No More Chasing in 2013

On Monday December 30th, Steve & Betsy and I went to look for a mysterious ghost bird on Lake Mary Road. This bird, possibly a White-tailed Kite had been seen briefly near Mormon Lake Lodge on the CBC. Alas we had no luck finding this white hawk. We did see a Bald Eagle, an American Kestel, at least two Rough-legged Hawks and half a dozen Red-tailed Hawks. But the bird of the day was a very friendly Northern Pygmy Owl. This was my 250th species in Arizona in 2013.

Northern Pygmy-Owl

Flagstaff:Mt Elden CBC

On Saturday December 28th my team carried out its usual route for the Flagstaff CBC. We spent 7 hours on and around the golf course and on a journey to Walnut Canyon National Monument and onto Cosnino. 

Phyllis, Vic, Steve and I saw 37 species but had nothing of any note except, perhaps, for the number of Yelow-rumped Warblers. We had nearly 1000 Canada Geese, hundreds of Mallards and American Wigeon, and a few more ducks of expected species. We had a good day of easy birding on a nice day with temperatures ranging from the low 20s to the high 40s Fahrenheit.

End of Year Chasing

I had set myself a target of 250 Arizona birds in 2013 and as I had 269 in 2011 and 259 in 2012 this wasn't supposed to be too difficult. But 10 days in the UK, 50 days in Australia, Malaysia and Cambodia, 11 days in North Carolina, 7 days in California, 5 days in Illinois  and 3 in Washington DC I was gone for about 3 months. This meant that when semester ended on December 19th I was six species short of the 250.

I went to Babbitt Tank hoping for Chestnut-collared Longspur on Tuesday 17th but found the tank completely frozen over and the whole area birdless. I drove to Prescott and back on Thursday 20th to get the Tundra Swan but dipped on the Red-shouldered Hawk. My plans to go to the Grand Canyon on Saturday 22nd to look for the Varied Thrush and California Condor were scuttled by bad weather. I managed to add three species on the Camp Verde CBC on Sunday 23rd but missed out on the hoped-for Black-chinned Sparrow and Northern Shrike! On Friday 27th I drove down to Sedona where I had no trouble finding Canyon Towhee but three stops along Oak Creek failed to produce an American Dipper. So with 4 days to go I find myself on 249. The next hope is that the Flagstaff: Mt. Elden CBC on Saturday December 28th might produce something.

Camp Verde CBC

On Sunday December 22nd I joined Tom again for his route on the Camp Verde CBC. I knew I had the chance to add some year birds on this trip, and I added Sage Thrasher on our very first stop. We spent the morning with a focus on sparrows and a Rufous-crowned Sparrow on the climb up to Bull Pen ranch was our tenth species of the day (White-crowned, Brewers and Chipping were everywhere; we also had Grasshopper, Sagebrush, Black-throated, Savannah and Vesper Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos).

Mormon Lake CBC

The 2013-14 CBC season started with the Mormon Lake count on Saturday December 14th. There were just 7 of us this year and we divided into 3 groups to cover the territory. I had my usual Anderson Mesa and Upper Lake Mary area.

Tim, Steve and I had tallied 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 13 Dark-eyed Juncos, 3 Stellar's Jays and 4 Common Ravens in our first 3 hours, but after trudging through the snow to Vail Lake, we saw a number of species on the ridge. The best bird was a Merlin seen by Tim. Coming down the hill we had 8 Wild Turkey at the U-bend but then nothing of note as we drove along the ice covered lake. After temperatures as low as -23C (-9F) and over a week continuously below freezing some people were playing ice hockey on the lake.

I ended the day with 14 species, my team with a tally of 20 and the whole group a total of 29. For the first time ever I did not see a Bald Eagle on this count.

Wild Turkey tracks

Santa Cruz Flats

On Saturday December 7th we spent a couple of hours at the Santa Cruz Flats hoping to see some birds posted on the ABA list serve.

We started at the junction of Sunland Gin and Harmon and I left the van in hopes of finding some passerines. I had little luck with these, just Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Verdin and White-crowned Sparrow, but has a flyover Crested Caracara and Prairie Falcon on the hunt.

We then made our way across the flats to Baumgartner where we saw four more Caracara, one on the ground with some ravens and the others perched on snags.

Golf Course opposite the Flagstaff Athletic Club East

I parked at the FACE at 4:30pm and crossed the road the scan a large number of Canada Geese. It took me a couple of minutes to find two Greater White-fronted Geese. Nine of these birds had been found on Wednesday and I had to wait until my return to add this species to my year's list. This took me to 700 species in 2013. This was the second time I had reached this number following my 777 in 2009.

San Diego and the Salton Sea

Before heading to Sea World On Friday November 29th, we spent a few minutes looking at birds from Shelter Island. We had a good mix of gulls, many Double-crested Cormorants, several Brown Pelicans and at least 6 Surf Scoter. 

On Sunday November 30th we started the day with a couple of hours at Crown Point Park and along Crown Point Drive. The park itself had 40 Brant, a mix of shorebirds including Dunlin, Western Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plover and a single Ruddy Turnstone resting on the beach, a Willet along the water's edge and a fly-by Long-billed Curlew. A group of terns had Royals and Forsters as well as a number of Black Skimmer.

