Big Bend birding, Days 2 and 3

It's been tough to find the time to catch up on posting here, so I'll do my best to get the highlights of what was a magical trip!

Day 2 found us waking up super early... because I woke up, looked at my still-on-eastern-time clock and woke Mary up at like 4 in the morning. Oops! We went for a walk under the stars and then went back to the room for a nap!

Later, we went walking down the road trying to find Montezuma Quail -- when I realized I'd forgotten to put the SD card into my camera. My sweet sister went back to the lodge to get it for me and OF COURSE that is when I heard the sound: I heard the Montezuma Quail! He called two times, and that was it. I only heard him, but it was DEFINITELY him! Lifer #4 sort-of!

By the time Mary got back, no more sounds. Still, we decided to walk the actual Montezuma Quail Trail, hoping to see or hear more. No go. We did, get another lifer for me, however:

It's a terrible photo, but it was the best one I got of this Black-chinned Hummingbird! I'd never been to Texas late enough to see that many hummers, so it took me this long to get to see this fairly common western hummer. Lifer 5!

The view from the trail:

I also got a better picture (for my Lifebird Photos collection) of a Bushtit:

So that was nice.
Still, no MOQU. Oh well. We also saw some nice cactus and agave plants:

The agave floral stem grows about one FOOT per day! Sadly, we didn't get to see it in full flower. But just think: in a few days, this bud will be about fifteen feet tall, covered with yellow flowers, and buzzing with hummingbirds. And then the whole plant will die. It lives about 25-50 years, sends up its flowering part, and dies. Wow.

Claret cup hedgehog cactus in flower:

A very sweet little Oregon Junco:

A Common Raven that I kept trying to make into a Chihuahuan Raven for Mary because she's never seen one:

After hiking around for a while, we had lunch and decided to check out the Mount Davis Observatory. Here's the view from Mount Locke, on which the observatory can be found:

Here's Mary in front of the building that houses the smallest scope:

And here's an unfortunate piece of signage:

Mary looked at it and said, "That's one very special employee."

Here she is with the big scope behind her:

It was cool to be up there, but it was sooooo windy and we were sooooo tired (thanks to my 4 a.m. wake-up call) that we called it a day.

The sunset from Skyline Drive in the park (there was so much dust in the air from the wind that it wasn't much of a sunset).

Day 3 took us from Fort Davis down through Alpine and into Big Bend State Park! Along the way we caught this awesome Golden-crowned Kinglet:

Not a lifer but check out that crown!

And in my quest to secure possible splits to the official AOU bird checklist, here's a Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warbler:

Check out this crazy cactus; it's more thorns than cactus!

As you enter BBNP, you drive through a Badlands-like area:

Although the creosote bushes give it away as NOT being in South Dakota.

We got closer to the Chisos Basin and saw the "ghosts" after which the mountains are named:

It was a beautiful place, all creosote and ocotillo and cactus, mountain peaks and mesas.

We checked into our room, got our stuff settled, and went out for more birds! As soon as we walked out of our room, we saw this cooperative (and obviously used to people) Cactus Wren:

Not a lifer, but I'd never seen one so close up! Creepy red eyes!

Then, not two seconds later, this guy shows up:

LIFER 6! Phainopepla, baby! More creepy red eyes and crazy crest. Sooooo sweet. We hadn't even left the parking lot yet.

We hiked the Window Trail and got lucky again!

A terrible photo but it's a Black-chinned Sparrow! We got good looks at him.

The whole time on the trail, the giant Casa Grande rock formation loomed overhead and behind us:

After a long hike with several frustrating mystery sparrows that are probably just Chipping and other common sparrows, we watched the sun set in The Window, this gap between two mountains:

It had been a long day, but I had a date with my first Chicken-fried Steak in about fifteen years so we birded until dark, went to the restaurant, and went to bed!

This was the closest we got to a Mountain Lion:

Dangit.

