As Migration Draws Near it's Time to Catch Up on the Year

As Migration Draws Near, It's Time to Catch Up on the Year

Dear Birding Diary,

After Blogging nearly every day during my 2012 Big Year, and on a very regular basis throughout 2013 and the beginning of 2014 I was all blogged out.  So I took a break from Blogging.  But now, I'm back!  I need to review the first part of the year before I set out on my Spring Migration travels.

I'm actually going to cheat a bit on what I am considering my "Year List," this year, since I began my travels with a trip to California on December 10, of 2014.  So I'm going to consider my 12 month Year from December 10, 2014 to December 9, 2015.  So there!

DECEMBER 10-16, 2014, CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME!

Every December I head down to different states for the Winter Meetings, usually in Orlando or Nashville, sometimes Houston, but this year it was San Diego for the first time.  Sue normally does not want to come on these trips, but who would turn down a nearly free trip to Califronia in December?  And, it was an opportunity for her to catch up on our friendly Life List Competition.  And it was my chance to finally go to Santa Cruz Island for the Island Scrub Jay, one of the places and birds I missed during my 2012 Big Year.

We began the trip in San Diego and our first bird was a Western Gull, seen from our hotel window.  After the "meetings" we began our trip north to The Salton Sea, stopping at La Jolla Beach for Black Turnstones, Whimbrel, and a photo-bomed Brandt's Cormorant.

Black Turnstone:

Winter  Plumage Whimbrel:

Brandt's Cormorant and his photo bombing friend:

I had read about the Salton Sea as a great birding destination, especially for White-faced Ibis, and had just finished an Agent Pendergast novel that took place, in part, at the Salton Sea, so was excited to visit, and we were not let down, though the sea is not what it used to be, back in the days of grand hotels and celebrity stopovers.  However it is great for birders.  We were greeted by a Say's Phoebe and saw Western Meadowlarks, a White-tailed Kite and were treated to a flyover of White-faced Ibis at dusk.

Say's Phoebe greets visitors to the Sulton Sea:

 

 White-faced Ibis at dusk:

 

Heading back to the coast, we stopped in Oxnard, home of Johnny Carson's lawyer, Omar of Oxnard, where I added Tri-colored Blackbird to my ABA Life List, and saw and photographed Cinnamon Teal,(Sue's target bird for this trip), Townsend's Warbler and saw and tried unsuccesfully to photograph the ever-flitting Wrentits.

The deliciously named Cinnamon Teal:

 

Townsend's Warbler: 

           

      Anna's Hummingbird, California Towhee and Western Scrub Jay

      at the Orcott Ranch Horticultural Park           

    

 

     Common Raven and Island Scrub Jay on Santa Cruz Island:

      Nuttle's Woodpecker at the Orcott Ranch:

    Near the end  of our trip Sue wanted to spend time at the aquarium, so I ventured north to San

    Francisco  for the day to see if the Rustic Bunting was still around.  A somewhat rare bird in northern

    Alaska, it was a huge deal to have one spotted in Golden Gate Park.  When I arrived before 8am there

   were already a dozen birders lined up with scopes looking for it.  By the time we found it, the crowd had

   nearly tripled in size.  My first view was not great, but once we got it in our scopes it was a beautiful

   sight for all present, though I'm sure any non-birders would just see as a drab, brown sparrow and wonder    

   what all the fuss was about.

    My original camera view of the Rustic Bunting:

      Cropped scope view of the Rustic Bunting:

   Though we didn't get to see the California Condor at Big Sur, it was worth the drive down the coast, even i  in the pouring rain.  But that just leaves us something to shoot for on a future trip out west.  But befor that, we were headed to Arizona for our next big birding trip, only weeks later.

Back in Canada

Spring Mean Migration: April 2015

After a month in Florida, it was time to come back to the chill of Ontario and oddly, the first bird I recorded prior to heading back to Florida, was a wayward Neotropic Cormorant at the Tollgate Ponds in Burlington.  A few set down for a spell in Ontario during migration.  But it was a new bird for my Ontario List, which now stands at 297.