Brant

Dunlin and Western Sandpiper

Black Skimmer

Royal Tern

A stop along the road looking over the salt marsh gave us close looks at Little Blue Heron, Whimbrel, Willet, Long-billed Curlew and a Cattle-Egret while a surprise Costa Hummingbird showed off his purple gorget.

We had a 90 minute stop at the Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR Headquarters where 1000 white geese fed in the fields and Brown and American White Pelican, gulls, American Avocet, Willet, Western Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher stood along the water edge.

Snow Goose

Lake Skinner and Torrey Pines

On Thursday November 28th  we started the day in Blythe and drove to Lake Skinner in Riverside County. I accidentally ran into a posting on the ABA California Inland counties list serve saying that there were still 3 Blue-footed Boobies around. I had dipped on the one remaining bird at Bill Williams three weeks ago,, and had heard that all these birds had now departed the Salton Sea. We changed our route to stop by Lake Skinner and found all four birds sitting on the pontoons at Boat Launch 1 and approachable to just a few feet! This was ABA bird #550 for me. Other highlights at Lake Skinner were Black-crowned Night Herons, Green Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, Pied-billed, Western and Horned Grebes and a fly over Prairie Falcon.

Blue-footed Booby

We then drove an hour to Torrey Pines, stopping first at the beach area and finding Blue-winged Teal and Red-breasted Mergansers, Willet, Least Sandpipers and a  Royal Tern along the river, and Marbled Godwits, Forster's Terns and Heerman's. Western, Ring-billed and California Gulls on the beach. A Clark's Grebe was just offshore. We also had a Red-shouldered Hawk which allowed close approach and allowing for decent pictures!

Marbled Godwit

Red-shouldered Hawk

We then drove up the hill and hiked along the cliff trails for an hour and a half. But as it was Thanksgiving there were many people on the trails, and on the beach below. We saw few small birds, although we heard Wrentits a couple of times, but did see a pod of four Common Porpoise not far from shore.

Cameron Trading Post

My arrival on campus on Wednesday November 20th was greeted by a flock of 35 Cedar Waxwings in a tree across Beaver Street from the pool. After working for a while I had a two hour gap between appointments and drove to the Cameron Trading Post to see if I could find the two Rufous-backed Robins that Jason and Tom had found on Sunday. I found one bird feeding in the Russian Olives very quickly, although it did not cooperate for a picture, before I returned to campus for the rest of my work day.

Garland Prairie

On Sunday November 17th I went on a Northern Arizona Audubon field trip to Garland Prairie. The trip was advertised as one for migrating/wintering raptors and this did not disappoint as we had excellent views of the 6 species seen - Bald Eagle, Golden Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Northern Harrier and American Kestrel.

Ferruginous Hawk

Golden Eagle

Other than the raptors we saw little - in particular no sparrows! The only species seen in large numbers was Horned Lark. We had a large flock of these near one of the tanks along Garland Prairie Road.

Lake Havasu

We drove to Lake Havasu City on a family trip on Friday November 8th. The planned birding was designed with two species as my target birds. I was at Windsor Beach at 7:10am on Saturday morning and immediately found the Brown Booby. After finding out that our planned boat trip had been cancelled we went to Bill Williams and spent two hours looking in vain for the Blue-Footed Booby. We did find a nice male White-winged Scoter and female Red-breasted Merganser while searching for the target bird. After lunch we did take a boat across the lake to the casino with an immediate return and saw a Pacific Loon, Forster's Tern and California Gull on the journey. I also had the expected year birds of Horned Grebe and Greater Scaup.

Brown Booby

California Gull

Chicago Weekend

I flew to Chicago late on Wednesday October 16th for a family weekend. On Thursday 17th and the morning of Friday 18th I stayed on campus and as well as the expected birds I saw a Peregrine overhead and 3 Brown Creepers. On Friday 18th we went to the Shedd Aquarium and saw the usual birds on the lake but also 3 more Brown Creepers. Clearly this was migration time for this species.

On Saturday October 18th Pat picked me up and took me to Wooded Island for the third time. The highlight was a Field Sparrow, a bird counted as my 549th ABA bird although I may have seen one many years ago but my record keeping could not confirm this. A nice Fox Sparrow and a small group of Balck-capped Chickadees were also year birds for me. A trip into the city and along the museum campus to the Field Museum did not add anything special.

Rancho San Antonio

On Sunday October 6th we walked trails at Rancho San Antonio. I had six target birds but after walking for quite some time I had only added Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Nuttall's Woodpecker to my list. Heading back to the car I first ran into a covey of California Quail as I got to the farm area and then spotted a California Towhee as we stopped to look at some Acorn Woodpeckers. Finally as we reached the home straight an Oak Titmouse flew onto a wooden post! I ended the morning with 5 of my 6 targets.

We headed back to Flagstaff in the afternoon. The short trip to California added 32 species to my year's list taking me to 679 for the year. Saturday's Manx Shearwater was a new ABA bird for me - and my first sighting of this species since I saw many on the boat to Skomer in 1981- taking my ABA list to 548.

