It's a Great Day to Bird

Author: Michelle Michaud (Page 1 of 8)

Birding Adak, Alaska

Our Homer friend Jim Herbert asked Jack and I if we were interested in going to Adak, Alaska to bird and share cost of lodging and vehicle.  We said sure! He also invited another friend Megan O’Neill to come along.  Jim graciously took care of logistics – reserved the Adak lodging and the vehicle.  We just needed to make our airplane reservations and bring food (we all coordinated on the food).  Food you say.  Well there is only one small store in Adak and unless you want to spend a lot of money for soft drinks and chips essentially, then you bring your own food.  Luckily Alaska Airlines, which flies out to Adak twice per week – Wednesdays and Saturdays – allows you three (3) free bags (or coolers, etc. so long as each is under 50 lbs).

Jack and I drove to Anchorage sans Moxie (she’s stayed with Jim’s wife Jill) to catch our flight to Adak on Saturday, May 22nd.  We used Alaska Airlines Award miles -12,500 each way.  For some reason it was the same number of miles to fly first class as coach so we chose first class – a no brainer.

We got to the airport at around 7:30 am for our 9:30 am flight.  There was a birding group that was going out on the same flight – High Lonesome Tours.  I think there were at least 8 people with that tour group.  They had lots of luggage too, including coolers.

We boarded the flight and settled into our seats.  Since we were flying first class we got seated first.  Then we proceeded to watch all the people boarding the plane.  I didn’t think there would be many, but the plane was almost full.  The plane does stop first in Cold Bay, Alaska.  I later learned from Jim, who was back in coach, that there was a large contingent of Ukrainians who were going to Cold Bay/King Cove to work on a fish processor (for Pollock).  I wonder if any of them had their Covid vaccinations???  Highly unlikely.  Luckily masks were required on the flights.

When the plane arrived in Cold Bay and most of the passengers got off, there was still a good number (35-40) of people going on to Adak.  One of those was Frank Haas.  Frank is from Pennsylvania and he and wife (now deceased) have traveled to Adak since the mid 2000s — twice a  year —  May and September.  Frank was Medevaced from Adak with kidney stones and was returning to Adak to finish his two-week stint.  He had just arrived on Saturday  then he was Medevaced on Tuesday.  Frank has a blog and website and there is a wealth of information on his “Adak” website:  http://www.franklinhaas.com/

Also on the plane was a group of about six birders from Fairbanks.  Like us, they too, were birding Adak on their own.  Independent travel to Adak is quite doable.

We took off from Cold Bay and headed to Adak.  About thirty minutes from Adak we were told there were high winds and so we were going to circle to see if a navy plane ahead of us landed or if the winds died down enough to land.  About thirty minutes later the pilot said we were headed in to Adak.  As we descended you could see the ocean below heavy with white caps. The wind was still whipping good.   However, we kept descending until one point the pilot pulled on the levers and we began a sharp accent.  Guess the winds were just too much – up to 60 knot cross winds.  Not safe for landing so a wise move by the pilot.  And back to Cold Bay we went.

At Cold Bay we deplaned and went into the air terminal.   There was another large contingent of people waiting to get on the plane to Anchorage.  We were told there wasn’t another plane available that could be sent to Cold Bay to take us to Adak, so we had to re-board the plane and return to Anchorage.  We learned that we were re-booked to return to Adak on Wednesday.  So we called and changed our return flight from Adak to Anchorage from Saturday, May 29th to Wednesday, June 2nd.  You could do Adak in 3-4 days (e.g., Saturday to Wednesday would be best), but you have more chances of seeing a rare bird if you are there for an entire week or longer.  The best time to go is in May, when migratory birds are passing through or returning and the vegetation hasn’t gotten so high that the birds can hide.

Near Cold Bay

Frosty Peak Volcano

Island near Cold Bay. You could tell this volcano had erupted.

Choppy waters near Adak

So first a little about Adak ….  I took the liberty of downloading some “Google Map” images showing the location of Adak in comparison to the rest of the Alaska.  It is 1,400 air miles from Anchorage to Adak.  It took us 4 hours to fly there with a short stop (one hour or less) at Cold Bay.

1,400 miles give or take a few between Anchorage and Adak

Much of Adak Island is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

This shows the city of Adak

The community of Adak has a current population of around 320 people.  We didn’t see more than 20 people total during our one week stay.  During it heyday as a military base (Army/Navy/Air Force) during the Cold War there were upwards of 6,100 people on the island.  Once the Navy left in the late 1990s, many of the buildings fell into disrepair from the stiff winds.  I suspect only about 1/10 of the houses are habitable.  Sad.  There is one grocery store, which is open four days a week  for two hours  each day (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday from 5:30 -7:30 pm.)  There isn’t a lot of groceries to choose from, and unfortunately much of the selection is junk food.  There is one liquor store and one bar on the island.  We didn’t visit either.

Shuttered McDonald’s Restaurant

Not sure if this building (well part of it anyway) is in use or not???

Lots of build foundations

A munitions bunker or twenty. Jim and Megan walking up to the bunker.

There is a middle/high school on the island.  We learned there are four kids that attend.  The grade school has ten kids.  I bet they could socially distance in a school with only 14 kids.  It was a good sized school  However, if one was to get terribly sick with Covid it would require them to be medevaced to Anchorage.  That would be a costly endeavor.

There were a lot of contractors in Adak working to remove or detonate live ammunition left over from when the Military had a base here.   And there were numerous signs up all over the island indicating that debris had been buried.  Steve, who owned the house we were renting, said that when the Navy left they buried jeeps that had not even been driven yet (brand new).  They turned them upside, with their tires sticking in the air, and buried them.  In a lot of places you cannot dig at all or no more than two feet below ground level.

Sign warning us to turn around

There are approximately 16 miles of paved and unpaved roads – mostly unpaved.  Gas was around $5.40 per gallon when we were there.

Birders who want to check out the bird life on the water or nearby islands or rocky cliffs, can charter a boat for half-day, at the rate of $425/person!  Since this is a windy place, and thus calm seas are unlikely, and I and rough waters don’t get along, I decided I didn’t wan to pay $425 to puke my guts out.  Not sure any bird is worth that – at least not for me.  I hate being nauseous more than anything.  Several people did rent the boat to check out the seabirds – primarily various Aucklets but Albatross would be a delight.

Mount Moffitt, Clam Lagoon, Adak community, and Kuluk Bay shown here

This image is of Clam Lagoon (foreground) This is probably the most productive birding area on the island. At least by vehicle. And not too far from the community of Adak.

Adak is a relatively barren island, composed primarily of tundra.  There are a few spruce trees and willows interspersed throughout the island, at least that portion of the island we visited.  The landscape is beautiful, however,  the weather can be miserable.

Any no sunshine at the time …

Only cloudy days ahead …

But a beautiful coastline

Sandy beaches

And some rather clear days

I thought this looked like an interesting cloud formation

And this one hiding a spaceship

But the weather can change on a dime …

Tundra, tundra, tundra

The town of Adak

So if anyone wants to work remotely – can’t get much more remote than this – there are housing opportunities available and for a very reasonable price (under $100,000 – fully furnished and with a vehicle).    Here is an example of some of the housing in Adak.  A lot of fixer-uppers too.

Much of the damage on these houses is due to the wind

Some damage is fire damage

People left furniture, mattresses…

Whole sides of buildings gone

Lots of fourplexes abandoned

This was another style of housing. These units seemed to have much less damage.

I should have looked into one of the buildings…

Arrival Day…  Wednesday – May 26th

We did need to go shopping again for fresh produce on Tuesday, but on Wednesday we again arrived at the airport around 7:30 am for our 9:30 am flight.   Some of the same people who were on our flight to Adak last Saturday were once again on the flight – particularly the Fairbanks group, along with two other small groups of birders.  The trip to Adak via Cold Bay was uneventful.  Hooray!!!  We didn’t get to sit in first class this leg of the journey, but we both had rows to ourselves.

Welcome Sign – Hard to read but it says “Welcome to Adak Where the Winds Blow and Friendships Grow”

Once we arrived in Adak, we paid our $30 land-use fee to the native corporation, retrieved our checked bags, coolers, and boxes of food, and found Steve C. our host (owns the accommodations and vehicle we used).  We drove to our accommodations and proceeded to unpack the perishable foods and then grab our gear to begin birding.   The units were well furnished, but with spotty wi-fi so bring reading material.

We stayed in this unit of a fourplex

Our transportation for the week

There were some rare birds that had been spotted recently – Whooper Swan, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Terek Sandpiper, and Temminck’s Stint –  so we wanted to check for these birds and headed to their eBird locations as our first order of business.

Our first stop was Haven Lake to look for the Whooper Swan.  It took us a little while to find the right road as the maps we had weren’t as helpful as they could be. Road signs, what signs???  We finally found the bird with the help of Michelle Lake from Fairbanks.  She got us on the right road.  We stopped and took photos, although the bird was some distance off.    There were also around eight (8) Eurasian Wigeons.  My favorite wigeon.

Whooper Swan

Our next stop was to look for the Eastern Spot-billed Duck so we headed to Clam Lagoon.  This is a big body of water and mud flats.  We stopped several people who had seen the duck, but we missed it.

You can drive almost all the way around the lagoon.  However, the outlet bridge (Candlestick bridge) is no longer serviceable.  Once you reach it you have to turn around and retrace your route.  This we did.  We stopped at the seawall to look for the Arctic Loon that had been spotted.  We thought we saw it, but turns out what we were looking at was a Common Loon (in non-breeding plumage).   A Terek Sandpiper had been spotted along the shores of the lagoon, but was never respotted during our stay on Adak – by us or others.

Along the seawall we did observe a small raft of Common Eiders. There were a lot more on a small island just offshore. Cool birds

Clam Lagoon, which includes a mudflats at low tide

A Common Loon – oh why couldn’t you have been an Arctic Loon?

Our next stop was South Sweeper Creek where the Temminck’s Stint was spotted earlier in the day.  We eventually found it, again with the help of Michelle Lake.  Thank you Michelle.  This is a beautiful bird.

Temminck's Stint (photo by Megal O'Neill)

Temminck’s Stint (photo by Megan O’Neill)

There were about a dozen or so Rock Sandpipers feeding and roosting along South Sweeper Creek.  We also had a Semi-palmated Plover.   In Homer we get Rock Sandpipers in the winter in their winter plumage.  Rarely see them in their breeding plumage.

Rock Sandpiper in breeding plumage

You had to look closely or you could miss seeing the bird

Frank Haas asked if we had a two-way radio so that we could get notifications of rare bird observations.  Surprisingly although there were probably ten or more other birds on the island, we rarely encountered them when out birding.  We didn’t bring any radios as Jim thought cell phone coverage on the island was sufficient (based on reports from Frank Haas via his Adak website).  Luckily Frank had an extra radio we could use so long as he was still on the island (he would leave before we did).  We gladly accepted the radio.  Later in the day, as we were eating dinner, we got a notification via radio of an Eurasian Hobby spotted by the bartender at the local bar.   We stayed put, but the race was on with the other birders on the island looking for the hobby.  Turns out it wasn’t a Eurasian Hobby (type of small raptor), but rather a Common Cuckoo.  Frank reported all this to us after he had spotted the bird.   We decided to check it out the next day.

Thursday May 27th

One thing there is plenty of on Adak Island is Bald Eagles.  We saw lots of them, including this juvenile that was very light (and had ratty wing and tail feathers).

Subadult Bald Eagle

Many of the subadults were very light colored

As for Passerines (songbirds), there weren’t many and the Lapland Longspur was the predominate species – very common.  Lapland Longspurs were a delight to see as they can be found in the Homer area occasionally during the winter, and during spring and fall migration.  We also saw Gray-Crowned Rosy-Finches.  We get these birds at our house in Homer during the winter, although a different subspecies.   The Song Sparrow, another common passerine, here is much larger than our Song Sparrow.  In fact, on the last full day we mistook one for a thrush (bad lighting and a quick look).  Savannah Sparrows are occasionally observed on Adak.  We didn’t see one, but Jim and I both heard a Savannah Sparrow.

Male Lapland Longspur. It was courting time and the males parachute down after rising high into the air. Fun to watch. The birds were definitely pairing up. Photo by Megan O’Neill.

Female Lapland Longspur

Gray-crowned Rosy-finch. This bird definitely has a “gray” crown.

Waiting for food

Jim had been to Adak before so knew to bring bird seed to put out at various locations to help attract birds, especially rarities like the Hawfinch.

We went to a lot of different locations to check out the birds:  Along the coastline off Hillside Blvd., Adak National Forest (checking for rarities), Moose Road (in town), Otter Drive (in town), South Sweeper Creek, and Finger Bay Road.

Adak Forest is a must stop.  A number of rarities have been found here in past years.  We didn’t have any, but need to check just in case.  There is also a graveyard adjacent to the forest.  One for humans and one for pets.

Here it is. The Adak National Forest. The sign reads” Entering and Leaving the Adak National Forest”

Frank Haas put this feeder up (old hubcap) for the birds in among the willows at the base of the spruce trees

Pet marker

Pretty fancy grave marker for a rooster

Human cemetery

Jim has been to Adak at least twice before so he was our driver and tour guide.  So off through the housing area we went in search of trees and the Hawfinch.  After checking out several trees for the Hawfinch, we finally spotted one in what I started calling “Frank’s Tree”.  Frank and others (including Jim) put out seeds for the birds near this tree.  This was a life bird for me (I think – ha ha ha).  At least I don’t remember seeing it previously – would need to go back and check my records for when I birded Southeast Asia in 2011.

Hawfinch

“Frank’s Tree” or the “Hawfinch” tree.

We also saw the Common Cuckoo.  I think I may have seen this bird in Southeast Asia, but it is a new bird for Alaska.

Common Cuckoo

Maybe …. it could be mistaken for an Eurasian Hobby

We didn’t see the Eastern Spot-billed Duck today, nor the Terek Sandpiper.  Frank Haas thought the duck had flow the coup so to speak.  I hope not.

As we drove to Finger Cove, we stopped alongside the road to watch a pair of Rock Ptarmigan cross.  The male stopped in the road and allowed us to get some decent photos.  Also we could look out over Kuluk Bay and check out the seabirds.  There was a small raft of Ancient Murrelets.  Such pretty feathered birds – almost like they were wearing tuxedos.

Rock Ptarmigan

As for Finger Cove, we didn’t see any unusual birds here.  Lots of Harlequin Ducks and Red-breasted Mergansers in the cove.  Oh, and Lapland Longspurs, but on land.   But the drive was pleasant and the countryside beautiful.  Lots of rolling tundra with wildflowers just starting to blossom, such as Lupines and Anemones.

Friday, May 28th

We had heard about a Wood Sandpiper at a small pond near Lake Alexander.  So off we went to see if we could spot the bird.  We got out of our vehicle and set up our spotting scopes.  Megan spotted something that looked out of place near some reeds, and yes it was the sandpiper!  This was a life bird for Megan.  Jim has seen it before and Jack and I have seen the bird in Africa.

Wood Sandpiper

After checking out the Wood Sandpiper we proceeded to Clam Lagoon.  This really is the best place for birding.  The number of species spotted here far exceeds any other spot on the island accessible by vehicle.

On our drive along the seawall, we stopped and saw some great birds.  Jim spotted a Whiskered Auklet.  This is the bird other birders spend hundreds of dollars on a boat trip to see and we saw it from land.  Thank you Jim.  I wasn’t sure I would ever get to see this bird (a life bird).  Not sure any bird is worth getting seriously nauseous over.  At least not to me.

We headed back to town and heard about a pair of Snow Geese spotted near the airport.  Off we went.  We ended the day with a new bird for the trip – Snow Goose.  They were hanging out near the airport terminal.  Thanks again to the Fairbanks group for the tip.

Snow Goose

Saturday, May 29th

The morning started out nice, but the weather here can quickly change.  On our way to Clam Lagoon, we stopped at Paradise Lookout.  We checked out birds on the ocean – Red-breasted Merganser (shocker) were everywhere.  We had Harlequin Ducks and Common Eider as well.  Four Pacific Loons were spotted.  Still no Arctic Loon.  We observed 14 Bar-tailed Godwits on the beach.  This is the highest number of Godwits we saw at one time during out visit.  Glad we had our spotting scopes.

Sunny ….

Next stop Clam Lagoon and Mudflats, again looking for and FINALLY spotting the Eastern Spot-billed Duck thanks to Megan’s eagle eyes.  The bird  looks similar in shape and size to a female Mallard.   We were very happy to see the duck (a life bird for all of us) and get decent looks through our spotting scopes.

Megan walking out on the mud flats trying to get a better photo of the Eastern Spot-billed Duck

Distant photo of the Eastern Spot-billed Duck

We left the duck and continued along Clam Lagoon and seawill, finally reaching Candlestick Bridge.  From the  bridge we were able to observe several Laysan Albatross and several dozen Short-tailed Shearwaters.  Neither of these were a life bird. I’ve seen Short-tailed Shearwaters off of Anchor Point.  And I spent three weeks at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in 2012 counting Laysan and Black-footed Albatross where I saw hundreds of thousands of the Laysan Albatross.  I highly recommend this volunteer opportunity.

We always saw a Song Sparrow when at the bridge

As you can see the Candlestick bridge is not driveable

Later in the day,  we went to check out the old church and some abandoned navy facilities.  There are two church buildings on Adak (that I know of).  Neither are in current use for religious ceremonies.  The more recent facility is the island’s tsunami building.  This is where everyone goes if an tsunami warning has been issued.  It was locked up tight because of vandalism.  Guess whoever has the keys better be around if there is a tsunami warning issued.

Military dormitory???

This is the older church

The pews still looked in good condition

Garbage is taken to this caged facility where it is burned. They don’t want to encourage (more) rats.

They only burned the garbage once while we were there

Sunday, May 30th

We went out early to see if we could see the Eastern-Spot-billed Duck again.  The tide was in so much of the waterfowl were loafing in the distant vegetation along the water, including the Spot-billed Duck.  You could just make out its head to know what bird you had.  No one else saw the duck that day.  This duck isn’t out feeding regularly like the other ducks.   Maybe it doesn’t like all the Bald Eagle activity.  There are a lot of Bald Eagles near the lagoon – happy hunting grounds for young ducklings.

With the winds relatively calm (for Adak) and mostly sunny skies, we decided to drive out to the former Loran Station and look for Albatross, Fulmurs, and Shearwaters flying over the ocean below the bluffs.   Jim, who has spent a lot of time on boats, was able to pick out the Fulmurs and Shearwaters, but I could not.  The birds were too far away.  I’m sure I saw both, but if I can’t identify them then I don’t count them.

We did see a lot of puffins – primarily Horned – flying by.  They are easy to distinguish.  We also had some Tufted Puffins in a cove near the former Loran Station.  We got good looks at the birds through our spotting scopes (I brought mine and Jim brought his).   At this cove there is supposedly a hot springs at the or near the bottom of the cliff and rope to get down to it.  None of us tried out the rope.  Nor could we actually see the hot springs from the top of the bluff.

Don’t know if this cove has a name or not

You can’t see one in this photo, but we would spot fire hydrants when there were no buildings or remnants of buildings in site.

Okay so the fire hydrant (right side of road) isn’t visible, but it is there.

Our lookout point near the former Loran Station

We hunkered down in the grass as it was quite windy at the former Loran Station site.  Jack in the foreground checking out the birds on the ocean through the scope.

Afterwards we did go along Clam Lagoon again checking out the birds.  Nothing new to report.

On the way back to the house,  we drove by the Hawfinch tree (or Frank’s tree) and saw the Hawfinch again.   There have been several Common Ravens coming around the tree now to eat the seeds.  The Ravens are keeping the Hawfinch and Gray-crowned Rosy-finches at bay.

Monday, May 31st

After stopping off at the airport landing lights to check out the birds along the beach and on the ocean, we went to an area near Contractor’s Marsh.  Here Megan spotted a shorebird in a marshy area.  We got out of the truck to see if we could identify the bird.  We got some good photos and we were able to id the bird as Pectoral Sandpiper.  Not a life bird for us, but a new bird for our 2021 Adak list.  While we were watching this bird, a Bar-tailed Godwit flew in.  We’ve seen up to 14 Bar-tailed Godwits at a time on this trip.  Also present shorebird wise was a pair of Semi-palmated Plovers and several Red-necked Phalaropes.  The Plovers, like the Rock Sandpipers, are the most prevalent shorebird species.  But alas, no Common Snipe.

Morning has broken ….

Airport landing lights. This is a great place to check for shorebirds. We had Rock Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, and Semi-palmated Plover.

Megan on the beach checking for birds

Semi-palmated Plover on the beach

Semi-palmated Plover checking out its domain

Pectoral Sandpiper

Bar-tailed Godwit

Red-necked Phalarope

We also drove along Seawall Road in town.   Pigeon Guillemots are common, and you occasionally get Ancient Murrelets.  In the late afternoon we drove out to Clam Lagoon again to see if we could find the Eastern Spot-billed Duck.  No luck.   Our trip included a drive along the seawall, which is different than seawall road in town.  Confusing, I know.

Tuesday, June 1st

Our last full day on Adak Island.  We decided to check out Clam Lagoon and the seawall again.  No sighting of the Eastern Spot-billed Duck.  However, as we passed the seawall and were headed to the bridge, I saw a black-headed gull and shouted for Jim to stop.  The gull, very obligingly, landed nearby.  We quickly got the scopes out and found the characteristics we needed to confirm my belief that this was the Black-headed Gull, not a Bonapart Gull.   The Black-headed gull was seen by other birders before our arrival, but so far no one had seen it since our arrival so we thought it had moved on.  This was my ‘trip bird’ – the bird I really wanted to see when we came out to Adak and I was so happy that we finally spotted it on our last full day here.   “Timing is everything.”  We spent some time photographing the bird then proceeded to Candlestick bridge to check out birds on the ocean.  The bridge is accessible only by foot and this is where the ocean water floods the lagoon during the tidal cycle.

On our way back to town, we stopped to inform two different birding groups about the gull.  I think one group had seen the gull elsewhere (outside of Alaska) as they didn’t seem too excited about our find.  The other group – two men – were happy to hear about the gull and quickly took off in search of it.

Another great bird for the day was a Short-eared Owl.  It flew close to us so we got great looks.  This is my favorite owl species.

Black-headed Gull

We did see several Black Oystercatcher’s near Clam Lagoon whenever we were there.  Love these distinctive-looking birds.

Sanderling – we saw this bird for several days at the airport landing lights

Wednesday, June 2nd

Today was the last day of our Adak visit – and go figure, calm and sunny.  We drove out to the airport landing lights beach to check for shorebirds.  We only saw the Rock Sandpipers.  We then went to Contractor’s March for a last ditch effort at finding a Common Snipe – struck out  again.  Guess we’ll have to come again another time.  We only heard the Wilson’s Snipe and had seen it earlier.  We then went back to Haven Lake to see if we could get better photos of the Whooper Swan.  Luckily the bird was still there, affording great views.   Finally we checked out the Adak National Forest for any possible rare birds – none – and then proceeded back to our accommodations to pick up our checked bags for transport to the airport for a security clearance.  We checked in and then went back to the apartment to eat lunch, grab our carry-ons and make a quick tour of South Sweeper’s Creek.  The tide was in so not as many Rock Sandpipers, and no other shorebirds.  Then, regretfully, it was time to get to the airport for our flight home.

Mount Moffitt – Adak – first time all week we were able to see the entire mountain

We saw a total of 60 different birds species between the four of us.  I personally had 59 species (missing the Northern Fulmar). But did we see anything wildlife or interesting vegetation?

As you can see, there aren’t many trees on Adak.  Adak is primarily tundra.  Wildlife is scarce.  While there are supposedly over 3,000 Caribou (from an introduced herd of around 20 or so), we only saw remnants of a dead caribou.  Rats are a problem on the island but we didn’t see any, luckily.  In fact, other than a few people and several dogs, we didn’t see any mammals on the island.  I did spot some tracks near the landing lights.

Someone’s paw prints – quite small

My fingernail is about the size of a dime

As for flowers, things were just starting to bloom.  There were a lot of lupine plants that had flower heads that hadn’t opened up yet for the most part.  Each day the flowers were closer to blooming and some had bloomed.

Not sure what velvety soft plant this is???

Kamchatka Frillary

Lupine

Narcissus Anemone

I believe this is a type of orchid

Other plants I saw included dandelions (they’re everywhere), marsh marigolds, daffodils (definitely non-native), fireweed (just starting to come out of the ground), and cow parsnip.

Up, up, and away.   Once again we were in first class – this time all four of us.  We had an uneventful flight home – no turbulent wind or volcanic explosions – and deplaned around 6:30 pm in Anchorage.   It wasn’t until we left Cold Bay that we were able to see the world below us.  Here are a few photos of what I could see:

 

In the Alaska Range – north of Lake Clark

Glaciers visible

Still a lot of snow present

Overall we had a great trip with good friends.  Each day was ….

A Great Day to Bird

Grand Canyon

Jack and I decided to go to the Grand Canyon for the day.  I think several thousand other people had the same idea.  The Grand Canyon typically gets over 5 million visitors a year!  We left Sedona around 7:00 a.m., and arrived at the Grand Canyon around 9:30 a.m..   We parked near Mather Point and proceeded to walk 2.5 miles along the scenic Rim Trail to Bright Angel, then back.  When we first started out I would say about 75% or more of the people wore masks (even though we were outdoors, when on the narrow paths you often walk within six feet of people especially once the trails got busy).  However on the return trip back to Mather Point I would estimate that it was the reverse – only about 25% of the people wore masks.  My biggest frustration were those groups of two couples, without masks, who decide to take up the entire trail.  What arrogance and conceit, regardless of Covid.  If we didn’t have Covid,  I would have stopped in the trail to make them walk around me.  And surprisingly many of the people without masks were older people more susceptible to Covid.  I don’t care if you don’t have any regards for your own health and safety, but come on and be considerate of those around you.  Like I said, selfish individuals.  Masks don’t make you weak, but not wearing one does.   I noticed that most of the license plates were out-of-state.

Despite the inconsiderate people, the views, as always, were stunning.  The day started out sunny, but the clouds and wind came in around mid-day, keeping the temperatures comfortable.  There were a lot of birds out, and I was surprised that we were able to see 18 different species – with such high elevations and lots of people about.   We kept a close look out for the California Condor, and at one point I thought I had spotted a condor on a cliff face, but it turned out just to the a shadow (a candor shaped shadow no less).   So unfortunately we left Condorless.  We have seen them here before, and in fact once we had them flying overhead and we could see, without binoculars, their wing tag numbers.

Nuthatches were everywhere and we got to see all three nuthatches (Red-breasted, White-breasted, and Pygmy), along with four different woodpeckers (Williamson’s Sapsucker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, and Red-naped Sapsucker).  Lewis’s Woodpecker is also found here, but unfortunately we didn’t see one, although I would have loved that more than the condor actually.   We were rewarded with several mixed flocks that kept us busy watching birds as others were watching the scenery.  Ah you’ve seen one rock, you’ve seen them all right?  Ha ha, except for the Grand Canyon…

Despite my bewildered frustration with maskless idiots, it was nice to be outdoors enjoying the magnificent scenery and the great birds.

When you see the Grand Canyon, in all its glory, you can understand why it is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World

There is never a “Bad” view

Western Bluebirds were abundant here

Miles and miles of canyon

A White-breasted Nuthatch taking advantage of the snow on the ground – life saving water

Here dipping its beak to get at the water pooled underneath the snow

It only took 6 million years to create this natural wonder

The trees are gnarly

Plenty of vista points along the Rim Trail

Jack, with his mask on, checking out the birds or the scenery. Moxie patiently waiting. She is such a good dog.

Beauty abounds

I’m surprised there is no one on the rock on the left. People will climb out to precarious locations. Not me. I stay well back.

Northern Flicker

Williamson’s Sapsucker. Wow, two in one month. I’m surprised.

Mountain Chickadee with his “eye” mask

The canyon is deep & HOT (especially at the bottom during the summer)

Pygmy Nuthatch. These were busy, busy birds. Always on the move. They would come fairly close to humans. More so than other birds. Cute buggers.

Clouds coming in, which mutes the amazing shapes and colors

And the canyon is  – wide.  Feel adventurous?  Do the rim to rim hike, but allow plenty of time (we are speaking days)

And hiking to the Colorado River and into the canyon is available

White-breasted Nuthatch – we saw a fair number of these birds

A nice place to stop and contemplate Nature

I wonder what it was like to discover this beautiful area. I’m sure not much has changed since then – except for development.

Deep canyons in the deep canyon. They don’t call it Grand for nothing.

Millions and millions of years old – rock layers

And you can see for miles

I wonder which woodpecker created this hole?

Okay, this is what I thought might be a California Condor – black in the middle of the photo. It looked like a bird had done a face plant on the rock with its wings spread. But, alas just a shadow.

Jack and Moxie on the trial

Bird on everyone, bird on … Happy Turkey Day … and remember …

IT’S ALWAYS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

November 1

We decided to get away from the election rat race (okay not totally) for some camping and birding .  We left Sedona in the early morning (for Jack anyway) – 7:45 a.m.  I had been up since 5:00 a.m.  getting the last minute items into the van for the trip.

Our first stop was Catalina State Park near Tucson Arizona.  When we made reservations the Tuesday prior to our trip, the campsite spaces on either side of us and across from us weren’t taken.  I chose spot A-44 and once we arrived I realize it isn’t quite like the photo on the state park website.  Very misleading.  The photo on the website looks like there is some shade.  The only real shade we got was from our van.  We were so happy to have that shade as it got up to around 88 degrees F  both days.  Wind was in the forecast and we had it on most of the drive, but not at the campground where we desperately needed it.  This is a very popular campground (those three vacant sites were filled when we arrived) and often it is difficult to get a site without a reservation.   We plan to return in January and when we made reservations back in mid August all sites for February were full and we could only find one site that had two consecutive sites in January.  I think people like it because you feel away from everything (adjacent to a National Forest) but just outside the park is a big mall – Walmart, Best Buy, movie theaters, and more.

We sat behind the van in the shade and read until late afternoon as it was too hot to walk until then.   As we were sitting at our campsite, a neighboring camper called out a Greater Roadrunner.  Sure enough the Roadrunnner was hoping from campsite to campsite.  Crazy bird.  Then about a half an hour later, a Cooper’s Hawk came flying through and landed in a nearby tree where the Roadrunner was earlier.

Around 4:00 PM we did walk the trail from the campground to the main trailhead parking lot.  We only totaled 9 different bird species.  Not good.  We did have a Pyrrhuloxia.  Jack and I call it the pyrex bird.  Easier for us to say and we know what we are talking about.  We also saw another Roadrunner.  Yay!!!  Some nice birds, but a lot fewer than two years ago when we were here last (December 31 (2018)/January 1,2019) and it snowed.

We haven’t been at this campground in November before so I’m not sure what the bird life is like this time of year.  All I can say is that it is slow – not many birds.  Maybe its the heat, lack of food, lack of water.  I don’t know and I don’t like it.  Our bird life is in peril from so many fronts:  habitat loss, climate, window strikes, CATS, wind power, cell phone towers, and the list goes on.

Greater Roadrunner

Greater Roadrunner

Tail and crest up

Copper’s Hawk

The “Catalinas” – nice view from one’s campsite

That is a lot of arms … and one old Saguaro cactus

Lots of Mesquite Trees

I like this barrel cactus. It’s almost like it has the shivers

Memorial to someone’s pet

Despite all the trees, there isn’t much shade on the trails

Okay … looks like someone doesn’t like this person (William Barr???). Photo is in behind some animals scat.  We saw this on the trail.

Moxie panting in the shade

Beautiful clouds with the sun coming through – better in person

Sunset

November 2

Despite having been in the high 80s yesterday, it was quite cool in the morning, but pleasant.  The clouds help.  The pleasant temperatures lasted until about 9:00 a.m. when it felt like someone turned the heat up high as the sun broke through the clouds  We were out on the “Birding Trail” at Catalina State Park when the heat increased.  We walked to this trail from the campground, so all told we walked a little over 6 kilometers (3.6 miles) roundtrip.  And when the temperatures increased quickly we were half way through our hike.

Once we got back to the campground off the the store we went to go buy ice for our cheap cooler.  In this heat, the ice doesn’t last long.  We have our new Dometic refrigerator for the van, but right now it can only be powered by a small battery we have in the car.  This battery charges when we operate the van so sitting in the campground for several days does not charge the battery.  I think having the battery available for our fans is more important than to keep food cool.  We can buy ice daily if necessary.   I didn’t bring down our electric fan so couldn’t take advantage of the electricity available at the site.  And our refrigerator cannot be connected to a 120 V outlet.  The goal is to buy a battery that will power the refrigerator and other items for several days before needing to recharged.  We are looking at a Goal Zero Yeti 1500x.  Expensive, but with the camping we do we need power.

We saw a lot more birds this morning than we did last night.  In total, we’ve had 25 different species at the park, of which 6 are FOYs – first of year.  None are life birds.  Tomorrow we venture over to Cave Creek Canyon near Portal, Arizona to look for the Eared Quetzal.  Fingers crossed.   I haven’t decided whether to bird along the way or just make a beeline for the canyon.  We’ve been there before and  love the area.  Generally we visit there during the winter months and freeze.  I wouldn’t mind some cooler weather, however.   It’s so nice to get outdoors, camping and birding again.

While we were eating lunch, Jack saw a Greater Roadrunner in the campsite across from us.  We lost track of it, but then I saw it under our picnic table.  This is one brave bird.  They are so fun to watch as they run, stop, lift their tales and their crest feathers, and look around.  Then off they go again, some times very short distances, other times much longer, and then repeat the process all over again.

I love Indian food and there was a place nearby – Flavor of India – so we got take out.  While the food was plentiful, the flavor was lacking.  At least with my dish.  I would not recommend this restaurant.

Sunrise

The trail from the campground to the main trailhead parking lot

Canyon Towhee

Beautiful Mosaic – Friends of Catalina State Park. Near the trailhead.

A portion of the Birding Trail burned recently, however, the mesquite looked very healthy. Maybe with its long taproot  there is less competition for limited water resources???

Rufous-winged Sparrow

I suspect water (lack of) causes the cactus to grow like this???  Or maybe the fire???

The Saguaro cactus burned except for the very top. It is still green.

This one definitely burned in the fire

November 3

Today was a driving day.  Luckily we had to travel near Ina Road, where a Northern Jacana (rare bird in the U.S.) has been seen, to get to our final destination of the day – Cave Creek Canyon near Portal, Arizona.  We did see the Jacana!  It was feeding on some vegetation near a bend in the Santa Cruz River (not much of a river – so dry here).  I didn’t have my camera with me so no photo.  I did walk back to the car (some distance away) to get my camera, but when I got back the bird was a no-show.  Two birders said the bird flew closer to the bridge, but I couldn’t find the bird.  It must have walked into the reeds.  Oh well.  This is not a life bird for me.  We had seen the bird before in the U.S. when it made a brief appearance in Texas one year when we were driving through.  Still these are great birds and so worth the short detour to see.

We continued on to Cave Creek Canyon.  We love this area, but haven’t been here during November so not quite sure what to expect – both in terms of weather (pleasant) and people camping at the Sunny Flat Campground.  There are only  about 13 camping spots, and only half were full when we arrived.   They are first come-first serve – so no reservations.  You take your chances when coming because it is a popular campground.  The cost is $20 per night and they have restrooms and water available.

We were here last in early 2019.   Then with the old geezer pass it only cost $5.00 a night to camp (50% off).  The price has doubled (now $10 per night – old geezer pass), but still very reasonable.  We picked site #2 because it is heavily treed and we wanted to make sure we had some shade.  We’ve had this site before during a winter visit and we had snow.  In the winter, the sunny, open campsites are preferable.

On the way to Portal, we make a quick stop at the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Sierra Vista. This is a favorite place to bird.  You drive past the area on your way to Portal via historic Bisbee and Douglas, Arizona.  There is a large old tree outside the visitor center where there is usually a Western Screech Owl.  The owl was a no show this visit.  We did walk to the river.  Hot, with no water in sight so we gave up birding the greenbelt .  Again, a very dry year.  Of course we did get here around noon.  Despite the heat I was surprised at the number of cars in the parking lot.

On the bridge  to check out the Northern Jacana I spotted this dead bat

This is the bridge from which you search for the Northern Jacana.  Luckily there is a pedestrian walkway.

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area – Lincoln’s Sparrow at a feeder

Canyon Towhee

White-winged Dove

Pyrrhuloxia – or the pyrex bird as Jack and I call it

Trail leading from the parking lot to the riparian area

There are several big trees near the parking area/visitor center – the Woodpeckers and Flickers love these trees.  So do I when it’s hot outside.

Once we got settled at Sunny Flats campground I walked up the road (FS42) in search of the Eared Quetzal that has been here for about the last five weeks or so (at least that is what we told).  I didn’t see the bird on my walk as I didn’t walk far enough.  On eBird, the sightings mention a bridge.  I never saw the bridge so when I got back to the campground I got in the van with Moxie (Jack stayed back) and went in search of the bridge.  I drove to the bridge and saw several cars parked along the road with people standing in the road with their binoculars looking up at a tree.  I got out of the van, quieted Moxie, and looked up into the tree.  There was the bird!  Unfortunately it had its back to me.  I saw it for about 5 minutes before it took off.  Most e-Bird sighting of the bird were between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., so I didn’t expect to see the bird – there is actually a pair, and possibly a second male.  Hopefully I will get a better view tomorrow.

Cave Creek Canyon

This is such a beautiful area – fall colors were great

The stream bed was dry, dry, dry

Lots of beautiful rock formations

And plenty of Acorn Woodpeckers

And a shy Eared Quetzal

November 4

Nighttime was comfortable – unlike at Catalina State Park where it was much warmer.  Since the Eared Quetzal had not been seen before 9:00 a.m., we decided to start out about then and walk up to the bridge.  The walk was pleasant and we birded along the way finding a large flock of about 20 Western Bluebirds in the trees hanging over the road, and a large flock of about 10 Wild Turkeys.

Once at the bridge we did hear the bird, but didn’t see it.  Another couple had arrived shortly before and they too heard the bird.  While we stayed near the bridge searching in the Hackberry trees, that couple walked down the road.  When they didn’t come back, I decided to go in search of them.  When we came around a bend in the road, there were about six masked people looking up into a tree.  A branch hung over the road and a male Eared Quetzal was sitting on the branch.  Everyone got great views of the bird.  I decided to get closer for a better photo and I unfortunately flushed the bird (dang).  Luckily the bird didn’t fly far, but it did have its back to us.  We stayed about ten minutes and then headed back down the road.

The star of the show – a male Eared Quetzal. We never did see the female.

We’ve been at Cave Creek Canyon at least four different years in the past. This is our first time seeing Wild Turkey.

They camouflage well when in the forest

Mexican Jay

There is private lands adjacent to the road. This landowner warns  people with this hilarious sign.

After a brief snack, we then walked up the canyon road (FS 42E) about a mile where it dead-ends and becomes a trail up the south fork of Cave Creek.  There were a few places where there was water in the creek, but not much.  We did see a total of 15 species.  I was happy to see several Brown Creepers and Canyon Wrens.  Boy are those birds vocal – Canyon Wrens.  One was real close and I got some decent photos.  Wrens are probably my favorite group of birds.

Forest Service Road 42E – leads to the South Fork trailhead. A great road to bird (about a mile long).

We got to see several Canyon Wrens

What beautiful and loud little birds

And I head to look straight up to photograph this Arizona Woodpecker

These birds have brown rather than black feathers

We walked the south fork trail a short distance and encountered a fair number of Poison Oak plants immediately adjacent to the trail. Easier to see and identify with their fall colors.

Lots of interesting rock formations.

When we got back to the campground it had filled up so now we have tent neighbors.  At least there is more vegetation here between campsites than at Catalina State Park.  Actually the neighbors were quiet for the most part.  Always nice.

Mid afternoon we made a visit to Cave Creek Ranch located nearby.  This is a private ranch with about 12 guest cabins, but they open up the area to birders from 10:00 – 4:00 p.m.  They do request a $5.00 donation per visitor.   We got to the ranch around 3:15 pm and proceeded to the feeders.  There were a few birds at the feeder.  It is generally much busier in the morning (we’ve visited the ranch during our last trip to the canyon).  We did have two Blue-throated Mountain Gems (aka Blue-throated Hummingbirds) come to the feeder.  I got a decent, but slightly unfocused shot of one of them showing off his beautiful blue throat (not the photo in the blog).  Great birds.  A Greater Roadrunner crossed the driveway to the main feeding area coming within several feet of two people watching birds.  That bird didn’t seem to have a care in the world, at least with respect to people.

A blue-throated Mountain Gem (aka hummingbird).

November 5

We broke camp around 8:00 a.m., headed up the road to see if we might see the Quetzal again – no luck.  We then said goodbye to this beautiful canyon.  About four miles down the road, we stopped at Bob Rodriquez’s place, a former Alaskan who keeps several feeders going.  I swear there were over 50 Gambel’s Quail feeding at one time, and more in the adjacent vegetation.  We’ve seen some good birds here in the past, including a Streaked Oriole.

Welcome Signs at Bob Rodriguez’s place

Scaled Quail

Black-throated Sparrow. Such a smart looking bird.

Gambel’s Quail

They really liked this rock. We couldn’t believe how many there were. We’ve never seen this many at once.

Anna’s Hummingbird

After Bob’s place, we headed to Madera Canyon via the backroads.  We probably should have gone via the freeways as we might of have gotten a campsite within the Bog Springs campground at Madera Canyon.  It only has about 13 sites, so they fill fast.   Since the campground was full we went to a dispersed area and dry camped nearby.  Luckily we could park so we had some shade as it was quite warm and sunny out.  Bog Springs Campground is shaded; the dispersed campground area is pretty open.

Campsite #1 – Proctor Road Dispersed Camping Area

Jack’s reading in the shade next to our van

Before setting up camp, we did stop and check out the feeders at the Santa Rita Lodge.  Lots of feeders and birds to entertain us.  There were at least three species of hummingbirds: Rivoli (formerly known as Magnificent), Anna’s, and Broad-tailed.  There was also a Red-naped Sapsucker in a shrub about ten feet from where I was sitting.  This is always a fun place to sit and bird.

Anna’s Hummingbird

This hummingbird feeder is within feet of the benches the lodge has available for visitors

This Red-naped Sapsucker was in a bush adjacent to the viewing area

Red-naped Woodpcker

Yellow-eyed Junco. It was hard to capture a decent photo of these birds as they are always moving.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

And speaking of Hummingbirds, on our way to Madera Canyon we stopped at Paton Center for Hummingbirds only to find it closed due to Covid-19.  I think they could open the center and allow limited entry since the viewing areas are outside.    At Patagonia village, the Gathering Grounds café and coffee shop was so busy people were spilling out the door.  Crazy.

Dispersed camping area – gravel road, rough in places. That is why we chose the first camping spot. Surprisingly the area filled up by Friday night.

Dispersed camping area – very dry

I do love cloud formations

And the sunset was beautiful. This photo does not do it justice.

November 6

Got up early and headed up the nature trail (from the Proctor’s Parking Lot to Santa Rita Lodge) to bird.  For the first twenty minutes it was pretty quiet – did see or hear a single bird.  As we got closer to Santa Rita Lodge the bird species started picking up.  A woman birder asked if we had seen the Williamson’s Sapsucker.  I said no, but luckily on our way back to the van we did see the sapsucker.  This is only my second sighting of this bird – period.  The first time was at least ten years ago on a trail outside of Sedona.  Nice to see the bird again.

Sunrise

Sunrise

Sunrise

Love the clouds

A portion of the nature trail is handicap accessible – paved

We did see a fair number of deer, which captured Moxie’s attention

And this squirrel

The woodpeckers like this bench

Falls colors

We did stop off at the Santa Rita lodge again to bird.  This is a favorite spot for photographers – they especially love to photograph hummingbirds.  I bet this place had at least 7-8 hummingbird feeders out.  I heard several guys talking and one guy said he flew in from Georgia to bird.  He had already seen the Jacana, the Quetzal, and a Rufous-backed Robin.  We didn’t try for the robin as we’ve seen it before at Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  That had to have been over ten years ago because we still had our dog Cody, who died in May of 2011.

Rivoli’s Hummingbird (previously known as Magnificent Hummingbird)

Even the bears wear a mask

A Williamson’s Sapsucker in there somewhere

Surprisingly there weren’t too many people on the trail.  Overcast skies and windy, so not that hot.  Also helps that we are up in elevation here.

We spent the afternoon at our campsite.  Luckily there was a breeze that kept it comfortable.  Before it got dark we decided to go for a short walk on the nature trail.  Again, not crowded, which was nice.  On the way back I heard a bird song that sounded somewhat familiar.  Then into a tree flew a Painted Redstart.  This is a favorite bird (yes, I have a lot of favorite birds).  Jack had decided before going on the walk not to bring his binoculars.  He said I would see more interesting birds that way.  He was right.  Thanks Jack.  I had so wanted to see this bird on this trip.

More clouds

Large, smooth boulders along the stream.  This really is a beautiful area.

Another beautiful sunset

November 7

Our goal today was to return home, but with a stop along the way to bird – the Santa Cruz Flats. This area is north of Tucson about 50 miles (and on the way home).  However, Mother Nature had other plans.  There were strong winds, which in the “flats” results in nasty dust storms.  Not so bad that we couldn’t see to drive, but enough that we couldn’t roll down the windows to see the birds or hear their calls or songs.  So instead, we kept heading north to Sedona with high winds and threatening weather.   Luck was on our side as many people decided not to venture north for the day or weekend.  Traffic was normal and not the steady stream of Phoenix area residents trying to cool off for the weekend.  Rain and snow are predicted over the next couple of days.  The precipitation is badly needed so no complaints here.

I’ve heard there is a Ross’s Goose at a pond near a local golf course here.  I need to go check it out.  Remember …

IT’S ALWAYS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

 

 

 

 

 

 

October – when the birding can be scary … okay maybe not

Hard to believe that October has come and gone.  I’ve been busy tending to my father who has been hospitalized for two months following surgery for mouth cancer.  His hospital stay was much longer than was anticipated, but considering his age (90) probably understandable.  He did stay almost five weeks at Select Specialty Hospital.  Neither my dad, nor I were happy with his care there.  While the nurses were good, trying to communicate with his doctor and case manager proved difficult at times.  After his first week, I had a conference call that included people from different specialties – therapy, respiratory, pharmacy, etc..  They talked about their goals for my dad during his stay.  We were supposed to have follow-up conference call in the third week to talk about progress but that never happened, not without lack of effort on my part.  Very frustrating.  Needless to say, he did not reach the goals identified in the first conference call.  I could never get information as to what was happening, although the nurses did say they all loved him.  He was finally released, at my insistence, and transferred to a skilled nursing facility.  Otherwise, I think he would still be in the hospital.  The communications with staff at the skilled nursing facility is a 180 degrees different from the hospital.  They contact you whenever there is a change in condition.  I’ve probably spoken with 7-8 different staff members about his care in the past week.   So different than what I experienced at Select Specialty Hospital.  These last two months have been very trying.

Clouds one morning on my neighborhood walk.  I do love clouds.

We actually had a day of rain – badly needed

A giraffe head I painted. I have it hanging on the living room wall. I love giraffes.

Also painted this Carolina Wren. Fun to do. Painting has helped my sanity.

And I also painted this Black-capped Chickadee.  My other paintings have been more abstract and loose, so haven’t included photos of those.

When I was able to get out and bird I returned to my favorite spot – Bubbling Ponds.   During most visits I generally saw a new bird (new for the year  – FOY – First of Year) – Yay!!!   Jack and Moxie came with me on some of the visits, sometimes I went alone.

Believe it or not, there is a Great Blue Heron at the top of the tree in the middle of the photograph

A closer view

Great Blue Heon

Not much color change yet

Moxie – everybody thinks she is such a pretty dog. I agree. And she is a really good bird dog. She doesn’t chase birds or bark at them. She sits quietly at my side when I stop to check out a bird.

Hooded Merganser – male

Habitat along Oak Creek

Black Hawk Trail

Jack checking out the birds at one of the two viewing platforms

Oak Creek – there is a large tree out-of-view that generally hosts a mixed flock of birds when we come by.  Fun!

With migration pretty much over, the number of birds observed at Bubbling Ponds has dwindled somewhat.  Still, it is always fun to bird and walk the area.   The birds we are always guaranteed to see are ducks (lots of Mallards, American Wigeons, and Ring-necked Ducks right now), Black and Say’s Phoebe, House Finch and Lesser Goldfinch, Belted Kingfisher (sometimes only heard), Great Blue Heron, Great-tailed Grackles, and Abert’s Towhee.

At home, we keep the feeders filled and have mostly House Sparrows.  Occasionally a Bewick’s Wren or two appear (one of my favorite birds) to check out the suet feeder or grab a drink of water.  A Ladderback Woodpecker likes the suet feeder also, along with a Ponderosa Pine in the yard.  The suet feeder is also favored by a large flock of Bushtits (another favorite bird).  Fun to see about 6-7 Bushtits all on the suet feeder at once.  And I added a new yard bird – a Eurasian Collared Dove.

We do have a neighborhood cat that we have to chase off regularly.  I keep thinking (okay hoping) the coyotes will get it, but no luck so far.  Saw it with a squirrel in its mouth the other day.  Oh was I steamed.  Damn cat.  Please people keep your cats indoors for their protection and for the protection of wildlife.

We did finally hike a trail near my father’s house.  The weather cooled down somewhat so off we went.  This trail – Baldwin Trail – was quite popular for a weekday.  The Sedona area has lots of trails and this is one busy area, especially on weekends.  The traffic coming up from the Phoenix area is heavy on weekends especially, even during times of Covid.  People are pretty good about social distancing on the trails – we always move off – and wearing masks.  Not everyone though.  While some people think it shows weakness if you wear a mask, I think it shows weakness if you DON’T wear a mask.

Views from the trail. You can actually get to the base of these rocks from another trail.

Those same peaks

Western Bluebird seen along the trail

This is definitely Red Rock Country

Beautiful country

Moxie and Jack on the trail. She stays close to us and is always under voice command. I commend the woman who trained her.  Thank you.

Moxie on the trail….

