Thursday, April 17, 2014

A Rookie Mistake: Dial Plan B (For Birding)

Last weekend it was all planned out...kind sorta somewhat perhaps. It wasn't going to be a full-on epic bird day, but it was supposed to be pretty good. I was going to scour the Sierra Vista hillsides, chasing down leads on Montezuma Quail, and then spend a few hours in Ramsey and Huachuca Canyon. It was going to be crisp, efficient, and potentially a 3-Quail day. But I have a serious short coming as a birder (several, I am sure). Being from Phoenix, I grew up with a nasty, nasty habit. No no it's not smoking, which is of course scientifically proven to strengthen respiration as the tar helps oxygen stick to one's lungs. No it is because in Phoenix we have about 358 days of sunshine each year, so when we're making weekend plans, weekday plans...any kind of plans, there's never need to check the weather. 
Of course with birding, weather is key, and I totally dropped the ball on checking the Sierra Vista weather before heading out from under Phoenix's clear skies at 3:30am. 
It was heavily overcast, rainy in some places, and exceedingly windy. The first couple of hours in the area were almost devoid of bird activity, except for a few sympathetic Lark Sparrows, and so I sulked (snoozed) in the car instead of seeing glorious Quail, who were all wisely keeping their heads down.


By 10am or so the weather still hadn't cleared. I spent some time in Ramsey Canyon, trying to get away from the wind, where I was very pleased to find all three species of Goldfinch in the sycamores around the AZ Folklore compound. Apart from the finches and some FOY Scott's Orioles it was pretty dead.
By 11am the sun had risen high enough that it occasionally broke through the heavy cloud cover, though the terminally heavy wind kept most of the birds down low.

Rufous-crowned Sparrows were good sports about it all, still vocalizing when they had the chance and giving some life to the Sierra Vista grasslands. I would prefer Five-striped, naturally, but to each their proper time and place.


A pair of Pyrrhuloxias in Ramsey canyon also made for a nice sighting. This is a bird I don't see or photograph nearly enough, given their relative rarity in Maricopa County, and this is especially distressing as they're way more rad than Northern Cardinals.


Although there were a few nice sightings, for all the driving and time killed it was a pretty disastrous start to the morning. I decided to head farther north back toward the Tucson area to pursue some birds where the elements were more cooperative. I learned a lesson, learned it well and good. The question was if Plan B could redeem something of my Saturday. 

The next site was Christopher Columbus Park, a pre-fabricated suburban watering hole with uncomfortably blue-colored water that, nonetheless, has highly visible Wood Ducks.
It doesn't even have great habitat for them, but whatever the reason a Wood Duck drake has been here all winter, and this was a species I had not been able to photograph up close, having formerly flushed them at Tres Rios or seen them at a distance in Prescott. It's not a rare Quail, but it's a gorgeous thing.


Wood Ducks weren't the only offerings at the park. Though not as cool as the Thick-billed Kingbirds for which I'll be traveling through Patagonia in a month, or even the taller, darker, handsomer Cassin's, I also had some really nice sightings of Western Kingbird around the park's grassland. They're common and conspicuous, and also pretty cool. But usually they're up on the telephone wires and what not, and although their bellies are a lovely yellow, it doesn't make for great repeated viewing. Seeing them at eye level was tops.


By 1pm or so, the sun was out over Tucson, which is a bit over an hour northwest of Sierra Vista, enough so that birds were taking shelter from its midday wrath. It was too late to head southeast again, where the weather was likely still inclement anyway, but the few birds at Christopher Columbus offered some great sightings as a consolation.


In addition to the earlier mentioned Wood Duck sightings/dynamics, I've also seen them, distantly in Pennsylvania, but this unwholesome pond in Tucson, by far, offered the best looks I've had in the last few years, and hey even a nifty Wood Duck vs. Mallard size comparison (the Mallard looks like a giant). 



Chasing the waterfowl at city parks almost feels like cheating. That's not to detract from the tick or the photos or any of that. In a sense, these ducks are still more wild/less baited than the feeder-fed Hummingbirds in Madera or Miller Canyon, or at the Paton House, but it just feels very removed from nature, from the proper context of when and where one should be seeing these cool species.
That being said, the when and where for Wood Ducks in Arizona isn't exactly easy access, so I can't complain. I can only berate myself, and check the weather.

