Chasing a Laughing Gull in Maricopa County

On November 5th, I came went home from a morning of birding at Morgan City Wash.  I was hoping to relocate a Bay-breasted Warbler that had been found nearby.  The bird was no doubt a long shot and I knew it, but I still tried and didn't come up with it.   When I got home I was tired and started to take a nap.  My phone ringing woke me up and I saw that it was Caleb calling.  Caleb said, "I've got a juvenile Laughing Gull at Hidden Lake!".  I woke up very quick and was out the door, on my first Laughing Gull chase in Maricopa County.  

Caleb told me how to access the where he discovered the bird.  I drove to the spot and it wasn't long before I got to see the gull.  It became a Maricopa County life bird for me, and I was pumped.  Mary was right behind me and we enjoyed it together for awhile and Mary captured great photographs as she usually does.  It was awesome to watch this rarity for awhile and observe it flying over Hidden Lake with views of the desert in the background.  

Caleb found the Laughing Gull when he didn't have binoculars and made the call with his naked eye.  Awesome story!  Caleb joined Mary and I, and then Ronnie, Dara, and Ryan joined us shortly after.  Sadly, the Gull seemingly flew off right before Ronnie, Dara, and Ryan came.  We had fun together and hung out at Hidden Lake for awhile.  Hidden Lake is an awesome place, and it is a place Caleb has worked at full time and part time.  They were getting ready for a busy event that they were hosting when the gull showed up, and thanks to Caleb and his boss, Jennifer Mladik, we were able to go.  It was awesome of Jen to open her property up to us, and I'm thankful to her and Caleb for being able to see this rare bird.

And not locating the gull that night turned out to be beneficial for Ronnie, Dara, and Ryan.  It was back at Hidden Lake the next day, and they were all able to not only get the Laughing Gull, but their county Heerman's Gulls too!  HEEG was a county lifer for Caleb too, and it was awesome that he found both of those rare birds (both county lifers for him) while working.  

Other than the Laughing Gull, here are a few more cool birds I've seen lately.  2020's birding continues as being awesome!

 

Ending 2014, Beginning 2015

It's January 2015, and things have began for this new year.  For me I've had plenty of busy work days, but I've also had time to get some birding in so far.  There have been some neat highlights.  No life birds or Maricopa County life birds have found my binoculars yet, but there is no say of when that may or may not happen.  It's the time to get out in the field and enjoy a new year of birding.  2014 was a great year for me.  A very great year!  It saw 21 life birds in southern California, 4 more life birds in Arizona, 7 birds to my Arizona state list, and for the most fun of all, 9 birds to my Maricopa County list.  Highlights were numerous and variable.  The reel included everything from looking up to see a Spotted Owl at point blank range to seeing a White-eared Hummingbird in Phoenix, finding Pine Grosbeaks breeding in the White Mountains, going on a rare bird chase after an Asian shorebird on a random afternoon, attempting two big days, spotting an eastern warbler on Christmas lights, and seeing my first ever pelagic bird.  These were just a few of 2014's highlights, and I begin to seriously wonder:  What will 2015 bring to the table?  How can it possibly top an epic 2014?

It's safe to say that I've now gotten my feet wet for 2015.  I've chased a few birds that are rare and will be good for my 2015 list.  The first three goodies to start my list off have been ducks.  Two of them have come from Lake Pleasant, which are three different scoters of two different species.  These two Black Scoters and this White-winged Scoter have spent a lot of time together.  Many lucky birders have successfully chased these two rarities at Lake Pleasant.  However, one of the Black Scoters since this picture was taken has appeared to have left the area or was forced to leave or vanish.....there was a Peregrine Falcon loafing in the area.

Common Goldeneye numbers are increasing on Lake Pleasant, and there have been a few Red-breasted Mergansers around lately too.

The third rare duck to start off the year came from a local park in Glendale called Los Dagos.  For the second straight winter, it has now hosted a striking male Eurasian Wigeon.  I initially thought this bird was going to have my attention for a year tick, but I ended up spending an hour plus with it for obvious reasons.

A fun day came around on a Sunday afternoon when I joined Caleb Strand for an expedition in Buckeye and Arlington.  Our main goal was to find both Lapland and McCown's Longspurs where Caleb had been having them on a regular basis in a plowed field close to his house.  For awhile Caleb thought that there was one Lapland and two McCown's.  By the end of the day, we added another McCown's and another Lapland to increase the count to five birds of two species.  Starting off the day gave us good looks at the McCown's, while the Lapland Longspur was being very difficult to see.

It took Caleb and I another visit to this barren field to catch sight of the Lapland Longspur.  Caleb had been seeing them on at least four prior visits out to this field in late afternoon.  Whatever Caleb had to say, I listened and never questioned and let him take charge.  I left the job up to him to find the Lapland Longspur.  I even handed him my scope and said, "here, find it".  Within minutes Caleb said the Lap was in the scope, and seconds later, I had an awesome view of it, thanks to Caleb.  These birds are very hard to see and they blend right in with the ground.  As Caleb found the bird, I realized there was a second Lapland Longspur feeding with the first one that Caleb caught sight of!  It was hard to see, but I caught the movement and saw that there was something in the shadow "spot'' on the barren ground.  We were able to get fairly close to one of these birds to snap photos.  For me, it was the first time I have ever been able to photograph a Lapland Longspur, and I was very stoked at that.  It is a very good-looking bird, even in it's basic plumage as shown below.  Photographic lifers are always very fun to get to.  Thank you Caleb!  The thought of "What will Caleb discover in 2015?" always crosses my mind too.  He found me 2 of my 9 Maricopers last year.