Despite the circumstances of our being in the Sedona area, it is nice not to have snow and plenty of sunshine.  In fact, for the entire two months I’ve been here it has been blue skies all but two days.  Not too shabby.  Of course it does make for very dry conditions, and that’s not good for wildlife or humans.

IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

September Birding

September (instead of winter) finds me in Arizona.  I had to fly (yikes!!!) down here as my elderly (90 year old) father underwent major surgery for mouth cancer in late August.  After a little more than a month, he is still in the hospital, and probably will remain there another three weeks.  He may then go to a rehab center before coming home.  To make matters worse, just before his operation the retina in his right eye detached.  He could not get it repaired before his cancer surgery so he has lost the sight in that eye, and the other eye has macular degeneration,  When it rains, it pours.  Up until the surgery he was playing golf three days a week.

The weather here has been HOT – most days are in the 90s, with a couple of days surpassing 100.  So much for it being fall!  I thought I was melting.  I prefer temperatures in the low to mid 70s.  That is ideal for me.  But I do love the sunshine.  When it is cloudy here for more than a couple of days,  most residents get depressed.  I can understand how they feel.  Sunshine makes me feel like a million bucks.  Nowadays I need something positive in my life.

The birding here has been pretty good – fall migration.  At my dad’s house we have a pair of Juniper Titmouse, Bewick’s Wrens, and Anna’s Hummingbirds that come throughout the day.  I so love the Bewick’s Wren.  It happens to be my favorite wren species of North America.  I must say though, that the most common species at my dad’s house is the House Finch and the finches are coming on strong now that we have a feeder and water out for the birds.  Don’t have to worry about bear here in the summer, just raccoons, skunks, javelina, and rogue cats.  Moxie is keeping the cats away.

This lizard comes around occasionally

Bewick’s Wren checking out this decorative nest box

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay formerly known as the Western Scrub-jay before the species was split

Juniper Titmouse

We also have had an ant problem.  They were attracted to the sugar water I dumped on the ground by accident when checking out the Hummingbird feeder.  So out came the vinegar (my mom liked to buy it in bulk so we had a lot) and the cornmeal.  I think the cornmeal really worked.  They eat it, but can’t digest it.  We haven’t had a problem since.  And these were good sized ants.

In the cool mornings when I’m not birding or hiking, I do walk the neighborhood with Moxie (our dog) for exercise and birds.   You never know what you might find.  One morning I had a Common Nighthawk flying around in the neighborhood.  That was a pleasant surprise.  And several nights I’ve heard Great Horned Owls – close.

Turkey Vulture – have spotted over 30 roosting in the nearby trees.  There is one species of tree they seem to favor.

This one drying or warming up his wings??? Or just stretching them before taking off.

Spotted Towhee

Lots of rabbits around the neighborhood

I was trying to find a Northern Cardinal in the vegetation and happened to see this Cooper’s Hawk feeding on its prey

I suspect based on the size of the dead bird’s feet it was either a Mourning Dove or a Gambell’s Quail

In addition to rabbits in the neighborhood, I have heard yipping coyotes at night, saw ambitious raccoons trying to get the sunflower seeds off our hanging feeder, and one morning we even had a striped skunk in the yard.  I made sure Moxie stayed indoors.  Don’t want her sprayed by the skunk.  Although I’m afraid it may be hiding out under the deck during the day.

I have taken advantage of cool mornings to get to one of my favorite local birding hotspots – Bubbling Ponds Fish Hatchery located near Page Springs (known as the Page Springs Hatchery Hot Spot).  It takes me about 20-30 minutes to get there.   I’m just glad it is open to the public during the pandemic.   Most of the people I have encountered on my visits there have been people out for a walk -a nice riverside trail and fish rearing ponds.

Each of my visits generally start around 7:00 am in the morning.  I spend 2-3 hours there, depending on whether I go to the ponds only, or also walk the trails.  At the ponds/wetland alone I can encounter over 30 different species, and only a few of those are ducks.

Map for the Bubbling Ponds area

I’m used to this scene without leaves on the trees as I’m usually here in the late fall, early winter

I do love the Fremont Cottonwood Trees

Great Blue Heron

Male Wood Duck

Wood Duck pair in one of the ponds.  During one visit I had ten Wood Ducks.

Mallard pair in one of the ponds

Belted Kingfisher – One time when we were there the Belted Kingfishers (two of them) were chasing each other around and causing quite a raucous

Not sure what this plant is but it is pretty

Flower head up close

Lots of daisies around good for the finches

More of the area

Gray Flycatcher

Rock Wren – didn’t expect to see this bird here

View from the Black Hawk Trail

Orange-crowned Warbler (one of our Homer bird???)

Common Black Hawk – one day we saw two of them roosting in the trees near the ponds

Black Phoebe

Dragonfly – Very red, but sun-bleached out in the photo

Killdeer

Skunk alert

Phainopepla (female or hatch year bird)

Saw this nest box on a stump?

Cooper’s Hawk

Jeremiah was a Bullfrog

Redhead – this bird has been in the same pond all month. Most likely molting,  flightless.

Believe it or not a juvenile Blue Grosbeak

House Wren

Lesser Goldfinch

Say’s Phoebe

Black Hawk Trail

Another bullfrog

Lesser Goldfinch

Western Wood Pewee

Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)

Just a plain oh Phainapepla but I love em (male)

An Osprey …

… in flight over the ponds

One of the “bubbling” ponds

Common Black Hawk

I checked on eBird, and since I’ve been recording birds at this location on eBird I’ve recorded 95 different species here.  Not too shabby.  I’m #28 for record number of species seen.   I do highly recommend this location (listed as Page Springs Hatchery on eBird Hotspot).

Jack, Moxie, and I went to another favorite area – Bell Creek Trail.  We’ve only been here during the winter months so we were quite surprised when we got there around 7:00 am the weekend parking lot was half full.  We enjoy the hike here, and we occasionally get some good birds.  I was hoping to see the Black-throated Sparrow and I was not disappointed.  If you are ever in this area and that is a target bird you might want to check this area out.  I would estimate that I’ve seen this bird 8 out of 10 visits.  So good odds of finding the bird.

We did hear and finally spotted a Summer Tanager – male, in this case.  The females are harder to see as they blend in with the leaves.  We didn’t see a lot of species on our visit, but with all the people on the trails that was somewhat understandable.

 

Bell Creek Trail

Trash Class – Trashy kids doing classy shit. Yes that is what the sticker says. Never heard of it before.

Countryside

Mourning Dove

Canyon Wren – outside the canyon

Male Summer Tanager

The busy parking lot after we finished hiking a portion of the trail

I wonder what birds October will bring?

IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BIRD …

August – summer slipping away

Sorry folks.  I had set this up to be published on August 31, 2020, and not sure that happened.  If not, I apologize.

Hard to believe it is August already.  The leaves on the vegetation up at the park (less than 1/4 mile from our home) are already starting to turn red, yellow, and orange.  The fireweed flower stalks (flower from the bottom up) are near the top (generally an indicator that summer is about over).    I’m not ready.

And now that it is the end of August, the fireweed is done, which means summer is over.  Luckily no new snow (or as we call it “termination dust”) on the mountains yet.  Only a matter of time.  The mornings are cooler, the leaves are turning, and soon we will get our first frost, then our first snow.

I have been ‘spaced-out birding’ while trying to avoid the masses.  I am thankful that I live is a state that isn’t very populated, although some weekends it is quite busy in our little corner of the state.  I continue to go birding at the Anchor Point beach.  Shorebird southbound migration continues – hooray!!!

Anchor Point Beach

Our small birding group went to Anchor Point on 5 August.  We always have to time it when the tides are best for birding watching.  On the 5th, we had to work with an incoming tide so started on the beach and then moved to the river.  I prefer an outgoing tide, but the timing was off that day.  Not only do I consider the tides for birding, but also the weather and everyone’s availability.

We saw 11 different species of shorebirds:  Surfbird, Black Turnstone, Rock Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Short-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper, Semi-palmated Plover, and Wilson’s Snipe.

Surprisingly we saw 12 Rock Sandpipers — early arrivals as usually we only get one or two at the most this time of year.  It was nice to see more of them.  And, there were five (5) Spotted Sandpipers, all together in a group, so possibly a family.  The tide was rising and the food bank along the river was fading fast.  A Sharp-shinned Hawk, which we had spotted about five minutes earlier, swooped down and tried to take out one of the Spotted Sandpipers.  I’m happy to report no birds were harmed during our visit (not that we observed luckily).  I know the Sharp-shinned Hawk has to eat as well, I just don’t like to see their prey killed while I’m watching.  Out of sight, out of mind.

The only thing marring the trip was someone nearby shooting off their guns.  They seemed to be near the campground, and if I were camping there I would be distressed.  I have heard of bullets traveling up to a mile and striking someone.  So – go to the shooting range please.

A good photo to show the size difference between the Greater Yellowlegs (back) and Lesser Yellowlegs (front)

As Jim and I were getting ready to leave the parking lot we saw a man walking into the water and then dive in. Brrrrrr. Nice day out but that water has to be cold.

Tim in the background and Jim in the foreground

Lani

Beach Fleabane (Senecio psuedo-arnica)

On the 13th, Jack and I took Moxie to the Anchor Point beach so she could run and we could bird.  There are still shorebirds coming through, although not as many as in previous visits.  We did get a good variety – 14 different shorebird species.  Not too shabby.  I think the surprise of the day was the two Whimbrels I spotted at the end of the visit.  We were almost back at the boat launch parking lot when I was thinking that most of the Whimbrels have probably already migrated through.  About two minutes later these two Whimbrels flew and landed about 50 yards from me.  Nice.  I also saw a Sanderling, which is rare for this time of year.  I generally see one or two during the outbound migration.  Hope to see some again.  While the highest number observed for any given shorebird species was 14 (Black Turnstone), I was surprised to encounter 13 Semi-palmated Plover.  The plover  move through later in the season than the Turnstones and Surfbirds.

Out at sea (Cook Inlet), there was an occasional Horned Puffin and several dozen Sooty Shearwater.   There were also large concentrations of Black-legged Kittiwakes.  There must have been some small schools of fish for them to feed on.  Fun to watch them dive bomb into the water after food.

The tidal difference that day between low and high tide was only 5.5 feet (high tide 12.6 and low tide 7.1).  So the tide went out very slowly.  Not a whole lot of rocks were exposed and the shorebirds like the intertidal rocks.   It was a beautiful day so we walked to the mouth of the river.  Not much in the way of shorebirds there, mostly gulls.

When we first arrived it was foggy. I was afraid if the fog didn’t lift we wouldn’t see many birds. Luckily it didn’t last long.  Those are boat trailers in the photo.

Sanderling

Whimbrel

Whimbrel.  These birds flew and I checked out their rump.  Definitely Whimbrels and not Bristle-thighed Curlews.

When I first saw this Song Sparrow I thought Wow!!! That is a weird looking blackbird. The sparrow seemed almost black. Our Song Sparrows are much darker than in the Lower 48.

My friend Jim and I ventured back out to the Anchor Point beach and river on 21 August.  We didn’t see as many shorebirds but did get a lot of seabirds.  Timing is everything, as Jack likes to say.  Sometimes on the water (Cook Inlet) you don’t see any birds.  This time we saw a lot, especially gulls and Horned Puffins.  Despite the outgoing tide, some of the puffins were clearly visible with binoculars.  But a scope is really needed to check out the birds on the inlet.  We had a total of 31 species.  Not bad for a couple of hours of birding.  The highlights for me were the two Lapland Longspur migrating south.  They are rare for this time of year.  We also had two Northern Harriers.  Always fun to watch the harriers slowly glide over the land and river in search of their next meal.

Our first sea jelly of the year. About the size of a dinner plate.

Lapland Longspur

Common Merganser

Savannah Sparrow. We had around 40 of these birds. Must be migrating south already.

A powered hang glider. He flushed up a lot of birds, especially the Savannah Sparrows.

You can just barely see Mt. Redoubt in the background. This was at low tide.

And yet another trip to the Anchor Point beach and river on 28 August with Jack, Jim, and Moxie.  We did see some shorebirds, but not many – Rock Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Greater Yellowlegs, oh and one peep.  The inlet waters were calm bird wise compared to last week when Jim and I were there birding.  Timing again.

The highlight of the trip was spotting a Humpback whale.  We even got to see it breach.  I think there were actually two whales.  Amazing creatures.

Greater Yellowlegs

Greater Yellowlegs

Rock Sandpipers

Lapland Longspur

Mount Iliamna

Wetlands behind the boat launch parking lot. The shorebirds use the ponds during spring migration, but rarely during outbound migration (at least when I have checked the ponds).

Home Grounds and Eveline State Recreation Site

So the other night I heard a crane calling.  The sound was plaintive, as though it had lost its mate, which very well could be as we do have a nesting pair of eagles nearby.   As I was looking for the crane I happened to look down on the ground near our garden.  There in the grass was a brown blob.  I got my bins out and looked.  I was surprised to see a Wilson’s Snipe just sitting in the grass.  The bird stayed there quite awhile,  allowing me to get a photograph.  I do love snipes.

I love clouds and saw these clouds one day over the house

Wilson’s Snipe in our yard

Looking out our living room window,  They see their reflection in the window and think it is another crane.  So they peck at the window hoping to scare the crane off.  Annoying.

In early August Jack and I took Moxie (the dog) for a walk in the park (Evenline SRS).  They do have a nice looped trail (a little over one mile).  We had a fair number of passerines in the park that day, including many hatch year Orange-crowned Warblers, plus several Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.  We flushed a Spruce Grouse (or Moxie or Chaz did – Chaz is the neighbor’s dog who usually accompanies us).   Not many birds were singing except for the Alder Flycatchers.  They seem to like the dead treetops.  Easy to find that way.  It was a nice walk and yes, the leaves they are a changing.

Jack and I walk this park nearly every day.  A few days after noting that only the Alder Flycatchers were singing, they were silent.  That might be because they’ve already headed south for the winter?

Still not near the top so summer is still with us for awhile (Fireweed) (photo taken in early August)

Jack on the trail with Moxie and Chaz

Boardwalk on the trail

View from the high point in the park

Chaz on the trail. Some people mistake him for a bear.  And there have been several bear sightings in the park.   We’ve not seen them in the park this year.

Moxie at the picnic area in the park

One of the trail signs

And the “Summer” trail map

Snowshoe trail marker

Monkshood (Aconitum delphinifolium) – Very poisonous

Native larkspur (Delphinium glaucum)also a poisonous plant

Park trail. The grasses and fireweed get quite high so have to talk loud, sing, or clap to be sure you don’t startle a bear or moose that may be nearby

Mushrooms are popping up

And some of the fireweed leaves and other plants are starting to turn colors. Fall is my favorite time of year.

Moxie drinking water on a boardwalk trail in the park.  She doesn’t like to get her feet wet if she can help it.

We’ve had a nice mix of species in our yard.  A Sandhill Crane pair with a colt visited.  They like to hang out in the garden.  We’ve also had two hatch year Steller’s Jays searching for food.  They like the cracked corn we leave out for the cranes.  And not to be out done, the Ring-necked Pheasant hen and her four chicks were at the mound where we put out the corn.  And that was all in one day.  We still have our mix of sparrows around.

Steller’s Jay at the feeder

Searching the area below the feeder for food

And just checking out the garden area

Sandhill Crane colt (chick)

Up close view. You can tell the colts from the adults in that the colts don’t have the red feathers on their heads.

Ring-necked Pheasant hen and one of her four chicks

This photo was taken at my sister’s house in Anchorage. A Red-breasted Nuthatch flew behind the little house and then walked out the front door.   Fun to watch.

Our Sandhill Crane pair like to loaf on our deck.  Won’t be long now before they head south for the winter.

Kenai Flats, Cannery Road, and Kasilof Beach and River Mouth

My friend Jim and I drove up to Kenai/Soldotna to check out the shorebirds at Kenai Flats, Cannery Road, and the Kasilof River mouth and beach.   The Burke’s had reported seeing up to 50 Wilson’s Snipe at Cannery Road.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen more than three snipes at once, let alone 50.  We wanted to check it out.

Kenai Flat

The grasses are tall so hard to see into some of the ponds.  We did get a really nice view of a Peregrine Falcon on a snag.  What a beautiful adult bird.  I wish it had been closer so I could have gotten a photo of the bird.  We did get great views with our binoculars and spotting scopes.

There are also a lot of stumps out in the flats.  One looked like it might have a bird on it.  Sure enough we saw a Short-eared Owl perched on top of one of the stumps.  Again too far away for a photo.

With respect to shorebirds, we were ‘limited’ to several Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.  But that was fine.  Always nice to see these birds.  There were two Trumpeter Swans in a pond, and two Sandhill Cranes nearby.  The Arctic Terns have left for points south so only gulls still hanging out along the river.  And I mean a lot of gulls, (think thousands), many of them hatch year birds.

Slough on the flats

View of river from the Tarbox viewing platform

Cannery Road

We left the Kenai Flats and headed to Cannery Road.  The small ponds here were mostly dry, but we did find a small number of Lesser Yellowlegs (seven) and one Greater Yellowlegs feeding in the pond.  Jack and I had been here about a week earlier and we had about twenty dowitchers and one Pectoral Sandpiper, in addition to the yellowlegs.   As we were checking out the ponds, a Northern Harrier flew over the ponds scattering the birds, revealing the few ducks around.  The yellowlegs seemed undeterred.   Then we noticed several large flocks of shorebirds.  These birds turned out to be Wilson’s Snipe and I estimate we saw at least 60 of them.  Four landed real close to us, but unfortunately a vehicle drove by flushing the birds.  We only got quick views.

Before we left the Northern Harrier was joined by another harrier and they proceeded to chase each other.  There also were two Common Ravens who didn’t care for the harriers,  we think the harriers were trying to take the prey the Ravens had captured.

The north side of Cannery Road

Northern Harrier

Flying over the ponds

Flushing the waterfowl

Love the grasses and clouds

Kasilof Beach and River Mouth

We hustled over to the Kasilof Beach to check the incoming tide for shorebirds.  We were told it is better to get here a half a hour early, rather than a minute late.  Truer words were never spoken when it comes to this beach and shorebirds.

The tide was still somewhat out but we could see shorebirds feeding in the mud flats.  We just had to wait for them to be pushed closer to the shoreline.   And looking out we could see a lot of shorebirds – yellowlegs and dowitchers, with a few smaller peeps mixed in.  In all, we estimate there were around 200 Greater Yellowlegs and about 75 Lesser Yellowlegs.  The estimated 50 dowitchers we couldn’t identify to species as they were too far out and then flew overhead in silence.

We did see several Surfbirds and Black Turnstones in the mix, plus Semi-palmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Semi-palmated Plovers, and other peeps (these birds flew silently overhead).   Nearby there were  several Semi-palmated Plovers (three) on the beach loafing.   Jim was hoping for a Sanderling, but if there was one in the bunch, we didn’t see it.

As the tide crept closer to shore, the birds would generally fly off in large flocks (25-50 birds) at a time – almost in waves.  When the tide was real close to shore, most of the birds had already flown off.

There were also a large number of Northern Pintails along the surfline.  And out further we did get glimpses of Red-throated Loons – always nice to see.   At the tip of the beach on the south side of the river, we had a large flock of around 17 Bonparte’s Gulls.  There were also hundreds of Herring Gulls and at least one Mew Gull.  One first cycle gull kept feeding close to shore.  I wondered if maybe it was injured.  It hung out alone.

Overall we were happy with the birding, but did note that it would be better to be at the Kasilof beach during the am tide, when the sun is at our backs and we would have better lighting.  However, the morning tides this week were too early – the drive is at least  two hour from Homer.  Maybe next year.

Kasilof Beach – as you can see the tide is out some distance

Lots of fisherman coming home

There are three Semi-palmated Plovers in this photo

Two Semi-palmated Plover

They hide well in the gravel

Eagle Lake

We ventured back out to Eagle Lake on the 14th of August to see if the adult Pacific Loons were still there.  They were.  Definitely no chick.  They are certainly beautiful birds.  The Mew Gulls, ever present in May, June, and July, were gone.  They had raised their young and found no reason to stick around.  The Merlins were gone also.  I don’t know if they were just gone in search of food and would return at night or if they too had left for good.

The passerines were pretty quiet, although I was able to pish two Orange-crowned Warblers, two Golden-crowned Sparrows, and a Fox Sparrow out of hiding.  We also had a Ring-necked Duck with nine ducklings.  I was surprised they had survived the Merlin and Bald Eagles in the area.

We saw two Sandhill Cranes near the far end of the lake.  And five Greater Yellowlegs flew in and landed in the tall (tall for them) grasses, sedges, and rushes.  Also at the far end of the lake was some white material in a tree and on the ground.  Jack and I decided to take a closer look and started walking in that direction.  About half way there I saw some movement, stopped to look, and spotted a large black object.  Yup, a black bear.  It was curious about the white material also.  At one point it must have smelled something in the woods because it took off at a dead run.  Luckily it wasn’t running towards us, but it was kicking up a lot of water.  We might not have been able to go over there anyway – too much water, even with our Xtra-tuff boots.  Turning around and going back the way we came seemed the smart thing to do, so we prudently retreated – Moxie never was the wiser…

This will probably be our last visit to the lake this year.  I conduct loon monitoring on the lake and that monitoring  is now complete.   Hopefully next year the pair will return and will raise a chick to fledge.

Pacific Loon pair

Black Bear

Besides Birding

When I went to vote early at City Hall for the Alaska primary, they had these markers on the floor to help people with physical distancing.    Alaska is “Xtra tuff” country (the boots).  Hope you all got out and voted in your primary and don’t forget to vote in the general election in November.

And speaking of voting, our local Friends of the Homer Library had an essay contest on voting.  Jack’s essay won second prize.  Way to go Jack.

Physical distancing markers

Great message

Remember, voting is both a right and a privilege.  Vote, Vote, Vote. 

It’s Always a “GREAT DAY TO BIRD”

July Birding 2020

So despite the Covid-19 pandemic I have been able to get out and bird the local area, as well as my own yard.  Early morning birding doesn’t appeal to Jack so I generally go with four friends:   Lani, Megan, Jim, and Tim.

Anchor Point/Anchor River

We’ve gone several times to the Anchor Point beach/Anchor River to bird.  This is the time of year to catch the migrating (outbound) shorebirds.   They breed in the Arctic and then head south to leave the young to figure out migration and survival.  Jack and I have taken Moxie a time or two as she loves the beach but happily doesn’t chase birds.  The best time to go for shorebirds is when the rocks along the beach are exposed following an outgoing tide – generally when the outgoing tide is around 9.0 feet or less.  The more exposed rocks, the more feeding areas for the birds.  From late June through July, the shorebirds seen are the following:

  • Black Turnstone
  • Surfbird
  • Ruddy Turnstone
  • Whimbrel
  • Sandpipers – Least, Western, or Semi-palmated
  • Spotted Sandpiper
  • Short-billed Dowitcher
  • Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Rock Sandpiper
  • Bristle-thighed Curlew

At least that is what I’ve seen this year.

The Black Turnstones are generally the birds seen in the highest numbers – several hundred.  Surfbirds aren’t far behind.  Whimbrel numbers vary from a few to up to 88 (the most I’ve seen on the beach at one time).  And this year I even spotted a Bristle-thighed Curlew.  These birds are distinguished from the Whimbrel by their unmarked buff colored rump.  This bird just happened to be about 30 yards from me when it flew straight out.  Couldn’t miss seeing the color of that bird’s rump.  Woohoo!!!  In Alaska I’ve only seen this bird once before (since it often misses our area as it migrates to breed in Western Alaska) during the 2009 Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival and it was on this beach.

At one of our birding outings our group did see 37 roosting Greater Yellowlegs on the sand/gravel bars in the Anchor River.  That was quite a sight.  None of us had ever seen that many yellowlegs at one time.  We were surprised to also find two Red-necked Phalaropes – birds usually attributed to the sea during migration – along the river as well.  One was later spotted in the rocks feeding along with the Surfbirds, Whimbrels, and Black Turnstones.

There are other non-shorebirds to see here as well, although out on the bay it has been pretty quiet.

On 28 July Jack and I ventured back to the beach and walked from the boat launch parking lot to the mouth of the river.  The mouth is several hundred yards further north than when we first started going to the beach over 10 years ago.  At the first fishing hole, we had at least 48 Greater (mostly) and Lesser Yellowlegs loafing or feeding along the river – mostly loafing.   Then at the mouth we had another 24 Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, again loafing, along with a small mix flock of Black Turnstone and Surfbirds.   These two species’ migration numbers are dwindling.  Early to mid-July is generally the peak outbound migration for these birds.

Arctic Tern

There are about six or seven Arctic Terns in this photo.  Jack and  I saw a total of 12 – adults and hatch year birds during one outing

Jack and Moxie at the Anchor River

This Bald Eagle (subadult) was about ten feet away

I don’t think I would want to be on the receiving end of those claws

This is the first time in 13 years there has been an abandoned vehicle on the Anchor Point beach. I wonder how long it will stay there.

Bristle-thighed Curlew

The bird walking away after it flew a short distance away from me, thus enabling me to get a good look at its buff colored, unmarked rump (now hidden).

Can you spot the bird in this photo?

Here it is … a Least Sandpiper

They launch boats from this beach and park the trailers on the beach.  Halibut fishing anyone?  Busy this year despite the pandemic.

Anchor Point beach – lots of seaweed

The sand and gravel bars in the Anchor River

Anchor River

To the beach, to the beach to the sandy beach

A Red-breasted Nuthatch youngster. Not as colorful – yet – as its parents

Searching for spiders and other bugs to eat

Mew Gull

First cycle Glaucous-winged Gull

Common Raven

Now how did she know I was going to take her photo. Artist doing plein air painting ( outdoor painting)

This is area with ponds is just behind the Boat Launch Parking Lot – a good place for shorebirds and waterfowl during spring migration.  Not so good during outbound migration for these same species.

The grasses have grown tall so not as easy to see birds here as in early spring

On July 20th we had a beautiful day

I like this photo of the Black and Ruddy Turnstones because of the print marks on the rock caused by the Black Turnstone

Rock Sandpiper – we usually see these birds here in the winter time

Size Comparison between the Rock Sandpiper (left) and Black Turnstone (right)

Here the Ruddy Turnstone (back) and Rock Sandpiper (front)

The waves surprised this Rock Sandpiper into flushing (getting out of the way of the water)

Lesser Yellowlegs – one day we saw 14 of these birds.  They are much rarer here than Greater Yellowlegs.

Red-breasted Merganser and five ducklings. There were actually two families on the river one day. The other family had four ducklings, smaller in size than these ones.

Mew Gull chick. Yeah, big chick. The parent tried bomb diving Moxie.

One of the Lesser Yellowlegs on our big day of yellowlegs (28 July)

Greater Yellowlegs feeding along the bank of the Anchor River

I “spotted” this Spotted Sandpiper along the banks of the Anchor River.  I later saw four at the mouth of the river. The bird is lacking its “spots”.

Dead sea otter on the beach. I could smell this critter some distance off. Luckily Moxie didn’t want anything to do with it.

Eagle Lake

Jack and I also do loon monitoring at Eagle Lake. We have been monitoring Pacific Loons here since around 2009.  This year we were hopeful that a chick would fledge.  We saw a young chick riding on the back of one of its parents one week, and then the next week when we went back the chick was swimming on its own near its parents.  We watched as several times the parents would dive for food leaving the chick unattended.  This was not good.  In fact, the following week when we went to check on the chick it was gone.  It might have been one of those times when the parents were underwater searching for food that the young chick was taken by a killed – most likely by a Bald Eagle.  There are Merlin (small raptor) and Mew Gulls in the area, but the chick looked too large for a Merlin or a Mew Gull to overtake.  Of course I guess all the Merlin or Mew Gull would have to do is kill the chick in the water and slowly drag it to shore.  I wonder what happened.  If only I was a fly on the water (wall) so to speak.   We will go back out in August one more time to see if the Pacific Loon pairs are still there so we can complete our monitoring tasks and complete the necessary report.

On the way to Eagle Lake one day we saw a Spruce Grouse hen with eight chicks

Spruce Grouse Hen

Spruce Grouse chick – they are getting big

Eagle Lake

Jack checking out the birds with the spotting scope

This Greater Yellowlegs did not want us there. Squawked the entire time.

The lake is slowly evaporating leaving small mud islands like the one this Greater Yellowlegs was using

Merlin (adult)

This hatch year Merlin was squawking up a storm. Not sure if the bird wanted us to feed it or leave.

Alpine Bog Swertia (Swertia perennis) – a member of the Gentian family

Lily pads and flower

Elephant’s Head

Up close view of the Elephant’s head (Pedicularis groenlandica) a type of  lousewort

White Bog-orchid (Plantanthera dilatata)

Lincoln’s Sparrow

Round-leaved Sundew (Drosera rotundifolia). There was a lot of sundew at the lake

Wild Gernanium (Geranium erianthum)

Home

There is never a dull bird moment at our house.  I think one day I counted about 15 hatch year Golden-crowned Sparrows.  We must have several breeding pairs nearby.

We also successfully hatched three Tree Swallows.  Well we didn’t personally, but the pair on our property were able to raise and fledge that many.  We have a nest box that has been used since we lived here.  Early in the year two pairs of Tree Swallows were fighting over the box.  The winners laid four eggs, of which three hatched.

Our nest box has three holes, rather than the typical one hole.  The purpose of three holes is to prevent the first born from poking out the hole and gobbling up all the food that the hard-working parents bring back for the young.  With three holes, three chicks can all hang out their hole waiting for food.  When they do start appearing at the holes, it is signal that flight feathers are developed and they are only a matter of days away from fledging.  And once they fledge, they and the parents disappear – time to head south we suspect.

This year the young birds first appeared at the holes on a Tuesday and by Friday the last youngster had fledged.  It seemed as though the last young bird had been holding out for a free meal as it was hanging out of the hole for most of the day without the parents returning to feed it (at least not that we observed).  I was getting a little worried when it finally gave up and flew away.  When that happened, I knew I wouldn’t be seeing any of the swallows again.  And I haven’t.  I hope they have a safe journey south.

At our house the young birds continue to chase each other around the yard, while their parents smartly eat to fatten up for migration.  Will miss all the sparrows when they head south in the fall.

For a diversion to enjoy, we have a family of Black-billed Magpies with five youngsters cavorting around.  They are now just coming into their long tails and blue/green sheen on their flight feathers.  Noisy birds.

Hatch year Tree Swallows in their nest box waiting for food

American Robin youngster

One of our Sandhill Crane pairs – the pair failed to produce any colts this year sadly

This one relaxing on the rock path to our garden

There are at least ten birds here feeding – mostly sparrow youngsters

Golden-crowned Sparrow (hatch year bird)

The swimming pools/bath tubs for our birds

Fox Sparrow bathing

We had this Porcupine visiting us one morning. Luckily Moxie was inside so she couldn’t investigate.

I flushed the porcupine as I opened the window to take a photo

Making its way to safety

What it uses – its quills – to defend itself.

One of the seven Black-billed Magpies – this is one of the youngsters

Black-billed Magpie

Our Poppies

I like that they don’t all bloom at once

And they are quite prolific

One morning I woke up to four hatch year Ring-necked Pheasants under our spruce tree feeding on sunflower seeds. I also saw the hen drinking from our water dish. I suspected there were pheasants around, but this is the first time I’ve seen them since early winter. Yay!!!

Morning has broken ….

It’s Always A Great Day to Bird

 

Alaska Birding during a Pandemic – June 2020

Yes, as I write this we are in the midst of a pandemic – Covid-19.  As we practice physical distancing and wear masks to protect others, we can still get outside (at least in Alaska) and go birding.  To date over 10.0 million people have been infected with the virus and over 500,000 people have died from it.  Let’s hope for an effective vaccine soon.

When we left for our trip we should have been completing our 3-month tour of Europe and Northern Africa.  We had planned a guided bird trip to Morocco, and then birding and sightseeing on our own in Portugal, Spain, Ireland, and Iceland.  Due to the pandemic we are instead going on a week plus long birding tour in Alaska instead.  Maybe in 2022 we will get to Europe.

Crossing the border between Alaska and Canada is restricted to essential travelers.  I’m not quite sure what that means, but anyone traveling the Alaska Highway must do so fully provisioned, except for gasoline.  Like Alaskans, many people in British Columbia and the Yukon that live along the Alaska Highway depend upon tourists.  These businesses are being hit quite hard with the restrictions on travel.  So most (99%) of the traffic we saw on the highway was Alaskans traveling – either for business or pleasure.

I always tell people the best time to come to Alaska is in June, out best month for sunshine.  We had a fair amount of days with precipitation on this trip surprisingly.  Not a typical Alaskan summer in many ways.

Day 1: Anchorage to Dry Creek State Park

Jack and I, along with two friends (Jim and Kerry), ventured out to eastern Alaska along the road system.  We left Anchorage after provisioning our vehicles (Kerry’s Born Free motorhome for him and Jim), and our van.  Oh and I can’t forget Moxie joined us.  She is a great dog in that she doesn’t chase animals.  If you throw her a stick or rock she will chase that, although don’t expect her to bring it back to you, but she doesn’t run after animals.

The weather was intermittent rain throughout the day.

Our primary birding destination for Day 1  was Kenny Lake, near Copper Center.  This lake is known for its Ruddy Ducks, a rarity in Alaska.  This year I spotted at least 8 Ruddy Ducks on the lake and it was breeding time so the males were displaying for the females, which was fun to watch.  This lake was crowded with waterfowl:  Ruddy Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Mallard, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, and Lesser Scaup.  I noticed later that someone also saw a Blue-winged Teal there.   The lake is also known for its Red-winged Blackbirds and we were able to see them, but from across the lake.  My favorite species of the visit, besides the Ruddy Ducks, was the Red-necked Phalarope.  You expect to see them along the Denali Highway, but I haven’t seen them here before.  And I missed them as they migrated through Homer this spring.  The biggest surprise at the lake was the Red Fox we spotted hunting for dinner.  He took off when he saw us.  Of course he headed toward the residences on the far side of the lake.  He was probably better off near us.

After Kenny Lake, we made our way to Dry Creek State Park for the night.  This park is located about ten miles north of Glennallen.  We’ve stayed at this campground before, but this night there were only three campers.  While the park has never been full when we’ve visited, there is usually a lot more campers.  Sign of the pandemic times.   There were a fair number of mosquitoes buzzing around so we spent most of our time in the van.

I was actually a little lazy and didn’t take but one photo the first day.  What was I thinking???

Kenny Lake

Day 2:  Dry Creek to Yarger Lake

As we were leaving the campground, Kerry spotted two shorebirds in the road puddles.  He thought they were Solitary Sandpipers based on their shape and behavior.  Turns out he was right.  Score.  I do love shorebirds and didn’t expect to see these birds on the trip.  Always a hit and miss proposition.

There was a fair amount of road construction on the Glenn Highway – Tok Cutoff road.  The road crews probably appreciate less traffic than in typical years.  We did make a lunch stop at a wetland slough/pond near the cutoff to Mentasta.  Jack and I always stop here on our way to and from the Lower 48 because you never know what you might find.   I was surprised to find two Canvasbacks and a Blue-winged Teal.  We had never seen these ducks here before.  In fact, during our 1.5 hours at the lake I had a total of 27 different species.  I was quite impressed.

Snow on the ground near Tok. Luckily the roads were clear and not icy.

Lots of fresh snow on this mountain. Yikes!!!

If this were fall we would call the new snow “termination dust” – marking the termination of summer.

We stopped in Tok to get gasoline (everyone) and ice (Jack and I), then headed to the Lakeview Campground at Yarger Lake in the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.  This campground is small (about 10 sites) and free (donations accepted), but located just off the highway.  Although you hear traffic, you don’t see the vehicles.  There was one other camper – in the best camping spot – at the campground when we arrived.  No other campers came subsequently.  The lake was full of waterfowl, although most were hanging out at the far end of the lake.  Good thing we had spotting scopes.  At one point, Jim found over 10 Pacific Loons hanging out together.  We once again had Canvasbacks and Blue-winged Teals.   Maybe coming here in the summer, rather than spring and fall (our typical times of year when we pass through this area) we would see these birds more regularly.

We stayed at this campground, in part, because we had heard that a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had been heard here.  When I went back later and read the eBird report of the sighting, the person had actually “heard” a single drum across the lake.  Wow, that birder has bionic ears.  He supposedly heard the bird from the photography blind.  When I was there, the Lesser Yellowlegs were screaming their presence and I couldn’t hear much.  No one else heard any drumming either.  And except for an Alder Flycatcher, Chipping Sparrow, Swainson’s Thrush, and a dozen American Robins or so, there weren’t a lot of songbirds present at the campground.  We saw a  pair (nesting, I suspect) of Sandhill Cranes on the far lakeshore.  These cranes are the Greater Sandhill Cranes, rather than the Lesser Sandhill Cranes that populate Homer in the summer.   There was also a pair of Trumpeter Swans on the lake.  We also heard later that a Sora had been heard and seen here.  We missed that bird too.  Soras rarely venture into Alaska.

Prickly Rose

Yarger Lake from our campsite (well a small view of the lake)

American Wigeon

Lesser Scaup pair

American Robin

At first we thought the robin was collecting food. It turns out that it had both nest material and food in its beak.

The beavers were busy chopping down trees in the campground. I saw at least two in the lake.

Bluebells

The evening was beautiful.  I love clouds and their different formations.  The clouds this night were amazing.  The only thing that marred our stay was a float plane that landed practically at our campsite, and took on a passenger with gasoline (who parked directly behind our vehicle – how rude), and proceeded to do about 7-8 touch and go maneuvers, before bringing the passenger back and then leaving.  I let the refuge manager know about my displeasure, but since he is a pilot himself (and may have been the person piloting the plane), I didn’t get much sympathy.  It is, of course, one of the largest lakes in the refuge, and plane use is okay – but really eight touch and go maneuvers at 9:00 p.m. at night!  Here are a few photos from our campsite.   Since I love cloud formations I always go overboard in taking photos of clouds.

View from our campsite

Don’t you just love the clouds?

Always something different

And the sun trying to shine through

Day 3 – Yarger Lake to West Fork BLM Campground (Taylor Highway)

We left Yarger Lake after birding the lake in the a.m.  Still no sapsucker.   We headed back towards Tok stopping at Midway Lake to bird.  This is another location where a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker had been seen or heard.  No luck again here.  I did hear a Common Yellowthroat.  While I’ve seen this bird in the lower 48 I haven’t seen it yet in Alaska.  I didn’t want to include it on eBird (bird reporting system) without first seeing the bird.  I think I spent 30 -40 minutes walking down a steep bank to the lake’s edge then looking for that bird.  The bird stayed well hidden.  I finally gave up, hoping to see it somewhere along the Taylor Highway.

Trumpeter Swan pair near shore

Lots of red on their feathers …

Love the reflections

Bonaparte’s Gull

Midway Lake

This is a good sized lake (Midway Lake)

We stopped in Tok again for fuel as we didn’t know what we would find fuel wise along the Taylor Highway.  Even during normal times, there are only two locations for fuel – the towns of Chicken and Eagle.

We headed up the Taylor Highway, stopping along the way to stretch, snack, and bird.  We did see several raptors along the way – mostly Harlan Hawks (a race of the Red-tailed Hawk).  At one location we heard and then spotted a Thrush, but for the life of us we couldn’t figure out which thrush it was: Grey-cheeked, Swainson’s, or Hermit.  To me it didn’t sound like any of them, but I went for Grey-cheeked.  After hearing more of these birds later, I stuck with my Grey-checked Thrush identification.  Maybe this was a “Chicken/Eagle” dialect?

View of the countryside we were driving through – Boreal Forest

A Harlan’s Hawk (Red-tailed Hawk).  Almost missed seeing this bird.  It blended in well with the tree.

Arctic Lupine

Alaska Poppy

We stopped for the night at the West Fork BLM campground.  Again very few people here.  I think there was at least one or two other campers.  This campground did have a campground host – Klaus.  Klaus is from Anchorage and he has been a campground host here for a number of years.  He said he even remembered me.  I sure didn’t remember him.  Nice guy, very friendly.

We stayed at this campground when we drove this road in August 2018.  Nice place.  When we were here last it was hunting season so the campground was almost full.

We didn’t see or hear a lot of birds at the campground.  In fact, I think we had more birds in 2018.  Yes people, bird population numbers are dropping.

As I was cooking dinner – outside – Klaus came by to let me know he had seen two brown bear cubs in the pull-through section of the campground.  Moxie and I had just walked through that loop about 20 minutes earlier.  He didn’t see the mama bear, but suspects she was nearby.  So I quickly made dinner.  I guess the guys weren’t too concerned because they had a fire and sat around telling stories.  I decided to let the guys enjoy their time without me around.  We never did see the bears – Woohoo!!!

Day 4 – West Fork to Eagle

We had heard that the Chicken Airport (gravel strip with ponds on either side – a pilot’s nightmare for bird strikes) was good for Common Yellowthroat and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.   After about 1.0 hour at the airport looking for birds, particularly the Common Yellowthroat, Kerry finally spotted the bird.  Unfortunately it was in a heavily treed area so it was hard to get us on the bird.  When the bird moved, we moved with it, and finally about 5-10 minutes later, Jim spotted the bird singing from a spruce tree.  Well that was a first (although I suspect my Midway Common Yellowthroat was singing from a spruce tree).  Score!!!  Finally I got to see the Common Yellowthroat, in Alaska no less.  This is one of my favorite warbler species and over the past 5-6 years we haven’t seen as many as in previous years.  So always nice to see.  Again I didn’t have my camera with me.

One of the ponds at the Chicken airport

Jim said he wanted to see a Say’s Phoebe and after the Common Yellowthroat, we walked to a nearby pond.  As if on demand, there hawking from a nearby bush was a Say’s Phoebe.  The bird even flew to within 10-15 feet of us.  So Jim found my bird, and I found his bird.  We were both happy birders.  At the Chicken Airport, I recorded 29 species and I missed several waterfowl that the others observed.  We never saw or heard the sapsucker, however.

We stopped for coffee and goodies in Chicken.  Chicken is one of the few surviving gold rush towns in Alaska.  And mining still occurs here.  Chicken’s year-round residence number 7 (much more in the summer).  The Taylor Highway is not maintained in the winter, so these people either have to provision for the long winters or ride snow machines into Tok to get supplied.  Not my cup of crazy.

On we drove to Eagle.  The Taylor Highway is paved (mostly) from the Alaska Highway to Chicken, from there  it is a 100 mile gravel road to Eagle.  And some of that road is along mountaintops (sheer drop offs on both sides).  Not a road for the faint-of-heart (me).  I was never so happy as when we finally made it into Eagle.  As usual, we did have some rain throughout the day.  Large thunderclouds.  Very dramatic.

Boreal forest …

… a sea of green

Looked for Northern Hawk Owls but no luck

Eagle was quiet.  The main hotel, which usually has bus tour groups, was empty, their cafe closed, and their store only open during limited hours.   The Yukon -Charlie National Park and Preserve offices were closed and locked up tight.

We drove to the Eagle BLM campground.  We were the only campers there until two other people came later that night.  There wasn’t even a campground host.  I really like this campground.  From our site, I could see warblers and thrushes singing from the tree tops.  Usually I have to crane my neck up to see them, but here I could look almost straight head and see the birds.    After dinner we did walk around town and visit (briefly) Fort Egbert.  We didn’t see much in the way of birds or people.   And speaking of dinner, we had to ask Kerry to microwave some items for us because the “o” ring on our stove connection broke in half.  Jack almost set himself on fire trying to fix the stove.

One of the airports in Chicken – but not the main one

Lots of birch and aspen too

The mighty Yukon River

I couldn’t get cell phone service so maybe they have land lines and here an old wooden telephone booth (not operable of course)

Only around 83 people live in Eagle. Not sure if that is year-round or not. Not sure they even have a “real” city hall.

One of the buildings at Ft. Egbert

The eves of this house are covered in bird nest boxes

Swainson’s Thrush.  I could easily see this bird from our campsite.

Swainson’s Thrush (same bird only it turned around)

Day 5 – Eagle Campground (Eagle) to Walker Fork Campground

Turns out the other two campers were very good, experienced birders from the Fairbanks area.  We ran into them as we were taking a walk near the campground in search of birds.  Luckily we spotted them as there was a flycatcher we weren’t familiar with, but they were – Hammond’s Flycatcher.  Another first for me in Alaska.  We stopped and talked with them for a few minutes.  They mentioned where several Yellow-bellied Flycatchers had been spotted along the Taylor Highway, and at the Eagle Airport.  We decided to check out the main Eagle Airport.  We arrived there within 5 minutes of a plane landing.  We didn’t see or hear a lot of birds, and definitely no Yellow-bellied Sapsucker or Flycatcher.

We went back into town so Kerry could get some gas, and I could get a Pepsi (my poison of choice when we travel), and Jack could get an “o” ring for the stove.  We then left town.  Later reading subsequent eBird reports we should have stayed in Eagle another night and birded the town.  Two days later a Bobolink had been spotted, and there were reports of a Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and Least Flycatcher – all birds we would have loved to have seen.  We could have tagged along with the really good birders (Michelle and JJ).  Oh well, an interesting scenic area a worth another visit.

When we got to Jack Wade Junction (turn off to Eagle) and we decided to take the road to the Alaska/Canada border.  This was Jim’s first trip to the area so he wanted to check out the ‘Top of the World’ highway.  This area is high alpine tundra and we had hoped to find some nesting birds.  No luck.  It was pretty quiet.  For some reason there is about ten miles of pave road to and from the border.  Was nice to be on a paved road again – with little or no damage to the road.  And no traffic.  Of course there isn’t any reason for someone to drive the road since the US and Canadian border crossing here is closed.

We drove to the Walker Fork Campground.  Again not much here in the way of birds.  Quiet.  There were a lot of Cliff Swallows nesting on the bridge over Walker Fork River.  Jack pondered where the birds nested before bridges.  There were a fair number of mosquitoes here too so we spent another night in the van, rather than enjoying being outside.  This is an okay campground – my least favorite of the three.  This campground did have a campground host but we never met them.  We were the only campers here.

Pond near the Eagle (BLM) Campground

Boreal forest – beautiful

The clouds are coming

Now that’s a cloud

Tall Jacob’s Ladder

Snowshoe Hare

Alder Flycatcher

Looks like a Smoke signal

More clouds

More countryside

Views forever

Made it to the high alpine tundra and the multitude of flowers

Woolly Lousewort

Parry’s Flower

Mountain Avens

Alpine Azalea

Unknown flower or flower parts

Alpine tundra

Some snow still present

And you can see Canada maybe?

Jack and Moxie

Moxie – she loved it here

Day 6 – Walker Fork to Gerstle River Bridge Wayside

We departed the campground and headed back to the Chicken Airport to bird.  This time it only took me about 20 minutes before I spotted the Common Yellowthroat.  I heard the bird, lifted my binocs, and there it was.  I had hoped to get a photo, but the bird had other ideas.  We didn’t stay here as long as the first visit and I observed or heard fewer birds (only 22 this time for me).  I did get to see the Say’s Phoebe again.  I am most familiar with this bird as a result of my birding activities in Arizona.  I can usually find one at my dad’s house near Sedona.

There was also a Bohemian Waxwing hawking for insect at the same pond as the Say’s Phoebe.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a waxwing “hawk” for insects.  Hawking it flying out from vegetation to grab an insect and return to the vegetation.  At this pond was also a Solitary Sandpiper, who when it flew across the pond flushed the Say’s Phoebe.

Another surprise was the number of Rusty Blackbirds here.  We suspect there are at least two pairs of the blackbirds at the airport.  They were flying back and forth between ponds.  Now those birds were easy to spot  and ID- all black, with a yellow eye.  They are also a species of concern due to a sharp decrease in their numbers.  So always happy to see them.

We stopped at Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost in Chicken.  This is one well stocked gift store with really nice items.  I could have spent some time (and money) looking at everything in the store.  Instead I settled for a mocha.  When we left the building there was a Tree Swallow  using a hydraulic pipe for a nest box.  This is a mining town.    They also offer RV camping if you don’t mind camping parking lot style.

From Chicken we drove to Mt. Fairplay (another alpine tundra area).  We parked at a parking area and walked up into the alpine tundra – hoping to find birds like American Golden-Plover, Horned Lark, Lapland Longspur.  I did see an American Robin and an unidentifiable sparrow (I suspect Savannah Sparrow), but that was all.  We did run into some campers, one who used to work at the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge.  She happened to know a friend of ours in Homer.  Small world.   They were camped in a nice, elevated spot (although I wonder how they got their trailer up there), but a thunderstorm was coming in and I don’t think I would want to be in the open like that during such a storm.

We made it back to Tok to gas up and head north on the Alaska Highway towards Delta Junction.  We really didn’t have a place in mind to stay for the night.  I checked the handy-dandy Alaska Highway Travelpost and opted for the Gerstle River Bridge Wayside.  They have camping spots and pit toilets, but not much else.  Pretty primitive and unmaintained, but very clean restrooms.  But hey, it was free.  I had bought some lunch meat and cheese, so we had that for dinner.  In the morning, we had dry cereal and yogurt.  Jack had to wait on his coffee until we got to Delta Junction.

It was a long ways down if you went off the road – beautiful countryside

Chicken and signpost. Check out some of the places listed on the signpost (including Australia)

Bohemian Waxwing

Pond adjacent to the Chicken airstrip. We never did see a plane land in our two visits to the airport. Safe place to bird.

Dwarf Fireweed

Alaska Poppies

Not sure what this plant is ???

But pretty – maybe a relative of the onion family?

Rusty Blackbird (Male)

Rusty Blackbird

Say’s Phoebe

Was surprised to still see ice on the Robertson River – Alaska Highway (between Tok and Delta Junction)

Day 7 Gerstle River Bridge Wayside to Tangle Lakes

This seemed to be our busiest birding day, although not necessarily that productive.  Our first birding location were the delta area agricultural fields in hope of spotting a Mountain Bluebird or an Upland Sandpiper.  Both birds eluded us.  In fact, we didn’t see much of anything except for around 30+ Common Ravens at one farm.  Jim and Kerry had good looks at a Great Horned Owl on a power pole, but by the time Jack and I backtracked to where Jim and Kerry were, the bird flushed just as I was getting Jack on the bird.  I didn’t see it through my binoculars, only a general shape with my eyes.  So I didn’t count that bird in the total number of different species observed on the trip.