Wild Turkey

California Quail

Monterey Bay Pelagic

On Saturday October 5th we went to the Monterey Fisherman's Wharf at 7am for a Shearwater Journeys trip to Monterey Bay. Nearly 30 birders, including 5 experts boarded the Checkmate along with Debi. We had Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants, Surfbird, Black Oystercatcher and Black Turnstone on the way out and had a Pigeon Guillemot and a fly-by Pacific Loon as we headed out.

The journey itself delivered 9 tubenoses including 7 shearwaters - Sooty, Pink-footed, Black-vented, Buller's, Manx, Great and Flesh-footed - just one short of the world record! The Great Shearwater was a surprise and would be submitted to the California records Committee. It was less exciting for em as I had seen 20 just eleven days earlier! Northern Fulmar and Black-footed Albatross were the other tubenoses. We saw many Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets and Cassin's Auklets on the surface of the very calm sea, and had a Pomerine Jaeger and a South Polar Skua fly by. The latter came straight at us and passed very close to the boat. The day was not quite so interesting as a year ago - we had a long quiet period in the middle - but I felt more in control of the bird IDs than in 2012.

Moss Landing and Carmel

On Friday October 4th my wife and I flew to San Jose, CA for a weekend away. We arrived at the airport around noon and drove to Moss Landing. We spent about 90 minutes first at the Moss Landing State Wildlife Area and then along Jetty Road. Over lunch at the wildlife area we had Willet, Marbled Godwit, Grey (Black-bellied) Plover and a Long-billed Curlew along the shoreline and saw over a hundred Brown Pelican in three groups. Elegant Terns, Heerman and western Gulls flew overhead and Sea Otter and Harbor Seal swam in the waters.Along jetty road we had more of the same species, some of them very close.

After checking in to our hotel we drove to Carmel and walked along the ocean front to Carmel River Beach. The beach itself was covered with, perhaps, 5000 birds of just there species - Western Gull, Heerman's Gull and Brown Pelican - so different to a year ago when the place was very quiet but had 15 Snowy Plover. The walk back along the road found a few birds feeding on the rocks including Surfbird, Willet and a Whimbrel.

Long-billed Curlew

Whimbrel

Heading back

On Sunday September 29th there was just a couple of hours in which to bird before heading to the Charlottte airport.

We spent the time at Jackson Park and walked the same trails as on Friday, this time seeing 3 White-eyed Vireos and 2 Golden-winged Warblers in addition to birds we had seen before: American Redstarts; Tennessee, Hooded, Chestnut-sided and Black-and-White Warblers; Pileated Woodpeckers; Eastern Wood-Pewees etc.

I headed home with my ABA list at 547 and my year list at 647, both just a little short of my end-of-trip targets. But I saw 168 species on the 7-day plus 2-hour trip of which 23 were lifers. The tour was billed as Songbirds, Shorebirds and Seabirds and I had 23 species of warbler, 20 waders and 6 sea birds.

Great Smokey Mountains and Rankin Bottoms

On Saturday September 28th we visited Great Smokey Mountain National Park in the morning and then Douglas Dam and Rankin Bottoms in Tennessee in the afternoon.

After seeing 4 Wild Turkey just after we entered Great Smokey Mountains National Park we stopped off a couple of times to look at migrant warblers. Bay-breasted was the most common warbler in the trees and Tennessee Warbler the most common in the shrubs, and Steve's pishing brought in a Red-breasted Nuthatch for all to see - I had missed one the day before. After going to the mountain top we descended on the Tennessee side and Steve found us a Winter Wren.

After passing through the touristy town of Pigeon's Forge we stopped a couple of times at a vast reservoir, first near the dams and then at some mudflats. Douglas Dam yielded 5 Black Vultures and 6 Black-crowned Night-herons and Rankin Bottoms 28 Pectoral Sandpipers and an American White Pelican. In between we stopped to look at gulls and found one Laughing and one Lesser Black-backed among 30 Ring-bills.

We ended the day at Steve's parent's place where Steve failed to attract the resident Eastern Screech-Owl - our third failure in three tries for a night bird on the trip.  

Blue Ridge Parkway

On Friday September 27th we drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Mt. Mitchell stopping once on the way up and many times on the way down.

The first three hours were spent at Ridge Junction. Perhaps 20 birders were with us for a magical time as migrants came up one side of the mountain, stopped at the crest and then descended on the other side. We saw large numbers of Tennessee Warblers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks (including some brightly coloured males) and Blue-headed Vireos. We also had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, several Bay-breasted, Magnolia, Cape May and Black-throated Blue Warblers (including some bright males). We also had a single Blackburnian Warbler - again a nicely colored male - and a single Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Resident birds included a tom Wild Turkey on the way up, Slate-colored Dark-eyed Juncos, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

When things quietened down we went to the summit of Mt. Mitchell - the highest point east of the Mississippi - where we saw a kettle of 12 Broad-winged Hawks and 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks. We then descended the mountains stopping several times but seeing few birds. The only thing of note was an Ovenbird at Craggy Gardens. Eventually it was clear that there were no birds and we headed into town for tea (me) and ice-cream (the others).

After tea we went to the River Park and then returned to Owen Park where we saw small numbers of migrants.

Jackson Park

On Thursday September 26th we spent the day at Jackson Park putting in three two-hour shifts walking the trails and seeing a lot of migrant bird activity.

