Another Red Letter Day

Today was day 3 of my 4 days going out on pelagic trips from Hatteras, NC. Yesterday the weather was bright sunshine, 80's with some wind and easy seas. About an hour and a half out of the dock, we found a manx shearwater--a new year bird. I had not seen one back in February when I did my 2 days of pelagics from Hatteras. It is often easier to see the manx then, so I was very pleased to have one show up yesterday.

Unlike day 1, yesterday was not as birdy overall. We did, however, have several long looks at the band-rumped storm-petrel. They were easily the longest, closest views of this bird that I have had over the years. Mostly we saw the common wilson's storm-petrel (top photo above--remember to click on photo to enlarge it). These little guys love to come to the fish oil slick to eat. The photo shows them bouncing around, or pattering as the birders call it, as they feed. The band-rumped is a bit bigger but otherwise has similar markings.

Today was sunny again all day with even less wind and flatter seas. About 8 AM we had the good fortune of having a white-tailed tropicbird fly over the top of the boat. This was not only a new year bird, but also my 17th life bird of the year, thus the red letter day designation. I have gone out of Hatteras, and Manteo, NC close to 15 times in the spring and summer, but never saw a white-tailed before today.

But the tropicbird was not the highlight of the day for most of the birders on the boat. That came around 11 AM when a european storm-petrel was found feeding in with the wilson's. This bird was 1st documented off of Hatteras about 5 years ago, and now I believe that every year about this time at least 1 has been seen on these trips. This was a life bird for almost all of the birders, but not for me since I saw my first one 2 years ago.

The bird stayed around for over 30 minutes which gave all the photogs lots of good shots. I did not even try to get one because my camera is very poor at singling out a small bird on a rocking boat, and while the bird was around a long time, it never was close enough to the boat for my camera. The bird looks even more like the Wilson's than the band-rumped does, but once you get some time studying it you pick up on the differences (slightly smaller size, wing shape and beat, flight speed, and coloration).

The not so good news for today was that other than the 2 very rare birds, and the wilson's, we saw very few other birds. Sometimes pelagic birding is like that. But unlike land birding where you can decide to pack it in for the day, you are at least 2 hours from the dock here at Hatteras, so you keep putting out fish oil in hopes of attracting some more birds to look at. The long 2+ hours ride back into the dock is usually not very birdy either, but we did see a small hump-backed whale near shore.

The bottom photo above is of Steve Howell, one of America's premier birders, especially when it comes to seabirds, catching a few winks on the way in today. He is often the main spotter for Brian, and goes out every day for the duration of the late May to early June cycle that Brian offers each spring. After a long day of birding on the ocean in the wind and hot sun many birders will be snoozing while sitting up on the bench seats.

I have seen 11 of the 13 birds that I had a good probability of finding this week, and 2 of the 6 much rarer birds. The week total is now up to 79 birds, and the YTD number is at 605. Today is also the last day of month #5. 85 new year birds were added during May. I have one day more to find some more east coast spring pelagic birds. Stay tuned!

Day 1 of Pelagics from Hatteras

Yesterday I drove out to Hatteras, NC to begin 4 consecutive days of pelagic birdwatching trips. Pelagic birds are seabirds that only come to land when they breed, otherwise they spend all their life out over the ocean.

We left this morning at 5:45 AM on the Stormy Petrel II which is owned and captained by Brian Patteson. As I wrote back in February, Brian is the man when it comes to east coast pelagic trips. The weatherman said we were supposed to get some rain today, but instead it was overcast until it got sunny mid-afternoon. The seas were not too rough, and the winds were not too strong. A good thing since we spend 11 hours out there birding.

Just after clearing the inlet, we saw our first good bird of the day, a sooty shearwater. Not long after we found the group of shearwaters in the photo above (remember to click on photo to enlarge it). The group was mostly cory's shearwaters, with 2-3 sooty plus 1 greater shearwater (dark capped bird with a black bill at the edge of the group in the lower center of the photo). We also were beginning to see some wilson's storm-petrels. All 4 birds are new birds for the year. This boded well for the coming day of birding.

