Chirpin' with the Backyard Chirper

I recently did an interview with Timothy Martinez Jr. of the Backyard Chirper, a great company that makes wonderful feeders and other bird attractions. Tim runs the Chirper's blog, Into the Air, which hosts all kinds of discussions and articles on bird-related stuff. It also has a facebook where we freaks can flock together and share photos, feed our habits, etc.
It's a great enterprise well worth checking out. I answered some questions for the Chirper about beginning birding and that sort of thing, so if you're interested, head on over!

Hurry! The Red-Tail is watching...

Hello Mellow Yellow Fellow

Dear Reader,

Be forewarned. For reasons beyond my control this is going to be a very yellow post. If you find the color yellow or its off-shooting hues to be offensive or irritating, turn back now.  If thou art brave and not yellow, proceed.

It was a pretty mellow morning of birding. By funny coincidence, all of the birds I photographed on Saturday happened to be yellow. The usual bevy of Hummingbirds, Gnatcatchers, and Sparrows were no where to be found, but the yellow birds seemed more than willing to take up the slack.  

To supplement the muted birding, Maria and I decided to stop by Encanto Park, where I had seen some goslings a couple weeks ago. It took a little walking, but eventually we rediscovered the brood. There were eight chicks in all, and they seemed to have a Chinese Goose mother, though there were also five Embden Geese (don't know the gender) keeping a protective watch around them.

This is the first batch of new birds I've seen this early spring, and what's not to love? These fuzzy butterballs were floating around without a care in the world (granted, that's also the way their parents float around). Even the most rabid ravenous angry crazy wolverine would think twice about eating one of these puffballs, such is their cuteness.

It'll be fun to check up on these goslings over the next few months. This sort of things cushions against the loss of the wintering ducks, and it really has me looking forward to other spring perks, like Quail chicks. It was a brief but enjoyable bit of birding, even if it was a little bit monochrome.

Why'd The Artist Go To The Pond?

To get her Canvasback! HAhaha...ha

Err hem yes well...third time was the charm for me trying to photograph this Canvasback, or at least it's about as close to charm as I think I'll get. In each of my subsequent 3 visits I've been able to get a little bit closer to the duck, but I'm having a lot of difficulty getting the exposure right. Since the Duck dives very often, its head is usually soaked and no amount of exposure compensation seems able to curb that bright, purple reflecting light. The birds feathers also then clump and darken so too much negative compensation for the water glare ruins the feather detail. When dry and properly fluffed, the Canvasback's coloration can match the Redhead's in its brilliance, but they prefer to dig in the mud instead. 

Here the duck's nictitating membrane is obscuring the pupil, giving the bird a rather feline gaze.

I love how much more heavy-duty the Canvasback's beak is than other ducks'. Usually the beak seems to recede into the feathers, like a fingernail into the cuticle (see this Ring-Necked Duck for comparison). But the Canvasback beak overlaps up on top of the facial feathers with much more definition.

This drake is definitely king of the Papago Ponds. With only Ring-Necked Ducks and Coots for competition, he's easily the biggest duck on the water, and that beak can make one go from living to dead in about 4.3 seconds.

It's been awesome spending time with this beautiful bird. I saw only one other this winter and was beginning to worry I'd miss my chance with spring now underway (I haven't seen a Northern Pintail now for weeks). Mr. Canvasback turned up just in time.

Here, from February of 2013, is another Canvasback (now there are a half dozen) visiting the Papago Ponds.

Beware! These Birds Are Seeing Red!

The Phoenix birding scene has been buzzing lately with reports of a very uncommon Red-Necked Grebe in Tempe Town Lake. The  lake itself is actually an engorged canal, fed both by the Rio Salado river and other canals that run through the Phoenix area. It hosts impressive numbers of waterfowl including Ruddy Ducks and Shovelers, and regularly pulls in unusual visitors like Eurasian Teal.



The Red-Necked Grebe had been seen and photographed throughout the week, so I decided to investigate and maybe add a new bird to my list. The Red-Neck didn't show, or rather, the Grebe. My neck got plenty red while scanning the water. There were plenty of other birds to observe, including Pied-Billed, Western, Clark's, and Eared Grebes, as well as Coots and Redheads. There was also a solitary Canvasback, a less common and more noticeable diving duck.

I made one bad miscalculation however, in failing to appreciate the size of the lake and the distance between the pedestrian bridges and the waterfowl. I'm getting too used to the little city ponds where everything is nice and close, relatively speaking. But you know, it is probably good I was so far away. As you can see from the pictures, these lake birds have rather evil looking red eyes, eyes of killers, eyes of relentless carnivores. Truly, I worried that every time one of the red-eyed predators dove underwater, it would reemerge and launch an attack...

This Eared Grebe is probably the smallest bird you'll find on the lake. But do not let down your guard. The apex predators--lions, tigers, bears--have killed far less humans than the little organisms in this world. No one will ever know how many lives the Eared Grebe has claimed.

Slightly less lethal but far more numerous is the American Coot. Compact and coal-colored, this red-eyed water-chicken descends upon the Phoenix area waterways in vast hordes, like the barbarians amassing outside of Rome.

The Clark's Grebe's and the similar looking Western Grebes (not photographed) keep well away from the bridges, but are definitely the bosses of the lake. Grebes are known for eating feathers, supposedly to help cushion their stomachs from fish bones. But really they do it to get a taste for other birds, which they eat by the baker's dozen, just for fun.

Redheads are beautiful birds and, as evidence by their not-blood-red-eye, are of a gentler breed. That doesn't mean you want to put your hands anywhere near that pastel blue beak though...I've lost 11 or 12 fingers making that mistake (I learn slowly).

But when it comes to the similarly colored Canvasback, forget about it! The largest of the diving ducks, this red-eyed ravager commands the utmost respect and distance. It is rumored that the U.S. government had to take a restraining order out on the Canvasback so it's not allowed within 500 feet of anything governmental...so dangerous is this bird.

Imminent danger aside, it was a lovely bit of power birding in the afternoon. With no sign of the Red-Necked Grebe I decided to head out and try beating the rush-hour traffic. It would've been too costly and lethal to stick around and catch the red-eye flight later on...

Saurus Siblings

I couldn't get a single bird photo today. Some heavy dust clouds rolled into Phoenix and blocked out the sun around 5:00 pm--I guess that's our version of a rainy day.
It seems like an appropriate time to post some miscellaneous pictures of cold-blooded critters one might also find scurrying around the Sonoran Desert.

These Chuckwallas can easily span 14 inches in length. While they are not threatening to people, they are one of the upper echelon predators out here, at least as far as lizards go. Their latin name is Sauromalus Obesus, which seems to mean something like 'mean fat lizard'. I think that sums it up pretty well.

With no size to his advantage, this Ornate Tree Lizard relies on quickness and camouflage to win meals and escape predators. I don't know this scientific name, perhaps something like, "slendicus blendicus"

Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher

Gnatcatchers are curious little birds. They seem to be as close as the natural world comes to creating a perpetual motion device and can be found throughout much of Arizona (and many other states) year round. The Blue-Gray and the Black-Tailed are the two common species in the Phoenix area, but they can be as frustrating to photograph at times as they can be difficult to tell apart.

When not in their breeding plumage, the Blue-Grays and Black-Tails both have a dull grayish white coat. The Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher can still be told apart by the dark underside to its tail, as this upright female is displaying.

The male Black-Tailed also sports a nice black cap when he's courting, though this leads to its own problems of taxonomical separation from the Black-Capped Gnatcatcher found in southeastern Arizona.

Gnatcatchers are warbler size, but nearly half of their body length is made up of the birds' tails, which they flick about and use to balance while hopping and running in dense foliage, as well as scare up insects.

I recently found a pretty good spot for observing both Blue-Grays and Black-Tails, so I'm hoping to follow up with more photos and behavioral observations. For some reason, this relatively dull birds hold a special fascination for me, perhaps only because it's so tricky to get a good long look at them.

