This past week, after the onslaught of birders searching for the Eared Quetzal without any luck, they abandoned their hopeful searches and turned their eyes to our other specialties. It was mayhem. They still continue to search. And a few birders have reported a female now. So it's possible the Eared Quetzals are nesting somewhere on the mountain. Whatever the case, birders need to be aware that covid has spread among the community AND birders need to follow ethical protocols. There are times when some things should be kept secret, especially during their breeding season. Playback is terrible during this time of year and people should refrain from using it.
I was back in those old birding routes that every new hopeful birder visits. It was rather strange. With covid abound everywhere, I was forced to stay home during this very nasty time in Arizona. Many of us locals leave Arizona to go birding in cooler temps. Guides, generally, don't offer their services during this month due to nesting conditions and of course, that sweltering heat. Everything picks up again in July when our monsoon gets into full swing and bird life is ALIVE!
Painted Redstart
There are still windows of opportunity to bird. Early mornings are best. Evenings are second best. Afternoons are a no no unless you are at higher elevations but one of my favorite places to take people is currently on fire. And it's a tragedy. So many nesting birds gone, many of them warblers. Between crazy birders chasing that quetzal, covid closures and covid in general, the heat and the fires, it is a bit too much to take. I regulated my outings with my friend because I can't do those extreme chases anymore for an entire day. One of the days, I felt heat exhaustion coming on in the 104 degree temps. Yes, I wore sun screen, a hat and drank plenty of water, but there comes a point when your body just shuts down. Words get blurry, that little headache begins and birds become a second thought.
Lucifer Hummingbird
There were also flashbacks during our treks. A sadness that only one would know had they grown up as a birder with the people they once knew. Take for example the Lucifer's Hummingbird. Nearly every birder has gone to Mary Jo's Bed and Breakfast for their lifer Lucifer's Hummingbird. Mary Jo passed away a little over a year now. I haven't gone back because there are a lot of fond memories with that lady. But we went because it's the one reliable place for birders who like photography, such as myself, to observe the secretive Montezuma Quail and of course that very special hummingbird. Her place is now a sanctuary and it's still very special. But I sat and looked at her home where the volunteers stay now. And it was a different experience. The volunteers were wonderful, but Mary Jo wasn't there. Or her African Gray Parrot.
Least Tern
I took a day off to just work on house stuff and hang out with my neighbors. On that day, a Least Tern showed up at Canoa Ranch. It was a fun and fast trek to see the bird fly over the waters there. The following day, we went to search for some difficult birds. You have to prioritize your birds. So you choose your targets carefully. Sometimes you spend an entire morning on ONE bird. And that's what we did. Anything after that window is a gift. We achieved our targeted goals. We stopped at another great birdy area, the Holy Trinity Monastery. Another formerly owned Catholic property and magnet for incredible birds like the Gray Hawk, Mississippi Kite, Tropical Kingbirds and other special birds. But on the day we went there, the place looked unkept. The shop was closed. The pond was overgrown with algae. Broke my heart. I sat in the meditation garden and noticed several of the wonderful shady trees were gone.
Lesser Nighthawk
During our travels, we noticed Lesser Nighthawks hunting in broad daylight. 'Tis the season for feeding babies. Normally these birds are only seen at dawn or dusk and at night around lights catching bugs.
Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
There are several birds in Arizona that are well protected and kept secret. However, those secrets get leaked and then coordinates appear. Such is the case with the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, a very sensitive species in AZ. The species is another Holy Grail for birders, ABA'ers, state listers, county listers, etc. There are few spots in the US that you can see them. Texas is the best place for them. Arizona has many but they are located in VERY difficult access places far away from civilization. The best place for these owls is still Organ Pipe National Monument in a VERY accessible place. And that's all I will say:)
Scaled Quail
I think the most exciting part of our journeys came from observing all three quail species. It was a lot of fun revisiting these old sites for some great birds. Currently my plans are on hold. As we see a spike in covid around the country, it has once again messed with travel plans. Testing in this country is a joke. I'll leave it at that.
juvenile Gambel's Quail
Stay cool everyone. And stay safe! Until next time....
