Texas Times: Among The Oaks and Cottonwoods

As night approached on that second day of our trip, April 28th, we had already driven about 900 miles from that Phoenix airport into the westernmost "tip" of Texas.  No words really need to be said to explain the vastness of Texas, but driving through a section of it can seem like forever.  Roads are fun to travel on when birding in new places.  They are the link to success, and no matter how long these roads may be, they are going to inevitably lead to those awesome places.  During longer stretches of driving, I knew that the stops ahead of us were worth every second of the time.  It's also fun to spend time with cool people!

After leaving Reeves County and Balmorhea Lake, we dropped down into Jeff Davis County, which is home to our next stop and pursuit, the Davis Mountains, most of which are privately owned.  The Davis Mountains have amazing potential for birds, and have reminiscent bird life of those in southeastern Arizona's sky island mountain ranges such as the Huachucas and Chiricahuas.  A population of Buff-breasted Flycatchers breed in the Davis Mountains.  Other birds that may be found include Montezuma Quail, Mexican Whip-poor-will, Spotted Owl, and Rivoli's Hummingbird.  Texas specialty wise, Colima Warblers have bred in this range, and have been found hybridizing with Virginia's Warbler.  A chapter of the Nature Conservancy holds a preserve in these Davis Mountains, which would be our shot to search for these mentioned birds among others.  Sadly, the Davis Mountains Nature Conservancy Preserve has a lot of limitations on when it is open, and that didn't fall in line with the April 28th and 29th that we would be visiting.  Caleb and Josh came up with an alternative plan of owling on the 28th, camping out, and then birding in mountainous oak and juniper habitat during the April 29th morning hours.

We stopped at a place called Limpia Creek as we pulled up at our first roadside stop, well after dark.  It was here that we would listen for owls and nightjars.  Things got fun as we heard our first owls for Texas, Elf and Western Screech-Owls.  Fenced off private property made it hard for us to access the habitat to pursue visuals further off of the road, but both species ended up treating us well and came within viewing range.  Two women pulled up, who were also birders from out-of-state, and they enjoyed the owls with us.

Western Screech-Owl

Elf Owl

After owling, the four of us were exhausted and went to camp out under the stars in our sleeping bags.  The crashing location was a place called Lawrence Wood Picnic Area, which would be our birding destination in the morning for the Davis Mountains due to the Nature Conservancy Preserve being closed.  I remember sleeping well throughout the night, and at times another new night bird made it's way onto our Texas lists that is Common and sang out loud "Poor-will.  Poor-will".

After a decent and much needed sleep, I woke up slightly before dawn as April 29th, the third full day of our trip, was upon us.  The Common Poorwill continued to say his peace at times, and a Western Screech-Owl briefly joined in with his.  Once dawn hit, a chorus of many different songbirds was impressive.  Before it was really all that light out, we started birding.  What we were really hoping for was Montezuma Quail, as the habitat was great with oak, juniper, and tall grassy areas on steep surrounding slopes.  Birds who filled up our outing included Wild Turkey, Acorn Woodpecker, Western Wood-Pewee, a handful of Gray Flycatchers, Cassin's Kingbird, Hutton's and Plumbeous Vireos, White-breasted Nuthatch, Canyon, Rock, Bewick's Wrens; Western Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, Black-chinned Sparrow, Canyon Towhee, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Scott's Oriole, and Hepatic Tanager.

Wild Turkey 

Gray Flycatcher

A few clear whistles echoing loudly from the slopes above us into the flat terrain we were on indicated a new life bird for me as David called out, "Black-crested Titmouse".  I was pumped at the sound of a new life bird and I wanted to see it right away.  Josh chimed in and said, "Tommy, they will be everywhere on this trip.  Everywhere".  I was glad to know that they would be everywhere, but I have a knack for wanting to see a life bird after I hear it.  While I didn't rush running up into any slope after a bird that I knew would be abundant for a good portion of the trip, I did keep my ears out for them if they would come any closer.  It didn't take long for the whistles to start coming from the end of the picnic area, and I made may way over to catch my first glimpse of the Black-crested Titmouse.