We saw lots of warblers, although only Tennessee, Canada and a single Yellow-throated were new for the trip, and both Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireos. We had both Least and Acadian Flycatchers and Wood and Swainson's Thrushes. This was our best day so far in our search for migrant songbirds. We met other birders there, of which some had seen Golden-winged Warblers, Blue-winged Warblers and Northern Waterthrushes. This meant that we would return to Jackson Park on Sunday morning.

After Jackson Park we stopped off at Lake James in the search for American Coot - this bird had become something of a joke. Alas we could not find one - and indeed we later found that there was just a solitary recent eBird report including this bird in the whole of North Carolina! Instead we found a female Hooded Merganser in with a motley crew of domestic ducks and geese and a few normal-looking mallards.

Our final stop was at a water treatment plant where we added a Pied-billed Grebe to the trip list. A little more searching brought Tree, Bank and Barn Swallows.

The Piedmont

On Wednesday September 25th we drove from Raleigh to Asheville making a few stops on the way - first the gardens at Duke University in Durham, then the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, then a park in Hickory and finally at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa.

The landscaped gardens at Duke were quite lovely and we enjoyed a short visit although we did not see any special birds. We did finally catch up with Gray Catbird. At Wake Forest we walked in a more natural setting and found Scarlet Tanager and both Bay-breasted and Chestnut-sided warblers.

The next stop was at Hickory, just below the mountains. This provided the best birding of the day including my first Yellow-billed Cuckoo in about 20 years! We also added Philadelphia Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, a Cape May Warbler and a Traill's (Alder/Willow) Flycatcher. But my highlight was not a bird but a mammal - a woodchuck or groundhog and locally known as a whistle-pig.

We ended the day in the mountains at Swannanoa, first at Owen Park where we had out first Magnolia Warbler among a few other warbler species and then on the campus of Warren Wilson College - an interesting school with its own farm and a philosophy of academics, work and service. We added Cedar Waxwing here but dipped on the target bird of Field Sparrow.

Woodchuck

Cape Hatteras Pelagic

On Tuesday September 24th we got up early and reached the dock at Manteo at 5:30am. Captain Al and son Charles then proceeded to take us out 50+ miles into the Atlantic, heading to deep water within the Gulf Stream.

We saw well over a hundred Cory's Sheartwater on the trip plus several Great Shearwatres and Black-capped Petrels and a few Audubon's Shearwaters and a single Bridled Tern. We also saw Common Porpoise, Bottleneck Dolphin and Pilot Whales. Plus a Hammerhead Shark swimming near the surface. We were on a fishing charter boat and Charles had lines in the water and caught a Yellowfin Tuna and a Dusky Shark.

With 5 lifers I would not call this a bad day's birding but this pelagic was as dull as the one from Half Moon Bay a year ago: Lots of energy spent worrying about the roughness of the sea (which turned out to be very calm); having to get up at 4am leaving me tired all day; 2-3 hours each way getting to/from the birds with nothing much to see; and long periods spent with just a distant bird to look at interspersed with short periods of excitement. The good news is that I now have all 7 ABA Code 1 albatross/petrel/shearwaters and 4/7 of the Code 2s (but I have done poorly with just a single Storm Petrel).

Common Tern

Cory's Shearwater

The Outer Banks

On Monday September 23rd we postponed our pelagic until the following day and spent the day in the immediate area of Nag's Head. Specifically we began at the Bodie Island Lighthouse, returned to Pea Island, then the north end of Roanoke Island, then Alligator River and then back to Pea Island for the third time. Finally we went to the Bodie Island Lighthouse at dusk.

The pelagic had been postponed due to the weather conditions and we birded in strong winds in the morning. We started near the Bodie Island Lighthouse where we dipped again on Seaside Sparrow. We did find a few Palm Warblers and I finally got to see the noisy Carolina Wren. We then returned to Pea Island where we found most of yesterday's waders gone and windy conditions that made looking through scopes very difficult. We took a side trip to a jetty where we found an American Oystercatcher, Sanderlings hiding out of the wind and a Spotted Sandpiper. We walked around a closed area of breeding habitat for Piping Plovers but these birds stayed hunkered down and invisible.

The next stop were the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island but they were totally dead. We walked along some trails nearby and has a single Prairie Warbler and a single Yellow-breasted Chat. [These proved to be the only sightings of these birds on the trip.] We spent the afternoon at Alligator River and had lunch sitting on a wooden bridge, where fortune smiled on us and an alligator swam underneath. This is at the northern limit of its range and we ran into someone who told us that she'd been coming here regularly for 30 years and had only seen one once before! We added Pileated Woodpecker and Black-throated Green Warbler and found a flock of Bobolinks in a weedy field.

The day ended at Bodie Lighthouse at dusk where a Great-horned Owl flew in and perched on one of the windows. But our target was a Chuck-will's Widow. We dipped despite staying out underdressed in the cold wind.

American Oystercatcher

Sanderlings

Greenville to the Coast

On Sunday September 22nd we began the day in Greenville and traveled to Nag's Head on the Outer Banks. We started the day at a park in Greenville, traveled to a Sod Farm and then drove through Nag's Head to Pea Island.

Having dipped on Bachman's Sparrow the day before, poring rain meant that we stayed in the room and skipped the Henslow Sparrow spot entirely. We had arranged to meet someone at the gate and everything pointed to an easy lifer. Alas.