I wish we could have slowed down our time in California. It was such a nice stay full of great birds and memories. We stayed close to the beach and had fun looking at the birds along the shoreline.
Arctic Tern-blood red/orange thickish shorter bill
Besides the many Brown Pelicans, we also saw many terns. The previous week in Arizona, we had a super rare Arctic Tern show up at a local watering hole. It had been my only tern for the year which was rather surprising! Usually a Forster's or Least Tern shows up in April first. Instead it was the super rare Arctic Tern. Okay! I'll take it.
We did well staying away from people, but people gravitated towards each other and we had to be conscience of this. Thankfully Cheroot, the wonder dog, helped maintain social distance with his grouchy demeanor. He's really not grouchy. He loves hanging with his friends, but he doesn't like strangers! Or dogs off their leash! I don't have a dog because I'm a cat person but dog owners are sometimes so irresponsible. Sure, you're dog is friendly and so am I. However, some dogs are not friendly and are put on a leash for a reason(besides it being the law! to protect wildlife) "Free dogs" who are social put themselves in danger by running up to defensive pooches. It was a new element to our birding that I hadn't much thought about. A lady in Balboa Park laughed and said her unleashed dog was friendly and that it was "okay". Yes, we love your dog, but Cheroot will rip the dog apart because of your negligence! If I were a cat, I'd hiss.
Forster's Tern
Let's talk about birds. While at the beach, we were noticing a lot of terns flying over our heads. And with a closer look, we noticed quite a few species of tern. My friend Celeste mentioned there was black at the tip of the bill. That narrowed the bird down to a Caspian or Forster's Tern. I saw her bird and then noticed it had a thin orange bill with a beautiful tail pattern. Forster's. But what were the other terns?!
The next tern we saw breeds in the same area as the Snowy Plovers. And sure enough, a Least Tern flew over our heads. They weren't as numerous as the other species and an easy one to ID. Small tern with a yellow bill.
Least Tern
Wildlife and visitors continued along the beach of Southern California. In one area, we had both Harbor Seals (or Common Seal) in one colony while several rocks over, we saw a huge group of California Sea Lions.
Harbor Seals
It's tricky for birders. Terns are magnificent creatures, but they aren't always easy in their varied plumage. Often I go with the bill as a field mark. We were lucky as we had clear marks. I start getting into trouble when both Arctic and Common terns are in the same area. Then there's the Elegant Tern vs the Royal Tern. We did see a few Royal Terns while we were there. Let's take a look.
Royal Tern
Here's a shot of both species. Royal Terns will also have the black cap. This one does not. The bills are slightly thicker with the Royal Tern. The tern also has a paler orange/yellow coloring.
Elegant Tern
When you look at the Elegant Tern, you'll see a longer skinnier orange bill. It's also a large and elegant tern. REALLY:) These terns are more common along the coast of Southern California right now and were the predominant tern species over the waters.
Another tern that I know well is the Caspian Tern. It breeds along the shores of Lake Michigan in my home state of Wisconsin. This tern is widespread and a bulky tern with a heavy orange bill with a dark end. This was the second most common tern species along the coastal waters.
Caspian Tern
During the in between time, we'd all sit and enjoy the shade. The ocean is great but the sun can still be very strong. We found shade and charged our batteries under a tree full of Allen's Hummingbirds.
A tern that I had been wanting to observe in the wild finally happened on this trek. All of my friends have seen this species except me:) That was such a wonderful discovery. I thought I had seen one fly over my head. My heart skipped a beat and my pace quickened on the beach towards the salt marsh. These birds were outside the clouds of terns over the estuary. They were fishing from the calmer waters of the salt marsh. Easy to ID with that nice black bill.
Gull-billed Tern
Where did we see all these terns? Well, we found them at Imperial Beach along the Tijuana Slough that borders the ocean front. Here is the list that we generated from our walk. Directions to get there are in the report. One bird we did not see was the Ridgway's Rail which is often found there in good numbers. But we didn't time our visits to the tide. When the tide rises, you have a better chance of spotting this very cool and endangered rail.
