Warbler Love

Yellow-throated Warbler

Warblers!  They can drive a birder mad!  Very tricky birds to spot.  Always in the shadows.  Never staying in one spot.

Wilson's Warbler

It's a constant workout for the birder.  They are not an easy spot like say a duck or a hawk or even a sparrow!  They are warblers.  They have certain times scheduled throughout the day and if you don't catch them at the right moment, forget it!

As I narrow my lifelist down, I find that I have to find several warblers:)  I groaned because it's not an easy task.  Plus I was getting lectures from birders.  "You haven't gone to see the Yellow-throated Warbler??!!!!  What's wrong with you??!!  The last time that bird was seen here was 17 years ago!!!"  So I walked the birder hall of shame.  For awhile.  I have a full time job and it's not easy matching up a Warbler's schedule with my own.  They are best seen in the morning.  And that's when I'm teaching.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

It then got me thinking.  Just how many warblers have I seen in my lifetime?  I went through my pics and was surprised at these little discoveries. Usually they just come my way and I take pics.  I don't like to go look for them.

For example, this is the Chestnut-sided Warbler.  It's a rare visitor in Tucson during the winter months.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time for this bird last year.  I had begun birding when I found this little warbler and had a hard time ID'ing it. Now I think....really? That's an easy one to ID.

Speaking of easy.  You don't even have to be a birder to be assaulted by this regular and common visitor.

 Acting more like a flycatcher, the Yellow-rumped Warbler invades Tucson over the winter months.

                                               They are easily seen and everywhere.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

But don't take their presence for granted as there are other warblers that can and will mix in with their posse.

Check out that rump!  Not bad!  But seriously.  Who in the world gave these birds their names??!!!  Rumps, Tits, Boobies and Dick...cissels.  When you tell non-birders these things, they just start laughing.  Heck even birders laugh when they say the names outloud!  The worst part for me is keeping a straight face when our most awesome and proper English speaking visitors come to the US and look for our American "Tits."  Of course they are referring to the Bushtits, and the Juniper and Bridled Titmouse.  And yet I cannot help but smile.  Such a lovely and proper English with a truly misunderstood word:)  Back to warblers.....:)

And common to the summer months is the Yellow Warbler.  Simple.  Pretty.  And a bit trickier to capture on the camera as this bird likes to be high up in the canopy of trees.  It does come down every once and awhile BUT can be very skittish. 

Yellow Warbler

One would think Yellow would be easy to see.  It's not. 

Whenever I see this warbler, I marvel at the truly simple design of this bird.

Once in awhile you'll catch the warblers taking a bath. Or out in the open.  Don't hesitate.  Take that pic!  You never know when another opportunity will arise.

Getting these birds to come out in the open is nearly impossible!

Take for example this Yellow-breasted Chat!  

Yellow-breasted Chat

Or the American Redstart!!!!! Mother of pearls is that one hard.

American Redstart

While sipping my coffee and reading a book, I heard the Painted Redstart's call and slowly prepped my camera. And waited.  Another very tricky little bird but the call is unmistakable and a heads up that the bird is in the area.

Painted Redstart

This next warbler is one tricky bird.  I never get the name right but it's the Black-throated Gray.  It took several hundreds of shots just to get this one!

Black-throated Gray Warbler

However for a warbler, it was much more cooperative than others.  I could predict the time it would come out and sat waiting for the bird to appear.  Snap. Snap.

While the warbler invasion happens, you have to look really really close because warblers all flock together. And at once.  This Townsend's made a brief appearance and just long enough for me to capture this lovely warbler on camera.

Townsend's Warbler

Another reliable and common warbler is the Orange-crowned Warbler.

Orange-crowned Warbler

It loves the low grasses and reeds.  They are vocal and at times can be easily seen around Tucson.

Plain, yet full of bouncy energy:)

And then there are the Common Yellowthroats which I think are not common at all:)  Look at the striking detail of the male below.

Common Yellowthroat

                                           The female is plainer but still a lovely little warbler.  

And that historic Yellow-throated Warbler?  Yes I was able to capture him on camera.  

He sat nicely on the palm frond for a few seconds before flying off.  So I'm out of the birder's Hall of Shame for now.  But I'm sure there will be more rarities that come our way this year.  Warblers make you work for that lifelist, but it's all worth it by the end of the day.  More coming soon.....

