Birding Telluride, Colorado

On August 17th, our 9th day of our Colorado trip, Mom, Dad, and I decided to plan for a huge hike up into the mountains.  We decided to hike on the beautiful trail we started to hike on Day 5, the one that went behind Bridal Veil Falls.  This trail is called the Bridal Veil Basin Trail.  Just like me, Mom and Dad were wanting to hike into much higher elevations, and we planned to get well above the treeline to see some of the higher elevation lakes in the area.  If I was to get Brown-capped Rosy Finch or White-tailed Ptarmigan on this trip, it would have to be on this hike!  While Tyler and Talia decided to stay home, Mom, Dad, and I woke up and started to get ready for the big adventure that would last the entire day.  We left at 9:30 A.M., got some snacks in town, and arrived at the trailhead at 10:30.  Dad drove up the dirt road up to Bridal Veil Falls, as the Bridal Veil Basin trail started immediately beyond the Falls itself.  A fast flowing river through the area feeds the impressive Bridal Veil Falls that the Bridal Veil Basin Trail goes along.  Several other waterfalls flowed into this river along the trail, which was a beautiful sight.  At the trailhead, the elevation was already over 10,000', and it would continue going up until we reached our destination.

The birding was good right at the start of the trail.  Swifts were everywhere overhead, including both Black and White-throated Swifts.  At the start of this hike, I got impressive and extended views of at least five Black Swifts, which was my first life bird of the trip.  I got to study their flight pattern and overall shape even better.  Due to their slow flight, I was able to even get a decent picture!  The White-throated Swifts have always been too fast for my film recording abilities.

Along with the Black Swift, I saw Violet-green Swallows, Mountain Chickadees, Wilson's Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow, Steller's Jay, Clark's Nutcracker, Hammond's Flycatcher, and White-crowned Sparrow to name a few.  And the scenery was also spectacular as we made our way to drastic heights...

When we stopped for a snack break, I was interrupted by a few Pine Grosbeaks who landed over our eating spot.  The overcast sky once again gave me a poor picture...

Before we knew it we hiked above the treeline.  It was quite the trek and exercise!

The tundra habitat was getting closer as we kept going.  We didn't have a lot of time at this point, so I had to bring my "A" game to luck out with the Rosy Finch and Ptarmigan.  As we reached the tundra habitat at roughly 12,200', most of the good habitat was on steep slopes rather than on flat ground.  I knew I would really have to get lucky to find a Ptarmigan.  As we kept going, we reached the beautiful Blue Lake, which was incredible.  Mom and Dad loved the lake and decided to eat lunch there, and encouraged me to look for the birds I wanted.  Around the lake were plenty of rocky talus slopes, which is the preferred habitat of the Brown-capped Rosy Finch.  As I came up upon the lake, I decided to shoot for the Rosy Finch first since the overal habitat around better for the finch as compared to the Ptarmigan.

I then heard a Brown-capped Rosy Finch calling on the rocks above me!  I scanned and scanned, but couldn't find the bird.  The idea came through my head to play my ipod.  When the sound came out from my speakers, the finch was very vocal back.  They can be hard to spot on the rock piles, and I was still having problems locating the bird.  As I started to walk towards the sounds, two Rosy Finches kicked up and flew about 50 feet over my head and further up into the mountain.  I saw the overall color, but the looks were crappy compared to what I was hoping for.  On the bright side, I would have to walk up through good tundra habitat to follow the finches.  It was good I at least had something with one of these two birds, it was certainly better than nothing.  I walked through the tundra for a good twenty minutes without relocating the finches or turning up a Ptarmigan.  Plenty of Pine Siskins were around, and they made things confusing as they would commonly perch on rocks also.  American Pipits made their way around on these slopes too, which was the first time I've seen breeding American Pipits in their right habitat.  It was a cool thing also.  I then decided to try and bird the opposite side of the lake.  As I made my way over, I passed through plenty of rocks along the lake that were mainly on level ground.  I was starting to hear more Rosy Finches.  Before I knew it, I heard Rosy Finches coming from different directions, and a flock of about twenty birds flew over the lake right past me.  Just a few feet later, I caught movement on the ground below me and looked through my binoculars to see excellent looks at two Brown-capped Rosy Finches.  I watched and studied these cooperative birds for a few minutes until they flew.  The Rosy Finches around the lake started to be cooperative also, and several of them landed on the talus slopes I stood under, at close distances.  I had all the views I wanted of this species.  Out of the three lifers I had thus far, this was the most rewarding, due to the hiking and extreme elevations involved in order to bag this bird.  I didn't find Ptarmigan, but maybe I will next year!....

