The North American Swallow Challenge

Tree Swallow

I sat back one day and thought, "How many more types of swallows are out there for my North American needs list?"  After reviewing my Sibleys and National Wildlife Federation guides, I found out that I need only one more.  If you are a birder, try to figure out which one it is.  If you're not a birder, which swallow is your favorite?

My first documented swallow was the Tree Swallow back in Wisconsin.  The vivid shiny blues caught my eye.  We saw our first one here in Tucson during early spring.

Bank Swallows

Bank Swallows are one the plainest of the swallows, but they have a cute look to them.  They are easy to ID by the collar or necklace around their necks.

Barn Swallows

Barn Swallows are easy to ID with their vivid marks and long scissor-like tails.

Violet-Green Swallow

But add a little green and you've got yourself a Violet-Green Swallow.  It's funny how swallows can be overlooked by birders. 

Each nest is created in slightly different ways.  This Barn Swallow above prefers to build on the sides of buildings etc.  They make a little basket.

I wasn't able to post any of these shots until I had the vast collection of photographs completed.   If you look at a lot of telephone wires, you'll find these birds hanging out.  They tend to do this early morning or late at night.

A swallow that is found all year round in Tucson is the Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

It's another plain brown swallow, but it's body is much bulkier in flight and reminds me of an odd shaped submarine.

Cliff Swallow

The Cliff Swallows like to build nests under bridges, etc.   They are quick to fly as are all swallows.  Again note the shorter and round tail feathers.  The wingspan is shorter and the head pattern/coloring is different.  They fly quickly and when there are hundreds of them in the sky, it can be a tricky job sorting all the birds out.

Look at the above and below shots.  One is the Cliff Swallow while the bottom is the Barn Swallow.  Maybe you can see why I'd confuse them at first glance:)

Finally, we come to the large and spectacular Purple Martin.  I was at a pool near open desert land when I saw these cool birds watching me from above.  They come to Tucson and nest in our Saguaros.

Purple Martin

They are indeed purple but can appear black in different light situations. So who am I missing?  Or who is your favorite swallow?

I still need the Cave Swallow.  They are found around southern New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. Once and awhile, one or two will fly into Arizona. I hope you enjoyed this showcase on swallows.  More to come.....

Patient Observations

Greater Roadrunner

As we approach April, I find myself with 212 birds on the list for this year.  Now that's pretty good, but if you're playing this as a game or competition, it's not good enough:)  While on my journeys, I've really found some wonderful birds up close and personal.

Northern Rough-winged Swallows

Of course, some I see often, but I can't help but take their pictures.

Northern Mockingbird

With spring in full force down here in Tucson, we're finding lots of birds displaying courtship behaviors.

Many of these birds are singing out on the limbs of trees and bushes trying to find the love of their life.

Pyrrhuloxia

This really has allowed me to get closer to the birds and snap the shots.

Gila Woodpecker

If you just sit, like I did with Kathie, the birds will come right up to you.  And that's when these normally difficult to film birds come out and jump very close to us.  We had so much fun snapping shots of sparrows, towhees and quail!

Black-throated Sparrow

We've been attracting attention lately observing birds.  Tourists find us and ask us questions like, "Any good birds?"  "What do you see?"  Then they try to take shots of the birds after they've scared them away.  Several younger kids went to photograph the Gambel's Quail.  But if you sit and wait....

Canyon Towhee

They will come to you!!!  It's been difficult to lose the curious and oblivious tourists on this quest to find birds.

Gambel's Quail(male)

Before I was polite.  Now I just walk away as quick as I can.

Recently on a birding trip, Kathie met several people who followed her blog.  It's always exciting meeting  everyone, but take a look at what was going on while she was chatting.....

Kathie and the Acorn Woodpecker

An Acorn Woodpecker was at the feeder!  She didn't see the bird because she was excited to meet the nice couple.  But I couldn't help and take a snapshot of her chatting while the bird took advantage of the distraction!!    That made me have a good laugh.  When she finished talking and turned her head, the bird made her jump as he flew off the feeder. "Oh my gosh, there was a bird next to my head."  Yes there was Ms. Brown.  Yes there was:) And a Northern Harrier flew over your head:)

Don't get me wrong.  I love people.  I wouldn't work with people if I didn't find them interesting BUT as a wildlife photographer, I want to get as close as I can to my target bird without the distractions.   The details are breathtaking on these big and small birds.  It requires extreme focus and QUIET!