Without Caleb Strand, "good luck" finding the Lapland Longspur!

During the day, Caleb and I also went to Arlington to look for goodies such as the recent Crested Caracara as well as Sandhill Cranes and more.  Arlington wasn't very active, but we did come across a few Ferruginous Hawks.  This raptor is quite diverse in it's plumage range, and Caleb and I both enjoyed incredible views of both light and dark morph Ferruginous Hawks.  Who could ever pass up watching this gorgeous bird...

Up next was a very fun morning of birding Seven Springs Recreation Area and Rackensack Canyon with Kurt and Cindy Radamaker.  Kurt and Cindy are both great birders and it was a pleasure to bird with them.  As expected, we had many birds and found some goodies of our own.  We went to Seven Springs first, and the area was filled with Cedar Waxwings, American Robins, Cassin's Finches, Western Bluebirds, Sage Thrashers, and even a wintering Painted Redstart!

At Rackensack Canyon, Kurt, Cindy, and I walked down the trail in pursuit of Fox Sparrows.  This is where I had roughly 15 individuals in December of 2013, and we wanted to check up on the numbers.  The Fox Sparrows didn't give us a hard time at all, and we had at least a dozen individuals!  I was very glad to tell Kurt and Cindy about the numbers I had here and them have the numbers be present again.

Kurt Radamaker also has a serious eagle eye.  While watching a Fox Sparrow, Kurt scanned a distant sparrow flock and picked out the rare Golden-crowned Sparrow.  The bird wasn't too far out of my camera's reach and I was able to get a distant but diagnostic photograph.  Kurt and Cindy are bird magnets.  Whenever they are around, good things pop up!  Out of many of the rare things they have found, the Smith's Longspur in 2012 (Arizona's second ever record, Maricopa's first) was something I was glad I was fortunate to be able to see.  

An obliging Green-tailed Towhee also made it's presence known in Fox Sparrow country.

At the end of 2014, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks were found at Tres Rios and at several other spots southwest of Phoenix.  Birder Robert Bowker recently saw another Fulvous Whistling-Duck flock at Tres Rios, and I went there to put in a search.  No luck, but I'm going to keep trying.  These ducks are starting to seriously annoy the living crap out of me.  Despite the no show, it's always fun to bird at Tres Rios, where abundant bird life is always found!  

Hello 2015!!!!!!!!

A Slow Start to 2014...

After an amazing and fast end to 2013, my luck reversed itself to a boring and slow start to 2014.....

I look at my work schedule for my job at the hospital.  Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work....

That's right, I said work nine times (it feels like way more!).  My schedule at work for 2014 has started out rough, and I have to work the first 9 days of 2014 before any days off, and yet alone...any real birding days.

On the first two days of the year, I had to work two 12 hours shifts in a row, followed by an 8 hour shift the next day.  I figured I would hide from the parking lot Rock Pigeons, Grackles, and House Sparrows in the parking lot at the hospital these first three days to avoid a lousy bird to start my year off.  I had planned to drive somewhere close and at least get a decent bird to start off 2014.  But when I got fuming mad on January 2nd at my work phone (a very common occurrence), I went outside without thinking to get fresh air.  I then...heard it.  "TEEK".  It was the call of a House Sparrow.  I kicked myself and ruined my goal of starting the year off with a decent bird.

I thought, "hey, might as well get the rest of the dummies out of the way!".  I walked around the surrounding neighborhoods of the hospital and had an abundance of Eurasian Trash Doves, Rock Pigeons, Great-tailed Grackles, European Starlings, etc.  I did get 8 other birds I much would've rather started out with, such as Anna's Hummingbird or Orange-crowned Warbler, and Ruby-crowned Kinglet to make it a little fun.

On January 4th, I decided to go for my first bird of 2014 that is worth the mention on my way to church.  Because Arrowhead Lakes is very close to CCV, I went there for an hour before the service.  Last winter, a Eurasian Wigeon was found along Arrowhead Loop Road with American Wigeons only to be found again this winter.  I decided to go look at it.  And who wouldn't want to look at it, it's a cool duck!  The area these birds like is a stream area running through these fancy golf course-dominated neighborhoods.  As I drove up, I saw the Wigeon from a distance.

I got out of the truck and got easy and "killer" views of the Eurasian Wigeon drake.  Cool bird eh?

It seemed like a few of the female American Wigeons got sick of the norm, and hung out with a Eurasian for a change.

The Eurasian Wigeon is rare but annual in Arizona, especially in the Phoenix area somewhere or another or a few...

After seeing the Eurasian Wigeon, I went over to Thunderbird Viewing Blinds Park to see what was up.  This location was the spot for the awesome Lesser Black-backed Gull that showed up at the end of last year, a lifer for me and many others.  This spot is the wintering nation of the Common Merganser.  I've never seen so many mergansers in my life at a location like this one, and as many as 2000 have been counted on this medium-sized lake.  Here is a panorama view of a third of the flock.

They can really cram them in a small spot too!  How many can you count in this frame?

Here's a "small" raft

I'm looking forward to my first full day of birding in 2014!  The Wigeons and Mergansers are good first highlights.