Here are a selection of Brown-capped Rosy Finch pictures (my third life bird of the trip):

And also, here are a few shots of Blue Lake and it's surrounding environment.  I'll always remember Blue Lake for a few reasons.  As of now, it's the highest in elevation I've ever been at over 12,200'.  It was the great ending point of one of my favorite hikes of all time.  We ate our lunch here!  I found my lifer Brown-capped Rosy Finches here!

On the way down, I had multiple Pine Grosbeaks along the trail.  They were young birds and adult females.  I never did get to get the picture of the nice adult male that I was hoping for.  These pictures aren't great, but they are at least decent enough to show a Pine Grosbeak well enough!  The Pine Grosbeaks were heard regularly throughout the hike, as they were giving their double "wiieerrp-wieerrp" call-note.  I had at least seven Pine Grosbeaks throughout this hike.

Out of the entire trip to Colorado, this hike up the Bridal Veil Basin Trail was by far by best time of the entire trip.  Scenery wise, it's the most spectacular and most beautiful place I've ever been in my life.  From a birder's standpoint, all three of my highlight birds for this trip were seen on this hike in the exact order as I saw them in to begin with.  The three lifers were all in abundance on the hike, and I got great views of all three birds.  In this hike, I also accomplished a lot in the elevations we hiked.  It was the highest I have ever hiked up and I won't forget it any time soon.  Here's a few more pictures of the scenery on the way down the Bridal Veil Basin Trail...

Colorado had many awesome forest birds to be seen.  Others included the awesome Black-billed Magpie and Red Crossbill.

And Black-capped Chickadee!

And Dusky Flycatcher

My first Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a rare Dickcissel

Photographic Highlights!!

Dickcissel

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

May 13th, 2012:  Hassayampa River-my lifer Rose-breasted Grosbeak and finding the first spring record of Dickcissel in Maricopa County

Hi everyone,

As Tracy posted earlier, we had an exciting morning of birding in the 

Hassayampa area this morning at the Roadside Rest and the Hassayampa River 

Preserve.  I had a few additional sightings I wanted to include.

In addition to the DICKCISSEL and GRAY HAWK at the Roadside Rest Area, I 

also had a singing TROPICAL KINGBIRD.  Like the Gray Hawk, this species is 

a local breeder in the area.  I have had the kingbirds at the Hassayampa 

River Preserve, but this was the first time I located one at the Roadside 

Rest.  The Gray Hawk was quite the sight, and was an adult bird who flew 

by me at close range.  I was very shocked when I looked up and saw the 

Dickcissel, a bird I thought of as only a fall migrant.  I observed this 

bird most of the time I was at this area in nearly two hours.  It was only 

the second Dickcissel I've seen in my life, so I enjoyed it.  The bird 

gave it's "fart" call a lot also, and mostly stayed in the weeds.  At 

times it went up in the willows lining the river.  I was glad with how 

cooperative it was, I really wanted Tracy to see it!  Besides the BLUE 

GROSBEAK Tracy found, I noted a good number of at least 5 them while I was 

birding at this spot, always a good bird to see back in numbers.  Also 

present was a lone CEDAR WAXWING (also a few at Hassayampa River 

Preserve), and a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER.

