To Be Young Again

Verdin

Spring.  It's an unofficial holiday; a celebration and renewal of all things centered around life.  For many in the US, it's a happy time as the weather warms up and those dreary gray clouds disappear.  Then the green and colorful blooms begin! In Southern Arizona, we start a little early. Our true spring begins in March. In May, "spring" really feels like the start of summer.  However, nature still tells us that it's "spring" around here with all the little critters making a fuss. 

Brown-crested Flycatcher collecting food for the recently hatched young

We had cooler temps in the mornings this past week and I wanted to take advantage of them while I still could.  So I got the equipment ready to do some serious documentation on the nesting and breeding birds at several of our local parks. 

I'm always surprised by how quickly the young grow up.  I mean.....this can be said about any species! Even humans! My nephew is already going to be a sophomore. Where did the time go? How did my family get so old??!!!  The only conclusion I can come up with is that they live in Wisconsin.  I haven't aged a day here in Arizona:)  So you ask about the gray in my beard?  Well, that's easy. I spray painted that stuff into my hair to look wise and Gandalf-like so that my family wouldn't feel any different :)

Red Torch Cactus

You know what?  I hate teaching.  Or so I say:)  When it comes down to it, I love my kids. I hate the politics behind teaching....and also some of the bad parenting happening out there. #stopenabling  It was so very sad saying good-bye to my Seniors as they will leave for the military or college or.....nowhere in a few short weeks.  The free spirits told me that they just want to explore.  WOW!!  I remember those days.  Now I'm bogged down paying for health insurance, home repairs, protecting our environment, fighting that asshole of a man known as Trump and cleaning the kitty litter(I swear he's been crapping in the litter! I know he's been doing it to our country. For example, take his 3 AM tweets on the toilet) But back to being young. I still explore because it's in my blood.  So I tell my Seniors......explore.  Be safe.  And discover! 

Baby Mallards

In my life, I've had near misses myself.  They were scary.  Almost losing my sister on a Guatemala trip was something that to this day has scared the hell out of me. One year, a faithful Spanish student of mine went off to explore the world and was nearly killed when a motorcycle hit him head on.  I know it's not my fault, but I couldn't help but feel partly responsible for encouraging him with my words to explore the world. It took years of rehabilitation. Just a couple weeks ago, he graduated from college.  And I am so proud of him. And I'd still tell him the same thing.  Explore!  But be careful!

Female Gila Woodpecker feeding the young.  Look at that amazing Saguaro cavity!!!  That is amazing!

Youth.  Inexperience.  I wish I could telepathically share with them all my life experiences.  Be careful when dating.  Be careful settling for something that you are not ready for.  Don't take out too many student loans.  Stay away from those damn drugs. But have fun!  How do I pass that information on to the future generations? Were they listening to my lessons? Quite simply, I have to let them go.  They have to leave the nest at some point. It's something they have to EXPERIENCE on their own. 

A male Gila Woodpecker pokes his head out to see what's going on

Life is dangerous.  It's also beautiful.  As I listened to the young birds call for their parents, I worried for them.  Get away you Cooper's Hawk!! I watched our nesting Common Ravens get bullied by this bird.  One of the ravens actually whimpered.  Again, I wanted to tell the raven, HEY!  Wake up!!! You're bigger!  Kick that bully away from your nest!  Years ago, I realized I cannot change the world nor control the outcomes of others. So, it gave me a certain freedom knowing that it's my life that I need to take charge of.  It's not my responsibility to try and "fix" others. But I can hope that both Common Ravens will stand up to that nasty Coops:) Birds are like people; people are biological creatures.....and we are all connected.  Their story is our story. And vice versa. 

Northern Beardless Tyrannulet

I walked around more and heard our infamous Northern Beardless Tyrannulets.  Everyone comes to this park to see these tiny flycatchers. On this day, the parent Tyrannulets were training their young one to fly from branch to branch.  I stood a safe distance and watched as one parent flew under the shade of the mesquite calling "PIU PIU PIU!" Translation:  Ok.  Fly here. The little one would respond with not quite the same call and fly to the branch.  The parent would then reward the little one with food. And over and over they did this in the hopes that one day, this little Tyrannulet will one day fly off and live its own little life. 

I watched a Bell's Vireo collect nesting material.  I asked myself, Is this the second clutch?  OR Did the first nest fail?  In the mind of a bird, a failure means try again.  Move on.  And do it again.  There's a message in there somewhere. 

As I walked out my classroom door, another Senior stopped and told me that he was thinking about taking a bird watching class at his university.  I had a huge smile on my face and told him that this made me very happy. While my objective is always teaching the Spanish language, I also try to connect my lessons through life experiences.  In the background, I'll have a bird on my SMART board.  When I disappear for that one day at school, my students know that I'm not sick but instead chasing a rare bird:) And it's my obligation to show them my results the day after:)

Arizona Bell's Vireo collecting nest material

I have one more week of school to go.  The forecast will be in the 100's again.  So I called my a/c guy to check our unit because I HATE the heat and want to prevent disaster from happening!  I climbed up on my roof and sat with him as he went over each of the specs. I thought to myself, Why don't I live up here?  It's beautiful!  Anyhow, everything looked good to go.  If there's one thing that stresses me out, it's the fear that our a/c unit will die in the middle of summer.  I have a secondary unit back up but still.....

