Stay On The Path

Common Loon on nest

 A place that I had always wanted to visit was Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine. I wanted to give Kathie and Gus some alone time (and a break!) from us birding every day.  Thankfully Magill was around doing some work in Maine.  She had told me over the years that Monhegan Island was a fantastic place to go birding for rarity chasers.  If any rarity was going to show up in this state, it would be on Monhegan Island.  And it's all true.

She didn't have to twist my arm too hard to go.  There were some potential lifer sea birds on this trip.  Unfortunately, we were a little too early for the "main" sea bird event, but it was great doing some exploring in new habitat with Magill.  We always choose new places to bird because they are not birded or are underbirded. So on our way to Monhegan, we did a two night cabin stay along the coast checking area blocks for the Maine Bird Breeding Atlas. 

The trek out to Monhegan Island was beautiful.  There was lots to see.  Our mission?  To find a rare invading Eurasian Collared Dove. We rolled our eyes and laughed, but for Magill and myself, it would be a new state bird.  These doves come to my feeder in Arizona.  In fact, they live around Magill's house in Phoenix. But here we were chasing this silly dove on an island. 

I have this dove memorized.  I know its flight pattern and body shape from quite a distance. Because of that distinct flight pattern glide, I found it right away and of course, it flew down behind a house behind a bunch of trees. Magill didn't see it.  So because it was a rare bird for Maine, we wanted to get photo documentation.  But before I took another step, Magill warned about the people on the island.  According to many Mainiacs, they are assholes. Or at least, most of them were.  So we had to stay on the path. Easy. We're always so good about following the rules.  Or so we thought. 

a bird that is looking to take Maine hostage, the "rare" invasive Eurasian Collared Dove

 For the first time in my life, I used playback for this dove and it worked like a charm.  We, I thought, were safely on a public road until a crabby Lobsterman (are there any other kinds?) came out and tried getting into a verbal fight with us.  We ignored him and walked away.  It seemed like he followed us a little bit from his house, but we just kept walking on the road with him shouting at our backs. 

This sign is a complete lie.  And note it says during bird migrations.  So they really don't want anyone there

After that experience, I was done with the island.  The sign above is a complete lie.  Why would I invest money into this island if many of the people there were jerks? I felt bad because Magill loves this island and I think she was disappointed that I didn't think much of it.  I just thought to myself that if people were that hostile towards visitors, why in the world would anyone want to spend money at this place.  It was a pretty island, but so is Machias Seal Island and the hundred other islands along the coast of Maine. And you don't get hassled at those locations. 

Tree Swallow

 However, we did encounter some nice people watering their yards.  They had bird houses out for Tree Swallows.  We counted birds along the path. And let me add something positive here.  There weren't any bugs:)

And it was scenic.  Sure.  Absolutely beautiful.  I laughed because when Magill and I are together, we always have an adventure.  But something was very different this time around!  And it bothered me a lot. 

I can't put my finger on it but the Common Yellowthroats on the eastern side of the US are different acting and even looking than our yellowthroats we have here in AZ. 

 Magill was doing a great job about marking down breeding codes for the island and I didn't care!  I am going to admit this in writing.  I wasn't into the birding. Maybe it was the experience with that guy, or maybe it was because I had seen the birds a million times and just wanted to hang out by the ocean with a cup of coffee. I had fun with Magill, but it wasn't Arizona nor was it Wisconsin.  I had no personal connection to the common birds found in Maine. And it was a weird thing to feel.  

When we got back onto the mainland, I focused on bird song and recorded vocalizations of Blackburnian Warblers. We also explored a new spot, Islesboro, which was a lot of fun because it was another island of mystery birds.  I understand why people love Maine. It's a beautiful state.  I began to wonder though.  Was my former Cheesehead friend favoring her Maine grounds over her Arizona ones?  I felt like she had become a Mainiac!  I hated the thought of losing Magill to Maine. We have so many more Arizona adventures ahead! But there is something about Maine that gets into a person's psyche.  I get it. But it's more of a love affair for me and not a steady relationship:)

Common Eiders at the port of Monhegan Island

 One of the most memorable experiences we had together didn't happen on the islands, but at a blueberry barren.  There, we heard the fluttering heart drum calls of the Ruffed Grouse!  It was amazing. 

Eastern Towhee

 And there were sparrows! 

Savannah Sparrow

But back to Monhegan.  As we headed back to port to the mainland, we had more sightings of Atlantic Puffins.  I never get sick of observing these birds. 

Atlantic Puffin

 I let this post sit for a little over a month before I wrote it because I had to separate my feelings on this experience.  I wouldn't say Monhegan Island was a negative experience nor a positive one.  Just more of a disappointment. I also had to resolve my feelings about why my attitude was so negative about the bird counts on that day.  It really bothered me. 

