Shoot Me Monday

After it rained all night here in Tucson my bird feeder was quite busy this morning.  This afternoon it was still sprinkling out when Gaby noticed this female House Sparrow with white secondaries, kinda cool.

Merry Christmas!

Say's Phoebe

Have a very birdy Christmas!

Back in the Saddle

I finally feel better than I have in months!  It's a good thing too because there have been some great birds around this week.  Saturday morning I went out to look for my potential lifer Pine Warbler that was found earlier this week.  When I got to Evergreen Cemetery all the birders were leaving and after an hour of searching I came up empty.  I even went back an hour later but it was dead, so Sunday morning I made sure I was the first of the living to arrive.  After a little searching, another birder and I caught a glimpse of the warbler, my 63rd lifer of 2012! (32 were in Hawaii)  It moved around in the shadows a lot and I only managed some really bad photos.

Pine Warbler, I promise

Pine Warbler is accidental in fall in Southeast Arizona and has only been recorded about 15 times in the state.  Amazingly one was found in the same cemetery two years ago.  Some other birders also detected its buddy, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, also rare.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

There was also an American Robin in the area, uncommon in town.

American Robin

I decided to check out a couple other spots in town, starting with Reid Park.

resident American Kestrel

Great Egret

Canvasback

Lesser Scaup

Gadwall

Gadwall

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret with breakfast

Last I headed over to another cemetery I've been meaning to check out since I've never heard of anyone birding there.  I found the usual suspects, but I'll have to check back often. 

Say's Phoebe, South Lawn Cemetery

 

Vermilion Flycatcher

Red-tailed Hawk

It feels wonderful to get out and bird again, even if it was a little weird walking around all those graves.  Have a great week!

Shoot Me Monday

This is the first dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk I've photographed.  I thought it was pretty cool, I don't see many around here.  Seen near Green Valley, AZ.  Have a very birdy week! 

Third Time's A Charm

Imagine you're leading a Tucson Audubon birding field trip when two of your participants ask, "What's that black bird?"  As you get your bins on it, your heart drops.  It's a Groove-billed Ani!  That's exactly what happened to Michael Skinner at Sweetwater Wetlands on Monday.  This is an extremely rare bird in Pima County with fewer than 20 records for the state.

For two days in a row I had missed it.  After an hour of searching this morning, I was having doubts I would see it.  But I walked up to few birders that had seen it across the pond.  It showed itself briefly to me but was far away.  We waited a while to see it again, but it didn't show.  I decided to walk around to the other side of the pond where I thought it might be.  When I got there, I heard an unfamiliar call.  I looked for a few minutes and finally got great looks at the bird foraging in a willow at eye level.  And it was a lifer for me!

  

Groove-billed Ani

Herring Gull in Tucson!

Late Tuesday a Herring Gull was reported 9 miles from my house.  This is a very rare gull in Arizona away from the lower Colorado River Valley.  It would be a new county and state bird for me.  I made up my mind that I would wake up early and try for it before work.  I arrived at Lakeside Park before sunrise and spotted the dirty brown gull flying around the "lake".  The last one I had seen was in San Diego almost five years ago.  Score, just what the doctor ordered!  I snapped a few pics and raced off to work.