The end of the pier behind Celeste is where you can find the Pelagic Cormorants, when it opens again. Great eats along that road as well
I want to also share with you that it's possible to observe all three cormorants in this area. The most common cormorants seen are the Brandt's and Double-crested Cormorants. The more difficult one can be the Pelagic. But for some reason, the purplish hues of the beautiful Pelagic Cormorant love the end of the big Imperial Beach pier. Even though the pier was closed, I did spy one bird fly towards the end of it.
Brandt's Cormorant
It was a lovely walk. The past two posts covered 5 principal areas of what I think are San Diego's premier birding spots. There's a few more but we avoided those areas due to high human traffic. We stayed near Balboa Park which is a really nice walk and full of great birds including the exotics. We spied Red-crowned and Yellow-headed Parrots with Red-headed Parakeets. Also feeding from the grasses were the Scaly-breasted Munia.
If anything, this trek inspired me to get on the road soon. But something was holding me back. I'm glad I waited. The bird gods have been kind to the birding community in Arizona.
Maybe not exciting, but I think beautiful, the Western Gulls were nesting along the coastal cliffs.
Western Gull
On our way home, we spied this very young Green Heron at a park in Yuma, AZ. At one point I had to take this poor little heron out of the pond because a girl ran up to it and forced it into the water. It barely could swim. It needed a few days to get more strength. She knew what she was doing and it pissed me off. Back in the day, you could yell at kids freely(or talk to them nicely). I was hungry and grouchy and not in the mood to deal with kids. So instead, I had a talk with her mother while giving her the death stare. Then I rescued the little bird who couldn't get out of the pond due to the concrete pond wall being too high. Hope this little one is okay. Just needs a few days to strengthen up.
juvenile Green Heron
So if you are chasing terns along the coast of Southern California, here are the terns we saw most to least being the Least:) 1. Elegant Tern-the most common 2. Caspian Tern 3. Forster's Tern 4. Gull-billed Tern 5. Royal Tern 6. Least Tern
We're back in Southern Arizona enduring the heat and wildfires. Please think good thoughts for our Mt. Lemmon. The Bighorn Fire was caused by a lightning strike for about a week now. As we were arriving back into Tucson, we hit the huge lightning storm. It has done some major damage to the mountain. I hope we can get it under control. Fire is good but it's not cool when you have your friend's home in danger of getting burned down. It's painful to watch the wildlife flee their homes off the mountain. June is already a stressful time for all the critters with water and heat being major factors. And the smoke! Is it covid or smoke that's causing the headaches? It's one thing after another these days. Next week, we take a longer and deeper look into the magic of Southeastern Arizona birding.
Pima County, Arizona is an amazing place to bird. It's one of the birdiest areas of the US! Thanks to our mountain, canyon, grassland and desert habitat, it's home to so many wonderful critters.
Yesterday was an important day for me as I hit the 300 species mark in Pima County. A rare Least Tern flew into Sweetwater Wetlands helping me achieve this unintended goal. The highest species count for Pima County is 445 birds. Here is a look back at some of the gems discovered around Tucson and surrounding areas.
Black-capped Gnatcatcher on Proctor Road Pima County has a special group of birds that most birders need on their lists. Eventually they have to make their way to Southern Arizona:) It's amazing how many people just care about getting these birds on their US list. And then there is that ABA list! If they aren't on the ABA list, it's not important. I don't get that thinking. I understand it, but I'm not the kind of person that likes having someone tell me whether or not a bird "counts". All birds matter! Either way, these two birds are countable and very much desired! I had seen both of these birds in other countries first. Later, I added them onto my US list.
Rufous-capped Warbler at Florida Canyon
Articles have been written on both of the Black-capped Gnatcatchers and Rufous-capped Warblers. Thanks to global warming, these birds are beginning to expand their range.
Sage Thrasher It's always a treat to find birds migrating through our various areas like the Sage Thrasher(above). A central to lower US state bird, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, erased my terrible day woes last year as it flew right past me at Sweetwater Wetlands! It perched on a branch for a few moments reminding me that work is just work. Life is more important. While work is important, it doesn't define who I am. I am more.