The Black-crested Titmouse has a range in North America that covers a lot of Texas and some of Oklahoma.  It is tied to oak woodlands, and it's range continues much further south into similar habitats in Mexico.  This species used to be one species with the widely familiar and eastern-tied Tufted Titmouse.  The two have hybrid contact zones where their ranges meet near the central strip of Texas, but otherwise, their range doesn't overlap. 

Caleb, David, Josh, and I spent close to three hours birding Lawrence Wood Picnic Area, and we had close to fifty species.  It was a fun and productive location to bird.  From there we went down to the southern base of the Davis Mountains, where we stopped at a few places and birded before continuing further south into west Texas.  A rest stop along the Highway 118 that we were on was a good one.  It had tall cottonwood and other riparian trees along a creek.  A Common Black-Hawk flew out of the trees as it gave it's distinctive call.  Working the riparian habitat along the creek gave us migrants of Swainson's Thrush and Northern Waterthrush among 27 species in a quick stop.  

After leaving the area of the Davis Mountains, we started to make our way towards Big Bend National Park, which was a three hour drive.  Big Bend was where we'd bird in several places before hitting up the Chisos Mountains within the park for a long hike to conclude the day.  Along the three hour drive, we passed through this small town called Alpine, which probably wasn't named too well considering there weren't any pine trees in sight.  We got plenty of food and gear we would need for the hike.  After grocery shopping, we encountered Alicia's Mexican Restaurant.  The food there was incredible, and it marked that second day in a row of having a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant.  

Driving through some grassland-ish areas along the way was fun.  Birds we had included Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Cassin's Sparrow, and Lark Bunting.  We had dropped into Brewster County, which is the home of Big Bend National Park.  The aftermath of the lunch meal left us in need of some loud music, and I said, "Caleb, can we listen to Amaranthe?"  Caleb let me bust it out, and while Caleb already likes the music of my favorite band, after playing a 20 song playlist Josh and David told me they enjoyed Amaranthe's music too.  Score.

Lark Buntings

Before we knew it, we entered into Big Bend National Park.  As with most national parks, this one could be driven for long distances.  While the Chiso Mountains were our primary destination for entering this park, there were other places to visit too.  Cottonwood Campground was the first place we visited after driving a considerable distance south within the park.  I reached a point of tiredness and dozed off for a half-hour.  When I woke up again, we were driving into Cottonwood Campground, which I immediately thought was a cool-looking spot.  The campground is well named and is filled with cottonwoods, has grassy under-stories, and the open under-stories below the cottonwoods are lined with thick mesquite and paloverde trees.  Barely south of the campground is the Rio Grande River, and halfway across that river width is the country line of the United States and Mexico.  It was a crazy thing to think about.  But first, we stuck to the campground.

Lucy's Warblers and Painted Buntings filled up the campground sounds with their songs, but the first big highlight came quickly when Josh looked behind us and said, "Guys, I've got a Golden-fronted Woodpecker on that sign".  We turned to look and see the bird Josh called out and it became a lifer for us, my fourth already at the time just in west Texas.  The Golden-fronted Woodpecker didn't stay on the sign long, and flew to nearby trees.  Throughout the time spent at Cottonwood Campground, it was fun to study this species (as there was a pair of them present) and to observe them up close during the time spent.  

Golden-fronted Woodpeckers are very closely related to Gila and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.  The trio sounds similar to one another, and in most respects, they look similar to one another in appearance, size, and structure.  In the United States, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers reside throughout much of Texas and a small portion of southwestern Oklahoma.  They hybridize regularly with Red-bellied Woodpeckers where their range overlaps.  Golden-fronted is obviously the most striking out of the three species mentioned, and it is found mainly in decidious forests but also plenty of drier, mesquite dominated habitats as well.  South of Texas, it's range continues further down into Mexico. 

In close to two hours of birding Cottonwood Campground, other bird highlights we had among 52 species were Greater Roadrunner, Anna's Hummingbird (pretty scarce in Texas), Vermilion Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo (some of which were definitely from the eastern population), Crissal Thrasher, Clay-colored and Black-throated Sparrows, Green-tailed Towhee, Orchard and Bullock's Orioles, Pyrrhuloxia, and stunning Painted Buntings.  