In the dizzle we headed to a local park in Greenville where Steve had a spot for Prothonotary Warblers who were very obliging. We also had American Redstarts and Northern Parulas along the same stretch. The big surprise was a pair of Anhinga - at the very north of their range - giving me my third darter of the year!  We also added up a bunch of 'easy' birds.

At the sid farm we had fun scanning flocks of shorebirds and picking up Baird's, Pectorals and Westerns among the Least Sandpipers. We also had both Black-bellied and American Golden Plover in close proximity to learn the differences between these species. We could not find our target bird but got lucky when 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers appeared just as we were leaving!

After driving onto the Outer Banks we stopped first for a bite to eat on a pier and found a bunch of beach birds - Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, Marbled Godwit and Dunlin before deciding to give Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge a go before heading to the hotel. We had another good lesson picking out the Royal from the Caspian Terns, as well as finding Sandwich, Forster's and Black Terns. The latter was an ABA for me after a long time of looking. A number of Black Terns had been in northern Arizona around the time I had left but circumstances had not allowed me to chase as often as I had wanted. We had a number of other new ticks for the trip and then ventured away from the car and visitor center shelter .. where we were soaked to the skin in a heavy downpour!

After checking in and showering we took a short trek to the beautiful Jockey's Ridge dunes where we again dipped on Field Sparrow and had Seaside Sparrows respond to tape but not cooperate. We did have a Common Nighthawk fly overhead and had a toad cross our path as we headed back to the car in darkness.

Boat-tailed Grackle

White Ibis

North Carolina

After my planned April trip to Texas fell through I signed up for a fall migration trip to North Carolina. Friday September 20th was a long travel day with flight delays and I let home in Flagstaff at 4:40am (MST) and arrived at the hotel in Monroe, NV at 11:10pm (EDT).

In Saturday September 21st bid guide Steve and I were up a little after 5:00 to head out and meet Linda and Elaine for the four person tour. The morning was spent at the Sandhills area, first on some game lands and then at Weymouth Woods. We tried so hard for Bachman's Sparrow but dipped on this bid and the expected Northern Bobwhite but I got four lifers - Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Wood-Pewee and Pine Warbler -  as well as a number of other birds that I had not seen in a while - Brown Thrasher, Red-headed Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse.

After lunch we drove to Howell Woods, a much more swampy area with lots of flies and mosquitoes where I scored another lifer - Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - and picked up some other easy birds that I had not seen in many years - Carolina Chickadee and Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Brown-headed Nuthatch

A birdingpal day out

I got to bird with two Missouri birders - Jerry and Margie - on Wednesday evening, September 11th and on Thursday morning September 12th. The evening trip was a search for owls on a beautiful star filled night. We had no owls but head a couple of groups of coyotes howl and saw one of these animals slyly watching us from behind the trees.

Thursday morning was much more successful. I had been given a wish-list and was able to get them 4 birds for their life lists. We began at Picture Canyon where we had a Gray Flycatcher and lots of Wilson's Warblers but no Lewis's Woodpecker. We moved on to Logan's Crossing where a flock of Pinyon Jays found us, and then to Elden Spring where a Sharp-shinned Hawk sat quietly. We flushed the bird away and with quiet all around were about to head off when a Townsend's Solitaire magically appeared. With the clock ticking down and Lewis's Woodpecker still absent we made one last stop on the corner of San Francisco and Switzer and the bird appeared and gave us a good flycatching show. I had to head to work but my guests found their forth lifer - a Clark's Nutcracker - at Snowbowl. I am yet to see that bird in 2013.

Quiet Days

I did not get to bird much in the month of August due to work commitments. Soon after the Tucson trip I tagged along on a business trip for my wife with the idea of birding The Glendale Recharge ponds. The morning of Saturday August 10th turned out to be a very quiet day with few birds out of the very ordinary. I did finally get to add Green Heron to my year list.

My next chance to get out was on Saturday September 7th when I joined a Northern Arizona Audubon trip to Mingus Mountains. I knew this was a risky trip - getting up early and traveling for 90 minutes to get to habitat similar to that on my own back door! But Rich's scouting a couple of days earlier had made it seem worth the trip. Sad to say it turned out to be a very dull day with few birds. The only two things worth mentioning were a large group of Turkey Vultures on the ground and in the trees at Mingus Lake and then 5 hummingbird species - Anna's, Broad-tailed, Black-chinned, Calliope and Rufous - at some feeders.

Tucson Afternoon

I took my son down to Tucson for a campus tour of the U of A on Sunday August 4th. A posting on the list serve had provided an easy urban location for Burrowing Owls and we headed there as soon as we arrived. We saw 4 of these birds in the car park of a windshield company!

Burrowing Owl

After tea and a nap we headed to Madera Canyon for two hours. A storm had passed through earlier in the afternoon and things were very quiet. We looked for birds at the Santa Rita Lodge, Kubo and Chuperosa Inn but saw nothing but the most common species.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

We left just before sunset, seeing a couple of Lesser Nighthawks and some White-tailed Deer on the way back to Green Valley. We did our tour and were back in Flagstaff by late afternoon on Monday.