At Delta Junction we stopped for the essentials; gas, coffee, and junk food, then headed south along the Richardson Highway.  We stopped at Bolio Lake,  just outside of Delta Junction, where we spotted a fair number of different waterfowl species.  Nothing unusual was spotted on the lake.  Jim did scope out two Spotted Sandpipers and I got a quick glimpse of them mating.  We had a total of 22 species here – not too bad.  We looked for Upland Sandpiper in the area, but again no luck.

We continued along the Richardson Highway heading south.  We made a stop at a rest area near Summit Lake.  There was still snow and slushy ice along the shore of the lake.  This is a beautiful area.   We did hear our first Arctic Warbler and got some great looks at several male Yellow Warblers singing their hearts out.  I spotted a Willow Ptarmigan climbing the slope of a bank, making its way into the willows.  Only reason we saw it because we heard it first.  The Willow Ptarmigan has a very distinctive call (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec-E3YdAR1U)

At another stop to just stretch, Jim thought some distance white specks on the mountains might be goats or sheep.  He got his scope out to find only snow.  However, when we looked at a mountain behind us we discovered at least 25 sheep.  They were quite far away even for the spotting scope, but it did add to our wildlife list for the trip.

At Paxson, a small community at the junction of the Denali and Richardson Highways, we turned right onto the Denali Highway.  Just over the bridge (about at about MP 0.3 on the Denali Highway) we pulled into a parking lot.  American Dippers have built nests on the bridge supports in previous years.  While I didn’t see a nest, we did see at least one American Dipper.  These hardy birds dip into the water, sometimes totally submerging themselves, to find food.  We also saw a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers.  These birds winter in Kachemak Bay so I always find it strange to seem them inland during the summer.  Same with White-winged and Surf Scoters.

We got back into our respective vehicles and headed up to our campground at Tangle Lakes.  I was surprised at how many other campers were there at this time of year.  We had seen a lot of campers headed north while we traveled south on the Richardson Highway (it was Sunday) so I thought there wouldn’t be too many people at the campground.  I was wrong.  Luckily we both found camping spots.

After dinner, I did go out and bird some.  The campground looks out over the Tangle River, which flows into Tangle Lake.  The campground sits higher than the river at one point, so I could look down onto the trees making it easier to see birds.  I also looked across the river and saw a mother moose and her two calves.  The calves were probably born within the last week.  They were so cute.  I wish I could download a video I took of the moose.  Funny how I have no trouble texting the video, but sending it via email or downloading it to my blog I can’t do because the file is too big.

I also had a mystery flycatcher that looked like a Least Flycatcher, but sounded more like Western Wood-Pewee.  It didn’t look like the wood-pewee, however.   I didn’t have my camera so I could take a photo to help in the identification.  Some days are dragons, in that I miss out on the identification of a particular bird.

Wild Iris or Blue Flag

Bison

Oil pipeline along the Richardson Highway

Wide sweeping valley

Gulkana River

Jim, Kerry, and Jack

Summit Lake

American Dipper

Still some snow in the higher elevations near Tangle Lakes

Gadwall (drake)

Moose calves – twins

Playing while momma moose was nearby feeding

Moose with her twin calves

Day 8  Tangle Lakes to MP 48.5 (pullout)

There is a spot near Tangle Lakes were Smith Longspurs used to nest.  Jack and I have tried this spot twice for Smith Longspurs, but to no avail.  While we didn’t find Smith Longspurs, we did see several Lapland Longspurs.  I wonder if these birds had migrated through Homer?  We do get Lapland Longspurs in Homer during spring and fall migration, and occasionally see them during the winter as well.

We hiked up a mountain (low willow bushes to alpine Tundra).  This is a beautiful area.  I  eventually spotted an American Golden-Plover.  What a beautiful bird.  I wasn’t able to get a decent photo because it was very windy out.  We all got good looks of the bird.  I then noticed movement and saw three birds fly down the hillside.  The three birds were a pair of Lapland Longspurs and a Horned Lark. I was so hoping to see a Horned Lark here.  Further along we got some much closer views of the Lark.

As we were walking along the top of the mountain (think hill more than a majestic Alaskan mountain), we passed a small grouping of rocks.  Jack inquired whether one of the rocks was actually a Rock Ptarmigan.  Sure enough.  Great find Jack.  The bird didn’t move and call so finding it was an amazing feat especially since we had just walked past the rocks.  Not even Moxie flushed the bird.

Coming down off the mountain we also heard and then spotted a pair of Willow Ptarmigan.  We didn’t see a lot of birds during our windy, several hour hike, but we did get some good birds (plover, lark, longspur, and ptarmigan).  We made it back to our van for lunch and a wind-break.  While the others were busy eating, I heard an Arctic Warbler so I went in search of the bird.  I was finally able to see it.  One of the reasons for coming to this area is to see the Arctic Warbler.  This old world warbler migrates  each spring to Alaska from Asia, where it winters.  This warbler is a ground nester.  I found that surprising.

Jack and Moxie in the van

The start of the trail to the alpine area where we wanted to bird. When we were here in 2018 there wasn’t any snow. Of course we were there two weeks later in the month. Moxie loved the snow.

Arctic Willow

Arctic Willow – pretty

Moss Campion

Not sure what this is ???

The first part of the trail led us through willow.  We did have a clear trail however.

Frigid Shooting Star

Willow Ptarmigan

American Tree Sparrow

Willow – no leaves yet

Alpine Tundra

Wilson’s Warbler (male)

Our view looking down on the lark and longspurs – Alaska Range in the background

At the top, it was interesting to see these ridges – possibly an old glacial moraine?

It wasn’t cold, although it looks like it here. Windy though.

Me and Moxie in search of the perfect photo

The Rock Ptarmigan we almost stepped on

We next headed west on the Denali Highway.  We stopped at the Tangle River Inn for coffee, but the lodge wasn’t open until 2:00 and we didn’t want to wait around for an hour.   Jim and I heard a Blackpoll Warbler (a very soft, high pitched song), and we searched and searched for that bird in this small copse of willows, but that darn bird remained elusive.   So we continued on, birding along the way, and stopping at the MacLaren River Lodge  (MP Paxson 43.3) for dinner.  We talked with the waitress and she had said they had less people than normal, but more people than expected.  Guess Alaskans are getting out to enjoy their state this year.  Just don’t spread the virus.

Cooper – one big dog, but sweet.  One of the three lodge dogs.

This was another dog at the lodge. Love his half white/half black face.  Old guy.

We stopped for the night at a pullout at MP 48.5 on the Denali Highway (48.5 miles from Paxson).  This was a very smart move.  Not only did we have numerous Arctic Warblers in the area, but I was able to get some great looks at a feeding Blackpoll Warbler – that bird that had eluded us earlier in the day.

In the parking lot where we camped, Jim found four bird eggs.  Two of the four eggs were still intact, while the other two eggs had been crushed.  We suspect the eggs belong to a Semi-palmated Plover.  Like Killdeer (their cousins), these plover lay their eggs on bare ground.  Not always a smart move.  However, we had arrived at the parking lot first and hadn’t seen or heard any plovers.  So don’t know if the eggs had been abandoned or what?   Jim moved the eggs over to the side of the parking lot.  In the morning all evidence of the eggs was gone.  Maybe a Red Fox came and ate them?

Yellow Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler …

… singing away

Mew Gull on a nest

Arctic Warbler

This one was all puffed out – Arctic Warbler

The eggs Jim found. He thought they were Semi-palmated Sandpiper eggs. If so, I feel sorry for the bird who laid the eggs. They were huge for such a small bird.

The two broken eggs

The eggs in Jim’s hand. So you can see how big they are.

Day 9:  MP 48.5 Denali Highway to Denali South Viewpoint (Parks Highway)

I birded the area this morning and once again saw and/or heard plenty of Arctic Warblers singing, along with another good view of a Blackpoll Warbler.

We left camp around 9:00 a.m. and headed west towards Cantwell.  There wasn’t a lot of birds en route.  Jim and I were talking later and we both agreed that the first part of the Denali Highway starting in Paxson is the best for birding.  A good portion of the road was quite potholed and rough so at 12-15mph we didn’t go very fast.  Also, the sides of the road were heavily treed so we could not get good looks at lakes near the road.  It is the lakes that hold most of the birds (waterfowl primarily).

One of many lakes along the Denali Highway

Lots of habitat for birds and other wildlife

And the sun – hooray!!!

That is one big nest to hold a Trumpeter Swan

Lesser Yellowlegs

The bird is trying to catch its balance

Lots of wetlands which means lots of mosquitoes too.

A Cliff Swallow in its nest under the Clearwater Creek bridge

When we did get near the end of the road there was one lake that wasn’t obscured by vegetation and I got a good look at a Red-necked Loon.  Unfortunately the bird was too far away for a decent photo – gotta love my binoculars.

At Cantwell we parted ways with Jim and Kerry.  They wanted to get back to Anchorage that night and Jack and I wanted to camp another night on the road.  We chose the Denali South Viewpoint (they do allow limited camping) and got great views of Mt. Denali (formerly known as Mt. McKinley).   So beautiful.

If you see Mt. Denali while in the park you automatically become a member of the 30% club.  This is the percentage of people who go to Denali National Park to see the mountain and actually see it.  We are members of that club.

Mt. Denali

What a great view from the south

Closer view of Mt. Denali

Day 10: Denali Highway to Denali South Viewpoint (Parks Highway) to Anchorage

Okay at 1:00 am this morning I had to get out to use the restroom.  The mosquitoes must have just hatched.  I didn’t close the door all the way and once I got back and into bed, I could hear a buzzing in my ear.  So I told Jack I was sorry, but I needed to turn on the light so I could kill the mosquito with our great little mosquito zapper.  Well about an hour later I think I got the last one.  I think they must have been hiding in the walls waiting to see what happened to their buddies.  I know I probably killed several dozen mosquitoes.  Won’t it be fun to count them when I clean out the van after we get home???

We did stop at the Palmer Hay Flats because a Western Kingbird – a bird known primarily in the Lower 48 – had been spotted here.  I got the location off of eBird and off we went.  We drove to the boat launch at the end of Rabbit Slough road and walked the road searching for the bird.  After about 50 minutes, we were about to call defeat when I tried calling in the bird one more time (only tried one other time with no luck) and the bird immediately flew into a tree next to us.  We got great views, and a decent photo, of the bird.  Woohoo!!!  I texted Jim that we had seen the bird and later in the day he called me saying he was out looking for the bird and seeking information.  I told him where to go and got a text message (with photo) shortly thereafter letting me know he had scored (saw the bird).

After seeing the kingbird we drove into Anchorage, did some shopping (while wearing our masks and physically distancing as best we could), and then spent the night in my sister’s driveway.  Good its a big driveway.

In the evening with our friend Lisa, we did check out Lake Hood for the summer resident Red-throated Loon.  We found the bird and while it was in close, lighting was terrible for photos.  But WOW, looking through the scope – what a beautiful, beautiful bird.  Magnifico….

Western Kingbird

Yellow-rumped Warbler

This bird had a deformity near its beak

Red-throated Loon

who didn’t seem to have a care in the world …

… just floating near the float planes

However, wwhen a float plane took off and flew overhead, the loon went into a stealth mode skimming the lake

Day 11: Anchorage to Homer

After some more shopping (Costco, Target, Petco, Cabela’s) we stopped for my mocha and then left for home.  Made our usual stop at Tern Lake and Fred Meyer’s in Soldotna for gas, then headed west and south on the Sterling Highway to Homer.  Oh and we stopped at Dairy Queen for a root beer milk shake.  Yum.  This is one busy Dairy Queen.

Ring-necked Duck (Drake) in ponds across from Tern Lake

All in all,  great birding companions, and I observed a total of 94 different bird species, and saw two Red Fox, several Snowshoe Hares, bison, numerous moose,  and 25 sheep.  Luckily no bears.  Maybe they knew we had bear spray.

Jack, Michelle and Moxie

It was a Great Day(s) to Bird

 

Oregon and Washington – the final push

15 March 2019

Today we left Cape Blanco State Park and headed north.  A stop in Florence, Oregon for lunch was a nice break.  We stopped at a restaurant along the river (not sure which restaurant or which river), and I had a nice cod fish sandwich and fries.  Jack had the “award winning” clam chowder.  I had a bite of his chowder.  It was good.  After lunch it was back into the van to continue our trip north. 

Our campground for the night is South Beach State Park in Newport, Oregon.  I like this campground’s locality, although not so much the campground.  Too big for me.  They probably have over 200 sites.  That means a lot of people.  With no school today, there are a lot of campers out.  Plus, the nice weather makes a difference too.  Who wouldn’t want to go to the beach when its sunny on the coast?

A short walk out to the beach and South Jetty netted us some new birds for the year, including the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.  The Chestnut-backed Chickadee can be found across Kachemak Bay, but I’ve never seen it on our side (Homer) of the bay.  Maybe it prefers the “rain” forest, rather than the boreal forest.  The other First of Year birds observed were: Varied Thrush, Pelagic Cormorant (when in flight you could really see the white on their flanks – I haven’t ever seen the white on our Pelagic Cormorants in Homer), Pigeon Guillemot, Harlequin Duck, and Red-necked Grebe.  I also saw a large flock (300+) of Surf Scoters.  We had that bird in California several days ago.   

This Song Sparrow wanted to join us for dinner last night at Cape Blanco State Park campground
Our campsite
We stopped at Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge to check out, what else, the birds
View of the marsh from a viewing platform
At South Beach State Park (Newport, Oregon) we had several Spotted Towhees at our campsite. How cool is that?
Varied Thrush at our campsite
We walked to the beach on this trail
Steller’s Jay
Another portion of the trail
Transitioning from the trees to the dunes
Dune trail
Where you eventually reach the Pacific Ocean
To the beach, to the beach, to the beautiful beach …
American Robins were everywhere – well except the beach
South Beach State Park is adjacent to the South Jetty where a Harlequin Duck hangs out on the rocks
And hundreds of Surf Scoters near the North Jetty

16 March 2019

After breakfast we broke camp and headed to the Mark Hatfield Marine Science Center for an estuary walk.  We saw a total of 31 species, including five First of Year (FOYs).  Not too shabby. The highlight for First of Year species were the 44 Brandts.  I like these geese – easy to identify.  We occasionally get them in Homer during spring migration.  We spent about two hours here.  And I got to see one of my favorite species – the Bushtit.  And I got lucky with a decent photo too.  No easy feat for this erratic bird.

Bushtit
Yaquina Bay – beach near trail
Belted Kingfisher (female)
Brandt
Boardwalk portion of the trail …
… leading you to a quite portion of the bay
Bufflehead (male)
Northern Flicker
Our Homer Tree Swallows don’t arrive until mid to late May
Not sure what bird uses this nest box
Hooded Merganser (male)
We even saw this dead chicken on the beach. Maybe an eagle got it and then dropped it in the bay where it eventually washed to shore???

After our estuary walk, we continued on driving north and making a stop at the Nestucca National Wildlife Refuge. This refuge is known for having many of the subspecies of Canada and Cackling Geese during migration.  We saw the Aleutian Cackling Goose and the Lesser and Dusky Canada Geese.  And there were a lot of geese to check out.

Nestucca Bay National Wildife Refuge sign
Great interpretive panel on the various Canada and Cackling Goose subspecies

Next stop was Clay Meyers State Natural Area (SNA) just north of Pacific City.  This area has a nice trail bordering the estuary and lagoon, so off we went.  Near the end of the trail, two women asked if we had seen the Bald Eagles.  We told them yes, trying (but I think failing) to sound excited.  Hard to get excited about Bald Eagles when you have so many of them in Homer – and I’m still mad at the eagle that killed ‘our’ nesting crane and destroyed the eggs. 

Trail at Clay Meyers State Natural Area
The tide was out
The vegetation is quite dense

We intended to camp at Cape Lookout State Park tonight.  This is the first state park I remember spending any time at when we first moved to Oregon in 1990.  I remember our dog Tippy, who was 12 years old at the time, running on the beach as though she was a puppy rather than a senior dog.  Warmed the heart to see her so happy. 

We circled the campground loops that were open for camping but didn’t find anything we liked for $34.00 a night.  Seemed a little steep to us.  Maybe the fee is high due to the campground’s proximity to Portland?  We turned around and went back to Clay Meyers SNA. This SNA is located on Whalen Island and adjacent to the state park natural area is a county campground.  For the fee of $27.00 per night you get a picnic table, fire ring, and a place to park – on the grass.  There are bathrooms – of sorts.  I don’t know if they were flush or vault, but most likely vault.  Jack learned the campground fee was $16.00 per night, but they also charge an $11.00 administrative fee.  Yikes!!!  For what purpose?  I could understand – maybe – if we had booked the campground site online, but we didn’t.  Neither one of us wanted to pay that for those wonderful amenities – not – so we went to the nearby Sand Lake Recreation Area, administered by the U.S. Forest Service.  This recreation area is the ATV capital of the north coast.  I think we were the only people camping here who DIDN’T have an ATV.  It’s a little noisy because they drive their ATVs and motorcycles through the campground to access the sand dunes.  But hey, for $12.50 per night (that’s half price for us seniors – yes, I now qualify for the senior pass), I think I can stand a little noise.   We had a nice site.  Jack said there was a sign saying “no driving after midnight”.  Midnight, really???

17 March 2019

I was surprised at how quiet it was last night when we went to bed at 9:00 p.m.  Or maybe I was just tired enough I didn’t hear the ATVs (which are quite loud; even though there is a decibel level restriction) as they were driven through the campground.  A restful night.  Woohoo!!!

We drove to Cape Mears State Park and adjacent National Wildlife Refuge to check out the off-shore cormorants.  This is a good area to see all three cormorants:  Double-crested, Brandt’s, and Pelagic.  We got two of the three, missing the Double-crested.  There was also a large raft of Common Murres on the ocean.  I estimate around 500 or so.  The Murres nest here during the summer.  I was hoping to see a Black Oystercatcher, but no luck.  With the full moon, the tides are quite high and so the shoreline rocks where the Oystercatcher normally feeds are covered with crashing ocean waves. 

Love this sign
Near the parking lot is an overlook area. During the summer months you might glimpse at Peregrine Falcon hunting. They nest on the rock ledges.
View from the overlook
Cape Mears Lighthouse
Great views
Jack on the Cape Mears trail – he is actually walking uphill

From Cape Mears we went to Bayocean Spit.  We got there right at high tide. Not as many ducks as I thought there might be, although still plenty.  I did see two Sanderlings (shorebirds) on the beach, and that was nice.  We walked both the bayside and the ocean side of the spit.  We’ve been blessed with great weather on the coast this week.  We’ve had beautiful sunshine, warm temperatures (low 60s), and little wind.  Of course such temperatures do bring out crowds of people to enjoy the beach as well.  But then, they are at least getting outside instead of being couch potatoes. 

Tillamook Bay
Lots of waterfowl, like these Northern Pintails
And Red-breasted Mergansers
From the parking lot you can take a trail to the beach or walk an old road along the bay
From the old road there are several trails that lead to the beach. We took this one – walking through a dense forest
Of course the birds like the trees, including this Chestnut-backed Chickadee
This woman passed us twice. That isn’t a baby in the stroller, but a dog. And it’s a stroller made specifically for dogs.
Bayocean is a spit, with the bay on one side and the ocean on the other (hence the name)
We walked both sides – the bay and the ocean

We stopped off at famous Tillamook Creamery. The main (humongous) parking lot was full ,with people circling looking for open spots. Lots of people buying ice cream and/or cheese.  For us it was ice cream: Jack got the Oregon Black Cherry ice cream, while I got Coffee Almond Fudge (Yum!!!).  Unfortunately, Jack asked me to hold his ice cream cone while he backed out of our parking spot and while trying to buckle my seat belt, the cone flew out of my hand.  Luckily he had eaten a majority of the ice cream already.  I gave him some of mine – good way to diet. 

Ice cream or cheese anyone?
They have a new building since we were here last

Our campground for tonight is Newhalem Bay State Park.  I think we’ve stayed here on a previous visit, but Jack’s isn’t too sure.  Maybe we just thought about staying here. Despite it being a Sunday, there seemed to be a lot of campers.  And spring break for Portland students doesn’t start for another week. 

18 March 2019

Onward up the coast of Oregon we went.  We don’t have much further to go before we run out of coastline.  Our destination today is Fort Stevens State Park.  We got there around 11:00 a.m. and found a campsite (E-163).  Jack learned that this campground has 550 campsites.  Yikes!!!  Luckily they aren’t full this time of year.  It would be like a small city otherwise.  Not my cup of tea. 

Our campsite

We stopped at Cannon Beach en route to Fort Stevens State Park.  I wanted to check Haystack Rock for Tufted Puffins.  Supposedly they arrive in April to begin nesting. I had hoped that at least several had arrived early.  No luck.  We did see some Harlequin Ducks on the rock, along with Scoters (Surf and Black) in the ocean nearby. 

The beach at Cannon Beach
Famous “Haystack” Rock
The things you find on the beach. There was a lot of plastic on the beach. Too much. Luckily SOLVE (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism) has their spring beach cleanup next weekend.
Bird foot print

We are having another stellar, “million-dollar” day – blue, sunny skies.  However, those non-existent winds are now in full force (15+ mph) and coming from the east.  Not easy birding when the water is choppy.  At Fort Stevens we like to check out the jetty and the Columbia River but very few birds were present.  In fact, we had more birds in our campground.  The loop behind us had seven, yes seven, Varied Thrush.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many Varied Thrush at one time.  Sweet.  Also in the campground were Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon sub-species, of course), American Robin, Steller’s Jay, and Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

Walked this boardwalk in search of birds
Not much happening bird wise – a few Chestnut-backed Chickadees
And no shorebirds – yet. We did see several guys trying to kite board in the winds. They weren’t having much luck staying up on their boards for long.
Lots of waves
Yes smokers – Feed the Can. Cigarette butts are a nasty waste product and pollutant

We visited Battery Russell and Battery Clark (this was an active fort from 1904-1944).  A Japanese submarine actually attacked the continental U.S. at this location in 1942. 

We spent a lazy afternoon reading and just hanging out at the campground.  We did do a short hike from the campground shortly before dinner.

This park has a “LOT” of wetlands – yippy!!!
I miss Skunk Cabbage
Lots of Varied Thrush in the campground loop behind ours. That loop was closed to camping.
Chestnut-backed Chickadees – easily found on the coast

Tomorrow we head to Portland where we will house/dog sit for our friend Jane.  She’s going to New York City to sing with her choir.  I’m a little jealous.  I would love to go back to New York City for a visit.  However, this time I would NOT stay at the Trump Hotel across from Central Park.  What was I thinking in 1989?  Actually I was thinking what a great deal it was – an Alaska Airlines special.

19 March 2019

Off to Portland to spend about 10 days enjoying the city, friends, and even doing a little birding. 

And speaking of birding, we did a quick stop at Trojan Park.  This area used to be a nuclear electrical generation facility.  The towers have been removed and the area is now a park with trails and ponds.  This is a great place to see a Red-breasted Sapsucker, which we did – two, in fact.  In a pond a short distance away, we saw about ten Hooded Mergansers and a pair of Wood Ducks.  Always nice to see both of these birds.  The Wood Ducks are rare to Alaska, and even in the lower 48 they are hard to find (except Seney National Wildlife Refuge in the Upper Peninsula – Michigan). And Hooded Mergansers, while occasionally seen during the winter in Seward, Alaska, aren’t generally found in Alaska either.

Red-breasted Sapsucker pecking on a tree
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (0h Ruby, don’t flash your crown around)
There are some wooded areas in the park for songbirds …
… like this Black-capped Chickadee dee dee
My beautiful “Bushtit”
the Cackling Goose …
… and yes even domestic hybrids at the park
Okay this goose didn’t want to get off the road
Main pond in the park
The wrens and Song Sparrows like this corner of the park
The trail around the park

20 March 2019

Today was spent eating at my favorite breakfast place – Milo’s City Cafe on Broadway Street in Northeast Portland.  This restaurant makes its own jam and so I go mostly for that.  I generally use the entire container (see photo) on my two slices of sourdough toast.  I love sourdough toast.  The eggs and other stuff are secondary.  I come for the wonderful, chunky jam.

Also on our to-do list is an oil change for the van, groceries, working on my blog, and laundry.  We stopped at the Fred Meyer’s store off of Broadway (in Northeast Portland).  I think this store is at least twice the size of any Fred Meyer store we have in Anchorage Alaska.  How I miss this particular Portland store.  I wonder what people from other countries think when they come to a store in America like Fred Meyers – so many choices?  I’ve yet to go into a store in another country that offers the choices we have here in America.  Count your blessings everyone.

Yes the container was full of delicious rhubarb jam when we arrived

21 March 2019

Today our friend Kristi joined us as we ventured to Tidal Wave, the Multnomah County Public Library’s used book store.  Kristi bought two videos and Jack and I ended up with two-bags of books.   And most of these books are hard-backed – now to find space in our van.  They library generally gets quite a few new releases (well maybe not as many as they used to now with eBooks) and once the high demand for these titles wanes, they sell off most of the books.  Portlanders and others get to buy them at a reasonable rate (75 cent – softbacked or $1.50 hardbacked) – if you can wait for the books to be sold by the library. 

Afterwards we ventured into downtown Northwest Portland.  I wanted to shop at Blicks, an art store.  I love art stores and this one was engaging, with row after row of art supplies that tempted me.  I left with a lighter wallet, but some products I’ve wanted to add to my art supplies – primarily watercolor paper, which isn’t cheap in Homer.  Actually it isn’t cheap anywhere, but much more expensive in Homer.  I know, buy local, but sometimes I just can’t do it.  Not when I can get the product for almost half the cost I would pay for it in Homer. Sorry Lynda (owner of Homer Art and Frame). 

We then went to lunch at Azteca Willies on 15th and Broadway.  We love this place.  Unfortunately, it isn’t as cheap as it used to be, but we always come here when we are in town.  And for dinner we went to my all-time favorite Indian restaurant – India Oven on Belmont in Southeast Portland.  Last time we were here – over two years ago – the owner asked why he hadn’t seen us in awhile.  We told him we had moved to Alaska.  We then talked for several minutes about his almost opening a restaurant in Alaska 25 years ago.  This time he wasn’t there but his wife was.  She’s the cook.  They make each meal from scratch so you have to be willing to sit and wait, especially if there is anyone else with a prior order.  And they do a good take-out business.  At the end of our meal, their daughter said her mother wanted to thank us for coming in and that she said we were good customers, but that she hadn’t seen us in awhile.  I told her that was because we now lived in Alaska.  Funny that both the husband and wife would remember us – we left Portland 12 years ago.  They never did talk to us when we came while we lived there, but ten and twelve years later they still remember our patronage of their restaurant.  If you are ever in Portland (Oregon), I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant.   You won’t be disappointed.

23 March 2019

Today we did more errands.  I wanted to check on a bedroom dresser at IKEA so off we went.  Talk about a zoo – well it was a Sunday.  The parking lot was almost full (we got there around 11:00 a.m. – they open at 10:00 a.m.).  We braved the crowds, but it is easy to get lost in that store with its winding layout and impulse buying merchandise and furniture with unique styles.  I finally found the bedroom section of the maize and I’m glad we checked out the dressers – while I like the style of the first one, the one I want (same style) is larger – has more drawers.  Now when we come back in late May I will come in and purchase the dresser.  We will then have to bring it back with us in the camper van.  Won’t that be fun???

Afterwards we drove to Campers World to check on a Dometic portable refrigerator.  We want a refrigerator in the van that doesn’t take ice.  We’ve spent a lot of money on ice this trip.  I’m glad we went to check out the product.  While I like the brand, the one I was looking at is much too small for our needs.  The specifications state it can hold 42 cans, but I’m not sure how.  Our Yeti is supposed to hold about that many and it is twice as large inside.  Maybe they consider ice in the cooler when determining how many cans fit inside.  Who knows?  I just know this sized portable refrigerator won’t work for us.

We also went for a short hike (~2.40 miles) at the Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Camas, Washington.  We had a total of 29 different species there including …. Drum roll …. an American Bittern.  We really love Bitterns so we were very happy to see this bird – our first Bittern in the U.S. for the year.  We also had a small ermine.  It was mostly a soft yellow color except for the tip of its tail, which was brown/black.  Unfortunately, I only had my iPhone camera with me.  This camera does not take good long distance shots.  Oh well, live and learn.  The ermine actually got quite close to us. 

Trail
Nice touch
Lots of Reed Canary Grass – but things are starting to green up
Plenty of large open fields
Interspersed with wetlands or waterbodies
Some woodlands, but not much
Canada Geese in a wetland
This slough was favored by certain waterfowl, like mallards
Can you find the garter snake. There were actually two here, sunning themselves on the log
Large lake/pond
Okay that little white stick in the grass near the water is the ermine
So home is only about 2500 miles away, according to the sign
I wonder if that is “as the crow flies”

24 March 2019

We got up early today to beat the rush at Milo’s City Café – it is Sunday.  Today’s jam was strawberry, and while it was good I think they used a lot more pectin than normal.  From there we drove to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge located about 20 miles north of Portland – in Washington State.  Luckily we came today instead of later in the week because the bridge that crosses a slough to get to the refuge is being either replaced or repaired (Jack thinks replaced) so they are closing the refuge Monday – Friday.  Since we are headed north to Seattle this coming week (Friday), we would have missed going to one of our favorite refuges.

At Ridgefield we stopped to check out the sightings board.  A Virginia Rail was listed, a bird we haven’t seen in awhile.  Off we went.  The refuge has a 5+ mile auto route on their River S Unit.  We took about 3.5 hours to drive the entire route.  The refuge has placed number signposts along the drive, that way if someone sees a bird of interest they can say they saw it near a particular number.  The rail was being seen at stop #3.  We did stop there but didn’t see the rail.  We did see a Wilson’s Snipe however – another bird we really like.  We see these birds a lot in Homer because they breed near our home.  I also heard the winnowing sound snipes make when they perform their aerial displays.  Guess down here it is already courtship and nesting time.  We won’t see the snipe around our house for another month or so.

We also saw several Sandhill Cranes.  These cranes do not migrate to Alaska.  The cranes that breed in the Homer area generally fly from the central valley of California, with stop overs in Eastern Washington and Oregon on their way north and south each year. 

In total we had 42 different species today.  Not too bad.  And it was busy at the refuge too.  I suspect at least 50 cars or more drove around the route as we were driving.   We are much slower than most people .  At the end of the auto route, we went back to where the Virginia Rail had been seen and waited alongside the road.  Sure enough, about twenty minutes later – as we were getting ready to leave – I spotted movement along the reeds and out popped a Virginal Rail.  Score!   

Refuge sign
Lots of ponds and sloughs on the refuge
Ring-necked Duck (female)
Ring-necked Duck (male)
Red-tailed Hawk. We took a class once on raptors and the instructor said if you see a hawk in Oregon then 99% of the time it will be a Red-tailed Hawk.
Ditch near one of the ponds
Gadwall
Pied-billed Grebe
Some of the sloughs/ditches are tree-lined
Lots of Marsh Wrens
Marsh Wren
This Marsh Wren was very cooperative
There are several places to get out and walk (depending upon the time of year), including one that leads to a bird blind overlooking one of the lakes/ponds. This latter trail is open year-round and is surrounded by trees.
American Kestrel
Red-winged Blackbird (male)
Red-winged Blackbird (female)
Cackling Goose – notice the short neck
Lots of “Nutria” – an invasive species. Nasty little buggers.
Wilson’s Snipe – heard several winnowing
Northern Harrier

25 March 2019

Lazy day – didn’t do much other than walk Fiona – Jane’s dog, visit with my friend Kristi, and work on my blog – Guyana, Part 2.  That part took up the biggest part of the day.  Word Press changed their format for blogging (inputting data and media) so now I have to learn and get used to the new format.  Some things are easy, others not so much.

A cool mural on a street in Northeast Portland

26 March 2019

I’m ready to be on the move again.  I get antsy if I sit in one place too long.  But, another lazy day – reading, blogging (well getting it ready to post), walking the dog.

27 March 2019

Despite the wind and rain, Jack, Jane, Fiona (the dog), and I went for a walk at Vancouver Lake Regional Park and Burnt Bridge Creek (Steward Glen Trail) – both in Washington.

While walking the dog, I checked out the birds.  Not a lot moving around either place, although we did get 20 species at Vancouver Lake Regional Park and 18 species at Burnt Bridge Creek.  The leaves are just starting to come out.  Spring has sprung here.  The flowering trees are beautiful – whites and pink abound.  The cherry trees are in full bloom – and all just within the last week in response to all the beautiful sunny weather we’ve had here. 

Trail at Vancouver Lake (Vancouver, Washington)
This slough near Vancouver Lake was good for some ducks, including Wood Ducks, as well as a Belted Kingfisher
Spotted this Brown Creeper on the way back to the parking lot
Burnt Bridge Creek Trail – paved
At the start of the Burnt Bridge Creek trail I saw this Anna’s Hummingbird (male)
The light shone just right – beautiful bird
There was some open water at the start of the trail – at least where we started
The hills are alive with English Ivy, an invasive species
Near our turnaround point I spotted this “Poetry Box”
It says “Take or Leave a Poem”. I didn’t check to see what was in the box, if anything.

After our walks – total about six miles – we headed to the Heathen Brewing Feral Public House in downtown Vancouver.  Jane said they had a coffee infused beer here that was delicious and she wanted Jack to check it out.  Unfortunately, they had run out of that particular brew.  They had other infused beers, including ones with lime, mango, chocolate milk to name a few.  Sounds awful to me, but then I don’t like beer. 

28 March 2019

Today we drove the Columbia Gorge, stopping at Multnomah Falls (the masses were out today) and then to Hood River to hike the Twin Tunnel trail.  We stopped at Doppi’s in Hood River for lunch before starting our hike, then drove the short distance to the Twin Tunnel parking lot – west end.  The trail is the old Historic Columbia River Highway – so quite wide.  After a mile on the trail I asked Jack how far we had to go before turning around.  He said to an overlook just beyond the MosierTwin Tunnels.  I asked him how far away that was.  He said not too far.  Well two miles later we came out of the tunnels and went to the overlook he mentioned.  Yeah right, not too far my #@&^. 

We did have an enjoyable hike.  The day was mostly sunny without much wind.  There were people out enjoying the trail by foot and by pedal.  I think there were actually more people riding their bikes than walking or running.  We did have a few runners. 

Multnomah Falls
Jack in front of Multnomah Falls
Near the trailhead
Oregon Dark-eyed Junco
Still some snow along the trail
Fantastic views of the Columbia River
Grass Widow
As I mentioned, the trail is the old Historic Highway
The hills are alive with the sound of music … well okay maybe just the traffic below
Approaching the twin tunnels from the west side
A little protection from rock slides before you enter the tunnel
Inside one of the tunnels
Jack at the entrance of the tunnels from the east side
The mighty Columbia River below
“The Columbia Gorge … A Work of Art to be Given the Devotion of a Lifetime” This is Jack’s quote. He worked tirelessly on this project.

Tomorrow we leave Portland.  Thank you Jane for your hospitality.  We enjoyed our stay at your house.  And Fiona is a doll.  What a great dog. 

29 March 2019

We headed north to visit with friends Cheryl and Dave on Bainbridge Island.  They have a nice little ‘cottage’ home with great views of the harbor and downtown Seattle.  We went to dinner at the house of Jack’s former boss (Alaska State Parks) and his wife.  They have a lovely house with lots of trees and vegetation, and thus great birds. 

30 March 2019

Today was spent with friends Cheryl and Dave (we are staying with them, although sleeping in our van – did I mention they have a nice “little” house).  We went to Fort Ward State Park for a nice, pleasant walk, then visited the Japanese Exclusion Park (National Park Service).  In response to the WWII mania of racism, around 280 American citizens of Japanese heritage were removed from the island and taken to an internment center in Idaho.  They were given less than a month to settle their estates, etc. and allowed only two bags to board the ship.  A sad moment in America’s history. 

We then went to downtown Bainbridge for a late lunch and to roam a few of the local stores.  In the evening, Dave, Cheryl, and I went to see the movie: Hotel Mumbai. This hotel was attacked by terrorist in November 2008. I remember when the siege of the hotel took place.  I really enjoyed the movie and at times was on the edge of my seat – lots of terrorist gunfire. 

Nearby beach
View from Fort Ward park
Lots of Double-crested Cormorants
They both seemed to be enjoying the day. I wonder how long it took this guy to get his dog comfortable being on a paddleboard?
Lots of hanging crane origami at the Japanese Exclusion Gardens
I thought the design of these bike racks was clever
Cute, isn’t it. And clever.
Harbor as seen from Japanese Exclusion Garden

31 March 2019

We went to breakfast with Dave and Cheryl, then headed to our friends Pat and Bob, who live in Enumclaw, Washington.  We are leaving our van with them and will fly to Alaska on April 2nd.  We will return in late May to collect the van, attend a wedding in Oregon, and then make the long slog up the Alaska Highway.  At least the Canadian campgrounds will be open then, and the road and weather hopefully better. 

When we got to Bob and Pat’s place we took a walk around their 26-acre property – they live in the pastoral area with a commanding view of Mount Rainer.  The weather was sunny – a nice pleasant afternoon. 

Beautiful flowers – magnolia
Yes, that is Mount Rainer in the background. More impressive in person from this viewpoint.

1 April 2019

Today we walked the neighborhood, went to lunch, and then it was time to pack for the trip north.  I scheduled a shuttle to come and get us tomorrow at 4:00 a.m. for our 8:00 a.m. flight to Alaska. 

I will miss all the great birds in the lower 48 that we don’t get to see in Alaska – Wood Duck, Bushtit, Spotted Towhee to name a few.  But we will soon be getting our migrants, including shorebirds.  I can’t wait.

Violet-Green Swallow
Believe it or not there is a Bushtit nest in those pine needles. It is long and cylindrical
The Bushtit is still working on the nest
A fence made out of vehicles? Or just the typical junkyard? Or both?
People do love their junk
I sure miss the Spotted Towhee. I guess Alaska is too cold for them. Me too.
Green River Gorge as seen from a bridge. There are two American Dippers down there.
View from the other side of the bridge
A nearby wetland

Remember ….

IT’S ALWAYS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

California … here we come

3 March 2019

We made it back to the states (Apache Junction – Phoenix, AZ) from Guyana; what a beautiful country and great birds.  Many of the birds I’ve seen before in our travels of South America, but always good to see them again.  And we had new ones as well, like the Harpy Eagle.  That was such a great bird to see – the “trip bird.”  And to see three Harpy Eagles. What a great birthday gift for both Jack and I.

Back on the road again; we left Apache Junction around 11:30 a.m., making a brief stop at Fry’s (think Kroger’s or Fred Meyers) to re-supply food and ice for the trip ahead.  We then slugged our way across the AZ/CA freeways to the Salton Sea State Recreation Area, and specifically to Salt Creek Campground where we are camped for the next two nights.  It was a Sunday so there was a lot of traffic on the road.  Seems like most of the cars that passed us on Interstate 10, while still in Arizona, were cars with California plates – not sure what they were finding in Arizona? 

We had read that the Salton Sea was in crisis mode – too much salt, not enough fresh water.  However, the water level didn’t seem too much different to us than what we’ve seen in previous years, but usually the beach is littered with dead fish (Tilapia) – none to be seen now.  We also didn’t see as many pelicans or cormorants as we normally do, but the pelicans may have already left for their breeding grounds.  I’m just not sure.  At least I hope that is why there were so few pelicans here.  We usually visit this area in January.  It is one of our favorite birding spots. 

As I mentioned we are staying at the primitive Salt Creek Campground.  There are six other campers here.  The site could probably accommodate another three campers comfortably.  When we got here two yahoos had tried to drive onto the beach and got stuck – serves them right.  The beach isn’t composed of sand, rather it is composed of shells or should I say skeletal remains of fish, specifically Tilapia.

We did walk the beach and did a little birding before enjoying a beautiful sunset.  There are hundreds of Eared Grebes, Ring-billed Gulls, and California Gulls on the beach and water.  Added to the mix were a few shorebirds as well – Marbled Godwit, Black-bellied Plover, Least Sandpiper, and Black-necked Stilt. 

Salt Creek Beach – Salton Sea State Recreation Area
Two guys who thought their SUV could traverse the beach even though vehicles are prohibited. I hope their tow fee was significant.
American Pipit

4 March 2019

We got an early start birding – 7:30 a.m. (well early for us when camping).  Today we birded areas around the Salton Sea, including the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge.  In all we saw a total of 69 different species.  Not too shabby for about 7.5 hours of birding.  The highlights were the Burrowing Owls along English Road (six of them) and the Snowy Plover on the sea shore at Sonny Bono NWR.  Oh, and two Greater Roadrunners.  One was resting on a kiosk and another was standing on a pile of dead limbs.  I got within photographing distance of the latter one when a truck came up behind us (this happen a lot) and we had to move, thus flushing the bird. 

I sent a photo of our campsite at the Salt Creek Beach Campground to a friend and her comment was on how bleak and stark the area looked.  Many places along the lake are stark.  The lakeshore is changing – one place we’ve camped in the past that had great views of the sea has changed.  Instead of seeing the sea we now see an invasive plant species – Salt Cedar.  This invasive plant is taking over everything.  Not good.  I hope the state does something to try and keep it in check.  Costly though. 

When we got back to our campground two additional spots were taken and everyone here last night had departed except for one camper.  There is a big RV behind us and they are using their generator.  This would drive my friend Bob crazy.  It is kind of annoying.  Bad enough we have to listen to the occasional (okay, frequent and very long) trains that pass nearby. 

Burrowing Owl
Pair of Burrowing Owls
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Non-native Species)
Snowy Egret
Great Blue Heron
Merlin
Immature Merlin
Greater Roadrunner on top of a refuge information kiosk
Surprisingly my only “habitat” shot
Maybe Alaska Maritime NWR could do something similar for Beluga Slough – maybe a contest for kids
Western Meadowlark
Say’s Phoebe – looks like someone left a note
Common Ground Dove
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Sweet Acacia
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
American Avocet – I love this bird
Fun to watch the avocet sweep its bill back and forth in search of food
Black-necked Stilt – my what long legs you have

5 March 2019

Today was a travel day.  We left the Salton Sea early and made it to Clovis, California, around 3:30 p.m. 

Visual Vandalism
And not necessarily good for birds

6 March 2019

We spent the day visiting with my sister Pam, her husband Dan, and daughter Angie.  Angie painted a really cool bird for Homer’s Shorebird Festival’s 6×6 canvas Art Auction.  Check out the auction and bid at https://www.biddingowl.com/Auction/index.cfm?auctionID=3710.  Bidding begins April 5, 2019.   

Here is her painting of a Black-billed Magpie

Black-billed Magpie by Angie N.

7 March 2019

Today was a lazy day at my sister’s house.  We did laundry; I worked on my blog (Guyana, Part 1); and watched several home improvement TV shows. Jack is glad we don’t have TV reception at our home in Homer.

8 March 2019

The goal today was to get to Boulder Creek, California, to visit Jack’s sister, Mary.  We made a stop at the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge near Los Banos, California.  We drove the waterfowl route – about 11 miles, and observed 47 different species.  We like ‘discoveries’ – a female “Tailed Toad”-  a very distinctive looking toad (see photo). 

Welcome to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge – Sand Luis Unit
There are a lot of wetland ponds on the refuge
Ruddy Duck
Red-tailed Hawk
Savannah Sparrow
American Pipit
Tailed Toad, although I couldn’t see the tail. A life toad.
We hiked a trail out to a viewing platform
Viewing Platform
Sheep are allowed on the refuge as a management function
Cinnamon Teal
Blackbird? Is it Tri-colored or Red-Winged. Hard to tell.

To get to Boulder Creek, which is a very hilly, treed area (think Redwoods), we drove the Bear Creek Road.  I think this road rivals the Dragontail Road in North Carolina for the number of turns in 11 miles.  I didn’t count the turns, but it seemed as though we were always turning left or right with precipitous drop-offs and no road shoulder.  And since we don’t travel fast in our van on turns (things go flying about) the drivers behind us were none to happy with our slow-down.  Going up we didn’t have any turnouts so the drivers had to wait.  Going down we had numerous turnouts and used them regularly.  Took us awhile to get to his sister’s house.  Personally, I would not want to live in this area.  It’s beautiful, but the road in and out is not my cup of tea (I’d need something stronger and we aren’t talking about coffee). Plus all the tall trees are kind of claustrophobic.

9 March 2019

We woke to rain.  This area normally gets around 48 inches of rain a year, and they’ve had 60 inches of rain already and it is only March.  Wet, wet, wet. 

At noon we were eating lunch when I heard a commotion outside.  I went out to see what was going on and it appeared some guy was accosting a woman.  Turns out he was consoling her because just then Jack said, “that house is on fire.”  Sure enough the woman’s house looked to be totally engulfed in flames.  The fire department here is voluntary, and they did an excellent job of getting the fire contained.  Luckily with this wet weather the fire didn’t spread through the trees and engulf neighboring houses.  That was our excitement on this otherwise quiet day. 

Much of my day was spent trying to find the best flights for our trip to Uganda.  Air travel has gotten so expensive lately with fewer flight options.  I was hoping to stop off in London and do some birding in the Norfolk area.  A flight on Icelandic Air from Anchorage to London was $2500.  Ridiculously expensive right?  And I hate having to pay extra to get seat selection at the time of booking.  Really???  So nixed the Great Britain stopover. 

Jack’s nephew and family came over for dinner and a spirited game of Taboo.  We had a wonderful meal and an enjoyable evening with family. 

10 March 2019

Another wet day.  In the afternoon we went to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near Boulder Creek, California.  The redwood trees here are amazing; so tall and majestic.  We did the 0.8-mile Redwood Grove Loop trail.  Not many birds, although we did see a pair of beautiful Varied Thrush out in the open, and me without my camera.  We also had several Townsend’s Warblers.  During the hike I kept smelling something that smelled like food.  Turns out the park is full of Bay Laurel trees, and thus “Bay Leaves”.  Stepping on the downed leaves emitted the smell.

Start of the Redwood Grove Loop Trail
Jack and his sister Mary – in front of the largest tree in the park

After our hike we went to visit Jack’s nephew and his family at their newly remodeled home – very nice.  And, we got to see the 4-H quail project. Always a delight. 

11 March 2019

Time to move onward.  I always hate to say goodbye to Jack’s sister Mary as she always makes us feel so welcomed.  Love her. 

We slogged our way through the congested San Francisco/Oakland area to Santa Rosa to spend the remainder of the day and night with Ken Wilson.  Ken owns Talon Tours, the tour company we used for Guyana.  We got to meet Ken’s wife Becky who wasn’t with us on the trip.  Both Ken and Becky will be joining us on our Uganda trip in September.   They have a tree at their house that the birds love, including about 11 Cedar Waxwings and a pair of Western Bluebirds – so I got my ‘birding fix.’  We had a very enjoyable, but short, visit.

Cedar Waxwing
Cedar Waxwing
Becky’s macaw

12 March 2019

We left Ken and Becky’s house early (6:45 a.m.) as they were headed out for a previously planned full-day Birdathon fundraiser (later we learned they saw 127 different birds in one day).  We departed with them as we wanted to get an early start to Bridgeway Island Pond in Sacramento to try and see the Garganey – a duck species rare to the U.S.  This is an Euroasia species.  For some reason this duck decided to check out Sacramento. 

Surprisingly at this small pond, we had a total of 44 species.  And we did get to see the Garganey, a life bird for Jack and I.  The bird was a male, and a very distinctive one at that.  Hard to miss, even when it has its head tucked into its wing.  The bird was some distance off so I was unable to get a decent photo.  We stayed at the pond for 90 minutes.  There were lots of Marsh Wrens singing away on the tops of reeds, so I had to try and get photos of these charismatic birds.  I counted at least nine, but I suspect there were a lot more than that. 

American Avocet
Canada Goose
American Pipit
Osprey
Marsh Wren
Yes, I love these little guys

Afterwards we headed north with the intentions of driving the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge auto tour route.  Unfortunately, the tour route was closed due to flooding.  Our loss, but California’s birds gain.  CA has been in a drought for so many years, any precipitation is appreciated and badly needed.  So we continued north and went to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.  This is one of our favorite refuges. 

We drove the 6.0-mile auto tour route and saw 46 different species.  We were surprised that we did not see any Snow Geese.  Maybe they’ve already headed north for the breeding season.  There were thousands of American Coots and Northern Shovelers.  Ducks in general were plentiful.  We also had seven different shorebirds, including the Black-bellied Plover, which haven’t been reported before at the refuge – at least not on eBird. 

Refuge Sign
Lots of wetland ponds and lakes
Killdeer
Ring-necked Pheasant
The coloring of this non-native bird is amazing
Greater White-fronted Goose
Viewing Platform
Viewing Platform Parking parking lot – tour route
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Bushtit – well hidden
Wilson’s Snipe
Turtles
They don’t mind laying on top of one another

There were also a number of jackrabbits at the refuge.  Guess the coyote population must be down. 

Jack Rabbit
My what big ears you have

Tonight we are staying at the Buckhorn Recreation Area, located at Black Butte Lake.  This campground is managed by the Army Corp of Engineers.  There are nine other campers here tonight.  Last time we stayed at this campground I think we were the only one’s here.  That was in 2016. 

Black Butte Lake
Killdeer
Acorn Woodpecker
Monofilament Line(d) nest
Not a good use of plastic (Monofilament line)
Beautiful oak habitat
Which is favored by the Oak Titmouse

13 March 2019

We greeted the day with a windy morning so we decided to head west to the coast.  We will spend a few days driving from Fortuna, California, north to around Seaside, Oregon, before heading to Portland.  We need to be in Portland by 19 March, so we have about six nights of camping or hotels.  Tonight will probably be a hotel because many of the campgrounds (state) around Fortuna are closed for the season. 

House Finch
House Finch – male in the bright red, the other two are females
Horned Lark

We chose to get to the coast via Highway 36 because it is supposed to take less time than the other routes.  Hmmmm.  I wonder if that sign showing curves for the next 140 miles is an indicator that this might not be the quickest route for us.  Our van doesn’t always handle well on curves – or rather we need to secure everything.  Jack likes to take it nice and slow instead of stopping for flying objects inside the van. Our pace makes other driver’s crazy.  We lucked out and didn’t have much traffic until we got close to Highway 101.  The trip took us an additional hour of travel time than what Google Maps indicated.  It was a beautiful drive however.  Lots of snow up high, but luckily the roads were clear. 

