Meteor Crater RV Park and Babbitt Tank (again)

Jason found a Rufous-backed Robin at the Meteor Crater RV park on Sunday October 30th and I went out there later that day and scoured the campground to no avail in very high winds.

The bird was still being reported on Friday and so I headed out east of town on Saturday November 5th. I left early hoping to find longspurs coming into Babbitt Tank although it had rained on Thursday and Friday. But the tank had indeed lost its attraction. I did see some meadowlarks including at least one Eastern Meadowlark, but otherwise had a single Savannah Sparrow, a Loggerhead Shrike and some flyover ravens to show for my stop.

I reached the RV park around 8:30 and entered the property with Chip. It took us about 20 minutes to find the Rufous-backed Robin in the trees at the back. The only other bird new for me at this location was a Sage Thrasher.

Rufous-backed Robin

Sage Thrasher

Betsy and Steve's

I had an email from Betsy in the morning of Tuesday October 25th telling me of a Gray Catbird in their yard. I then found out that a catbird had been at Willow Bend over the summer - mid-May to mid-August - when I was away and so this bird was not very interesting to others! I went over at about 3pm and Steve immediately found the bird feeding on a Russian Olive. This was a county bird for me.

Gray Catbird

The following Saturday, October 29th I headed up to Aspen Corner and hiked down to the Arizona Trail, up and around Aspen Loop and back down again, hoping for Clark's Nutcrackers. I had no luck at all, in fact it wasn't at all birdy. I did find a very red Arizona Gray Squirrel.

Arizona Gray Squirrel

San Jose Weekend

On Saturday October 22nd my wife and I spent 45 minutes on Laguna Avenue in Morgan Hill. I had hoped to find Cackling Geese among the Canadas, but in fact there were no geese to be found! However this part of Coyote Valley is well known for its raptors and we had a Northern Harrier, two White-tailed Kites, two Red-tailed Hawks and two Turkey Vultures. The main bird activity however was around the cattle and their water tanks. We had hundreds of Brown-headed Cowbirds and Tricolored Blackbirds with a number of Brewer's Blckbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Eurasian starlings and a single female Great-tailed Grackle  mixed in. At the end of the road we had 5 Yellow-billed Magpies.

On Sunday October 23rd we went for a 3 mile hike in Santa Teresa County Park. Wintering sparrows were in with many White-crowns and some Golden-crowned Sparrows in the brush. We also saw a Nuttall's Woodpecker feeding on the ground as well as expected species. Walking back through the golf course we saw two White-tailed Kites, one a young bird asking to be fed by its parent.

Meteor Crater RV Park and Babbitt Tank

Chuck found a Wood Thrush at the Meteor Crater RV Park on Thursday October 13th and I rushed out there after my classes finished on Friday 14th. I had some good but short views of the bird but failed to get a photo. This bird was my 400th species in Arizona.

Hermit Thrush

Red-naped Sapsucker

 
I went back out on Saturday morning stopping first at Babbitt Tank where I had hoped to see Chestnut-collared Longspurs but instead found Tom and Anne. They had been looking for a Bobolink, seen a few days earlier; I joined them but we had no luck finding the bird. We then moved on to the RV Park but there was no sign of the Wood Thrush - nor the Hermit Thrushes that had been with it the day before. I did find a Red-naped Sapsucker.

Round Cedar Lake

I chased an Asian vagrant, a Lesser Sand-Plover on Tuesday October 4th. The bird had been found by Jason and Chuck who did a tour of wet spots on the Rez in the Flagstaff - Leupp - Meteor Crater area on Sunday 2nd. This was a first state record of this bird - that I had seen in Australia in 2009. This was a twitch for many with birders coming in from all over - including a Big Year birder from South Dakota!

Lesser Sand-Plover

I arrived at 12:30 to find 7 people waiting for the bird to reappear. It had disappeared into the scrub shortly after 11:00. The bird returned at 1:30 having been flushed by a hunting male Northern Harrier, and the bird then foraged close by for the next 45 minutes before taking a nap just a short distance away. By then Gary, Troy, Chuck and Anita had all arrived and from the list serve it was clear that tohers came and went during the afternoon.

Happy Hollow Park and Zoo

On Saturday October 1st my wife and I decided to go to the San Jose zoo. We had not done any research ahead of time and it turned out there really weren't many animals there! But we enjoyed our stroll around the park with local birds, including my first Golden-crowned Sparrows of the season.

California Towhee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee