Fire Up the...Binoculars

It has been a long time. It has been a too long time while. It has been a grossly too long probably shouldn't even talk about it time. Oddly enough, this website has become much more popular on the FB since I stopped writing and making posts, but I refuse to let that causality have its say. In a few day's Butler's Birds will be blogging from the chilly climes of Minnesota in conjunction with The Iowa Voice for another intensive and hopefully bird-filled expedition. It will not be as birdy as when these two bastions of --insert hyperbolic aggrandizement here--toured the LGRV of Texas, especially since now most of the fat-cat government contracts for such vacations have dried up (thanks Obama), but at least one of us will probably die or get frosty enough to bite off our fingers, so it should make for some good material.

Of course, going into that level of birding cold, in the cold, would be columbid-level foolish, and after so long off the wagon I, like any self-respecting pendulum, needed to get back int he swing of things. Earlier this December I met up with a couple, Harris and Fran, from Pennsylvania, for a half day of Maricopa birding. 

This winter has been a good one for rarities and vagrants in Maricopa, but of course folks coming from outside of Arizona will often have less interest in the vagrants than the Sonoran regulars. So those of you familiar with the area know where we went first.

After the Thrasher spot we cruised through the Arlington area looking for rusty raptors and whatever else was on display. The Lower River Road Ponds were recently hosting some impressive Swans. In early December there were different, almost-as-large white birds rafting about. 

Since we were birding with a photography-first priority, this negated a few spots that would have been good for overall species and sightings but lacking in photo-ops. We had decent luck at Tres Rios, considering the time of year. Sora is not a bird I am expecting to see in MN in a few days' time.

As I admitted earlier and publicly, my diligence and discipline in birding around central AZ has waned, or rather been de-prioritized this fall and winter. However, the excitement for birding MN in the winter, for the new birds and experiences that will come now is palpable--you could palpate the excitement, if you were so inclined and had permission.
Same time next week, with a bit of luck, this roadside Owl will be a Great Gray.

A Shroud, A Veil, Covering up a Fail

My birding has been pretty minimal these last few weeks. I must admit, considering how good November and December are for vagrant/rare birds, I am a total grinch in getting with the 'chasing' spirit. I justify this surliness in that most of the vagrant birds are eclipse-plumage waterfowl on large reservoirs, and it would have to be a very rare bird indeed to make crumby scope views worth a long chase. Some vagrant Warblers have turned up, as well as a Baltimore Oriole hanging out in Tucson. There was a time I would have chased many of these birds, but having now seen most of these species in other states, I've lost a fair bit of motivation, at least as much of the motivation as is required to get over the various and sundry obstacles inimical to early-morning birding. Plus it's been rainy the last two weekends.

Anyhow, even I had to get into gear when someone reported a Long-tailed Duck (not quite annual in AZ) at Saguaro Lake, a mere 35 minute drive without traffic. This would be both a lifer and a pretty great bird for Arizona, and it was close. But of course, all of those earlier grinch factors were still in play. The Saguaro Lake reservoir had a nice, primordial fog going as the sun labored to crest its bluffs. 

I set to work scanning the near-shore waterfowl, not expecting to find a Long-tailed so close to land, but more for a lack of anything else to do until the light improved and the stratus lifted.

I feel like every bird blogger and his cousin have all had one or more experiences in which a Sora walks out into plain view and just loiters, allowing for fantastic crushing. Soras, for the most part, have been mean to me in denying such an opportunity. One fellow was pretty accommodating this morning, but this was in large part due to the soporific lighting. The Hi-Res crush must wait.

The Saguaro Lake reservoir is a nice area, great for logging all of the expected waterfowl and some semi-rarities like Surf Scoter. The surrounding mesquite scrub is pretty good for the Sonoran species--woodpeckers, sparrows, thrashers, and wrens.

Out of the mist materialized many such birds, including some spiffy Buffleheads, but Long-tailed Duck was not one of them. I did have to make note of how quick it was to register all of the waterfowl in the area though, including 4 Grebe species. This might be quite the essential spot in a Big Day challenge come spring...

 

Eared Grebes are nice, though scant consolation for a Long-tailed Duck. If only the cheeks were whiter, the head less peaked.

Since the bird was first reported on Friday, there has been no further mention of it on the listerv, which was very curious considering how centrally located Saguaro Lake is. Perhaps the Long-tailed Duck was simply a long tale. Well, it was still nice to be out. White-crowns and Cardinals are expectedly everywhere. This is like the AZ equivalent of the Cardinal-eating-sunflower-seeds-in-snow that we'll all being from the east in the next few weeks:

So, even the close-to-home chase was bust this time around, doomed from the start perhaps. At any rate, I have one more week of work before winter break, and then there will be some serious chasing. Until then, I shall remain an existentially troubled Coot, wanting much, yet seeking little.

