Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Parulyzed!

After dipping on a Northern Parula at the Tres Rios Wetlands last weekend, I was determined to find the bird this week and thus not have it nagging at me next weekend. So, it would be a simple drive over in the evening, with clear skies, to spend some time looking in the one little area where this bird has been seen off and on for the last few weeks.

It sounded simple enough on paper, but the mission would prove to be very difficult. Getting off work at 4pm, Maria wife would have to come pick me up, then we'd pick up our car from the shop. We'd both head to our apartment where I could change and get my gear, before trying to power through several miles of rush hour traffic on the west-bound I-10. By the time I reached Tres Rios it was 5:06pm, which meant I had about 40 minutes of honest-to-goodness sunlight left. While the Parula has been seen and heard consistently in one little, contained area at Tres Rios, this was the area:



A group of three huge eucalyptus trees, already teeming with Yellow-rumped Warblers, is not the easiest place to spot a little 5 inch, non-breeding plumage warbler, especially when it's about the same size as an individual eucalyptus leaf. With the fading light and the high canopies, I was not expecting much in way of photos, just a documentation shot.

But the greatest tribulation of all, and one I was not so much expecting (in large part due to my inexperience in this sort of endeavor), was the intense, paralyzing stiffness in my neck from staring straight up whilst also supporting binoculars and a camera. Warbler neck is a common, professionally recognized and diagnosed problem in the east, with many cases occurring in the spring and summer, but it doesn't break out so much in Arizona. I think the Surgeon General needs to start putting a warning on all binoculars and birding optics:

*WARNING: The use of these optics to view and enjoy wood warblers for a sustained period of time surpassing five minutes may result in severe neck soreness and the haunting worry that one has instantaneously become 117 years old.*

At any rate, after about 45 minutes of searching while the sun was sinking below the South Mountain range, I finally caught sight of something. With its smaller size and yellower belly and breast, I'd finally found something that, at least, wasn't a Yellow-rumped Warbler. 


I cranked the ISO up to 800 on the camera, rolled the EV compensation up to +7, and reduced the aperture to 5.6. With all the pent up rage of a sore neck and a frustrated weekend excursion, I unloaded volley after volley of digital shots at the tree, hoping to catch the Parula in the viewfinder. As the sun finally set and my camera barrel was till smoking, I felt satisfied that I had something for my trouble, and could now add this unusual eastern visitor to my Life list.


I hope to see more Parulas up close and personal when I can make a properly timed and located birding trip in May, but until then these sorts of sporadic chases will have to do. On the way out of the preserve, a few hundred Ibis moved in to roost for the evening. There were purple skies and I was Parulyzed. Not bad for a Monday!

16 comments:

  1. Unloading volleys of digital shots...hilarious!

    Congrats on a lifer! A warbler, no less.

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    1. Cheers Steve, it was a positive fusillade or slow-shutter shooting.
      I haven't really been planning on getting another lifer warbler for another two or three years, so this was a dusky win for sure.

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  2. Ooh I don't envy your soreness... Warbler neck is no joke. I am glad to see you succeeded- I dipped on a Cape May in CA after about 40 minutes of staring up into a similarly Yellow-rumped-occupied eucalyptus. Well done sir!

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    1. Condolences Jen. Having myself extensive experience with dipping on birds, I recommend ice cream.
      Thanks for stopping by the ol' place.

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  3. Love the title! Love the Parula too!

    I think they need that warning on long lenses too :-)

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    1. I can already see a new line of Swarovski-sponsored neck braces and U-pillows--like the ones people take on airplanes--becoming popular in Ohio and other Warbler sites.

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  4. Congrats, Laurence! I have avoided warbler neck by searching for warblers only in small trees and bushes! Just being facetious :-) Anyway, were you are you probably don't have that option.

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    1. That's the prudent move for sure Hilke, but ain't it in human nature though to always be looking upwards???

      The warblers generally take it easier on us here in the desert, but that just means we're all the more soft when we actually have to do some hardcore warbling. Oh, the problems we must endure...

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  5. Haha...funny post. Great descriptions and the title is hilarious!

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    1. Thanks Kelly. You must get some awful bad Warbler neck in Ohio come May?

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  6. Warblers!!! I groan at these little buggers! But you found your target:) I had the same issue with our little Parula here:) There are two who love the Tucson winter. But the neck....oh the neck!

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    1. There's just nothing for it...these winter Warblers make you pay for it. To be fair, folks in the east only have Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the spring.

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  7. That's true. I still have yet to find the Calliope, Berryline and White-eared. 3 targets for this summer. The White-eared was attempted, but Callipe and Berryline were really no shows in most of the state. I'm hoping they make a return. I'll be in Guatemala for a month in June and hoping to add to my hummingbird list....and maybe a quetzal or two....or 3:) I still have to find the Elegant Trogon. I have become addicted exhausting both myself and Kathie out. And I can't stop. Mountain Plovers, Rufous-capped Warbler, Crissal Thrasher, Golden-crowned Sparrow........I keep trying:) What's the word you use? Dipping(missing) the targets:)

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    1. As yes, to Dip is to Bird.

      I need those hummingbirds too, and in fact I also need, more embarrassingly, Rufous and Allen's as well. I'm afraid we might have to travel to Texas if we're going to pick up Berylline, but hey you never know.
      Man, once you start seeing Quetzals...you're opening up a higher and more dangerous seal of birding, one that will eventually lead you to Peru and the 200+ species of Hummingbirds there, and then you will never be seen again.

      Get that Warbler!

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  8. Rufous-capped, Plovers.....the clock is ticking on several birds before they fly away! I plot and plot and plot birds. But the Thrasher spot is on my list for next week Sunday. But today was a good day....a Cassin's Vireo. A lifebird, common for many but embarrassing as well for me, to finally add to the list. I was showing my Dad several plants and how they are used in landscaping....and it just flew out of nowhere. This year is a whole new take on birding and I'm loving every minute of it. Your posts are inspiring and make me push the envelope into new areas. Thank you again:)

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    1. Solid! I've heard from some other Phoenix folks wanting to check out the Trasher spot. It's a bit far out for me to say, but maybe I can make it over there too, and then swing by Arlington on the way back to investigate these Swans if they're still around.

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