Into The Heart of Darkness

Clifton

Our world is a crazy one.  Some parts are preserved well while others are left to fall apart. On a journey that would leave me with dark thoughts about mining, I struggled for one week to organize my thoughts and write this post.  I also struggled to find the art from it all.  Sometimes photography is about being uncomfortable with the observation.  This post today serves 2 purposes which I'll cover in just a moment.

The Morenci Mines

Arizona is a world of its own.  In many ways, I am thankful for the birding trips to the odd and bizarre because it allows me to see our state as a whole.  On this day, both Kathie and myself would head to Greenlee County.  We went because there hadn't been any bird counts in this region and I quickly understood why.  Greenlee county is a long and narrow one that runs along the New Mexico border.  It is full of breathtaking mountain ranges covered in forest.  Once again, it's home to some rare finds in Arizona which include Magpies!

Roper Lake State Park

We began our studies at Roper Lake Park in Cochise county.  A really lovely park full of cabins and water!  On this day, the Common Merganser would fill the lake with numbers over 150!  Kathie counted.  And I took in all the beautiful landscape locating birds for her to count:)  This took up much of our morning but we knew we had to get to Greenlee County to record data. And so the Las Aventuras and Kathie's Birds team went where most people avoid.....into the Heart of Darkness.

Female Great-tail Grackle

We entered Greenlee County and became excited finding our first birds.....2 Common Ravens!  The first Ebird count for the 2013 year! And then things went south once we entered the mining towns of Clifton and its sister city Morenci.  I became angry and upset because we are facing a mine opening up in the near future on our beautiful Santa Rita mountains.  The people have been fighting to keep this mine out and away from this pristine mountain range.  Pima County environmental officials rejected the proposal on this mine and the state of Arizona(run by Jan Brewer) didn't like Pima County's decision. The State Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rosemont.   So they are giving this Canadian based company another opportunity to open their mine on these mountains.  As of last week, they are one permit away from opening.  What this tells me is that the people have no voice whatsoever and money, like always, speaks.  A mining company will promise the moon and the stars to a community. And then decades later, they'll leave you in a wasteland of human scrap destroying all the natural wonders that this world continues to lose daily.  All people have to do is go to Clifton or Morenci to witness what mining has done to the landscape and wildlife(or lack of!).  Even closer are the mines near Green Valley and Globe!  It's truly an eye stain!

After these pics were released on my Facebook page, a friend came up to me and said that she had been raised in this community as a child. The town is run and owned by the mining company.  You could feel and see the social changes once we entered into this broken down part of the world.  Many of the old homes abandoned.  And some of these decaying buildings were actually used!  I remember seeing a boarded up building that had plywood pulled away from the window which led me to believe vagrants lived in these places.

We went to do a count at one spot in the Morenci area and for the first time in my Ebird experience, we could not find any birds!  It was disheartening.  The place had trees and rock......but there was nothing!  I searched my best to prove to Kathie that there was a least one bird hiding.  Not a peep.  And for this report, a sad "0" was entered into our bird counts.  If most of us just stood still, we'd see or hear something(pigeons count:)  But at this site.....nothing.  And that was sad.

I suppose the town would be a photographer's dream but all the images made me very angry.  Let's just rip this entire world apart and destroy it!  There is a line that should not be crossed and these mines prove that point.  If a mine goes into the Santa Rita mountains, endemic species face yet another human threat. Water quality?  If I were a resident near these mines, I'd be very concerned.  Here is the link about what's going on in the Tucson/Green Valley area. Believe me, people are fighting against this mine opening.  It will affect those who come and enjoy the beautiful Arizona landscape from around the world.  It will destroy what Southern Arizona is best known for......an amazing diversity of birds and wildlife!

I detached my emotions from the ecological disaster and the harsh chemically stained landscape to examine the people.  My fb friend told me that it was a very different life growing up in a mining town.  The mine had indeed grown since she last visited this area.  I would have liked to spend a night in this town just to study the culture and speak to several people about living in this isolated area.  We will be going back here again for more work and study.  There are places we didn't have a chance to visit and would like to see next time.

Rock Wren at Roper Lake

Here is a link to a post I wrote last year titled, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas!  They are only 1 permit away from getting started and if it passes, a lot of people will be saddened by the news.

