Birds birds birds!

Now that I'm retired, I have more time in my life for birds, birding, and writing about birds. I've had a passion for birds since I was 15 years old, so that's over four decades of traipsing around the world....for birds. I've written several blog entries on birds, but often have little nuggets of birding experiences where I can quickly post a few photos and highlights instead of long entries where I sweat for days proofing my storytelling. I hope you find these little "bits and bobs of birds" fun.

Is it a Hairy or a Downy? February 10, 2021: In the over four decades (ouch!) I’ve been a birder, I’ve gotten pretty good at calling a Hairy Woodpecker a Hairy Woodpecker and a Downy Woodpecker a Downy Woodpecker. I’ve seen both hundreds of times.  For me it comes to the “jizz” (feel and look of the bird) than anything else. At our house, we mostly get the Hairy. I would say 99 times out of 100, the Hairy/Downy-looking woodpecker at our feeders will be a Hairy. I know this from a few diagnostic markers that scramble together in my brain, which spits out “it’s a Hairy” (that's the "jizz"). However, lately, we’ve had a pair of Downy Woodpeckers regularly visiting our feeders, and I found myself stumbling on the specific differences of each when asked by my husband “which one is which?” because it's hard to explain jizz, which differs from birder to birder.

It just so happened that one morning, both made an appearance at the same place at our suet feeder, and I was able to get photos of each. So let’s take a look!

Hairy Woodpecker (adult male)

Downy Woodpecker (adult male)

As you can see from these two comparison images, using the suet cage as a marker, the Hairy Woodpecker is approximately 50% larger than a Downy. A Hairy is medium-sized, averaging 9” in length (think of a Townsend’s Solitaire or a slender American Robin) and a Downy is more like our Western Bluebird, averaging about 6” in length.

In the above images, perhaps one of the easiest diagnostic markings is the size of the bill relative to the bird’s length of the head. A Downy’s bill is tiny; at times when flitting around or pecking at suet, you can barely see it. A Downy’s bill is approximately the same length as the distance from the base of the bill to its eye. Whereas the Hairy’s bill is an obvious power tool. It is darker, with its length equivalent, nearly, to the entire length of the head.

Another key mark is to look at the outer tailfeathers, which are white with black spots on the Downy, and plain white on the Hairy:

Note the spots on the outer tailfeathers of this Downy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker's solid outer white tailfeathers

I was fortunate to have these male woodpeckers (red markings on the head) visit the same suet feeder within a few minutes of each other, letting me capture both birds with my camera. In researching a bit more, I found out that the Downy’s call is a “quiet, friendy ‘pic’” while a Hairy’s diagnostic “pic” call is stronger and louder, more like an attention-grabbing squeaky dog toy. 

So, if our yard Downy pair is any indication of a few more Downy’s in our area, you may come across them. And if so, take a closer look at the overall size, the ratio of beak to head length, and if possible, the outer tail feathers (spots versus plain). And you, too, will soon get the “jizz” of both the Hairy and Downy and will be able to identify them in an instant! (copied from an article written for our White Mountain Audubon Society chapter newsletter)

Chasing a Bird...Identification, January 1-2, 2021. The new year began with our local Christmas Bird Count. Typically, I survey and census the central Lakeside town areas, including the public Lakeside Campground that is closed and quiet in the dead of winter; Rainbow Lake with scores of waterfowl and always a handful of bald eagles; Lake of the Woods (a small private lake that always has something unusual among the tame mallards); and "old town Lakeside," chock full of century-old orchards, quiet streets, and large "legacy" ponderosa pines and Gambel oaks, where Lewis's Woodpeckers thrive. A typically good Christmas Bird Count day would include ticking off a Common Goldeneye or two, a few Hooded Mergansers, bald eagles, and if we're lucky, a kingfisher among the regulars. It's also been my experience that while I always think the peaceful Lakeside Campground should produce something good, it often doesn't. If I tally a few pygmy nuthatches and a robin, I call it good. So imagine our surprise while birding the campground when fellow birder Ann points out a sapsucker:

The mystery begins. What IS this bird???