Birding in the Big Bend, Day 1, en route to the Davis Mountains

scenic view north of Fort Davis

I've just returned from a week and a couple of days in Texas: my annual Texas birding trip! This time, however, I chose not to go to the Rio Grande Valley, but I did stay close to that river. My sister Mary and I spent five days in the Big Bend of Texas! Life-location!

We started out in Davis Mountains State Park near Fort Davis and the McDonald Observatory (where, by the way, the sexy-voiced Sandy Wood of Stardate fame does NOT hang out).

Heading west on I-10 out of San Antonio and away from my sweet mommy and daddy's house, we first hit Lake Balmorhea near Balmorhea and just west-southwest of Fort Stockton, Texas. I'd read that the Clark's Grebe makes regular appearances at the lake, so we hit it and struck lifer gold!

We saw three CLGRs on the lake, along with an Osprey, several generic gulls, and this mystery gull:

Not a great photo, but note that he has no white on his tail -- no white on his wing feathers folded back. What kind of gull is he? He had a yellow bill with a black tip, like a Ring-billed Gull, but no white on the rear portion. Am I over-thinking it? The only commonly occurring gulls there are the Ring-billed and (less often) the Bonaparte's Gull. Must just be a RBGU.


Also present was this cooperative Pyrrhuloxia:

Anyway, on we went to the Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains, and on the road we saw my second lifer, a Prairie Falcon. Sadly, I did not get a photo, but it was unmistakeable: the accipiter shape, the size (like a giant American Kestrel), the brown barring on the wings, belly, and tail. I wish I'd gotten a photo, but we were driving and by the time we pulled over, he'd flown.

Also seen on the road, on a rock in front of that beautiful view from the top of this post, was this interesting lizard:

I couldn't find anything online that matched him. Any guesses?

The Indian Lodge was nice, a cool adobe building constructed in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps:

In the parking lot and green (I should've used air quotes on that) areas around the lodge were several Canyon Towhees, another lifer!

 

So that made three lifers so far. My goal for the trip was 24, based on repeated sightings of potential lifers at various spots in the park over the previous days. I had a long way to go, but I was happy to be in a place I'd never been.

Aurora Borealis

After wanting to see the northern lights ever since I was a child, I finally saw them (it?) last night!

I was awakened by Cornelius (of course, the pig wanted food), and when I came back up the stairs after feeding him and the other babies I glanced out my office window. Even without my contacts or glasses, I saw a bright flashing outside to the north. I ran and grabbed my specs and looked out to see a strange glowing in the sky, vertical stripes of brightness, one of them pulsating brighter every couple of seconds or so.

Thanks to night mode and a tripod, I was able to capture it:

Here, you can see the whole scene; the brighter part to the right was flashing.

Off to the left was one single shaft of light, barely visible here:

And here is the main part, flashing again:

What a thrill! I watched for about a half hour, awestruck by the spectacle.

Today, we're having to wait for Nemo, the big storm that's supposed to dump a couple of feet of snow on us tonight. The weather people have been hyping this up for the last couple of days, so I hope we see some real snow. Of course, it's easy for me to wish for this, as I'm still out on medical leave from my concussion, suffered last Monday. I mentioned it on Facebook; I just slipped on some ice and fell, bouncing my head on the ground. I am slowly recovering my ability to focus, after doing NOTHING for about a week. I was not allowed (by my doctor) to watch TV, play online, or even read a book. And of course, watching TV was completely overwhelming and headache-inducing anyway. I posted on Facebook after it happened, and then I was out after like five minutes.

I'm now able to watch TV, but I can't multi-task yet. Normally, I would be writing this post while watching TV and maybe having a conversation with AB. Not anymore, at least for a while. I am only able to do one thing at a time. No watching TV while playing Spider Solitaire on the iPad; no reading a book while mapping stuff on the computer and taking some notes on a notepad. I've only been allowed back on the computer (and online) for the last couple of days, though I get tired pretty easily.

