Stand Perfectly Still

Muriel and Gordon explore the trees and bushes at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve for the rare Rufous-backed Robin

A slight rustle.  That nearly muted call from within the grasses or reeds. Your cloaked disguise makes you vanish from within. 

Several Mule Deer hang out near Huachuca Canyon

A speck upon the landscape. A compact little operative working the tree.  

Look carefully at the photo.  Warblers are hard!  Here is the rare-for-Arizona Yellow-throated Warbler currently hanging out at the city park of Patagonia.  I reported on this guy two weeks ago without a picture.  This time I knew where he was hiding and got the pic:)

If I stand still, I might see you better.  

If I don't move, you may stay longer.  

Vesper Sparrow at the Sonoita grasslands

If I am patient, I will find you hiding. 

Chestnut-collared Longspur

If I don't frighten you, perhaps you'll stay longer. 

Pronghorn in the grasslands.  Yes, the vistas are like paintings.  That's why I love the photography bit around these parts

 For you are what brings me to these parts of the world.  

A coyote

 You are why I wake up so early in the morning. You give me a reason to start my day with a smile.

We flush several female Chestnut-collared Longspurs from the grasses

And why I'll continue to wake up....oh-so-early!

The Gadwall are speechless with this raccoon passing them by.  Definitely not a duck.  At Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson

Just so I can see you swim across the pond or....

Busted:)

.....stare back at me.  I am your friend.  I will do no harm. I will keep my distance.

Ruddy Duck at Peña Blanca Lake

And I promise to stand perfectly still so that you can go about your business.  And I promise that I'll always be a responsible wildlife photographer.

Canyon Wren 

I'd like to thank Muriel and Gordon for a fun day out for the first half of this blog.  It's always a pleasure working as part of the team when we are out searching for rare birds. The second half of this blog was done alone just quietly standing in one spot along the path.  My best work usually happens just sitting on a log or bench being patient.  It's not easy:)  

I remember sitting in the front row as one of those crazy fans.  I took this pic at the Phoenix Comicon back in 2011. 

I'd like to dedicate this blog post to a childhood hero of mine.  Star Trek inspires me to this day and Leonard Nimoy was like an extended part of my family for most of my teenage years.  Even as an adult, this guy can be seen in my classroom on a poster as the infamous Mr. Spock.  

I finally meet him in person!

I was fortunate to meet this amazing actor and man back in 2011.  You are and always will be my friend.  Thank you for helping me through those tough years as a kid.  Star Trek changed my life for the better. 

Warbler Woes

This is my original work. These birds are not easy:) A few warblers have since been added to this chart.

This past weekend was truly a test of patience. Target birding. Not the kind of birding some people prefer. As several birders climb to the top of this imaginary pyramid; things become trickier. Trickier birds require trickier maneuvers. On this particular weekend, birders from all over the state(s) came together.  These finds were not only epic but state firsts for many people. 

Chestnut-sided Warbler. Photo courtesy of Gordon Karre!  Thank you for helping me tell this story. 

I began this weekend with the mind set, "Warblers or die."  So I chased 4 rare warblers that were reported in the state.  My first challenge was the Chestnut-sided Warbler near ASU in Tempe. The second and third warblers were the American Redstart and lifer, Black-throated Blue Warbler within the region known as the Santa Cruz Flats. Finally, I went after the Yellow-throated Warbler in Patagonia.  Each one presented different challenges.  

The Santa Cruz Flats and within this vast land, a few Sprague's Pipits hide. 

Lately, I have turned into a binocular-before-photographer type birder. The binos allow me to reach the bird quickly and observe behaviors that I normally wouldn't see with the camera. I arrived at the ASU campus and located the Chestnut-sided Warbler in a lone Cottonwood tree.  For a few moments I saw the bird sit still long enough for me to clearly ID.  When I reached for my camera to snap a shot, the warbler was gone.  To make matters worse, an ASU sports event let out, creating chaos around me.  At that point, I put my head down and walked away. Why do birds pick these loud and obnoxious locations? Did I find the bird?  Yes.  Did I get a photo? No.  This is where my bud Gordon Karre comes in to save the day!  He did get a shot of the bird earlier that day and was very kind to share his photo on Las Aventuras this week.

The watering hole on Sasco Rd.

But I knew I was facing an uphill battle for the next day.  There were two lifers involved here.  The Sprague's Pipit and the Black-throated Blue Warbler. Both on private property! I knew that getting pics would be difficult.  We assembled the most amazing team of birders around the state to find these winged gems.  Our day was a success and the odds played in our favor. All targets accomplished.  My lifer, the Sprague's Pipit, was seen in the collection of scopes.  As the bird lifted off from one field, I snapped a poor shot of it flying into another grassy patch. Then it was off to THE house.