We watched this local garden while listening to a territorial Virginia's Rail

 When I eventually arrived in Wisconsin, I had figured out why I had been so frustrated on Monhegan Island. I wanted to be home with my family and doing work for the final year of the Wisconsin Bird Breeding Atlas.  And I felt like I was wasting my time in Maine when I could have been "working" and using my experience for the atlas in my hometown.  It's often underbirded there and I know things about my hometown that others do not. Bernie had passed on his "warbler insights" with me before he died(I'll discuss this in a later post). As a kid, I played in every little nook and cranny possible. And here I was in Maine getting yelled at by a loser while chasing a "rare" dove that I have seen a million times.  So I apologize to Magill for my less-than-stellar attitude during those days.  I was worried about my Dad and wanted to be home helping out on both fronts. 

That's not to say we didn't have fun because we did:) I was just birding with a heavy heart.  So I will say this, birding is therapeutic:) I'll never say never, but it's unlikely I'll go to Monhegan again. Even if you "stay on the path", you'll get yelled at.  If you live in Maine and this is one of the few places a birder can find rarities, I suggest moving to Arizona;)  Until next time....

The World of Horicon

Sandhill Crane

Close to my home and near my heart is the magical world of Horicon National Wildlife Refuge.  It's a large area full of incredible birds and peaceful walks. 

Eastern Wood-Pewee

As a child, I remember taking the winding country roads through aging little towns with my grandparents.  Returning as a birder, I saw so much more! 

There were so many stops along the way that I forget where we saw all of our birds.  I just remember having a good time spotting several species that are often difficult to photograph in Arizona. 

Eastern Kingbird

On this day, we would search for Gordon's lifer Bobolink.  And we found plenty:)  

Bobolink

While we search for the Bobolinks, a soggy Song Sparrow pops up to see what we are doing in the prairie grasses. 

Song Sparrow

Tree Swallows shine like sapphires against the bright sunlight. 

Tree Swallow

And Black Terns fish along our gravel path. 

Black Tern

My heart gets beating when I see one of these birds in breeding plumage.  I quickly walk forward.......

......and almost trip over this rock......

......WAIT!  NOT ROCK!  A Snapping Turtle! 

Thanks Gordon for the heads up:)

We had a great morning out at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge.  It's a large area so it definitely requires many more visits.  

Clay-colored Sparrow

Until next time.....

The Duck Hunt

Ring-necked Pheasant

I was so excited to take Gordon to one of my favorite places to bird in Green Bay.  PLUS! We were officially going birding during the summer here.  Something I had never done before.  We went on an overcast day to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.  It turned out to be a great outing full of amazing birds! A lot of wild birds call this park their home because it's full of great habitat!

Great Crested Flycatcher

Gordon needed the American Black Duck on his lifelist.  From my experiences with these ducks in various states, they can be difficult for photos. I've been in many areas where they are swimming a mile away from shore.  Sometimes they are behind the reeds and difficult to see.  But at Bay Beach, they come right up to you!  I was excited to add data to the lacking information at this site about these ducks for the month of June. 

At Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary, the ABDU walk up SO close to people because people love feeding the ducks...and geese...and swans?!?! They sell bags for a dollar at the desk:) I checked records on this duck and there weren't any for this spot during the month of June!  So it was a gamble. This could be a disappointment or a fun find for Gordon. It was a lifebird and that was our goal. For me, I was just super thrilled to bird the area again.  During the winter, many of the waterfowl come to hang out along the river shore near the rehabilitation center. It's quite a show!

Tree Swallow

We started off with some amazing birds all around us.  If you are a birder, you should definitely give this place a look.  If you're not a birder, you should still go and take the family.  It's a large preserve funded by the city of Green Bay.  It's also free to visit!  How sweet is that?  Your kids are going to love it!

There were so many birds calling and we were still trying to figure out the various calls.  It was after all, a whole new group of bird song we had to learn!  

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

I let out a sigh of relief when we found 3 of the ducks still hanging around the area.  Granted, they aren't in large number during the summer because they are breeding in the lake, but I knew there had to be some hanging out.  Thank the bird gods!  Once the target bird was found with excellent observations, it was time to just have fun and bird.  The American Black Duck is a bird species showing a decline in numbers due to hybridization with Mallards.

American Black Duck

I nearly crapped my pants when I surveyed the area and discovered SWANS in the area!  At first I clumped them all together and called them Tundra Swans. Gordon takes a closer look and discovers a Trumpeter mixed in for the fun!!!  They are rare for this area during the summer months, but a few remember this place as home and have stayed around the grounds where there is plenty of food and hospitality:) Most of the Tundra swans are breeding in Canada and Alaska while the Trumpeter Swans have a more diverse range.  

Hey, what species are you?  You look like me, but something is not quite right. 

