Sierra Vista

On Sunday, David and I started the day at San Pedro House with the wind blowing strongly, walking along the river from the bridge, around the lake and back we had a good morning's birding without finding anything of great note. Our next stop, Ash Canyon B&B did not disappoint and we found Lucifer's Hummingbird and Scott's Oriole despite feeders swinging 60 degree arcs due to the wind. We ended the morning with a short stop at Ramsey Canyon to get Magnificent Hummingbird.

A visit to Sweetwater at the end of the day proved fruitless - with the Harris Hawks apparently gone due to changes at Roger Road -with the winds still blowing and air quality poor. The Catalinas were obscured by a dust haze.

 I ended the day with 6 new birds to reach 284 for the year.

Acorn Woodpecker

The Nogales Loop

On Saturday, David and I did the Nogales Loop - Paton's, Roadside Rest, Patagonia Lake and Kino Springs on the way south, Pena Blanca Lake, Rio Rico and Continental on the way back. We set off  with a long list of target birds and spent a long day in the field with mixed success.

There are three Arizona birds that I consider my Holy Grail - Five-striped Sparrow, Buff-breasted Flycatcher and Northern Beardless Tyrannulet. With California Gulch requiring a high clearance vehicle and the list serve's only posting of Buff-breasted Flycatcher having similar requirements, I went after the tyrannulet at Patagonia Lake (Nutting's Wash) to no avail.The wash was very interesting with Wild Tobacco growing everywhere. In fact I managed a lifer! I had never added Dusky-capped Flycatcher to my list because of its similarity to two other Myarchus flycatchers but I had been listening to calls on my iPod for a couple of days and I recognized the call. In a effort to convince David, I played the call while in the field and the bird landed on a perch just a few feet away. Technology! This was my 10th lifer (and 10th state bird) of 2011.

After getting some easy birds at Paton's and dipping on Thick-billed Kingbird at Roadside Rest, we went to Kino Springs and had Black Vulture, Black-bellied Whistling Duck and Gilded Flicker within a few minutes of arrival. The next stop was to add Least Grebe to my state list (number 11 of the year) before driving to Rio Rico to see many whistling ducks and ibis in the flooded fields and then Continental to find Rufous-winged Sparrow.

I ended with 9 new birds for the year to reach 278 for 2011.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Willcox and Mount Lemmon

Mount Lemmon

On Friday David and I began with another bird chase. A Gray Catbird had been reported from a private yard in Willcox and we drove to Max Jarrett's house to easily add my 9th state bird for the year. [A report noted that the barn owls that I had seen at Lyle Leslie's house on March 19th had fledged three young.] While in Willcox we then visited Cochise Lake, finding Scaled Quail but no out-of-the-ordinary waders (shorebirds) and then St David's (dipping on Mississippi Kite) before heading back to Tucson.

After a break we headed out to Mount Lemmon which yielded our two target birds - Yellow-eyed Junco and Zone-tailed Hawk - but otherwise was a little disappointing.

I added 6 birds for 2011 to end on 269.

Scaled Quail

Madera Canyon and Night Birding

On Thursday, David and I started a short trip to SE Arizona with a 4 hour visit to Madera Canyon. An ultra rare bird, a Fan-tailed Warbler, only the 8th Arizona record had been seen on Monday and after parking at Proctor Road, we hiked we went straight to the spot opposite the Kubo. A half-dozen others were already in place and after staring into the gully for 30 minutes we were rewarded with the bird at street level only 20 feet or so. (My 8th lifer of the year.)  I also had a few more year birds in the area including a Swainson's Thrush, a long overdue State bird for me - the 7th for 2011.

We had spent Wednesday evening looking for reptiles around Wickenburg and between there and Madera Canyon we stopped off at Rio Salado and drove through the Santa Cruz flats with little to report except for my first American Pipit of 2011 off Pretzer Road.

Our day did not end with Madera Canyon as we had to pick up David's passport - left behind in Flagstaff ad take to Tucson by friends - at the La Paloma resort in Tucson's Catalina foothills. We arrived in the area around 9:30 but could not find the place instead finding a Common Poorwill - the second lifer of the day (9th for the year; 8th state bird) - in a deserted car park! I also had my first Lesser Nighthawks of the year during, what turned out to be, an unplanned spell of night birding.

I ended the day adding 10 year birds to end on 263 species for the year.

San Jacinto

Two stops were chosen for the final day in California before embarking on a long drive home. The first stop was at the San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Lakeview, Riverside County. The target bird was Tricolored Blackbird which is locally common at this site, but following a trend at the end of the trip, we dipped again. However the wetlands area was very impressive and we had Little Blue Heron and Greater Yellowlegs. We then drove into the Idyllwild area of the San Jacinto Mountains in search of White-headed Woodpecker. Again no luck! We didn't see too much of note but I added Band-tailed Pigeon for my third year bird of the day, and I headed out of California with my year's total at 253.