We then found what was first called a red-necked phalarope in non-breeding plumage. By the end of the day after photos were studied of the bird, it was concluded that it was in fact a red phalarope. The latter I had already seen on my pelagic trip in March out of Oregon, so I was disappointed that it was not a red-necked. What is significant about all this is that even some of the best birders in the country sometimes make a miscall. But with the age of digital photography, a review can be made to confirm initial impressions. Once in Alaska a small shorebird that had been initially called a red-necked stint was later determined after looking at photos taken of it that it was in fact a little stint. As a result, about 30 birders trekked out at midnite to find the bird again so that everyone could add it to their life list.

In general today was pretty busy mostly with lots of wilson's storm-petrels, and a few leach's and band-rumped storm-petrels (both new year birds) mixed in. The fish slick that trails behind the boat is where the wilson's hang out. It also attracts other birds like jeagers (both pomarine and parasitic made an appearance today), and petrels like the black-capped (another new year bird), and the shearwaters. Probably the most common shearwater seen today was the audubon's (another new year bird). At one point a south polar skua (new year bird) showed up briefly to harass the shearwaters.

The last new year bird for the day, an arctic tern, made a late afternoon appearance which brought my YTD total up to 602 birds. The week's list of birds after 2 days is at 72.

A comment made after my last post asked what comes next once I reach 600 birds seen for the year. As I posted a few weeks ago, I am a bit surprised to have reached 600 birds already. It means that the rest of the year will be much less intense on a day to day basis, but I still plan to continue to look for more birds. My best estimate is that there are another 60-70 birds that I should be able to see over the next few months. If some more rarities show up, and I am able to visit where they are found, then I could hit a bit higher number.

As for this week, I came to Hatteras knowing that there were 13 pelagic birds that I should see over 4 days, and on day 1 I already saw 10 of them. There are also 6 other much rarer pelagic birds that can be seen here, and if I am fortunate I will see some of them too. So tomorrow I will be out there again all day enjoying the birding, and hoping to add to the YTD total. Stay tuned!

Talking Northern Saw-whet Owl

After a day of regrouping at home on Tuesday, including hearing more than seeing my resident birds, I headed off to Roan Mountain yesterday afternoon to be there by dusk. The photo above says it all.

In May of 2007 my sis and I did a bird trip that included a stop at Roan Mountain, which is in Tennessee, to see if we could locate a northern saw-whet owl. It was about 10 days earlier in the month and pretty chilly at dusk. I listened, but did not hear anything calling. Then we played the call of the owl, and soon we had one calling nearby. We were not able to draw it out to get a look, but at least we knew one was on the mountain.

Last nite I arrived in time to watch the sunset and get the photo before slowly walking up the closed to cars road. It took about 15 minutes of intermittent playing of the owl call before I heard one approach the road. I wanted to see it this time, so I played the call a couple of more times when I saw a bird flash across the road. I shined my light on the trees where it was now calling, but it was still too deep.

I played the call one more time, watching the road to see if it would fly out when suddenly it flew straight at me, literally bouncing of the top off my head. I have had whiskered screech owls in Arizona, and great skuas in the highlands of Scotland dive bomb me, but this was the first time a bird actually struck me.

After the near knockdown, I heard the bird calling again, and finally was able to shine my light on it sitting on a limb out in the open. It did not hang around for long, nor did I since I had a 200 mile drive to get back home so that I could sleep in my own bed.

Today is the end of week #21. The week's bird count reached 111, and with the northern saw-whet the YTD number is now at 592. There is an updated travel map posted at the top. I will be going out to Hatteras, NC tomorrow to do 4 consecutive days of pelagic birding. 600 birds before June 1 is definitely a possibility. Stay tuned!

Home Ever So Briefly

The photos above are of a vermilion flycatcher (top) and a western tanager (bottom), both commonly seen birds in SE Arizona. Click on the photos to enlarge them.

I arrived back in Chapel Hill yesterday about midnite. The birding yesterday morning in the Tucson area was particularly enjoyable at Sabino Canyon. I have never visited this location, so did not know what to expect. I went in search of a gilded flicker. I arrived at 5:30 AM on a deliciously cool 50 degree sunny morning. As you quickly learn, Arizonans get up with sun to enjoy the cooler part of the day, so there were a fair number of others out there with me. I seemed to be the only birder--the rest were walking or riding bikes. You can not drive in the canyon.