Imagine looking at this mountain range below with a mining scar on it.  Now imagine the life that lives on those lands and you can see why many people are upset about about a mine opening up.  We headed back home this day with heavy thoughts.   

The Pinaleño Mountains

Nemesis

Merlin

The post name says it all.  Birders use a lingo phrase known as "Nemesis bird". "What is it?", you may ask? Well it's a bird that for some reason or another "hides" or evades our own birder radar.  And yet, others will see it everywhere, often, or sometimes while the poor one singular birder(that would be moi) won't see it at all! Every birder has their own "Nemesis" bird. On our hunt for birds this month, I hoped to find my own Nemesis bird....the Merlin.

Ferruginous Hawk

Now the problem with my Nemesis bird is that it is surrounded by similar looking birds.  I would get excited if some new behavior was observed and think....."Is that it?"  I had several false moments of excitement that turned quickly into disappointment as I realized I had been looking at a Juvi Cooper's Hawk or Sharpie(Sharp-shinned Hawk)!  So I thought I'd share with you several of those moments. .

Cooper's Hawk(Juvenile)

A Merlin is a small bird that has a few markings that are similar to falcons and the smaller hawks.  I saw the Cooper's Hawk in the river and thought.....maybe?  But it turned out to be too large and the markings weren't right.  At all.  In fact, now that I've actually observed the Merlin, I can tell you that the flight patterns are very different.  The Cooper's flies low.  When I saw the Coopers take off, I knew immediately that I wasn't dealing with a Merlin.  Bummer. Meanwhile reports were coming in....Merlins everywhere!  Everywhere?  Really? Then pictures would follow and I'd sigh....

Peregrine Falcon

Off in the distance, I see dark markings and a face mask.  But it was too large and the markings were too dark and different. But still.....a Peregrine(above).  A very nice find.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Quick movement or no movement at all made me suspicious.  I always imagine where I'll find a new bird. There's never "if" in my vocab. But I will say this.  It's always unexpected!

The American Kestrel is an easy bird to ID, but if you're new to birding and haven't done much observation on these various birds, it can be difficult.  The Kestrel is the smallest(and most colorful).  But as you can imagine, when something flies over my head quickly, I have to do a quick snap with the camera and then observe behaviors.

Prairie Falcon(thank you Jeff for the ID correction!)

I don't take anything for granted and I stop at every location just so I can find my Nemesis bird.

Cooper's Hawk

I go to the places where it was reported.  Instead of finding the Merlin in the spot it should be; I find a Sharpie.

American Kestrel

Or a Cooper's, Kestrel.......

The big hawks, like Red-tail or Ferruginous, grab my attention because they are such incredible birds. But then something unexpected would happen.

Red-tail Hawk

On an outing with Kathie after a day of birding(we had called it quits), she noticed a strange bird high high up in the trees.  We were driving quickly as the sun was setting......so how she spotted this Merlin is beyond me!  But she did and said in her excited tone, "Oh my gosh Chris, I think it's a Merlin." Merlin whisperer, I thought. After so many attempts, I was like, "Yeah right."  We stopped the car and I looked closely.  I had gotten my hopes up so many times before.  What if this was another Sharpie or Coopers looking different because of the sun angle?  But I saw the marks and cautiously became excited.  And I observed and observed and observed.

Solitary. Dark underwing.  Angular pointed wing.  Flight very different. Short and quick wing flaps. Wingtips do not reach tail tip.  And very weak mustache.

And then I knew.  It was the Merlin. One cannot go on tail alone.  Even though it's "square", the Sharpie has the same feature. So that's not always a reliable field mark.  This bird is difficult here because it is lighter in color than it's much darker Pacific siblings. To celebrate, we headed to Peña Blanca lake to end the day!

So now I have to find a new Nemesis, but I'd much rather not:)  If it's one thing that birding has taught me this past year, it's that it's better with friends who help one another and work as a team.  There is no time to focus on the negative anymore.  Life is short.  Keep away from the bad energy and just let things unfold as they do.  I am a completely different person than I was when I first began this journey.  And because of it, I'm finding a renaissance happening in my own life.  With all of this comes a singular and powerful focus that I haven't felt in years.  I'm not just seeing birds anymore; I'm seeing animals and other critters.  And it's my job to keep their secrets safe, but I'll snap a pic first:)  More soon.....