of Orcas, dolphins and a variety of whales. This trek would be no exception.  On this day, we observed 3 incredible Blue Whales up close. I cannot describe the excitement that we felt by seeing this incredibly large sea creature.  In fact, it's the largest mammal on the planet. 

Then there's the beauty of birding around the islands. We caught up with birder Eric Heisey below who also had similar plans to bird in the cooler temps.

It is as magical as it looks.  Complete wilderness and now free of human developments.

Once we arrived at Prisoner's Harbor we began to hike uphill onto Nature Conservancy land to study vegetation, birds, lizards and insects.  In some parts it was rather steep, but the views overlooking the island and ocean were incredible. 

 Back in 2014, Micheal and I went to camp at Scorpion's Point which was on the other side of the island. A storm a couple years back destroyed the pier and since then, the campground has been shut down.  BUT I have good news!  It will finally be opened up this November.  I highly recommend this camping trek.  It's a lot of fun and quite different from the experience at Prisoner's Harbor. 

We are birders and for Celeste, she had never seen the Island Scrub-Jay, one of the endemics only found on this island. People say that Prisoner's Harbor is the best place for this jay and it was.  We had many birds right at the entrance of the port. For me it was a better opportunity to study them up close.  Their numbers have grown over this 27 mile stretch of island.  In fact, Channel Islands National Park is a success story in conservation. 

Since our visit back in 2014, the Island Fox, yet another endemic, had a small number of reintroduced fox around Scorpion's Point. Today, this species has succeeded in repopulating Santa Cruz Island. They now number in the thousands. At one point, they almost went extinct due to predation by Golden Eagles, but thanks to great conservation plans and practices, I'm happy to report that this fox is back in business.

Celeste was hoping we'd see one so we backtracked from the tourists when they weren't around.  After our little hike up Pelican's Point, we turned around and headed to the picnic area for lunch.  The secret to finding one of these foxes?  Find stupid tourists who leave their food out.  And find vacated areas were stupid tourists were eating.  Celeste was talking to me when I noticed that one of the foxes came from out of nowhere to check out a recently vacated picnic area. The look on Celeste's face was priceless.  Yes, these foxy foxes are one of the many reasons to explore Channel Islands National Park. 

Not happy with ANY of the leftover food choices, this fox decided to find their own. 

And not too far away, a fresh meal was waiting to be found. A mouse!  Yum!

Another species that doesn't mind human food is the clever Common Raven.  Number 62, more on that in a bit, was watching a couple stupid tourists who were distracted by yellowjackets. True they could have been stung, but 62 had his eye on the turkey sandwich in the flailing male's hand.  As the yellowjackets overcame this unsuspecting tourist man, the raven took the opportunity to snatch the sandwich out of his grasp.  He brought it back to his "friend" and together they shared THEIR turkey sandwich.  And we, the birders, secretly scored the match between raven and man.  Corvid 1 Man 0

Now onto a TAGGED COMMON RAVEN!!!!  This species of bird is plentiful.  So why tag a raven?  Well, they are studying how these Common Ravens interact with the rare nesting Ashy Storm-Petrels on these islands. These Storm-Petrels already have a small population with about 10,000 in the world.  Their nesting grounds, the Channel Islands, are home to at least 50 known breeding pairs.  They are nocturnal and can be difficult to find on a nest as they choose cracks and crevices.  The pic below is not mine but it's an artist's recreation of where this secretive Storm-Petrel hangs out. 

This pic is from a trek I did several years ago during a Storm-Petrel study out along the California Coast.  Within their limited range, they are quite common, but if there ever was an oil spill, etc, it could have a devastating impact on this species. 

Unfortunately, we didn't see any storm-petrels on this trek, but I did learn about how some Common Ravens can raid these storm-petrel's nests. Hence the tagging.  I reported the tag to the banders. You can read that information here. In fact, the Channel Islands are all about restoring balance.  At one point, the Island Foxes almost went extinct due to Golden Eagles hunting them.  There had been Bald Eagles on the island but when they died from DDT poisoning, the mammal hunting Golden Eagles took over.  Today, the fish and duck hunting Bald Eagles are back on the island and the Island Foxes are back:)  It has taken years for the Nature Conservancy and National Park system to restore the balance to these islands.  And to see them today in their full glory is really quite something!

