Wrenegades 2020 Birdathon

Eared Grebe

Dear friends of Las Aventuras, 

I'm sorry for the delay in blog posts. I have been working on documentation for two separate writes for this week and next. It has been a lot of fun and it has definitely taken my mind off of our current situation. This past weekend we did some important fundraising for Tucson Audubon. I'd like to thank all the people who donated to our team, the Wrenegades.  We've raised some good money to protect Southeastern Arizona's birds, habitat and wildlife!

American Avocets

Obviously, this year we had to do things differently.  The team had to break up and work within our circles of family and friends being socially distant and responsible. In this post, you'll see how we accomplished our goals separately and yet together using technology to communicate.  

I was responsible for the shorebirds migrating through the state right now. I went with my friend Celeste and her furry pooch, Cheroot. Together we saw some amazing birds.  You'll see some of our finds in today's posts. Much of our energy was spent around water areas like Lake Cochise in Willcox and the riparian area near the San Pedro House.  It was a gorgeous day!

In Arizona, especially southeastern Arizona, there is a lot of habitat to cover.  While I took the Cochise county sector, Captain Jennie(MacFarland) Wren covered the Santa Cruz county area with Richard Fray and together they found such amazing birds like the Thick-billed Kingbird along the DeAnza trail.  

Her area is great for vultures, like the Black Vulture, and other hawks. There are also great sparrows like the Rufous-winged Sparrow just waiting to be found. And they did!

American Avocet

Throughout the day, we kept in contact with Jennie and reported our finds.  She kept together the checklist as we all accomplished our goals.  Jennie and Richard birded from home.  It also helps to live in Rio Rico where the wildlife is outstanding.  It's near a lot of great birding hotspots along the I 19 corridor.  

Meanwhile, Wrenegade's team member Sara Derouen Pike, took to the local state parks and city parks with her family to find such treasures like the Northern Beardless Tyrannulet.  Sometimes we get so busy that we forget the "basics".  You know......Rock Pigeons, European Starlings and House Sparrows.  And in our case for that day, we didn't have a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher on our list!  Sara saved the day and found us one!  

So many birds and just not enough time in ONE day to find them all!  Arizona birding is amazing. 

White-faced Ibis

Sometimes I will find random birds that I wasn't expecting to get on my list like the nomadic American White Pelican.  What a treat!  These are inland pelicans but not always guaranteed on our counts. 

American White Pelican

Often times, a lot of our amazing shorebird species are overlooked.  Some of them are too confusing I hear people say, but if you get a close up look, they are quite beautiful.  

Like sparrows, the sandpiper group can be difficult for beginning birders.  They can even be difficult for expert birders if they are in the wrong light!  Thankfully, this Western Sandpiper posed nicely for the camera where I could observe that nice rufousy cap with black legs. There are some rufous patches on the back that also help with this ID.  

Western Sandpiper

I failed to find any Baird's Sandpipers, but we did find quite a few Least, Spotted and Western Sandpipers.  

 

It may shock some people to hear that we even have Willets pass through Tucson.  Where's the water?  Again we don't have many watering holes, but where there is water, there can be waterbirds!  It's important to check them daily as birds come and go.  And during our birdathon, we checked Willcox Lake several times to pick up new birds during each visit.  

Western Willet

Meanwhile, our very own Matt Griffiths took social distancing and birding to the next level.  This guy BIKED from Tucson up into canyons of Mt. Lemmon!  He was the last to report from our group because he was out of wifi range.  My hat goes off to Matt.  I'd be dead trying to do that route. The ride up Catalina highway is a steep, hot and dangerous one. There can be so much traffic as well. Years ago I used to bike marathons.  Today, not so much.  He'd blow it off as nothing, but what he did was an amazing feat of birding.  Meanwhile, Celeste, Cheroot and myself sat in the shade and ate lunch with a nice cold coke.  That's my kind of birding:)  

I like the walks, but it's over one hundred degrees now here in Tucson.  You bird in the morning or in the evening.  And if you have a strong desire to bird the whole day, you go up into the higher elevations or bird from the a/c of your car. 

I had to take off my birder's cap for you all so that you can see this crazy covid do!  We wore our masks when people got too close.  We still have lots of cases here and so social distancing and masks are necessary.  Thankfully Arizona has a lot of wonderful wide open spaces to meander!

After all was said and done, our team managed to find 165 different bird species for the day.  Each one of us will tell you that we had several stand out birds from our journeys. I always love those conversations.  It's exciting to hear who found what and where. 