Ah, lookie there, a female Williamson's Sapsucker, we both said, keying in on the long white vertical wing stripe as an identifier for that species. That's pretty cool! Not uncommon, but also not a regular Count day bird. Excellent. We continue birding our spots and see a few more niceties like our anticipated Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser, a Red-tailed Hawk, a plethora of Lewis's Woodpeckers, even hearing the raspy clack of a Belted Kingfisher, and call it a day.

Good Christmas Bird Count birds: Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser

Later on at home, while tallying our observations, I double-check the field guide on that sapsucker, and come across this image:

Female Williamson's (left circle) v. juvenile Red-naped (right circle).
Sapsucker Confusion Reigns

Huh. Look at that white wingbar on the Red-naped Sapsucker where the female Williamson's doesn't sport one at all. I guess it was a juvenile Red-naped, then, as the description matched and it is the only other relatively common sapsucker in the region. I sent the images of the bird and field guide to Ann, saying I was changing my observation, and then sent the final count data to our Christmas Bird Count coordinator, Mary. 

Red-tailed Hawk in old town Lakeside

Several days later, I receive an e-mail from Mary, a keen birder herself, who journals her own observations and birding stories via e-mails to her birder friends. Reading through, I noticed she had birded the Lakeside Campground and recorded a female Williamson's Sapsucker, right around the same time we had been there. Hmmm. There couldn't be two similarly-marked but different species of sapsuckers there at the same time, could there? Maybe I was incorrect, and it was indeed our first guess, a Williamson's. I sent off the same batch of images to her, and a back-and-forth ensued where we agreed it was more likely to be a female Williamson's than a juvenile Red-naped, as a juvenile would've molted into adult plumage by then. 

Another view of Mystery Sapsucker

Both of us were still not completely satisfied, so I sent my photos to Troy Corman, the best Arizona birder I know, statewide bird biologist, eBird curator, and so on (it'd take too long to list all his credentials) and all-around great guy. He identified the bird as a juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. What? Take a look at the range map of this species (courtesy of Cornell Lab of Ornithology):

Range map of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Troy informed me that Yellow-bellied juveniles kept that juvenile plumage well into winter, unlike other sapsuckers, and that he had observed two others during his own Christmas Bird Count activities that winter. Reporting this back to Mary and Ann, we celebrated that our own Christmas Bird Count circle had a new species never before recorded, and both Mary and I were both satisfied on the confirmed identification. What helped, too, was looking at the citizen science-driven eBird map of recorded observations of this species, which differed substantially from the known range map. Take a look:

eBird's recorded sightings of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Continuing our sleuthing until an identification was confirmed is the best way to chase a bird in my book!!!

Local Birding Trips, Spring 2020: During these Covid times, short trips into our surrounding forest with a friend or two provided some very nice mornings, as did enjoying the birds visiting and nesting in our back yard. A new routine of walking my dog Carly around our local Woodland Lake Park brought the added bonus of observing daily changes in bird life from winter to spring, seeing bald eagles hanging out in anticipation of stealing a fish from an osprey's talons to watching Lewis's woodpeckers nesting in snags right along the paved trail surrounding the lake, and so much more. Another local lake, Fool Hollow in Show Low, was a serene place to visit where my friend Ann and I tallied about 30 species in one morning (a highlight being two peregrine falcons sitting on a snag right outside our car as we disembarked, making us scrambling for our binoculars).

Fool Hollow Lake, Show Low, AZ

Osprey studying Fool Hollow for fish

Double-crested Cormorant, Woodland Lake Park

Yellow-headed Blackbird, Woodland Lake Park

Mallard chicks, Woodland Lake Park

Killdeer, Woodland Lake Park

Eared Grebe, Woodland Lake Park

A report from a birding friend of a Common Black Hawk in the Show Low Creek drainage was surprising, and I happened to be kayaking in that very same place the following morning, where I located the bird and got grainy, lousy photo documentation of it. The Global Big Day saw my team verifying the return of the Gray Catbird to the South Fork of the Little Colorado River (LCR), where county maintenance cleared pretty much all the willow thickets along the access road a couple years ago. And as always, we found the American Dipper nesting under a bridge crossing the upper reaches of the West Fork of the LCR. I don't think any spring is complete until I see dippers flitting back and forth feeding their young along this most beautiful, bubbling creek.