Two days later I was back in Florida,(sounds like someone doing a Big Year, but alas no), where a Wilson's Plover greeted me at Fort De Soto in St Pete.

Next on the trail of Red-whiskered Bulbuls.  I had searched for and missed them in 2012, but in 2013 went on a Florida Exotics guided tour with Miami Audubon and after much searching, added them to the Life List.  This time, I was determined to drive the Kendall neighborhood on my own and find them for myself.  It actually took less than an hour, and no one accused me of spying, when I found not one, but four, flying from wires to trees and back.

Later that day, in my tour of Miami Birding hot spots, I found my first Purple Swamphen, not at the Florida Mall.  This time it was in Wakohdahatchee Wetlands, an amazing place to bird.  Along with the Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, there are lots of new hatchlings, including Anhingas.

After a quick trip back to Toronto, birding in local hot spots, I was once again headed to Florida.  It was time for a rematch, a grudge match, even:  Me vs Seasickness on the Yankee Freedom to the Dry Tortugas...  I had been horribly seasick on that first trip, but now I was armed with a Scopolamine Patch and survived the trip, both ways with my lunch in my stomach and my dignity and sanity in hand.

And it was a day for Lifers, as well.  An Audubon's Shearwater on the way there and a Black Noddy seen from the old fort.  Birding the Tortugas and the fort is interesting.  It is a small space, relatively speaking, so if a rare bird is spotted it doesn't take very long for everyone to converge on the spot.  In this case, while many of us were looking at a Wood Thrush in the brush, someone up top had spotted the Noddy and we all, at various speeds, converged on the mid-level of the fort and got a great look at this often tough bird to see amongst the hundreds of Brown Noddys and Sooty Terns.  Other good birds were the Masked Boobys on Hospital Key, a Connecticut Warbler as I entered Ford Jefferson and a Black-whiskered Vireo.

Masked Boobies on Hospital Key

Sooty Tern

A very badly digiscoped photo of the Black Noddy amongst the Brown Noddies

Winter Birding: February 3 to March 30, 2015

In my case, winter birding doesn't mean just the cold of Ontario, but the warmth of Florida as well.  I was in Florida from February 3 to 11, back home in Ontario from February 12 to 26, before returning to Florida again until the end of March.

The highlight of one of my Florida trips was a female Black-faced Grassquit, Lifer 635 for the ABA and number 800 for my total Life List.  I drove down to Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys for this one, as did lots of out of town birders who came to find it, and it ended up being easily viewed from the deck around the showers/bathrooms at the Buttonwood Campground.

Female Black-faced Grassquit:

Another highlight from Florida was a flyover of a Whooping Crane.  I was in Wekiva Springs State Park, and happened to be talking to the park rangers when the crane flew over.  It was calling and he got all excited because he recognized the sound.  Sure enough, as confirmed by sight and a recorded call, it was a Whooping Crane.  This is a species that is often found in the winter in Texas, but only starting to make a comeback in Florida.  It was also the 257th species I've recorded in Florida.  I also got to listen to a Chuck-wills Widow in Dunedin Hammock Park for several consecutive evenings.

Back in Ontario, I birded Algonquin Provincial Park and was able to get close views of both Boreal Chickadee and Hoary Redpoll

In non birding news, I finally saw Florida Bobcats!  Not just once, but twice within 3 days.  One of my fondest memories of traveling around Florida during my 2012 Big Year, was being asked on numerous occasions, when people saw me with my camera and binoculars, if I was "looking for the bobcat."  I had never seen one, and wasn't even sure what they looked like until the second week of February when, while looking for a Smooth-billed Ani, I stumbled upon these two, below:

A few days later, in Wekiva Springs State Park, another one appeared before me and posed in the sun for a great photo:

Return to Arizona: January 20-26, 2015

If I have not lost count, this was my seventh trip to Arizona since I began birding in 2012,  including 5 times during my Big Year.  This time it was a chance for Sue to come along, and for me to hopefully, finally see and photograph the elusive Montezuma Quail.  Little did I guess what it would take to do exactly that.