Like now.

Lifer Gull!?! Me? YES!

Yes, folks, I got a lifer today, and it was a GULL! After careful study and a tip from a local birder about the presence of a Glaucous Gull over in Bath (conveniently enough, where I am working!), I was able to score a lifer gull!

Normally, I don't really look at gulls because -- let's face it -- they're ridiculously difficult. Every once in a while, I have been able to spot a different-looking gull and, usually with the aid of other more experienced birders, I am able to confirm an ID. This time, I knew where to look and had studied enough to find the different gull!

Can you spot it (despite my lame digi-binned images)?

Hint: he's near the bottom of the frame!

How about now:

No? I don't blame you -- it's the crappy photo. How about NOW?

YES! An immature Glaucous Gull -- pink bill with black tip, pink legs, not a speck of black on his wingtips, and pale brownish wings!

Here he is, flapping his pale pale brownish wings!

Never mind that guy to the left -- look at him!


Lifer!

That's 373. My slow climb to 400 continues!

Coastal field trip

This morning, my New Year's resolution of "live more, sleep less" was severely tested as my little duck-quack alarm went off at 7:30, but I knew I had potential lifers to see! Birders have reported a King Eider, Harlequin Ducks, Lapland Longspurs, Purple Sandpipers and more down at various South Portland locations like Dyer Point on Cape Elizabeth and the Cape Elizabeth Middle School. We went to Dyer Point once before before with Baby G and got Great Cormorant and Northern Gannet back in October.

So I pulled myself out of bed and checked my camera (battery charged, memory card in!), packed my bins, grabbed a little notepad, layered on the wool sweater and coat, and off I went. Part-way there, I noticed the Birding 'Baru was almost on EMPTY; no problem, I thought; I'll gas up somewhere in Portland....

So I'm on Beach Road, headed down the cape, and I see a gas station so I pull over.

NO.

WALLET.

Crap.

I was able to scrounge around in my car and come up with about two bucks; this would have to take me the rest of the way down the point and all the way back to Brunswick. Ay carramba.

Long story short: only one stop was in the cards for me, Dyer Point. I'd have to try for the LALOs another time. I didn't want to get stranded too far from home and make AB drive all the way to SoPo to rescue me; I figured I could make it to Brunswick and have her meet me at the Cumby Farms for gasoline.

So -- sigh -- it's always something.

Still -- birds were seen!

Harlequin Ducks, Lifer #372!!!! They have to be one of the cutest ducks out there; they stayed close together in a little raft, and when one would dive, the rest would go under like synchronized swimmers. Then, when one would pop up, the rest would pop up right after, in rapid succession. It was the coolest thing; I stayed and watched them for a couple of hours, especially because all the eiders turned out to be Commons, no King. Darnit.

One crazy bird out there: an American Pipit! One of the other birders got great photos; I only caught a glance of him. Hadn't seen one of those since my first trip to the Rio Grande Valley! Remember?

The Common Eiders were in high breeding plumage, though -- impressive with their lime-green on the backs of their heads and their pinkish breasts.

I didn't get great photos of them; I was too pumped about the Harlequins.

So I hung around, checking every eider for the big orange nose, but no go. After two and a half hours, I figured I'd better start my precarious gas-shy journey back home.

2012 in review

Mountain Bluebird, Badlands National Monument, South Dakota 

I saw a facebook update on someone's "year in birds" and realized I hadn't really done any tallying of how 2012 went for me bird-wise. When I did do a tally (thank you, eBird), I was pretty darned impressed!

Bronzed Cowbird, near Donna, Texas 

Northern Hawk Owl, near Fryeburg, Maine 

Here are my numbers:
North America (USA) Lifelist total: 371 (updated after a counting error)
2012 total birds: 282
2012 lifers: 52!

FIFTY-TWO! I had no idea! That's what happens when you visit seven different states in a year, baby! A big trip west, a big trip to Texas, and my move to Maine: keys to birding success.