Despite the snow on the ground, the roads were clear

We stopped off at the Humboldt National Wildlife Refuge and spent about two hours birding the refuge.  There was a lot of waterfowl present, including twelve Tundra Swans.  I wonder if they winter here?  An Eurasian Wigeon was present, which was nice.  Haven’t seen one of those in awhile.  We get them occasionally in Homer.  I think last year I had three of them at Beluga Slough. 

Nest above the women’s restroom
Swallow nest
Trail from the visitor center
Cinnamon Teal (male)

Shorebirds present included a Long-billed Curlew.  This bird was feeding next to a Western Gull and they appeared to be about the same size.  This curlew looked huge.  There were also Willet, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, and a single Dunlin.  And there were at least 11 Marsh Wrens singing their hearts out – must be breeding time.  These birds get up onto the reeds to sing allowing us decent looks at this elusive bird.  In all, we had 38 species.  The day was sunny, but the wind was fierce and thus a cold wind-chill. 

Long-billed Curlew

We did see a river otter at the refuge.  And a few ground squirrels – too far away to photograph or identify. 

We stopped in Arcata for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.  We’ve eaten there before and enjoy the food – Pho Hoang on “G” Street.  Then we made a stop off at the Wilderness Market to buy some Humboldt Chocolate, which is oh so good (addictive).  My favorite.  I’ve never seen it sold anywhere else but here. 

14 March 2019

We stayed at the Day’s Inn and Suites just north of Arcata last night and it was the quietest night I’ve EVER spent at a hotel.  Loved it.  No noisy neighbors.

We left the hotel around 8:00 a.m., stopped for groceries, then headed to Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary – a wonderful managed wetland utilizing waste water.  Our first stop was Humboldt Bay, and a good thing too as the tide was going out.  We did get to see a fair number of shorebirds, many of which will be making their way to Alaska in another month or so.  While there weren’t too many near us, if you glassed the bay you could see thousands and thousands of shorebirds in the distance.  I wish they would have been closer. 

Willet
Humboldt Bay

We then proceeded to the “marsh” itself, and spent about two hours walking the trails and birding.  We didn’t get any new birds for the year, with the exception of a Red-shouldered Hawk and a Black-capped Chickadee.  Surprisingly we hadn’t seen a Black-capped Chickadee yet this year. 

Our first Black-capped Chickadee for the year
Song Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow – these birds winter in California. Maybe this bird breeds in Homer?
Roosting Green-winged Teals – three males and one female
Song Sparrow – there were plenty of them
Mallard pair
The Marsh Wrens were singing their hearts out – got to find that mate.
Trail
Yellow-rumped Warbler
The “azelas” were in bloom – beautiful
Love the message – Marbled Murrelets need both the ocean and the old growth forest

Traveling north, we stopped at Crescent City and checked out the sea lions that like to soak up the sun at the Crescent City Harbor.  There were also Harbor Seals present.  We did see a fair number of loons, although most were too far away for me to identify.  Leaving Crescent City we traveled north to our campground for the night – Cape Blanco on the southern Oregon coast.  I thought we had camped here before, but now I’m not so sure as the campground doesn’t look familiar.  We got a nice spot (#16) and I was surprised that at least 1/3 of the 54 campsites were occupied for the night.  I didn’t expect to see so many campers here.  Maybe campers like it because it is six miles from the highway, rather than like many campgrounds that are right along side the highway with all the traffic noise. 

Elk herd in the Redwoods National and State Park
Sea Lions at the Crescent City Harbor
Ah, a sun worshiper – I can relate..
They sure don’t mind sharing space
I love how these sea lions are just lazily sleeping and soaking up the sun
Western Gull
With a few ruffled feathers

We will spend then next two weeks in Oregon and Washington before heading home.  Until then …

IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

Guyana – Part 2

22 February 201

Raining again today.  David from Ireland (aka Swampy) commented that it has rained every day of our trip and we are in the dry season.  I guess the wet season is VERY WET.  They use boats to get around instead of cars, we’ve been told by the locals. 

We got to sleep-in this morning – for me a whole hour.  Instead of waking up at 4:30 a.m. with breakfast at 5:00 a.m., breakfast wasn’t scheduled until 7:30 a.m.  We left Atta Lodge today and headed to Iwokrama River Lodge, a short distance away.  Of course we are birders so the trip took up to 4 hours, rather than the normal 30 minutes. I did bird the grounds of Atta Lodge this morning and came away with two new birds – Black Nunbird and Pygmy Antwren.  The Nunbird bird is mostly black with white on its wings and a red bill.  The remaining birds were birds I had already seen before – either in Guyana or elsewhere.  Surprisingly, for just the morning, I saw a total of 16 species between periods of rain. 

Black Currasow
Black Currasow
Fork-tailed Wood-Nymph (female)
Fork-tailed Wood-Nymph (male)

We made a stop along a bridge after our driver spotted a Crimson Topaz (hummingbird).  This is a beautiful hummingbird that is red, orange, and purple with a brilliant sparkly greenish yellow throat.  I even got a photo. 

Crimson Topaz
Crimson Topaz

At another stop, we hiked a small trail and spotted a Bronzy Jacamar sitting on a branch over the trail.  All the photographers, including myself, were able to get decent photos of the bird.  Jacamars perch quietly on a limb and aren’t flighty like some birds.  Of course most daytime birds are busily feeding while the jacamar is simply roosting (resting).  Also along this trail was a pair of White-fringed Antwrens.  Jack doesn’t like these skulking, hidden birds, but he finally saw the bird well and his face lit up. 

BronzyJacamar
Bronzy Jacamar
Bronzy Jacamar
Bronzy Jacamar
Did I mention that jacamars sit still and you can take lots and lots and lots of photos of them?
Before reaching Iwokrama River Lodge we stopped off at the Mori Forest – sort of a stunted rainforest of sorts. Trees were much smaller than those found elsewhere.
Our local guide “Ron”
Our group following the leader – in search of birds
On the trail

We did another hike in search of the Saffron-crested Tyrant Manakin.  We found it, although this bird definitely blends in well with its environment.  We were also lucky to spot a Red-billed Woodcreeper.  As the name implies, Woodcreepers “creep” up trees in search of food.  These birds are, for the most part, fairly large in size.  They also have good sized bills in which to tunnel into the bark to capture their prey.  This particular woodcreeper has a rather large impressive red-colored bill.  Most woodcreeper bills are either dark or light colored.  But alas I didn’t get a photo of the bird as it was always moving from one tree to another.

Saffron-crested Tyrant Manakin

We made it to Iwokrama River Lodge around 2:00 p.m., and quickly checked into our rooms before having lunch.  We resumed birding with a boat ride at 5:00 p.m along the Essequibo River.  However, after lunch and before the boat trip was down time where we could rest, catch up on what’s happening outside of our little cabin, take a shower, read, bird, or any combination of the above.  I started out birding, but it quickly became too hot to keep that up.  I did see a few different birds, but I felt like the sun was melting my skin off.  Yeah, that hot. 

Fred Allicock building – where we ate our meals (named for our local guide’s father)
Our cabin is the first cabin
Our room
The view from our room of the Essequibo River
Our afternoon sudden downpour
Luckily the downpour didn’t last too long
White-throated Toucan
Kiskadee (Great or Lesser)
Orange-winged Parrot
Silver-beaked Tanager (Male)
Essequibo River from lodge grounds
Some of our group in the first of two boats that went out on the Essequibo River

23 February 2019

We birded the lodge grounds this morning, including a portion of Bushmaster Trail. I was surprised at how many birds there were in the area.  Along the trail we had a number of birds that specialize in eating ants.  Yay!!!  We love ant eating birds.  At one place we heard a cacophony of birds calls and watched several different Antbirds in a feeding frenzy.  The trail in front of us was swarming with ants for at least 50 feet or so.  As they advanced down the trail, we retreated.  And then the next thing you know, the ants are gone.  I guess they left the trail while I wasn’t watching.  Glad it happened though.  A few army ants are bad enough but thousands of them are not something you want to be in the middle of. 

And where there is an ant swarm there is the possibility of seeing the difficult to see Rufous-winged Ground Cuckoo – which loves ants apparently. However, despite the ant swarm, the Ground-Cuckoo was a no show.

Early Morning
As we were making our way to the Bushmaster Trail – birding along the way of course – we saw this Spectacled Owl flying low along the ground and then land in this tree.
Chestnut-bellied Finch. Kind of drab on the back but …
… the front of the bird is colorful
Entrance to Bushmaster Trail
Into the forest we go
Trail conditions were good

After lunch we had about two hours to just relax and enjoy the beautiful day.  It is very pleasant here at the lodge and we are the only guests.  Around 3:30 p.m. we gathered for another round of rainforest birding.  This time we walked the road from the lodge to the main highway – about 1.6 km.  A nice walk – no jungle trail, and good birding.  We got to see the Ferruginous-backed Antbird.  This is a beautiful bird that likes to slowly walk on the forest floor in search of food – ants.  Unfortunately, such activity is not conducive to getting a good photograph of the bird.  At least not by me.

Another beautiful day at Iwokrama River Lodge
Badminton anyone?
Bottlebrush Tree, I believe
Giant Cowbird
Tropical Kingbird
Defending its perch or is that food up there it’s defending?
Okay the perch is now mine says this Great Kiskadee
We’ve seen a lot of these two-toned lizards around – Ameiva (jungle runners)
Waiting to start the afternoon birding session – Fred Allicock Building
Grey-breasted Martin
It’s nesting season time so the martins are pairing up and building nests in the eves of the Fred Allicock Building
The Palm Tanagers also like the building for nesting
On the road again birding
Further down the road it became quite muddy from the rains the previous couple of days
Most people get around on motorbikes
As the ruts can become quite deep

Further along the road we had a Spotted Puffbird.  Now that bird I could photograph.  I love the Puffbirds.  They usually sit quietly on a limb high off the ground, but rarely hidden by vegetation.  They do require you to crank you head back when you look up to see them, but well worth the sore neck.  The third cool bird was a Rose-breasted Chat.  This chat species is in a different family than our North American Yellow-breasted Chat.  As its name implied, the bird has a rosy chest so a little easier to spot than birds that blend in really well with their environment. 

We stayed out past sundown in order to find and see the Northern Tawny-bellied Screech Owl.  Who doesn’t like owls?  With some coaxing, this little owl came in close for us to get great views and decent photographs.  We returned to the lodge for dinner, to go over our checklist of birds observed and/or heard, and then off to our cottages to get ready for the following day.

Spotted Puffbird
Dried Cecropia tree leaf – would make a nice wreath
Red Howler Monkey
Spix’s Guan
Luckily no one stepped on this night spider.
The spider was quite large.

24 February 2019

Despite today being a travel day I saw a total of 82 different species.  Not too shabby?  Of those, 21 were birds I hadn’t yet seen on this trip.  I don’t have a running list of all birds seen (aka “life list”) so I don’t know how many of these are life birds.  But you know what?  It really doesn’t matter because I never tire of seeing birds – new or old.  My favorite bird?– the one I’m looking at.

For this trip we’ve had three SUVs for transportation.  We take turns riding in the three different vehicles.  Today, Veronica, Jack, and I were in the first vehicle and we got to see a Tapir walking along side the road.  This strange animal looks half-pig and half small horse.  Bizarre.  Here is a link to check out the Tapir: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapir.

Everyone was happy to see this bird …
… because its not always easy to find …
… the Amazonian Motmot
Beautiful flowers
I spotted this Green Ibis on a log as we were driving by. We immediately stopped but for a dead snake in the road.
Not that I wish this snake ill will, but glad we didn’t see it while it was alive – fleur de lance (highly venomous pit viper)
Roadkill – Dead Chapman’s Swift
Close-up view
Roadkill – Dead Black Nunbird. These two birds are the only dead birds we saw the entire trip.
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture
Now if only I can turn around …
… gracefully
Fueling the vehicles when you are out in the middle of nowhere without a gasoline station in sight.
Red-and-Green Macaw
Sumara Junction where we stopped for lunch. They have a lot of message signs along the road to Sumara from here.
Such pretty yard flowers – Sumara Junction
This one too
One of our driver’s son. He was very friendly and inquisitive.
Jack sharing his binoculars
The next generation of bird guide in Guyana
Red-rumped Cacique nests
Red-rumpedd Cacique – unfortunately you can’t see its red rump

After lunch, we made a quick transition from the tropical rainforest at Iwokrama River Lodge to the savannah grasslands at Caimen House.  While I do love the tropical rainforest, I am totally in love with Guyana’s savannah region.  Surprisingly we saw more birds in this region where we spent the afternoon compared to the rainforest where we spent the morning.  Of course, I will admit it is much easier to see birds in the open savannah than the enclosed rainforest – less places for the birds to hide.

Leaving the Rainforest
Tropical Mockingbird
Guyana Collared Lizard – on the wall at a gasoline/convenience store just south of Surama Junction
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (first year male)
White-headed Marsh Tryant (Male)
White-headed Marsh Tyrant
The countryside was beautiful
We made several stops en route. And at one stop we found this Mouse-colored Tyrannulet
And a life bird …
Three juvenile “Jabiru”
I so wanted to see this bird
Aren’t they cool?
A Fork-tailed Flycatcher in the middle of the tree. This tree had at least ten of these birds.
Here we are stopped near a river …
… where we spotted this Grey-cowled Wood-Rail
Another one of my favorite birds – rails. This one is large and colorful. More easily seen than many rail species.
And where do you find Savannah Hawks but in the savannah
Violaceous Euphonia (male)
The savannah starts to change to more grasses, less trees the further south we traveled
This part of the savannah reminded me of Africa
More open, more grasses
A Crested Caracara on a post along side the road
They had burned portions of the savannah

Before arriving at the Caimen House around 7:00 p.m, we made a stop at a great little wetland area to search for the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl and have our nightly sundowner drink.  Well I don’t drink alcohol, but everyone else had their shot of Guianan El Dorado Rum.  And we got the pygmy owl.  They have the word “pygmy” in their name for a reason. This is one small owl.  Luckily there was enough light left to get a photo or two.  I told Jack that I think I am becoming obsessed with getting photographs of these birds, instead of just taking the time to really view them through my binoculars – not something I want to have happen. 

wetland
The local community was burning the savannah near this wetland
You could definitely see the flames
Sundowner Time – Ken, Swampy, and Devon (one of our drivers)
Jack and Swampy (aka David) with their shots of El Dorado Rum
A pint-sized owl – Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
Nice to see the owl in the daylight. So cute.
Sunset
Our room at Caimen House
With a good sized bathroom. Cold showers anyone? We never did have a hot shower outside of Georgetown.

25 February 2019

We had two goals this morning:  Find the Giant Anteater and Crested Doradito.  We got both.  Yay!!! In fact, we managed to see two different anteaters today.  Unfortunately, the first one was found and rounded up for us by a local villager hired to use a motorcycle.  I guess they wanted to ensure our goal.  I hate to see the animal harassed this way.  The locals feel the anteaters are old women who have died and become witches.  So they traditionally have hunted and killed the anteaters.  Where people come up with such ridiculous beliefs is beyond me or beyond reason.  The tourists’ desire to see Giant Anteater may be its saving grace?  If the tourists want to come to the area to see these large animals, maybe the locals won’t kill them.  That is one benefit. 

Sunrise
Dawn on the beautiful Savannah
Hard to imagine that most of this is underwater during the wet (rainy) season
Double-striped Thickknee (another favorite)
Yes, this is the Giant Anteater
Our mode of transportation for the tour
White-tailed Nightjar
There were several roosting in a copse of tree or on the ground
Close-up view
Pale-vented Pigeon

The Crested Doradito is restricted to a very small, specific area so we were happy to find it at a new location.  Hopefully this means it is expanding its range.  This is good news for this rare bird.  Both Jack and I got really good looks at this secretive bird.  The bird likes to pop up on a reed blade, look around briefly, then drop back down.  After this sighting we headed further into the savannah to another area where the bird had been sighted.  Here we saw our second Giant Anteater.  It was upwind of us and slowly ambled its way to within 20-30 feet of us, before smelling us, and quickly giving us the evil eye and taking off (I’m sure we don’t smell that great after being out in the hot sun and perspiring).  I did take a video of the animal.  I love its markings and form.

This is where we saw our second Giant Anteater. This one walked very close to us.
White-headed Water Tyrant (male)
Buff-necked Ibis
Maguari Stork (Great Egret in the background)
Great Horned Owl
Great Horned Owl
Brown-throated Parakeet

We got back to the lodge around 11:00 a.m. (it’s hot in the savannah this time of year), and had some down time before lunch.  I like these down times as it gives me time to write my blog and download photos.  There isn’t much time after dinner and completing our daily checklist, which generally ends around 9:00 p.m., to work on my blog.  With a wake-up time of 5:00 or 5:30 a.m., who has the energy to do anything but to fall into bed and sleep.

Village
This is where our guides slept
This building housed four rooms, including ours (lower right hand side)
Gary taking an afternoon siesta
Pretty flowers at the lodge

Later, around 3:00 p.m., we loaded onto a boat and made our way downstream on the Runpununi River, searching for shorebirds, waterbirds (herons, egrets), and whatever other birds had set up residence along the river.  We got to see the Pied Lapwing, which is one of the birds I was really hoping to see.  We got a quick view of the Crestless Currasow, a large black bird without a crest like most currasows. 

Rupununi River
We had the boat on the right
Lots of Black Caimen on the river. On the way back in the dark their eyes would glow if the flashlight was shined on the caimen. There were a LOT of caimen on the river banks.
More juvenile Jabiru
Jabiru
Green Ibis
Large-billed Tern
Cocoi Heron
Red-capped Cardinal – one of Jack’s favorite birds
Gary, Ann, and Taiwan David
Great Black Hawk
Pied Lapwing – What’s not to love. It’s a shorebird
Pied Lapwing
Black Caracara
Osprey
Iguana
A nest in the tree
Not sure who the nest belongs to
We were fortunate enough to get great looks at this Sunbittern …
… on the beach …
… and here taking flight
There were lots of White-winged Swallows along the river
Oxbow Lake landing
Trail to and from the oxbow lake
Owbox lake
Lily and lily pad

The intent was to return to our lodge around 7:00 p.m. but we took a detour to an oxbow lake and spent too much time there.  We didn’t return to the lodge until almost 8:00 p.m.  Not always fun being on the river when its dark – hidden hazards.  We did have a good boat captain, however.  Also, we did see some Boat-billed Herons we typically wouldn’t see during the day, but when we finally got back to the lodge I was one hungry birder. 

Sunset on the river

There was some concern among some of the people on the tour that one of the tour participants was using his flashlight inappropriately.  Our local guide was busy looking for owls, nighthawks, and nightjars after dark, but this participant was also sweeping the river.  In doing so, he flushed a large number of swallows off their night-time roost.  According to one participant, the swallows will now have a hard time getting back to their perch safely and will spend hours circling the area, eventually dropping into the river from exhaustion and drowning.  While birders are bird ambassadors, they don’t always have the birds best interest at heart.  For some the most important thing is to “tick” the bird off their life list.  Us birders need to consider what our activities do to the birds.  It’s not always good. 

26 February 2019

We had a long drive ahead of us in order to get to a particular area to see the Sun Parakeets.  This meant a 3:30 a.m. walk up call and a 4:00 a.m. departure.  Boy was I tired.  The reward for the early morning departure was we did see the Sun Parakeets.  These birds are magnificent – a very bright yellow and hard to miss when seen in the tree tops.  We had a local person help guide us to the area and he regularly sees the birds so took us right to them.  The valley we traveled in is worthy of national park status because of its scenic beauty.   Fortunately, it is part of a local community reserve and protected.   Sun parakeets in the wild are endangered.  Unfortunately, they are favorite birds of avian collectors (those people who like to have caged birds).

We saw this Burrowing Owl on our way to find the Sun Parakeet
Typical road
We stopped at this rather large wetland to check out the birds
The drive took us three hours through some diverse habitat. But finally …
… the target bird was spotted and we got out of the vehicles to take a good look at the …
Sun Parakeet
Okay so I took a lot of photos of these birds
We saw at least 15 at one time
Checking out the Sun Parakeet and other birds like the …
Laughing Falcon
… and the Red-eyed Vireo (possibly the Chivi Vireo)
A type of “Bottlebrush” plant, I believe
Beautiful flowers
Brown-crested Flycatcher

After checking out the parakeets and other birds in the area, we headed into the village of Karasabai for lunch.  Lunches here are pretty basic: chicken, beef, or fish (often all three), rice, beans, cassava (not something I care to eat), and occasionally a salad.  While they generally say don’t eat salads in South America, we haven’t had a problem.  We’ve also drank the tap water (often filtered or UV treated), and the fresh juice drinks – Yum!!!

A typical home
The village of Karasabai

After lunch, we proceeded to drive another three hours to our next destination – Manari Ranch.  We did stop for birds along the way, including seedeaters and raptors. 

We got great views of the Aplomado Falcon
Aplomado Falcon
We left the mountainous area where we saw the Sun Parakeets and headed back to the savannah
Yes, that is Brazil across the river. Our driver told us some great stories about garlic smugglers. I guess people smuggle garlic from Guyana into Brazil. And the smuggled garlic comes from China.
En route to our lodging we saw this White-tailed Hawk
He actually let us get quite close. Generally hawks will flush before you can get close for a decent photo.

Accommodations at the ranch are pretty basic and showing their age.  We got settled into our rooms and then I went out and birded the grounds.  Oh, and there is a tame river otter at the Manari Ranch that is essentially a pet.  It lives in the river but is very sociable and when it hears people arriving it comes running in from the river to greet people.  The river otter likes to “get to know you”.  One woman in our group was really put out by the attention this otter gave her.  He seemed to especially like her, which didn’t please her one little bit.  The otter has the habit of wanting to follow you around, sniff you, and hug your leg.  And, very curious.  We were told to hold tight to our cameras and binoculars as it likes to climbs up on chairs and tables.

Near the entrance to Manari Ranch
We had the end room – quite sparse
O.J., the curious river otter (tame). We were told to be careful of where we put our binoculars and cameras
While Robin hated the otter, Gary didn’t mind having it sniff his boats and pant legs.
Red-shouldered Macaw
This Red-shouldered Macaw and others were in the trees adjacent to our rooms
Orange-backed Troupial
This was a life bird for us (Orange-backed Troupial)
Boat-billed Kiskadee
Bicolored Wren
There is a tree in Guyana they call the sandpaper tree, probably because it feels like sandpaper to the touch. I guess they use it to scour items.
Brown-throated Parakeet
One of five dogs at the ranch. I don’t think dogs are considered “pets”, at least no pampered pets. This one was chewing on a leaf. Very skittish.

We had an early dinner because tomorrow we are getting up even earlier than today – 2:30 a.m. with a 3:00 a.m. departure.  Ugh.  Even for me that is too early.  Jack is exhausted by it and it seems to have exacerbated his head cold congestion and night cough.

27 February 2019

For some reason I couldn’t sleep last night.  I think I only got “maybe” 1.5 hours of sleep.  With an early start I am one tired birder. 

Our goal this morning is to find the Red Siskin.  This is a very localized species, and we traveled three hours one way to see this bird.  And luckily we got great looks at several of the birds.  Hooray!!! 

Searching for the Red Siskin
Waiting for the Red Siskin (Ann, Gary, Local Guide, Ken, and Swampy)
The reason for getting up so early is that the drive to see these birds is long (3+ hours) and the birds are most active around sunrise.
Red Siskin – are primary target bird for the day

Next we searched, and found, the Sharp-tailed Ibis.  This bird reminds me somewhat of the bald-faced ibis found in Africa.  Unbeknownst to me, with my camera I captured the bird catching and eating a frog.  And it was a big frog. 

We stopped at a river crossing (of sorts) and found this Amazonian Kingfisher waiting patiently for dinner to swim by
These large kingfishers
Sharp-tailed Ibis – probing for food
The Sharp-tailed Ibis caught dinner – a rather large frog
Jack wondered how our drivers found their way around the ranch. Of course in the first vehicle the driver was a local guide well versed in the location of the local birds.

We had a great lunch at the Wichabai Ranch house – a wonderful place.  Best lunch yet.  The place is managed by a couple who are not Guianan, so they put a western twist to their meals.  The ‘ranch’ overlooks a beautiful wetland/small open water area, rich in birds.  How many people can say they have Jabiru storks in their yard!  The owners are building some cabins so maybe this will become a future overnight (or longer) tour stop.

Common Ground Dove
Bicolored Wren in the garden
Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Buff-necked Ibis
Eastern Meadowlark
Cocoi Heron
Jabiru (pair)
Palm Tanager
Pale-vented Pigeon
Plumbeous Seedeater
White-throated Kingbird
White-headed Water Tyrant
White-tailed Kite

After lunch we went in search of the Crested Tachuri, another Guianan Shield Endemic.  This is a very small bird, but we got decent looks.  The bird moves around a lot so I didn’t even bother to try and take a photo.  Not sure I could have found it among the grasses. 

Roads in this area (a generous term) are dirt tracts with many arteries so we always marveled how the driver knew where to go.  Since it took us three hours to get to the Red Siskin location (Wichabai Ranch), we headed back to our lodging at Manari Ranch shortly after finding the Crested Tachuri. 

At the lodge was an ex-pat couple living in Panama.  We’ve seen them several times throughout our tour.  They coordinated the trip on their own and are birding with local guides. I’m not sure how they are arranging in-country transportation. Many of the lodges are difficult to get to and the road system is bewildering.   Considering some of the personalities on our tour a ‘private tour’ might not be a bad way to go birding.  We have a couple of people who are scope hogs.  They think the trip is only for them.  These are definitely people who should go on private trips – alone. 

28-Feb-19

I slept like a log, only getting up once.  We didn’t have to get up today until 4:30 a.m. (as if that is a decent hour according to Jack).   I don’t think Jack signed on for these early risers, at least not as many as we’ve had.  But we have to travel some distance to get to the birds and there aren’t a lot of lodging options.  As I mentioned, lodging outside of Georgetown is pretty basic.  We haven’t had a hot shower since we left Georgetown.  And despite the temperatures outside, I prefer hot showers to cool or cold showers.  Many of the eco-lodges utilize solar power for lights but evidently not for solar showers.

The key birds today were the Rio Blanco Antbird and the Hoary-throated Spinetail.  It took us awhile to get on the antbird.  The bird was close as we heard it responding to the playback call, but it took awhile for it to appear.  Not everyone got good looks so after going and finding the spinetail (cool bird), many went back to try for the Antbird again.   Since I had seen it well before, as had Veronica, we went to the river (which borders Brazil) to search for new birds. 

Our local guide Ron Allicock – he sat in an open part of the vehicle so he wanted to be warm
Waiting for the Rio Blanco Antbird. Our local guide is the individual on the right (barefoot). He is the Rio Blanco Antbird expert.
One of our drivers (a cousin of our Guianan guide Ron Allicock)
Grayish Saltator
Pale-legged Hornero
Red-breasted Meadowlark
White-fringed Antwren. I was surprised to find this bird in the open (relatively speaking) and able to get a photograph.
Some bird’s nest
Takatoo River – Brazil is only a stone’s throw away

After getting our target birds for the morning, we went to a nearby wetland and checked for the Pinneated Bittern and Masked Duck.  The Masked Duck we found (a small duck, so you really had to look hard to see them), but no luck in seeing the bittern.  The duck – mainly females – were loafing among the lily pads.  Some of the lily pads leaves are red and looked like the male duck.  We saw quite a few species here.  I love wetlands.  Wish we had more of them – a tragedy that so many are lost or fragmented everywhere to the crush of development. 

Wetlands on the ranch proper – there were a lot of birds here, mostly along the far shore
Female Masked Ducks
Masked Ducks – Male facing to the left, female facing to the right (because we know that women are always right)
Ranch roads

As we were headed back we stopped at a few small wetlands to check one last time for the Pinneated Bittern. And, success!  We found one with its classic bittern poise and then a great view as it walked about and then flew off.  This is a large bittern.  There was a little testiness going on within our group with regards to seeing the bird in the scope – remember when I mentioned the scope hogs.  What is frustrating, is that we’ve had three scopes the entire trip.  However, today when we needed all three scopes the most, the two people who brought scopes left them back at the lodge.  And these two people are the scopes hogs. 

For such a short birding day – only four hours – I saw a total of 44 species, of which 11 were new for the trip.  And with the last bird being the Pinneated Bittern, not a bad way to complete a birding tour.  We returned to our lodging for lunch and final packing.

We had to depart our lodging around 2:15 p.m. to catch a 4:30 p.m. flight from Lethem, Guyana (border of Brazil) to Georgetown.  The flight only took about 55 minutes.  We arrived in Georgetown and were escorted to our hotel – The Grand Coastal Hotel.  I had asked Ron Allicock, our guide, to make sure we were given a room in the quiet portion of the hotel.  He failed me again.  I wasn’t too impressed by our guide.  I felt that he wasn’t giving us 100% of his time and effort.  I’m not sure I would not recommend him to any of my birding friends. Of course in Guyana you don’t have many choices for guides.

Our plane

We had dinner at an Indian Restaurant. On the menu they have Alaskan Lobster. Okay….. As any Alaskan knows, there are no lobsters in Alaska. We have crab aplenty (or at least we used to), but no lobster. Jack and I had a good laugh. The food was good, but it was no India Oven, our favorite Indian restaurant anywhere (psst … its located in Portland Oregon on Belmont Street).

1 March 2019

To catch our flight from Guyana to Florida, we got up around 1:50 a.m.  Yes, a.m. – that wasn’t a typo.  Our plane from Guyana left for Miami at 5:35 a.m., but we needed to get to the airport two hours ahead of time and it takes an hour to get to the airport from our hotel.  We flew Caribbean Airlines.  We made a stop in Port of Spain, Trinidad.  Most of the people got off the plane there, but the plane quickly filled up with people flying to Miami.  On the second leg, I had a woman sit behind me and I think she was the rudest flier I’ve experienced sitting behind me – constant movement, jerking the back of my seat, noisy, and totally oblivious.  And all I wanted to do was sleep.  I think I slept a total of 30 minutes on the 4.5-hour flight.  Needless to say I am one tired birder.  Too many early mornings the past few days.  I think I would recommend to Ken Wilson of Talon Tours  that he switch the schedule around so that you fly from Georgetown to Lethem, then bird your way to Surama, then take a flight to falls and then onto Georgetown, finishing with birding in the Georgetown area.  That way you don’t end the bird tour with the really early mornings (like we did), but start out that way.  Recovery time with afternoons off is nice but one’s body never really recovers from the exhaustion of early-morning departures.

I would definitely return to Guyana.  It is a beautiful country and is lightly developed with a relatively intact rainforest (80% of the country) – they practice sustainable logging.  Gold and bauxite mining are a different story.   With the potential of off-shore oil and gas development who knows what the future holds.  I hope Guyana stays “Green.” I especially liked the savannah area – very scenic and reminds one of the classic view of Africa (without ungulates).  Guyana does apparently have a healthy jaguar population.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see one.  I also found birding the savanna to be much easier.  No dense vegetation to forage through in search of Antwrens, Antbirds, Antshrikes, and Antpittas.  Jack calls the rainforest birds “one-second” birds because your view is often very limited.

Tomorrow we catch a flight from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix Arizona.  We will stay with friends in the Phoenix area and then continue with our camper van travels.

Until then …

IT’S ALWAYS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

Guyana – Part 1

Jack and I decided to go on a birding tour of Guyana with the hopes of seeing the Harpy Eagle.  A blog of our trip will be presented in two parts since I have a lot of photos.  This is part 1 (the first week, of our two week trip).

Guyana is located in South America.  The country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, Venezuela, Suriname, and Brazil.  The population is approximately 750,000 – about the size of Alaska’s population.  About half of their population lives in Georgetown (similar to half of Alaska’s population living in Anchorage).   Their road system is similar to ours in Alaska – limited, and much of it non-paved.  The climate is tropical and they have two seasons: dry and wet.  And when its wet, it is really wet.  Okay so that is where the similarities end.  Many of the major rivers flood during the wet season and people resort to traveling by boat, rather than cars in the outlying communities.  And Georgetown itself is located below sea level.

Size of Guyana in comparison to the United States

Map of Guyana showing road system (or lack thereof)

12 February, 2019

We started our Guyana adventure today with a 4:30 a.m. shuttle to catch a flight out of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, with a final destination “today” of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  We took a super shuttle from our friends’ home in Apache Junction to the airport.  The shuttle arrived at 4:20 a.m. but I get pre-trip jitters and have been up since 2:45 a.m.  Needless to say, I am tired.  But maybe there is a bright side since Guyana’s time zone is 3 hours ahead.  We can acclimate to the time change better.  At least I hope so.

The flight from Phoenix to Florida had a stop-over in Houston (where we changed planes) was uneventful except for the turbulent departure from Phoenix, and we were barely off the ground.  In Houston, we didn’t board our flight until an hour past the departure time.  They claimed a light bulb in the entry needed to be replaced.  Now why that should take so long I’m not sure.  When we departed the plane, the pilot and co-pilot were overheard talking in the gangway about how a panel popped off, screws and all, when they arrived in Houston.  No mention was made of a light bulb needing to be replaced.  Maybe Southwest Airlines didn’t want to scare us?

Tomorrow we have to catch a shuttle from our hotel in Fort Lauderdale (we are staying at the Quality Inn and Suites – a so, so hotel) to the Miami International Airport where we will catch our flight to Georgetown – I know, strange flight arrangements and a hassle to shuttle to and from Miami.  We make a stop in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.   If I had been home when making plane reservations for Guyana, I would have checked into a longer lay-over in Trinidad for some birding.  The Asa Wright Center is supposed to be a fabulous place for birds.  Oh well, maybe another time – so many countries, so many birds, so little time.

13 February 2019

We woke to a torrential downpour and roaring thunder in Fort Lauderdale so we were worried about our shuttle making it on time to pick us up and get us to the Miami International Airport for our flight to Guyana.  Luckily the weather calmed down by the time our shuttle van arrived and we were deposited at the Miami International Airport around noon for our 2:30 p.m. flight.  We checked in right away, then headed to the TSA screening area where we slowly crept through the line to the screeners.  This TSA station serves around nine different airlines and only one screening station was open.  So it was crazy busy.  Luckily we had plenty of time to make our flight.

We flew to Guyana on Caribbean Airlines, a new airline for us.  The flight attendants seemed much more security conscience (seat belts fastened, window coverings up, clear under-seat area, table trays upright, kids in a separate seat belt, etc.) than what you see when flying on other airlines in the U.S.  I was impressed.  The flight wasn’t entirely full, and most people got off in Port of Spain, Trinidad.  So we were surprised when we were told to make our way to our seats (we couldn’t exit the plane) because the flight from Port of Spain to Georgetown airport was full.

I hate when someone larger than me sits in the seat next to me and decides to take up half of my space.  I shouldn’t be penalized for being small, yet I always am when I fly.  The person next to me on the leg from Port of Spain to Georgetown was a large woman with a child on her lap.  I was fortunate that the child went to sleep right away, but I still had to lean off to the side to have breathing space – luckily I was in an aisle seat.  I almost felt claustrophobic.  The only really negative thing that happened on our flight was I dropped my glasses on the floor and then stepped on them, breaking the thread/twine that holds the lens in place.  I will try to get them fixed in Georgetown.  Luckily I brought a spare pair of eyeglasses — I need them for long distances, including birding.

We got to the international airport near Georgetown Guyana around 10:30 p.m. and went through Immigration and Customs with no problems.  Okay I did try to give the immigration officer Jack’s passport instead of my own, but she was nice about it – they never seem so smile, but she cracked a small one.

Our driver was waiting for us outside and took us to our lodging in Georgetown, which is located about an hour away from the airport.  Not sure what the distance is, but a Florida driver could probably make it from the airport to our hotel in half that time.  I felt safe with our driver.  Maybe it was the road conditions that resulted in low speeds.

We made it to the hotel about 11:30 p.m., checked in, and then I tried to go to sleep.  I was so tired.  Jack fell asleep pretty easily.  I think I took about almost two hours to go to sleep, and we had a 6:15 a.m. walk up call.

14 February 2019

Happy Valentine’s Day!  We reluctantly got up at 6:15 a.m. to make a 7:00 a.m. breakfast and a 7:30 a.m. departure to the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown.  It wasn’t far to the botanical gardens where we spent about five hours birding.  There are a lot of great birds there, if you just wait for them to fly by or fly into the trees.  Many of the local birds are beginning to build nests, so we got to see the males in breeding plumage and to contrast them with the females- where there is a difference, of course.  And there was a fair amount of copulation happening too.

I saw a total of 46 different birds.  Not as many as I expected, but was told we had a good day.  I missed a few of the birds seen by others.  That is always to be expected.  Our tour doesn’t official start until tonight, but our local guide agreed to spend the morning with us and provide transportation.

Some of the birds here are familiar birds, like the Great Kiskadee, which we see a lot of when in Texas, the House Wren (southern version), and Black-crowned Night-Heron.  But we had a lot of new birds as well – parrots and tanagers, for example.

We came back for lunch and then a little relaxation time, which for me means working on my blog and downloading photos.  There are eight people on our tour, plus Ken Wilson, owner of Talon Tours (our bird tour company).  I think all but two people had cameras and of those with cameras, only three had the big, expensive cameras.   The rest of us have smaller digital zoom cameras like mine.  I wish more people did.  Those big cameras can get in the way of birding at times.

Our room the first night. We had to move to another room for the remaining three nights. That one has two beds, but otherwise similar.  The rooms were comfortable, if a bit noisy.

Yellow-bellied Eleania

Shiny Cowbird. The females were waiting for the Yellow -chinned Spinetail  female to finish building her nest before the cowbirds laid their eggs in the spinetail’s nest.

Yellow-chinned Spinetail

Lilies

The snout of a manatee

Saw several of these dead frogs

In search of birds

Tropical Kingbird

Yellow Oriole

Striated Heron – this heron is small

Here the heron is looking down into the water for food

Great Egrets in breeding plumage. Note the green lores.

Snail Kite – Adult Male

How the bird holds on is beyond me???

Wing-barred Seedeater – Male

Southern Lapwing

The botanical gardens in Georgetown

Immature Black-collared Hawk

Juvenile Black-collared Hawk calling out to its parent – feed me

Cattle Egret

Wattled Jacana preening

After all that hard work preening I need a good yawn

Spotted Caimen

Orange-winged Parrot

The parrot at its nest hole

This is a Spotted Tody-Flycatcher nest

Juvenile Striated Heron

Immature Wattled Jacana

Roadside Hawk

A different type of pond lily

Ruddy Ground Dove

Gray Kingbird

Red-shouldered Macaw

Our group in search of birds

Tropical Kingbird

White-bellied Piculet

15 February 2019

Four-thirty a.m. came too early.  The first night we were in room 202.  The rest of our stay we were moved to room 110, which is located just off the restaurant area.  Last night the hotel had a special Valentine’s day celebration – dinner, music….  So, at 10:00 p.m. I put in my ear plugs to drown out the loud music so I could get some sleep.  Since I didn’t get much sleep the night before, I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  Thankfully.  The Valentine music was romantic classics so easy listening and no live music, dancing, or heavy drinkers.

We began our tour with a 5:00 a.m. departure, made a quick stop for breakfast (of sorts, kind of a quick food place), then went to a place called “Bounty Farm”. Supposedly Talon Tours is the only bird tour company with access to this place for birding.  Supposedly.  I think anyone that uses our local guide – Ron Allicock – probably has access to this site for birding.

We birded the grounds (area behind the chicken factory and chicken cages).  The area is a mix of different fruit trees, unique trees, and varied wet habitat all within a nicely groomed landscape so open and easy walking and good birding.  The highlight for both our tour guide and local guide was the presence of three Slender-billed Kites. They were very excited because they had never seen this bird on previous trips.  My favorite bird was the Chestnut Woodpecker.  Here is a link if you want to see what this bird looks like:  https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/chewoo2/overview.   The bird was behind some vegetation making a photograph problematic.

After the farm we headed to a spot alongside the road, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Point-tailed Palmcreeper.  The bird, if it was around, stayed hidden.  We did get a good look at two Black-capped Danocobius.  One person in our group, David, was really hoping to see this bird (life bird for him) so he was a happy birder.  The bird is quite striking (see photo) so I was happy to see it again.  Jack and I first saw this bird in Eucador in 2008.

After a quick stop for lunch, we headed back to the Botanical Gardens with the goal of spotting the Festive Parrot, which often show up there in the late-afternoon.  We were there for around an hour or so, when two of the parrots started calling and we rushed to to spotted location.  We got decent looks of them flying, where you could really see their red rump – a good mark for identifying the bird.  They also landed on a nearby tree, briefly of course, so we got good views then as well.  With that success, we proceeded back to our hotel for dinner and to go over our species list for the day.

I was tired, but unfortunately our room is just off the restaurant so we hear all the noise of the people working and eating there.  Finally, around 10:30 p.m. I called the front desk asking them if they would tell a noisy group of people to keep the noise level down. I’m not sure if they went out and asked them to keep it down or not because the noise level continued (talking and laughing – it carries far in the large room), so I went out and asked them to keep it down.  They finally came to their senses  (maybe my shouting at them helped) and either left or kept the noise to a minimum.  I finally got to sleep, although sleep was fitful.  And we have another early day tomorrow – another 5:00 a.m. departure.

Bounty Farm

Smooth-billed Ani

Silver-beaked Tanager – Female

Greater Kiskadee

Lesser Kiskadee

Ringed Kingfisher – this is one large kingfisher

White-bellied Piculet

Checking out the nest hole

Guess it will work

Roadside Hawk

Violaceous Euphonia – Male

Violaceous Euphonia – Female

These lily pads are HUGE!!!

Turquoise Tanager – Male

Common Tody Flycatcher with nest material

This lily pads are at least three feet across

Lineated Woodpecker

Slender-billed Kite

Blue-and-Gray Tanager

Owl butterfly

Ken – Robin – Ron (our guide)

Black-necked Aracari

Giant Damselflies (we would call them Dragonflies)

Pale-breasted Thrush

Barred Antshrike- Male

Ron Allicock – Local Tour Guide

This is a forest area of Bounty Farms

In the forest we had to cross several bridges – all in need of repair or replacement

Here “Swampy” aka David (from Ireland) had to get a hand across this foot bridge. It was kind of precarious.

Bamboo – you can see how tall it is with Jack standing next to it

Yay! Fungi

This one spiraled

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

We were looking for the Point-tailed Palmcreeper here. Didin’t find it, but still got some good birds despite all the garbage.

Great Kiskadee

Black-capped Danocobius

Greater Yellow-headed Vulture

Ruddy Ground Dove

Here we are back at the Botanical Gardens in Georgetown

Northern Scrub Flycatcher

Little Blue Heron (Immature)

Pearl Kite

Pearl Kite

Lots of interesting trees

16 February 2019

Getting up at 4:30 a.m. for a second day in a row with little sleep makes for a cranky Shell.  We loaded into a van and made our way towards the Suriname border.  We stopped briefly along the highway to look for a Rufous Crab Hawk and found several.  Great markings on this bird.  Kind of reminds me of the Harris’s Hawk.

We eventually turned off the main highway and worked our way to a boat landing on the Mahaica River, were we got into a boat and motored along (slowly) searching for birds – primarily the Hoatzin.  This bird looks prehistoric.  The birds weren’t very cooperative (like they were for us when we saw them in Ecuador and Peru).  When we finally saw them they were partially hidden by the vegetation.  Always nice to see the bird again – one of Jack’s favorites – even if the views were partial and brief.  I always like being on the river.  We had some great views of the Long-winged Harrier and Little Cuckoo.   There were at least five species of hummingbirds observed – both along the river and at boat Captain’s house and yard.

The road we took to catch the boat actually had some good birding as well.  We had the Pied Water Tyrant and the Red-breasted Meadowlark – think a large Vermillion Flycatcher.  The Carib Grackle was present, but not in large numbers like we’ve seen Great-tailed Grackles in the United States.  But the Carib Grackle is a new bird for me (Life bird).

We made a quick stop at Hope Canal, an entrance to the Atlantic Ocean.  This place was busy with Fisherman repairing their boats, with other people just hanging out.  And domestic goats were everywhere.  We stopped here to check out the mud flats, but unfortunately we came at the wrong time.  We should have stopped here on our way to the river.  I think the reason we didn’t stop here first was because the local guide wanted to make sure we got on the river at a decent time to see the Hoatzins.  My favorite bird at Hope Canal was the Scarlet Ibis.  We had four ibis fly over and their coloring against the gray sky was spectacular.  Hard to miss those birds.  We also got to see two Magnificent Frigatebirds.

We got back to our hotel at a decent time, then were told to have our bags packed quickly as they are being driven to our next destination for arrival tomorrow.  Tomorrow, we are taking a charter flight to see the Kaieteur Falls and then will fly on to our lodge at Sumara. Jack’s looking forward to seeing the falls, although the poor guy has caught a head cold.  Luckily I don’t think we have quite the same early morning wake-up call as the past two days.

Rufous Crab Hawk

Rufous Crab Hawk

Gray-breasted Martin

Our group getting on a boat for a trip on the Mahaica River

Long-winged Harrier

Local dog

The river traverses rice fields

Carib Grackle

Pied Water Tyrant

Pied Water Tyrant Nest – you can see the bird in the nest (see the center of the nest)

Pretty flowers

Little Cuckoo

We saw several of them

Up front – Ron Allicock (local guide) and Veronica

One of the houses along the river

Looking up river – Gary on the right

An “Eleania” species.  No one seemed to know which one.  Some of us are leaning towards Lesser Eleania.

Two Yellow-chinned Spinetail

Twig Anole …

… a type of lizard

This is called “Hope Canal”. Lots of garbage around. Sad.

Fisherman doing boat repairs

Taiwan David on the trail out to the coast

Amazon Kingfisher

Dive, dive, dive

17 February 2019

Today we checked out of our hotel and caught a commercial flight to Kaieteur Falls (part of Kaieteur National Park).  The flight was about 1.5 hours and I got to ride in the co-pilot’s seat.  That was a new experience for me.  Luckily the pilot didn’t need my assistance.

We spent two hours at the national park/falls looking for birds, specifically the Guianan Cock-of-the Rock.  We found several of these birds, all in trees.  Hard to miss the bright orange color.  These are the weirdest looking birds to me.  All orange except for a few black splashes on their wings and head.

We hiked to the falls, which were quiet magnificent.  These falls are the highest “single-drop” waterfall in the world at 780 feet, over three times as tall as Niagara Falls.   Quite impressive.  Beautiful.  While at the falls proper, we did see several birds, but most notably was the Orange-breasted Falcon in search of food – some of the many swifts flying around.

At the end of our two hours we hopped back on to the plane and off we went to Sumara Ecolodge where we will spend the next three nights.  We got to the lodge around 1:30 p.m., and proceeded to have a late lunch.  We had the rest of the afternoon off before meeting up again around 4:00 p.m.  Jack, who isn’t feeling well, went to our room to rest.  I went out into the hot sun to look for birds and I was able to add a few new birds to my list.

In the late afternoon, our group went out birding.  The target bird this afternoon was the Great Potoo.  We found two of these birds (a pair) as part of our forest walk.  The potoo feeds at night so during the day they roost (they look like a statue) and are easily photographed if you can find the bird.  It takes a lot of noise to flush these birds.  I know, because our group was making a lot of noise, despite the admonishment of our local bird guide.  We then spent some time birding until nightfall.  Shortly before dusk we had our first “sundowner”.  This is where the locals bring out the El Dorado (Guyana product) Rum.  They even gave each of us a short glass with the Guyana flag on the side.

But we weren’t done birding yet.  Our goal at dusk was to spot nighthawks and nightjars.  We found both the Least and Lesser Nighthawks.  Both great finds.  Then it was back to the barn, so to speak, for dinner and going over our checklists (a daily event).

With birding tours, the guides always handouts a checklist of what birds might be seen on the tour.  Then they go over the checklist each night to mark what birds were seen and/or heard.

By the time we finished dinner and gone over our checklist, we were ready to turn the lights out and go to bed with scheduled 5:00 a.m. breakfast.

Jonathan, our pilot to Kaieteur Falls

tarmac

Ready for takeoff

Off we go … and lift off

All of us crammed into the small plane

Occasional views of mined areas

We circled the waterfalls

Jack getting off the plane

Our small plane

The runway at the falls.  It didn’t seem very long.

Veronica on the path to the falls

Sundew – carnivorous plants

About the size of a dime (each)

Rufous-crowned Flycatcher

Another view of the flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird

The “Golden Frog” loves these plants – the plants are big but the frog is …

small … Golden Frog hiding in the fronds

I was surprised at how really small they are – think quarter size

On our way to the Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock lek

Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock (male)

Jack at the falls – just don’t too close

Despite the warming signs, some people get a little too close for my comfort

Jack and I at the falls

Kaieteur Falls

Downstream of the falls

This was a large bee

Cane Toad

Once back in the air, I got this photo of our plane’s silhouette

Our plane on the ground at Surama

While the falls runway was paved, this one was dirt

Our little cabana for three nights

Passionfruit

Green Garden Lizard (so we were told)

Red-capped Cardinal – one of Jack’s favorite birds

Tropical Mockingbird

Swallow-winged Puffbird

Black Vulture

These are Cacique nests

White-tipped Dove

Lineated Woodpecker

Tropical Kingbird

Savannah Hawk

Ruby Topaz

Waiting for the Potoo sighting

Great Potoo – front …

… and the back of the bird. Generally they are flush with a diagonal branch. Not so with this guy.

And the female. Now this is how we are used to seeing these birds (potoos) – like an extension of the tree

Orchid

Black-collared Hawk

Now waiting for dusk and the beginning of the “sundowner” tradition. A shot of El Dorado (Guianan) Rum. Oh and we are also waiting for nighthawks and nightjars to begin flying.

Lesser Nighthawk

Sunset

18 February 2019

We woke today to an open window. I thought Jack opened it and he thought I did. Hmmmm.   We still have a resident frog in our bathroom.