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher I think I can speak for most birders this year on these birds below. Trumpeter Swans flew into the Sweetwater Wetlands shocking the local birding establishments! People wet their pants and dropped whatever they were doing and ran to Sweetwater! I'm serious. I'm going to write something here that speaks volumes about us. We could be in the most serious conversations. Maybe we are signing divorce papers, attending a funeral, etc. But mention a rare bird and watch your birder friends secretly slip out the door:) These incredible swans stuck around for the day allowing many birders to join together on this unofficial holiday. They were one day wonders! And I would say that these two swans have been the best birds so far in Pima County this year.
Trumpeter Swans at Sweetwater Another excellent bird for us this year has been the Heerman's Gull. There have been several sightings over the past several months! This is a pretty cool gull and a bird I hadn't thought I'd add to my Pima list anytime soon! They are found along the coasts of Southern California and Mexico. It's a pretty sexy gull and an easy ID for people who aren't great with gull ID.
Heerman's Gull
One of my favorite birds is the Common Loon. Never in a million years when I first started birding did I think Tucson could have visiting Loons. As a young child growing up around Wisconsin and Minnesota, I remember their magical calls. An all-time favorite movie, On Golden Pond, always comes to mind when I see one of these majestic birds.
Common Loon
So here's a weird one. The Black Scoter. On a cloudy and rainy day, a massive storm front delivered a Black Scoter to the Old Pueblo! There, for several months in a random deep pond, a female scoter hung out. An ocean bird in the desert!
Black Scoter Other shockers included this Juvenile Tricolored Heron on a golf course.
juvenile Tricolored Heron Or this random Whimbrel in the middle of the desert. And just for fun, it hung out with a Long-billed Curlew to mess with birders:)
Whimbrel Other birds, like this Barn Owl, are sometimes hard to come by! What a treat to have seen one here within the Tucson limits! Again I don't advertise their locations as there are a few photographers who who will cross unethical lines. Since when is a picture more important than the welfare of our birds? One of the tenants of a good birder is to never intentionally disturb a bird out in the field. If I see them eating or nesting, I keep my distance. I have met several birders/photographers in the field who bait their birds(i.e. hawks, etc) for a better photo. Or they cut a branch down to get that "annoying" thing out of the way.....for a better photo. This is unethical. And that is why this particular Barn Owl left the tree. Thanks to some crazy owl fanatic who decided to cut down a couple branches, this Barn Owl didn't return to that spot.
Barn Owl at Sweetwater Mt. Lemmon is a prime location for finding nesting Red-faced and Olive Warblers during our summer months!
Red-faced Warbler
Once birders believed that Elegant Trogons(below) could not be found in Pima County. Then last year, the infamous Florida Canyon sported a pair. And they were in Pima County. This year they are still there!
During my beginning days as a birder, I went to see the visiting Brown Pelican during our monsoon at a nearby park. I was hot and sweaty, but I sure enjoyed viewing this pelican. During monsoon, it's common to have a Brown Pelican or two blown into the deserts. Many times they are rescued and taken back to San Diego, CA. A small few have remained and can be found up around the Phoenix area. Pelicans in the desert.
Brown Pelican
Finally, several years ago, a Groove-billed Ani came to the Sweetwater Wetlands and got me excited. I love Spanish and the tropics! Nothing says tropical like an Ani! I fell in love with this bird so much, I went back several times to observe it. This is one of my top ten favorite birds...for now:) The Audubon guide who discovered this bird flipped out! And this bird put Tucson on the US map for a week!
Groove-billed Ani
As you can see, birding within your own area can be fun and exciting. It's a challenge like everything else, but all these
birds add up over time. Have you tried birding within your own county? If so, what were some of the cool birds you've discovered?
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
I have several key trips planned this year that
will hopefully propel me towards the 800 life bird mark. In June, I
celebrate my 4th year as a birder. This life journey continues to
change me forever. We'll be heading out of Arizona to several states
this summer while also traveling to Southern Mexico.
On a whim, I followed a theory and discovered a 2nd tern on my own in the city of Tucson! That was a bonus! Here it is flying about at Lakeside Park. Pretty cool!
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