Returning Home

We returned to Flagstaff on July 24th having added 259 species to the year's list. In all I saw a total of 166 species in Australia - 150 in Queensland and 50 in Victoria - and 114 species in SE Asia. I added 28 lifers - 18 in Malaysia, 2 in Cambodia and 8 in Australia.

In the one week return to Australia at the end of the trip I added 24 species to the 142 I had during the earlier 3-week stay in Brisbane: 8 on the day trip to O'Reilly's and 16 in Melbourne, mostly from the day trip to Phillip Island.

Buff-banded Rail

Philip Island

On Monday July 22nd we took a tour to Philip Island and our first stop was at the Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park. This consisted of a bunch of exhibits placed around a billabong, with the 'Wallaby Walk' area consisting of several wallabies along the trail through the trees. Food was available to feed these animals. The billabong area had the usual selection of moorhen, swamphen and ducks but also a few Cape Barren Geese and a Black-tailed Native Hen. We were luck enough to see wild versions of both species later in the day on Philip Island. We had Crested Pigeons and Spotted Doves soon after we got to the sanctuary but I was surprised to find lots of Common Bronzewings on the wallaby walk. This was a bird that I had only glimpsed once before!

Black-tailed Native Hen

Cape Barren Goose

Common Bronzewing

After lunch we headed to Philip Island and saw a Swamp Harrier and a large block of corellas on the way. We stopped briefly at Woolamai surf beach where two Black-browed Albatrosses were flying over the waves some way out to sea, and then stopped at Churchill Island for tea, a sheep shearing show and the chance to crack a whip. We did not, choosing instead to wander around the area where we found Eastern Rosellas and over 30 Cape Barren Geese. We were surprised to see to Black-tailed Native Hens as we left the island.  

Eastern Rosella

The next stop was a koala conservation center where we saw Grey Currawong as well as White-naped and White-plumed Honeyeaters. After that we headed to the Nobbies where we saw sa couple of Little Penguins under the boardwalk and then saw many Swamp Wallabies as we headed to the Penguin Parade. The latter did not disappoint and we saw about a thousand penguins heading home for the night.

Little Penguins

Swamp Wallaby

Melbourne Botanic Gardens

On Sunday July 21st we spent a couple of hours in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. We had seen a large group of Little Ravens on the journey in, and soon had an Australian Raven in the gardens. A Red Wattlebird soon followed and we got close views over a morning Devonshire tea at the tea house. The stop for tea proved to be very beneficial when I noticed a group of Rufous Night Herons just across the waters of the Ornamental Lake. We also saw several Eurasian Blackbirds in the flower beds and on the lawns. I dipped on White-plumed Honeyeater and Hoary-headed Grebe but did quite well on this short visit.

Australian Raven

Red Wattlebird

Rufous Night Heron

O'Reilly's

For a long time I had wanted to go to O'Reilly's - rain had washed out a previous plan in 2009. On Thursday July 18th, we spent about 5 hours there with Marion. Now I want to go back to O'Reilly's!

We had stopped on the way to visit a lagoon just half a kilometer out of our way. We were greeted by a flock of noisy Little Corellas and soon had a male Rufous Whistler and a few Yellow-rumped Thornbills in the trees nearby. A Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Pale-headed Rosella, Little Grassbird and Superb Fairy-Wrens were also close at hand. The lagoon itself had Australian Pelican, Purple Swaphen, Dusky Moorhen and Eurasian Coot. A stop for a cuppa in a park nearby brought us a Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Little Corellas

Arriving at O'Reilly's we found flocks of Crimson Rosella and King Parrot at the bird-feeding area, and got to feed these birds by hand. My bare arms ended up badly scratched by these eager birds.

King Parrot

Crimson Rosella

After a walk along a boardwalk and along a set of suspension spans at tree-top level in the rain, a lunch stop found Eastern Spinebill, Lewin's Honeyeater, Satin Bowerbird and Regent Bowerbird. We then walked 2km along a trail and found Eastern Yellow-Robin, Yellow-throated Scrub-wren, Large-billed Scrub-wren, Brown Thornbill, a Wonga Pigeon, Bassian Thrush and a family of Logrunners.

Lewin's Honeyeater

Wonga Pigeon

We also saw two Red-necked Pademelons along the road and another with a joey at the campground at O'Reilly's.

Leaving Malaysia

My final birds in Bangsar were 6 Painted Storks just prior to leaving for Cambodia and then a Zebra Dove soon after we returned. I ended with around 20 species from the streets in this area.

Zebra Dove

I ended the trip - part two of the summer - with a total of 103 species in Malaysia and another 11 in Cambodia. Cotton Pygmy Goose and Greater Flying Fox, from the non-birding trip to Cambodia were my favorites. Then there were the three pittas - especially Banded Pitta - and the two trogons from my bird guide day!

Telapa Buruk

On Monday July 15th, I went with an MNS group to Telapa Buruk in Negeri Sembilan. We birded along the hill road in the morning and spent the afternoon armchair birding at Rafi and Angela's house.

We started along the road at 7:30 for a 4-hour field trip up the hill at Telapa Buruk and had a selection of forest birds when we stopped for nasi lemak just a short way up the hill. We then went to the stake-out place and played a tape to attract the Eye-browed Wren-babbler, a rare and elusive species. Unlike two years ago, the bird did not disappoint and gave us good views. This was a lifer not only for m but for three Malaysians in the group of six. A Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker was the other highlight of the morning's trip.