Brown Jay, Salineno, Texas

Burrowing Owl, Badlands National Monument, South Dakota

Greater White-fronted Goose
Common Eider
Greater Sage-Grouse
Red-necked Grebe
Eared Grebe
Great Cormorant
Ferruginous Hawk
Whooping Crane
Upland Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Hudsonian Godwit
Marbled Godwit
Glaucous-winged Gull
Black Guillemot
Green Parakeet
Northern Hawk Owl
Burrowing Owl
Barred Owl
Short-eared Owl
White-throated Swift
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Acorn Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Dusky Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
Philadelphia Vireo
Brown Jay
Clark’s Nutcracker
Black-billed Magpie
Chihuahuan Raven
Violet-green Swallow
Mountain Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Rock Wren
Mountain Bluebird
Sage Thrasher
Yellow-throated Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Cassin’s Sparrow
Brewer’s Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Crimson-collared Grosbeak
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Audubon’s Oriole
Pine Grosbeak
White-winged Crossbill
Common Redpoll

Hudsonian Godwit, Pine Point, Maine

Some really special moments on this list: the trip down the West Coast and across the northern plains, going up the Rio Grande to Salineno, moving to Maine and going to the beaches. Who knows what 2013 will bring?

Crimson-collared Grosbeak, McAllen, Texas

So how did your year go?

Snow, snow, snow

It's been snowing like crazy up here! Here's the view from the porch:

We had to park out by the storage garage way back there on the left.

Look at it come down!

It was so beautiful that I wanted to go out to Wharton Point to see it fall on the sea water. It seems so crazy to watch snow hitting the ocean, or in this case Maquoit Bay:

Here's what it looked like back then:

This is the same place I saw all those little Least Sandpipers back in September:

Anticipation: sneak peek at the spring birding trip!

Every year for the past three years I've traveled down to Texas to visit my parents and see new birds, and 2013 will provide a new twist on the trip: sister Mary and I will be going to Big Bend!

Usually, I go to the Rio Grande Valley, my birthplace and home until I went to college. Mary, however, has been lobbying for a Big Bend trip after spending time there with her hubby, professional drummer and all-around cool guy Jim. So this time around, we'll be headed for the Chisos Mountains and points west!

So far, my research indicates we'll be seeing some crazy new specialties like Phainopepla, Scaled Quail, and more. We might be a touch early for the featured bird, the Colima Warbler, but I like heading down there in February or March. Why so early in the year? because I grew up in Texas and know how hot it gets even in February! Next year, I'll head down for the last week in March.

You'll recall previous trips from 2010, 2011, and 2012. This time around, it'll be Mary and me, "roughing it" in Big Bend National Park. 

Can't wait!

Thanks for the owl!

On Thanksgiving, AB and I went to Bethel to spend the holiday with her parents and grandma. We all had a great time, including a Scrabble victory by yours truly (courtesy of an illegal letter trade from AB's mom so I could spell fusilium (which I don't actually know is a real word heh heh), use all my letters (a BINGO!) on my last move, and end the game! A whole lot of cheating went on there, I think, but it was all in good fun!

I had also seen on the Maine listserv that there had been a Northern Hawk Owl seen near Fryeburg, which was only a 40-minute drive from Bethel, so how could we NOT go try for the owl?

Usually, what happens on these little "twitching" missions when I drive for a bird, I "dip" on the bird -- I don't see it. (I don't know who thought of these terms like "twitch" and "dip;" I just picked 'em up on the listservs). I drove over three hours once with Gretchen and birding heroes Alex and Anna to see a Black-headed Gull. Result: Dip. I've dipped on crossbills in Pennsylvania, Eastern Grosbeaks in Maine.

So what happened this time?

BINGO.

Northern Hawk Owl, digi-binned with my phone-cam and bins! It was awe-inspiring. We got to the road where the owl had been seen; it was only about two miles long, so we just turned onto the road and crept along, eyes peeled. Wouldn't you know that AB saw it first with her eagle eyes.

