Mexican Chickadees On My Mind

I finally decided after many years of procrastination to try for the Mexican Chickadee in the Chiricahua Mountains.  My only excuse for not trying sooner is that the Catalina and Santa Rita Mountains are much closer to me and have similar birds.  But these tiny birds don't live in these mountain ranges.  They can only be seen in the US in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona and the Animas Mountains of southwestern New Mexico.

I got an early start on Sunday morning and reached Lake Cochise in Willcox by 6 a.m.  I was hoping to find the Snowy Plover that had been there for a couple weeks.  No luck.  There were a few California and Ring-billed Gulls, rare this time of year and difficult to tell apart in similar plumage.

I did finally manage to get a mediocre photo of a Scaled Quail.

Scaled Quail

No offense to the quail, I wondered if that was going to be the highlight of the day.  Near the golf course Cassin's Kingbirds were singing sweet nothings to one another.

Cassin's Kingbird

Black-necked Stilts were chilling in the shallows.

Black-necked Stilt

The nice thing was I didn't have to get out of my car for these shots.  I was on a mission, on to the Chiricahuas!

Pinery Canyon

As the trees transitioned from oaks to pines, I slowed down and listened for the chickadee's buzzy call.  After the second one-lane bridge I thought I heard it.  I got out of the car and there it was!  I couldn't believe it.  As I watched I noticed there were at least three birds.  They were difficult to photograph, so I spent a while trying to get a good shot.  Unfortunately I never got a great one, but here are a few.

Mexican Chickadee

I feel extremely lucky to have seen them, I'm told they're tough to find this time of year.  As the birds moved on, I continued walking down the road.  Western Tanagers were singing all along the canyon.  Bridled Titmice were tough to photograph too.

Bridled Titmouse

I drove down the road and all was very quiet until something caught my attention crossing the road, a Montezuma Quail!

female Montezuma Quail

As the female crossed the road I looked ahead to see if there was a male with her.  There was, my luck continued!

male Montezuma Quail

This was only the second time I'd ever seen this species and this was a much better look than when I saw a pair in the Santa Ritas.  Satisfied with two awesome sightings, I headed out of the canyon.  I stopped at Lake Cochise again to check if anything new had arrived.  There were many more White-faced Ibis, now 34.  And 42 Long-billed Curlews had showed up, the most I'd ever seen.

Long-billed Curlew

It was another amazing day in Southeast Arizona!

Southeast Arizona's Shorebird Show

It's been way too long since I posted here and I'll have to ask you to please click over to Birding is Fun!  Thanks.

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

 

 

 

Shorebirding in SE Arizona

When you think of birding in Arizona, the first thing that comes to mind is probably not shorebirds.  However, we get our share of migrants that pass through every fall.  One of the best places to see shorebirds during migration in Arizona is at Lake Cochise in Willcox.  Well, "lake" is exaggerating a bit.  It's more like a pond.  But it has the necessary mud that attracts a variety of shorebirds.  Two species were reported there in August that I would love to add to my list.  Short-billed Dowitcher and Semipalmated Sandpiper.  In SE Arizona, both of these species are rare but expected in August and September during migration.  It seems I waited too long to see these two species, but I did see some cool birds today.

I started the morning at the Benson wastewater ponds to check if a Sabine's Gull reported two days ago was still around.  No such luck.  However, I did pick up a new bird when I spotted a Red-necked Phalarope spinning around with some Wilson's like this one:

Wilson's Phalarope

 
Along the road to Lake Cochise, some pools have been created from the recent rains.  As I drove past, I flushed a bunch of Wilson's Snipe and White-faced Ibis.  I stopped and noticed this Killdeer when it gave its loud alarm call:

A Western Kingbird was flycatching from this perch:

The first peeps I saw as I circled the lake were Baird's Sandpipers.  I got out of my truck and got as low to the ground as I could to get these shots:

Then I noticed a couple Semipalmated Plovers, a new state bird for me:

The second individual appears lighter in color, a juvenile perhaps?  On the other side of the lake I noticed a Long-billed Curlew, but it departed before I could try for a photo. 

The best spot of the day turned out to be some rain pools next to the lake.  I was able to park my truck close to the birds without disturbing them.  I awkwardly maneuvered into the passenger seat to take some photos.  As I rested my lens on the window, I noticed some peeps only fifteen feet in front of me!  They were in some shallow pools that I hadn't even noticed because I had been distracted by these:

White-faced Ibis

Here are the nearby peeps I saw:

Least Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

A little further from the peeps, I spotted some Stilt Sandpipers with a Greater Yellowlegs:

And these Pectoral Sandpipers:

As I was leaving, this Vesper Sparrow posed on a fence:

 

I ended the day with 17 shorebird/wader species!  Who would have thought you could see such cool shorebirds in Arizona?