The canyon runs east/west, and is on the east side of the city. It has a stream running thru it which this year has a fair amount of flowing water because of the abnormally wet spring. As you walk into the canyon the walls begin to close in some, and seem to get a bit higher overall. The rocks, the stream, and mainly the 1000's of saguaro cacti make for an especially beautiful natural place. I walked 6 miles up and back, looking diligently for the flicker, but to no avail. I did see instead a new year bird--white-throated swift. They followed me up the canyon as the temp rose.

I was glad to have the walk in such a stunning setting because I have not had enough of them in general this year, and because I wanted to walk off some of my dinner from the nite before. For those who have been following this blog closely, in Tucson I generally eat at a restaurant called Wildflower. We also ask for the same waiter who has worked there for 7 years, and literally works everyday when he is in town.

Last time I was there in February we drank a lovely bottle of '07 pinot noir from Baileyana. We liked it so much that I bought a 2nd bottle that they put aside for me. So my Tucson friend and I drank that with our meal. She had a grilled ahi tuna dish over oriental rice. I had the herb crusted rack of lamb that surprisingly was a full rack of 8 ribs. It came with creamy mashed potatoes and wilted greens. The desserts were a key lime tart with fresh berries, and a caramel pot de creme with a chocolate brownie and ice cream. Smiles were abundant.

While talking to our waiter, we discovered that he was leaving in 2 weeks to spend the summer waiting at a restaurant in Jackson Hole, WY. Since my birding schedule has me going to the Grand Tetons NP, I expect to be able to eat at his "summer" restaurant as well.

After hiking at Sabino Canyon, I then went to a nearby county park called Agua Caliente. I also have never been there, so I was surprised as I drove in to see huge numbers of palm trees. It has a spring, and a good sized pond that is surrounded by the palms. I spoke with some local birders who said that usually there are gilded flickers around, but they had not seen any lately. Nor were they hearing any northern beardless tyrannulets (smallest bird with longest name), another SE AZ target bird for me. I found out they were right, and after 90 minutes I headed to the airport.

My last 1/2 day in Arizona ended with only 7 more new birds for the week. The swift brought the YTD total up to 591. Overall, I picked up 50 new year birds while I was in the state. I will be heading up to the mountains here in NC tomorrow to look for a northern saw-whet owl. Stay tuned!

Another Fine Day of Birding in Arizona

I began today at 5 AM driving down to Florida canyon for my 3rd try this week, and 5th time this year, to locate the rufous-capped warbler. I stopped enroute to look for some rufous-winged sparrows and found them singing away. I had barely started walking up the trail into Florida canyon when I ran into 2 other birders--a local woman, and a guy who lives near Cape May, NJ. So we hiked up together.

There is a small dam that you have to climb around in order to get up to the area where the warbler nested last year. The woman had seen the bird before, so she waited at the dam. I led the NJ birder up, and as we approached the nesting zone we distinctly heard the bird calling. As we rounded the bend there it was sitting on a prickly pear cactus. Imagine my exhiliration after so many tries.

I walked back down to tell the woman. We chatted a few minutes when the NJ birder came down to say that several varied buntings had also shown up. The local woman wanted to see them, as did I, so we all hiked back up. Not only did we see the varied buntings, but also 2 indigo buntings, and had more views of the warbler. Both birds are new year birds. Also, it was very good for my overall big year scheduling process to find them now rather than having to look for them later in the summer.

About 8 AM we all hiked back down to our vehicles and drove on up to Madera canyon to see what was around. We heard the buff-breasted flycatcher calling. We looked and listened for the black-capped gnatcatcher. While I am not as familiar with this bird as some others, I thought I heard one calling, and flushed a bird that could have been one. I ran into a group of birders I had met in Miller canyon, and we all looked in the area where I thought the black-capped might be, but came up empty. Since I was not fully satisfied with the look of the bird I flushed, or absolutely certain that it was a black-capped calling, I am not adding it to the year list.