I hope no one lives here. 

Birders flocked to this home and waited and waited to see the reported male American Redstart, Black-throated Blue Warbler and Summer Tanager flying around the Pomegranate Tree. Technically, we were stalking. For 93 minutes we stared at that blasted house in the shade swapping stories with one another.  We still aren't sure if there were people living there, but a sheriff did come to see what we were all doing.  We blamed it all on Magill. 

I sat staring at that pony or cow creature in the yard.  Definitely cute and out of place. In fact, it looked like Samwise Gamgee's pony Bill from Lord of the Rings.  I thought about how nice the shade was.  I thought about how much I liked the people around me and wished we could hang out more often.  I wondered if the machine under the pomegranate tree was a tractor or grill.  And I wondered if that damned warbler would show up.  And eventually it did.......

Black-throated Blue Warbler gets the tractor ready

But this time, I wouldn't let the warbler get away.  So I got rid of the binos and held my camera instead. That warbler was beautiful.  WOW!  We watched as it drove the tractor around the yard a couple times.  And then it was off for more target birding.  

Ferruginous Hawk

Then it was off to the small town of Patagonia for the Yellow-throated Warbler.  This wintering warbler is currently feeding on bugs found around the mistletoe at the Patagonia City Park. However, we sat in this park for 2 hours before it BRIEFLY showed up!  We were with two other birders.  This bird was not a lifer for me so I used my binos instead. 

Yellow-throated Warbler.  Photo taken in 2013 at Sweetwater Wetlands

My ears were sharp and I spotted the bird quickly.  Unfortunately, our new birder friends had their eyes on the doppelganger Yellow-rumped Warbler.  So they followed that bird with their bins instead of keeping their eyes on our target.  Madness ensued.  Russian tourists entered the picture and chased the Yellow-throated Warbler off as they ran pointing at the bird.  Another woman decided to follow us around and chat.  When we didn't answer her, she responded, "Oh this is serious business, isn't it?"  When you wait for a bird for more than two hours, yes, it is. The other birders never saw the Yellow-throated Warbler and I never got a shot of the bird feeding at the mistletoe.  Instead while we sat under the tree waiting for the warbler, we watched this guy bored out of our minds. People watching can also be fun.  Between the Russians, Japanese and elderly, it was a busy day at the park. 

That guy hanging out on the bench for as long as we waited for the warbler

Who was he? A local? An artist?  Then I started thinking to myself. Why can't my hair grow that long?  How did I get so stuffy in my life? Blah blah blah. After a long afternoon in the park, I thought about calling my mother to wish her a happy birthday, getting home to do the laundry and finalizing some summer plans with my other half.  Ahhhh!  The joys of rare warblers.  

 I'd like to thank all the wonderful people behind this post today.  I think without each other's support, we'd have given up empty handed.  It was a blast and it's fun playing detective with you all.  Thank you Linda, Magill(for organizing), Gordon, Nathan and Muriel.   You guys rock!  It's surprising but the life list is slowly growing.  10 more birds until I reach 600.  Who will the next life bird be?  Over the next several weeks, we'll meet up with friends Randy, Cindy and Pam. Stay tuned for more....   

A Big January

Recently added to the Maricopa Ebird count, this Rosy-faced Lovebird was found at Encantada Park in Phoenix

Have you ever found something in your life that you wish you could devote all your time to? I have felt this intense focus several times in my life, but last month, Ms. Kathie Brown and I worked on a "Big January".  Sometimes we worked together and other times, we worked alone because of our schedules.

American White Pelicans at Gilbert Ranch

The whole idea of a "Big January" is to count as many different species of birds as you can in your own state.       In the process, you count birds and submit them to Ebird which then shares your results with others who participate in the state.  At one point, I was number one, but work started up and interfered with my counts and travel.

Red-tail Hawk

It was so bad that at one point, I sat down and had to create a master plan of all the hot locations where diverse numbers of birds were seen.  In a sense, backtrack over all the previous locations where I had spotted my rare birds etc.  And in the process, I picked up over 15 new lifebirds!

Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw

But I had a real challenge.....turning it off!  When it comes to investigating areas, I am really really OCD.  As a teacher, I use a lot of the strategies from my classroom for this hobby and it's a pretty powerful tool!  But turning it off and learning to say "NO" to that bird chase while someone else is finding them.....well that is super difficult. This is a competition!:) It's like the time I tried getting my Master Gardener title.  How can any non-retired person do something like this when they have a full-time job!!!????