Santa Barbara

We chased after some birds today, visiting Nojoqui Falls in search of Yellow-billed Magpie and Chestnut-backed Chickadee and, after finding the location of a breeding pair of White-tailed Kite, Sheffield Reservoir in Santa Barbara. Alas no luck. The goal of visiting Silverwood Lake late in the day to look for Mountain Quail was spoiled by horrendous traffic through LA. Nevertheless I added 2 birds for the year, including a lifer Black Swift - my 7th life bird of the year. I ended the day on 250 species for the year.

Los Angeles

Santa Monica Mountains

On Thursday we went to the Santa Monica Mountains and Temple City is search of some of LA's dozen parrot species. These birds are not native but exist in large numbers. Alas we dipped on parrots, but we had a good time birding with birdingpal Muriel in Santa Monica Creek State Park. I added 3 new species to my year's list to end on 248.

Orange County

David and I drove from San Diego to Los Angeles on Wednesday stopping off at the lagoon at Newport Beach and at Bolsa Chica on the way. A trail around a freshwater pond at the Back Bay parking lot at Newport Beach yielded Allen's Hummingbird and, as a complete surprise, Nutmeg Mannikin (which I've seen in SE Asia where it is known as Scaly-breasted Munia). Bolsa Chica had Least, Forsters, Royal and Elegant terns and 12 shorebirds - Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Long-billed Curlew, Snowy Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Black-breasted Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, Red Knot, Dunlin and Least Sandpiper. I have always found good birds at Bolsa Chica. At the end of the day went to the beach at Playa del Rey and found 7 Whimbrel, 2 Black Oystercatcher and a Pacific Loon. All in all a good day's birding in which I added 10 new species for the year to end on 245.

Brown Pelican

San Diego

Much of Tuesday was spent at a couple of spots north of San Diego. Jim had recommended the San Elijo Lagoon, and despite constant rain we found a Clapper Rail; California Towhees were everywhere on the trail. The next stop was at the Torrey Pines Reserve where we had close looks at a Wrentit and California Quail, singing Rufous-crowned Sparrows and had clear views of a couple of foraging California Thrashers. The latter was a lifer, my fifth for the year. At the end of the day we went out to the 13th Street area of South San Diego Bay and watched a number of clicking Forster's Terns and had a Whimbrel fly over. I ended the day on 235 for the year.

California Towhee

Western Gull

Laguna Mountains

Laguna Mountains

On Monday, Dave and I traveled from Brawley to San Diego via Anza Borrega and the Laguna Mountains. We were surprised to see a Swainson's Hawk en route but found 3 of our California target birds at Paso Picacho Campground as well as some migrating warblers and a couple of turkeys with young. We dipped, however, on White-headed Woodpecker. A short walk along the eastern shore of South San Diego Bay at the end of the day delivered two more expected specialty birds. I added ten new species for the year to end the day on 237.

Salton Sea

Dave and I spent Monday at the Salton Sea with shorebirds top of our list. It didn't turn out that way and, except for Killdeer and Black-necked Stilts, we didn't see any shorebirds until 2pm. But we had some luck with Least Bittern and my lifer Vaux's Swift in the reed beds at the end of Johnson Street in Mecca, Snowy Plovers at Bombay Beach, Black Skimmer and Bonaparte's Gulls at Sonny Bono NWR and Burrowing Owl along Vendel Road near Westmorland. In all I added 14 new species for the year to end on 217.

NAMC

Saturday May 14th was the day of the North American Migration Count and my mate Dave and I started the day in Holbrook having spent Friday night at a motel there. We birded the Golf Course Road Water Treatment Ponds and took the road out past the tree farm to the reservoir. We stopped off to overlook Cholla Lake and then at La Posada in Winslow on the way back to Flagstaff, seeing around 60 species in the morning. Of these four were new for the year, including some lovely summer plumage Wilson's Phalaropes.

End of Semester

With final exams behind me I took a quick trip to the Grand Canyon yesterday, Thursday May 12th, in the hope of a condor. Alas. But I did see four Common Nighthawks. Bird number 197 for the year.

Today a short trip to Walnut Canyon unearthed a Black-throated Gray Warbler, the ponds on old Walnut Canyon Road yielded nothing special. But I had my FOY Black-headed Grosbeak at my feeder late in the day, for 199 species by the end of semester.

Logan's Crossing

I went out on an Audubon field trip to Logan's Crossing on Saturday morning. A lot of shrubs were yet to leaf out and the cat-tails were far from their best, and it was no surprise to find the birding quite slow. I added three species for the year to end the day on 196 but I am still missing many of the warblers that I've been expecting to run into.

April Recap

April went very poorly for me and I only managed to add 9 bird species despite clear spring migration. In part this was due to me being busy at work, but I made a number of visits to Elden Springs and Cave Springs without much luck: It has been very windy recently. I missed the chance of reaching 200 by failing to find a message on my answering machine. Two tern species and three waders - two of them potential state birds for me - had been present at Mormon Lake on Saturday April 30th. I chased them this morning - along with 7 other northern Arizona birders - but they were gone!

I added a couple of mammals - Muskrat and Cliff Chipmunk - and a couple of herps - Common Kingsnake and Whiptail.