Desert Birds

Liz, Pam, and I went camping in Anza Borrego State Park for a night this week.  This park gets more views of migrating Swainson's Hawks than any other location in the States.  They have a PM hawkwatch to count the birds coming in and an AM hawkwatch to count the birds as they ride the thermals, form kettles, and continue on with the largest migration of any raptor.  Some mornings this week, around 500 hawks have been observed.  We joined an AM watch when the hawks were between waves, but I was still happy to see about a dozen Swainson's Hawks (237), including two good looks.

Other desert species include Verdins (238), White-Winged Doves (239), a Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher (240), and one Bighorn Sheep.  But my favorite bird sighting was the White-Throated Swift (241) that ripped through the air right over our heads when we were near a lookout.  The bird was traveling fast: maybe 60-80mph?

I also got my butt kicked by what I took to be my first migrating warblers of the year.  I have been getting comfortable with Winter residents, but I need to sharpen up on migratory passerines for Spring.

Yup

...Birders Say.

Pete's visit pics

Pete showing the perfect scoping posture.  

Longspur and Ferruginous spot.   Wes Fritz hunching to the left.   

A great day

GTTO

I had to go out to Lancaster today to pick up some farm supplies and stopped by Blue Marsh Lake near Reading. There has been a Green Tailed Towhee there all winter and Karah and I tried for it once with no luck. There is a little spot up a hiking trail where people bring "offerings" of bird seed to spread on the ground for the Towhee and other ground feeders.
I had forgotten mine and stopped at the store on my way there to pick up a 5 lb bag of mixed seed. There were no birds at the spot when I arrived which was in contrast to the plethora of White Throated and White Crowned Sparrows, Cardinals & Juncos that we enjoyed on our previous visit. I spread the entire bag and then waited about 50' away.
A cardinal and a Brown Headed Cowbird were the only takers. Then, 15 mins. in, I saw a flash of green in some nearby bushes. It was the Green Tailed Towhee jumping around and then flying away to another patch of brush after only a minute. It was short but sweet and I enjoyed it, then continued on my trek.

Pete's Visit

Hi everybody,

Thought I would update the list to include the birds we saw on Pete's trip out here.

Highlights included hanging with Matt and Pete, losing (and finding) my wedding ring, and eating (and losing) my first kobe burger.  It also marked my official 1-year of birding, since I started birding in earnest after Pete did this same trip last year.  I am glad Pete was able to make the trip again.

Between Riverside and Santa Barbara (with a quick stop in Ventura) we saw 105 bird species!

Restoration year birds include:

230. Chipping Sparrow (Riverside)

231. Red-Necked Grebe (Ventura)

232. Black Turnstone (Ventura)

233. Royal Tern (Santa Barbara)

234. Lark Sparrow (Santa Barbara)

Matt helped me see two life-birds in Santa Barbara: Lewis's Woodpecker and Lapland Longspur.  Both were great birds, but I had been looking for that Louie awhile.

Good looks at a Golden Eagle at SJWA (Riverside).  Common Loons (Riverside) and Red-throated Loons (Ventura) were also treats.  Two Bullocks at UCSB--do we have those yet Ben?  Also, one Wes Fritz citing brought the energy up.

Great extended weekend,

Kevin

The Woman

Karah turned 25 today. She is finally a woman. We spent the morning as a family.
Birding was one of our defaults.
We had breakfast and then swung by Church Road and Night Road at Green Lane Resiv.
Highlights: 3 Tree Swallows (first of the season), 1 Wilsons Snipe, 2 Field Sparrows, 7 Pied-Billed Grebes, 1 King Fisher and 1 male Wood Duck, Eastern bluebirds that hurt to look at b/c they were so brilliant blue.

Spring Sing

Hey guys,

I had a great spring day today at the jobsite.  I was the only person onsite today, so it was extra quiet.  I was able to hear a few new FOS songs including:  Hooded Oriole, and Hermit Thrush.   I didn't have any new species, rather an abundance of familiar species.  Nutalls, Downy, Hairy, Red Breasted Sapsucker, and Acorn Woodpeckers all made an appearance.  Hutton's Vireo and Warbling Vireo were active.  Western Bluebirds and Hooded Orioles added some mega color splash throughout the day.  Bewick's, and Canyon Wrens were busy nest building.  Wow, a great day.  Also might have had a Black Headed Grosbeak, but couldn't make a positive ID.

Best part of the day was the Hermit Thrush that had wintered at our worksite started singing today for the first time.    OH YEAH!

tidbits

I haven't been birding really at all, like you Kevin.   It's fun having a puppy though, and today the little pup started noticing birds for the first time.   That was cool.

Another cool thing happened today to me that I've never seen or experienced before.  Two Oak Titmice were chasing each other, and one of them flew into my leg!!!!

Finally, while most of my attention has been focused on the Poppy the puppy for the past couple weeks, I did manage to get a look at a FOS HOODED ORIOLE today in a Jacaranda tree.  Glad to have em' back.

Gulls

Just thought I'd throw these up for you guys. Nothing spectacular. 

I have have been doing the farm thing and have not gotten out much other than Sunday when we saw some Green Winged Teals at Green Lane. What has everyone else been up to?

Utah Birds

Looks like we had a good week between the three of us: picking up a lot of winter birds before they head North.

I was in Utah for a conference this week.  I saw 61 bird types while I was there, including 4 Restoration Year birds and 3 Life Birds.

Restoration Year Birds:
223: Thayer's Gull
224: Glaucous Gull
225: White-Winged Scoter
226: Black-Billed Magpie
(Note, These numbers above are in the order that I added them to the list.  I think Matt/Ben may have gotten some March birds that you added to the list before I got there.  So these might technically be birds 218-221 or something like that.  The last three birds were lifers for me).

The two biggest highlights were the best looks you could ask for of the Glaucous Gull and a Golden Eagle, both on the wing.  We got to watch the Golden Eagle for about 5 minutes, and it got within about 30 yards of us.

We also saw 100+ Bald Eagles and 1500+ Tundra Swans.  Unfortunately, I missed Chukars, which were supposed to be an easy bird in that area.

Bird Update - some nice results

Nice birds Ben, strong work. 

I got back after it today with a morning/afternoon on my bike dedicated to birding around the downtown shoreline area of SB.  This area is ripe with birds, all of the time - but often overlooked, as there are so many other more seemingly interesting places to bird around town.  However, bike birding today yielded some nice results. 

Common gulls were abundant:  CALIFORNIA GULL, WESTERN GULL, BONAPARTE'S GULL were all identified.  There were also ring billed, and probably Mew Gulls, but I couldn't get a sure id on those guys.  

At Chase Palm Park, I got lucky and picked out the continuing PALM WARBLER amongst the many beautiful Audubon's Yellow Rumpy's.   Lucky for me, the Palm had a slightly different chip sound, a eye line that was just enough to separate it from the YRWA, and pumped its tail enough for me to make a solid ID.  That was a good bird today.

I looked thoroughly for the continuing Tropical Kingbird, but had no luck.  I hope this bird stays around, it will be a good one for us to get.   I did however get to see some swallows moving through and got some good looks at the VIOLET GREEN SWALLOW cluster, and a handful of NORTHERN ROUGH WINGY'S.

Two additional notes from today.    I had EARED GREBE'S - which I checked off the list as 

"black-necked grebe"  I also noticed that what we call BLACK BELLIED PLOVER is listed as "grey plover" on our checklist, which I also notched today after seeing BBPL abundantly earlier this year.

Thats all for now,  keep up the good work.  Spring is a'coming and that is an exciting thing.  It will be good to get Pete out here for some good birds in a couple weeks.  Kev, I hope I can make it to Rside so we can all bird together.     

White Ghost

After taking two birding trips this week and coming up empty scoped with all of our target birds Karah and I though we'd try for the Iceland Gull again.
Karahs cousins were having a birthday party so we stopped by Lake Nockamixon on our way there to try for the Iceland Gull a 5th time at this spot and probably at least the15th time over all. The gulls roost on the docks there so they are easy to spot from the parking lot. There were not very many there and it looked like it would be a typical no-show. There were Greater and Lesser Black Backs along with Ring Billed and Herring but then I spotted a gull with a white back and had to move around a bit to check its wing tips and then make some noise to get it to put its head up from its roosting position. It was a Juvenile Iceland Gull. Karah was excited. Ellis was too. Henry was sleeping. We all danced a bit and then Ellis and I went for a run in the parking lot while the gulls flew around a bit. It was a treat to pick out the Iceland, a white ghost mixed in with the other gulls, as they swirled around above the lake. A nice way to finish off a challenging birding week.
-B. Davies

Middle Creek WMA

Just got back from Middle Creek WMA.
Went with 2 local bird photographers. We may have seen the immature Golden eagle but can't be sure until we see their photos. Did see about 50,000 snow geese, hundreds of Tundra swans, Ruddy Ducks, Amer. Wigeons, Ring Necks, Harrier, and a Dark Morph Red Tail. No luck on the Sandhill Crane or short eared owls there though.
What have you seen in Utah Kevin.
Matt what have you been up to?