Common Black-Hawk, Show Low Lake/Creek

Nesting Bald Eagle, Show Low Lake

Little Colorado River at South Fork

Dark-eyed Juncos selected a decorative, "faux" birdhouse on our potting bench just off our back deck as their first apartment, fledging three young over my May 3 birthday. An afternoon drive into our forest yielded a Red-naped Sapsucker as pretty much the only bird seen that afternoon. Most recently, a windy, cool morning found my troupe of three birders enjoying the empty Los Burros Campground (other than the volunteer campground host who was incredibly appreciative of having some solo time at this historic, peaceful piece of heaven). It's been fun and rewarding to head out when I can on several birding trips that helped move the time forward during this time of sheltering at home and social distancing. The birds seem to be doing just fine!

Nesting Dark-eyed Juncos, our back yard's potting bench

 

Western Bluebird, Los Burros Campground, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

Singing Yellow-rumped Warbler, Los Burros Campground, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

Red-faced Warbler, Los Burros Campground, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

Old forest ranger barn, Los Burros Campground, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

A dog who will soon need a bath, Los Burros Campground, Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests

Blooming cactus in the ponderosa pine forest, Woodland Lake Park, Pinetop, AZ

Gulf Coast (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida), January 6-20, 2020: Trip write-up here. A bit of birding here and there resulted in two lifers (red-cockaded woodpecker, eastern towhee), learning about the non-migratory population of Mississippi sandhill cranes, getting to know palm warblers pretty well, and confirming I'm still not that good identifying wintering shorebirds. A total of 100 species tallied, with a few fun critters in the mix.

Sigh. Wintering shorebirds and driving 65 mph does not make
a good combination.

But yeah, there are some no-brainers. Am. Avocets.

Long-billed Curlew

Roseate Spoonbills among the waterfowl

Common Gallinule

Laughing Gull

Black and Turkey vultures commonly mixing it up.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker nest trees marked for protection and management

Red-cockaded Woodpecker; first lifer of the trip!
Apalachicola National Forest

Neighborhood eastern tree squirrel, Clear River, FL

Neighborhood Palm Warbler, Clear River, FL

Plain Titmouse

White-throated Sparrow

Northern Cardinal

Catbird

Black-and-white Warbler

Anhinga

White Ibis

Red-shouldered Hawk

Wood Stork, morning mist, Everglades

Wood Stork again

Great Egret and its reflection

A zoom lens is our friend

Yellow-crowned Night-heron

Windy day for a Great Blue Heron to sit in the top of a tree

Green Heron

Box turtles

Little Blue Heron

Black Vulture

Black-crowned Night-heron

Great Blue Heron camouflaging itself in between cypress knees

And another Palm Warbler

Osprey on a light pole, Chockoloskee, FL

Low tide on one of the Ten Thousand Islands, raccoons feeding on
inverts, clams, etc. among herons, ibis, and other waterbirds.
All seem to be friends. Note three raccoons in the image.

Elderly raccoon. Boat guide has seen this guy for years on the same island

A raft of White Pelicans hanging out on a beach,
Ten Thousand Islands in Everglades

Note the size difference between Brown Pelican and White Pelican

Magnificent Frigatebird flying overhead, Ten Thousand Islands

Little Blue and Tricolored herons 

Common Grackle looking to steal food,
outdoor restaurant patio, Chokoloskee

Los Burros Campground, Sitgreaves National Forest, May 28, 2019: Friends Ann and Loretta and I birded the Los Burros campground north of Pinetop on a very cool (34 degrees start temp) late spring morning.

The area is a jewel on this forest, with multiple sub-habitats that can draw birds from mixed-conifer, ponderosa and concurrent old-growth snags, aspen, meadow, and ex-urban (sort of) from the campground aspect as well as the two historic cabins built in 1909 as Forest Ranger housing. It's a fabulous place where years ago I saw my first Steller's Jay nest, and where I know there's always a good variety of birds. It was a bit quiet first thing in the morning, but as the sun rose, more birds became active. The quiet morning allowed me to catch a few photos of plants and the barely-leafing out Gambel Oaks (and I missed a shot of the frosty ground as we drove up).