Before that little adventure, we began slowly, after flying into Phoenix and heading directly to Encanto Park, home to a nice variety of birds, including the lovely Rosy-faced Lovebirds.  Many, including the Gila Woodpecker and Gilded Flicker were Lifers for Sue.  I'd have to wait a day for my first Lifer of the trip.

     Rosy-faced Lovebirds:

                                This one is rather messy looking, perhaps a baby:

 Our next stop on on our first day was another great birding destination, Boyce Thompsom Arboretum.  I had been there a few times and it's a great place to get lost in.  In previous years I had been looking for a Williamson's Sapsucker, with no luck.  This trip I would find one, but not here.  We did see a lovely bunch of birds here, including Costa's Hummingbird, Red-naped Sapsucker, Hutton's Vireo and Black Phoebe.

Panorama from the bridge over the river in the Boyce Thompson Arboredum

That night we were scheduled to stay at the Madira Kubo B&B.  I've birded at their feeders in past years, so it was going to be fun to stay in one of their "gingerbread" cabins.  

As it turned out, there is no heat but a log burning stove, and it gets pretty cold in the mountains of Arizona in January.  Also, reports of a Williamson's Sapsucker up the road at the Santa Rita Lodge were being delivered to my phone via e-Bird, so I was excited to get there the next morning. 

ABA Lifer, 634: Williamson's Sapsucker

I've never seen so many Pine Siskins:

 

Arizona Woodpecker:

                                  

Inca Dove:

Painted Bunting:

Rufous-crowned Sparrow:                                          

Magnificent Hummingbird:

Hepatic Tanager:

Our journeys then took us down to Patagonia, where we stayed for the next two nights, allowing us to visit Patagonia Lake State Park and meet up, once again, with Matt Brown, one of my favorite guides to bird with in North America.  He took us to see the Sinaola Wren, which Sue caught a glimpse of, but I failed to see.  Matt had taken me to find it in late 2014, so I wasn't too bumbed out to miss it, and it was, of course, a Lifer for Sue.  

We travelled on our own to the famous Patten House, which the Arizona Audubon has taken over, and to Patagonia Lake State Park, and the wildlife preserve just outside the gates, the next day,  where we saw, amongst others,

 Gray Flycatcher, Cinnamon Teal, a Golden Eagle, Green-tailed Towhee, and Bridled Titmouse:

But the prize bird of the day, if the Golden Eagle wasn't enough, was the same Elegant Trogon I saw back near the end of my 2012 Big Year.  We walked along the same route I took back then, and after an hour or so, I crossed a creek and found it for us and some other birders along the trail.  Our views weren't great, but we all got a good look at the Trogon:

That evening Matt took us Owling, and I got a good photo of a Western Screech Owl:

Our next goal was the Baird's Sparrow and Montezuma Quail.  Both are prized amongst birders for their level of dificulty in finding them.  We struck out with the Baird's Sparrow, up in San Rafael Valley, but did get to see a family of Montezuma Quail on the road leading to Beaty's Guest Ranch. where we spend another couple of cold Arizona nights.  It was the wrong time of year for Hummingbirds and the Spotted Owl I had also seen here in 2012, but all in all, a great experience.  Well the roads in and out are kind of scary, but nothing close to what we experienced going to and leaving Portal.

The Near Mythical Montazuma Quail: Beatty's Guest Ranch:

On the road from Portal: 

 Our next stop was at Whitewater Draw, where there were thousands upon thousands of Sandhill Cranes and hundreds of Snow Geese and Ross's Geese:

There was also a Barn Owl, in pretty much the same spot,(and likely the same one), as in 2012.  This one did not require bushwacking to find, however we were not able to get too close to it.

One of the non birding highlights of the trip was eating at the Bisbee Breakfast Club, a place we stopped at on the way to Portal, in an old Copper Mining town:

Now, that's a breakfast!

Up in Portal, which was not such drive unto, but one of the most white knuckled drives down as I ever saw, we missed getting photos of the Juniper Titmouse, and only heard the Mexican Chickadee.

One of our last birds of the trip was a Lewis's Woodpecker in Tucson:

We saw over 100 species for the trip and I left Arizona having seen 194 species since starting my list, December 10 in California.