Solitary Sandpiper

What we do is important.  Our team has raised, so far, 4300 dollars.  We're not done yet.  Tucson Audubon is one of the most active organizations here in Tucson and in the country. The organization is very involved with the Tucson and Southeastern Arizona communities. There is so much going on at all times.  Even if you can't financially help, we still offer so many other ways you can participate with our local birds.  All you have to do is check out the Tucson Audubon website.  

Wilson's Phalarope

If you'd like to donate, click here. 

Long-billed Dowitcher

As always, thank you for following Las Aventuras.  Next week, we go on a chase and take an adventure up into the White Mountains as I learn to maneuver around birds and people.  We do some more social distancing in cooler weather!  Until next time.......

Endless Days; Sleepless Nights

Before I begin with this week's chapter, I'd like to mention that blogger is having issues with pictures.  I wasn't sure I was going to post this week.  And I'm not the only one with the prohibited sign for several pics.  It appears my cell phone, scenic/people shots were blocked but my camera photos were not. So you'll see my wildlife discoveries from this past week. Blogger is aware of the problem and they are working on the issue.  Now let's get started with this week. 

Heermann's Gull makes a day appearance at a local pond in Pima County

Are you feeling like the title of this blog post? Everyone asks, "How are you doing?"  I don't know.  Everything is an endless haze.  Even the birding is mundane.  Ohhhh, I like the walks with friends or alone, but it feels like I've been there and done that over and over again.  I run the race but it feels robotic and empty.  I am very close to throwing in the towel and grabbing my keys and laptop while taking my work with me along the coast. 

I like this gray and detailed throne of the Greater Pewee.  They are all vocalizing right now which is absolutely beautiful

I still enjoy the birds, but it's not the same as researching a new area full of new challenges.  I have my projects.  And they look good.  I wake up.  Read emails.  Go for a walk and pick up new birds for the year in Pima County. Sometimes I walk.  Sometimes I drive.  I come home.  Check emails.  Work on the house project, putting ceiling tiles up.  Then I go outside and water my garden and feed my birds.  I watch TV for an hour and respond to students.  Then I go to bed and do it all over again. Just like everyone else reading this.  I don't even know what day it is unless I am given a task. 

Bushtits feed along a creek on Mt. Lemmon

Rarities show up.  I chase and snap a pic.  Tucson Audubon had me do a count around Reid Park which was fun.  Finally I felt like I had a real task for the day!

Anna's Hummingbird monitors my count at Reid Park

A zip code next to ours is now a new hotspot in the city for the Covid-19 virus.  I'm wondering if another nursing home was hit.  This virus is taking out these retirement communities!  And as you may or may not know, Arizona is one of the top retirement states in the US.  So while I was doing my count at Reid Park(that's in the area), I was very careful keeping my distance from people.  A police officer monitored the park for social distancing. 

Zebra-tailed Lizard

Some golf courses are vacant which is awesome!  I can now walk to the ponds where there's usually something amazing hiding in the reeds, like the Solitary Sandpiper below. 

A really cool Solitary Sandpiper hides in the reeds on a vacant golf course.

Everyone checks the few and random watering holes around town hoping for something rare to show up.  It's our highlight for the day.

OMG!  Yappy Black-necked Stilts warn me to stay back, even though there's a fence between us and that I'm some distance away from the fence.  Good gods!

Mental health is important, but this caged bird is ready to fly.  While the cases continue to rise in the US, people are beginning to lose their minds and protest.  Not saying I'd do this, but if I had covid, I'd go to the protests wearing a red hat wrapped in an American flag coughing all over everyone. My best advice is to stay away from people everywhere.  Stick to the birds. These are interesting times for sure.  Stay well and hope you are finding things to keep your minds active, like birding:)  Until next time.....

A Tucson Spring

It's spring here in the desert.  I've kept it local for several weeks because I need to budget my money for a bigger trek coming up.  It has been an enjoyable challenge because I am forced to play within the perimeters of my own area.  It's a different kind of birding, but it's still quite enjoyable. 

Mallard duckling

Outsiders often visit the Old Pueblo in April and ask the locals, "When is your spring?"  People living here KNOW that spring is subtle.  Our trees leaf out and release terrible amounts of pollen:) But our trees aren't bold and tall like the ones found on the eastern part of the US. For birders, we visibly see the migration happening before our very eyes. 