So I'm ready for summer.  I've said my good-byes. And now it's time to move forward because life doesn't wait for any of us.  I've been stuck at 759 lifebirds for too long! If I remember correctly, there are over 10,000 bird species out there that are waiting for me to find!  And you know what that means.......

The many owls I've seen this year! Most shared with people I love.  Thank you all for your friendship. 

An adventure is waiting to happen.  Here are my reports from this past week.  For people coming to Tucson, you'll find these areas easy to access.  Go early before the heat. Birds are active from 6 AM to about 10 AM.  And don't forget to bring water!

1. Reid Park
2. Lakeside Park
3. Agua Caliente Park

Until next time........

As Precious As The Desert Rain

Redhead

A rain event in the desert is quite the celebration.  But it also signifies something else.  The storms from the north will also bring in foreign birds:)  On this rainy day,  I would head off to find rare and unusual birds.  And find them I did.

Solitary Sandpiper

It was pretty exciting.  Cloudy skies.  Cold weather.  Rain.  Hungry birds.  Epic day birding.  Hundreds of Northern Shovelers would fly over my head as I counted birds.

Northern Shovelers

I'm really not sure who these birds are below.  I think they are Red Tail Hawks but the lighting isn't very good here but I have been seeing Golden Eagles in the area.......and one of the things I would love to see is how they free fall together.  As you can see in the pic, their feet are down which made me wonder....but nothing happened.

Some interesting moves

Black Phoebes are cool little birds.  I love how they hop from one rock to the next catching bugs.

Black Phoebe in flight

But my special finds would happen at Kennedy Park.  I knew that there was a rare Canada Goose in the area but I didn't expect to  find this lifebird....the Redhead. There were at least 22.

When a lifebird is present, you work hard to get excellent photos.  Why?  Because once I've documented them, I can just enjoy observing them.

Western Grebes

There were 4 Grebes on this day.  But a failure on my part?  I missed the extremely rare Horned Grebe in Pima County.  I had assumed all 4 were Western Grebes.  To be fair 3 of them had their heads tucked into their bodies.  A report followed the next day stating a Horned Grebe was in the mix.  I am still going to try for this bird again tomorrow.  We'll see if this bird is still hanging around....again, another easy rare bird search.

Canada Goose

While the Canadian Geese or Western Grebes are not new to the lifelist, they are welcome additions to my birds found in Pima County. Very special finds.

Mallard Duck

It began to rain and get dark.  A sign that it was time to go home and stay warm.  More tomorrow.....

When Does It Count?

Counting birds is a very important thing.  It tells us about healthy populations, where a bird is seen, or if a bird is threatened or dropping in numbers.  It's also fun to do.  Every bird has a specific behavior and personality.  And it makes observation so much fun.

But there are times when you see a bird that is a hybrid, domestic waterfowl, or exotic invasive species....like  the Monk or Lovebird species found in and around the Phoenix areas. Only recently have the Rosy faced Lovebirds been added to the ABA list as birds that you can count(and add to your lifelist:)  Could it be that the populations have been expanding and growing since their discovery in 1987?  However, you can only count this bird in Phoenix,AZ.  Many people will be flying from all over the country to get this "tick" on their birdlists:)

On EBIRD or Audubon, you can't always count these birds.  They are wild.  They fly free.  So where do they belong? There are categories for birds like the Coopers or Sharp-shinned that can sometimes blur if the bird is far far away and you can't distinguish the various field markings.  My issue happened when I found Muscovy ducks in Tucson.  They are considered wild domestic waterfowl....and yet they fly free.  Muscovy are found in Mexico but when I brought up the topic with birders, I hadn't expected a firestorm of responses.  Several counties in Texas and Florida allow you to count them but they are clearly found all over the States.  Some birders said, "Count them!"  while others said, "Sorry....you can't count them."  I found it all fascinating.

Do we count?

Here are some things I've asked myself while observing birders out in the field. The questions are not only technical but philosophical.  If they don't count on a lifelist, where do they belong? And do they even matter?  I'll leave you with that parting thought.  More tomorrow....  

A Mere Mortal

Broad bill Hummingbird(male)

Hello everyone!  Well we have been "in training" working on the Tucson Christmas Bird Count.  Kathie and I both have been busy and exhausted from the holidays.  But we're also trying to allow for some birding time as well.  Two weeks ago, we'd go to a local Tucson park and see just how many birds we could pull out of the bushes. 

Hutton's Vireo

It's amazing the levels of birding.  Kathie can ID and document quickly.  I get the photo for ID verification.  Both of our eyes are working all at once. 