We got to Rafi and Angela's place for lunch around 12:30 and stayed until after 7:00. We spent much of the time resting and looking for birds from the house. This birding was slow but produced the three best birds of the day - Blue-throated Bee-eater, Red-throated Barbet and Rhinoceros Hornbill. The latter in the form of two birds heading to roost at dusk.

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Cambodia - Phnom Penh

On Tuesday July 9th we took a shuttle down to Phnom Penh. This was a journey of over 5 hours on bumpy roads reminiscent of those in Malaysia 25 years ago. The journey took us through village after village and with rice paddies large and small. But wildlife was hard to find. A couple of egrets, a few crows and a pair of Red Collared-Doves when we stopped for a break in Kampong Thom were the only new things added to the trip list. After lunch we went to the Royal Palace area where Oriental Magpie- robins were singing, but birds were few and far between.

Our hotel was on the banks of the Mekong River but we saw no birds; we walked to a lake marked on the map but which turned out to be dry and then walked around a small park-covered hill and saw nothing. We took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel;getting off I found a Black Rat within six inches of my right foot! After checking out our driver took us to the airport. Cambodia did not appear to be a very birdy place - but we did not go near the famous sites of Ton-le Sap Lake, Tmatboey or Ang Taepeng etc.

Cambodia - Siem Reap

On Sunday July 7th my wife and I headed off on a 4-day tour to Cambodia. The point of the trip was to visit Angkor Wat but we were on a tour - although it turned out that we were met by our own guide and driver and had some freedom. The descent into Siem Reap gave us a view of a huge area of lowland covered in rice paddies and hopes of finding water birds on the trip. That afternoon we were taken to some places of low interest to us and we found the town to be very low on bird life. Asian Palm Swifts at the airport, Streak-eared Bulbuls at a killing fields memorial site and Germain's Swiftlets from our hotel room were the only birds of note; in the morning we added Olive-backed Sunbird feeding on the flowers of a pomegranate tree.

On Monday July 8th we had a full day visiting the temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Ankor Thom. Again we found the area to not be very birdy. We had our best luck at lunchtime when our restaurant was beside a small lake on which we first spied an Oriental Darter on the water and then saw several Little Cormorants and half a dozen Cotton Pygmy-Geese. The latter had been a bird I'd looked for in Cairns in 2009 and which had been on my Thailand wish-list in 2011. Coming out-of-the-blue this was my best bid of the Cambodia trip. In the afternoon we had a large group pf Red-breasted Parakeets flying around Angkor Thom and a pair of Greater Raquet-tailed Drongos when we stopped to take some photos.

We had an Asian House Gecko in our room, had seen a skink, a frog and Long-tailed Macaques during the day, but we were treated to a spectacle not on the usual tour itinerary - a large roosting colony of Greater Flying-foxes. We also got to see these dispersing at sunset; clearly there were several hundred of these mammals at the park just a few minutes walk from our hotel.

Fraser's Hill

On Thursday July 4th we headed to Fraser's Hill for an overnight stay. My goal was to see how many species I could find in a 24-hour period. I had seen about 40 species with my Bird Race team mates in 2009 and then about 60 with the contest winning team in 2011. I was interested in seeing how I would do without Malaysian help. Things did not go to plan when others decided not to stop at the Gap and it was decided that we would stay in a bad spot and not where I'd planned. Plans fell further into ruin with rain falling throughout the first day - sometimes light enough to bird in but at other times too hard to be out in.

On arrival at the Gap I had just a few minutes to walk the road before we joined others at the top. I then had tea at Shahzan Inn in a spot that overlooked the feeders, but the rain kept most birds away. I then walked up and down Jalan Lady Guillemard and then back through the town center before the rain got too heavy. The rain persisted through the evening and the hopes of seeing Brown Wood Owl were dashed as we were too far from the normal spot. I ended the day with about 20 species. We did see a couple of Spectacled Leaf Monkeys, some Giant Millepedes, and interesting pill bug, a katydid, a brown dragon and a tree frog but I did not see any birds of note.

On Friday July 5th I awoke early and headed to the well-known early morning spot at Jalai Highlands Resort to find a group if photographers already in place. We were entertained by groups of Brown-capped Laughing Thrush, Silver-eared Mesias, Long-tailed Sibias and the more industrious Black-throated Sunbird and Streaked Spiderhunter but the highlight was a single Fire-tufted Barbet. I then wandered back to the bungalow for a second breakfast. I then headed back through town to do the Telekom Loop and the Hemmant Trail before we left almost exactly 24 hours after we had arrived. In all I had just 28 species - my boys had seen a green pigeon on the way up from the Gap and my wife had a Paddyfield Pipit on the golf course. So if we had stayed as one group we may have made 30 species. I had hopes for me. Most surprising was the fact that I saw no woodpeckers at all. But then again birding in the jungle with vegetation everywhere is not as easy as most places I am used to.

Bukit Tinggi, Krau and Port Klang

On Monday July 1st I hired a bird guide to find some hard to find birds within a short drive of Kuala Lumpur. Lee picked me up at 6:15 and we spent 12 hours traveling and looking for birds. In a sense this was not my kind of birding with much of the time standing around playing tapes and hoping birds will come into view. But I have seen most of the common species and the only way to get the hard ones is to stay in one spot playing calls and being patient.