Today was the day to see the “trip bird” – the Harpy Eagle.  We hiked on the “Harpy Trail” for 30 minutes to check out a nest site.  The  Harpy’s has been seen bringing in nest material to this site in preparation for nesting. Yup, you guessed it.  A no-show.  What a disappointment.  We had so wanted to see the bird.  Don’t know if we will have any other chances, but I sure hope so.  A couple who are also at the lodge saw the Harpy Eagle yesterday.  As Jack likes to say – Timing is Everything.  And it sure is.  One birder on our tour said he has hiked different trails three times to see a Harpy Eagle and no Harpy.  Another birder said he has taken photos of Harpy nests twice now, and no Harpy.  I hope our luck changes.

We birded from around 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., getting about 35 species, of which most were new birds for the trip.  I think my favorite was the Great Jacamar. When the light hit the bird just right, the green on its head and the blue in its tail just shined.  Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

From 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. was quiet time.  Time to rest and relax as it is hot outside, even though you can hear the birds from our cabana.

At 4:30 p.m. we headed to “Heaven Savannah” to look for grassland species, finding lots of flycatchers, seedeaters (e.g., Ruddy-breasted), and the White-naped Xenopsaris.   After getting our fill of grassland species, we headed into the forest to look for owls.  We were successful in calling in the Spectacled Owl.  We didn’t spend much time on the owl.  Who (no pun intended) likes to have a bright light shining in their eyes?  Then it was back to the lodge for dinner and completing our species list of the day.

White-tailed Trogon (aka Green-backed-Trogon)

Great Jacamar

White-throated Toucan (aka Red-billed Toucan)

Scarlet Macaw

While waiting for the Harpy Eagle to appear, our Guide Ron Allicock put this hand-carved Ground-Cuckoo down in the hopes of enticing a ground-cuckoo to appear. No such luck.

Cream-colored Woodpecker

Yellow-headed Caracara

Savannah Hawk

View from the Surama Eco-lodge

Ruddy-breasted Seedeater

White-chinned Sapphire

(Hummingbird)

Palm Tanager

Cayenne Jay

Yellow-rumped Cacique

Their call included sounds like “welcome”

Plumbeous Kite

Cute cow and calf

19 February 2019

Today was our second try for the Harpy Eagle.  Our adventure took us down a forest road (one-mile drive and then two miles of walking) and a river boat trip on the Burro Burro River.  Once we were on the two-mile trail we birded along the way.  You never know when and where you might find a Harpy Eagle.  You listen for agitated Howler Monkeys or Scarlet Macaws, although the Scarlet Macaws always sound agitated to me.  We did hear both, but our guide suspects they might have been agitated by a Crested Eagle, an eagle similar to the Harpy Eagle.  So why the agitation?  Well Harpy Eagles like to eat monkeys and large birds.

We got to the river, which is low this year.  The trip took us awhile (several hours) because we had to dodge large trees that had fallen over or down into the water, and dodge overhanging branches and leaves.  We had two boats.  A couple of times the boats (one or both) would get hung up (high centered) on a large tree trunk that was mostly submerged under water.  The trip down river was beautiful despite the obstacles.  We did see a caiman (think alligator) resting on a log, and we flushed a Capybara.  This is a large rodent looking mammal.

We finally made our destination and walked a narrow, windy trail to an area where we could look across the river and see a very large tree.  In this tree was a Harpy Eagle nest which has had an active juvenile hanging around.  There was no bird on the nest when we arrived so we proceeded to ‘stake-out’ the nest hoping a Harpy would fly in.  Our wait was rewarded with the appearance of an immature (8month-old) Harpy Eagle!  Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We all got great views and hopefully great photographs.  After watching the bird for about 30-45 minutes, we returned to our boat and our trip up river.  For me, the river trip didn’t produce many birds because Jack and I were in the second boat going down river to the Harpy nest.  Most of the birds were flushed by the first boat.  And coming back we were in the first boat, but the forest was much more quiet, except for the numerous Kingfishers (Ringed and Amazonian) along the river.

This is our last night at Surama Eco-lodge so the staff fixed us a nice barbeque dinner.

On the forest trail – headed to the river to catch our boats for the downriver trip to the Harpy Eagle Nest

The Burro Burro River

Bats clinging to the side of a large rock in the river

Swallow

Local Guide Ron Allicock getting the first boat over a log in the river

The boat was successfully dislodged with no one going into the water

Large spider on a log

Ringed Kingfisher

Harpy Eagle nest tree

That is one big nest

Eight-month old Harpy Eagle

Golden-checked Woodpecker

Banana Tree

20 February 2019

Another early morning departure (6:00 a.m.).  We said good-bye to our hosts at Surama Eco-Lodge and proceeded to bird our way to Atta Rainforest Lodge, located about 30 minutes from Surama.  We birded along the way until we reached the Harpy Eagle Trail (our first search site).  The Harpy Eagle nest is located within the forest about a 30-minute walk from the road.  While we birded the road, our drivers went to the nest to see if the eagles had landed (I know, sorry).  The excited word back was that a Harpy was present so off we went, in a rush, to check out the bird.  When we arrived we saw the female.  She was sitting in the open, but pretty high up in a tree.  She left and flew to the nest tree (which is one big honking tree) and we continued our view.  Suddenly a male came flying into a nearby tree and we got lots of looks of him as well.  Just not as good.  So three Harpy Eagles for this trip.  Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Score.  Jack and I did our happy dance.

We got to Atta Rainforest Ledge around 12:00 p.m., quickly settled into our rooms (nice), and then went to have a delicious meal.  Yum!!!  Then we had a few hours to just rest and relax.

We did some afternoon birding beginning around 4:30 p.m.   Walking the road near the lodge, we got to see ever so brief glimpses of the Coraya Wren. A bird I really wanted to see.  I’m glad I got a decent 5-second look at the bird.  I sure hope we see it again.  About a half-hour after we started birding the rains came and quieted down the forest.  We stayed out in hopes of see the Long-tailed Potoo fly in, but the bird had other plans.  We ended the evening with a very good meal and completing our bird checklist for the day.

When we do our evening checklist, it surprises (or maybe no some much) me that I only seem to get half the birds as the rest of the group, or at least Swampy (aka David 2) or Victoria.  He knows the calls for the birds, unlike me.  Shoot, sometimes I’m lucky to even know the names of the birds we see.  Victoria likewise is a good birder – she is really good at spotting birds.

Martin (Gray-breasted or Brown-chested)

Silver-beaked Tanager

Blue-headed Parrot in nest hole

Blue-headed Parrot

Paradise Jacamar (poor lighting, unfortunately)

Taiwan David sitting waiting for the birds

Black Hawk Eagle

Love the crest

Harpy Eagle

The male was right above us – looking down

The underside of a Three-toes Sloth

Long-tailed Hermit

Blue-headed Parrot

Red-rumped Agouti

21- February 2019

It rained much of the night and into the morning.  The plans were to get up at 5:00 a.m., and begin birding by 6:00 a.m.  Our plans got delayed a little with us starting out around an hour later.  We went to the canopy walk/tower, consisting of three-interconnected towers.  While we were on tower number two, we were told to leave the tower and proceed to tower number 3 as the wires holding up the gangway between tower #1 and tower #2 were hanging by a thread. So our birding sightings on the canopy tower consisted of three birds total:  a Guinian Puffbird, and two White-necked Toucans.

From the tower we birded a forest trail for several hours, not finding much although the Grey-rumped Trumpeter, a rather large, beautiful bird, was sighted briefly.  I would love to have better and longer views of this bird.  We did see and hear the Screaming Piha regularly.  These birds sings all day long.  This song/call is one you don’t forget.  I think I will make it a ringtone on my phone.

We had a nice break after lunch, then around 2:00 p.m. we headed out on the road to a spot where our local bird guide had previously located a Rufous Potoo in the nearby forest.  Off we went.  We hiked on a trail for a short distance, and there was the Potoo, sitting quietly for us.  These birds roost during the day and hunt at night.  The bird is not common for this area so always a pleasure to see a rare bird.

After we hiked back out to the vehicles we birded the road, finding some great parrots, macaws, tanagers, and raptors.  My favorite parrot is the Red-fan Parrot.  This bird fans its crest, although I wasn’t able to capture the beauty on my camera.  We also had a couple of small Bat Falcon.  Right now is the breeding season in Guyana so we are seeing a lot of birds already paired up, copulating, and building nests.  Fun to watch all the activity.

Screaming Piha

These birds really open their mouths wide to sing (or it is scream?)

Atta Lodge has a canopy. We didn’t stay long at the tower as our guide noted it wasn’t very safe.

Scarlet Macaw

There is a frog in this photo

Black Currasow – they walked through the lodge grounds

Mealy Parrot

Blue-headed Parrot sticking its head out of a nest hole

Next up – Week Two.  Until then …

IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

More Arizona Birding

3 February 2019

We woke to a beautiful sunrise at Whitewater Draw and the departure of waves and waves of thousands and thousands of Sandhill Cranes.  They filled the sky –what a sight.  This time Pat and I walked down to the viewing areas to see the cranes depart, while Jack and Bob stayed back at the campsite.

We left Whitewater Draw around 10:00 a.m. and made our way to Madera Canyon.  We decided to come here rather than try Gilbert Ray campground.  We stopped for lunch at the Horseshoe Café in Benson, which I would rate a 4.5 out of 5.0 stars.  Good food.  Apparently others agree as the place was very busy.

Just before Dawn …

Sunrise

The blackbirds roost in this wetland – lots of cattails, which they love

Most of these birds are Yellow-headed Blackbirds

Cactus Wren…

… here looking for food on the ground

Black-throated Sparrow

Black-throated Sparrow

We arrived at Madera Canyon around 2:00 p.m. greeted by an overcast sky, rain, and wind.  One positive note, we did find a campsite in Bog Springs Campground.   We parked and hung out until around 3:00 p.m. and then proceeded to the Santa Rita Lodge to check out the bird feeders.  The lousy weather resulted in not as many birds at the feeders, although the Blue-throated Hummingbird was present.  The Coatimundi also came several times.  Since our last visit a little over a week ago, the Lodge owners placed a hummingbird feeder for the Coatimundi below the seating/viewing area.  I think this was so people didn’t try and feed the animal as it came up to feeder adjacent to the parking area.  However, the new hummingbird feeder was empty so the Coatimundi would still go back to the parking lot feeder where he was used to getting sugar water.  Only problem is, that feeder had been removed.  Poor guy, he looked so bewildered.

Afterwards we drove to where the Elegant Trogon has been repeatedly seen.  Alas, no Trogon.  We heard reports the White-throated Thrush had been seen here too, but no Thrush either.  We continued on down the trail and did get a few birds, but not much moving in the rain soaked forest.

Mexican Jay

Blue-throated Hummingbird

Blue-throated Hummingbird

White-breasted Nuthatch

Acorn Woodpecker

The Coatimundi coming in for the sugar water

4 February 2019

We woke to windy, overcast conditions – not always ideal for birding.  We left the campground around 9:00 a.m. and stopped at the parking lot where the Trogon has been seen. No Trogon.  We then drove down to the Proctor parking lot and parked our vehicles.  Bob, Pat, Jack, and I then walked up the trail in search of the White-throated Thrush.  Bob and Pat had not seen it yet at Madera Canyon.  Some campers from yesterday told us where they had seen it today and gave us directions.  So off we went taking the right fork of the trail.  We didn’t get too far when we saw a group of birders and photographers pointing and looking up into a tree.  In great anticipation, we approached quickly, and we all got great views of the bird – with binoculars.  I say that because although it was close it was backlit and all you could see was a black bird.  This bird is so not black, but a shift in our position and with the help of foliage behind the bird we soon saw its splendid markings.

The bird then dropped to the ground to feed and we got even better views.  Depending on where you were standing, the bird was either in open view or almost obscured by branches and leaves.  I had an open view and told a photographer to stand in front of me and then I got him on the bird.  He got some great shots.  Me.  None.  Oh well.  The bird then flew back up into some brush.  Luckily I was able to follow the bird so I knew where it was sitting.  However, it wasn’t easy to always get everyone on the bird because the bird was partially obscured by branches and vegetation.  But it would occasionally move and at one point I got some decent shots.  A lot better than the first time I saw the bird over a week ago.  I wonder how many people have seen this bird – it seems to attract a crowd.

More birders were arriving, so we retreated to the parking lot.  However, just before we got there Pat and I heard several gnatcatchers.  Two Black-capped Gnatcatchers have been spotted in this vicinity in recent days.  Despite our best efforts we could not positively ID the birds as Black-capped Gnatcatchers.  So then what were they?  We think they were Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers.  These two birds look very similar during the non-breeding season.  To me the differences are very subtle.  I took my photo and checked it against Merlin ID, but this app wasn’t any help since Merlin listed all four gnatcatchers and a vireo as possibilities.  Was my photo that bad?

Our next stop was the Juan Batista de Anza greenway trail in the community of Tubac.  An immature Rose-throated Becard had been seen here yesterday.  We looked but didn’t see much in the way of birds.  That may be due to the wind – strong.  I know the White-throated Thrush was mostly hunkered down in the trees while we spent about 30 minutes watching the bird.

We had an 80+ mile drive ahead of us – and through Tucson – so we ended our birding for the day around 1:30 p.m. and headed north.  We are staying the night at Picacho Peak State Park.  Bob and Pat give me a hard time because I had difficulty with the pronunciation, at first, so I simply called it either Pistachio or Pinocchio State Park.  We were lucky to get a camp spot here.  It is a popular place – always full.  Lots of really big RV rigs all wanting electric sites.  I think our “tin tent” van was the smallest rig there – no tents.  As I mentioned before, it is getting harder and harder to get into certain state park campgrounds in Arizona.  Good for Arizona State Parks, no so good for us campers.  I guess there are more baby boomers who are becoming Snowbirds.  But the state park campgrounds aren’t cheap.  We also find that many people stay in these campgrounds for a week or more, whereas the longest we’ve stayed at a campground this trip is four days.  We picked this campground because it is close to Santa Cruz Flats, an area that is supposed to be good for winter birds – particularly grassland birds like the Mountain Plover.  We will let you know if that is true or not.

White-throated Thrush

White-throated Thrush

De Anza trail

Inca Dove

De Anza Trail

Various types of nest boxes. Jack thinks this was a project by the Tucson Audubon involving Lucy’s Warblers.

5 February 2019

Today we went birding an area known as Santa Cruz Flats.  It is an agricultural area northwest of Picacho Peaks Campground.  The goal was to find several birds:  Mountain Plover (found 33 of them in one field), Horned Lark (saw several dozen), and Crested Caracara (luckily we saw one).  And, finding a Ferruginous Hawk and a Prairie Falcon were pleasant surprises.

Before we headed out birding we had a frantic half hour thinking Jack had lost his wallet.  We called the grocery store we stopped at yesterday for groceries.  No luck there.  We checked the campsite we had just vacated.  Nothing there.  We stopped at the visitor center/administration office to see if it had been turned in.  No luck there.  Then I searched the bedding, because I had tossed Jack’s pants onto the bed this morning.  Sure enough the wallet had slipped out of his pocket and got hidden in the comforter.  Whew!!!  We weren’t looking forward to cancelling credit cards and a getting Jack a new driver’s license (or me having to drive).

We also got reservations for the next two nights at Picacho Peaks State Park, albeit in different campsites each night.  Tonight we are in the overflow area.  We have a picnic table, fire ring, and access to a vault toilet but no electricity – perfect for us.  Water is at the dump station regardless of where you camp.  I imagine many of the big rigs would prefer having a water hookup at their site.  The overflow site cost is only  $15.00 per night.  Tomorrow night we are in site B-23.  Not an ideal site, but we will have electricity as the nighttime temperatures are supposed to dip to 31 degrees F.  Brrrrrrr.  Plus, I want to recharge my electronics before we have several nights without electricity at our next destination.

After birding we returned to our campsite for the night (Overflow Site #2) and got caught up on emails and such.  Tomorrow we might revisit the Santa Cruz Flats and do some hiking in the park.

Campsite A-9 at Picacho Peak State Park

Western Meadowlark

Horned Lark

Prairie Falcon

American Kestrel

White-crowned Sparrow

Site #2 in the overflow camping area at Picacho Peak State Park

Picacho Peak

Sunset

6 February 2019

Rained last night so we didn’t think the dirt roads in Santa Cruz Flats would be conducive to driving in our van.  Instead we drove into Oro Valley (Tucson suburb) and went to Trader Joe’s (oh how I miss this store – our Portland, Oregon days), the bank (need money for our Guyana trip), and to get gas for the van.  We ended the trip into town with a movie (A Dog’s Way Home).

We returned to the campground and just hung out.  A cold wind is blowing so not conducive to sitting outside and enjoying the scenery or going for a walk.  There is a hard frost warning for tonight.  We are at an electrical site, but we don’t leave the heater running all night long.  So it will be a cold morning.

Tomorrow we head north to Buckeye, which is west of Phoenix. – a two hour drive.  Our goal is to visit a Thrasher hotspot and find the LeConte’s, Bendire’s, and Sage Thrashers, plus the Sagebrush Sparrow.

Campsite B-23 at Picacho Peak State Park

7 February 2019

It was cold last night and thankfully we had our heater.  It’s not fun sitting in the van wearing your winter clothes, before going to bed.  And this morning — ice on the pumpkin so to speak.  We always leave our camp stove and fuel tank out at night and the stove was coated in frost this morning.  Surprisingly the water in their containers, which we also left outside, did not freeze.  They have in the past.

We broke camp and headed towards the “Thrasher Hotspot” near Buckeye, Arizona.   We were almost there when I saw a number of birds in a semi-flooded farm field so we stopped.  I spotted the distinctive shape of Long-billed Curlew, which I was hoping to see in Arizona.  There were over 50 of these shorebirds in the field, along with about 40 Greater Yellowlegs, and at least 20 Killdeer.  In addition to these shorebirds there were 35 Great Egrets.  The field flooding must have revealed something good to eat for these birds as they were busily feeding.  And the area also attracted hundreds of blackbirds (yellow-headed and red-winged) and grackles (great-tailed).  Of course  there was a cattle feedlot across the road so that might be an attraction for the birds.

We finally got to the “Thrasher Hotspot” around 10:30 a.m.  There were two other cars at the parking lot.  For some reason I was thinking this area would be out in the middle of nowhere.  Nope.  There is a huge chicken facility (think eggs) nearby, and some houses in the distance.  The land is Arizona State Trust lands.  You simply walk the area and hope you find some thrashers on the top of vegetation singing away.  We did.  We saw the LeConte’s and the Bendire’s Thrashers, plus the Sagebrush Sparrow.  I was happy to see all three of these species.  I’m not sure if the other birders saw the birds or not.  We had to use our spotting scope to get decent views and neither birder was carrying a spotting scope.

Afterwards we headed to our campground for the night – Skyline Regional Park (managed by the City of Buckeye).  There are seven campsites (A-G).  We are in campsite E.  There currently is only one other camper.  I suspect that will change tomorrow night (Friday).  The cost is $20.00 per night for a site with a picnic table and fire ring, and a communal toilet (they’re metal toilets).  There is no water source or electrical hookups at the campground.  A little expensive, in my view given the lack of water and electrical hookups, but it is located near the “Thrasher Hotspot” so good enough.  We didn’t know if we were going to see the birds in our first try so we booked this place for two nights.  You can just show up and book a site for the night, if available, although we didn’t know that when we booked our site online.  If we had known, we would have just shown up.  To register online you have to fill out a form then wait for the City to contact you by phone to let you know whether they have anything available, and if so, then they take your credit card number. We’re not sure how reliable the reservation system is since when we arrived our site there was no indication the site was reserved for the next two nights.   Hmmmm nothing like confronting someone who takes your site thinking it is open – luckily not our case.

Cold Morning today

Saguaro Cactus with a bird’s nest

Which species made this nest?  Cactus Wren?  One had been spotted singing from the top of the Saguaro.

Cactus Wren under our picnic table eating some type of human food.  Not sure what.  Popcorn maybe?  If so, not ours.

This is part of the Thrasher Hotspot

LeConte’s Sparrow

Sagebrush Sparrow

Sagebrush Sparrow

Sagebrush Sparrow

Bendire’s Thrasher

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Verdin

Campsite E at Skyline Regional Park near Buckeye Arizona

The view from our campsite

That is a bridge you take to the many trails at Skyline Regional Park – not too far from our campsite

Rock Wren

Trail markers

Trail – a little rocky in places

Pincushion cactus

8 February 2019

This morning was cold, but not as cold as yesterday.  No frost on the camp stove.  I woke up at 6:00 a.m. when someone proceeded to park a trailer in the site next to ours – they were here for an Eagle Scout project.  Technically they aren’t supposed to put their camping equipment in that spot until 1:00 p.m.  So much for the rules.  Also, quiet hour is from 10:00 p.m. to sunrise.  The sun hadn’t risen when they came in with the trailer, and the person who brought in the trailer kept slamming a lot of doors – not so quiet.  So much for campground rules.

The park does have a “no glass in the park” policy.  I think they don’t want beverage containers broken in the day use area or on the trails.  Campers need a beer permit (at $25.00 per permit) if they want beer at their campsite (no mention of other alcohol).  Does that mean they have to have canned beer?  Personally I like those parks that prohibit alcohol.

The day-use area for this park is located immediately adjacent to the camping area making for an interesting morning when there were people parking and heading out on the trail before it was even light.  By the time we left for the Thrasher Hotspot (around 8:45 a.m.) there were already 24 cars in the parking lot and ten cars passed us as we were leaving the park.  This area has a great trail system so is very popular.  We were surprised they don’t charge a day-use fee – slam the campers instead.

The reason for going back to the “Thrasher Hotspot” was to try and see a Sage Thrasher, but no luck.  We did see the LeConte’s and Bendire’s Thrashers again.  Also several Sagebrush Sparrow’s.  The Bell’s Sparrow (a look-alike to the Sagebrush Sparrow), has also been spotted here, although we don’t think we saw it.  But who knows???   The differences between the two birds are so subtle I doubt I would be able to tell the difference without a good photo with both birds in the same frame.  Even then I’m not so sure I could tell the difference.

We were the first ones at the site, but we were later joined by six other people.  Several of those individuals were looking solely for the Bell’s Sparrow so it must have been spotted here recently.

The plan was to go hiking at the park in the afternoon, but instead we ended up spending most of our time looking for the thrashers and sparrows.  We got back to the park around 3:45 p.m. and found one additional camper set up.  I wonder if they had a reservation or not.  The sign for camping says the sites are available after 1:00 p.m. if there is no one assigned to the site.  However, we paid for our site and still there is nothing formal indicating we have this site reserved for two nights.  The reservation system for this park definitely needs improvement.

Tomorrow we head to Apache Junction where we will stay with friends before heading to Guyana, South America, on 12 February for a two-week bird tour.  Guyana has over 800 bird species so should be a full-meal-deal.

Black-capped Gnatcatcher

We saw a lot of lizards out today, while none yesterday. Weird.

Globe Mallow

Bendire’s Thrasher

Sagebrush Sparrow

Lots of garbage at the Thrasher Hotspot

9 February 2019

We left the campground early today – 7:30 a.m. so we could get to Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch near Phoenix.  We always like this place for birding and we weren’t disappointed today either.  We had a total of 52 different species.  There were Anna’s Hummingbirds everywhere we went in this area.   Must be breeding time because they seemed to be either chasing each other or chasing off the competition.   And if you ever want to see an Abert’s Towhee – this is the place — we saw at least 27 of them today, including five at one time.  And, too many rabbits to keep track.

The Gilbert Water Ranch is a series of reclaimed water treatment ponds.  The water levels are managed so a lot of great habitat resulting in a diversity of birds – desert species, riparian species, water birds, and shorebirds.  The area is very popular – utilized by birders and non-birders alike.  I think the birds have adjusted to all the people as we often had great, close up views.

We went to a pizzeria for lunch called Pieology.  Cute.  A custom-made pizza — you go along a buffet-like line and tell them what kind of crust, sauce, cheese, and toppings you want on your pizza and ta-da, it’s made to your specifications, cooked, and brought to your table.  Delicious.

From there we went to our friends Carla and Wayne’s where we will spend the next several days before heading to Guyana.

Riparian Preserve – lots of ponds and trails around the ponds

Nice wide trails

American White Pelican

Green Heron

Belted Kingfisher

Abert’s Towhee – one of many we saw

Mallard – Male

And there are a lot of bunnies. We even saw one with a dart in its side.

Green-winged Teal – Male

Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron

Ruddy Duck

Snowy Egret

Long-billed Dowitcher

Least Sandpiper

American Coot

Ring-necked Duck – Male.  You can even see the ring around around its neck.

Ring-necked Duck – Female

Green Heron

Great Egret

American Avocet

Black-necked Stilt

Verdin

Wilson’s Snipe

Cooper’s Hawk

Rock in a tree

We saw a lot of these nests in various trees. We think they are hummingbird nests.

Anna’s Hummingbird – Female

And oh what great lighting on this male Anna’s Hummingbird

This horse was across from the riparian area, but I loved its coloring.

10 February 2019

Today was a lazy day spent getting ready for our upcoming bird tour to Guyana.  We did take a foray out to Prospector Park to bird and walk Carla and Wayne’s two dogs – Willow and Mossy.  At the park, as Jack and Wayne went off to an off-leash area with the dogs while Carla and I birded the park.  As we were walking near a Saguaro cactus I happened to look at one of the many holes and saw something that could either be a bird (owl) or a deformity.  Turns out it was an owl roosting in the sunshine.  Carla and I looked at the bird and tried to identify it without the benefit of knowing what color eyes the owl possessed.  I took many photographs and we checked eBird for the area.  Possibilities included the Whiskered Screech Owl, Flammulated Owl, and Western Screech Owl.  The first two birds would be considered “rare” for this time of year and the Western Screech Owl had never been reported for the park.  Well there is always a first time.  When I compared my photo against the bird id app “Merlin” the bird came back identified as a Western Screech Owl.  Darn.  I was so hoping it would be either the Flammulated or Whiskered Screech Owl because those two birds would be life birds for me.  But I was happy to see a Western Screech Owl.

We had dinner with Carla, Wayne, and friends of theirs who live here during the cold winter months.  Dan and Diane are from Wisconsin and we enjoyed getting to know them.  Dan likes to go to the Dollar Store and get $1 cowboy hats so I am now an Arizona cowgirl!

Some good birds for a city park – Prospector Park in Apache Junction

Vermillion Flycatcher

Say’s Phoebe nest in one of the pavillons

Carla and I were hoping this was a Flammulated Owl or Whiskered Screech Owl. No luck. Western Screech Owl.

Sleepy-time

Soaking up the sun

View of the Superstition Mountains from the park

11 February 2019

Another lazy day with time spent at Prospector Park (us walking the dogs without Carla and Wayne) and getting ready for our upcoming Guyana bird tour.  The Western Screech Owl was still at the park sitting/roosting in the same hole in the Saguaro cactus.  I don’t blame the owl, the sun really does feel great – so nice and warm.

Phainopepla – Male

Bendire’s Thrasher

Not sure what’s supporting the upper half of this cactus???

The road used to walk dogs off leash

Superstition Mountains in the background

Next stop – Guyana, South America.  Until then…

IT’S ALWAYS A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

 

 

Southeastern Arizona Birding

28 January 2019

We spent last night at a hotel in Sierra Vista.  There aren’t many campground (public) around the area so we thought we would catch up on laundry and my blog – posting.  The hotel was fine, although the hot water was tepid at best.  I so wanted a nice HOT bath.  Oh well.

In the morning we stopped for groceries then went to Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) San Pedro Conservation Area, about 8 miles east of Sierra Vista.  We really like this place.  It is a good place to see sparrows and we saw a lot.  However, I’m not very good at identifying many of the sparrows, especially when they are at a distance and constantly moving.  We looked for the Western Screech Owl that roosts in a Fremont Cottonwood next to the visitor center.  The limb the bird is usually seen in had been cut.  Oh my.  So I went in and asked if the owl had been seen.  A volunteer was nice enough to take me back outside and show me the new roosting spot for the owl, which happens to be in the same tree, just a different snag hole.  She said that BLM had wanted to cut down the cottonwoods near the visitor center but the public was in an uproar over it and they backed down and only did some trimming of selected limbs.  She suspects the trees will eventually be cut down for safety reasons.  Too bad for the owl and for us birders who enjoy watching the little Western Screech Owl.

We walked along the San Pedro River.  I was looking for a Dusky Flycatcher and thought I would quickly play the call so I would know it if I heard the bird.  A man walked by and asked if I was looking for the Louisiana Waterthrush.  Well news to us, but you betchya.  Now I’m excited.  He told me where it had been seen so off Jack and I went.  We got to the spot and waited for about 5-10 minutes.  I then walked a short distance along the stream and the bird flushed into a nearby tree.  I bent down to get a photo of the bird (free of twigs or a lot of twigs) and another birder asked me what I had found.  I told him, and he came down with Jack to the area where the bird was perched.  We all got really good looks at the bird.  Woohoo!!!  An unexpected, but pleasant surprise and a new bird for the year.

Tree housing Western Screech Owl

Western Screech Owl

I think something was wrong with it’s right eye

Northern Flicker

Trail to San Pedro River

The sparrows love this habitat

Trail along the river

San Pedro River

Louisiana Waterthrush

Louisiana Waterthrush – see what I mean by twigs

San Pedro River

I love the Fremont Cottonwood trees

Green Kingfisher Pond. I’m not sure when a Green Kingfisher has last been spotted here.

Great Blue Heron

Is it hot and the heron has its mouth open to cool off?  It didn’t feel that hot to us.

Song Sparrow near the pond

The trail through an upland area – route back to the Visitor Center

Pretty dry but populated by sparrows

and a marauding American Kestrel

In all, we walked an estimated 2.4 miles along the scenic riparian greenbelt and slowly made our way back to the visitor center.  We saw a total of 37 different species.

We left the conservation area and drove to Whitewater Draw, our destination for the next several days.  When we got here, around 1:30 p.m. we were fortunate enough to find a camp spot with a picnic table (there are only four such sites).  We then proceeded to check out the birding, which included seeing and hearing an estimated 5,000+ Sandhill Cranes.  These we learned are the “early returners” – cranes that return from the feeding grounds around noon or so (the noon flight).  What an amazing site and sound.  Around dusk (5:30 p.m. or so), huge groups of cranes came flying in (the evening flight) to roost in the open-water wetlands.  The area is also full of ducks, snow geese, and lots of other birds, including two Great Horned Owls in a nearby roosting area.  In total we saw 27 different species.

The only downside to the day was the late arrival (around 5:00 pm) of a “European Monstrosity” (they build their motor homes to survive nuclear blasts, I think), which pulled up right behind us.  The vehicle can’t be more than 20 feet away.  Really???

Greater Roadrunner

A few of the thousands and thousands of Sandhill Cranes at Whitewater Draw

Oh and Snow Goose among the cranes

Greater Yellowlegs

Eastern Meadowlark

Curve-billed Thrasher

29 January 2019

We got up early this morning and went out to see the Sandhill Cranes take off.  Their departure wasn’t as spectacular as their arrival – they all don’t lift off at once.  But there were a LOT of Sandhill Cranes in the area.  I estimated at least 10,000-15,000, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was off by 10,000 or so.  When you looked up at the sky you could see wave upon wave of Sandhill Cranes flying off to the various farm field to feed.  Not all cranes left the area.  Many fly to a nearby farm field.  However, the majority leave the immediate area.  Then around noon many of the cranes returned to Whitewater Draw to feed, preen, and roost.  Too see this many cranes is mind boggling.  And there were a lot of other people coming out to see the cranes as well.  At one point (around noon) there were at least 25 cars in the parking lot.  This might not seem like many cars, but in past years the most vehicles we would see in the parking lot at one time would be around 5-6.  Nice to see so many people interested in the cranes and their conservation.

Mixed in among all the cranes are several all brown cranes (rather than the typical gray coloring).  And on one of the brown cranes, its red lores (face) and crown actually looked more reddish-orange than the typical red we see on the other cranes.

We spent most of the day walking around and checking out the various birds at this refuge.  We saw a total of 52 different species.  Not too shabby, eh.  We did see five wren species: Cactus, Rock, Bewick’s, Marsh, and House.  What a great day for wrens and wren lovers (me).  The Rock Wren actually came into our camp site and was sitting on the fence railing about five feet from Jack.  And there were lots of Marsh Wrens about, which is not surprisingly since this area is, in part, a marsh.  And speaking of marshes, there must have been over 1,000 Yellow-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds in the marsh or swirling overhead at dusk.  We also had an immature Vermillion Flycatcher.  The immature male does sport the bright red and black feathers.

Later in the day we met up with our friends Pat and Bob.  We birded with them for a couple of hours, pointing out some of the birds we had seen, including the Great Horned Owl in the owl roosting area.  While we scoping out the owl and feeling pretty smug, a woman and her daughter pointed out another Great Horned Owl in plain view that we had walked by without noticing.  I had heard both owls last night so it was nice to see both at the roost site.

Tomorrow we will leave and make our way to Cave Creek Canyon near Portal, Arizona.

The marsh before sunrise – waiting for the cranes to take off

Sunrise

People watching the cranes depart in the morning

The European Monstrosity that parked behind us

Our campsite – after they left

Jack sitting at the picnic table – breakfast time

A few snow geese and assorted ducks

Can you see the owl

Great Horned Owl roosting

There were a lot of Curve-billed Thrashers

Killdeer

Black Phoebe

Savannah Sparrow

Marsh Wren

and again

Here the Marsh Wren is out in the open – a rarity to find it so

Rock Wren

Black-throated Sparrow. Jack likes this sparrow, in part, because it is easy to identify.  Me too.

Immature Vermillion Flycatcher.  Although this bird does not sport the bright red and black, I love the coloring anyways.

The white on the ground are crane feathers

Parent and first year bird (born last summer)

There were two or three cranes that were all brown, rather than the gray coloring like the rest

Meadowlark

The road into Whitewater Draw

Sunset

30 January 2019

This morning we didn’t go down to the marsh viewing area to watch the cranes leave their roosting spot.  Instead we watched the spectacle from the campground (which is close).  But we really should have gone down since the cranes were much closer to the viewing areas this morning than they were yesterday and there seemed to be a continuous departure of cranes for over an hour; filling the sky.  What an amazing site.  And it seemed there were fewer people this morning to witness it.

We birded the area with friends Pat and Bob, and as we neared completion of our birding circuit around 11:00 a.m. we noticed a lot of cars in the parking lot.  Everyone was here for the noon arrival of cranes.   When we left the parking lot to head to Cave Creek Canyon near Portal, Arizona, I counted 40 cars in the parking lot and camping area (non-campers) with more people arriving.  Yesterday there were only 25 cars.  Pat looked at the sign-in register and saw that someone from Homer (other than us) had signed in.  So we checked it out.  Seems as though Mako Haggerty, a water taxi operator and former Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member, was present to watch the cranes return. The sign-in book had many other out-of-state notations.

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Pintail

We saw Lark Buntings as we were leaving Whitewater Draw

We drove into Douglas Arizona for lunch at Mana Café and Bakery (great place), and then proceeded to Cave Creek Canyon.  We got to the U.S. Forest Service – Sunny Flats Campground around 3:00 p.m.  I was worried we wouldn’t find a camping spot as this campground is in a very scenic location, well designed, and popular.  We need not have worried because we were the first campers for the night.  This was great because we got to pick the best site (#13), which is in full sun and a 360 degree commanding view of the massive rock cliffs surrounding the campground.  In the winter it can get cold here (elevation 5,200 feet), so having the van in the sun is essential.  Pat and Bob joined us at the campground about an hour later, but their favorite spot was taken by a Canadian (Quebec) couple.  We talked with the couple for about an hour about different places they have traveled, including Homer.  They complained about our campgrounds on the Homer Spit, which I agree are not the best.

We plan to stay here at least two nights.  How cold it gets at night and how long it stays cold in the morning will determine if we stay here longer than two nights.

Our campsite at Sunny Flats campground in Cave Creek Canyon

Spotted Towhee – so nice to see several of these birds. They’ve been scarce elsewhere.

Mountains surrounding our campground

31 January 2019

We got a slow start to our birding, other than what we saw in the campground, which included eight species, well nine actually, depending on the raven ID.  We had two ravens but I’m not sure if they were Common Ravens or Chihuahuan Ravens.  I would almost need to have both birds side-by-side.  I sure can’t tell by their calls or seeing them from a distance.  However, the habitat is Common Raven habitat.  The Chihuahuan Raven likes more open desert habitat.

We had intended to go birding up the South Fork of Cave Creek, which is near the campground, but got side-tracked in talking to some of the other campers.  A couple from Quebec and a couple from Colorado, plus our campground host.  Bob and Pat were present too.  I think we talked for over an hour about different places we’ve been, where people should go to see certain birds, etc.  Fun.  Everyone, except the campground host had been to Alaska.  The campground host told me she lives primarily on her social security, which is around $800 per month.  That is why she is a campground host – she doesn’t have to pay the campground fees and she gets free electricity.

We finally left the campground around 10:30 a.m. and walked up the South Fork Road to the trailhead, birding along the way.  We then proceeded about a mile up the trail, before turning back.  In all we walked over 5.0 miles and saw a total of 16 different species, of which six were woodpeckers:  Acorn Woodpecker, Arizona Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Red-naped Sapsucker, and Williamson’s Sapsucker.  The Hairy Woodpecker and the Williamson’s Sapsucker are First of Year Species.  I have a total of 159 First of Year Species for the month of January.  Not too bad for only a month of birding.  We’ve only seen the Williamson’s Sapsucker one other time and that was in Sedona during a hike about 6-7 years ago.  Nice to see the sapsucker again.   Two other great birds we saw were a Painted Redstart and four Yellow-eyed Juncos.  The juncos were in the grass scratching for food within 10 feet of us.  I really like their yellow eyes.

We got back to the campground around 4:30 p.m. and since we are in a canyon, the sun had already disappeared behind the canyon walls.  We decided it would be best to start dinner since we really hadn’t had any lunch yet, and our daylight was fading fast.

I really love this area.  The canyon is uniquely different from the red rocks around Sedona.  These canyon walls have a lot of caves – hence the name.  And the canyon is relatively narrow so the rock walls are relatively close and imposing.

Common Raven

Lots of caves and holes in the canyon walls

South Fork trail

Cave Creek

Brown Creeper

Brown Creeper

Small blue butterfly – Viola Adunca?

Moth

Yellow-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco. We had a lot of these birds in our campground.

Cave Creek

1 February 2019

We left the campground around 10:00 a.m. for some local birding. We stopped at Cave Creek Ranch to check out the feeders (at a cost of $5.00 per person) and left 2.5 hours later.  Fun to watch all the birds come to the various feeders to eat, bath, drink water, chase each other off, and suddenly flush if a raptor came over.  The people we met from Quebec told us about the place and that they had seen a Scott’s Oriole and Blue-throated Hummingbird there yesterday.  We had to stop for the Oriole and we were rewarded with brief views.  I don’t know if this is a life bird for me or not.  Will have to go back and check my records from when we were in the area  in 2008.

Some of the feeders at Cave Creek Ranch

This feeder hung right behind where I was sitting

Blue-throated Hummingbird

Hermit Thrush

 

Bewick’s Wren

Gambel’s Quail – female

Yellow-rumped Warbler

This container held mealy worms …

… which the Bridled Titmouse liked

Bewick’s Wren getting a drink. The wrens would come to within a foot of our feet.

We then went for a nice lunch at the Portal Café.  We had heard there was fast, free internet at the library so we headed there after lunch.  Although the library was closed (open from 10:00-2:00), we were still able to log onto their network to download emails while sitting on a bench outside the library.  As Jack was checking his emails, Bob, Pat, and I walked around the town (not very big) and birded, finding a Townsend’s Solitaire, which made Bob and Pat very happy, as well as several Hermit Thrushes.  I always wonder if the thrushes I see in Arizona or elsewhere in the Lower 48 are thrushes that migrate to Homer in the spring.  I always wish them a safe journey.

Good food at the cafe

Our next birding stop was a private home (again) owned by an Alaskan – Bob Rodriquez.  He winters here and has lots of feeders.  He has a donation box for bird food, rather than requiring mandatory payment.  We added to his donation box.  We had a total of 16 different species here in a hour’s visit, including the Crissal Thrasher, a bird I was very happy to see.  While the Crissal Thrasher is considered common, we don’t see them often.  Not like the Curve-billed Thrasher, which seems to be everywhere.

A bird’s nest in the cactus

This is what we see from the viewing (sitting) area

Canyon Towhee

Gambel’s Quail -male walking to a rock …

… and jumping up to see what’s what …

… then turning around and going back from whence it came

Pyrrhuloxia

Can’t you see why Jack just loves this Black-throated Sparrow. I love it too.

Broad-billed Hummingbird – female

Green-tailed Towhee

We were back in camp around 4:30 p.m. only to find a nearly full campground (there are only 15 campsites here).  Today is Friday so a lot more people getting out to enjoy Nature.

2 February 2019

Last night the campers next to us proceed to chop wood after dark.  Then they stayed up most of the night.  I could hear them talking, although not loud, and occasionally laughing (a little louder).  I woke up around 1:00 a.m. and I could still hear them outside talking.  Their wood pile must have gotten low because I then heard them chopping wood again.  They tired to be quiet about it, chopping once then waiting 10-15 seconds before taking another chop.  However, I think that was probably more annoying than just getting it all chopped quickly.  I kept waiting for the next chop.  So much for quiet hours.  It really irks me when people can’t abide by these rules.  Not everyone stays up to all hours of the night.  If you don’t want to abide by the rules, then go camping somewhere else.  Go primitive, off-road camping where you are alone and can make as much noise as you like.

We decided to return to Whitewater Draw and enjoy the cranes.  I wasn’t sure what we would find here camping wise, but when we arrived, there was one spot left with a picnic table so we grabbed it.  We saved room in front of our van for our friends Bob and Pat.  Surprisingly, someone came later and parked right behind us – within 10 feet.  In all there are 10 campers here tonight with four picnic table spaces.  And I thought eight campers was bad earlier this week.  It is amazing where people will park their campers.  Of the ten campers, we are the only ones who need a picnic table.  Everyone else is self-contained.

When we got to Whitewater Draw it was overcast and windy.  There weren’t too many cranes, maybe around 5,000.  Yes, that seems like a lot, but when you can get up to 30,000 that number isn’t so much.  People were coming and going all afternoon checking out the cranes.  There was a large flock of several thousand cranes that came in around 3:00 p.m., with the last large flock arriving around 6:00 p.m.  All are settled down for the night.  Of course the nearby coyotes might change that somewhat.

There weren’t as many marsh and upland birds out today as when we were here in the early part of the week.  Maybe it was due to the wind and cool, overcast day?  The Arizona Game and Fish Department is pumping more water into the marsh.  We are wondering if this is in anticipation of migratory birds arriving soon.

The “bird of the day” was a leucistic Yellow-headed Blackbird.  The bird was all white, except for a portion of its head and chest which were yellow (see photo).

Tomorrow we head back towards Tucson.  We are going to check out a new, for us, campground – Gilbert Ray.  I hope they have an opening.  If not, we might end up back at Madera Canyon.

Say’s Phoebe

A few cranes

Cranes and Geese

Cactus Wren

We walked down this path to check out …

… this Leucistic Yellow-headed Blackbird

We had a beautiful sunset

 

Until then …

It’s Always a Great Day to Bird

 

Patagonia and Madera Canyon

21 January 2019

When I first got up this morning my intentions were to bird some wetlands near Arivaca.  However, along the way I decided why not just drive on to Madera Canyon as its not that much further from the turnoff we need to take to head south on I-19 towards Nogales, Arizona.  Of course the decision was enabled by an eBird alert of a rarity – a White-throated Thrush seen in Madera Canyon.  So off we went.

When we arrived at the Proctor parking lot it was full except for one spot, which we quickly grabbed.  This is a holiday (Martin Luther King birthday) so the parking lot may or may not be filled with vehicles owned by birders out chasing the rare bird.  We headed off on the trail towards the Whitehouse Picnic area.  The White-throated Thrush has been spotted (by 200 people on 18 January 2019 – Yikes!!!) regularly between the Proctor parking lot and the Whitehouse picnic area.

We met a woman at the start of the trail and I asked if she had seen the bird.  She said no not yet (it was about 10:15 am).  She said this was her third try and the first time she missed it by a minute and the second time she missed it by five minutes.  Such is the life of a person chasing rare birds (timing is everything).  So we optimistically continued on the trail.  A young man returning to the parking lot with a BIG camera and lens asked if we had seen anything interesting.  I told him we hadn’t seen any birds yet (we had just started on the trail).  Of course he was only interested in the thrush.  He continued towards the parking lot, and we continued up the trail.  We did stop at one point and observed some delightful songbirds in a mixed flock: Brown Creeper (First of Year – FOY), Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Townsend’s Warbler, and Bridled Titmouse to name a few.  A bit later this same man came racing up the trail towards us and said he had heard the thrush was a short way up the trail.  So off we followed in pursuit of the bird.  The bird was in a tangle of dead leaves hanging from a limb near the creek.  With a little help from Tony (another photographer with a BIG camera and lens), I found the bird.  Then Jack got on the well camflouged bird.  Score!!!  Of course this is a new bird for us re: North American, but we did see the bird in Panama (in 2008) – so no life bird.  Still nice to find a North American rarity.

After watching the bird for a short time, we made room for the congregating birders and continued up the trail.  I saw some movement and heard a song, but I couldn’t get on the bird.  We tried following it.  I asked Jack if he had seen the bird as I was thinking it was a Painted Redstart.  He said yes, and that he also thought it was the Redstart.  Dang.  We never did find the bird.  Although I must admit I was surprised to remember the bird’s song when I hadn’t heard the bird sing in over two years.  Now that is a rarity – remembering the song of a bird I’ve only heard sing once or twice in my life.  While I was looking for the bird, a woman told Jack that an Elegant Trogon had been spotted further up the trail and was displaying nicely.  So again off we went in mad pursuit.  We got to the area where the Trogon was seen, and a guy with his camera sitting in a chair along side the road, asked if we had seen the Trogon down the trail.  We said no.  He said that Trogon had been here for a while but flew off.  We will try again for the bird when we return in four days.  We plan to spend a couple of days camping and birding this area.

We did go up the trail further – as far as the Santa Rita Lodge.  They have feeders out and you can always find great birds there.  A great spot for “armchair” birding.  We had several First of Year species come to the feeders:  Wild Turkey (23 of them), Pine Siskin, and a Hepatic Tanager.  I was happy to get the tanager.  That bird isn’t always a reliable ‘show.’

We stayed at the feeder for about 20 minutes then decided we needed to get back to the van, as we still had groceries to buy before heading to Patagonia Lake State Park where we will be camping for the next four nights.

We arrived at the campground around 3:45 p.m. and decided it was time for a shower.  The showers here were nice and hot, which I love.  The park had put in a number of new cabins and upgraded the bird feeding station at the east end of the campground.  There is now a paved path to the feeding station and places to sit and watch the birds.  And there are a lot more feeders out.  Of course when I got there the birds had already left to roost for the night.  Ah, but we (and they) will be back.

Sunrise at Buenos Aires NWR from our campsite

Sun shining – at our campsite

Mountains of Madera Canyon

Elephant’s Head

Madera Creek

In this tangle of leaves is a White-throated Thrush. Can you find it?

Can you see it now?

Mexican Jay

Bridled Titmouse – feeding upside down

Wild Turkeys at Santa Rita Lodge

White-breasted Nuthatch

Hepatic Tanager is a regular at the feeders at Santa Rita Lodge

Patagonia Lake and the Sonoita Creek SNA are “Important Bird Areas”

New paved trail to feeding station at the start of the Birding Trail

This is new too. Makes it easier for people to sit and enjoy the birds at the feeders.

22 January 2019

This morning we got up and drove into Patagonia (the town) for breakfast at “Gathering Grounds” a favorite breakfast place.  We’ve eaten there before and we were glad the ambience hasn’t changed from its homey style.  The food is delightful with locally brewed coffee to top it off.

From there we went to the Paton Center for Hummingbirds, owned and operated by Tucson Audubon.  This placed used to be owned by a couple – the Paton’s.  They generously welcomed birders to their little haven famous for attracting a diversity of hummingbirds.  When the Paton’s passed away the American Bird Conservancy purchased the property to continue the family legacy.   The land was subsequently transferred to Tucson Audubon, and they have done major fund-raising to build a new viewing shelter and a large butterfly garden, and also have plans for a public visitor center and administrative space.   And, hummingbirds were present: we marveled at three different species of hummingbirds today:  Violet-crowned (my favorite), Anna’s, and Broad-billed.  We actually had several Violet-crowned Hummingbirds, which are so magnificent and nice to see.

We spent most of the day here, fascinated by the diversity of birds and antics of the agile squirrels figuring out access to and hanging off various feeders.  We had intended to go to Patagonia-Sonoita Reserve, owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy.  This property adjoins Paton’s.  However, unbeknownst to us they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and this being Tuesday – timing is everything.  So we found a spot along the road to stop for a peaceful lunch.  Being so enthralled by the Paton area we then headed back for another couple of hours of birding.

In all we observed 34 different species at Paton’s.  There is a good variety of feeders with escape cover (brush piles) and water features, so a lot of food and desirable conditions for the birds.  We even had a rare bird – the Fox Sparrow.  A bird not regularly seen in this area.  And, with so much bird activity, I went a little crazy with my camera taking a total of 660 photographs.

As we were getting ready to leave we saw a couple looking at the back of our van (various Alaska and Homer bumper stickers and Alaska license plate).  We get that a lot – the curiosity with all the bumper stickers we have. It seems everyone is fascinated with Alaska wanting to tell us they have been there or want to go.  Or, our favorite question: “Did you drive here.” We stopped and talked with the couple who now live in Tucson but used to teach in the Alaska bush.  They know some people from Homer, including Dave and Molly Brann, and Gary Lyon.  Small world.

After Paton’s we went into town so I could go to a few art galleries/stores.  They really have some nice art by local artists.  So, to help the local economy, I had to buy a couple of things – naturally.  Then it was back to the campground for another night (or three actually).  I found out the campground quiet hours are from 9:00 pm to 8:00 a.m.   Oops.  We’re usually up by 7:00 a.m. to start morning coffee.

