So yesterday I set out to check for a few rarities around town. My first stop in the morning was at Lakeside Park where I struck out on a Forster's Tern and some Bonaparte's Gulls from the previous evening. However, a check in the afternoon was successful. The Forster's Tern is a very late record for Southeast Arizona with no records that I know of in November.
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| Forster's Tern |
There were also two Bonaparte's Gulls near the shore. Unfortunately one of them got tangled in some fishing line. I watched from the other side of the lake as three men tried to untangle it. By the time I drove around to the other side they had managed to free the bird. Apparently it hadn't been hooked at all, but I stayed and watched it to make sure it was okay. After ten minutes of watching it motionless on the edge of the water I decided to approach it hoping it would be okay to fly off, but instead it went into the water. Birders later reported seeing both birds flying all around the lake, so it seems to be fine.
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| Bonaparte's Gull |
Another nice surprise was a this Merlin.
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| Merlin |
Since the lighting was much better than on Friday, I decided to see if the Black Scoter was still around (see previous post
here). Success!
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| Black Scoter |
To cap off a great afternoon of rarities I found the continuing Lewis's Woodpecker in the park.
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| Lewis's Woodpecker |
Have a great final week of November!