The 2 photos above I chose for today because they are common birds in the summer here in SE Arizona. The top photo is of the black-headed grosbeak, and the bottom one is of a western kingbird. The cassin's kingbird also is in SE AZ, and at first glance it looks very similar to the western kingbird. One of the key marks to look for is that the tail of the western has light outer tail feathers (check photo). A cassin's has a light band at the end of the tail. Tropical kingbirds which also are here have uniformly brown tail feathers. They all have gray heads, brown backs and wings, and yellow bellies. Of course their calls are all different.

On my way back into Tucson I drove thru the Saguaro NP trying to see a gilded flicker, but only found gila woodpeckers. So today I am thru birding earlier than normal. The weekly count is now up to 84 birds with 2 new year birds making the YTD number 590. Tomorrow I will bird in the morning before catching my flight back to North Carolina. Stay tuned!

Good Birding Days in SE Arizona

The 2 photos above are the last of the hummers taken at the Beatty Guest Ranch. The top photo is of an anna's, and the bottom is of a magnificent. Check out the red gorgette of the anna's, and the stunning green and purple on the head of the magnificent (double click on photo for full close-up).

The past 2 days have generally been very good birding days here in SE Arizona. Yesterday morning I was out of my motel in Willcox at 5:15 AM heading for the south fork of Cave Creek canyon in the Chiracahua mountains. I had heard on Thursday that a northern pygmy owl was seen there a couple of days earlier. After striking out early Wed. morning in the Catalinas, I was hoping for a better result. I began walking a section of the gravel road in the south fork about 7, and after 15 minutes I heard the distinct hoots of the owl. I located the area it was in, but then it moved further down the road. I homed in on its new location when suddenly it flew across the road with a group of small birds chasing after it.

Feeling good about the start of the day since the owl is a new year bird, I stopped at the Portal cafe for some breakfast before starting the drive up to the mountain top. I stopped in for a chat with a woman I met thru Melody. She owns the historic George Walker House in Paradise, and caters mostly to birders.

I then headed up the mountain on the twisting, somewhat rutted in places gravel road. Near a place named onion saddle I heard the song of a virginia warbler. I spent 15 minutes trying to locate this new year bird, but it finally moved far enough off the road that I could not find it.

I made it to Rustler Park about noon and began my search for the mexican chickadee. This bird is similar to the colima warbler in the Chisos Mountains at Big Bend NP in that it only breeds in the Chiracahuas within the U.S. So like the colima in Big Bend, you have to come here to find it. It is nesting season already, so there are not many of them moving about. I spent the entire afternoon looking and listening, mostly near the only water source in Rustler park--a nice flowing spring--because a bird guide I met there said that is where she had been seeing the chickadee over the past few days. I, however, did not.

At dusk I checked another nearby location to see if a northern saw-whet owl might be calling, but found none. I then went down the mountain a short distance to try again for the flammulated owl in hopes of a sighting, not just hearing one as happened on Tuesday nite. It was very windy, so no luck there either. At the Pinery campground where I spent the nite, I also did not hear any whiskered screech owls which almost always are found calling there. Earlier in the afternoon I had stopped in at the campground looking for the chickadee, and instead found a brown creeper--another new year bird.

This morning I awoke just before 5 AM and made the short drive back up to Rustler to try again. The spring area was very quiet, so I walked up to the meadow area of the park. As I was scanning the early morning sky for white-throated swifts I heard the chickadee behind me in the campground. It was very high up in what seemed like 80 foot tall pines. It took me almost 15 minutes of wandering around following its call before I finally got a good look at the bird feeding.

Finding the mexican chickadee was a critical logistical matter for my big year planning. Since I had already missed seeing the buff-collared nightjar earlier in the week, I knew I would need to return to Arizona to try for it again. But I did not want to have to also look for the chickadee since the 2 birds do not breed near each other. Now I can confine my next visit to a much smaller area.

After scoring the chickadee, I headed back down to the Portal cafe for breakfast before starting back towards Sierra Vista. I stopped again at San Pedro for an hour to check out the river area, and then since it was now mid-day and getting pretty warm, I took a break to watch Iron Man 2--my first big screen movie of the year. It was not as good or as funny as the first.