Seating area in back to watch the birds

One of the many gray squirrels

Lark Sparrow

Curve-billed Thrasher

From the brush pile to the feeder

Cedar Waxwing

Bridled Titmouse – this bird had to really work hard to get the sunflower seed out of this feeder

The Yellow-rumped Warblers would eat the suet dislodged by other birds from the suet feeders and that fell onto the tree

Pyrrhuloxia – Female

Hermit Thrush

My favorite wren – Bewick’s Wren

An Orange-crowned Warbler eating oranges

Ladder-backed Woodpecker (male)

I love how the front part of the red also has a white and black pattern

Female Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Female Lazuli Bunting

Several Lark Sparrows

This Sharp-shinned Hawk was waiting for breakfast – hmmm which bird will it be?

Common Raven

Common Raven

Black Phoebe

And now facing us

House Finch

Yellow-rumped Warbler

White-winged Dove

Fox Sparrow – rare for this area

Yes, they have a hummingbird cam

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Broad-billed Hummingbird – male

We think this is a hummingbird nest box

Anna’s Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Male Anna’s Hummingbird

And when the sun hits the bird just right – pizzaz!

Female Anna’s Hummingbird

Nice mosaic

23 January 2019

Today we decided to stay in the campground and take the birding trail at the east end of the lake.  It was 32 degrees F. when we woke up so we waited until a little after 9:00 a.m. for a bit more warmth from the sun before beginning birding.  When we started walking to the trailhead from our campsite we noticed a lot of other birders out and about too.  They couldn’t all be from the campground.  They weren’t.  Two groups of birders from Green Valley, near Tucson, decided to bird the park today.  While I love that more people are out birding, what I don’t like is when you have to share the trail with about 50 other birders.  When people get into large groups they spend more time talking than they do birding.  I find that highly annoying.

We tried to get ahead of the group but when the birds are out you stop and check them out.  I was watching one bird – a wren – that hid behind some down limbs.  It had just jumped out into the open when two birders came up and flushed the bird off.  Not good.  I wanted to give them a piece of my mind, but I kept quiet.  Birder etiquette was lacking among many from these two groups.

We did manage to see about 44 different species.  We were hoping for the Elegant Trogon, a ‘signature’ bird for the park, but it hasn’t been seen in over a month.  Maybe it flew over to Madera Canyon, which isn’t that far as the crow flies.  The highlight bird for me was a Cassin’s Vireo  – a First of Year bird.  I think I have seen this bird before on previous trips to this area, so not a life bird.  There aren’t too many life bird left for me in the U.S., except for pelagic birds or rarities – and even then I may have seen them before, like the White-throated Thrush.  And as for pelagic birds you have to get on a boat to see them, and well I don’t do well on boats (seasickness).

After birding the east end of the lake, we went back to our campsite and had lunch.  We want to go to the Sonoita Creek Nature Preserve tomorrow, which means we need a park permit.  So off to the visitor center we went to get our permit.  Of course we birded along the way.  At one area we had over ten species of birds.  The highlight here was twofold: Plumbeous Vireo and Vermillion Flycatcher.   I was hoping to get a photo of the flycatcher but it kept moving away from me as it was busy hawking for insects – it needed to get in its last meal of the day.

I am so happy we have electricity because the evenings have been chilly, and the mornings down right cold.  Unfortunately, in two days we are headed to Madera Canyon where we will be sans electricity.  So the evenings will be cold and the mornings freezing.  Now I know why I thought it would be good to get a camper that is fully contained.  Blessed Heat.   Guess we will have to turn on the van (engine) for heat relief (or to at least melt the ice off the windshield).

A little cold this morning

Group of birders checking out the feeders

Pyrrhuloxia – male

Yellow-rumped Warbler at the feeders. They really like the suet.

Rufous-winged Sparrow

This poor squirrel only had one eye working and he was missing part of his tail.  I wonder what happened?

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Anna’s Hummingbird – male

Pyrrhuloxia – female

Lazuli Bunting -male

East end of Patagonia Lake

Verdin

Cassin’s Vireo

These benches have names of birds, e.g., “Wren”

And then a photo of the bird

Yes, you will find cows in the birding area

New signs pointing to the “upper” and “lower” loops. Nice.

Gray Flycatcher

Song Sparrow

The wrens really love these downed trees

Share the trail (here with cows), but be careful where you walk. Someone was nice and put a stick in the cow pies to point it out. I wonder if that person almost stepped in it first.

Trial

Plumbeous Vireo

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Ruddy Duck (Jack’s favorite)

Cinnamon Teal -male

This nest consisted mostly of monofilament line – ugh!!!

There were at least three of these nests

Patagonia Lake

Mallard – female

Mexican Mallard

24 January 2019

Wow two days in a row where there have been birding trips to the Patagonia Lake State Park Birding Trail.  Today we had another group – smaller, with about 10-12 people and two guides.  The guides were young and definitely knew their birds – sight and sound.  I was quite impressed.  They also were able to get the people on the birds fairly quickly – also impressive.  We only encountered them at the main feeding station just before the start of the birding trail, as we had other plans today than birding the east end of the lake.

Prior to getting to the trail, however, we did see several great birds in the campground – the Cassin’s Vireo again, and a Black-throated Gray Warbler.  We’ve seen the warbler here in previous visits so was nice to see it again.  We spent about an hour birding our way to the feeding station and at the feeding station.  The highlight at the feeding station was a great view of a beautiful male Lazuli Bunting.

Afterwards we walked back to the van and then drove about two miles to the start of the Sonoita Creek Trail.  This is a nice trail, although rocky in places.  You don’t get as many birds along this trail (dry upland, riparian) as you do the birding trail (lakeside, riparian), but we still like to do the scenic hike whenever we visit.  Bikes are not allowed on the trail, but we saw evidence that someone thought this rule did not apply to them.  Yes, I am a stickler for the rules.

We finished the hike several hours after starting.  The trail is about 3.0-3.5 miles.   They limit the number of people who can access the area, although I’m not sure how many visitors are allowed daily – the small, 10-12 vehicle, parking lot was nearly full.  We passed about 10 people.

Oh, and this morning a camper from Florida was leaving and stopped to ask if our plates were Oregon or Alaska.  I said Alaska.  The guy asked where we lived.  I said Homer.  Of course he had been to Homer before and lamented that no one was feeding eagles on the Homer Spit anymore and how he is sure that was having a negative effect on the local economy.  He said he was one of the photographers who came to take photos of the eagles on the Spit.  I kept my mouth shut, no use debating the feeding of Homer eagles issue.  He also knew the owner of Hallo Bay – bear viewing.  He mentioned he had stayed at their house when they visited.  Again, small world as I knew Clint, the owner of Hallo Bay, (he unfortunately recently passed away) from my work on local Sandhill Cranes for the International Crane Foundation.

Tomorrow we head to Madera Canyon, this time to camp and bird.  We hope it will be a little warmer at night because we will be without electricity.  Guess I need to get out the electric blanket and figure out how it works.  Wish me luck.

Cassin’s Vireo

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Lazuli Bunting – male

Northern Cardinal -male

House Finch – male

Even Bewick’s Wrens like suet

White-winged Dove

Start of the Sonoita Creek Trail – it does get better

Now I don’t think the cow dropped these onto of the rocks

Cute little cactus

Sonoita Creek State Nature Preserve – pretty dry country

Loggerhead Shrike

Sonoita Creek

Dead cow remains

Yes, cattle in the state natural area too

And here near the lake

Killdeer

Patagonia Lake – west end

25 January 2019

Good thing we didn’t want to stay another night or two at Patagonia.  We learned yesterday that the campground was booked through at least next week.  We are finding that more and more with all the state park campgrounds we like.

We left the campground in the early-morning light (well before the end of quiet hours) and headed into Patagonia to have breakfast again at Gathering Grounds restaurant.  Since I get cell phone coverage there I could check emails, etc.  Afterwards we went back to the Paton’s Center to satisfy our Hummingbird addiction and spent about two hours checking out the birds.  There seemed to be less birds there today than our visit three days ago.  “Timing is everything,” as Jack likes to say.  We did get to see the Violet-crowned Hummingbird again so that was nice.  And today the Gray Squirrels were out in force.  We counted 11 of the wily wonders at the various feeding stations.

Curve-billed Thrasher

American Robin

This Lincoln’s Sparrow was bathing

Chipping Sparrow

Lark Sparrow

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Lincoln’s Sparrow – my favorite sparrow

Now is that crown violet or what? Violet-crowned Hummingbird

This squirrel found a way to get at the peanut butter at this feeder

Our destination for the night is the US Forest Service Bog Springs Campground in Madera Canyon.  That was not to be.  The campground was full.  I was wondering if that might be the case because today is Friday and more people camp on the weekends, or maybe the fact that camping is free (government shutdown) people can stay there longer.  Or maybe there are just more people camping nowadays (can’t argue with the need to be out in Nature).

So, we are “primitive camping” down a rocky road (Proctor Road) where there are a number of primitive campsites.  We found a great sunny site (#1), which is within walking distance of the great birding trail in Madera Canyon.  We parked, had lunch, and then ventured out on the trails.  We were hoping to see the Elegant Trogon today.  Not to be so will try again tomorrow.  While stopped at a Trogon stakeout site a guy pointed out a bird he identified as a  Northern Beardless Tyrannulent; but the bird that I saw was a Hammond’s Flycatcher, not the Tyrannulent.  Will see if eBird confirms the sighting.

We did walk up to the Santa Rita Lodge feeding stations.  The place was packed with people.  This area has become quite popular as a birding hot spot – with birders and non-birders alike.  I wonder how much bird food the generous lodge owners go through in a day and whether donations (a donation container was on-site) pay for it or not?  We did see some good birds, including two First of Year:  Blue-throated Hummingbird and a splendid Yellow-eyed Junco.  The junco was close so I tried taking a photo of the bird.  In all my photos I got everything but the yellow-eyes.   Figures.

While we were at the feeding stations, a Coati Mundi appeared.  Such a darling little animal. I guess it comes to the area regularly and feeds on the northern most hummingbird feeder (see photos, I’m not kidding).  The lodge guy said it had been there three times today alone and emptied the hummingbird feeder each time.  The birds seem to ignore it or get out of its way as it wandered the grounds.

Next we walked back down the trail and stopped to where the Elegant Trogon has been regularly spotted.  We waited about 15-20 minutes, but it didn’t show.  Dang.  I spoke with one woman who said it was there earlier but her husband didn’t like the photos he got, so they came back.  Another photographer (Mr. “that’s a Tyrannulet”), was still there on our return – at least an hour later. He finally gave up when the low winter sun went behind the mountain and since this is a canyon, it disappears around 4:00 p.m.  Luckily, our campsite is beyond the canyon and has the late-afternoon sun still shining at 5:30 p.m.  It would be dark and cold in the campground right now, so although we don’t have a toilet close by or a picnic table, we do have sunshine.  That means a lot to me.  I get cold easily so I always appreciate the sun.

Our primitive camping site

View from our camp site

And the view the other direction

We saw the White-throated Thrush several days ago near this bridge

The trail

Hammond’s Flycatcher

Arizona Woodpecker -female

The Hepatic Tanager is back

Bewick’s Wren

Wild Turkey

House Wren

Coati or Coatimundi – a member of the racoon family

This one comes daily for the sugar water in the hummingbird feeders

The birds move out of its way

Here partaking of the sugar water – yum!

It doesn’t seem to mind all the people looking at it and the birds

Some of that sugar water drips onto its coat, so it takes a little time to cleanup

It is sooooooooooooooooo cute

26 January 2019

Surprisingly it wasn’t as cold last night or this morning, although my toes did feel like they could break off if I hit them against something.  I should have put on my faux Uggs.  After breakfast we headed up the trail in search of more birds.  Before we left we spotted two Canyon Towhees (First of Year) at our campsite.  Not too shabby.  On the trail we did manage to get quick glimpses of the Elegant Trogon.  The bird was working the creek hawking for insects.

Further along the trail the Painted Redstart, the bird I was hoping to see most of all, suddenly appeared and we had great views of it.  I so love this bird.  We watched the bird search for insect along the truck of a juniper tree.  Every once in a while the bird would fan its black and white tail. The bird moved around so much however, I could not get a decent photo.  SSD (some of you will know what that abbreviation means).  But, what a great bird to find.  YAY!!!

We continued further up the trail and to the site where the Elegant Trogon has recently been seen eating red berries.  At the site was a gentleman from Ontario.  This is the guy I mentioned yesterday that had gotten photos of the Trogon, but wanted better photos.  His wife told Jack that he had been waiting today for over an hour for the bird to show up.   We stopped and waited for about 10 minutes to see if the bird would show but we don’t have much patience for bird stake-outs and continued on to the always ‘birdy’ feeding area at Santa Rita Lodge.  We weren’t disappointed.  We got to see the Blue-throated Hummingbird again, and then scored with both a female and male Rivoli’s Hummingbird (formerly known as the Magnificent Hummingbird).  The Rivoli’s is a rare bird here this time of year.  And, the Rivoli’s Hummingbird is a First of Year so I was happy.  The Coatimundi made another appearance going to the hummingbird feeder to get his sweet treat, this despite the fact there were probably 20 people within several feet of him getting a photo op.

After a hard day of birding, we treated ourselves to a Klondike Bar (ice cream) at the Santa Rita Lodge gift shop and made our way back down the trail.  At the Elegant Trogon spot, the gentleman from Ontario was still waiting for the bird to appear.  It had now been three hours since he had set up his camera for “The Photo” of the bird.  And people think birders are crazy.

Further down the trail we stopped to check out a mixed flock of birds.  A couple, who are birders, stopped and talked to us.  The guy asked where we were from.  Jack said Homer.  He said they love Homer, and he has a cousin there by the last name of Stolzfus or something like that.  We said, “Oh, you mean Karl.”  He said, yes.  Small world again as Karl is a birder friend and owns ‘Bay Excursions’ offering boating trips out on Kachemak Bay in Homer.  This couple was from Northern Indiana and he said he just loves the desert so they leave Indiana in early January and come down for two months – and of course to escape the Indiana cold.

Birders and Photographers (in search of the Elegant Trogon and White-throated Thrush) outnumbered hikers on the trail ten-to-one.  Oh and as of 2:30 p.m., no one had spotted the White-throated Thrush yet.  And there were two people who had come all the way from California to see the bird.  They had been on the trail since dawn to try and find this bird.  Maybe they will get lucky before the day is out.

We got back to camp around 2:45 p.m. and decided to just relax and enjoy the rest of the day.  Tomorrow we will check out nearby Florida (pronounced Flo-ri-d-a) Canyon for the Rufous-capped Warbler and Black-chinned Sparrows.  I think the warbler is more likely to be seen than the sparrow.

The moon setting over the mountain

Acorn Woodpecker – looks like this utility pole has a few holes in it to store acorns

Arizona Woodpecker -male

Painted Redstart

Rivoli’s (formerly known as Magnificent) Hummingbird – female

Yellow-eyed Junco

Acorn Woodpecker

Anna’s Hummingbird -female

Blue-chinned Hummingbird

Rivoli’s Hummingbird – female

And for the third time … the Hepatic Tanager

This is the feeding area at Santa Rita Lodge

27 January 2019

We got up early, packed up, and headed to Florida Canyon, which is located a short distance from Madera Canyon (just over the hill as the crow flies).  We got there around 8:00 a.m., probably a little early as there weren’t many birds moving about.  The sun was up, but hadn’t hit the floor of Florida Canyon yet.  This canyon has a stream where the Rufous-capped Warbler hangs out.  We later heard a birder from Tucson say the best time to get there is around 10:00 a.m.  Okay, so we were 2 hours early – early birds.

We walked/hiked/climbed over rocks up the wash, passing the dam, making the first stream crossing, and then the second stream crossing.  We saw a few birds, but not the warbler.  We walked back down to the first stream crossing and saw movement in some willows alongside the stream.  There was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (they were everywhere) and a Lincoln’s Sparrow.  We waited and watched.  I then proceeded back up the trail a short distance and saw movement on the hillside.  Up went the binoculars to a small bird on an Ocotillo cactus.  There was the Rufous-capped Warbler.  I called Jack, but by the time he got to me the bird had flushed.  We searched and searched but never did see the elusive bird again.

There were a number of people looking for the bird, but without success.  It will be interesting to check eBird to see if anyone besides me saw the bird today.  One guy with his camera was hunkered down for an apparent long wait.  We left the area around 1:00 p.m. and he still hadn’t come back to the parking lot.  Such patience.  Me, not so much.

We did meet a couple from Flagstaff.  Guess what – they’ve been to Homer and they love it.  They went out on a boat with Karl Stoltzfus.  Karl, you are popular.  Not surprisingly we’ve yet to meet anyone who hasn’t liked (marveled about) Homer.  This couple even got us on the Black-chinned Sparrow.  Hooray!!!

We left Florida Canyon and drove to the community of Sierra Vista where we are staying in a hotel for the night.  Not many camping options available around here.  Tomorrow we plan to drive to Whitewater Draw and hopefully find a camping spot.  Being as it is Monday, we might have better luck than on a weekend.

The trail is not an easy one

Rocky at times

Wow someone actually out here and tagged this water tank???

“the dam”

Northern Cardinal -female

Nest

Now this nest is “out on a limb”

Canyon Towhee

Looking back at Florida Canyon

Road 62

Countryside near Sonoita

It’s Always A Great Day to Bird

Arizona Sonoran Desert Country

14 January 2019

We left Sedona today and headed southwest to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).  We really love this refuge, in part because they allow free camping on the Refuge.  Kofa NWR is located near Quartzsite, Arizona.  And if you’ve never been to Quartzsite in the winter try to image a desert with over 70,000 motor homes spread out across the landscape.  I think there were even more this year.  Most of the motorhomes are on Bureau of Land Management managed lands.  Camper pay $180 for seven months (Sept 15- Apr 15).  By April the hot temperature drives the ‘snowbirds’ north and only a few hard souls remain – a ghost town .  So if there is a government shutdown and campers aren’t making their payments, the federal government is losing out on a lot of money.

We head to the Refuge and find more people camped along the Palm Canyon Road than ever we’ve seen before.  I would say at least 8-10 times as many people.  We’ve been here when you would be lucky to find two or three other campers.  We always felt lucky not to see anyone.  We did notice that the refuge host (volunteer) is still here.  Not sure if they are doing anything during the shutdown as we never saw them, but the Refuge kiosk brochure rack was stocked.

We drove the Palm Canyon Road to the end, parked in the parking lot, and then walked to the where you can see the ‘ancient’ palm tree.  Bird-wise, we only saw a single Rock Wren and two Common Ravens, although I did hear a Canyon Wren.  As the canyon area is quite large, it would be difficult to see the Canyon Wren.  Their song and call echoed off the canyon walls.  The trail to the palms is steep and rocky in places, but a very scenic hike.  On our way down the people right in front of us spotted a tarantula on the trail.  The woman was quite nervous about it and probably freaked out when I leaned down to get my phone within a couple of inches of the spider to take its photo.  The tarantula did rear up and challenge me, but tarantulas don’t bother me, nor do most other spiders.  Now large bugs that fly – I hate those.

After our hike we found a scenic pull out where we decided to camp (nice to have a ‘tin tent’ and just park it).  We aren’t too far from the canyon trailhead, maybe a mile or two.  I went to check out the surrounding area and see if I could find any birds.  It was pretty quiet out.  I did hear and then see two Costa’s Hummingbirds, and with my binoculars scanning the cactus and trees I was able to spot a Loggerhead Shrike.  Other than that, I only had about three small birds that darted from one very dense shrub to another so quickly all I could tell you was that they were small, light colored birds.  Walking in the desert is a real experience with such variety of thorny vegetation and lots of evidence of torrential rain conditions with ditches, washes, and wide gravel beds.

We did get a little rain this afternoon, and yes the area really does need it.  Although I must admit, it does seem greener than I’ve seen of the area in the past.  And the Ocotillos are heavily leaved and those that aren’t are in bloom.  Pretty.

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge sign

Our campsite

Palm Canyon

Trail marker

Trail

Yes, this is the trail too

Jack looking for birds

And more rocky trail

Looking down the trail

Yes there are palms up there

Look closer

And closer

Ta da – palms

View from the trail up Palm Canyon

Tarantula

In defensive mode

Close up view.  I really like these hairy spiders

Cholla cactus – I love these.  They look so soft against the landscape.

Hillside near our camp site

Costa’s Hummingbird

Up close

But they don’t look soft up close

Ocotillo – fully leaved out

Thorns on an Octollo

Ocotillo Flowers

The insides of a Saguaro Cactus

Globe Mallow

“Harris’s Antelope Squirrel

A new “Life” mammal for me

15 January 2019

We went to bed with it raining and woke to rain.  In fact, it rained most of the day.  We even had a little stream near our van.  And you could see several waterfalls cascading off the canyon walls.   There were some periods of time without rain and I took advantage of those to walk around the area.  Near our campsite there is an open area and I checked that out for birds.  I saw or heard a total of 13 species today, which was an improvement over yesterday.  At one point I had found two Cactus Wrens and an Ash-throated Flycatcher (First of Year bird).  The birds were singing away.  All of a sudden total silence.  I looked around and sure enough there on a tree displaying prominently was a Loggerhead Shrike.  Loggerhead Shrikes feed on birds, so these other birds sure don’t want to expose themselves by singing of flying.  The stealthy birds moved away from their immediate area to avoid the shrike.

I was happy to see some birds after spending most of the day in the van reading and playing Suduko on my iPad – and us with no heat.  Luckily the weather isn’t too cool, although I am wearing my Smartwool underclothes and pile pants; especially need them for the desert night.

Tomorrow is supposed to be nicer, with less chance of rain.  We are going to head over to Cibola National Wildlife Refuge and see if we can get on the refuge.  They have a really nice auto tour route we enjoy driving.  If there is a gate prohibiting entrance, we may just park nearby and walk the refuge auto tour route.

Wet, dreary day

The water coming down a small wash near our campsite

Rain puddles outside our camper van

Yay, the sun is coming out

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Cactus Wren

preening

shaking out those feathers

Cactus Wren

Loggerhead Shrike

Sunset

16 January 2016

YAY!!!  Cibola National Wildlife Refuge’s auto tour route (Canada Goose Loop) was open today.  I was so happy.  We did arrive in the fog, but that soon lifted and we had partly sunny skies and warm temperatures (60s), no wind.  A perfect day (of course, every day is a great day to bird).  In total we had 48 different species, including three Tundra Swans, which are rare for this part of the country – they generally don’t get this far south.

We also had a several impressive large flocks of: (consider my estimates low)

  • Sandhill Crane (1000)
  • Snow Goose (1000)
  • Mallard (800)
  • American Wigeon (500)
  • Northern Pintail (300)
  • Yellow-headed Blackbird (1000)
  • Red-winged Blackbird (2000)
  • Canada Goose (1000)
  • Great-tailed Grackle (500)

When the Snow Geese took flight is was a cloud of white and such noise!

Of the 48 species observed, 17 were First of Year (FOY) species.  We always come to Cibola NWR to see the Burrowing Owls and finally we saw a single Burrowing Owl.  Unfortunately, I had to get my scope out to see it, so not photograph worthy.  The Refuge has artificial nesting Burrowing Owl mounds and the owls like to roost outside their burrows – but not to be this time, maybe the weather was too cool?  There was a juvenile Bald Eagle perched along the owl route so that may have something to do with it.

After taking the auto tour route, we drove south to another part of the refuge.  There are a several roads along the Colorado River.  We took the ones that were passable.  With the rains of yesterday some of the roads looked pretty muddy and rutted and no bird is worth getting the van stuck. Did I really just say that?

We did find several species not observed during the auto tour route, including an Osprey, Clark’s Grebe, Common Goldeneye, Redhead, and a White-faced Ibis (almost missed it because it was down in a ditch and is such a dark bird).  All of these birds except the Redhead were FOYs.

We had an enjoyable day – Thanks USFWS for being open.  We decided to go for pizza at Silly Al’s in Quartzsite.  Mistake.  I think everyone else was there already.  No parking to be found and they have a large parking lot.  So we decided to try another restaurant and that one was full also. There were at least eight names on the waiting list ahead of us.  And it was only 5:00 p.m.  Oh well.  Guess when you have over 125,000+ snowbirds in the area, they all don’t want to cook in their RVs on a given night.  I wonder what these people do all winter long.  One answer is in the amazing number of flea market booths and funky specialty booths (gems, etc.) and RV showcases.  I think I would go crazy.  I would have to volunteer at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge.

Cibola National Wildlife Refuge sign

Refuge map

This is the first pond you come to along the auto tour route. The ducks love it as you can see.

Mallards, Pintails, Wigeons

Green-winged Teal (Male)

Ruddy Duck (stiff tail)

American Wigeon

Tundra Swan

Tundra Swan

They do have a trail that takes you out to a viewing platform overlooking another pond

The habitat along the trail is open in places and dense in other places

Trail leading to the viewing platform

Viewing Platform

What you see from the viewing platform. Although it doesn’t look like there are any ducks on the water, there were hundreds of them – mostly Mallards.

Lots of open fields for the birds

In this field there were a lot of Sandhill Cranes and ducks (primarily Mallard)

But also lots of Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Red-winged Blackbirds – thousands of them

This is a coyote.  He was pretty brave and did not run off when he spotted us.  Just continued eating.

Some of the many Snow Geese. How many do you think are there here?

Sandhill Cranes

Tree full of blackbirds and grackles

These are the Burrowing Owl artificial nest mounds

Lots of corn cobs in front of these nest holes

Colorado River

Love the big Fremont Cottonwoods

Northern Harrier

American Kestrel

Not many birds on this wetland. This area is open to waterfowl hunting so the waterfowl hangout along the auto tour route, which is closed to hunting.

Colorado River

This Common Goldeneye was swimming in the Colorado River

17 January 2019

We decided to stay another day/night at Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.  We went to a new area for us – Crystal Hills.  This is a very scenic area where you can collect rocks (for non-commercial purposes) – mainly quartz crystals you find on the ground.  There are limitations however.  In a 12-month period, you can only collect ten ‘specimens’ or ten pounds of crystals, whichever you obtain first.  So one really big rock or up to ten smaller ones.  I wonder how someone knows if a rock weighs ten pounds or not.  I sure don’t.  Oh, and you can only collect rocks on the surface (no digging or using a metal detector).  The Refuge has a lot of old mines so I guess it was once popular for finding gems.

We walked/climbed the area and soon found our quota of rocks to take back with us.  The rocks that caught our eye never quite look the same when we get back to the campsite and then we ponder what will we do with them.  We did end up keeping a few.

We also birded the area, of course.  We had nine species, of which two were hummingbirds:  Anna’s Hummingbird and Costa’s Hummingbird.  Fun to see the hummers.  It was pretty quiet bird-wise.  There were a few people out and about.  You can camp in this area too, but we decided to go back to our favorite pull-off site along Palm Canyon Road.  When we got to the road I started counting the number of campers – 26 before even reaching the refuge entrance.  The land before the Refuge is under BLM management.

We did go into Quartzsite  first to get some ice and visit the Dairy Queen.  The town was hopping with grey-haired people.  I still can’t get over how many people come to this community each winter.  And with more baby boomers, there seem to be even more RVs.  And we aren’t talking about the small RVS, rather those monster 65-foot plus RVs and trailers you see on the road – often pulling a vehicle or trailer or boat.  I call them mobile homes on wheels.  The are rather “mobile” aren’t they?

Tomorrow we will leave this area and head down to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  Don’t know what we will find, but decided to check it out.  We have reservations in a couple of days for Patagonia Lake State Park.  I really like the birding at Patagonia.

Some type of moth – pretty

Phainopepla – Male in flight

Cyrstal Hill

Lots of shale on the hillside

Oh, but lots of quartz too

The best birding was along this wash near the foothills

Grasshopper

Our new campsite just down the road from our previous campsite

18 January 2019

Today was essentially a travel day.  We left the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge around 9:00 a.m.  On the road out I counted 30 campers.  We’ve NEVER seen this many people camped along Palm Canyon Road.  We liked it so much better when there were only a couple of other campers.

Our destination for the night – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  Since this National Monument is affected by the government shutdown, we didn’t know what to expect when we got here.  The worst – the campground would be closed with no access.  The best – full operations (okay pipe dream, no pun intended).  The Monument had an ‘Area Closed’ sign but the campground was open with a disclaimer that any reservations could not be guaranteed – fight it out I guess.  So in we went.

We got to the campground around 2:00 p.m. to find it less than 1/3 full, if that.  We quickly found a campsite (#173) and pulled in just as several birds crossed the road in front of us (yes, always about the birds) – two Cactus Wrens, a Curve-billed Thrasher (First of Year), and a male House Finch.  Not a bad way to start our experience at the campground.

After setting up at our campsite, we walked the perimeter campground trail.  We didn’t see much bird-wise other than a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher.  This bird had been banded, sporting a blue (Jack thought green) band and a silver band (USFWS) on its right leg, and red band on its left leg.  I couldn’t quite tell if there was a second band on its left leg because the bird kept favoring this leg, rarely put any weight on it for long.  Maybe the band was pinching its leg.  If so, that is one of the reasons I don’t care for bird banding.  I know scientists get valuable information from capture/recapture of birds, but do you need to band them to get the information?  How many banded migratory birds are re-seen or recaptured, especially songbirds.  If someone can give me these statistics that show a benefit, I might think its valuable to put bands on the birds.

So, what actually is available at the campground?  We do have running water.  Two of the restrooms are open and they are clean, have toilet paper, each has a shower.   However, Jack said the water was cool (not even warm) – solar powered.  Jack was going to pay for our stay, but there weren’t any fee envelopes available.  I guess we could just stick the money in the iron ranger.  The cost to stay here is $20.00 per night, or for people with a senior pass (Jack) $10.00 per night.  Since our last four nights were free (USFWS doesn’t charge to camp on the refuge), I think we should spend $20.00 for two nights.  Yes, we are planning to stay two nights.  Oh and as I was typing this blog post a hummingbird flew into the van then quickly flew back out, scaring me.  We have a red towel hanging by the door so it must have been fooled into thinking it was food.

The road we took to the National Monument is Highway 85.  We exited Interstate 8 onto Highway 85 and I think the traffic quadrupled from what we had on the interstate.  And since we were driving the speed limit, everyone was passing us.  This is the road people take to Rocky Point in Mexico.  This is an area we hope to visit someday.  Just not this trip.

Our campsite – #173

Me in front of an Organ Pipe Cactus.  Gee I wonder how this cactus got its name?

Jack hiding in an Organ Pipe Cactus

The area just outside the campground – pretty bleak

Baby pipes

A nest – possibly Cactus Wren

Sunset

 19 January 2019

Today we hiked and birded the trail from the campground to the Victoria Mine (abandoned).  The trip out and back is 4.2 miles.  The trail was a little rocky in places so you had to be careful of your steps, especially if you are also trying to watch for birds.  There wasn’t much at the mine, other than some mine tailings, old shaft openings covered with secure, open grids (habitat protection for bats – Arizona has a very impressive diversity of bats), and remnants of an old building that was once the mine’s store.

Once again most of the birds we saw were in the campground.  The hummingbirds stay around the campground because people bring hummingbird feeders with them, despite the park rule against it.  We had a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers in the campground, and I think they may have been building a nest in a Palo Verde tree as I saw one carrying nest material to that tree.

In total, the number of birds we saw today was 14, of which one was a First of Year bird:  Gilded Flicker.  Not a bad number for the desert.  And today was sunny, calm winds, and short-sleeved weather.  Sweet!!!

Tomorrow we head to Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge for one night.

Interesting trailer – called a “Cricket”

Curve-billed Thrasher

Could this be the thrasher’s nest?

Curve-billed Thrasher (mate) on a cactus

Cactus Wren – looking left

– then right

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

House Finch (Male)

Northern Mockingbird

Black-throated Sparrow

This cactus is loaded with lots of fruit

The trail to Victoria Mine

Last time we were here ( January 2016) they had a trail crew working on the stairs

Several benches along the route

Saw this nest

This is the entrance to the nest (backside, or is it the front side?)

Being so close to the border …

Victoria Mine Site

Bats use the mines, which are protected with a grate

This building was the store

More Cactus Wrens – Yay!

We think this fire is in Mexico. The border isn’t too far from the campground.

20 January 2019

We woke as the sun was rising.  What a beautiful site in the desert.  We left the campground and headed north to the town of Why, stopping at the Why Not Travel Center for coffee.  I love the murals on the buildings here and they have an old rustic truck they turned into a fountain with water flowing out of its absent front windshield and side windows, and with music playing.  Around the truck was a pool of water with landscaping and a sign – “do not feed the coyotes”.

We headed to Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge to bird and camp.  Camping here is primitive in that they have designated places for you to park and a rock fire ring.  No picnic tables, no toilets, no garbage cans, but a peaceful and scenic area.  We first drove to the visitor center – closed because of the shutdown – to check out the birds and then drove the “Pronghorn Drive” (about ten miles in length) to bird.  We didn’t see a lot of birds along the drive, mostly Vesper Sparrows and Mourning Doves.  On the road to the visitor center when we first came in we did have a large flock of meadowlarks, which included the Eastern Meadowlark (Lillian’s subspecies).  We also saw nine Pronghorn Antelope (just not along Pronghorn Drive- maybe they didn’t read the sign?).

After the driving the “Pronghorn Drive”, we were coming out to the main road and had just turned north when a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle came barreling down a dirt road going hell bent for leather (i.e., fast).  He passed us and we thought that was it.  When we turned down the road to Arivaca, as this is the route to most of the primitive campsites, I spotted a helicopter.  As we neared our turnoff for the primitive campsites, we  saw several border patrol vehicles parked along the side of the road and a border patrol agent clasping the back of an illegal immigrant.  The immigrant could not have been more than 10-12 years old.  He was dressed fully in camouflage, as was his backpack.  The agent actually was holding three such backpacks so it must have been a family group?  I couldn’t see whether there were any people in the vehicles – tinted windows.  We turned down the road to the primitive camping area and that was it – at least for us.

I told Jack there must be an underground railroad system of sorts or Arivaca is a sanctuary community.  The immigrants must have some contacts in the U.S. in order to find refuge once they get here.  The border is at least 8 miles away, so that is a long walk in the hot sun (temperatures in the 70s) or cold nights.  What drives these people to come here?  Their lives in their home countries must be so intolerable to make them come knowing the risks they could be caught – like this kid – and held in  a detention center, only to be sent back.  We wonder if the young boy is now separated from his family?  Why don’t we work with the countries of these people to try and make their countries safer, if safety is an issue?  Unfortunately, Americans and their drug problems are fueling the crisis in these countries.  If these illegal immigants fear for their lives because they don’t want to be forced to join gangs and sell or deliver drugs, let’s do something to alleviate that problem.   That is the humanitarian crisis.  Spend the $6.0 billion dollars on that effort.  We need to show more compassion.

We have seen a lot more border patrol agents along the Arizona border, than we did in Texas.  I understand this area (Buenos Aires NWR) is a favorite spot for illegal immigrants to come into the U.S.  I do want to thank all the border patrol agents who are working without pay.  That is a lot to ask of someone.

We are at the same camp spot we stayed at in 2016 – site #16.  I just heard several coyotes yipping and two Great Horned Owls calling.  We actually had a long look at a coyote on the road this morning as we were leaving Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument – such adaptable animals.

Tomorrow we leave the “desert” and head towards the mountains – Patagonia Lake and Madera Canyon.

Fountain at the “Why Not Truck Stop”

Beautiful work

Love this wall

Musical truck fountain

Don’t Feed the Coyotes sign

Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge sign

Pronghorn Antelope

This Red-tailed Hawk caught a mouse and was eating it – fur and all

American Kestrel

Mourning Dove

Vesper Sparrow – there were lots of these sparrows

Gray Flycatcher

Not sure what created this hole, but it was big

Vesper Sparrow

 

Campsite Number #16 – Primitive Camping at its best

View from our campsite

Sunset

Remember …

It’s Always A Great Day to Bird

 

Arizona – the early days or Part 1

31 December 2018

We woke to ‘frost on the pumpkin’ frigid temperatures; 30 degrees Fahrenheit.  Brrrrrrrrrrr.  I didn’t sleep well last night.  I was in the fetal position trying to stay warm.  We don’t run our heater at night.  I kept thinking I should get up and plug in the electric blanket, but I didn’t.   However, today it is sunny and nice out, which always helps.

Yesterday we were told if we wanted to hike the park (Hueco Tanks State Park), we should come to the office at 7:30 a.m. and get a permit.  We decided not to hike the park (to cold for me), so we exited the park.  However, during our video presentation it was suggested that we notify the park staff of our departure.  So I decided to be a good park user and notify the office we were leaving.  When I arrived there were probably about 15 people in the small office waiting to get their permits.  All of these people were campers, and many of them rock climbers.  Yes, you can climb certain areas of the park, with a permit, but without any equipment – only free hold.  So everyone has what they call “crash pads” so if they fall, their fall is cushioned – they hope.  I quickly cut to the front of the line and dropped off the receipt we were given to place on our windshield and told the park ranger we were checking out.  Oh and the park requires everyone to sign a form acknowledging the rules.  And “everyone” must sign the form – well adults that is.

I’m not sure how many people they allow into the park at one time, but as we were driving out we saw six cars drive in.  And when we got to the entrance, there were an additional 25 cars waiting to enter the park.  The purpose of limiting the number of people who can go into the park is to protect the cultural (pictographs) and natural resources.  The park was so popular people were adding their own drawings to the rock walls (or vain signatures) and they were trampling the vegetation, so the park decided to restrict access to only a certain number of people at a time and, in some areas, people are restricted to guided hikes only.

This Loggerhead Shrike was all puffed out – trying to stay warm in the cold morning

We spent much of the remainder of the day driving from the park to our campground for the next two nights – Catalina State Park, just outside of Tucson.  There is a winter storm warning for here as well, with the possibility of snow.  Great way to start the New Year –NOT!!!  We were actually pretty lucky to get a spot at all.  When I went online they showed no openings in the loops that have electricity but when we called the timing was right as they just had a cancellation – we’re in!  And with temperatures dropping into the low 30s, we want to be able to run our heater before bed and first thing in the morning.

We got to the park around 3:00 p.m., set up, and decided to check out the trails and see what birds might be out-and-about on a blustery cold day.  Luckily here you don’t need a permit to use the trails.  So what birds did we see?  By the time we went out and back, we saw a total of 13 different species.  Going out, the birding was slow, but coming back we had one area with at least six different species – almost half of what we saw.  The surprise was finding a Lawrence’s Goldfinch.  I wish the bird would have cooperated and let me take a photograph.  I’ve only seen this species of goldfinch in Arizona four times.  You might think that is a lot, but I’ve been to Arizona many times birding and failed to see it (birders are never satisfied).  The first time I saw this species was on a Christmas Bird Count in Sedona.  A beautiful little bird.  Look it up and see for yourself.

Our campsite at Catalina State Park (Site #38)

This is a path that leads to the restrooms so we get a lot of traffic near our site

Snow threatening

Trail between campground and main trailhead

White-crowned Sparrow

Pyrrhuloxia (aka pyrex – our shorthand name for this species )

Lots of Saguaro cactus – many with multiple arms and it takes 50 years to have an arm appear

The river bed has always head water in it when we’ve been here in the past, although not much water.  Now dry.

I like this – sunscreen dispensers. I didn’t check to see if there was anything in them.

I was able to add five First of Year species to my final 2018 North American Bird list:  Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Gambell’s Quail, Rufous-winged Sparrow, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (thank you Jack for spotting this bird), and the ever popular Green-tailed Towhee.  The towhee likewise was not very cooperative when it came time for getting a photo of the bird.  Although it was close, there was always too much vegetation in the way.

We had to leave this birdy spot as it had started to rain.  Earlier Jack has seen a snowflake or two.  Plus, it was coming on 5:00 p.m., with the sun setting about a half hour after that.  And we still had dinner to cook and flannel sheets to put on the bed.

1 January 2019

Happy New Years Everyone

Woke to another cold morning: 35 degrees, so slightly warmer.   All relative I guess.  The skies were overcast and we had rain last night.  Jack thinks about ¾ – 1 inch based on the amount in a pan we left out.  There was a lot of snow on the nearby mountains.  A beautiful scene and luckily none in the campground.

After a slow morning getting started, we headed off to bird the campground and nearby trails.  This is a new year and so for me another yearly list of birds observed.  Everything today is a “First of Year”  (FOY) species for 2019.  I have 27 species for my list.  My favorite???  Hard to name just one or two.  We got to see the Cactus Wren, and well you should know by now how I feel about wrens (love them, my favorites).  We also got to see the Green-tailed Towhee again.  This isn’t a bird we see regularly so always happy to see the bird.  And the Lawrence’s Goldfinch were back, this time six of them rather than the two we saw yesterday.  I got a decent photo of the male.  And for the first bird of the year – a Cooper’s Hawk that was in the tree right outside our van calling to another Cooper’s Hawk nearby.  What a great bird to start the year.

Cooper’s Hawk

Our campsite

A “California” van – nicely painted with an albatross

This Gila Woodpecker …

… was busy drumming on the metal post  and making lots of racket

Snow on the Catalina Mountains

Cactus Wren

Green-tailed Towhee – more cooperative today photowise

Verdin

Western Bluebird

Female Phainopepla

Abert’s Towhee

Nest

Lawrence’s Goldfinch (male)

The Birding Trail (what goes up, must go down)

Pyrruhuloxia

We went for another walk shortly near the campground before dusk, and observed two additional First of Year birds: Lark’s Sparrow and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, bringing the day’s total to 29 species.  Not too shabby.

Lark Sparrow

Phainopepla – male

Gila Woodpecker – the have an easy call “he, he, he, he, he, he, he”

Lawrence’s Goldfinch

I hope this year promises to be a continuation of “Year of the Bird” – every year should be a year for birds.  Yay Birds!!!

2 January 2019

Another cold morning.  I’m so glad we brought our portable heater and we are staying in a campground with electricity.

We decided to check out the Sweetwater Wetlands (part of the Tucson Waste Water Treatment Plant).  We were surprised at how many cars we saw in the parking lot, although not many people on the trails.  We ventured out, but wished we had dressed a little more warmly.  I think my toes were ready to break off, and if I took my gloves off to better use my camera – well let’s just say I didn’t take many photos.

We were surprised we didn’t see a lot of birds braving the cold, other than waterfowl, although we had 21 different species.  The real treat for us was to have two Sora rails near the trail.  Both stayed out in the open (well enough so we could watch them, but always behind some reeds so couldn’t get a decent photo) for longer than is typical for rails.  Rails are skulkers.  I usually hear them more than I see them.  Of the 21 birds we did see, 15 of them were First of Year (FOY) birds.

American Coot

Northern Shoveler (male)

Ruddy Duck

Ruddy Ducks

Hummingbird nest box

Anna’s Hummingbird

We did a little shopping afterwards stopping at Costco (a typical madhouse), Trader’s Joe’s (I had to remember we were traveling and didn’t have a lot of room in the van otherwise I would have bought more), and Target (we love their blue chips).  We then returned to the campground.

Once we got back to the campground we stored our stash, then headed out on the trails to look for more birds.  The most productive birding area for us is and around the campground and the trail between the campground and the main trailhead.  We took a nature trail near the main trailhead and didn’t see or hear a single bird.  Depressing.  But on our walk back to the campground, once we were off the nature trail, we did see 16 different species, so that was nice.  New birds (FOY) for the park were: Hutton’s Vireo and Vermillion Flycatcher.

Rufous-winged Sparrow

Most likely an old Cactus Wren nest

3 January 2019

Today was essentially a travel day.  We did spend two hours waiting to have the oil changed in the van (we didn’t have an appointment but worth the wait as the oil change was free – dealership where we bought the van).

We stopped in Apache Junction to have lunch with good friends Carla and Wayne.  They are Homerites who spend the winter in Arizona.  We had the best ham and bean soap I’ve ever tasted.  They have several bird feeders so we sat and watched the feeders, enjoying the Gambel’s Quail and the Anna’s Hummingbird.  Of course there were plenty of House Sparrows, Rock Pigeons, and Eurasian Collared-Doves too.  We even had a Bald Eagle fly over, which is unusual for this area (the eagle, not the fly-overs).  And yes, I did get five First of Year bird’s here.

We left Apache Junction around 2:30 p.m., and proceeded to drive to Sedona, making our way through the megatropolis of the Phoenix metro area.  That alone took almost an hour on the freeways.  Yikes!!!  Glad I don’t live here.  We got to Sedona a little after 5:00 p.m., with the sun just getting ready to set so the glow on the red rocks was beautiful.

4 January 2019

The morning was spent on mindless busywork around my dad’s house.  We will be here through January 12th, for sure and maybe longer if my eye glasses don’t come back.  I’m having new lens put in because the ones I have now always seemed to be smeared.  When I clean them it is almost like I am smearing the smudges, not really cleaning the lens.  I guess that is what you get when you only pay $100 for both the lens and the frames.

In the afternoon we headed over to the Page Springs Fish Hatchery/Bubbling Ponds to check out the birds.  I was able to add another 13 birds to my 2019 Bird List (i.e., First of Year).  I was surprised at how few songbirds we have observed on this trip.  What is happening to our songbirds, especially our sparrows?

The fish hatchery has a number of open-air ponds that are frequented by ducks – the “Bubbling Ponds”.  The winner in shear numbers was the Ring-necked Duck, which I estimated  at over 300 between the various ponds.  Near the end, we finally saw the bird I had been searching for – Bridled Titmouse.  We saw five of these little birds working furiously in the trees feeding on seeds or bugs.  All of sudden, all the birds in the trees and on the ground (titmouse, bluebird, towhee, sparrow) scattered in a mad flurry.  That can only mean one thing – RAPTOR!!!  Sure enough in the tree we spotted a Merlin, which at first I mistook for a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Thanks Jason for setting me straight.  I thought it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk due to the color of its leg feathers.  They are a reddish color – the same color as the breast of the sharpie.   After Jason said it looked like a Merlin, I took my photo and uploaded it to Merlin ID app (an amazing app) and it came back as “Merlin” or “Eurasian Kestrel”.  Well it wasn’t a kestrel.

We really enjoyed the crisp air, sun, and walk watching all the birds.  In total we had 33 different species.

Lots of Black Phoebes at Page Springs, including this one

Can you find the Great Blue Heron in this photo?

Maybe this will help?

Ring-necked Duck

Redhead (and Ring-necked Duck)

Mallard

Canvasback (male)

American Wigeon

One of the “bubbling ponds”

Say’s Phoebe

American Pipit

Black Hawk Trail

Snow on the shaded portion of the trail

Western Bluebird

Bridled Titmouse

Merlin

5 January 2019

The morning was spent working on my blog – Texas Part 2 and other miscellaneous tasks.  In the afternoon we went for a 4-mile hike (out-and-back) on the Turkey Creek Trail (#92) in the Coconino National Forest near the Village of Oak Creek.  We like this scenic and gentle hike, although we usually don’t see a lot of birds.  Today we had a total of 5 different species, and only 8 total birds.  Pretty quiet.  The hike started out with partly sunny skies, temperatures in the low 50s, and no wind.  However, by the end of the hike the clouds had come with the threat of snow late tonight/early tomorrow.  We did hear gunshots off in the distance.  Sounded like someone was firing a semi-automatic weapon.

6 January 2019

Today was a lazy day.  It was raining most of the day, so other than a short walk around the neighborhood, we only went out for  breakfast and dinner.  I did get a number of tasks accomplished, like working on my blog.  Surprisingly I did see a First of Year bird today – a Mountain Chickadee came to the feeder.

7 January 2019

Finally got my blog done (Texas Part 2) and posted – woohoo!!!  Nice to have that done.

In the afternoon, we went for a hike on Bell Trail #13 near the Village of Oak Creek.  We try to do this trail every time we are in the area.  One of our favorite hikes.  We hiked for about 6 miles out and back, seeing 15 different species, of which five were First of Year.  This is usually a good place to see the Townsend’s Solitaire and we weren’t disappointed.  We had at least two.  We also had a sighting of two Rock Wrens and a Canyon Wren in the same area.  I so love my wrens.  The surprise bird was the Rufous-crowned Sparrow.  We’ve seen this bird in southern Arizona, but this is the first time we’ve seen this sparrow in the Sedona area.

The weather was good for the hike – partly cloudy, no wind (until then end, and then only light), and temperatures in the low 50s.  We encountered at least 10 other people and four dogs on the trail.  We did find a dead deer (buck) off the trail.  It looks as though it died within the last day or two (yet to be discovered by the ravens).  Its head was somewhat twisted in the brush. so maybe in a territorial battle?

White-crowned Sparrow – this bird was just off the trail at the trailhead

Start of the trail

Rocky in places

Townsend’s Solitaire

Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay

Juniper Titmouse

A portion of the trail is in the Wet Beaver Wilderness – Wet Beaver Creek runs through the area.  Yes, there is also a Dry Beaver Creek.

Have to be careful where you walk. It would be easy to twist an ankle or fall and break a bone or two.

On the trail looking down at Wet Beaver Creek

Yes, this is the trail

Here too is the trail

A truly beautiful part of the trail.   Very scenic.  That’s Jack ahead of me.

Looked like a wreath someone would put on their door

Yours truly on the trail

Northern Flicker

Rock Wren

Looking both ways

8 January 2019

We are still in Sedona.  Today we went for a hike nearby – Courthouse Loop Trail (which includes the Bell Rock Trail).  We went just before 1:00 p.m., and there were a lot of people out enjoying the trails in the beautiful, warm sunshine (mid 50s).  Portions of the trail on the shaded north side of Courthouse Butte were muddy from melting snow, but not too bad.  There were some crazy people climbing Bell Rock.  Well I think they are crazy, but then again I am afraid of heights.

There wasn’t much bird activity at this time of day – only 5 species, and only seven total birds, although I did hear some off in the distance I could not identify.  I hope the lack of bird activity is because of the time of day and not because there are so many fewer birds.  We always hike this trail when we visit, and there have definitely been more birds in previous years.  We were last here in March 2017.

There are a LOT of trails in the Sedona area. A hiker’s paradise.