While waiting for my master lens to return from the shop, I took cell phone pics and used a smaller lens for some of these shots.  Imagine going to your work place and finding this Great Horned Owlet staring back at you?!  It was hard to focus and listen to the adults talking in the room:)

Least Sandpipers

While Tucson doesn't have a lot of watering holes, we do have a few that attract some special migrants.  This time of year is good for rare sandpipers.  The most common are Least, Spotted, Western and Solitary Sandpipers.  Pectoral and Stilt Sandpipers are good birds but they are not always reliable. I have found that I need to be in the right place at the right time to spot these passing migrants.  The key is to place yourself in those spots for a possible sighting. 

Solitary Sandpiper

 Staying in one area also allows for a VERY in depth look at our local birds.  Take for example this Killdeer below. 

Many of us know that a Killdeer parent will act injured to draw a predator away from the nest. While I am not a predator, I am clearly a danger in a different kind of way.  

Almost every living creature on this planet uses some form of communication.  As a birder, it's my job to interpret that communication for a better understanding of the birds.  It offers a very satisfying observation as well. 

In this particular case, I knew I was near a nest.  I stopped quickly and scanned the area.  Had I made a few more steps in the wrong direction, I might have stepped on these eggs.  Thankfully, I understood what the bird was telling me. Look at how much this Killdeer's eggs look like the surrounding rocks!  Nature is amazing. 

I believe that Coachline, or El Río Preserve, will be one of Marana and Tucson's premiere birding spots when it's all finished.  It has been a wonderful success.  A walking/bike path have been put into the area making this premiere birding spot even better.  There is now a parking area (with a ramada for lunch and shade).  As a local, I can tell you that I am super excited about this transition.  And my tires are glad as well.  No more gravel/sharp rock parking:)

Several years ago, friend and birder, Magill sat with me as we did a Big Sit and counted birds under the awning at this place for the day.  It was a lot of fun as we ended our observations with lots of Lesser Nighthawks flying around us. 

Black-crowned Night Heron

 After two weeks, my master lens returned back to me repaired and I was so excited to get the darn thing that I headed to Reid Park to film Great-tailed Grackles collecting mud.  It. Was. Great.  Even if they were just Great-tailed Grackles:)  That's how happy I was!

But during those grueling two weeks of waiting, I did some research for our upcoming Wrenegades event.  Every year, we get together to raise money for the birds of Southern Arizona.  It helps support Tucson Audubon's projects. 

I spiced up my treks but kept it cheap.  A really nice place to bird on Mt. Lemmon is the Rose Canyon Lake area.  But I didn't want to pay the hefty entrance fee so I parked off the highway and hiked down to the lake.  Another woman did the same but as she was hiking down into the area, she didn't realize how far it was:)  So I kept encouraging her to keep going.  "Where is the damn lake? My kids better be down there."  I told her not to worry.  We chatted the mile hike down and got to the lake.  She didn't see them but from her conversation about her kids, I guessed they'd be at the floating dock fishing.  And there they were.  That trek, for the day, landed me a Lewis's Woodpecker. 

I also scouted around for the ducks.  Again for our birdathon.  There are a few wintering ducks still around....like this proud drake Ring-necked Duck. 

A Round-tailed Ground Squirrel eats some refreshing Barrel Cactus fruit on a hot near 100 degree day. 

And my research takes me into new areas around town locating new Burrowing Owl locations.  The one at our airport is now gone which means that the construction crew destroyed the burrow:(  Thankfully birders saved the birds and had them relocated.  It was very sad to see them go.  But it also forced me to scout out new locations which was fun. 

Next week, I join up with my fellow Wrenegades to find as many birds in a 24 hour time period as we can.  Will we break our old record?  Stay tuned for more.....

A Band of Birders

The Green-tailed Towhee

The journey never ends and the birds are always out there just waiting to be found.  Part of the fun about birding is getting the chance to hang out with new and old friends of all ages!  

Milbert's Tortoiseshell Butterfly

And the part I love most is how spontaneous it all can be!  It's like being a kid again.

Cordilleran Flycatcher

Recently I have really gotten back into camping.  My family used to go often on the weekends while we were growing up in Wisconsin. It has been a lot of fun setting up "home" in the middle of the woods with friends.  The secret to a good nights sleep?  An air mattress:) 

Nesting Cordilleran Flycatchers

So on a trip to Greer, we, the band of birders, went looking for some elusive birds.  There we would discover many amazing birds like the American Dipper(finally!), Gray Jays, Pine Grosbeaks and a Long-eared Owl!

Of course, we'd spot many other beautiful things, but there's nothing quite like the company of fun people to enhance the birding experience. 