Cordilleran Flycatchers and Say's Phoebe's were nesting in the historic barn, a Green-tailed Towhee had nest material in beak and flew deep into a patch of thorny shrubs. House wrens were hanging about and singing on top of, and around, the historic residence. Red-faced warblers were found about 200 yards up the Los Burros trail along the powerline road. Plumbeous Vireos were singing and Acorn Woodpeckers were perching and flying around the multiple snags.

A total of XX species (final tally to be edited soon, est. 20 species) were recorded. Odd to not see Violet-green Swallows or any nuthatches at all. A nice morning!

Patagonia-Sonoita and Sierra Vista areas, Arizona, May 13-17, 2019: Friend Ann and I continue our mutual enjoyment of being retired and birding together. After a few local trips this winter and Madera Canyon a month ago, we made one more jaunt to southeastern Arizona for some spring birding. Migration almost over, we mostly found breeders, and no lifers, but we weren't expecting any. And I've come to realize not having a lifer bird to seek enhances one's overall enjoyment of simply birdwatching. Among blooming cacti and ocotillo, we totaled 90 species in two days in the Patagonia-Sonoita area (Paton's House, Patagonia Lake, Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, and environs) and two days in Sierra Vista (Ramsey Canyon, Beatty's farm, San Pedro River, and environs).

Setting off from Show Low, a Peregrine Falcon was our first bird for the list. Not bad!!! We have developed a tradition to take a bathroom break at a BLM pullout along the Gila River near Winkelman, and walk along the riparian edge. Bell's Vireo and Yellow-breasted Chats made their various songs and calls, we saw our first of dozens of Vermillion Flycatchers, a Hooded Oriole landed above our heads and graced us with his presence, and I caught a nice view of a Rough-legged Hawk soaring over the blooming saguaros.

Chats and Bell's Vireos made their presence heard; but their skulking
nature let them be seen once or twice. In a flash, they disappear into the tamarisk

Stopping on the way between Tucson and Sonoita to take a closer look at blooming prickly pears, we saw a Greater Roadrunner perched halfway up an ocotillo, no doubt scouting for a lizardly lunch.

Ah, the grasslands outside of Sonoita. Nothing quite like them. 

On this trip, we became more familiar with Lucy's Warbler, Hutton's Vireo, Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet, Gray Hawk, differences between female Western and Summer Tanagers, and more. I fell back in love with Patagonia; was mesmerized by the extent and beauty of Sonoita Creek, and felt the wide-open spaces around Sierra Vista touch my soul.

A male Western Tanager at Paton's

A Violet-crowned Hummingbird claimed this feeder

Summer Tanager

Turkey Vulture welcoming the morning sun, Patagonia

A Black Vulture stood out among the couple-dozen roosting Turkey Vultures

One small part of Sonoita Creek

A singing Gambel's Quail

Vermillion Flycatchers were EVERYWHERE

En route to Patagonia Lake, the ocotillos lit up the hillsides

A pair of adult Gray Hawks, two of three (the other being an immature)
seen this morning on Sonoita Creek

A tom Wild Turkey (Gould's) made such a low noise, not a gobble, through the grass at Sonoita Creek that I almost didn't catch it, but Ann said "I think that's a turkey...." and it was. Yellow-breasted Chats ate suet at Paton's feeders, where Violet-crowned Hummingbirds were nesting and easy to see. I remember years ago, that wasn't the case. Their rarity caused stampedes of birders patiently waiting to catch a glimpse. Tina Hall, Paton's new director, was a past TNC colleague of mine, and we had a most enjoyable time catching up.

Gould's Wild Turkeys are doing well in southeastern AZ

Yellow-breasted Chat munching on suet

We took the scenic route from Patagonia to Sierra Vista, through Sonoita wine country. Why not hit a winery or two or three when there's the afternoon lull in birding? By the time we got to Ramsey and the San Pedro, the wind had picked up and a storm system was blowing through the area both days. However, we still had some good birding, including a flash of an Elegant Trogon's tail (twice; then it vanished into thin air, or more likely, camouflaged itself on a tree branch), Painted Redstarts, nesting Plumbeous Vireos, a squirrel or two, and more. We found a Bushtit nest, with the adults feeding young, in the desert-grassland hillside approaching Ramsey Canyon, and Cassin's Kingbirds and Vermillion Flycatchers were pretty much everywhere.