Okay.  Ready for your bird lesson?  I've put both similar looking swans together. There are two noticeable differences with these birds.  Can you see what they are?

Tundra Swan

Now look carefully.  Hint.  The field marks are with the bill. 

Trumpeter Swan

Did you figure it out?  Or did you give up and just feed the swans instead?:)  The yellow lore(near the eye) is a great field mark for the Tundra Swan.  It's not always clear due to the distance so sometimes we have to look at the bill(which is the second field mark), the way the bird flies or more importantly, listen for their distinct calls. 

Another bird of interest for me was the Purple Martin. There are several pairs here that nest.  In the photo below, you'll notice House Sparrows taking over the nest boxes.  I apologize to my European readers for what I am about to write.  These aggressive sparrows are a nuisance and have taken over much of the Martin space.  Native vs Non-Native species.  In some cases, House Sparrows and European Starlings are "removed" from the area so that the native birds can nest.  These Purple Martins seem to be "tolerating" their neighbors for the moment.

House Sparrows and Purple Martins

A beautiful songbird that comes to the feeders in the eastern half of the US is the American Goldfinch.  It's a stunner with that brilliant yellow coloring.  I had to laugh while entering the data.  First off, most of the eastern birds either have the words "Eastern" or "American" in front of them. They were like foreign words to me while I was jotting down the info.  Arizona bird lingo would pop up and eventually I'd just cut to the word...Goldfinch!  Or Towhee! Or Duck! 

American Goldfinch

Here is a link to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary and our June checklist from this location.  Until next time!

Swiftly Passing By

 I spent a whole week debating what I would do....chase birds or just relax and bird a favorite hotspot.  There are more birds I need to find but they are simply too far out of range to observe properly within the short amount of time given.  Everything now points to California but I only had the weekend for birding.  And I didn't want to be on the road driving for most of it. 

Sparrow love.....Vesper Sparrow

When I am conflicted with direction, I know what I must do.  Bird the Whitewater Draw.  I think it has to be one of my absolute places to visit.  The location feels like I'm back in the Great Lakes region again.  It's a pretty special place. 

Now if we took the mountains out of the shot above, this could be a wetlands somewhere in central Wisconsin. During the winter months, this place becomes a hotspot for many birders as thousands of Sandhill Cranes congregate these waters and surrounding farmer's fields. As one might imagine, lots of waterfowl also hang out here. 

It's a little too soon for all of these birds, but we did have one large flock of Cinnamon Teal hiding out in the reeds.  We did a little walk around the area and flushed over 60 of these ducks!

It's still warm and it's still wet in Southern Arizona.  Another storm passed through our area from the Pacific Northwest and it pushed down several more migrating Vaux's Swifts. 

Vaux's Swifts are pudgy swifts with short tails that breed between Southern Alaska and central California during the summer.  As they head back to Central and South America, several will pass through Arizona. Many times, this bird can be seen riding the winds in front of major storms around watering holes.  In my case, Hurricane Odile helped me locate one around the Sweetwater Wetlands. This year has been a very good year for many birders in Southern Arizona with all of our monsoon storm activity. 

There were lots of brown and gray birds from our adventures.  From top to bottom and left to right.  
Merlin, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Red-tailed Hawk
Loggerhead Shrike, Killdeer, Mississippi Kite
Common ground-dove, female Lazuli Bunting, Vaux's Swift

Perhaps the most significant part of this trek was observing migrating swallows as they gather in great numbers heading south.  The highlight of our day is captured below on this fence line. Swallows tend to be tricky birds to capture on camera.  And it's rare having 3 different swallows sit still long enough for a picture. As I've stated in previous posts, a lot of birders have a hard time id'ing swallows above them because they fly so fast.  On this trek, they surrounded us in great numbers.  We stood inside their cloud amazed by their acrobatics.  There were lots of bugs....including chiggers.

L to R- Bank Swallow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow

The bug life increases with heat and moisture.  This Great Swallowtail below found our citrus trees at El Presidio, laid the eggs and is now in the final stages of butterfly life. A bit like Charlotte's web. 

Giant Swallowtail

There is a birding loop I make if we go to the Whitewater Draw.  We drive through Benson and Tombstone and count birds along the way.  Once we arrive at the Whitewater Draw near McNeal, we spend a good portion of our time birding.  At around lunch time, we head over to Bisbee for break and then head over to the San Pedro House near the San Pedro river for an afternoon of birding there. Then it's visiting our relatives in Sierra Vista and back home in Tucson. 

And Arizona sunsets are always amazing.  If you haven't birded Arizona, you're missing out.  Over the next several weeks, my journeys will take me to Globe, Colorado and a return back to California.  And the adventure continues.....

For more fascinating finds, check out Wild Bird Wednesday!