Earlier this June I made a somewhat unsuccessful trip to the Bradshaw Mountains south of Prescott, AZ. This relatively accessible range offers excellent pine, spruce, and oak habitats favored by some pretty magnificent montane species. I arrived around 6pm, hoping to find a few promising spots in the daylight that might produce Mexican Whips and Flammulated Owls a few hours later. With this primary objective I was semi-successful. I found an area that offered great audible and visual access to Whips, (this didn't pay dividends with photographs), but busted on the tiny and timorous Flamms. The saving grace was that the Bradshaws are infested with Red-faced Warblers.
And I really mean infested. Most ranges in Arizona above 5,500 feet have populations of RFWA, but in my experiences I'll see between 1 and 5 birds in a given 4 hours hike. At one spot in the Bradshaws I had 5 RFWAs in the same tree. They were singing, gathering nesting material, and foraging all low to the ground. Did you know RFWAs make cup nests on the ground? I did not, but I had to be grateful to the cloudy skies and onset sunset for diminishing the light, lest everything I owned become melted.
Luckily most things became only half-melted, and once the sun was down the Warblers dissipated, things cooled, down, and things reformed Terminator 2 style. I had some of the best looks I've yet managed at Whips up in the Bradshaws, and hopefully can find some time to try again for the Flamms before end of June, by which time they tend to stop vocalizing. I'm getting more and more into the nocturnal birding in Arizona, especially this time of year, but there is a reason why diurnal birding is still the third most popular sport in the world, behind bowling and hornussen.
Logically, it's best when both worlds can collide, which means getting up even earlier and staying out even later by birding standards. It is worth it. Just make sure you get enough rest so that you're up for a rollicking game of hornussen midday.
Congrats Laurence on crushing the Red-faced Warbler! I think the Bradshaws may just be the best place in Arizona to see this bird.
ReplyDeleteI'm in for trying for Flam Owls with you when you try for them again. I still have the Flam Fever I think...
Sounds good Tommy.
DeleteIt'll be another ten days until I'm back in town, but even if the odds decrease I'll still give it a shot. The Mex. Whips are still some unfinished business as well...
I still need to photograph Mex. Whip. And I think we'll have luck with Flammulated Owls, a good chance at least.
DeleteI think Nightjars are more challenging to photograph than owls at night. They are terrible beings.
Agreed! They're twice as jittery and low perching and prone to flushing and terrible and awesome.
DeleteYou and I both! I have not been able to get decent photos of either. The Flam is so high up and the Mex come out to late for good shots. Madera is reliable for them but there is so much darkness that the camera doesn't pic up the clarity. The eyes do, but not the equipment. But I think the Flammulated Owl hangs out lower during the nesting period. I thought I heard someone say that.....but again, I've only gotten recordings and shadows flying over my head:)
DeleteThey sure make Elf Owls seem confiding and cooperative by comparison. I was reading somewhere that Flamms are probably the most common western Owl species given their range and concentration when confirmed, but they're so difficult to detect that there is little information to show.
DeleteYour photos are stunning!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda. Melting, Stunning...these are good things in the birding world.
DeleteSweet. Birderkind is fortunate that a crippler such as RFWA can be so confiding.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! Confiding cripplers are usually something of which people valuing life and limb steer clear, but birders are made of stuff stuff! We're gluttons for pain and beauty wrapped into a feathery ball. And khaki.
DeleteCaleb Strand and I missed Whips in the Chiricahuas. Unfinished business from me. Sweet crushes. The Red-faced has become my 2nd favorite warbler.
ReplyDeleteChiris eh? I bet they were of lesser concern there though compared to other stuff?
DeleteSpending a little time in the Santa Ritas, Mt. Lemmon, or Bradshaws will take care of that right quick.
2nd favorite eh? Doth the Orange-crowned reign supreme?
The inimitable Rufous-capped reigns as king of my warbler list. Mexican Whips are surprisingly elusive in the Chiris. Blue-throated Hummers and a Mexican Chickadee nest were adequate compensation though.
DeleteYeah man, that's the creme de la Chiri creme, and Whips are never easy. I have not nightjar photos to speak of, of any species, other than a Paraque found in the daytime.
DeleteDang! Those are true RFWA crushes!!! Man if you photograph a Mexican Whip before I even hear one...
ReplyDeleteCheers Caleb...but I wouldn't worry about that so much...
DeleteWell then. I'm sufficiently green-faced now.
ReplyDeleteMe too. The world just makes me so envious and nauseas all the time always.
DeleteI'm glad to see an extensive post on this bird, one I really would like to get. I also saw from an earlier post in 2012, that you were in my own Pennsylvania backyard at Ridley Creek State Park. Have you got an arrival date for RFWA in the Bradshaws? I'll be wintering in Scottsdale, and can extend my stay through April if you think they'll be in. Really like the blog, and Tommy DeBardeleben's, too.
ReplyDeleteHi CJP,
DeleteThanks for commenting. I know some individuals are in by end of April, but in small numbers. Mid-May onward their numbers are concentrated and they're easy. If you were to stay and bird that area through end of April I bet you could come up with some if you made repeated tries, but on any given day it would be tough.
Best of luck!