Sharp-shinned Hawk

We began our training class with Rich Hoyer.  I then realized that I have a ways more to go:)  Kathie and I don't like to disturb the peace.  We see them as we see them and rarely ever call out to them.  But part of this Christmas Bird Count is getting accurate numbers of bird species found in a specific area.  And that requires me to get out of my comfort zone a little.  We can employ bird calls from devices etc to call the birds out.  And it does work.  We pished and pished and PISSSSHED!  Rich even had an owl call down.  Don't ask me how but he could replicate the sound.  Incredible. 

European Starlings

On this day, we both learned a lot.  Kathie asked lots of questions about the process.  I listened and watched the various interactions of the group training.  The best part of our team is that we each bring something to the table in terms of skill.  And it makes a great combo for power birding.

When I first began my EBIRD and Listing exercises, I had a lot of questions.  Today, they are small ones and so much fun to do.  After our field observations, both of us will go over our counts at lunch or breakfast to make sure we didn't miss a bird on the list.  But watching people incredibly skilled in birding makes it look easy! And it's not:)  Part of the fun is finding the bird yourself, but I have to admit, there are times when it's nice to have someone leading a group pointing things out.  Not often...just sometimes:)  It's what I call "lazy birding".  We were specifically looking for 4 or 5 birds on the list.  I had NO idea that they could be found there and yet....they were present.  And in plain sight!  Hutton's Vireo's, Warblers, and even a Broad bill Hummingbird!!!  Who knew?!  Rich did.

American Pipits

Rich also spoke a lot about native plants that attract birds.  I found his discussion extremely helpful.  Trees that don't attract birds are what I call "junk" trees.  The African Sumac is one of them!  Sure it provides shade but little else.  Placing native plants into your garden is not only water friendly.....but wildlife friendly!  El Presidio is very active today thanks to some research and proper planning.

Our big count begins today.  I hope we can find them all:)  The above pic was taken with my IPHONE.  This is what we call an "arroyo"(ah-roy-oh) or dry creek bed.  Thank you Rich for the fun morning.  Can't wait for today's count and potluck!

The Hour of the Star

The best lighting for photography can happen at sunrise and sunset.

And in those moments, it's important to have yourself stationed and ready for the shots.

My challenge in Arizona is getting okay shots in the afternoon.  This state is notorious for bright light and washing out pictures.

So the tricky challenge in photography is lighting and predicting animal behavior.

It's also being in the right spot at the right time for those rare and close up shots.

Tonight I would finally get up close and personal with the Canvasback.  I had spotted this bird for the first time in October but the birds were far off.

And sunrise along with a couple lovers throwing bread crumbs would make for an active and fun bird outing.

While these are all birds I've seen before, I get to observe them in a new light each time.

Observation allows for better prediction in movement. Patterns.  Understanding.  And sound recognition.

It has been tight to fit in lately but I find that if I have a spare hour, I plan wisely just so I can get in one hour....somewhere.

After all, had I not gone tonight, I may have missed out on these amazing closeups of the Canvasback in flight.  More tomorrow....

Dark Skies

Cholla Cactus at Sunset

Black Vultures.  My big break with the rare bird alert people/gurus.  And then it happened. I felt legit as a birder.   Rare for Tucson this time of year, I found over 50 in an area near the recharge ponds in Avra Valley on Mile Wide Road.  But they wouldn't believe me unless I took my pictures!

And so it began.  It wasn't the Groove Bill Ani I was chasing that would get me on the rare bird alert...but the Black Vulture!  Of all birds that would get me notice, it would be Black Vultures!  And they weren't even a lifebird for me! You never know when or where luck will strike, but I'll take it:)  I scheduled my morning to find the Crested Caracaras, Ani, and Northern Parula.  2 of the 3 birds I'd find, but forget about the Caracaras. 

It was an early morning to be on the road alone.  But I drove listening to inspirational music to keep my spirits high.  It was cold and I was almost at my destination when these birds flew out from under a bridge.  I nearly crapped myself.  What the.....??!!!

I got out of the car and smiled from ear to ear.  This was one for the record books.  10 had been reported but I counted over 50 around the area.  Which could have meant only one thing.  Death.

Black Vultures

I parked my car and prayed to the gods that it not be a human.  It went something like this, "Please please please let this not be a person."  I held my cell phone close.  You see, in Arizona anything is possible.  It may sound funny in this writing but I assure you....it's not. I prepare for that mentally everytime I go to strange and isolated areas.  And I am now thankful that I have a cell.

I walk closer to the bridge but something spooks the birds.  I hear howling and yipping.

The mass of vultures fly off and I spot why they're quick to leave.  Cell phone is held closer.  This time it's on.

I take a pic of them on the line and I see coyotes running from under the bridge.

The question is.....what in the world is this?  I am still puzzled.  The Vultures were there for the carcass, but is this a coyote?  I didn't want to get too close because the ravine was deep.  Were the coyotes feeding on this carcass or were they mourning the loss of a member from their pack?  I left the scene just as confused as I had been when I got there.  Whatever happened, I made it on the rare bird alert watch.  However I was lectured about my JPEG size when submitting photos:) I guess I'll never win:) But all that's goofy nonsense.  What do you think really happened here?

More tomorrow....