Spurred On in a Slow Day's Birding

There has been a lot of talk in the news about California's on going drought and water-related problems. Perhaps surprisingly, we're having the opposite experience in Arizona, where this summer's monsoons have brought record rainfall to the valley (including the most in a single day and also overall). There have been flooding problems in many of the lower areas around town and even on the interstate. There was a heavy microburst Friday night and another this evening on Saturday. Even though the timing for birds (late September) isn't great, and Pops and I tried for some west Phoenix birding just in case something of particular interest had been grounded during the storms. 

Water levels were predictably high in all but Basin 1 at the Glendale Recharge Ponds, and we did not have any surprising Peeps or Gulls/Terns except for the lone, immature, and annual Short-billed Dowitcher (It seems we get one at this location every year in almost identical circumstances). 

The best birding highlight of the day was a single Greater White-fronted Goose in Basin 6 and some distant but nonchalant Rails.

In addition to the Goose, all three Teal species were represented as well as Shovelers, which seems pretty early for all involved. The anticipated waders were in good numbers as well. Somewhere in this picture is an American Avocet, adopted and raised by the Stilts with their milk and culture, truly believing it is a BNST. Can you spot it?

Even though Stilts can be kind of a gossipy, snooty bunch, the Avocet would insist it is one of them. It's a touching thing in this cruel cruel world, but biology can only be denied so much, and Avocets can't bank as well as Stilts...revealed!

Oddly enough, the day's highlight came away from the water, in one of the run-off canals that was littered with masses of vegetation and silt from recent flooding.

The tortoise was making a break away for the shaded, muddy mouth of the wash, moving with incredible speed and a battle-hardened determination that comes with carrying one's own house on one's back everywhere (Snails know what I'm talking about). He was mobile-homing like a beast; we caught up to him in about 10 seconds.



Pretty impressive forearms. This tortoise was a large tortoise, probably close to 40 pounds and bristling with spurs. He had a bit of camouflage on his face, though it did not leave much to the imagination.




Obviously, one doesn't get the opportunity to consort with such ancient and slowly-metabolizing creatures every day, and I had many pressing questions, the foremost being, of course, what to do to stop The Nothing from destroying everything. As one might expect, I was sneezed on several times. What I did not expect was how super creepy tortoises look when they blink.

Pops brought some fruit down from the car to see if we could entice the ol' terrapin. It responded immediately, as if it had interactions with people before...

This is not a species of Arizona Desert Tortoise, but I believe an African Spurred Tortoise. This species grows to be the third largest tortoise in the world and the largest that is not island-bound. African Spurred Tortoise, and you have guessed, are not native to North America. I didn't know the species until doing some research at home later, but this animal's ready response to our offerings already had us believing it to be a release or escapee.

We were musing as to how this fellow could have survived the heavy flooding that the area experienced, an indeed its possible he was only recently abandoned. I'm tempted to swing by again tomorrow, both to quickly scan the basins and reclaim Brandon Marla, as I now name it, for a rescue shelter. 

It's introduced, and while I have no doubt it could find subsistence and is probably too big to worry about predation, flood waters are something it might be unprepared to deal with. On the other hand, post-monsoon and early spring are the only two times in the year when tortoises are active, apart from that they mostly hang out in semi-subterranean haunts.

About an hour after first finding Brandon Marla, we followed its tracks just for funsies and found it had moved all of 10 feet, some prospects for relocating are good, will update.

Sora

I assume that, like the Virginia Rail, American Redstart, Magnificent Frigatebird, and Prothonotary Warbler, the Sora is another North American bird that has retained the name given it by the indigenous Americans.
This was a Life-list bird for me, and I found it while slogging around one of the drainage ponds off of the McCormick Ranch golf courses. I first spotted the slight movements and dark coloration in the water weeds and stood by, waiting for a cowbird or blackbird to emerge. To my surprise, it was some sort of Rail that eventually flushed, and then disappeared into some cattails on the other side of the pond. After several more minutes of tedious positioning, I managed to maneuver behind the Sora and get some photos to help with identification. Since it's a life bird and I'm rather proud of myself for finding it, I've presented them here as well.
I don't know if I'll see another Sora since they're pretty secretive and I try not to get my shoes wet, so maybe I'll have to make my peace with these photos in the long run too. Trying to shoot through reeds is never ideal, and I was also in a hurry since I expected the Sora to take off any second. There are many things I'd do differently if given another chance.

 The white-ish face and underbelly indicate that this Sora is just a bit immature. The striping on the sides isn't visible yet, but the brown and black back with speckled white, along with the yellow beak and red eye, all confirm the species.

 Since there is black on the top of the head and a bit in front of the eyes, but little filling in on the throat, I'm thinking this is a female.

 Here the yellow beak is clearly visible, which eliminated any possibility that this was a Black Rail, the only other possibility for this region, given the size.

You can just see the ventral stripes coming in.