Birding is Fun

Hello Dear Reader,

Happy Sunday! Check out my once-a-month guest post over at Birding Is Fun and have a great day: http://www.birdingisfun.com/2012/03/southwestern-staples.html

Cheers!
Laurence Butler

Play It Through--Birds on the Golf Course

Why is it that when something is "sub par" it's bad. If you hit under par in golf, aren't you doing really well? Anyway, I made a quick trip out to the Encanto golf course on Friday afternoon for some par birding. The usual Lovebirds and Grackles were out and about, along with the now well-established Lewis's Woodpecker. These two Eurasian Collared Doves were a new edition to the scene. My first sighting of these chalky doves was at the Gilbert Ranch in September, but they seem to have gone on an offensive since then and have spread over much of the Phoenix area now.

There's a tall, mostly leafless eucalyptus tree along the fairway of Hole 8 at the Encanto course. It's a pretty good spot for raptors, and I've seen Kestrels, Red-Tails, and Coopers all perched there at one time or another. On Friday it was this sharp-looking Harris's Hawk.

Just as I got into position with sun behind me, she leapt from her perch with a burst of energy. The speed and force of her departure took my autofocus and me by surprise.

As she spread her wings the rufous shoulders and legs, as well as the white on the tail all became very clear. With her talons out, I wondered at what she was lounging with such quick determination.

Yep, all that build-up and she just hopped over to the other branch about two feet away. Oh well, I get fidgety too sometimes. It was interesting to note how extra puffy and disheveled the white feathers were on the underside of the tail. I wonder if this means she's been sitting on eggs/raising a brood nearby. That's my best guess. Cool bird, one of my favorite hawks.

I actually saw this Vermillion Flycatcher Saturday morning. He was too far away for a nice picture, but in a way the distance is more telling. There are few birds that one can identify so quickly and surely from far away as the full-plumage male Vermillion. I'm hoping to see and photograph lots more as they return from Mexico.

Hey Buddy, You're Lookin' Kinda Ruddy

It's getting the be that time of year (No, not Christmas). The Avocets and Gadwalls are getting their rusty heads. The Quail are starting to flirt and the Verdins are already building nests. It was an added bit of excitement this weekend to see some Ruddy Ducks changing into their breeding plumage. In addition to the lovely scab-red coloration in the males, the Ducks develop a beautiful, eye-catching blue on their beaks, which attracts people as well as mates.

I've spent all winter looking at these little cuties from across the water. They've always been in their muted, eclipse plumage, and almost always had their heads tucked away, biding their time until spring. There were some Ruddy Ducks down at Patagonia last weekend, and they were not in their breeding plumage yet, so maybe these four down in Gilbert are a bit early. What will their parents say!?

A fine new coat like his must be kept slim and trim. This male spent a little bit of time preening, making sure he looked quite fabulous before his afternoon date.

When he was good and ready, he tried to get some attention. "Hey guys, over here!"

After he had his stretch and knew that all eyes were on him, the Ruddy Duck started running/flying from one side of the pond to the other. He'd get going full speed, but just when it seemed like he was ready to lift off, he'd splash back down into the water.

Back and forth he went, moving with no particular grace or fluency, but with great energy nonetheless. It was a lot of fun to watch, and I'm sure that if I were a female Ruddy, I'd be very attracted.

Springing Forward

It's been weird winter here in Phoenix. But now signs of spring, like this Avocet's rusting head, are starting to pop up over the valley, and I fear we may lose our winter visitors pretty soon.



The Green-Winged Teal seem to be amassing at the Gilbert Water Ranch. Maybe they're going to fly north in a big convoy, I know that's how I would do it.

The Long-Billed Dowitchers are also gathering into larger flocks, and are starting to pick up just a hint of their brown breeding plumage. Like the Flamingos that get their lovely pink pigmentation from their crustaceous diet, the Dowitchers switch to a strict regimen of mud, dirt, and gunk to get their brown coloration during breeding season. (not really)

The Anna's Hummingbirds are all over the place. You can hear their buzzing and chirping around most of the parks, and you'll find dozens of them at the Water Ranch and Desert Botanical Gardens. I entreated this handsome fellow: "Will you please turn you head just slightly and look at me without the branch in the way, so we can see that fully lit shield?"



Hmph. No.



What a tease.