We had a successful trek out and I didn't want the day to end.  I think the California Coast is full of so many amazing wildlife opportunities. 

All good things have to come to an end, but we have one more adventure coming up....the wineries of Los Olivos and a certain magpie. 

Until next time.....

Secret Worlds of Sanity

Gray Hawk monitors area

Birds can and do speak to one another often.  From the hundreds of bird species that call Arizona home, it's a constant challenge to learn all their various forms of speech. Every time I go out, I attempt to learn their language.  Migration is in FULL swing now and birds are in full song mode. 

Camouflage and possible nesting site.

As the pandemic takes a stronger hold, I explore further into the overlooked/underbirded areas of Arizona. The town of Catalina has a lot of beautiful areas to bird. Arizona is wild and open country.  

This is NOT social distancing!  To be fair, I think we survived this covid scare because it was all around us in January and February. I'm still not taking any chances.  My friend on the right , we believe, had it in January.  But we'll never know since our governor doesn't have enough testing for everyone.  Just go home and die there. Oh wait!  Only go to the hospital if you're dying and it's too late.  Ducey is a terrible governor.  Thankfully Lori survived the event.  She is a survivor.  My neighbor is recovering from covid right now.  She was lucky in that it was just a mild case for her. How did she get it?  Friends from Washington came to visit:(

I continue to counter the crowds by understanding their routine lives. I visit places that most people overlook. There's a lot of back road trails around the Catalina area that have several lovely riparian areas. 

Not distance in the trail between me and my subjects!  Social distancing is a serious matter.  

Sometimes permits are required, but it's well worth the planning. Today, I'll share some tips and observations from my past week's time out with our amazing Arizona birds.

The best birding right now in Arizona is along our riparian areas as birds migrate through these wet and shaded corridors.  If you're a rarity hunter, this is the place to be.  Our first stop is the incredibly beautiful riparian area known as Cienega Creek Natural Preserve outside of Tucson.  You need a permit for this location, but it's easy and free!  Just go online and follow the instructions. I was interested in this corridor for migrating warblers and nesting hawks.

The Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler

This area is incredibly bizarre.  One walks from desert birds immediately into a creek covered by cottonwood trees!  It's night and day.  And so are the birds.  We walked from above the highway surrounded by desert into this very loud birdy area.  It was so bizarre to me because I couldn't hear the birds down inside the canyon.  But once we got there, WOW!  The bird song took over. 

I am always intrigued by this time of year because wintering and summer warblers overlap.  There are the chipping Yellow-rumped Warblers in their gorgeous breeding plumage mixed with our other regular wintering warbler, the Orange-crowned Warbler.  A regular warbler that breeds in the higher elevations of Arizona but pass through these areas on the way up to places like Mt. Lemmon, the Black-throated Gray Warbler, can also be found here in smaller numbers. So often, those are the "chips" you will hear in the riparian corridors.  The challenging part is figuring out which chip is made by these warblers. 

Black-throated Gray Warbler

And while that is going on, the summer breeding warblers, the Yellow and Lucy's Warblers are vocalizing, (and chipping) and looking to settle down for a nest.  Now the trickier part is separating all this "noise" from rarities like a Prothonotary Warbler or American Redstart.  While Celeste was getting an ID on a sparrow along the creek, I was trying to locate what I thought was an American Redstart calling.  No luck.  Cienega Creek can be a challenge for birders as many of the warblers, flycatchers, etc hang out inside the trees. 

And while all these warblers are chipping or singing, there are a million other birds making their various calls. My ears are good.  Often I stand in one spot and just enter in the data.  I don't have to see many of these birds as I have seen them often.  But some, I like to see over and over again..... Yes, I have my favorites:)

I'm not a huge fan of vireos and it has been a vireo week!  We had Cassin's and Plumbeous Vireos which have somewhat similar calls.  We had a Warbling Vireo at the creek.  AND the MOST common vireo is my FAVORITE one, the Bell's Vireo.  Their "watchee wichahhh" call also makes me laugh. It's a small vireo with a loud voice and a huge personality.  Here's your yearly photo of a Bell's Vireo.  I cannot tell you how much I love these little vireos.  

