Shoot Me Monday

I haven't posted here in a while since I was busy with end of the school-year stuff.  But my summer break is finally here!  I celebrated on Friday by waking up at 5 a.m. to go birding.  Non-birders would scratch their heads at this.  My target bird was a Hudsonian Godwit that was found with a Marbled Godwit at Lake Cochise on Tuesday.  The last confirmed sighting of Hudsonian Godwit in Arizona was 16 years ago, so I was praying it was still there.  As I arrived, I saw one other car on the perimeter of the tiny lake.  I pulled up to the gentleman and asked if he had seen the godwits.  "They're right there," he pointed with a chuckle.  Ha, I love drive-up lifers!  Sure enough they were feeding together furiously.  Marbled Godwits are a rare spring transient in Southeast Arizona.  And this is the 6th record of Hudsonian Godwit in Arizona. Luckily I've seen lots of Marbled Godwits in San Diego, so I was able to tell them apart.  Lots of Arizona birders who are unfamiliar with both species were having a hard time distinguishing the two.

Hudsonian Godwit (right) & Marbled Godwit (left)

Hudsonian Godwit in the wind

Hudsonian Godwit showing distinctive black tail, white uppertail coverts, and white wing stripe

 

 

 

Sky Island Birding

Check out my post over at Birding is Fun!

Shoot Me Monday

This weekend I went out to the Green Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant hoping to see some migrating birds.  I was surprised when I bumped into fellow birder John Higgins since it was the afternoon and already hot.  We checked out the basins together but didn't find much of anything.  After checking the last one, I spotted an egret flying over the edge of the basin.  I noticed the thick bill and orange breeding plumage.  "Cattle Egret!" I shouted.  This bird is a rare transient and summer visitant to Southeast Arizona.  It's only the second one I've seen, and the first one in Pima County.  It looked overheated because it was constantly fluttering its throat.

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret