Archive for May, 2007
Peña Blanca Lake
Posted by: | CommentsAn amazing morning at one of the most beautiful birding sites in southeast Arizona!
It was actually cold when Darlene and I arrived a little before 6:30, but the birding heated up quickly. We started with a pair of Montezuma Quail dusting on the roadside, and heard another male singing his eerie song a little later on at the lake.
For some reason, waterbirds tend to be relatively scarce here in the summer, but Pied-billed Grebes were cowp-cowping, and a Common Moorhen was accompanied by a half-grown chick, still begging. An adult Green Heron stretched and preened as the early morning warmed up.
As usual, the raptor show was a good one, and between 9 and 10 am we had outstandingly close looks at 4 Gray Hawks, 2 adults and 2 juveniles (likely from last year). The Turkey Vultures were joined by a few Black Vultures, and eventually by an adult Zone-tailed Hawk. Hope some of those birds show up for my Tucson Audubon trip tomorrow!
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Howell and Dunn, Gulls
Posted by: | CommentsLong awaited, and here at last: Steve Howell and Jon Dunn’s new Gulls appeared on my doorstep this afternoon. I had a chance to leaf through it at the ABA Convention in Lafayette last month, and will ‘post’ a review as soon as I’ve had a chance to look at the book in critical detail.
Liz’s Grove, San Pedro River
Posted by: | CommentsDarlene, Bill, and I birded Liz’s Grove on the lower San Pedro this morning. It was one of those beautiful late-spring mornings, with birds to be heard and seen everywhere.
Our first really good birds were right at the parking area, where Vermilion Flycatchers hunted over the pasture and at least two Tropical Kingbirds were trilling from the wires above the TNC ponds. A busy pair of Bell’s Vireos led us to their nest, chock-full of hungry mouths that required constant stuffing.
The walk along the beautiful river was accompanied by the familiar soundtrack of Yellow Warblers, Song Sparrows, and Yellow-breasted Chats; Bell’s Vireos chortled away, and a Western Warbling-Vireo was a bit late at the low elevation, as was a female Western Tanager later on.
Dudleyville is famous for its raptors, of course, and we kept an eye to the skies as soon as it got warm enough for broad-winged birds to rise. Gray Hawks called from the riverside forest, and Turkey Vultures came off the roost to check out what the night had brought them.
We walked all the way upstream to the crossing, where we ran into Jean and Barbara. They hadn’t seen the area’s most celebrated summer visitors either, so we set off, the five of us, up the road. As if on cue, an adult Mississippi Kite flashed in and began to hunt in the sky above us, its white secondaries flashing against the blue.
This graceful species did not colonize southeast Arizona until the early 1970s, and remains, a full human generation later, extremely scarce and local; along with the monastery at St. David, Liz’s Grove is probably the best place west of New Mexico to see this bird.
Panama: Purty Pitchers
Posted by: | CommentsHere are a couple of additional Panama photos to whet the appetite; more photos and more information are at www.panamalaverde.com and at birding@panamalaverde.com.
This Crimson-crested Woodpecker was the female of a pair we found the first day in the Metropolitan Park. In the course of the trip, we also got to see Lineated and Cinnamon Woodpeckers, along with an Olivaceous Piculet at the Ammo Dump; the most abundant picid, though, with us almost always, was Red-crowned Woodpecker, a diminutive Melanerpes with a loud voice and a boisterous manner.
Blue-and-white Swallows were common at higher elevations, nesting under the eaves at Los Quetzales. Gray-breasted Martin was found just about everywhere, and we got great looks at Southern Rough-winged Swallows a few times. Barn Swallows were a nice surprise at a couple of places, too.
I’ve always loved Tropical Kingbirds, ever since the first one Alison and I ever saw, years ago in Texas. I like this “action shot” because it shows the tail color so well, and because the bird, the palms, and the barbed wire say so much about the relation between humans and nature in the former Canal Zone, where I took this picture.
Roadside Hawk: what can I say? As usual, I found the relative scarcity (or at least the difficulty of finding) raptors in the tropics disconcerting, but we could almost always count on good views of a Roadside Hawk as we moved between sites. They were usually perched on the, uh, roadside.
As were Smooth-billed Anis.
We eventually scored 100% on Crotophaga cuckoos, finding Greater Anis at the Ammo Dump and a couple of Groove-billed Anis on our way to the airport the last morning.
Drop me an e-mail if you want any more information about the sites we visited or the birds we saw. See you in Panama, next time!
Panama: Cerro Azul and Departure
Posted by: | CommentsToo soon! After a final breakfast at Hostal Casa de Campo, Yenia and Luis took us on a valedictory walk on Cerro Azul. The morning started out clear and calm, but within the hour the clouds rolled in, justifying all too well the name of the area: Las Nubes. It was a great stroll all the same, a chance to solidify our acquaintance with some birds and to get cripplingly good views of others, like the Streaked Flycatchers nesting under the neighbors’ eaves and the Barred Antshrikes singing and posturing in the brushy edges.
We did a little birding on the way to the airport (which is quite close to the Cerro, making Casa de Campo an outstanding layover destination for international travelers). Unfortunately, the rain began just as we approached the area Luis said was most reliable for Savanna Hawk, but we did find a nice assembly of Neotropic Cormorants and Snowy Egrets in a ditch.
And then began the wait, and with it the tense question: Which will be my last Panama bird? By carefully positioning myself at the correct window, and shutting my eyes for long periods, I managed to make it a good one.
Farewell, Gray-breasted Martins!