Courthouse Butte

Trail

Bell Rock

Yes, the trail traverses this area

Courthouse Butte – east side

Rabbit Ears – on the right

You can easily climb onto this rock

The trail can be quite rocky in places

And with the recent snow and rain, quite muddy too

North side of Courthouse Butte

Bell Rock – North side

Bell Rock

9 January 2019

I went on a guided bird walk in the morning at Red Rock State Park.  We began at the feeding stations near the visitor center and then walked the Kisva Traili (along Oak Creek), out and back.  We only saw one species – a Ruby-crowned Kinglet – along the the trail, although I did hear a Canyon Wren.

At the feeding stations, however, we had a lot of different species – plenty to eat at the feeders so why go out and search for food elsewhere.  There is a big field before you cross over Oak Creek and begin the Kisva Trail.  One the way back to the feeding stations, we did have a nice flock of Western Bluebirds and several Say’s Phoebe.  There were two young birders (I suspect in their 20s) and it was fun to watch them get excited about the birds.  They were from the Washington D.C. area.  The other two birders (there were only five of us, plus the leader), an older couple were from Pennsylvania.  They were only in Arizona for a couple of days and the guy wanted to see three specific birds: Common Black Hawk, Pinyon Jay, and Juniper Titmouse.  As soon as they left the park, and the young couple and I went back to the feeding station, in comes a Juniper Titmouse.  I felt bad that the Pennsylvania couple weren’t around to see the bird.  We got really good looks at the titmouse as it kept coming back to the feeder for food – cracked corn primarily.

Feeding stations at the Visitor Center. You can actually look down onto the feeding stations.

White-crowned Sparrow – one of many

Oregon Dark-eyed Junco

Abert’s Towhee

Northern Cardinal contemplating whether to go to the feeder or not.  He went.

Female Northern Cardinal

Spotted Towhee

Juniper Titmouse

Trying to get the seed from its shell

Dark-eyed Junco and House Finch

Juniper Titmouse

Our group

Oak Creek

 

Kisva Trail

 

Western Bluebird (male)

Say’s Phoebe

Smoke Trail

Oak Creek adjacent to Smoke Trail

I continued birding at the park after leaving the feeding station, and in all saw 24 different species, of which five are First of Year birds:  Red-naped Sapsucker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Spotted Towhee, Bewick’s Wren (my favorite), and White-throated Sparrow.  The White-throated Sparrow is considered an “accidental” – meaning no seen in the area often.  I wonder if it is the same bird I saw two years ago when I was here doing the Christmas Bird Count?

Afterwards I went to Sedona to get my second Shingles shot.  The CVS store that had the shot had just lost their internet coverage so I was out of luck.  I ended up driving to the Safeway in Cottonwood, about 20 miles away, to get the shot, which I did after waiting about 40 minutes.  I guess they were busy filling prescriptions.

10 January 2019

Today was a day to hang around the house.  Remember the Shingles shot I mentioned?  Well around 8:00 p.m. last night I started feeling achy.  And when I went to bed my arms hurt down to and including my hands.  And today I woke up feeling like a Mack truck hit me.  I guess this feeling is better than getting Shingles.  So today was an easy day.

11 January 2019

Another lazy day.  For some reason I just couldn’t gather the energy to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and look for birds.  I had thought about going back to Page Springs to search for the Common Black Hawk that had been seen there lately (we missed it earlier), but ended out just staying home.

12 January 2019

Went to visit family (Jack’s son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids) in Flagstaff today.  Had a great visit and enjoyed catching up on their lives.  Kevin (son) has done an enormous amount of hard work fixing up their backyard and it looks great.  Amazing what he has accomplished in the two years since I last visited.

My granddaughter Molly made a Steller’s Jay and entered it into the Cococino County Fair where she won first prize.  I was lucky enough to be given this creative work of art as a Christmas present.  Thank you so much Molly.  Right now it is sitting in our van and will accompany us north.  Once we are home, it will hold a special place in our home.

Steller’s Jay

13 January 2019

Today is our final full day in Sedona.  We’ve had a great visit and had a chance to just sit back and relax a little.  I’ve been doing a little housecleaning today, helping out my 89 year-old father.   It will be sad to leave as I’ve enjoyed my visit with him.  Thanks Dad for everything.  Love you.

We haven’t gone birding in three days so it will be nice to get back on the ‘bird trail’ again.

Tomorrow we leave Sedona and head to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge where we hope to primitive camp for the next several nights.  We also hope to visit the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge nearby.  We don’t know what to expect since the partial government shutdown is still going on.  I really feel bad for those furloughed government workers.  It is unfortunate we have a president who is willing to use them as leverage to get something he should have been able to get his first two years in office – when his party was in control of Congress.  This isn’t right.  There are so many people who suffer because of his actions – government employees, businesses that support these employees, the public who depend upon these employees for so many things (managing our public lands, keeping our transportation system moving (TSA), keeping our waters safe (Coast Guard), and protecting our borders (Border Patrol)).  While some of these people are still working, asking them to work without pay is just wrong.  It doesn’t matter if they will be reimbursed once the impasse ends.  These people need their paychecks now.  And yes, personally I put full responsibility for this crisis on the president.  If you don’t agree with me that is your right.  I’m just so happy we live in a society where we can all freely express our opinions.  We can’t let anything or anyone change that freedom.

And we need to protect our environment and our wildlife, now and in the future, so it is always …

A Great Day to Bird

 

Don’t Mess With Texas – Part Two

19 December 2018

We were surprised to wake up to fog.  Not sure why we were surprised since we are on the coast of Texas.  We broke camp and headed to Port Aransas to bird one of my favorite spots:  Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center.  I had forgotten the name of this place, but knew the general area.  Texas some years ago produced a series of Texas Bird Trail Maps – really great maps for different Texas regions.  So I looked on the birding map I had for this region, read several descriptions, and selected Site #57. Well it turns out this is Paradise Ponds Nature Center (a site, not a facility) and a new birding spot for us.  Not that there were many birds at this location – it had been hit hard by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Oil platforms getting ready to go out???

Waiting for the “free” ferry to take us to Port Aransas

Paradise Ponds boardwalk

Boardwalk at Paradise Ponds – nothing too “paradise” about the ponds however

Paradise Ponds

We finally found the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center (site #59 on the birding map), parked our car, and walked the paved path only to find a barrier fence.  I guess last year’s hurricane did a number to this birding location and demolished its boardwalks and viewing platforms.  We could still bird the area from the parking lot and from behind the barrier fence with a view of the wetland complex, but we couldn’t get up close and personal with the birds (well as close and personal as birds allow one to get).  We did have 27 species at this location, including 32 Black-crowned Night Herons.   And those were the ones we could see and count.  There was also a large flock of dowitchers, most likely Long-billed Dowitcher.  The birds were too far away for me to try and identify to species.

Construction work going on to replace the boardwalk and viewing platforms lost to Hurricane Harvey

A lot of vegetation was lost too – but most cattails

This site was actually just down the road (across the water treatment plant). There were a lot of shorebirds feeding and roosting here.

While we were there an older gentleman walking with a cane and displaying a press pass approached us.  He introduced himself and flashed his press card.  He told us he works as a photographer for the local newspaper.  He was pretty persuasive, and to get a better photograph, he tore down the barrier to get closer to the contractors doing the restoration work.  He said he was sent out to get a photo and he had to have it.  I surmise the paper is a weekly.  He wanted to take our picture with me looking through our scope and Jack looking through his binoculars at the birds.  We obliged.  We then gave him our name and where we were from (at his request).  We should have asked to have him send us a copy of the paper or give us the date of when the photo might be published.  Guess we can always go online and see if we can find it there.  He was a rather talkative gentleman. He saw my Leica binoculars and Swarovski spotting scope and said, “you must be rich.”  I told him these two things bring me happiness  – the ability to see birds up close and personal.

The Port Aransas area does look much different from when we were last there in early 2017.  We had thought about spending the night at Mustang Island State Park, but decided to move on.  Good thing because when we drove by the park, the campground was empty – thus closed.  The park was undergoing restoration work at the campground.

We slowly made our way to South Padre Island, our destination for the night.  We camped out on the beach.  The cost -$10.00.  The county has a sign that says day-use is $10.00, plus they give you a trash bag and charge you $2.00.  If you bring back the bag full of garbage on the same day you enter the beach they give you back the $2.00.  Since we are staying overnight they didn’t give us a bag.  I glad the tide is going out (although there is much of a tidal difference here), and won’t be coming in again until tomorrow morning about the time we leave.   I get nervous camping on the beach.  I think we could very easily get stuck in the sand.  A friend said to walk on the area we want to camp/park to make sure the sand is firm before parking.  Great idea.  Of course he told this to us after we camped here.

Before arriving at South Padre Island we did make one birding stop: Zapata Memorial Bridge/San Martin Lake, located on Highway 48E.  The lake is a popular fishing/boating site, but has a great tidal area (think mud flats).  This is one of my favorite birding spots for shorebirds in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  We had 28 species here, including 11 species of shorebirds: Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, American Oystercatcher, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Dowitcher sp (most likely Short-billed dowitcher), Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, and Greater Yellowlegs.  We also had at least 28 Black Skimmers.  Before we left I picked up a lot of discarded fishing line, and I did not see a monofilament line receptacle.  Dang.

Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull

Black-necked Stilt

Beach area near parking lot.  There is fence to keep people from driving on this area.

Ruddy Turnstone

American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher trying to find food

Great-tailed Grackles are a nuisance at the parking area. Of course it doesn’t help that people toss food to them. They then become aggressive.

This one was wanting us to give him food

We saw this Harris’s Hawk nearby

Tomorrow we are going to try for the Aplomado Falcon, our nemesis bird for this area.  The bird recently has been spotted at the Aplomado Falcon viewing station so that is where we are going to go and hang out – timing is everything.  However, tomorrow is supposed to be very windy (windy in excess of 20 mph), so if we don’t see the bird we will have to come back and try for it again.  Starting tomorrow we will be staying in a rented small cottage-style trailer/modular home for the next six nights.  We are looking forward to some stability during the Christmas holidays, although I do have a list of birding hotspots to check out for each of the next five days – except Christmas.  That day we will stay at the rental and take it easy.  Will seem odd to be out of our ‘tin tent’ for awhile.

Our camp spot on the beach. Just pull over anywhere above the high tide line.  You can even find large RVs on the beach.

20 December 2018

We woke up to a van still in the dry sand – yay!  The wind and waves hadn’t picked up much yet.  However, it was windy enough that we decided to go out to breakfast – any excuse.  We had planned to bird at the South Padre Island Birding Center so we decided breakfast before birding.  However, there weren’t a lot of breakfast diner choices – if you didn’t want fast food that is. We stopped at “Ted’s Restaurant.  My advice, pick another restaurant for breakfast.

We spent two hours birding the South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center.  This is a non-profit organization created by South Padre Island’s (the town) Economic Development Corporation to provide residents and visitors with interpretive programs and tours, and environmental education pertaining to birds of the area.  It is one of “nine” World Birding Centers located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.  The other eight birding centers are:

The South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center provides over 3,300 feet of boardwalk (you experience a fresh and salt marsh with alligators no less), 5 birding blinds, and a five story observation tower.  Oh and I can’t forget – a gift store.  A very well-managed facility.

Despite the windy day (winds over 15 mph here), there were a number of people visiting the center.  We got there around 8:30 a.m., (they open at 7:00 a.m), paid our entrance fee, and began birding.  We met a man who with his wife spend their life traveling in a RV.  They said they were heading west and learned we are from Alaska.  They had several Alaska stories – they love Hyder and Homer, Alaska.

Our goal here today was to see Sora Rails.  The last time we were here we had at least 5 of them just off the boardwalk.  Today none.  We did get to see a Clapper Rail as it walked in the water right below the boardwalk.  Got great views, but the lighting wasn’t so great for photos.  We also had an Anhinga that must have stabbed at something and came away with a piece of plastic wrapped tight around its bill so it was unable to eat or drink.  I guess it has been that way for at least two days.  When we saw it the poor bird was trying to rid itself of the plastic.  When it shook it beak, I noticed the plastic loosened, but it didn’t do this enough to dislodge the plastic.  And if it tries rubbing it off by moving its beak against the side of an object (like a sign), that merely pushes the plastic further up its bill.  Center staff were notified of the bird’s problem and have been trying to capture the bird, but that is proving to be difficult.  The bird needs immediate attention so hopefully they will capture it and take it to a bird rehab facility.

South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center

Headquarters building

Like their mail box

Texas Hummingbird Feeder

Some of that 3,000 feet of boardwalk

Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron

Looking down on a Clapper Rail

Roseate Spoonbill and Black-necked Stilt

Reddish Egret

Feral Pigeon (Rock Pigeon)

Mottled Duck

Tricolored Heron

Spotted Sandpiper

Blue-winged Teal – male

So I’ve told you my views regarding plastic waste – when we walk the beach we are disgusted by the waste and people’s lack of stewardship.  Please, please, please dispose of plastic in the trash or better yet – recycle or avoid plastic altogether.  If you can’t stop using it altogether (difficult in this day and age), then just stop using plastic bags, straws,  and products with excess packaging.

On the sightings board (list of birds seen at the center) was a Black-headed Grosbeak.  This is a rarity for this area.  One of the photographers on the boardwalk mentioned where it was seen earlier that morning (at the center pond in the parking lot), so when we had completed our visit on the boardwalk, we went to the parking lot to look for the bird.  Another photographer (the guy who loves Hyder and Homer), told us where he had photographed it earlier that morning.  So we walked slowly around the parking area looking for the bird.  Jack and Ty (the photographer) were talking about Hyder when I saw the bird fly past us towards the center pond.  So off I went.  The bird – a beautiful male – landed in a yucca plant and proceeded to eat the bright purple fruits of a vine.  We stayed and watched the bird for about 10 minutes.  Its beak became quite reddish-purple at times from the juice of the fruits.

Black-headed Grosbeak (male)

With a berry in its bill

Which caused some staining

We then left the center and made our way to the Aplomado viewing area, a parking lot just off Highway 100 and part of the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge-Bahai Unit.  Access to the refuge is restricted so “viewing” is from the parking lot to a distant view of a platform.  It was on this platform (see photo) that we finally (after several attempts over the years) got to see the Aplomado Falcon (a life bird for us).  We didn’t have great views, but we did see enough of the bird through our spotting scope to be able to identify the bird as a Aplomado Falcon, despite the strong winds (~20 miles per hour).  We are in the area for another 5-6 days so we may come back this way again when it isn’t so windy.  Other people have had closer views of the bird so always worth a try to see if the bird is around.

Pretty bleak – where is a falcon to perch?

Jack looking at the falcon

The falcon was on the platform

We made a quick stop at a H.E.B. grocery store in Mercedes, TX on our way to our rental for the next six nights.  This store is in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood and we now know what it is like to be a minority.  A few people looked at us strange, but everyone else was friendly.

We are staying six nights at a small, gated RV resort park in a small one-bedroom manufactured home.  The park – Victoria Palms RV Resort (in Donna Texas) – has almost everything you could want for entertainment:

  • Crafts Center,
  • Pentanque (lawn game),
  • Boccca Ball,
  • Tennis, Pickleball and Basketball Courts
  • Post Office
  • Dog Run
  • Horseshoes
  • Heated Pool and Spa
  • Ballroom
  • Activities Lounge (TV, Piano, Fireplace)
  • Recycle Dumpsters
  • Hotel and Suite
  • Restaurant
  • Fitness Center
  • Recycling

This RV Resort is restricted to seniors (55+ and older) so I am sure it gets mostly snowbirds and is probably not so busy in the summer.  But who knows?  We saw a lot of license plates from Ontario.  If you want to buy a lot for your manufactured home or your RV, they conduct a background check.  They don’t want just anyone in their park.  The only “park related” activity we participated in was the Friday Night Fish Fry – all you can eat.  I think I was the youngest person there and I qualify as a senior here.

Our rental

Our place is quite nice.  We rented it through Airbnb, and the price was reasonable: $40 per night (before the add-ons: Service Charge, Cleaning Fee, and Taxes – but still reasonable).  Although I noticed that the price has gone up to $60.00 per night.  I think that is because January starts the “high season” for Texas.  We were glad it was available at this time of year.  It is centrally located to the various birding areas we want to visit.

21 December 2018

We spent the day birding Estero Llano Grande State Park, my all-time favorite birding spot in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  We got there around 8:50 a.m., and stayed until 3:30 p.m.  This is a fee park (all Texas State Parks have per person day-use fees) so we went to the visitor center to show them our Texas state park pass and get our wrist bands.  The lake in front of the visitor center had an estimated (my estimation) 500+ Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.  And we saw at least another 1,500 on the Llano Grande River (or is it more like a slough?).  Amazing to see so many whistling ducks this year.  Ironically the lake is called Ibis Lake, but alas no Ibis.

We were told that several weeks’ prior the entire lake was covered with Black-bellied Whistling Ducks – an estimated 5,000+ of them.  Unfortunately, even with the fewer number of BBWD in the park, they tend to keep many other ducks away.  We did see a few Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Blue-winged Teal, and Green-winged Teal.  But not in the numbers normally seen here at this time of year.  We also saw a single Fulvous Whistling Duck at another pond.  This is a FOY (First of Year) bird and one we haven’t seen since we were at this park in 2014, and we have visited at least once since then.  I wish we could have seen more than just the one.  And it was too far away to get a decent photo.

World Birding Center building

Squirrel in a tree wondering if it can come to the feeders for food

A few Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

And a few more crowded on the boardwalk

With a few here sharing a log with turtles

Altamira Oriole

Harris’s Hawk

Kingbird – ah but which one? The Tropical and Couch’s are hard to tell apart unless you hear their call.

Spotted Sandpiper

Great Kiskadee

Least Grebe – this one was the only bird in the “Grebe Pond”

Anhinga hanging out (or should I say drying out) at Alligator Lake

Not much water in this pond, but there were actually quite a few ducks at the far end

Nice wide trails

And shrubby vegetation

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Alligator Lake

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

At this park there are Common Pauraque (hate the term ‘Common’ applied to a birds’ name).  We’ve seen them each time we’ve visited the park.  We now know where to look for them (Alligator Lake), so off we went.  Sure enough Jack spotted one of the birds – there is usually a pair present.  These birds feed at night, so they roost during the day.  They camouflage well, but Jack’s eagle eyes were able to spot several of the birds.  We had a gentleman from Ontario come by.  He asked if we saw the two birds.  At that point we had only seen one so we told him we had seen just the one.  He then tried valiantly to get us on other bird, only to realize that was the bird we had been looking at already.  So he then showed us the second bird, which was located quite close.  We moved along the trail and soon spotted a third Pauraque.

Common Pauraque

In total, for the great day, we saw 69 different species – certainly one of our best birding days this trip.  Like I said, I love this place.  We had 15 FOYs (First of Years):

  • Tropical Kingbird
  • Plain Chachalaca
  • White-tipped Dove
  • Green Jay
  • Fulvous Whistling Duck
  • Long-billed Thrasher
  • Common Pauraque
  • Least Grebe
  • Altamira Oriole
  • Olive Sparrow
  • Black-chinned Hummingbird
  • Gray Hawk
  • Buff-bellied Hummingbird
  • Ladder-backed Woodpecker
  • Summer Tanager

None of these birds are life birds.  We’ve seen all of them before.  But every bird is a great bird.

The park recently constructed a new bird blind in the “tropical area” of the park.  At this blind we observed four different hummingbird species:  Black-chinned Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and Buff-bellied Hummingbird.  We also saw other great birds in the tropical area of the park – even during the afternoon.  Cool and shady here.

New Bird Blind

Slats your can pull down to look out

Rufous Hummingbird (female)

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Olive Sparrow

Black-crested Titmouse

Plain Chachalaca

Female Summer Tanager

White-tipped Dove

Green Jay – my favorite Jay

Yes, totem poles in the tropical area

It truly was a hummer of a day

22 December 2018

Another cool morning, but that just makes birding a little more enjoyable than hot days.  We went to an old favorite (okay we’ve been here only twice before) – Edinburg Scenic Wetlands and World Birding Center.  Since the restrooms were closed (plumbing problem) we got into the nature preserve for free (generally $3.00 per person).  We did however, visit the gift store and bought a few items so they did make some money off of us.

This is a great place if you want to see all three kingfishers:  Green, Belted, and Ringed.  And our timing was right, we got to see all three of the kingfishers.  Of course it helped that a Peregrine Falcon was swooping back and forth over the lake/pond.  This caused the kingfishers, more than any other birds, to flush.  There is no mistaking the Ringed Kingfisher.  It is so much bigger and bolder looking than the other two, with its hard to miss red breast and large bill.  And we actually observed two Green Kingfishers.  Sweet!!!

In addition, we also saw a number of songbirds, including a Clay-colored Thrush.  We’ve only seen this bird at the Bentsen State Park (Texas).  Nice to see this bird elsewhere.  We also saw several Inca Doves, which are FOYs (First of Years).  In all, we spent almost three hours here and saw a total of 43 species.  In 2017, we saw a Tropical Parula here.  A rare bird for the area.  So you never know what you might find at this birding hotspot.

Bird blind

Narrow paths through thick vegetation. Not easy birding.

Plain Chachalacas

Green Jay at the feeder

Viewing Platform

One of the ponds

Jack checking out the birds

American White Pelican and Great Blue Heron

American White Pelican

Black-necked Stilt

Green Kingfisher

Adult Black-crowned Night Heron

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

We made a quick stop at a nearby Dollar Tree store so I could buy a cheese grater.  I want to make my scones and I grate the butter for easy mixing.  Since it cost only a $1.00 I will probably leave the grater at our rental.  The dollar type stores certainly have a very interesting mix and style of merchandise and are found everywhere.

Our final birding stop for the day was the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse World Birding Center. This hotspot is located along the U.S. and Mexico border.  There is a wall at this section of the border and there were border patrol staff patrolling the area, despite the partial government shutdown.

We walked around a lake/pond – approximately 1.0 mile in length.  Despite the heat, we did see a total of 21 species, including several dozen Green Monk Parakeet (non-native species, but still fun to see) and Couch’s Kingbird.  Both birds are First of Year species.  Generally, the Tropical and Couch’s Kingbird are hard to distinguish, except for their call.  I played the call for both birds so I would be able to tell the difference (if there was any) between the kingbirds we saw.  Surprisingly, what I thought were Tropical Kingbird turned out to be Couch’s Kingbird – they returned my call so I got a positive ID and learned two new bird calls.

Hidalgo Pumphouse – World Birding Center

Viewing Platform

The “Wall” – spikes and all

The viewpoints are not well maintained

Lots of tall grass and shrubby vegetation. Great places for birds to hide. And since this isn’t the breeding season, you rarely hear them, let alone see them.

Couch’s Kingbird – based on call

(Green) Monk Parakeet

Love the colorful bus. Not sure its purpose.

The community of Hidalgo, essentially 99% Hispanic, really knows how to do up Christmas.  There were elaborate light displays everywhere , many in the shapes of all different kinds of animals (including an armadillo) and objects (space crafts).  The lights are up from November 30 until December 31st.  And they create and display objects like the world’s largest killer bee, placing them around different commercial enterprises, public spaces, and government buildings.  They were also setting up a small carnival with a sound stage (loud).  Many of the area homes were also highly decorated.  I bet it all is a beautiful sight at night.

23 December 2018

Today we went to Bentsen State Park, another World Birding Center.  The morning started out warm and just got hotter.  I made three mistakes on this birding expedition: (1) no water, (2) no water, and (3) no water.  I know better, or maybe I don’t, since I’m not used to hot weather, and I’ve never been good at keeping my body hydrated.  Hopefully I won’t make that mistake tomorrow.  Our intent is to go to Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.

When we got to the parking lot, we stopped to check out some small songbirds on the ground.  Turns out they were House Finches, which are rare for this area.  And we had at least 25 of them, plus three Lark Sparrows.  Also in the parking lot where four Plain Chachalacas, of which two were being harassed by a Northern Mockingbird.  I’m not sure why the mockingbird kept going after the Chachalacas.  The poor Chachalacas were just trying to eat.  And speaking of Chachalacas, we had 34 for the day and of those 17 were at one bird blind – they tend to overwhelm a feeding station (the park has several bird feeder stations).

We stopped at the Visitor Center – this is a fee park – and got our wrist straps/badges.  Since we have a Texas Annual Park pass we save $10.00 (the entrance fee of $5 per person).  We then began our walk through the park.  The park used to have camping so there are established roads through the park versus just trails.  As we were walking down the road a guy on a bike came by blaring his 70s music.  Now I like 70s music, but not while I’m out birding.  He passed by us about 5-6 different times.  Annoying and oblivious to our birding.

Just before we got to one of the bird blinds, a juvenile Gray Hawk swooped down and tried to pick off a bird.  We were blocked by the blind so we missed seeing what interested the hawk.  We did, however, hear a terrible racket.  I was surprised when the hawk flew up into a nearby tree empty taloned.  When we got to the blind we saw three Javelins’ (Peccaries).  That may have been what made the terrible noise, or it could have been scared Chachalacas, Green Jays, White-tipped Pigeon, or something else entirely that fled/escaped.  We stayed and watched the birds and Javalinas feeding for 15-20 minutes.  The Javalinas would occasionally bare their teeth at each other – in defense of food.   We also went to the hawk viewing platform, but nary a bird to be seen.

Part of the World Class Birding Center at Bentsen State Park

I like this light shade

Inca Doves at one of the many feeder stations in the park

Plain Chachalacas

Green Jay

Black Phoebe

This park used to allow driving so most of the “trails” are the old roads

The day use area – along a river so one can fish if one so desires

Trail to the Hawk Observation Tower

Hawk Observation Tower ramp

Gray Hawk (Immature)

White-tipped Dove

Javelina – Collared Peccary (not a pig)

Not sure why this Plain Chachalaca was fanning its tail

We got three new First of Years at the park:  Black Phoebe, Lark Sparrow, and Verdin.  In total we saw 40 different species.  Not too bad, but not as good as I hoped.  Definitely not on par with Estero Llano Grande State Park where we had 69 different species.  We may go back to Estero Llano Grande State Park again on Christmas Day.  Nothing like the blessings of birding to start a Christmas Day.

24 December 2018

Today we went birding at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge.  I think this is at least our fourth visit to this refuge.  The refuge was open, but not staffed (no restrooms, visitor center) because of the partial government shutdown.  We did see one USFWS staff person (law enforcement).  We also saw several Border Patrol officers – three on bikes, and one vigilantly watching from a vehicle.  This refuge is the one that has been in the news regarding the border wall and the fact that people down here don’t want the wall, especially through the refuge.  There is a dike and I suspect this would be where they put the wall.  The dike would essentially cut off the main portion of the refuge from the parking lot and visitor center.  Like Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary (Texas), there would probably be an access gate.  A wall would be a serious detriment to wildlife, especially mammals.

Santa Ana refuge sign

I must say that in the Pintail Ponds there were a lot less ducks and waders than we’ve seen in previous visits.  Luckily the Willow Lakes had sufficient ducks and shorebirds to satisfy us.  The trails seemed very hard packed, as though it hadn’t rained in a long while.  We wonder what the summer will be like.   We were told that by May the heat index is commonly 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Despite today being Christmas Eve and the partial government shutdown, there were a number of visitors to the refuge.  Probably didn’t hurt that since it was closed there was no fee charged, as this is one of a number of refuges that charge a user fee.  Being as Jack has a senior pass, we get into the refuge for free regardless.  I sure love the pass.

Okay, onto the birds.  To me it seemed as though the birding was slow, although surprisingly we saw a total of 73 different species – our best day yet for the Lower Rio Grande Valley.  Of course it helps that we had at least eight duck species.  Somehow we missed the Wood Ducks that two other birders mentioned seeing.

Jack checking out the birds

In the grasslands we had meadowlarks, flycatchers, sparrows, and pipits.

This pond was a little dry – although there was at least one shorebird there (Least Sandpiper)

Mexico across the river (Rio Grande River)

Now this is a low growing tree – vertically challenged. Notice how dry the trail is.

Eastern Gray Squirrel

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Trail maintenance needed

At Willow Lakes  we had a variety of shorebirds – the largest group being Long-billed Dowitchers – about 80 in my estimation.  There were also lots of Black-necked Stilt, one American Avocet, two Wilson’s Snipe, one Solitary Sandpiper, at least two Stilt Sandpiper, and lots of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.  Nice to see all the shorebirds.   Earlier near Pintail Lake we had about 30 Least Sandpiper.   The Stilt Sandpiper was a First of Year (FOY).  Looking through the scope (as the birds were some distance off) I noticed two birds were different from the yellowlegs and the dowitcher.  The birds had a longish bill and yellowlegs, gray upper body, white lower body, so that ruled out Dunlin, which is what I suspected at first.  Dunlin have black legs. I dismissed the birds as I wasn’t sure what they were.  Stilt Sandpiper never came to mind since we rarely see them.  As I was talking to another birder about 15 minutes later, he asked if I had seen the Stilt Sandpipers.  When I checked out my field guide, sure enough that is what I had seen.

Observation platform

Willow Lake

Northern Pintail (male)

Great Kiskadee

Checking out the birds on the pond/lake through a viewing blind

Blue-winged Teal (male and female)

Supposedly the Hook-billed Kite likes the snails, like the ones on this tree branch

We stayed at the refuge for about four hours and then came back to our rental to just relax and enjoy the afternoon.

I told Jack some year we should rent a place – maybe the one we are in now – and stay here a month and just bird all these same places again and again.   I don’t think I would ever get enough.  Texas does a great job promoting birding hot spots and birding events.  I do know I want to come visit early-April to early-May to catch some of the spring migrants.

 

25 December 2018

Merry Christmas to All

We decided to begin Christmas Day by birding at my favorite birding area in the Lower Rio Grande Valley – Estero Llano Grande State Park.  We got there around 9:30 a.m.  It was cool, overcast, and windy.  Despite the conditions, we did see 57 different species for the morning.  Of course with another two hours of birding we might have seen 12 additional species to bring us up to par with the number of species we observed last time we visited the park – four days ago.

Same boardwalk that several days ago had probably a hundred Black-bellied Whistling Ducks hanging out

Today, just a single Black-bellied Whistling Duck

White-tailed Kite – we saw three

Anhinga

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Bench at Alligator Lake

Well used bench – at least by birds

The only new species we saw today, and a First of Year (FOY), was an Eastern Screech Owl.  Woohoo!!!  I had hoped to see this species at Okeefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, but didn’t.  So finding one today – with the help of a park volunteer – was great.  We also saw the Common Pauraque again.  This time we had a more difficult time finding them.  They always seem to be in this small island of vegetation (trails on all sides), near Alligator Lake.  We went around the circle once not seeing them, but on the second time around two were spotted.  Jack said to look for the yellow lines on their bodies.  Later, the park volunteer showed us another Common Pauraque roosting in the “Tropical Area”.  Sure enough, there was the bird.  I found it easily, but Jack (my Common Pauraque finder) could not for the life of him see the bird as it blended so well with the ground.  After about 3-4 minutes, he found the bird – an “ah ha” moment.  Once you see them they really ‘pop out’ and you wonder how you missed it.

Building with roosting Eastern Screech-Owl

Eastern Screech Owl

This is the habitat at Alligator Lake you check out for the Common Pauraque – good luck

Can you see the Common Pauraque?

Not easy is it

We spent about an hour at the new bird blind where we saw a lot more activity today than we did four days ago, although today we only saw two hummingbird species, not four like the previous time.  The bonus was a female Summer Tanager that spent a lot of time at the feeders.  I also think, I saw a female Hooded Oriole, but the bird flew away too fast for me to identify with certainty, and it never returned.  Dang.  It is nice to have a place you can sit and watch the birds without them being scared off by your presence – so long as you don’t talk or make sudden movements.

New Bird Blind in the Tropical Area

Anna’s Hummingbird (female)

Long-billed Thrasher …

… now feeding at an elevated feeding station …

…and even hopping into the caged area

I love how on this male Golden-fronted Woodpecker the area just above the bill is “golden”, the crown is “red” and the nape is “orange”.  Such a colorful head.

Female Northern Cardinal

Male Northern Cardinal

Inca Dove

White-tipped Pigeon

Yellow-rumped Warbler taking a bath

Female Summer Tanager

Today we did see the alligator that inhabits Alligator Lake.  This alligator is good sized – okay humongous.  A guy we spoke to  claims it was at least 24 feet long last year when he was here, and he suspects it has grown another two feet.  Now that would be one for the record books – a 26-foot alligator.   The current record is 15 feet, nine inches.  But, it is Texas.

We returned to our rental and just enjoyed the rest of Christmas Day reading and eating.  I did buy a small turkey breast for Christmas.   And, Jack was happy to get pum, pum, pumpkin pie.

26 December 2018

We packed up our belongings and left the Victoria Palm’s rental around 9:00 a.m., and headed back to the levee near Bentsen State Park to look for the Hook-billed Kite.  I was hoping someone else would be there so we would know where to look, where to go.  We got our wish.  There was a fellow birder than had been there since around 8:00 a.m. – so two full hours before us.  He hadn’t seen the Kite yet.  We decided to give ourselves one-hour before heading onward.  The hour came and went without a sighting of the Kite.  We did, however, see four Groove-billed Ani.  This was a good find, and a First of Year for us.  Thank-you birder from Michigan who first spotted the Ani.

Groove-billed Ani

If you look close enough you might be able to make out the actual “grooves” on its bill

In the middle of the photo is a tree. This is the tree favored by the Hook-billed Kite – except while we were there.

Savannah Sparrow

We drove to Salineno Wildlife Preserve to visit the USFWS bird feeding station maintained by volunteers.  Mr and Mrs. DeWild, from Iowa, are in their 9th year of volunteering at the feeding station.  We first met Mr. DeWild in 2014, and visited again in 2017. The DeWild’s spend about 5 ½ months here as volunteers.  Nice to have the continuity and dedication.

The feeders (crushed corn, sunflower seed, and cornmeal/peanut butter spread around the area) attract Green Jay, Great Kiskadee, Orioles (Altamira, Audubon’s, and Hooded), Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal, Orange-crowned Warbler, House Sparrow, White-tipped Dove, Long-billed Thrasher to name a few.  We always enjoy our visit here.   Since we got here in the afternoon, and it was windy, there wasn’t much activity – mostly Green Jay, Altamira Oriole, and Red-winged Blackbird.  We heard we had missed a Zone-tailed Hawk. Double Dang.  Would love to have seen that bird.

Great Kiskadee – they have very loud calls

Altamira Oriole

I love the use of a hubcap as a birding feeder – here being used by a male Northern Cardinal.  Good way to “reuse” an item so it doesn’t go into a landfill or become trash alongside the road.

Red-winged Blackbirds. There were plenty of these birds around.

Green Jay

There is also a rough road along the Rio Grande River you can walk in search of birds.  We did this as well, looking for the Morelet’s Seedeater.  We did not see the seedeater, but we did have a Vermillion Flycatcher (always nice), five Kingbirds (most likely Couch’s as Tropical usually don’t get this far north ), Lincoln’s Sparrow (my favorite sparrow), woodpeckers, gnatcatchers, and an Osprey.

Rio Grande River just a short distance from the Salineno Preserve

This is the road we took in search of the seedeater

Couch’s Kingbird is the predominant kingbird in this area.

We come back again tomorrow to check out the feeders and look for the seedeater.  I am  hoping to see the seedeater, an Audubon’s Oriole, and a Zone-tailed Hawk.  A nice trifecta of birds.

Our campground for the night is Falcon State Park, which is located along Falcon Dam/Reservoir.  We will spend two nights here.  We lucked out and got our favorite site #131 (although Site #112 wouldn’t be too bad either).  Of course we are as far away from the restrooms as your can possibly get.  That might be why there isn’t anyone next to us yet.  I’m surprised the campground isn’t full as one whole loop is closed for repairs to the utility system.   While setting up camp, we had an adult and young Javalina casually walk through our campsite.  Pretty cool.

Our campsite at Falcon State Park

27 December 2018

Today we returned to the Salineno Wildlife Preserve or what is known as DeWild’s Yard (they stay in their RV – 5th wheel trailer) in Salineno.   The feeding area is part of land purchased by a land trust and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  The feeding station is operated seven days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The DeWild’s also manage an adjacent butterfly garden.  They said a recent frost wiped out the flowers and most of the butterflies moved on.   The area doesn’t attract many hummingbirds when the flowers are gone so no hummingbird feeders were out. To offer the DeWild’s a break, there is another host that helps out – Michael from Colorado.

We arrived at the feeding station around 8:30 a.m. hoping (and failing) to see the Audubon’s Oriole.  I understand the Oriole was seen a couple times before we arrived.  We stayed for 1.5 hours, and then went in search of the Morelet’s Seedeater, a Mexican bird, that has been seen in the area.  We searched yesterday and did not find it.  Nor did we find it today.  What we did find or I should say what we “attracted” was a Border Patrol agent.  They seem to know when there are warm bodies in the area.  I think they are used to people going to the feeding station, but beyond that, not so much, especially when we walk along the Rio Grande River and wave across the river to Mexico – sure hope this area is not spoiled by a wall.  Yesterday we had two Boarder Patrol boats with gun-toting agents come roaring down the river checking us out.

Our morning excursion to the feeding station and river garnered a total of 20 species.

This is where the birds are fed.

Michael was scaring off the blackbirds and putting more food out for the other birds

We had a lot of White-winged Doves

Altamira Oriole

They love the peanut butter/cornmeal mix

Golden-fronted Woodpecker – female

Red-winged Blackbird – male

Even the butterflies like the fruit

Here a Green Jay is on the hubcap feeder

After we birded the river area and not finding any new birds, we went back to the feeding station and stayed until noon.  Again, no show on the Audubon’s Oriole while we were gone or after we returned.  Earlier in the morning we did get a Zone-tailed Hawk and Gray Hawk that flew over.  We also had a Sharp-shinned Hawk that was interested in the birds at the feeder and came swooping through.  He didn’t catch anything while we were there.

What is interesting to note is the Green Jay (my favorite Jay species – so colorful) is the first to come back to the feeder after the birds have all scattered, and many times they scatter when a Green Jay squawks.  The preferred food by the majority of birds is peanut butter mixed with corn meal – a good high-energy winter food.  This mixture is put out throughout the day.  So there are always some birds around snacking.

After birding Salineno we returned to Falcon State Park, had lunch, and then walked around on the roads and various trails in search of the Greater Roadrunner and Cactus Wren.  Both birds were no-shows.  We did see the Pyrrhuloxia (we call it the pyrex bird), a bird that looks similar to the female Northern Cardinal.  In all we had 35 species at the park.  Not a bad day of birding considering we didn’t have a single duck species.

Falcon State Park has a butterfly garden

Yes, this is a trail – rocky

This trail is much smoother

Fruit on the cactus

More thick, dense vegetation. Makes birding harder for sure.

Falcon reservoir

We actually had some birds through this area

Tomorrow we continue our journey and head to the Amistad National Recreation Area to camp and bird.

28 December 2018

Today was a travel day.  We left Falcon State Park around 8:00 a.m.  As we were leaving our campground loop we saw a bobcat cross the road in the distance.  This is our first bobcat sighting of the trip.  Gotta love those cats.

The trip was pretty uneventful – sort of desolate, desert landscape.  To keep occupied (and awake) as the scenery was pretty monotonous, I counted raptors seen from our van as we traveled along the way:  32 Crested Caracara, 34 Red-tailed Hawks, 14 Harris’s Hawk, 15 American Kestrel (although I think there may have been more, but these birds are much smaller and when you’re going by at 65+ miles per hour, its not always easy to detect the bird), and one Northern Harrier.

About 30 miles or so before arriving in Carrizo Springs, we started seeing a whole lot of fracking going on, which we didn’t see when we were by this way almost two years ago.  They’ve done a lot in that short period of time.  We didn’t see any raptors in this area.

We did go through one border patrol checkpoint.  Instead of seeing 6-8 border patrol agents as is common, we only saw two, including one with a K-9 dog.  He, the dog, sniffed our van.  If commercial truckers are caught with illegal drugs or illegal immigrants, they can lose their CDL – commercial driver’s license.  To date (not sure when it started), 662 drivers have lost their licenses.  I wonder if that is really a true number?  If could just be a ploy to keep drivers on the straight and narrow – keep them honest.  Who knows?

We arrived at our destination for the night – Governor’s Landing campground at Amistad National Recreation Area.  Amistad National Recreation Area is managed by the National Park Service (NPS), which is affected by the partial government shutdown.  However, the NPS is essentially leaving all their parks open, they just aren’t providing any services.  Here we get to continue to use the vault toilets, but better bring your own toilet paper.  They are not replenishing toilet paper.  Also the water is turned off as they are not maintaining the water system.  These sites don’t have electricity anyway, so that isn’t an issue.  We prepared for the lack of water so are in good shape, and we have plenty of toilet paper.

I wonder how many people here are actually paying to stay.  No enforcement.  We paid our $4.00 for the night.  Since this is a federal facility we get our 50% discount.  We got here around 2:30 p.m., so we birded the campground and day-use area.  It wasn’t too birdy, although we did get 18 species.  I did see two Chihuahuan Ravens today – a First of Year (FOY), plus several new birds for Texas (at least on my eBird list, although not FOYs).  For Texas we’ve seen 190 different bird species in 21 days.

Our campsite at Governor’s Landing – Amistad National Recreation Area

Amistad Reservoir

Rock Wren

29 December 2018

We always seem to be moving forward on the edge of a storm trying to stay ahead of the nasty weather.  Here at the campground we woke to overcast skies, winds, and temperatures in the low 40s.  We read for a couple of hours and then decided to brave the wind and venture out and see if any birds were moving about.  We drove to Spur Road 406 and checked out the campground there.  Not much of a campground, think pull-offs from the road.  We did see two campers, but one left before we came back through the camping area (we went to the closed boat launch area).  We did see a total of 19 species, none of which were First of Years, but several that were first for Texas on this trip: Say’s Phoebe, Canvasback, and Vesper Sparrow.

We came back to the campground and just hung out reading until it was time to drive into Del Rio (about 15 miles away) to catch a movie (warmth & popcorn).  We decided on a chick flick.  Jack just wanted the popcorn.  The movie was mindless entertainment and we were warm.  Afterwards we went to a Vietnamese restaurant that I would not recommend.

I think there used to be boat launching from this area

Jack scoping out the birds on the reservoir – looking for the Canvasbacks

Reservoir

Loggerhead Shrike. These guys are such possers.

Vermillion Flycatcher. How can you NOT love this bird?

Vesper Sparrow

30 December 2018

Hard to believe the year is almost over.  We woke to a cold (low 40s), windy, overcast day.  Today is travel day – a long travel day (400+ miles).  We want to make it to Arizona by tomorrow night to avoid another cold spell that is suppose to hit parts of southern New Mexico.  I had hoped to go to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (New Mexico), but will need to save that for another day.

The reason for avoiding snow is I don’t know how our vehicle will handle the snow, and I don’t trust other drivers who think they can handle the snow and don’t slow down.  When the speed limit is 75 miles per hour even on non-interstate highways, that’s just a little to fast for me even under normal conditions.  Now if I had a sporty little car with winter snow tires…

We traveled a good portion of the day on Highway 90 North to west Texas.  Not a lot of traffic, which I like.  We did see some ‘highway birds’ –mostly raptors (Hawks, Harrier, Kestrels) and a few Loggerhead Shrikes.  Probably too cold for the other birds to be out and about.   I did get a First of Year bird with several sightings of Ferruginous Hawks.  A nice bird to add to my list.

Ferruginous Hawk

Ferruginous Hawk

Ferruginious Hawk

The dirt road on the side of the highway is used by Border Patrol

Starting to see a little snow

Frost here

Highway 54 north of Van Horn, Texas

Guadalupe Mountains

The coldest temperature along the highway was 34 degrees, while the warmest was a whooping 41 degrees.  Near Alpine (town) the sun highlighted frost on the ground and vegetation giving it a beautiful crystal shine, and adding to the scene was frost hanging off the trees, utility lines, and street signs.  The winter scene attracted lots of people who stopped along the road to take photos of the frost on the trees with a background of mountains.

We stopped for the night at Hueco Tanks State Park.  This is truly a unique experience.  The state park is a beautiful area of massive granite rock formations rising out of the desert.  The park protects over 2,000 petroglyphs.  However, it is a very “regulated” state park.  We drove up the park entrance and a park ranger stopped us.  He asked if we had a reservation.  We were thinking he was referring to the campground, but nope they limit the number of people who can be in the park at one time – to roam the rocks – and if you have reservations you get to proceed.  If you don’t have reservations, then you have to park in a line and wait until someone comes out.  The park is a popular rock climbing destination and people start lining up a 7:30 a.m. to get a permit.  We told Mr. Ranger we only wanted to camp.  He called ahead to be sure there was a campsite available – there was – and then let us proceed with the admonishment that we did not have a permit to walk among the rocks.

We got to the park office and registered.  We were told to proceed to a house just up the road to watch a mandatory 15-minute orientation video.  We watched the orientation video, and afterwards we were given a card, which we must produce if we want to walk any of the self-guided trails.  However, the card only shows we saw the orientation video.  The guided and self-guided trails still require a reservation or permit.  We were told to be at the park office  by 7:30 a.m.  to get on the list for the self-guide trails.

There are three mountains (nothing too tall – huge boulder formations), and our campground is next to one that is off-limits to hiking, unless on a guided tour.  And we cannot climb onto the rocks either.  We can only walk around our campground road, which isn’t too big.  We also have to be back at our campsite by 6:00 p.m.

Heuro Tank Mountains

The campground is nice.  We are in campsite #8, which I would choose again if we ever come back.  The site has electricity so we can run our little heater – happy campers.  We aren’t sure whether we will hike any of the self-guided trails tomorrow or not.  Will wait until morning to see how “cold” it is.  Temperatures are supposed to get into the 30s, so will probably be cold in the morning.  Also, we have another long day ahead in order to get to Catalina State Park near Tucson Arizona tomorrow.

Our campsite at Hueco Tanks State Park

View of the mountain from our campsite

Oh, and speaking of the campground, it was so quiet bird-wise when we got here, but as I was walking around the campground loop I did come across another First of Year bird – the Canyon Towhee.  Of course I didn’t have my camera and the bird was out in the open about ten feet from me.  Dang.

Tomorrow we head west leaving the state of Texas behind.  Our goal is to make it to Arizona as there is another winter storm coming through the area.  A storm we would like to miss.

Until Arizona …

IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BIRD

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t Mess With Texas – Part One

8 December 2018

We finally made it to Texas after 3 ½ months on the road!

After a cool evening, we started the morning at Palmetto Island State Park (Louisiana).  The darkening sky foretold the forecast for rain, and rain it did – if not ‘cats and dogs’ then buckets full.  The rain on our ‘tin tent’ van was very loud.  By the time we left our campground at 8:00 a.m., we had endured almost an inch of rain.  We decided to forego cooking in the rain and made haste to the nearby community of Abbeville, LA to find a restaurant for breakfast.  Maybe going out to breakfast is a “west coast thing” because we haven’t found many places open for breakfast in the south, unless you are in a large city.  We googled restaurants in Abbeville (sizeable town closest to our campground) and found two non-fast food restaurants that served breakfast.  We went to the first one and found it had closed permanently.  So we stopped at the second place – Park Restaurant.  This turned out to be a popular place.  We got a table, got served coffee, and then we waited, and waited, and waited to have someone take our order.  One waitress kept ignoring us.  Finally, the woman who served us coffee took our order.  Southern hospitality?  Not so much.  Maybe if you are another southern regular, but they knew we weren’t locals.  They are lucky I’m not the type of person to leave on-line reviews, otherwise the number of stars would descend.

This is our campsite. Notice the pooled water near the trees. It was dry the night before.

We then proceeded to make our way to Texas via the back-roads.  This required we take a short ferry ride out of Cameron, Louisiana.  We were waiting for the car ferry when I realized that a place I wanted to bird was about a half mile behind us.  So we managed to get turned around and went to the Cameron Pier to bird.  We had to pay $5.00 for the pleasure of parking in the driving wind and rain and using a nasty looking restroom.  We also birded, of course – there were two nice viewing platforms, each with a roof shelter.  We were surprised to find on the beach, by my estimation, over 1,500 Laughing Gulls, 200 Black Skimmers, 50 or more American Avocets, and smaller numbers of terns, other gulls, and other shorebirds.  It was an amazing sight to see as the birds braced themselves against the wind.  We had a bird’s eye view so to speak as the bathrooms were part of one of the elevated viewing platforms (they don’t want their toilets washing away during a hurricane).

Scrub habitat on the way out to the pier. I was hoping to see a Nelson’s Sparrow here. No luck.

Cameron breakwater jetty

On the beach were thousands of gulls, mostly Laughing Gulls. Guess it was too windy to fly.

Jack carrying the spotting scope – this was the elevated viewing platform/restroom building. Nice for observing the birds.

Parking lot campground. No one here when we first arrived, but then a camper from Idaho showed up before we left.

Jack on the trail to one of the viewing observation platforms

View from that platform. There were several brave souls fishing from the breakwater, but access was not easy.

Now we are waiting for the ferry.  The cost to cross is $1.00.  It probably took longer to load the vehicles than to cross to the other side.

On the ferry and arriving to the opposite shore

As you can see not the best of days

After birding, we stopped to get lunch knowing it might be late by the time we got to our campground – Sea Rim State Park in Texas, which turned out to be true.  We didn’t pull up to the campground until 4:35 and we didn’t have reservations yet.  Luckily the park staff person was taking busy with a telephone reservation or she would have left at closing – 4:30 pm.  So, we sneaked in just under the wire.

In Texas you have to pay a day-use fee in addition to a campground fee.  Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, (why not make it part of the camping fee?), but whatever.  There are a number of state parks we want to visit in the lower Rio Grande Valley that don’t have campground, but charge a per person day use fee.   Hot tip: Buy the Texas Park Annual Pass ($70.00 per year), which allows everyone in a vehicle free day use and if you stay two nights at the same campground you get the second night for half-price.  Right now (2018) the second night discount may only be applied twice in a year.  Starting in January 2019, the second night discount will be for unlimited times.  So if you spend any amount of time in Texas (a big state with lots of great birding spots) the pass is great.  I think on our last trip we saved over $100 by having the pass.

Once we arrived at Sea Rim State Park I had to go to the beach to check out the birds.  In addition to lots of gulls, I had eight different shorebirds:  Long-billed Curlew (first of year), Sanderling, Willet, Snowy Plover, American Avocet, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Plover.  I didn’t stay long because my hands were freezing and I was losing daylight.  Ah, but what a great way to end the day – on the beach with shorebirds.