Plumbeous Vireo at Ramsey Canyon

If we had one target bird, it was to see, again for the first time in over a decade, a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. We were treated to a pair, one with nesting material in his or her beak.

Hepatic Tanager, Ramsey Canyon

Blue Grosbeak, Ramsey Canyon (feeders at cabins)

The difference between "normal" (Black-chinned) and
the Rivoli's (formerly Magnificent) hummingbirds, at Beatty's

The trip was capped off with our last bird of the trip, a Western Screech-Owl, taking a mid-day snooze in a cottonwood right behind the San Pedro House.

Ah, southeastern Arizona, until next time!!!!!

Petrified Forest National Park: April 27, 2019 (article I wrote for the White Mountain Audubon Society's newsletter), in which I find a surprise lifer, a gray vireo:

What a difference a few months make! In December, Rob Bettaso, Pat Lopez, and I conducted “point count” surveys of wintering birds at Petrified Forest National Park (reported in January’s WMAS newsletter), and while it was a rewarding experience, let’s just say bird species “richness” was somewhat underwhelming. Although we did get intimately familiar with Horned Larks!

Pat Lopez is a professor of biology at Northland Pioneer Community College, and takes her students on an annual field trip. This year’s selected site was Petrified Forest National Park. She again connected with Rob and me to provide bird identification assistance for a morning’s outing along the Park’s Puerco River riparian corridor, anticipating this would hold the greatest variety of birds, especially migrating songbirds. We gladly agreed to help, both for the enjoyment of birding and for the opportunity to interact with the next generation of potential biologists (and maybe encourage a few to become avid birders!).

Rob and I arrived at the park early Friday afternoon, when Pat’s class was immersed in other field experiences including a herpetology walk (finding lizards and other reptiles) and conversations with the Park paleontologist and other staff. We decided to scout the Puerco River site to see what we could see. We were pleasantly surprised that the quiet, warm afternoon produced trees active with Ruby-crowned Kinglets and warblers such as Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, Yellow, and Black-throated Gray. A Hermit Thrush quietly hopped on a downed cottonwood log. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers buzzed in the tangle of shrubs. We felt this was, indeed, a good place to bring the students the following morning.

Back at “camp” (a sandy parking area and ramada behind the Park’s suite of office buildings, which worked well and offered indoor bathrooms), more urban-comfortable birds serenaded us, from Say’s Phoebe, Brewer’s Blackbird, and Western Kingbird to non-native Eurasian Collared Dove, House Sparrow, and House Finch. Rob scouted the nearby Park sewage ponds and reported sightings of Wilson’s Phalarope, American Avocet, and Killdeer, and we agreed to add a stop there after tomorrow morning’s outing.

Pretty impressive that over a dozen students and the handful of teachers and field leaders were up and ready to go by 6:45 Saturday morning. We drove to the Puerco Pueblo parking area and ambled down towards the Puerco River. Now, as field trip leaders many times over, both Rob and I always cross our fingers and hope for a good bird show when there are people anticipating that very thing. Nothing is so disheartening than bringing people out to see beautiful birds and none appear.

We were not disappointed. Almost immediately, a large cottonwood held a flock of warblers, many we saw the day before, but we added Wilson’s and Virginia’s to the list. A Western Kingbird sat prominently on a branch, showing us its tell-tale white edge on its tail feathers. And perhaps most enjoyable of all, a Bullock’s Oriole gave everyone good looks at its day-glo orange plumage. What could entice new birders more than that??

Continuing along the road, students took it upon themselves to spread out and do their own birdwatching. Some challenging birds showed up (it’s hard to have 12 new birders find a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher hippity-hopping deep in thick shrubs), and others made it easy (more than one Mockingbird sang multiple songs from different perches), a Rock Wren popped up on a large boulder to bask in the sun. We enjoyed finding petroglyphs on the nearby rocky cliffs and animal tracks in the sandy roadway.

