Carry Me Wind

Sandhill Cranes

Oh wind, carry me to far away places. To the North, we go.  Together.

Guide me.  Let me ride the thermals until it's just you and me.

Let me be truly free.  Free from all of this. Guide me. Take me. Carry me away.  

I am exhausted. I do not want to be caged anymore. Open the door. Let me go.  Let it all be done. Flight feathers grown back. Let me be free now.  

Drake Cinnamon Teal

Carry me up into your airy river. 

Hen-Cinnamon Teal

Oh wind. You are both my friend and enemy. But today, I ask you to please guide me North safely. 

Verdin nesting

Kiss me with your bitter cold embrace.  Lift me.  Take me to great heights.  Higher than I've ever gone before. Oh wind, I'm counting on you.  
Written after an incredibly personal moment near Wilcox, AZ. 

Las Aventuras has several surprises in store over the next several weeks.  Will I reach 600 life birds?  Does any of it really matter?  The journey is all that matters now.  After all, the birds seen here today on this blog have all been seen before many times.  And yet, they are still as magical as they were when I first met them. 

The rare for Arizona Red Phalarope at Willcox Lake or what some call "Lake Cochise"

Today's post is about letting go. This blog began because I wanted to change things around our home.  Eventually I transitioned from landscaper to president of our HOA. I stayed on because I didn't want to disappoint the homeowners, but as of this past weekend, I finally stepped down.  It's only taken me 7 years and loads of stress for me to figure out one simple thing. I cannot control the things that happen between people.  I cannot fix anyone's problems. I can only do the best that I can with what I have. With my decision, I have set into motion some challenging times ahead for the residents who have relied on me over the years. I apologize that I cannot take care of you anymore.  Last year while chasing birds across the country, I felt free.  No chains to hold me down. This year, it's all different.  I can't explain it.  It's much more personal.  And I won't let this negative energy have an impact on my happiness. I will be heading home to be with my family in the next several weeks to reconnect and center my thoughts again. 

I stood under a thousand cranes flying only feet from my head.  And it was the most powerful singular moment of this year. I watched two Golden Eagles speed like bullets through the air after a flock of cranes.  The cranes switched directions and whirred right above me.  And in this action, my eyes were opened. Las Aventuras is going deeper into the world of birds over the course of this year.  This Gray Fox will find his way into many new and old locations.  You'll just have to wait and see;)  Until next time friends. 

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......