AB: That light pole looks taller than the other ones....
DG: (head swiveling all around) Where, where?!
AB: Look, right over there (pointing)!
DG: OH MY GOD! THAT'S HIM!
He was perched on a pole about 50-60 yards away; he then flew into a tree in front of a farmhouse, about 100+ yards away.

Suddenly, he flew out of the trees STRAIGHT AT US! He flew across the road, in front of our parked car, maybe ten feet away! He then swooped straight up and perched on the light pole right across the road from the car!

I was on the passenger side, across from the owl, so I sllllooooowwwlly opened my car door, laid my bins, pointing up toward the owl, on the roof of the car, put my phone up to the bins, and snapped away. I got several photos, including the one above, and then crept back into the car. He just looked at us for a few more seconds, with full-on disapproval, and then flew away.

AB and I just kinda sat there, totally freaked out. That moment was among my best birding experiences of this whole year. Even AB loved it.

Pine Grosbeaks!

We're having a winter finch blowout up here in Maine, but I've struck out every time I've gone looking for them... UNTIL TODAY!

This morning, someone on the listserv posted that there was a big flock of them in the crabapple trees outside the L.L. Bean HQ about ten minutes from here. So I actually got out of bed before 9:30 (which rarely happens!) and drove down -- and there they were! I heard their little two-note high-low "PEEP-peep" calls, looked up, and there they were -- lifers.

Beautiful! And they were so accommodating, posing for me with the beautiful blue sky as their backdrop.

Last night, I had gone to buy birdseed at a local dealer who'd had some PIGR at their feeders, but all I got were piggy little House Finches:

I've got to plant some crabapple trees soon; they're magnets for winter finches!

Hermit Island and Head Beach

First, some old business: Lifer Greater White-fronted Goose! Saw this one a couple of weeks ago:

Look behind the Canada in the middle!

There he is!

I know, I know, it doesn't look like anything! But he's back there, I promise!

Nearby, I found this immature Bald Eagle -- and he has bands on both legs!

My first-ever banded bird! I can't read the bands, but it was cool to see.

Now -- to today. This morning, I went to a new spot: Head Beach near Hermit Island. It's a few fingers of land over on the coastline. What a great place!

There's a nice sandy beach, and then big rocks up on one side. I'm standing on one taking this picture.

Here, I'm standing in the dunes looking out onto the ocean:

 I saw a VERY pale sparrow on the beach:

He fits exactly Peterson's description of an Ipswich Sparrow, now a subspecies of Savannah Sparrow: "Ocean dunes; like large pale Savannah." That's exactly where he was and what he looked like. No longer its own species, but still nice to see -- he was beautiful with his light streaking and overall paleness.

Complete list of birds seen:
Common Eider  100
White-winged Scoter  4
Black Scoter  4
Common Merganser  3
Red-breasted Merganser  8
Ruddy Duck  4
Horned Grebe  7
Red-necked Grebe  2
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Great Cormorant  1
Great Blue Heron  1
Black-bellied Plover  2
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Ring-billed Gull  19
Herring Gull  6
Great Black-backed Gull  1
American Crow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler  9
Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)  1
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  1

The sand, as the tide went out, proved to be not only beige but black:

And the black had bits of quartz or mica in it and the bits shone like diamonds in the sunlight. Here's a video:

I did see a couple of Red-necked Grebes, frolicking among the waves along with Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Eiders, but they were too far away to get a photo. Luckily, a guy on the beach who was also birding confirmed my ID -- lifer! I now have every grebe except Clark's, but I'll have to go out west again for that one.

A beautiful sunny, crisp day at the beach! Finally, I leave you with a picture of some Moon Snails!

Note that each of those white boxes with maroon lines is two inches x two inches. The snails were bigger than my fist! That little tiny dark circle is a small snail about 3/4" big. The others are HUGE.