Rob, Pat, and I answered several questions about birds, birdwatching, and bird identification. I have to say the question I most enjoyed answering was “what’s a lifer?” when I happily announced that at the end of our birding time when the students had mostly gathered to complete their field diary, Rob and I had tracked down a Gray Vireo, the first one I had seen in my lifetime (Rob is not the compulsive lister I am, but we believe it may have been a first for him too). This question probably would not have been asked had it not been for that little bird’s appearance.

We went back to camp, and a few of us took a spotting scope to the sewage ponds, re-locating the phalaropes, killdeers, and avocets, and a few more species. All in all, we amassed 37 species in less than 24 hours birdwatching Petrified Forest National Park. The Park may appear to be a desolate, dry place to many, but we now know there is a new cadre of young biology students (and ancient peoples) that know otherwise!

West Texas, April 14-20, 2019: Davis Mountains and Big Bend

The full entry of this trip is here: Our Big Bender. Here's a snapshot of the birdlife we saw. Fort Davis and Big Bend and that entire region was a fabulous place to bird. Bruce and I accumulated 78 bird species including two lifers, the cute black-crested titmouse and THE bird of Big Bend, the Colima warbler (fist pump!!!). Cactus blooms were starting to pop, an ostrich made an appearance, and I impressed myself by identifying the Colima based upon its simple "chirp" of a call.

Davis Mountains and environs

Lifer #1: Black-crested Titmouse

Summer tanager

Bewick's wren

White-winged dove

Swainson's hawk

Cactus wren

Rio Grande at Santa Elena Canyon

Green heron

On the way up to Colima warbler habitat

The bird. Life bird #2, the glorious Colima warbler

Somebody is raising me! I'm not wild!

Madera Canyon: April 9-11, 2019

This trip was a revelation for me. It was the first time in memory where I've gone on a non-local birding trip and not be targeting some specific new bird. No expectations. Matter of fact, my expectation was that I would NOT see anything new. Which meant: slow down, enjoy the birds. And with friend Ann, we did! The ability to just watch what flew by my binoculars without being in "search" mode brought me back down to the basics of birding: enjoy the freaking birds for their own sake. I paid attention to locating the characteristic black smudge under the second white wingbar of a ruby-crowned kinglet. I studied the differences between Bell's vireo and Northern beardless-tyrannulet. I saw a rufous-crowned sparrow right next to a chipping sparrow and imprinted their differences in my brain. I didn't see an elegant trogon or elf owl, but I had seen them before and that didn't bother me! Water was flowing in Madera Creek from a bountiful series of snowfalls in the Santa Rita Mountains all winter, and I had forgotten how beautiful Madera Canyon was.

Apache County in Winter: March 7, 2019

Are there early migrants out there? Ann and I decided to check out Lyman Lake State Park to see if some early-birds arrived, and visited a few other spots along the way. Alas, it appeared to be a bit early to catch migrants; even Lyman Lake only sported one double-crested cormorant and a pair of common mergansers. Sigh. However, the vast expanse of central Apache County leaves one almost breathless, and it was an enjoyable day. A quick view of an eagle (mottled plumage + highway speed + bald and golden crossover habitat = undetermined), a red-tailed hawk on a nest, the blue of a mountain bluebird and the green of a green-winged teal made the day. 21 species total.

Don't you want to eat there??? St. Johns, AZ

January 23, 2019: Snowflake-Taylor, AZ

From a friend who owns a farm in Taylor, I've known sandhill cranes have been using the agriculture fields in Snowflake and Taylor in increasing numbers for the past several years. However, hearing there were up to 26 at this point, plus several species of geese, piqued our curiosity. Ann, Barb, and I made a day of venturing to this urban/agricultural community where "the field behind Wal-Mart" and "Snowflake's first walking trail" were hotspots to visit. Cranes were missing until the very end of the trip when we spotted them in a field on our way home (finally!), and lots of sparrows, doves, waterfowl, a couple bald eagles, and enough other species to total 31 made for a good day.