14 comments:

  1. Wind can be brutal. Glad you made the most of the day despite the rough start.

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    1. Cheers Jen. What a straightforwardly nice comment. Awkward.

      Oregon birding would, I fear, destroy me for the reasons above.

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  2. You overcame the elements, Laurence. Nice job all around. I've tried so many times for Pyrrhuloxia and still haven't seen one. I love the image you captured. The Wood Duck images are striking and I can't wait for those Kingbirds to show up en masse here in Utah shortly.

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    1. Cheers Jeff they is a movin'
      When next you have time in AZ, a trip just a bit further south will produce those desert cardinals : )

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  3. I know how it goes with the Montezuma Quail hunt. I can hear them, but rarely do I see them. And when I do, it's too late with my camera. When I capture this bird on camera casually strolling across my path, I will stop birding for the day and take everyone out for dinner. As for the desert cardinals, they are nesting right now at my school site.....the fledglings are adorably ugly:) I have Northern Cardinals for feeder birds in midtown and they just had a litter and the "little" ones are quite active around the peanut and safflower feeders. No matter what, you captured beautiful shots of the Lark Sparrow, Western and all the other fun finds. Columbus Park is a weird place. When I run out of places to bird, I go there to search for an elusive Barn Owl. He's in there somewhere and hangs out between Columbus and Sweetwater. I'll catch him at some point. I'm hoping in May to find those Gray Vireos;)

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    1. hehe yup another crack at the GRVIs this weekend for me.

      Sounds bustling down by you! We've got our standard Sonoran fair nesting here, and White-wgined Doves arriving by the truckload each day.

      More time down in the southeast corner. That's what the doctor orders.

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  4. Nice Wood Duck shots! It's crazy it has been at that pond like that all winter, which is definitely in-appropriate habitat. Kinda reminds me of the Least Grebe that showed up in Maricopa.

    Sorry about the quail-less birding due to the weather. And Montezuma Quail are tough. Whether looking for them where they are "regular/common" or hearing mythical ones at Mount Ord, they are tough. I've only seen one in my 14 years of birding, and have heard them many times. Also, that road that goes through Harshaw Canyon into the San Rafael Grasslands is good for them too. I'd like to see another MONQ, and take a photo.

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    1. hehe the harsh AZ winters reek havoc on a bird's cognitive facilities. Sea Ducks become Wood Ducks and Wood Ducks become like Mallards.

      I'll have another, proper crack at the Quail soon. It shall be Montezuma's Revenge!!!

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  5. Those quail will be ours.

    Like the juxtaposition between city ducks and feeder hummingbirds. Interesting.

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    1. Oh yeah. I won't be satisfied until I've been able to reach out and touch one...

      There'll be some hard core feeder watching in May, to the extent feeder watching can be hard core.
      If one can't bring the Hummer to the Mountain...

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  6. I'm glad you salvaged the trip with a few goodies - the Pyrrhuloxia and Western Kingbird are some sweet birds, and you got some great pics as well. Like you, I much prefer the Woodies in natural settings, like sitting on streams, marshes, or even like I saw yesterday - sitting on snow banks. Our birding contingency plans for this bipolar state nearly exhaust the alphabet. Actually we just go with the flow, or, rather, roll with the punches.

    Best of luck on the continued hunt for Montezuma Quail and Gray Vireos. Savor their nemesis status.


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    1. I'll try to savor, but not as much as the sweet satisfaction of finding them.

      going with flow and rolling with punches...you sound like a migrant bird : )

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  7. Love the semi-nem turn of phrase! Wood ducks are remarkably skittish. We had a nesting pair at work last year. You'd think with all the kids around they wouldn't flee at the slightest sound, but they do. Even the napping black-crowned Night-heron has a greater tolerance for people.

    Also, I've gotten a slight reddish hue to my (Irish) skin every single time I've birded this year... you'd think I'd remember to do something proactively about it. Nope. I'd be destroyed in AZ.

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    1. Cheers Kathleen,

      If the birds don't melt ya, the sun surely will.
      I would say, "Why are the pretty birds always so scared?" But of course if they weren't, if they were easy to find and photograph, then we'd be bored.

      Now I understand why celebrities hate the paparazzi. It's not that they nor the gorgeous birds hate the invasion of personal space, it's the knowledge that easy/over exposure will ruin them to the public.

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