Tracy and I checked Janet Witzeman's book, Birds of Phoenix and Maricopa 

County, which showed in the bar graphs as this bird never being recorded 

in spring at the time the book was published.  I'm unaware if there are 

any records since then.  I uploaded photos of the bird to AZFO.  As Tracy 

mentioned, Hassayampa was awesome today, and the ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK 

was a lifer for me (very overdue!).

An Epic Birding Weekend! A Camping Trip, strikeout, and LIFER!

April 28-29th, 2012:  Birding Mount Ord, Morgan City Wash, and Glendale Recharge Ponds (my first Whimbrel)

Hi everyone,

This weekend of April 28th and 29th of 2012 was filled with some awesome
birding.  It included a lifer, a strikeout on a potential lifer, many year
birds, some awesome birds I don't see enough of, plus an overnight camping
trip (a classic birding weekend).  Three locations-Mount Ord, Glendale
Recharge Ponds, and Morgan City Wash provided this story.  All in two
days!

The weekend really started on Friday, April 27th.  That took place on what
was planned as a weekend long camping trip to Mount Ord, where I was
joined by my brother Tyler and my cousins T.J. and Trevor Knupp, who
aren't birders.  They did help me out with owling at night, where none of
my forest hopefuls responded or called during the night.  T.J. was
extremely sick the following Saturday morning, and we had to head for
home.  I did get four good hours of birding in however near the top of Ord
and it's upper slopes before we went home..

We were camping right by the locked gate where the road continues to the
summit of Mount Ord (where authorized vehicles are only permitted).  Our
campsite was almost right on the Maricopa/Gila County line, as we were
slightly in Gila County.  I woke up on Saturday to an amazing abundance of
forest birdlife.  Both WESTERN and HEPATIC TANAGERS sang in our campsite,
and were right over my head as I first walked outside.  A few PINE SISKINS
were also around and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS graced the sky in high numbers
from the start.   Walking near the summit and around the upper slopes gave
me a good variety of warblers.  I noted 1 OLIVE, 10+ VIRGINIA'S, 40+
YELLOW-RUMPED, about 10 GRACE'S, about 20-30 BLACK-THROATED GRAY, and 3
TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS, as well as 4 PAINTED REDSTARTS.  Continuing to the
summit area of Ord, I was happy to find a single BAND-TAILED PIGEON, a
species I don't see often in Maricopa County.  During the walk up the
mountain, I observed about 10 CHIPPING SPARROWS, some in full song.
Several WESTERN BLUEBIRDS were also nearby.  Both Chipping Sparrows and
Western Bluebirds nest in this summit area, as both of them are very local
breeders in the county.  As I was near the top, I could hear several
NORTHERN PYGMY-OWLS below me.  I decided to walk down the forested slopes
on the Maricopa County side of the mountain that were more level to where
we camped, to try and get a visual of the owls.  Tyler joined me, and the
owl called again and we were able to track the bird down.  We both got
great visuals of the owl for over 30 minutes, who was actively mobbed by a
parade of different songbirds.  As we went back to camp, an hour or so
later could hear the owl (or maybe a different owl), calling close to
camp.  It was right near the road (on the Maricopa side), and I was able
to show T.J., Trevor, and Tyler the bird, which they all enjoyed.  At one
time, the owl flew into Gila County, giving me a Gila bird.  The Northern
Pygmy-Owl was by far my favorite bird of the morning.  Other highlights
among the 36 species I recorded near the top of Mount Ord were ZONE-TAILED
HAWK, ANNA'S and BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRDS, ACORN and HAIRY WOODPECKERS,
PLUMBEOUS and HUTTON'S VIREOS, JUNIPER TITMOUSE, WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH,
CANYON and HOUSE WRENS, BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW (in open and shrubby part of
one of the slopes), BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK, LAZULI BUNTING, and SCOTT'S
ORIOLE.