Bell's Vireo

And again, flycatchers are cool but not my favorites EXCEPT maybe the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet.  Again, it's a common bird for southeastern Arizona and one I know very well.  The call is a piercing, repetitive and slightly descending PIU PIU PIU PIU! It's often in the background and ignored by birders. Or birders don't know what bird is making that noise. It's unique. But I've wired my brain to repeat the call subconsciously outloud when I hear the bird.  Then I look.  They also have this three note "di di di" that means they are just chillin' and letting their other half know where they are.  The piercing repeated note is a territorial call. At the creek, we had them foraging for bugs around the lower canopy of the cottonwoods.

The smallest flycatcher with the biggest personality, the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet

And while ALL this is going on, you have to keep your eyes and ears ready for hawks!  Hawk migration might be winding down, except maybe for the Swainson's Hawks, but most of the other hawks are beginning to nest. On this day, we had beautiful views from a pair of Gray Hawks getting ready to nest.  They made their "whiny" scream to let others know that this was THEIR spot.  

A Gray Hawk flies over our heads

And while not a great shot of these Zone-tailed Hawks, it didn't lesson the excitement when we spotted them trying to pair up.  To observe these hawks nesting in this area was worth the trip alone.  

Zone-tailed Hawks "flirt" as they ride the thermals over the creek

During another trek this week, I planned for a sunset walk along Proctor Road into Madera Canyon.  I did about 2 miles along the trail.  People were thick along the creek and all were Covid 19 violators.  They weren't smart at all about anything really.  They were in the streams letting kids run around the banks where I've seen rattlers.  Another woman thought she could illegally trespass into the Santa Rita Lodge bird area because it was her right. The owner was polite and told her to turn around but the woman continued with her vulgar speech and that she had every right to walk on their private property.  The lodge had to call the rangers.  Many people from the city who have no clue about nature are literally overcrowding these natural spaces. And it's because of this, so many places are completely shutting down their entrances into parks and preserves.

Madera Canyon at the right time of day is a delight.  At 4 PM, a lot of the annoying people have to go home and "eat" and do whatever they do at night.  I arrived as the canyon was emptying out.  And I had the whole place to myself. My mission?  I don't know.  Just get out of the house and enjoy being outdoors.  This quarantine can be too much! Thankfully there's plenty of areas where I can go to avoid the crowds. 

Common Raven

As I hiked up into the Whitehouse area of the trail, I sat down with this Common Raven and watched him waddle about the empty parking lot looking for food.  Then in a really interesting observation, I watched him call his partner from the parking lot into the sky.  

In less than a minute, I watched her swirl down from out of nowhere to join him. 

She flew right in front of me.  Ravens are absolutely gorgeous.  Look at the detail of that plumage!  I imagine, if I were a designer, how I'd incorporate such intricate patterns into one dress.  This Common Raven has 7 or 8 different feather patterns!  Incredibly beautiful bird. 

I hear the dry "whit" of the Ash-throated Flycatcher hiding on a limb

After watching the Common Ravens, I hear the unmistakable calls of the Montezuma Quail!  I go into the canyon further and find them.  They toy with me like they always do.  And like always, I'm so stupid that I flush a covey!  The male makes his alien descending "zzzzzzzrrrrr" after they flush as if giving me the middle finger.  Well, that's me giving the bird a human personality. What he really was doing was telling the ladies where he went:)

The canyon was so lovely that I stayed until the evening just to listen for Whiskered Screech-Owls and Elf Owls.  And it didn't disappoint.  I also hung out with the owner from the Santa Rita Lodge for awhile chatting with him about his business in this time of cancellations.  He's hoping the loans will help him out.  I'm hoping he got through that mess.  Apparently it wasn't as easy as the US government made it out to be.  Again, a bunch of liars. Every single one of them. 

Coue's Whitetail Deer

Okay.  Breathe in and breathe out.  I can't fix stupid.  But I can escape and connect with nature if I so choose.  And so can many of you.  Until next time....

Turning Over A New Leaf

Western Screech-Owl near my work site

I am healing.  I am getting stronger, but it's slow. You'd think I was out every day looking for birds, but I am not.  I have three really important goals right now.  Walk more.  Lose this stubborn belly fat.  And drop the weight. 

A pack of Javelina or Collared Peccary cross a pumpkin patch to get to a river

On the financial level.  Save money.  Stay at home.  Make this year about birding Pima County well. It's a huge county, but I know where to go.  There are just a few people who know Pima a little better.  But I've made notes over the years for a year like this one.  And it has paid off so far locating certain difficult bird species. 