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Lark Sparrow

Anna's Hummingbird

Summer Tanager

Vermilion Flycatcher 

Painted Bunting

It was also interesting to walk down to the Rio Grande River and look just across the river and into Mexico.  Seven common species filled our Mexico lists while we stood in the United States, including Northern Cardinal and Black and Say's Phoebes.  Caleb tried to chase a Greater Roadrunner into Mexico, but that plan didn't work out.  

As we finished up at Cottonwood Campground after throwing around a football for fun, we would make our way much further into the heart of Big Bend National Park to the headquarters and trailhead that would take us up into the Chiso Mountains.  That will be another story to tell.  What was cool about driving along on our way was a remarkable view point of the Rio Grande River that showed a big "bend" in the river, which is where the park gets it's name from.

Texas Times: The Plan and The Go

There are many places in the world that I haven't had the chance to visit, and most of those places I want to explore.  Some locations are a daydream and would require a lucky line of numbers to secure a visit anytime soon, and some are right up my alley.  While vacation time at work limits me to an understandable three weeks of vacation time annually, I have to plan that main yearly escapade thoughtfully.  Different states to visit are a dominating factor right now and probably will be in the next decade of my life coming forward.  It's exciting to see new places, and to fill in personal slots on the map.  And of course you all know me, it's all about birding.  When I started birding in the year 2000 at about 14 years of age, I held the "birding globe" in my hands and would spin it around.  Yeah...Africa, Australia, India, South America, and Antarctica have been out of the question over these last 19 years as I have looked things over, but different corners of the United States have always had my attention as places to visit.  Over the last few years I have birded more outside of Arizona, but the more I do it, the more states I've realized I indeed want to visit someday.  When I've spun the birding globe throughout the United States, one of the states it has landed on the most has been Texas.  Birders flock to Texas to see it's avifauna, as it's one of the most diverse states for birds in North America.  While I've gotten used to birders from the all over the world flocking to southeastern Arizona to see range restricted birds in my home state, Texas has their own showdown with such in the Rio Grande Valley.  Birds are rich in the Rio Grande Valley, and for the longest time of looking into my field guides and seeing their specialties, I've wanted to have the chance to bird the locations of the Valley myself.  Recently, I've gotten the chance to go and also, I held on tight to that chance and did go to Texas to see that Rio Grande Valley and many other locations and regions the state has to offer for birding.  After the long wait of wanting to see Texas, it was finally time to put an end to wanting to go.

Last year, I spent my vacation exploring Greenlee County, Arizona's most under-birded county, for close to a week.  It was a fun vacation, but was much shorter than vacations I usually take.  This year, I made my vacation plans faster than previous years.  While talking to Caleb Strand one night, he was telling me that he and our mutual buddies Joshua Smith, Jared Conaway, and David Tonnesson, were planning to go on a huge Texas road trip in starting in late April through the first week of May.  Last year, Caleb, Josh, and David did a huge road trip to Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and a tiny portion of northern Texas.  They really cleaned house on that trip and had impressive sightings and numbers.  As Caleb told me about Texas, he explained that it was not only the Rio Grande Valley that they would do, but they would also cover the western part of Texas as well as eastern Texas and the Gulf Coast.  It was to be a huge trip, and Caleb's description of their plans sounded extreme.  I think I jumped out of my seat several times as he talked about Texas.  The thirst to go to Texas hit me harder in the feels than it had ever hit me before.  Time halted in those few minutes and was equivalent to a few hours or days.  I wanted to go to Texas too.  Without much hesitation, I couldn't help but blurt to Caleb, "Hey, do you have room for one more?  I want to go".  Caleb said without hesitation, "Yes, let me confirm with the guys".  I invited myself on the trip, and I'm glad I did!  A few days later, I was officially part of the Texas squad and was on board with things as the boys wanted me along for the ride.  AND I was pumped up at the opportunity.