Northern Pygmy-Owl

Once I got back home on Saturday afternoon, I decided to go to the 
Glendale Recharge Ponds in the evening, mainly to see Tracy McCarthey's 
CASPIAN TERNS.  I got to the basins and was able to see the nice flock of 
six, who were very active during my visit.  Thanks Tracy!  Another 
highlight at the ponds was my first SEMIPALMATED PLOVER of the year.  

My plans for today, Sunday morning, were based on trying to relocate Troy 
Corman's Blue-headed Vireo at Morgan City Wash.  I met up with Tracy 
McCarthey, Brendon Grice, and Steve Hosmer.  The four of us spent the 
morning searching for the vireo, who never appeared.  We searched and 
searched, but could only come up with BELL'S and WARBLING VIREOS.  The 
search was still fun and hopefully this bird will be the next addition to 
the Maricopa County list, another amazing find by Troy.  Besides missing 
the vireo, we did have a good morning with a lot of migrants to look 
through.  Our best highlight was refinding Troy's female BROAD-BILLED 
HUMMINGBIRD.  This bird was cooperative for us, and a new county bird for 
Tracy, Steve, and Brendon.  The morning was filled with warblers, as we 
encountered 10 different species.  Highlighting this family were at least 
10 TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS and a single HERMIT WARBLER.  WILSON'S WARBLERS 
were everywhere, and there were also a few BLACK-THROATED GRAY and 
MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS.  YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS have returned, one of the 
songs that is always great to hear for the first time after their return.  
Another interesting sighting came of a pair of ZONE-TAILED HAWKS.  These 
hawks seemed to be scouting nesting areas, and circled around us for some 
time before leaving the area.  Other highlights at Morgan City Wash among 
52 species included a flyover flock of WHITE-FACED IBIS, a calling WESTERN 
SCREECH-OWL, WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE, HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER, BROWN-CRESTED 
FLYCATCHER (many in the area), several BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, LAZULI 
BUNTINGS and a BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. 

After I got home, I saw the report from the Glendale Recharge Ponds from 
Nathan Williams and I immediately headed for the ponds.  I met up with 
Tracy McCarthey for the second time today, and we enjoyed the rarities 
once again at these productive ponds.  My main highlight was the 
continuing 2 WHIMBRELS.  This bird was a lifer for me, and one I've been 
looking for for several years in Arizona.  These two Whimbrels never took 
flight from basin 1 while we were there, and even vocalized several 
times.  It was a perfect way to get a lifer!  Tracy's main highlight was 
the continuing LEAST TERN, which was a year bird for her (as well as 
me!).  This small bird sat in the middle of basin one, and actively fed at 
times.  The Least Tern commonly sat among other larger birds, dwarfing in 
comparison.  We didn't see the California Gull.  Other highlights included 
AMERICAN WIGEON, WHITE-FACED IBIS, OSPREY, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, a few 
SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, a single WILLET, and an increase in WILSON'S 
PHALAROPES.  Thanks to Nathan and the Kansas birders for finding and 
reporting these awesome birds!  

Whimbrels (my lifebirds!)

Willet

It was a great overall weekend of birding.  I recorded 111 species between 
these three locations (which are all very different!).  18 year birds and 
1 lifer, making it a great weekend.


Good Birding,

Tommy DeBardeleben (Glendale, Arizona)

The Chase For the Nutting's

Hi everyone,

Today on January 2nd, 2012, Jim Kopitzke and I had an awesome day of 

birding, as we headed up to the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge in 

search of the Nutting's Flycatcher.  The day goes by too fast when birding 

in awesome places like this, and that was certainly the case today.  We 

were both very successful by the day's end, with both life and state 

birds.  

