The month of December was memorable for the first Rosy-finches in Arizona since 2000. I was worried that I was going to miss out as most of the local birders headed to see them as soon as they were found, while I was tied to my desk during Finals Week. Luckily Chuck was going back for another look and I went with him and John Coons to see the birds on Friday December 14th. We had our first glimpse of the flock of about 80 birds at 8:30, and had to wait until 10:00 before they returned to feed for about half an hour. They disappeared for about an hour before giving us our closest views - some within 6 feet. The flock consisted of 2 Black-crowneds with the rest Blacks.
The next day I headed towards Tucson where I was to pick up my son from the airport. I spent Saturday night in Casa Grande, and spent 3 hours on Sunday December 16th on the Santa Cruz Flats. Luck was very much with me and I added 5 species for the year in that time. My first stop was at Sunland Gin and Pearce where dozens of Black Vultures and Crested Caracaras had been seen recently. I only had 3 and 1 respectively, but that was good enough for my year list. I then drove down Greene Reservoir Road where I had flushed a Prairie Falcon which was perched close to the road, and then shortly afterwards had a Ferruginous Hawk fly by. That was 4 year-bird raptors in about half an hour! A stop at the sod farm, a place where I had not always been lucky, yielded 56 Mountain Plovers actively feeding on the brightest green. On Monday December 17th my son and I went to Reid Park where we ran into a Cassin's Kingbird on route to a stake-out spot for a Greater Pewee that my son noticed in the pines near the playground.
The following day my son noticed a Brown Creeper on my feeder, my first in Arizona for 2019. This bird, and a sometimes a second one, were daily visitors after that.
On my only California trip earlier in the month I went to Shoreline Park - to add Barrow's Goldeneye to my Santa Clara list - and walked the dyke between Salt Pond A1 and Charleston Slough where over 5000 Northern Shovelers were the highlight. The following day, Saturday December 8th my wife and I walked around he Santa Clara Water District where I again failed to find the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker or Scaly-breasted Munias. I did see a female Purple Finch drinking from a puddle; my only year bird that weekend.
Friday, December 21, 2018
November 2018
The month of November included what has become a regular trip to the northwest to see my son (22nd-24th), with Northwestern Crows and Trumpeter Swans easy to find along the highways. There were no owls this year, but Stanley Park, Vancouver yielded large numbers of Barrow's Goldeneye and three Harlequin Ducks, while a Long-tailed Duck flew past us at Zuanich Point in Bellingham. I also added Golden-crowned Kinglet and Swamp Sparrow for the year.
I did not get to bird too much on a couple of trips to San Jose, but I did chase after an American Golden Plover that had been seen at Alviso EEC entrance road on November 10th. There was a crowd of birders there when we arrived -including Sergio and Garrett, many having searched for the bird for quite some time. I was in luck and someone spotted the bird back towards Spreckles Pond and I added what was possibly a lifer to my list. A Ruddy Turnstone that had also been around eluded everyone that day. Later in the month, on the 21st, Sergio and I spent a morning at Laguna where we had almost given up scanning for Mountain Bluebirds only to find them right along the road itself, and at the water district where Sergio took me straight to the Red-breasted Sapsucker's tree. This was the first time I had seen this species in two years.
Closer to home I did a trip down to Sedona on November 3rd to add some year birds to my Coconino list, and as well as finding Gila Woodpecker, Northern cardinal, Bridled Titmouse and my jinx bird Canyon Towhee, I found a female Williamson's Sapsucker in a juniper in the Brewer Road neighborhood. Two weeks later I headed out on a successful chase, first to Ashurst Lake to add Red-breasted Merganser for the year, and to Mormon Lake to add Ross's Goose to my county year list.
I did not get to bird too much on a couple of trips to San Jose, but I did chase after an American Golden Plover that had been seen at Alviso EEC entrance road on November 10th. There was a crowd of birders there when we arrived -including Sergio and Garrett, many having searched for the bird for quite some time. I was in luck and someone spotted the bird back towards Spreckles Pond and I added what was possibly a lifer to my list. A Ruddy Turnstone that had also been around eluded everyone that day. Later in the month, on the 21st, Sergio and I spent a morning at Laguna where we had almost given up scanning for Mountain Bluebirds only to find them right along the road itself, and at the water district where Sergio took me straight to the Red-breasted Sapsucker's tree. This was the first time I had seen this species in two years.