After the movie I went for a hike in Scheelite Canyon which is famous in the birding world because of its spotted owls. The canyon is in a section of the Huachuca mountains right behind Ft. Huachuca. Robert T. Smith known as "Smitty" spent the last 20 years of his life helping people see this rare owl. There is a boulder with a plaque on it to honor his memory. Even though I had seen my spotted owls earlier this week in Miller canyon, as part of my big year, I wanted to hike up this canyon because of its place in birding lore.

The canyon is a beautiful, narrow canyon, with no running water unless it has rained recently. The trail is steep most of the way, but is especially well laid out. It was late in the day, so the bird life was thin. I did not even look for the owls since I just wanted to enjoy the place for itself.

After a quick mexican carne asada burrito, I went to the Sierra Vista wastewater ponds to look for lesser nighthawks. I had seen a nighthawk earlier in the week at Santa Rita lodge in Madera canyon, but it did not call, so given the altitude of the lodge, I was concerned that it might have actually been a common nighthawk that is much rarer here in SE AZ. Just as the sun dropped below the horizon, the sky above the sewage lagoons, which had been filled with barn swallows, was now filled with lots and lots of lesser nighthhawks.

I pointed my rental car towards Tucson to return to my friend's place for the nite. I had to go thru a border patrol checkpoint. As I approached the checkpoint, I saw easily as many lesser nighthawks catching bugs attracted by the kleig lights. Once thru the checkpoint, I pulled over and watched the aerial skills of the birds. At one point 2 birds going for the same moth almost collided. I had never thought about a border patrol checkpoint as being a good place to look for nighthawks. Live and learn.

Week #21, which began on May 21, is off to a good start with a total of 71 birds. 4 new year birds were found bringing the YTD number up to 588. The virginia warbler will be listed as heard only, but I expect to be able to see one over the next 2 months. I am back to Florida canyon early tomorrow to look once again for the rufous-capped warbler. Stay tuned!

The End of Week #20

As promised yesterday, the photos above are of the very common black-chinned (top pic) and the rare white-eared (bottom) hummers. These were taken at the Beatty guest ranch. Remember to click on the photo to enlarge it.

I began the last day of Week #20 at the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area located just to the east of Sierra Vista. A nice stroll beginning about 7 AM on a sunny 65 degree morning generated no new birds for the year but it did provide some good viewing and exercise.

I next visited the Slaughter Ranch which is located 15 miles east of Douglas. The ranch used to be a 100,000 acres in size. When the border with Mexico was established, the ranch was partly in both countries. It now accepts visitors for a small fee Wed-Sun. There is a large pond and lots of big cottonwood trees. I had never visited before, and I stopped in specifically to look for a ruddy ground dove that had been seen there recently. After over an hour of searching, I was only able to find common ground doves. I did enjoy all the other birds attracted by the trees and water.

Next I visited the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Refuge, a place that I stopped at back in Feb. What a difference 3 months make. The water levels were down dramatically, and all of the waterfowl, including the sandhill cranes, had departed. I did get to see the great horned owl that generally roosts in a large covered area.

I then wound my way over to Turkey Creek canyon located on the west side of the Chiracahua mountains. Enroute I found today's only new bird for the year--an olive-sided flycatcher. I hiked up a trail at the top of the road in Turkey Creek in hopes of seeing a mexican chickadee. I had found some there on another visit, but today I came up dry. I did find a few other birds including western wood pewee, and buff-breasted and cordilleran flycatchers.

My last stop was at the large body of water just outside of Willcox that generally has some interesting waterfowl and shorebirds. Today was no exception. I saw black-necked stilts, american avocets, a wilson's phalarope, a white-rumped sandpiper, ruddy and mexican ducks, and a franklin's gull--all new birds for the week.

Week #20 is in the books, and what a week it turned out to be. When you can bird part of the week in Ohio, catching the eastern spring migration, and then finish out in a place like SE AZ, you are going to have a great opportunity to see lots of birds. With 13 more new birds for the week, the weekly total climbed to 218. This is the most species of birds I have ever seen in a 7 day period. And the YTD number is now at 584. Tomorrow I will be in the Chiracahuas, and expect to find some more new year birds. Stay tuned!