I was in love with our photo shoots on this day.  The birds were fabulous as were the walks.  

Song Sparrow

Not all days are successful, but some days, the finds are exciting and the pics are terrific.

Common Merganser(female or hen)

Right now, I have some photography that will be published out of Brazil on UNESCO sites.  And there's a potential art show getting put together with my work in Quito, Ecuador for next summer.  Now that would be an epic birding trip for 2014!  I'd have some work on display at a gallery and then I could go around the country for epic treks.  Life is good and it's becoming more and more fantastic as time goes on.

But for now, my focus stays in Arizona as I hunt down as many species as I can within our beautiful state.

the Great Egret

Life truly is an adventure.  Since this photo shoot, we've had some epic journeys into the mountains and canyons.  There have been incredible finds.  Where will we be next?  Stay tuned for more.  

Digging Deeper

Great Egret

Searching(chasing really) for the Western Grebe, I wasn't into the photography bit.  However, the one picture that I really worked for was this one.  It was an early early morning at around 6 AM before the humans and their dogs would arrive at Sam Lena Park in Tucson.  Using my GPS tracker, I was hot on the trail before it got too hot!

Western Grebe

I found my target bird which is only used for ID purposes.  This is not a great shot but evidence that I found the bird.  Along the way, I had nice views of this female Belted Kingfisher.  I am hoping to get better shots but this is my best so far.

Female Belted Kingfisher

However, my series of photos dealing with this Great Egret below would be the artsy shots for the day.  And everything thing else was just icing on the cake.  Here is my take on the work.  Note the clarity of the shadows and the slightly out of focus images of the actual bird and its' reflection.  And my intent here is, "What's real?"

And that was a thrill for me to observe!  But more importantly it creates a deeper shade to the shot than looking at "just another bird".  I think I took about 50 of these!  I never know when an opportunity will present itself, but when it does, I'm ready with the camera.

Spotted Sandpiper

While focusing on the Great Egret, my eye captured another lifebird scurrying along the shore of the lake.  Grabbing the camera, I snapped an image quickly before the bird disappeared.

Northern Rough Winged Swallow

Above my head, two Northern Rough Winged Swallows flew.  I questioned if they were real, but I snapped the shots for evidence.  Not all of them have migrated and several reports from that day indicated several were still in the area.

Northern Harriers

After Sam Lena, I headed to the Amado Recharge ponds to find the Lesser Scaup reported.  I would find the find the bird but not on this day.  But I did see another two Northern Harriers along the pond.  I had to strain my lens to get a poor quality shot.   They are such interesting birds.  I'll have a report on how challenging the birding has become so stay tuned for more:)

Greaterville Road

Hot Kingbird activity on this road!!

Greaterville Road.  Kathie told me about a magical road towards Sonoita where birds were numerous and plentiful.  Within a short stretch of road, we encountered dozens of different birds.  And it was pretty exciting.

Kestrel love!

We got up early and left for our trip to the Empire Ranch.  But we stopped along Greaterville Road before reaching Cienagas.  While it was early morning, there was a definite excitement at what we would find.  And what a way to get our morning started!

Kathie is great about the numbers and counting how many birds are in the area.  While for myself, I love using the camera to capture all the incredible finds in the air.  I really love motion in my shots.

American Kestrel

I don't know why, but I thought of TexWisGirl when I took this shot:)  There was a fence, some stars, and colorful tractor in the background.  And the reason I saw this?  A bird was on it:)

But I noticed a Red Tail Hawk in what appears to be an Oak Tree.

Red Tail Hawk

And then the Blue Grosbeak!!!  So many of them and so difficult to get on camera.  They love sticking to the grass and are very shy around people:)

Blue Grosbeak

In fact, the best bird spotting was on fence and telephone lines.

Vesper Sparrow

We saw lots of interesting and unusual swallows.  Two would be lifers like this bird below.

Northern Rough Winged Swallow

And along the road, a lot of conversation happened about ID'ing kingbirds.  I think I have the Cassin's down pretty well now.  There were at least 3 types flying around and there were lots everywhere!

Cassin's Kingbird

White chin=Cassin's Kingbird.  Beautiful birds!

We spent a long time on the road not aware of how much time passed.  That's great birding:)

Eventually we realized we had to get going to Empire Ranch and Cienagas before it got too hot.

Now Greaterville goes on for a long while......and we only touched a small 2 mile distance on the road.  It was incredible.

Turkey Vulture

But we'd have more finds as we continued on......

More tomorrow.....