Barrow's Goldeneye

Barrow's with Common Goldeneye

Our first stop of course was at Bill Williams, where we walked around 

Planet Ranch Road in search of the NUTTING'S FLYCATCHER.  We ran into 

Jason from Phoenix, and he had heard the flycatcher before we arrived at 

8:30 A.M.  We started near mile 2.5, but quickly went back to where Jason 

heard the bird which was at mile 2.0. While walking on the flag trails 

which goes through the area's dense riparian habitat, we heard the 

distinctive "wheep" from the Nutting's roughly around 9 A.M.  A few other 

birders who had arrived were looking at the flycatcher from Planet Ranch 

Road.  We quickly went back to the road and scanned from there.  The 

flycatcher continued to call on and off and play hide and seek with the 

birders, until we relocated it.  It gave good looks on and off 

consistently for the next hour starting at 9:30, and often calling during 

the time we were looking at it.  That was the prize for me, seeing the 

bird while it was calling.  There were about ten birders in the area 

during this time frame, all getting looks at this excellent rarity in 

North America.  Thanks Lauren and David for the awesome bird and discovery!

From the success of seeing our first Nutting's Flycatcher, we then went to 

the Bill Williams Delta.  Birds were everywhere, some of them way too 

distant to accurately scope.  We got lucky as there was a spot right by 

the Refuge's visitor center with a cove with a large Goldeneye flock.  

This large flock held at least seven BARROW'S GOLDENEYES, which was a life 

bird for me and a state bird for Jim.  A very cool looking bird, and fun 

to compare it with the Common Goldeneye!  Other highlights at the Delta we 

were able to locate were a PACIFIC LOON and a HORNED GREBE among the 

abundance of waterbirds.  There were two distant loons I wasn't able to 

get a good look at.  

Our next stop turned out to be amazing as we stopped at Havasu Springs to 

search for some of the recent rarities reported there.  We were on the 

lookout for the Mew Gull that was recently seen.  Despite the fact the 

wind was horrible at this site, the birding was still good.  As we 

arrived, I saw a young gull flying around that I thought was the Mew Gull 

and looked good for that bird.  I quickly lost it, and we went about 

scanning birds in the distance.  I then got on the young gull eventually, 

but it was too far out on the water.  Jim then spied a loon flying across 

the water a good distance away, and as we looked at it closely we could 

see that it was one of the RED-THROATED LOONS!  The loon landed and gave 

us good scope views, where Jim celebrated a state bird, and I celebrated a 

life bird.  Following the Red-throated Loon, two COMMON LOONS swam and 

dove nearby, as one of them was just feet away from the shore at times.  

As gull activity dwindled down as we started birding, it quickly picked up 

again.  That young gull that I thought was the Mew Gull flew over us 

again, and landed over a hill along the shore.  We ran to the spot and saw 

that it was the MEW GULL!  It was Jim's state Mew Gull, which gave us more 

entertainment.  Other birds of interest here was a RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 

and a HORNED GREBE.

Next, Mohave County.  We went to Rotary Park first to check the gull 

flocks.  Besides Ring-billed's, we came up with a young CALIFORNIA GULL.  

Our final stop came at Site 6 from 3 to 4 P.M. at Pittsburgh Point, in 

search of some of the rare gulls there.  The spot was quiet as we started 

searching, but it ended the day on a great note.  We spotted two gulls in 

the distance as we started, as one of them we felt was probably the 

Thayer's Gull.  The looks were far too distant to be sure.  As we waited 

for gull activity, a flock of BUFFLEHEADS, COMMON MERGANSER, and a COMMON 

LOON were out on the water.  In spite of the fact I was bored hoping for 

more gull activity, I decided to throw some bread out to a RING-BILLED 

GULL flying overhead.  It seemed as if it were magic bread, as the quiet 

site 6 all of a sudden had gulls flying in from every angle after one of 

them took interest in my bread.  I continued to feed them, and I then 

caught site of our other hopeful bird, the GLAUCOUS GULL!   The Glaucous 

Gull flew right past us, where we were able to study it perfectly.  It 

circled around and saw that my bread wasn't too good after all, and left 

before coming back one more time.  It never feed, but thankfully did 

investigate what the other gulls were up to.  The Glacous was another 

great state bird for Jim, and a great lifer for me.  And I was just 

kidding about the magic bread, gulls always do that.

Glaucous Gull

Another great day to be birding in one of AZ's awesome locations!