Closer to home I did a trip down to Sedona on November 3rd to add some year birds to my Coconino list, and as well as finding Gila Woodpecker, Northern cardinal, Bridled Titmouse and my jinx bird Canyon Towhee, I found a female Williamson's Sapsucker in a juniper in the Brewer Road neighborhood. Two weeks later I headed out on a successful chase, first to Ashurst Lake to add Red-breasted Merganser for the year, and to Mormon Lake to add Ross's Goose to my county year list.
October 2018
My first real chance to bird in the month of October was around Lake Tahoe on October 12th. My wife and I went to Taylor Creek to see the salmon run - no black bears - and saw a local specialty, White-headed Woodpeckers as well as high elevation birds such as Red-breasted and Pygmy Nuthatches and Mountain Chickadees. Efforts to find Sooty Grouse or Mountain Quail were again to no avail, and we also dipped on Black-billed Magpie. On the 13th we took a cruise on the lake on a paddle steamer and found the lake to be lacking in birds. Vegetation and fish are well below the surface and only in one cove did we find a few birds such as Pied-billed Grebe.
Back home the following weekend, I went with Tom and Kathryn on October 20th and found things much more quiet than on my September visit. The highlight was a group of gulls, with 4 obvious Ring-billeds, 2 Franklins (my first of the year) and a large brown immature gull. We spent a couple of hours looking at the gulls and their relative sizes trying for better looks at the large gull. We left having penciled this in as a Herring Gull, got excited when Lauren replied to a first photo saying it could be an Iceland, but after others went out the following morning to find the bird more cooperative and posing for better photos, it was decided that it was a small-billed Herring Gull.
I returned to San Jose the following weekend and on the 26th I went to Alviso chasing some rare birds. Ina a remarkable half hour I quickly found the Pacific Golden Plover - only my second ever - and the Ruff. The latter was much more cooperative than it had been for em in either of the previous two years, and I saw this bird again on subsequent trips. I then found the bird that I took to be the immature Pectoral Sandpiper, but my photo of the bird turned out to be a Least Sandpiper and was rejected by the local eBird authority; but my bird was larger than the peeps around it and I suspect I took a picture of the wrong bird using my point-and-shoot camera! I then saw a Stilt Sandpiper in the Spreckles pond and even posted for the first time to the list serve. However my description on eBird was insufficient for the local eBird authority and this was later rejected, although another birder had confirmed my sighting.
Back home the following weekend, I went with Tom and Kathryn on October 20th and found things much more quiet than on my September visit. The highlight was a group of gulls, with 4 obvious Ring-billeds, 2 Franklins (my first of the year) and a large brown immature gull. We spent a couple of hours looking at the gulls and their relative sizes trying for better looks at the large gull. We left having penciled this in as a Herring Gull, got excited when Lauren replied to a first photo saying it could be an Iceland, but after others went out the following morning to find the bird more cooperative and posing for better photos, it was decided that it was a small-billed Herring Gull.
I returned to San Jose the following weekend and on the 26th I went to Alviso chasing some rare birds. Ina a remarkable half hour I quickly found the Pacific Golden Plover - only my second ever - and the Ruff. The latter was much more cooperative than it had been for em in either of the previous two years, and I saw this bird again on subsequent trips. I then found the bird that I took to be the immature Pectoral Sandpiper, but my photo of the bird turned out to be a Least Sandpiper and was rejected by the local eBird authority; but my bird was larger than the peeps around it and I suspect I took a picture of the wrong bird using my point-and-shoot camera! I then saw a Stilt Sandpiper in the Spreckles pond and even posted for the first time to the list serve. However my description on eBird was insufficient for the local eBird authority and this was later rejected, although another birder had confirmed my sighting.
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