Port Arthur Texas – mostly oil and gas refineries …

… which you must pass by when you travel to Sea Rim State Park

Campsite #1 at Sea Rim State Park – a little bit of water

Boardwalk at Sea Rim State Park. This boardwalk takes you from the campground to the beach.

View of the dunes from the boardwalk

The beach here is quite nice. Not the white sand we found in Florida however.

Not sure what this came from – interesting though

Dusk

9 December 2018

Well at least it wasn’t raining this morning.  However, it was cold (for southern Texas) with temperatures in the mid 40s, but with the wind chill factor it felt more like 30 degrees F.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  Not much colder at our Homer, Alaska home, although they are getting snow – finally.

We had breakfast and decided to move campsites.  We wanted a spot where the picnic table was on dry land, not surrounded by water – like campsite #1.  Most campers don’t use or need their picnic tables.  We need ours.  Jack went to the park office when it opened at 8:30 am, interrupted coffee time, and got our site changed from #1 to #11.  We now have a view of the ocean from our camper van and a dry site.  Sweet!!!

Campsite #11 at Sea Rim State Park (a pull through). Higher (slightly) and drier.

Despite all the gunfire we heard when we woke up and during breakfast (tis the season to hunt waterfowl), we decided to drive the road within the nearby McFadden National Wildlife Refuge.  We did see a number of hunters –not a friendly bunch – as we checked out the area for birds.  At first it seemed pretty slow, but at the end we were surprised to find we had a total of 35 species, so not too bad.

This refuge is pretty flat

Killdeer

Brown-headed Cowbird

There are several lakes on the refuge. Not much waterfowl, but then people were hunting them.

Marsh Wren

Pied-billed Grebe

Osprey on the road

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

We did see where four feral hogs had been shot and left for the TV’s (turkey vultures).  Yes, I took photos.  I like to photograph dead things.  I know weird.  And later I saw something large, and black moving off in the distance.  I got my binoculars on it and at first though it might be a black bear.  They do have black bears in Texas, although rare.  Now people in Alaska have a general inkling as to the size of black bear.  So if I could mistake this animal – which turned out to be a feral hog – for a black bear, then that hog was HUGE!  That is one animal I would not want to cross paths with on any given day.  And closer to the road we saw four more live feral hogs also large in size.  They were very quick to run off, but hey hunters shoot away.  These hogs are non-native and very destructive to native habitat and wildlife.  Get rid of them I say.  I think that is one animal I “might” be able to kill.  “Might”.

Dead wild boar/feral hog

These animals are non-native and destructive to native habitat. Good riddance.

We came back to the campground and decided to walk the beach and day-use area to check out the birds.  This park has a nice wetland boardwalk but it is closed due to disrepair.  I hope they replace it.  Jack and I think all the ducks from the nearby refuge came over to the park ponds to escape the hunters.  The ponds were filled mostly with Gadwall, with a few American Wigeon, Redhead, and Lesser Scaup in the mix.  Oh, and we cannot forget the American Coot.

Snowy Egret

Great-tailed Grackle – female

Great-tailed Grackle

This Snowy Egret was at a small pool of water near the park entrance booth. Maybe looking for a frog?

Blue Crab

We saw the crab on the road where it could easily get run over so Jack picked it up and moved it closer to a pond and off the pavement

On the beach we had our usual assortment of shorebirds, gulls, and terns.  Nothing new to report from last night.  We did pick up a lot of garbage on the beach.  I picked up a lot of rope related products, and fishing line – my pet peeve.  Occasionally we would find a piece of clothing.  Did those items come off a fishing boat or from the oil rigs out in Gulf of Mexico?  We can see a few off-shore oil rigs from the park.

Beach roped off to keep vehicles off this portion of the beach. Not sure why.

This pile of fishing line was about the size of a dinner plate. Lots of plastic on the beach. Not good.

A fish, of course. Not sure what kind.

10 December 2018

We woke to beautiful sunny skies, cold temperatures (41 degrees F), and calm winds.  Hated to leave pleasant, quiet, Sea Rim State Park, but the goal today is to bird Anahauc National Wildlife Refuge and Bolivar Peninsula, with camping at Galveston Island State Park.

Sunrise from our campsite at Sea Rim State park

The Great-tailed Grackles liked to visit our campsite – hoping for food handouts

We made it to Anahauc NWR around 9:30 a.m., and proceeded to spend 4 ½ hours birding the refuge, primarily by driving the Shoveler’s Loop Road which is only 2 ½ miles.  But, there were a lot of birds to see.  In total we had 59 different species – a really, really, really great day to bird.  I think the highlights were the 300+ Black-bellied Whistling Ducks – all roosting on a narrow strip of ground in the marsh, and the American Bittern that Jack found on the side of the canal just off the road.

Boardwalk near the visitor center

Loggerhead Shrike

American Coot

Lots of canals on the refuge

Blue-winged Teal – Drake (male)

This American Bittern was walking in the open at the base of the dike road.

Seemed oblivious to our presence

Which was fine by us

Surprised by how many Pied-billed Grebes we saw (26)

Green Heron

One of the ponds

Eastern Phoebe

Small alligator

Boardwalk on Shoveler’s Pond loop road. In the past this area has always had tall Phragmites – a very, very tall grass, which made it difficult to see anything.

A watersnake perhaps?  Maybe even a Texas Indigo Watersnake?

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks – we estimated there had to be around 300 or so

Gee I wonder how they got the name “Black-bellied” Whistling Ducks. We know how they got the “Whistling” part of their name. They have a whistling call.

Jack checking out the ducks. Notice he is wearing his down jacket.

Northern Shoveler – drake (male)

Northern Shoveler – either a first year bird or a molting bird (male)

Northern Harrier – the first one we’ve ever seen on the ground. Must have caught something?

Red-tailed Hawk – in the eastern U.S. they are much lighter.  Of course this bird is a juvenile.

When we were here last (January 2017) we saw a Burrowing Owl on the refuge.  We remembered where it was spotted so we went to check the spot out.  No owl.  Darn.  I did hear a Yellow Rail, it was so teasingly close, but well hidden in the vegetation.  These birds are very hard to see or find.  And later I learned that we missed the Yellow Rail and Rice Festival in Louisiana in late October.  I guess a good time to see these elusive rails is when the rice fields are being harvested.  Some year I will go to Louisiana for this unique bird festival where you ride on a combine looking for flushed Yellow Rails.  I love rails so would really like to see this elusive bird.

Crested Caracara on a bloated dead cow

Shrubby habitat on the refuge too

Trail we took near the visitor center which leads to a viewing platform

After the refuge, we drove towards Galveston via Bolivar Peninsula.  High Island is a town on the peninsula known as a “fallout” hotspot – migrating birds stop to rest and ‘fuel up’.  High Island is situated within the primary migration corridor where migratory songbirds stop after crossing the Gulf of Mexico on their way to their breeding grounds further north.  We missed the spring migration season, but would like to come back one of these years to check out this great migration.  We did stop off at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary (17th Street Jetty) and saw quite a few shorebirds (in total), with the largest group being American Avocets.  We estimate there were at least 300 of these birds, mostly roosting.  We also had Long-billed Curlew, Willet, Least Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, Killdeer, and Black-bellied Plover.

17th Street Jetty

Mad Flats loved by shorebirds

American Avocets – we estimated about 300

Long-billed Curlew

We took the free ferry from Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston and made our way down Seawall Boulevard in Galveston.  As the name implies, the road follows the beach.  Galveston is a very heavily developed commercial tourist destination – lots of places to spend your money on items you don’t need or on a plethora of restaurants.

Bolivar lighthouse

Our ferry to Galveston

We were allowed to get our of our vehicles, but if we wanted to “feed the seagulls” we were suppose to do that at the back of the ferry

Back of the ferry. Luckily no one was feeding the gulls.

Gulls enjoying the ride

The three (gull) stooges

To me this gull looks happy. Maybe he likes riding on the ferry?

Great-tailed Grackles were on board hoping for food handouts too

We stopped at Kroger’s to stock up on food.  When we came out of the store it was twilight and the parking lot was being mobbed by grackles.  There must have been a thousand or so of these birds – great chaos, reminds one of the Alfred Hitchcock movie “The Birds”.  Car roofs were covered with birds, including ours.  And more were on the ground and flying about.  A truly amazing spectacle.  We assume there was a roosting site nearby.

The number of grackles in the Kroger parking lot were amazing

Here there are about 30 on the top of our van

We got to the campground around 6:15 p.m., and found a spot for the night.  This is the first time this trip that we’ve gotten to our campground after dark.  I don’t like doing this because you can’t see much of the campground to select the right site (I’m choosy), but the birding was just too great to give up so we couldn’t get to the campground before sundown.

Campsite #2 at Galveston Island State Park.  A nice spot with no one to our right and restrooms nearby.

11 December 2018

Another cold morning, but the sun was shining, which really helps keep the coldness away and the mental spirits high.  I didn’t have to put on my Ugg knockoff boots today.  After breakfast we drove to the park office to register for another night.  Then we went across the road to the “bay” side of the park and walked a short trail.  I think if they get high tides the trail is under water, as the trails were quite muddy.  Although we did see 19 different species, including two White-tailed Kites, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the LeConte’s Sparrow, which is found in this area.  No luck – drats.  One of these days I will see that bird.

View of the bayside of the park from a viewing platform

White-tailed Kite near our campsite

We then drove to town so I could download a registration form.  Jack and I are going to Uganda in September 2019 to see the Shoebill and hopefully an additional 300+ birds – many of them new birds.  I REALLY want to see the Shoebill (Jack calls it the ‘ugly bird’ so Google it and you decide).  This bird has been high on my list (okay the top) of birds I want to see.  I’m thinking of staying an extra day or two to see the bird – again if we saw it and for the first time if we didn’t.  We had planned to go to Australia and New Zealand next fall, but this opportunity came along and the price was right.   We are going with Talon Tours, a bird tour company that a friend, Betty Siegel, uses a lot.  So I printed off the forms, wrote out the deposit check, and mailed the forms and check – we’re committed.

This guy was driving his golf car in downtown Galveston. He blew through a stop sign.  Luckily no cars were coming from the opposite direction.  The car was decorated for Christmas.

Afterwards we caught the Galveston-Bolivar ferry again (remember – free) and headed to Bolivar Flats beach to check out the shorebirds.  Two additional shorebirds I want to add to my ‘First of Year’ list are:  Wilson’s Plover and Piping Plover.  At the beach we did see a single Wilsons’ Plover.  Hard to mistake this bird with its light pink legs and its large bill (large relatively to the other plover bills – Snowy, Piping, and Semipalmated).  As we walked the beach we also picked up trash.  A lot of trash.  And we hardly made a dent.  Texas has an anti-litter marketing campaign “Don’t Mess With Texas”.  I don’t think it works, especially on certain beaches.  And Texas should initiate  a recycling campaign.  The parks don’t have recycling containers.  As a country, we use and dispose of too much plastic.  Remember – the key is to “reduce”, “reuse”, and then “recycle” what you don’t reuse after you’ve reduced.  Reduce packaging and waste!  Okay, end of lecture.

Habitat on the way to the beach – this property is owned by Houston Audubon

You can camp (for free) on Bolivar beach. The beach is quite wide.  We saw at least four different campers.

Wilson’s Plover -note the large bill, light pink legs

Now that is a “long” bill – Long-billed Curlew. Easy to see how it got its name.

Ring-billed Gull – I guess we know how this bird got its name too

We are thinking this was some type of “Ray”. It looked pretty dehydrated.

We’ve seen a lot of Loggerhead Shrikes on this trip

We did another short stop at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary – 17th Street Jetty.  Still a lot of shorebirds here, but the number of American Avocets was only half of what we saw yesterday.  Still fun to watch the shorebirds peck away for food in the mud.  We also saw a raccoon making its way across the mud flats.

Hard to tell from this photo but there is a lot of trash on the beach. So much for “Don’t Mess with Texas”.

Jack walking on the Jetty

Whimbrel

Dunlin

Black-bellied Plover

This is a bait shop near the jetty. We counted six cats. Yikes!!! Keep your cats indoors folks. And spay or neuter them.

Great-tailed Grackle catching a ride on the ferry back to Galveston

I checked on the prices of rooms at this hotel and they were less than $150 per night. I guess Galveston in December is not the “high season”.

We returned to the campground and took a nice hot shower, where I was joined by three frogs.  They were quite small – the largest about the size of quarter (it’s entire body).  I don’t know if they liked all that steam or not.   Tomorrow we head to San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, then on to Brazos Bend State Park near Houston where we will camp for the next three nights.

12 December 2018

Overcast today, but not much wind so bearable, although sometimes no wind is a curse when you are in an area with a lot of mosquitoes, which we were when we went to the San Bernard NWR this morning.  They swarmed the van, not very inviting. This is our third visit to this refuge.  The refuge has several trails (which we didn’t take because of the mosquitoes) and an auto drive (which we did take.)  We saw a lot of raptors here today – sheer numbers, not necessarily a lot of different species.  The Red-tailed Hawks really like this area.  We observed eight of them.  We also had a Merlin, several Turkey Vultures, a Northern Harrier, two Bald Eagles, and a great find – a White-tailed Hawk.  The White-tailed Hawk is a FOY (first of year).  I expected to see this species near the lower Rio Grande Valley, so was surprised to find it here.  A pleasant surprise no less.

We spent almost three hours at the refuge, and saw a total of 39 different bird species.  At one stop – Wolfweed Wetlands, we spotted over 20 small, young alligators in the same wetland slough.  About half of them were practically resting on top of each other.  Female alligators typically lay about 20 eggs, but young alligators are heavily preyed upon (before they can become a formidable predator), so all these alligators were probably the result of more than one female.  But who knows???  Typically, only one of the 20 babies will live to be an adult.  Maybe by hanging out together they increase their chance of survival.

This main wetland is comprised of several ponds with water-control dikes.  In the past the dikes were a mowed pathway but now they are unmaintained and impassible.  Each time we’ve been here there is less and less area to walk around these ponds.  Today we could only access the observation platform.   We didn’t see many species from the viewing platform  – mostly American Coots.

Path to viewing platform

Viewing Platform

As you can see the refuge staff have mowed around the platform, but not the dike trails. There aren’t any of the typical refuge signs prohibiting entry, but with alligators in the area I’m not about to walk in the tall grass on those dikes.

And speaking of alligators…the smallest one was checking us out

Not easy to see, but there are probably 15 alligators in this small area alone

After touring the refuge we drove to a nearby Target store to get a few supplies and then headed to our campground for the next three nights – Brazos Bend State Park (near Houston).  I really like this campground and park.  I think the best sites are #122 and #106.  There aren’t many people here today, so we got a decent site (#120) – #122 is the most popular site in the campground, and was fully booked and #106 was booked our last night there so we couldn’t get either of these campground sites.

The campground will probably see more use on the weekend.  Last time we were here – 2017 – we had to stay one of three nights in an overflow area – essentially a parking lot as the campground was full for the weekend.  Maybe since it is close to Christmas there isn’t as much interest in camping.   Oh, and surprisingly, despite being close to Houston, we have only intermittent cellphone/internet coverage (our carrier is AT&T – what service).   Oh well, I guess this way we can really enjoy the park and leave the rest of what’s happening in the world behind.

13 December 2018

Boy did it ever rain last night – again (we’ve had a lot of rain on this trip).  I left a pan outside and Jack swears there was about two inches of water in the pan.  I even recorded, on my phone, the racket from the rain hitting our ‘tin tent’, although it sounds worse in person.  There were a lot of rain puddles (small lakes) in the campground and at least one picnic table was surrounded by water.  Luckily our campsite did pretty well.

Campsite #120 at Brazos Bend State Park

I birded around our campsite and it was alive with post-rain activity.  “The park was alive with the sound of bird life” (sung to Sound of Music).  I know, I know.  We had really close up views of Carolina Wrens (remember Wrens are some of my favorite birds) near our campsite.  Of course the light wasn’t that good for photos, nor my camera.  Or should I blame it on the photographer – me???

Nothing could be finer than to see a Carolina Wren in the morning…

Carolina Wren

After I got my fill of birding our campsite, we headed to Elm Lake.  We decided to walk about 0.50-0.75 miles from our campsite to the lake, rather than drive the short distance. We birded along the way and once we got to the lake we heard this “whistling” sound.  That sound came from numerous (hundreds) Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.  Now we know how they got their name – they tend to make a whistling sound when disturbed and they have black bellies.  In all I estimate there were, at least, 500 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks on the lake.  I counted one group huddled together and came up with 91.  And that was just one small part of the lake.  When they are roosting they blend in quite well and it is easy to miss many.

Lots of “Live Oaks” in this park. Beautiful trees.

You can see the water line from past floods on these trees

Another magnificent live oak

Just a little bit of flooding. Hurricane Harvey brought a lot of rain to Houston and flooding. Here too.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

And speaking of the lake, we did the 1.7-mile loop trail around Elm Lake.  But first we stopped at a lake viewing platform (which looks out over the lake) near the day-use area.  Here we got close to the Whistling Ducks and other birds.  I asked Jack if he wanted to start walking around the lake on the left or the right.  He said left.  So off we went.  And you had to pay attention to the trail.  As a result of all the rain there were a lot of puddles and slick muddy areas.  As we got close to the beginning of to the trail (east side – it is a loop trail), I looked up to see this HUGE alligator crossing the road about 30 feet from us.  I yelped, then stepped back, got out my camera, and took some photos as the alligator advanced (lumbered) across the road.  I even took a short video.  Once he got across the road he plopped down by the trail as if daring us to come forward.  Oh good, now he is really close to where we want to start on the trail.  So we ‘bravely’ headed off in the opposite direction, with the hope the alligator would be gone by the time we got back around the lake.

Elm Lake

Viewing Platform at the day-use area (Elm Lake)

I have not intentions of “feeding” the alligators …

… including this monster

The trails were pretty wet and muddy from last night’s rain – at least on the north side of the lake

Trail around Elm Lake – west side.  We had to pass two alligators near the trail on this side of the lake.

Blue-winged Teal

I love how these turtles stretch their legs out behind them. I keep thinking “Turtle Yoga”.

Great Egret

Immature Little Blue Heron

Common Gallinule (formerly known as Common Moorhen)

Lot of Pied-billed Grebes here too (17)

This is the habitat on the opposite side of the trail from the lake – south side

This family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks was roosting on the observation deck on the south side of the lake

I love this park as it has some really good birding.  We saw a total of 42 species today, of which only two were ducks: Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Blue-winged Teal.  We actually had a lot of songbirds – something we haven’t had in awhile having been on the coast  where you are more likely to have gulls, terns, shorebirds, and waders.  So a nice change to have mostly songbirds.  Of course, now I had to be alert to these birds’ calls and songs all over again – to jar my memory.  I keep saying “I should know that call”.  Learning and remembering bird calls is not my strong suit.

Going along the lake we did have to walk gently by three large alligators situated alongside the trail and giving us ‘the stare’.  They were not the size of the humongous one from the road, but still nerve-wracking when they raised their head and made any movement.  When we stopped by the Nature Center,  I was told alligators really don’t want to eat humans (hmm, was that an experiment?) but one had drowned a guy who was drunk and decided to go swimming in an area known to be frequented by alligators.  He did say this was the first death in Texas by an alligator in over 140 years.  Of course, that could be “known” deaths.  They may not want to eat us, but their bite can still harm us.  Thus, I’m reluctant to go too close to an alligator, especially  a mom defending her young.  I read if a gator starts to hiss, that is a sign to back off.   Personally, I like it when they go into the water before we get close to them.  And speaking of going into the water, when we walked by a bunch of American Coots they flushed (took off across the lake).  Then the water starting swirling and there was splashing.  We didn’t see what caused the commotion, but we think an alligator got agitated by the actions of the coots and slipped into the water sight unseen.  That got our attention too.  Oh, the humongous gator was gone …. yeah!

Later we walked from our campsite to the Creekfield Trail.  It was coming on dusk so there were a lot of Turkey and Black Vultures coming into roost.  Of course, whenever anyone walks by their roost trees, off they fly, circle around, and land once again.

Boardwalk and observation deck at Creekfield Lake

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Mixed flock (Black and Turkey Vulture)

Turkey Vultures look to be checking something out

Despite the early rain and all the large alligators, we had great birding today.

14 December 2018

Brrrrrrrr.  Cold, cold, cold today.  The wind really makes the cold cut through you, especially without the sun – yes it is overcast, so no sunny warmth.  We drove to the day-use area at 40-Acre Lake to take the 40-Acre Lake trail (still part of the park).  We ventured out, went a short distance to a viewing platform, checked out the lake, and then quickly went back to the van to get more clothes.  I changed from my jeans into a pair of Smartwool long underwear and pile pants, another coat, and warmer gloves.  Jack added another layer under his winter coat and got his gloves.  And after walking and birding in the windy, cold weather, I was still cold despite my added layers.

Observation platform at 40-Acre Lake day-use area. We went here first then quickly retreated back to the van to put on some warmer clothes. Chilly out.

There is a connecting trail between 40-acre Lake and Elm Lake so we took that and walked around Elm Lake again.  You never know what you might see in the same area again.  Today was a “cardinal” day.  They seemed to be everywhere.  We also had a Red-shouldered Hawk that flushed from the ground and flew to a nearby tree.  When we put the scope on him we could see he was feasting on a frog – frog legs for dinner.  Despite the cold temperature it was a nice walk, in part because the alligators were apparently all in the water.  Too cold for them to be up on land I guess.  We had 41 different bird species today.  That figure would have been higher if I had counted the birds I saw and heard in the campground, including two Pileated Woodpeckers.

Trail around 40-Acre Lake on the west side

Great Blue Heron

Trail between 40-Acre Lake and Elm Lake

It truly was a Northern Cardinal day – male cardinal

Red-shouldered Hawk in a tree munching on a frog

Snowy Egret and Little Blue Heron

A precarious perch

Now how do I turn around on this railing?

It was really comical to watch this Little Blue Heron turn around on the railing

Tricolored Heron

American Bittern

All puffed up in the cold weather

Immature White Ibis

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

Female Northern Cardinal with a berry in her beak

Tricolored Heron

Yes, more Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. They do like to hang out together.

Northern Cardinal

We weren’t quite sure what this came from – nutria maybe. It wasn’t on the trail going out, only on the trail coming back.

Headless Bird – Probably killed by an owl. They like the heads.

40-Acre Lake Trail – near the end

Speaking of campground.   The loop we are in has 39 sites, and only six of those sites were occupied last night.  Not a busy time at the campground right now.  That may change somewhat because today is Friday and this popular campground seems to always fill up during the weekend.  Tomorrow we leave this park.  We’re not sure where we will be staying next.  We need to decide whether to visit a state forest and hope to see a Red-cockaded Woodpecker or go to a national wildlife refuge established to protect the Attwater Prairie Chickens.  Let’s just say we have a better chance with the woodpecker, and that chance isn’t very good.  Spring is a better time for seeing either bird.

15 December 2018

Having internet is both a pain and a blessing.  It was nice not to have internet for two full days (rarely did we have a signal on our phone and Texas State Parks does not provide internet service in their parks).  However, it is also hard to plan for future birding spots and campgrounds.  We had several birding options for today: (1) bird Brazos Bend State Park again, (2) bird Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, and (3) bird W.G. Jones State Forest.  The last time we went to the Attwater National Wildlife Refuge was in 2014.  All I remember is being chased by some cows in a field.  Jack remembered watching a movie about the prairie chickens and being chased by the cows.  Neither of us remembered they have a five-mile auto route.  Jack was ready to move on and didn’t want to bird the state park again, so we chose W.G. Jones State Forest located north of Houston.  This state forest is supposed to have Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.  Well, we never found out because we only got within ¼ mile of the forest.  It had taken us almost three harried hours of freeway driving and misroutes to get almost there.  So, in disgust, we said forget it.  We wouldn’t have sufficient time for a hike and to search for the bird.  We decided to just go on to Somerville State Park (Birch Creek Unit) near Austin – our campground for the night – and call it good.  The campground was at least another two hours away.

Why so disgusted?  Have I mentioned I hate Google Maps?  Or at least the woman’s voice giving directions.  I also hate the fact they give you several routes to chose from, you chose the one you want, then they try to direct you to the “faster” route.  If I had wanted the another “faster” route I would have chosen it in the first place.  And you have to quickly opt out on your phone from “going the faster route” in order to stay on the original route you chose.  And I understand you can’t turn off this feature off.  I think I might switch to the “Maps” app that comes with the phone and forget Google Maps.  Another thing I hate/dislike is that I cannot prevent the app from putting me onto toll roads.  Have you ever been to Houston and the surrounding area?  Every major road is a toll road.  And on some road sections and exits you can’t access unless you have their pass.  Well we don’t.  Google maps had us going on a road that only those with the toll pass could use.  So what good does that do us.  Sorry for the rant, but with technology today Google should be able to design a better map app.  I guess I need to tell them that.

So, no hiking and looking for the woodpecker.  We finally made it to our campground around 2:30 pm.  I was worried that we wouldn’t get a spot.  Ha!  Not to worry.  In our camping area alone (Old Hickory) there are only four camp sites occupied in the 42-site camping area.  Guess this campground isn’t too popular in the winter or at least on this particular Saturday in December, which is fine by me.

Jack checked in and the park staff person helping him tried to get him to take a puppy off her hands.  Probably good I didn’t go into the park office.  I probably would have snatched one or two of them up.  However, we are staying in an Airbnb rental for six days (December 20-26) in Donna Texas, and they don’t allow pets.  The woman told Jack that people in the area dump unwanted dogs all the time.  Now that really *&^%$# me off.  However, I won’t go off on a rant about how people treat animals.

We did walk a portion of the campground roads.  No traffic, which was nice.  We could stop and listen and watch birds without having to get off the road for vehicles.  We did see about 15 different species within the 55 minutes we were out and about.  Beautiful day here.  Sunny, little wind, and temperatures in the low 60s.  Tonight will be cool, but that’s okay with us.   We have an electrical hookup campsite so I can plug-in our small heater to take the chill off – especially nice in the morning.

Campsite #82 at Somerville Lake State Park (Birch Creek Unit)

Trail around the campground portion of the lake

Somerville Lake

16 December 2018

Today we walked the campground checking out the birds prior to leaving for relatives who live near Austin, Texas.

A little hard to tell but we had frost on the ground this morning

Blue Jay

This will be our first visit to Jack’s cousin’s home in Dripping Springs, Texas.  We told them we would be there sometime after two.   Jack wanted to check out the Charles Umlauf Sculpture Garden in Austin first.  He saw a reference to the sculpture park on our road atlas, but he didn’t know anything else about the garden.  He was, however, intrigued.  When we arrived, I think he was surprised to see actual “people sculptures” in the garden.  They also had some sculptures in a building, including three busts of Farrah Fawcet Majors.  He must have had a thing for her.  In all, there were over 50 of his sculptures in the garden.  In 1985, Charles and his wife gifted their home, his studio, and over hundreds of sculptures  to the City of Austin.  He born in 1911 and died in 1994.

I liked some of the sculptures, but many were depressing.

Painting on the side of a building in Austin Texas

St. Michael and Lucifer

Mother and Child

Crucifixion

Icarius – falling into the sea as his wings are melting. That’s what happens when you don’t listen to your father and you get to close to the sun.

Angel’s Wing

Nun

Ballerina

Eagle

We had a nice visit with Jack’s cousin and his wife.  They are world-travelers so we enjoyed their experiences.  And, always good to catch up with family.  They have a lovely home in the “Hill Country” of Texas.  We regret we couldn’t stay longer to enjoy their company and explore their twelve-acres of bird habitat, although I did see a Black-crested Titmouse (FOY – first of year bird) at their feeder.

17 December 2018

After a pleasant morning spent visiting with family over great fresh-roasted coffee (literally), we left and headed south.  Our campground for the night is Goose Island State Park near Rockport.  Rockport was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey.  It will be interesting to see how they have recovered over the past year.  The campground has a camping area along the bay, but those sites are still closed due to hurricane damage.

I was a little worried the campground would be full, but I need not have worried.  I think the campground is less than 50% occupied even with the bay camping area closed.  I suspect a lot of people are not in the camping mood so close to Christmas.

Since we left Jack’s cousin’s house late in the morning, and we had some shopping to do, today was essentially a travel day.

In Wimberly, Texas they have painted “Cowboy Boots”. This one was at a local grocery store.

Campsite #140 at Goose Island State Park

18 December 2018

Decision day.  Stay another night at Goose Island State Park or move on?  We decided to stay another day.  When Jack went to register for another night the park staff person mentioned that ten Whooping Cranes were spotted this morning by “The Big Tree”.  The “Big Tree” is a part of the park, but located about a mile away.  So off we went to see if the cranes were still there.  Sure enough.  We only saw five Whooping Cranes, but that was plenty.  There were also about seven Sandhill Cranes in the pasture with the Whoopers – perfect!

Earlier in the morning (and last night), I had heard what sounded like a lot of birds.  Late afternoon (yesterday), I looked up and saw some ducks fly over and thought nothing of it.  Ducks don’t make that kind of call.  Well I forgot the Black-bellied Whistling Duck does make a call that sounds more like a songbird.  Sure enough, this morning when I heard whistling and looked up in the sky I spotted the ducks as they flew over.  I could see their black bellies.  At the pasture with the cranes there must have been about a hundred of them.  In total, our morning excursion netted 25 different species of birds – a whooper of a morning – so to speak.

I love it – the “Become a Birder” sign at the park near a feeding station

One of two feeding stations at the park. Not much activity though.

Well there was this Yellow-rumped Warbler

Whooping Cranes

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture guarding the area so you don’t trespass

So before leaving the “Big Tree” area we thought maybe we should check out this state record tree.  The tree is a Coastal Live Oak, and it is indeed BIG.  The tree is estimated to be over 1,000 years old.  So it has survived a lot of hurricanes, including the latest – Hurricane Harvey in 2017.  The tree is 11 feet across the trunk, 35 feet around, 44 feet tall, and 89 feet across the crown.  I must say that I am in love with the majestic live oaks of the southern U.S.  They always have leaves, as the seasons progress they are always replacing leaves.  The leaves just don’t all fall at one time (like in the fall).  Hence the term “live”.

Not the “Big Tree”, but impressive nonetheless

The “Big Tree”

This tree had an impressive number of limbs, but didn’t look alive

We decided to go to a small city park in the town of Refugio, Texas.  We visited this park in 2017 looking for the Golden-crowned Warbler.  We never did see it, although there were a lot of great birds there, including a Green Kingfisher and a Barred Owl.  We got all the way to the park, about 35 miles away from the campground, only to find it closed.  Jack asked some city street maintenance workers doing some work in the park if it would be okay to bird the park.  One said no, that it was too dangerous because of limbs on the ground and the potential that limbs could fall at any time.  When asked why the park was still closed, the maintenance worker said they were addressing dangerous trees in neighborhoods first.  Okay, that hurricane occurred over a year ago, but government has its own time table.  One of the guys Jack talked to used to live in Homer.  Small world.  He told Jack that he and his partner helped build Don Jose, a Mexican restaurant in Homer.

Crested Caracara we observed on the road to Refugio

We decided to partake of the fast food in Refugio and joined the high school students at McDonalds (yes, really) and Dairy Queen (love their Dilly bars).  We then went back to the campground and decided to bird the immediate area.  We walked over to the bayside of the park.  There is an area where fisherman can clean their fish and this is where the American White and Brown Pelicans love to hang out – free food.  In all, despite the disappointment in not birding at Refugio, we had 33 different bird species here, so not too shabby a afternoon of birding.

This trail was only maintained a short distance

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

American White Pelican

There is a elevated boardwalk behind this fencing, but it just ends. No platform.

Savannah Sparrow

May the force be with you

Although the bayside wasn’t open to “camping” you could fish during the day from the camping sites

Not my idea of camping, but it has always been full when we’ve been at the park.

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone and Laughing Gull checking something out to their right

There is a dock nearby with a fish cleaning station. Guess who was popular? Yes, the fisherman. The pelicans were waiting for handouts.

Give me some, give me some

The pelicans were both on land and on the water waiting for handouts

Size comparison between the two types of pelicans

Campground nature trail

White-winged Dove

The habitat along the trail was pretty dense, so not easy to see birds

More of Texas to come.  Until then keep birding…

It’s A Great Day to Bird

 

 

Southern States

Alabama

We made quick work through Alabama after leaving Ft. Pickens (Florida) campground this morning under rainy skies, with the threat of strong winds, thunder, lightening, and even a tornado.  Our Alabama adventure is short since the southern Gulf traverse of Alabama is less than 100 miles long, and we are staying tonight in Mississippi at the Davis Bayou campground of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

I noticed a lot of funeral homes and cemeteries in our short drive through Alabama.  We even had to stop for a funeral procession, not that Jack wanted to.  He even tried joining them before I encouraged him to pull over.  We aren’t used to stopping to allow funeral processions to pass.  Most people we know are cremated rather than buried in a cemetery, let alone in a cemetery in the winter – although I think ‘bury’ is a relative term here since the water table is so high.

Mississippi

We got to our campground around 3:00 pm.  Luckily the rain had stopped.  The rain and wind was quite heavy on the west end of the Florida Panhandle and into Alabama.  Again our windshield wipers were at maximum strength and still it didn’t feel fast enough to clear the windows of rain.  But luckily we made it.

We did a short hike before dark, walking and birding the one-half mile nature trail.  This trail is about a half mile from the campground so we walked along the estuary and saw a few waterbirds before we got to the nature trail itself, but on the nature trail the only birds we saw (as we didn’t hear any) were two Carolina Wren.  Always a pleasure to see a wren if nothing else.

Site #49 at the Davis Bayou campground

Everyone stops at this pond to see the alligator

A boardwalk adjacent to the park road

A bouquet of mushrooms

Bright and early , we went to the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge, located just 15 miles from our campground.  How sweet is that?  We love it when the refuges or birding spots are located near our campground.  Saves on a lot of driving and having to get up too early.   As the saying goes the early birder(er) gets the worm or in our case the birds.

We got to the refuge around 8:30 a.m., and took a short nature trail.  Of course despite the trail’s ½ mile length, we still spent about two hours birding the trail and the parking lot area.  In all we saw 23 species, and none of these were Sandhill Cranes.  We’ve visited this refuge before (2014) and we didn’t seen any cranes on the refuge then.  We had to drive to some nearby neighborhoods to find the cranes (like Homer cranes).  We did that again today, but no luck.  We did, however, get the attention of one of the landowners.  I don’t think he liked us driving down the dead-end road where he lives.  That’s okay, I would have wondered about him too if he had driven down our dead-end road.

The trail adjacent to the visitor center

Pine Flatwood habitat

Pitcher Plant – carnivorous

Same trail

This Blue Jay was really puffed out

Blue-headed Vireo

Brown-headed Nuthatch

Here you can really see the “brown” head

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebird

Jack at the trail kiosk

This viewing platform was closed down…

… supposedly temporarily, but the platform looks like it should be torn down and rebuilt

Yes, more mushrooms

We went back to the campground and stopped off at the Gulf Island National Seashore visitor center were we watched a 20-minute movie about the park.  The movie was quite informative and well-done.  There are several uninhabited, no road access, barrier islands that make up the National Seashore so maybe someday we will take a guided boat visit.  Just not this trip.  If we lived in this neck of the woods, we would definitely have a boat – the inlets, bays, and estuaries are quite inviting and, good birding of course.

We then went back to the campground and walked to the boat launch area.  This spot is considered a birding hotspot, just not today.  Still it was nice to be out in the sunshine and mild weather enjoying the beauty of the area.

Linderia columnata – edible. I didn’t try it. If I don’t buy it in the store, I don’t eat it – mushrooms, that is

Boardwalk at the visitor center

Male Hooded Merganser – we had six total Hooded Mergansers

View from the boat ramp area

Louisiana

Time to leave Mississippi and head into Louisiana.  Our goal today is to visit the Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge located about 60 miles east of New Orleans. This is a new refuge for us.  We plugged the name into Google maps (a great resource – most of the time) and off we went.  This refuge, established in 1980, encompasses 36,500 acres of the “most undisturbed swamplands in the country”.  That being said, you really need a boat to see much of the refuge.  Since we don’t have one, we settled for driving a portion of the refuge to reach a 1.5 mile out-and-back trail – Holmes Bayou Trail.  The trail was wide and quite nice.  Fall has come to this part of the country and the leaves are turning color and falling from the trees.  I love fall.

Holmes Bayou Trail

Holmes Bayou itself

While this side of the butterfly is green, the other side is yellow

I guess the plastic captures and holds the heat for this green anole

After our hike we headed to our campground for the next two nights – Bayou Segnette State Park.  This park is located just west of New Orleans.  We decided to take the toll bridge across Lake Pontchartrain.  This bridge is over 23 miles long. Obviously, Lake Pontchartrain is a very expansive lake.

Bayou Segnette campground has 100 sites, but only about ¼ of them are occupied.  The site I was hoping to get (#17) was occupied.  I had checked on it a couple of days ago and it was not reserved.  I guess someone else liked it too.  We chose site #55, in part because it doesn’t have a close neighbor, but also because people in the first loop turn off right before our site to exit the campground.  They don’t drive past our site, thus it is much quieter.

After checking in and securing our site, we walked over to the day-use area, which has a number of ponds.  We had a great day of birding as we observed 34 different species here, including several Wood Ducks.  Jack just loves the Wood Ducks.  Also, I got a First of Year – the Vermillion Flycatcher.  According to eBird, this bird has not been recorded here – at least via eBird.

Surprisingly, despite being located close to New Orleans I only have one bar on my phone so cell and internet service are spotty at the campground.  Glad I got my Florida blog posted yesterday.

What to do tomorrow …

Campsite #55 – Bayou Segnette State Park

They don’t have humps or bumps, they have speed tables in the park – think wider than a hump or bump

Wood ducks – camera shy

Tricolored Heron

Our first Vermillion Flycatcher of the trip

We decided to visit the French Quarter in New Orleans, of course.  We caught the Algiers Ferry (about 12 miles from our campground) and debarked on the New Orleans waterfront near the Audubon Aquarium – on the edge of the French Quarter.  We then walked around checking out the homes, the businesses (my shopping trip of our trip – Christmas is coming), the street musicians, and the restaurants (had to have a coffee and a beignet).  New Orleans and the French Quarter has a certain magical quality about it – love the street scene and culture.

We spent around 4 hours just walking the streets and checking out the shops.  We even found the hotel we stayed in last time we were here (2014).   I got caught by a salesman who wanted to sell me a beauty regiment that he claimed would take years (wrinkles) off my face.  I think the only thing it would take is a lot of my money – $900 for the eye serum alone.  Of course he said it would last for 2.5 years, but after 6 months I wouldn’t need it.  Then why would I want to pay for two years of a product I shouldn’t need (or maybe he meant it expires in 2.5 years)?  Oh, but if I bought today it would be half price – the in-store price versus the on-line price.  He must think I am really gullible.  We walked out with a few free soap samples and some literature.  Poor Jonathan, with his French accent (not sure it was real or not), is left with hopes I will return to buy his company’s products.  We then walked down the street and came across two more stores with the same hype and selling the same skin care products.  They must sell something to gullible souls to be able to stay in business and have that many stores in the French Quarter.

In fact, there were a lot of stores here selling the same items – like NOLA T-shirts, and Mardi Gras masks, and Mardi Gras beads – authentic China-made.  No takers here, although they had some great sayings on some of the T-shirts.  They also have a lot of items with the words “Wine” and “Beer” on them.  Guess they like to drink in New Orleans.

We ate lunch at a restaurant that is a part of a non-profit organization that rescues dogs.  A portion of all proceeds from the restaurant go towards the dogs.  Maybe the food scraps too? We also made a donation of $20.00 to help our furry friends.

After getting our fill of the French Quarter (there are only so many shops you can frequent), we headed back to the ferry and subsequently to the campground.  Jack is off doing laundry (its free because they don’t want you putting up a clothes line at your campsite.  They have a lot of rules here.  But alas tomorrow we leave and head to Grand Isle State Park on the Gulf coast of Louisiana.  We’ve been to Grand Isle  before (February 2014) and there was some great birding so we want to check it out again.  I hope the next couple of days are warmer, because today in New Orleans it was only 54 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds to 10 mph.  Chilly.  I wore my lightweight down parka and wool hat.

Probably hard to bury people in the ground when the ground is wet and you don’t want them reappearing during a hurricane

Blue bikes you can rent in the french quarter

Ferry terminal building (inside)

I would have happily taken the dog off her hands, but I think she needs him more than I do.

That’s a lot of Christmas decorations

I love the balconies

Especially those balconies with a lot of plants

Yes, a baby grand piano.  I should have gone in and seen how much they wanted for the piano.

This house was actually in the Algiers area, not the French Quarter

For $20 you can ride in a carriage around the French Quarter for 1/2 hour or $40 for an hour.

Homeless man (yes, in a skirt) with all his belongings

We stayed at this hotel in 2014

The French Quarter is known for its courtyards

This was the “corn” house

You can always take a ride on a steam-wheeler on the Mighty Mississippi.

Plenty of street musicians

We awoke to a brisk morning with temperatures in the mid 40s, but it’s the wind that makes it so much colder – or at least feel colder.  We packed up the van, said goodbye to NOLA, and headed to Grand Isle State Park, approximately 100 miles away.  But first we made a stop at a Winn Dixie grocery store.  Not my favorite grocery store, but adjacent to the building were recycling bins.  Woohoo!!!  I think this is the first time we’ve seen any recycling effort in Louisiana. It’s a start.

We got to the park around 12:30 p.m., and proceeded to drive the campground loop looking for the perfect spot.  This isn’t the best campground.  It reminds me of a national park campground – one big long parking lot converted into camping sites with some green grass.  Of course we could camp on the beach, but since we don’t have a tent and we can’t drive on the beach… well we chose an electric site instead.  The winner – site #34.  This site at least has a little vegetation adjacent to it to screen out the camper on the east.  Of course not that there is one.  The campground isn’t even ¼ full tonight.

Campsite #34 – Grand Isle State Park

We saw a sign that indicated the Grand Isle residents are friendly.  Maybe the park staff person in the fee booth lives elsewhere.  She wasn’t a very happy person.

We set up camp and went out birding.  First we started at the beach to check out the shorebirds as the tide was coming in.  We had a total of nine different shorebirds:  Willet, Killdeer, Black-bellied Plover, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover and Sanderling.  One of the sanderlings was missing his toes.  And one of the Semipalmated Plover seemed to be missing a leg.  At least it was hoping around on only one leg for quite some time and distance – never did see another leg appear.  The majority of shorebirds on the beach were Sanderlings.

We also had a large flock of Black Skimmers flying by while we were on the beach.  We later climbed an observation tower and found them roosting on the beach near a breakwater.  Gotta love these birds with their strange bills for capturing food.

As for songbirds, despite all the trees surrounding the campground, there weren’t that many different birds, but what we did have were a lot of Yellow-rumped Warblers.  I estimate there must have been around 70-80.  They were everywhere.

Sanderling

Yes, missing his toes

Semiplamated Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Brown Pelican

Semipalmated Plover – we weren’t sure if this bird was missing a leg or just liked to hop along on the one???

Even bending over and searching for food this bird is only on one leg

Killdeer taking off

Yellow-rumped Warbler – they were everywhere

Roosting Black Skimmers – hundreds of them

Sanderling

Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone

Least Sandpiper

Jack at the top of the observation tower

View of the fishing pier from the observation tower

We also hiked a portion of the park’s nature trail.  This area must have gotten a lot of rain recently because the a lot of the trail path was covered  in water – some places up to 50 feet in length.  This required that we walk on the adjacent vegetation.  At one point I miscalculated where to put my feet and stepped into a muddy area, covering most of my shoe.  Surprisingly the water and mud did not seep into my shoe.  My feet remained dry.  Yay!!!

This was a nature trail that went around two ponds. This was the driest part of the trail.

View from the observation tower – this area is protected. No entry.

Fishing and crabbing pond

Great Egret

Adult Black-crowned Night-Heron

Juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron

When we got back to the campground and started to set up for dinner we noticed there were thousands of little red ants on top of the picnic table.  Well that won’t do – no fun cooking/eating with ants.  So we took the heavy picnic table from the adjacent campsite and moved (lugged) it onto our paved pad, and cooked and ate our meal there.  Will need to move it back tomorrow when we leave.  Luckily no one was next to us so we could take and use the table.

There aren’t many campers in the campground – maybe 10 in all, and half of them are from Missouri.  Guess it isn’t too far of a drive from the “Show Me” state.

A storm is a brewing and is expected to hit Friday night and Saturday.  Some places in Louisiana could get up to 4-5 inches of rain.  We were thinking of going to a state park this is expected to get up to 4-inches of rain so guess we will need to change our plans.

We left Grand Isle State Park (Jack really doesn’t like this campground, although I thought our site wasn’t too bad) after breakfast and a short bird walk on the beach where we rediscovered the Skimmers – a huge wave of them!  We planned to make two quick stops to bird before heading to our next campground for the night.  So much for good intentions.  The first stop – Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge (state managed) – captured our attention for about 2 hours.  We drove the road and birded, finding a total of 29 species, including two FOY: Seaside Sparrow (an unexpected find) and Clapper Rail.  While we saw the Clapper Rail in Cuba, I get to add the rail to my “North America” FOY list.  I keep a yearly list of all the birds I see (First of Years), when, and where.  Occasionally I go back to my list to find where I saw a particular bird and when (time of year).  So I guess keeping the list is somewhat useful.

White-winged Pigeon

Black Skimmers in flight

Black Skimmers

Great Egret

Our nephew Nate calls these birds “Florida Chickens”. Their formal name is “White Ibis”.  The ones with brown on them are the juveniles (hatch year birds)

The Elmer’s Island road – and this was the nicest section – relatively few potholes

Lots of Semipalmated Plover here

Clapper Rail

Clapper Rail

At the end of the road (about 1.5 miles from LA-1), we walked the beach a short distance.  The wind was blowing pretty good (about 10-15 mph) so we didn’t go far.  The only shorebirds we saw (beachside) were Sanderling, and not many of them.

The beach at Elmer’s Island is important breeding habitat for plover, terns (Least), and Black Skimmers.

After Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge, we continued on to our next stop, which really was a drive along the old LA-1 road.  There were a lot of waders (herons, egrets, spoonbills), raptors, and a few fisherman.  No rails, although we’ve seen them here in the past.

Red-tailed Hawk

Little Blue Heron

Probably a lot more waders in the tall grass that we couldn’t see

We left the campground around 8:00 a.m., and at noon finally headed to our next campground – four hours away.  But this trip is ‘All About Birding’, and we had some good birding today.

Tonight’s (and tomorrow’s) campground is at Palmetto Island State Park.  We chose this campground because it was located in the direction we are headed (west) and is expected to receive the least amount of rain from the upcoming winter storm.  I guess the real concern here is flooding – everything is flat here and water everywhere (lakes, ponds, channels, estuaries, etc).

Palmetto Island State Park has 96 campsites, and only about 15 are occupied or will be occupied this weekend (at least based on reservations).  But then again, it is supposed to rain here about 1.5-2.0 inches.  Not that much fun camping in the rain.  We don’t have much choice unless we want to go to a motel/hotel, but locals do have a choice.

This campground has lots of majestic oaks and smells like fall – a smell I love.   We are camped in site #39.  I wouldn’t pick this site again as the picnic table for the site next to us is right behind our site.  Of course most people don’t use their picnic tables unless they are tent camping.  If we revisit the park, I would chose site #40, which is located right across from the “comfort stations”.

One good thing I can say about Louisiana state park campgrounds is they have free laundry and internet.  As we head west, I’m going to miss the free laundry, and to have it right at the campsite is nice too.

After breakfast we headed west to the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge.  We’ve visited this refuge twice in the past – 2014 and 2017.  They have a nice 3-mile auto route and a short boardwalk trail.  The boardwalk trail is supposed to be a good place to find rails (Virginia, Sora, and King) and Marsh Wrens.  We heard the wrens, but they didn’t make an appearance.  Darn birds.  Don’t they know they are in my favorite genus???  I love wrens.

As we got to the end of the trail (back at the parking lot), Jack said “there’s a rail”.  Sure enough a large rail was stealthily walking in the vegetation.  We tracked it for about 10-15 minutes.  At first I thought it was a Clapper Rail, but it turned out to be a King Rail.  So much better.  I haven’t seen one since that last time we were in this neck of the woods.

We are now in “rice” country

The black cloud is a large swarm of blackbirds and grackles

Pintail Drive – Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge

Boardwalk nature trail

This was the habitat along much of the boardwalk trail

King Rail

We drove the auto route and observed a number of species – 37 species for the refuge.  Not a bad day.  And there were several hundred Snow Geese (and at least one Ross’s Goose) loafing in the rice fields on the refuge.  We haven’t seen Snow Geese in these numbers – again since our last visit here.

Alligator

They always seem as though they are smiling

Snow goose

Our next stop was the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge located about 40 miles away.  We got to the refuge around 1:00 pm and drove the wildlife route located in the Lacassine Pool Unit.  This wildlife drive provided us with excellent views and an incredible sight of tens of thousands of ducks – primarily Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, and Green-winged Teal.  I was truly in awe at the number of ducks.  We also saw Mallards and Blue-winged Teal, but in far, far, far fewer numbers.  In fact, I only saw two Blue-winged Teal.

In total, we had 35 different species here, including an Adult and a Sub Adult Bald Eagle.   And we got to see a Vermillion Flycatcher.  Always a great bird to see.

Great Blue Heron

Anhinga

Rosette Spoonbill

Female Belted Kingfisher. Note the red on the chest and flank.

A dreaded nutria – invasive species

These are birds – there were thousands and thousands and thousands of waterfowl

We made it back to the campground in time to fix and eat dinner before it got dark.  The sun sets around 5:00 p.m. now, so we eat early.  Guess we should buy a lantern for when it gets dark.  The only problem is, the mosquitoes come out in droves at dusk.  We hate mosquitoes so guess it means we continue to eat dinner early.

Tomorrow we head to Texas.  Hard to believe it is the second week of December already.

Until Texas …

It’s A Great Day to Bird

 

« Older posts

© 2024 alaskabirder

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