This brillaint Lillian's Eastern Meadowlark is a favorite of mine

I had habitat picked out.  Just never had the time to do the slow investigation that was needed.  But I'm glad I made the notes as it has made my job so far a breeze.  Some birders get angry that I hide my reports about certain rare birds.  That's ok. I learned my lesson a long time ago.  I told someone and they told others.  And then the bird was never seen again. I'm a quick learner. If you are a true birder, you know and understand a bird's habitat requirements. And with that knowledge, you can find the bird you are looking for. I need birders to know that the bird's safety comes first. So far, I've been excited by the owl discoveries.  From Long-eared Owls to Barn Owls to Burrowing Owls, the trickiest in my county, to the easier Western Screech-Owl and nesting Great Horned Owls.

The Round-tailed Ground Squirrel peaks up from a hole to make sure it's safe to search for food

This slow methodical approach has really allowed me to absorb all the habitats more.  Take my time.  Explore new mapped out spaces for certain species. Granted the beginning of the year is always the easiest. 

Work has taken up much of my time allowing me to bird once or twice a week. 

It has been a wonderful time connecting with birders.  Just sitting on a bench and helping a visitor ID a new bird or a difficult sparrow.  There is nothing new anymore here in Arizona except for the personal connections I make with birders and their love for birds.  It makes me smile.  The more I do this; the more I realize I'm beginning to fill in vacant roles that were once filled by birders who are no longer with us. In a way, it's a very sobering thought.

The subtle beauty of a Lincoln's Sparrow

I have changed as a teacher this year as well.  I am more relaxed than I have ever been with my students.  We talk and I teach.  When I'm done with my lesson, a student shares with me a bird they've seen.  They show me a picture and I ask them about the bird and if they know what kind of bird it is, etc etc.  

A Common Raven comes in for a sip of water

 I speak to a new friend on the phone.  An opportunity arises for my students.  I am excited.  So we begin to brainstorm.  I begin to write down a strategy to see if we can maybe make this student trek to our national park happen. What if it was an overnight 2 day event?  And what if we could give them the hands on experience necessary to excite their minds for a future of protecting our beautiful and sacred Sonoran desert?  I am very grateful for the conversation and also for the opportunity to get to know another kindred spirit.

A Pied-billed Grebe hunts for larvae in the murky water

 At home, I find a Canyon Tree Frog in my garden!  I watch my new friend sit every day on one of my Mexican pots as it bathes in the sun.  The nights get cold and I wonder if the frog will make it.  In the morning as I put oranges out for my Verdins, I check to make sure the frog is okay.  And there the frog is.  And I smile. 

A wonderful and shocking surprise in my garden, the Canyon Tree Frog, sits on top of my Mexican pots.  Where did it come from?  I never touch that part of my garden.  Has it lived in the soil of that pot for a long time?

 In the quiet of my office, I research and plan for my July trip to the Darien Gap in Panama.  I purchase a ticket for the entire month.  The first half will be grueling as we hunt for the Harpy Eagle.  The second half will be my vacation. I'll sit in my rocker on the veranda overlooking the gardens and coffee plantations in Boquete wearing my sweatpants sipping on something warm. I will meet up again with Ivan in Gamboa.  And I sense I'll finally get to meet some "friends" from Facebook for the first time in person. 

A Botta's Pocket Gopher comes up to grab a bite of grass

Each year is a new chapter in our life.  We can let it pass us by or we can make each day an event. After being stuck at home to heal for several months, it's good to feel stronger.  And it's good to get out again and be a part of the community.  The pause in my life was a good thing. 

There are goals to be achieved for sure during this important year of 2020. We'll meet up with Nancy and her sister for a wonderful hummingbird hunt in March. We'll explore new birding hotspot, the Canoa Ranch and do a Hawk Watch in March with Tucson Audubon. We'll also visit the garden at El Presidio as I add several new native plants to our property. Then our friend Dr. Steve from Wales comes in April to chase Arizona lifers.  Our Tucson Audubon Big Day will be some time in April/May as we, the Wrenegades, try to find as many bird species as we can in one day. And there are so many more things that will happen.  But for now, I'm birding at my own pace.  I'm sleeping in during the mornings as much as I can.  I'm still a birder but a much more relaxed one now. Until next time.....