Cactus Wren at Kennedy Lake in Tucson

There are so many stories from the chases and hunts with and without Kathie. They were so much fun.  Whether it was freezing from extreme temps, escaping snow storms, avoiding a Coati climb into my car for crackers while tracking a Hepatic Tanager, chasing lovebirds in a park full of homeless people in Phoenix, or sitting with some fishy smelling American White Pelicans as they got super close to me hiding in the reeds for those "perfect" shots, this challenge created a monster inside of me. And this really bad run-on sentence:)

Ferruginous Hawk

If I didn't see the target bird, I would get angry at myself. And if I found the bird, but took terrible pics, I would get frustrated.  Several were rare finds and it was irritating that I didn't move fast enough with my camera or get more observation time with the new birds. Tomorrow, I will have a special post showing you all the "okay" photos of the rare and exciting finds.  They have so many stories to go with them.

Savannah Sparrow 

The month flew by as the clock ticked.  Who would be the number one birder in Arizona? Well certainly not me.  After all I have a job!  And I'm not sure how the other birders do it. Unless of course, they are retired. However some of these people on the list are NOT retired.  Could it be an addiction?

I know that when I get up early in the morning, there are treasures just waiting to be found.  And they don't necessarily have to be birds.  It could be a skunk, a bear, a bobcat, etc etc that makes my day.  The thing is.....I never know what's going to be out there.  This "Big January" has forced me to really stay on top of my game.  I did get nervous about the birds I hadn't seen as I don't know their behaviors.  But the ones I do know, I could find easily!

And if there's one thing to say about a "Big January", it's really a review of our year working with our local birds....knowing their hangouts, the hiding places, and learning about their habitat.

Cassin's Kingbird

Many times, I would find myself in uncomfortable situations.  Driving random dirt roads that seemed to lead to nowhere or sitting in the bushes super close to larger birds like the American Pelican below.  I'm not a fish person and the smell of it on the pelican's breath is disgusting.  Trying not to throw up,  I got my shots and got out:)

So snakes may not be active around our desert right now, but it seems every mammal has been.  On a recent outing, I was searching for wild turkeys and found a skunk!  And I almost got sprayed.  Luckily I back away slowly from the raised tail, got my shots and turned around.  Unfortuneatly, a family and their aggressive dog weren't so lucky.  Had they been polite, I may have alerted them but I figure they'll have good bonding time after that experience.  It stunk pretty bad.

Snowy Egret

Tanagers in our desert are very uncommon during the winter.  But birders have spotted Summer, Hepatic, and Western Tanagers all around the Tucson area.  To our delight, after a long day hiking a trail, this Hepatic Tanager popped out for some dinner.  Birders everywhere snapped shots and then left the area.  It was weird.  The sun went behind the canyon and everyone went home.  "Big January" indeed.

Hepatic Tanager

I should also point out that while I've seen and heard many of the birds in this set of pics today, the one below is the one I'm proudest of.  A difficult bird to film is the wren......especially the Marsh Wren.  On this particular cold day, the Marsh Wren would appear briefly from the reeds at the Whitewater Draw allowing me first time observation of this secretive and fast bird. The coloring of the feathers is absolutely stunning.

Marsh Wren

Hawks.  Hawks.  And more HAWKS!  Red tail hawks have so many looks that it can drive a birder crazy.  We always think we've spotted something different until the marks lead us back to the.......Red Tail Hawk.  Our running joke was/is "Red Tail"!  Before we'd stop at every telephone post.  Now we slow down when we can and look for the various field marks.  It can drive this birder nuts.  But no matter how many times you see the Red Tail Hawk, it's always a beautiful thing!

So my count? 168 species. Pretty much everything is new this year for me as I just began the EBIRD craze so there isn't really anything to compare from previous years. So much goes into birding.  There's the people.  The experience.  The Observation.  Playing detective.  Getting the picture. Documentation. The Planning. And for what?  Personal satisfaction.  Knowing that you're helping out people who work with our birds around world.  The sport.  The experience. And to put it simply....it relaxes the body and excites the mind.  It's being an explorer again like those only centuries ago.

Yellow-throated Warbler

And the rank?  In Arizona, 9th place(for now:).  In Pima County, I'm tied for 6th place.  My goals this year are to find all the "regulars" in Arizona and develop strategies for my birding ventures outside of the state.  I am really wanting to maximize my time while birding abroad this year and the best way to train is here in Tucson:)  Every species of bird has their "thing".  If I can figure out the habits of thrushes, warblers, raptors, thrashers, sparrows, wrens, etc etc etc, I can pick up more species for that lifelist while understanding their habitat better.

Pacific Loon

Stay tuned for the final "Rarities" post.