Northern Pygmy-Owl

Risk taking was something I used to do often when I was younger. Birding can be a lot like gambling.  You win some and you lose some. On Friday, we hit all of our target birds except the Dusky Grouse.  But with the unexpected Long-eared Owl making an appearance, it was a win-win for everyone...making up for the dip on the Grouse.

Then Saturday came.  Oh Saturday!  We drove to the 4 corners area to search for a Black-billed Magpie(below).  Why a gorgeous bird like this would hang around the 4 corners area is beyond me!  There had been reports of several birds in the area. And they were found in a tree-lined wash.  Okay, no problem.  So we drove a looooooong way to get there.....and gambled.

Black-billed Magpie in Colorado Springs, CO

Along the way, we joked and laughed really hoping we'd see this bird and count it on our state list.  The areas we had been passing were quite beautiful but not looking very Magpie friendly.  Eventually we arrived at the Klingon sounding(Star Trek reference/I'm a nerd) settlement known as Teec Nos Pos. Actually it's Navajo for "Cottonwoods in a Circle".  

Our intrepid crew!  Pic courtesy of Tommy D!  From left to right...Me, Magill, Gordon and Tommy

That made sense because the town was built around a wash full of Cottonwoods. This part of the Navajo Reservation reminded me of a ghost town. And not the good kind.  I swear there were zombies hiding behind trees. I don't know where all the people were, but it was dead silent. Thankfully we were a band of birders exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations.  Or at least that's what I told myself:)

So we reached the area where the Magpies had been reported.  The habitat looked right. The coordinates were correct. So we hesitantly left our space shuttle vehicle. I was wearing a red shirt that day. Broken glass bottles sparkled in between the rocks. And there was trash everywhere.  Several trees were spray painted with colorful letters.  Dirty shirts and other clothing items draped tree branches. Perhaps a homeless encampment? Or maybe some sort of wild outdoor party happened here? There was evidence of beer drinking.  But the intrepid crew of the USS Gordon entered the forested area listening for a singular Magpie call. 

Solitary Sandpiper

One of the crew members explored a densely packed wooded area alone and discovered a human male shooting his arm full of drugs. "Yellow Alert!" (one condition level below Red Alert or meaning high caution) At this point, birds became secondary. Soon after, other humans arrived in a beat up car and our band of birders began to discuss the safety factors.  The heart to explore beats strongly in each of us, but sometimes the risk isn't worth it. And it was decided inside this rather sketchy and narrow wash that we would leave and explore around the settlement....at warp speed:)

Long-eared Owl

I could see the disappointment on people's faces.  I felt it as well!  It's hard to dip on a bird you know is in the area.  But safety first!  On this day, something triggered a couple of our alarms and I have found to trust in it for a good reason.  I have been incident free over the years while traveling here and there and I hope to keep it that way. 

American Dipper

However with that said, I enjoyed the experience very much.  I would never have gone to that part of the state alone and I was so glad we were able to explore new territory together.  Sometimes it's not always about getting the target bird....sometimes it's about something more. It won't be an experience I forget anytime soon. We thought we'd head to the 4 corners for a photo op on a human made landmark, but when we discovered that it was going to cost 5 bucks a person, we all said, "NO WAY!"  The bitter taste of dipping on the Magpie was still present.

Prairie Dog

But what's that saying? "Take milk from a cow and make a milkshake".  No no I think it's "Squeeze lemons and make a vodka lemonade:)" In any case, we birded our way back into Greer during a beautiful monsoon storm.  And that long trip back?  It wasn't long at all because we had fun trekking along the lakes on the return trip!  I discovered my mammal lifer!  The Prairie Dog. 

Male Calliope Hummingbird

And like the old childhood/college adventures, we returned to camp and planned our fun for the next day under the night sky while we ate our meal. Common Nighthawks called from the darkness.  The rain began to pitter patter down from the canopy of the trees.  A sign that it was time to retire into our tents.  That night I slept well as the cool breeze blew in under the tent flaps. 

As a side note, the 4 Corners area is safe as is most of Teec Nos Pos.  But many times, as in our case, we were searching in areas not populated or known by many people.  The birds always guide us.  Part of the fun in birding is playing the role of detective.  Unfortunately, there are places like the one we visited that can be sketchy.  Arizona has several of these birding hotspots and its always best to go in a group.  More next time....

From Sheep's Crossing in Greer!  A great place to go fishing and find an American Dipper:)  For more great birds and places to find them, check out Wild Bird Wednesday!