We spent the first two hours at Bukit Tinggi, mostly at a spot with a Japanese flavour that Lee had taken me to in 2009. We began at a fruiting tree which had Thick-billed Pigeon and three species of barbet, including Blue-eared that I'd asked Lee to find for me. I had counted this bird in 2009 but was not happy with the short, distant view. The view this time was much better. Lee then started playing the Orange-breasted Trogon tape as he did 4 years ago, but this time the bird eventually came close enough for good views. This was another jinx bird off my list as I'd been with Swee Seng and Carol when they saw the bird 2 years ago. We then spent a while trying without luck for Mountain Peacock-Pheasant. A Maroon-breasted Philentoma and a Banded Yellownape (woodpecker) were unplanned lifers before we left the area.

After an hour's drive to Krau we spent two-and-a-half hours in the lowland forest there and Lee was able to call in three more of the day's targets - Diard's Trogon, Garnet Pitta and Banded Pitta. The trogon was very cooperative, the Garnet Pitta required a hike off the road into the jungle - I had my leech socks on! - and it took three attempts to finally see Banded Pitta, actually a  pair of these lovely birds. As at the first stop, I added two further lifers - a Red-billed Malkoha and another woodpecker - this time a Chequer-throated Yellownape. It was only 1:30 and we had found the day's four targets! Over lunch at the Elephant Conservation Center we decided to go after my final target - planned to be saved for another day - and we drove to Port Klang.

We drove through a heavy downpour but reached the site - a well-known stake out - and found two photographers set-up at the spot. Within five minutes a Mangrove Pitta hopped into view, flying back and forth several times during our visit. Having dipped on this bird at Kuala Selangor in 2009 and having decided I was jinxed with pittas, I had broken the hex with Noisy Pitta in Brisbane only a week earlier and had now added three more pitta species in one day! And Lee hade delivered both trogons and all three pittas in a day's birding. RM680 well spent.

As a bonus I had an 8 mammal day, a squirrel species, Tree Shrew, Long-tailed Macaques, Pig-tailed Macaques, Spectacled Leaf Monkey, Silver Leaf Monkey, Siamang and an Asian Small-clawed Otter.

Bangsar

My son and I arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday June 26th at the start of a family-based holiday. The first five days were spent getting some rest and enjoying the local food, and the only birds seen were in the streets near the house. I tallied just 18 species and these included Striated Heron, Spotted Dove and Common Myna, all birds seen in Australia. The best bird was a Javan Pond Heron at the kolam on Lorong Maarof, a new bird for Malaysia for me (I'd seen this bird in Thailand in 2011). An unexpected sight was a White-throated Kingfisher on top of the television antennae across the street.  

Black-naped Oriole

Last few days in Brisbane

On Sunday June 23rd we mostly stayed home but Marion took us to Roger's place in the afternoon. I added three lifers in a short trip there - Rose Robin, White-eared Monarch and Noisy Pitta. I had considered the latter to be my jinx bird and it was the top bird on my wishlist.  

On Monday June 24th we visited the Mt. Coot-tha Botanical Gardens and walked into the city along the river from Toowong. We did not see much of note ant the botanical gardens but had Australasian Darter, Sacred Kingfisher and Caspian Tern along the river.

On Tuesday we did Sherwood Arboretum in the morning and then took the City-Cat into the city. Late in the day Marion took us to a coupe of spots hoping fro Glossy Black Cockatoo and Australian Owlet-Nightjar. We dipped on both. But we had our mammal highlight of the trip when a squirrel-like animal flew across the road! A Squirrel Glider.

Blue-faced Honeyeater

Striated Pardalote

I ended the trip - part one of the summer - with a total of 142 species in and around Brisbane. Noisy Pitta and Squirrel Glider, seen in the slow days at the end of the trip were my favorites. 

Lockyer Valley

On Saturday June 22nd, Jill and Ian took me out for a birding tour of the Lockyer Valley. This begin with a short stop at Wivenhoe Dam where we had at least one Great-crested Grebe on the water and a small group of Grey-crowned Babblers near the entrance to the parking area.

We then made a number of stops at lagoons between Wivenhoe Dam and Gatton including a stop at Lake Clarendon. We ran into a Nankeen Kestrel perched on wires. Then had had White-necked Heron, Red-kneed Dotterel, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-billed Spoonbills and Pale-headed Rosellas at our first stop, picked up Red-necked Avocet and Little Friarbird at another, then Banded Lapwing, then Plumed Whistling-Duck, then Freckled Duck and Australian Shoveler and then Double-barred Finch. Ian and Jill's route was very well planned and we found almost all our target birds.

Nankeen Kestrel

Banded Lapwing

After lunch in Gatton we immediately saw a number of Black Kites and then heading onto the University of Queensland - Gatton Campus had Red-rumped Parrots feeding on a lawn before heading to Lake Galletely where a single male Blue-billed Duck was among a large number of Pink-eared Ducks. Some basking Brisbane Short-necked Turtles were the fifth reptile of the trip.

Red-rumped Parrots

Blue-billed Duck

Pink-eared Ducks