What is it about Texas birding that has ignited my interest over the years and captured my attention over other vacation possibilities?  West Texas is a good starting point.  There is much to explore, and a powerful draw for birders is a long hike into a mountain range to see a certain warbler who is mainly seen in that mountain range as a limited United States breeder.  Every serious birder in North America will come to a wanting of attempting the "death march" for the Colima Warbler.  Most famously, there's the Rio Grande Valley.  Everyone talks about the Rio Grande Valley.  As I said earlier, birding the Rio Grande Valley is similar for birders who want to explore southeastern Arizona.  There are a handful of species who are only found in that area of the ABA, similar to southeastern Arizona.  The Rio Grande harbors eye-catching specialties like the stunning Great Kiskadee, Altamira and Audubon's Orioles, Ringed and Green Kingfishers, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Morrelet's Seedeater, Plain Chacalaca, Common Pauraque, Tropical Parula, Red-billed Pigeon, and the uniquely stunning Green Jay.  Some birders might get extremely lucky along the Rio Grande and be in the right place at the right time to cross paths with Hook-billed Kite or Wild Muscovy Ducks.  Special raptors found in or near the Valley are White-tailed Hawk, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, and the endangered Aplomado Falcon.  East and north of the Valley opens up more and more for the birding variety.  High Island and South Padre Islands are two primary sources to witness migration fallout in birds.  Such events are rumored to be unforgettable for birders as thousands of warblers and other songbirds see their first glimpse of land and are desperate to land and feed after migrating for long hauls.  Dropping down into the Gulf Coast to bird the shores and waters of the Atlantic Ocean heeds an incredible variety of waterbirds.  What's also great about Texas is it's variety of western and eastern birds.  At some places in Texas there are varieties of both.  Central Texas harbors iconic specialties like Black-capped Vireo and Golden-cheeked Warbler, and east Texas's decidous and long-leafed pine forests and surrounding fields and marshes bring fourth birds like Swainson's Warbler, Swallow-tailed Kite, Anhinga, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman's Sparrow, and Brown-headed Nuthatch.  It would take a lot more of a write up to explain the birds of Texas with justice, but Caleb's common words of, "Tommy, we can possibly see up to 400 species in Texas on this one road trip", said it all.  Also, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is a mysterious-looking species I've wanted to see for years.  They are said to be abundant throughout Texas, and I was looking forward to that too.

It was back in January that Caleb brought the trip idea up to me, and we had our plans set right after February.  The dates of our trip would last from April 27th through May 8th.  Caleb's Subaro Forester would be our source of transportation for the trip.  While that vehicle model is great for traveling, it would be hard to cram five people into the vehicle.  From the start, I wondered what that would be like.  I knew from the beginning that I was at least 11 years older than everyone else on the trip.  Joshua Smith is 21.  Caleb Strand is 19.  David Tonnessen is 18.  Jared Conaway is 16.  I thought it was kinda cool, and Caleb and I thought at first that it would be wise to consider renting a small trailer for carrying supplies, or else it would be very hard to fit everything, yet everyone, in our transportation source.  Unfortunately, things ended up falling through for Jared to come on the trip, and it brought our people count down to 4.  With nearly three months ahead of us before we would leave for our trip, it seemed a long ways off.  Josh, who is a great planner, planned out the itinerary for our trip.  He would factor in driving times and distances, what birds we could get at each stop, and where we would bird at and camp out at each night.  The itinerary was awesome as I looked over it, and Josh also made a bird list of the species that were more likely on our adventure.  For me, I knew that there was a great chance I could get 50 or more lifers on the trip.  By reading over the trip plans I realized how much driving would be involved.  We are talking hours and hours of driving at times.  As the time passed our group would talk over group text messaging, and a few times we'd talk about the trip over a conference phone call.  I knew I was going to be going on a trip with three skilled birders.  You guys all know Caleb from reading by blog by now.  Josh birded with me often when he lived in Arizona for a few years.  He's busy with college a lot, but he studies birds and nature constantly and isn't just a skilled birder, but an incredible naturalist too.  Josh lives in Colorado now, as does David.  I had never met David in person before the trip, but I always knew that he's a skilled birder.  David lives in Colorado too, and at his young age he's already found two first Colorado state records of Red-breasted Sapsucker and Tropical Kingbird.  With two Colorado birders joining forces with two Arizona birders over a twelve day span to bird and navigate what would be New Mexico for a day, Texas for ten days, and Louisiana for a day, I knew the time was going to be an epic one to remember for the rest of my life.

Before the trip, I meant to do a lot of book studying in my field guides, as well as audio studies of different birds I was unfamiliar with.  I put studying off a lot, and before I knew it, the big trip was already in front of me.  As a result I decided it would be fun to learn in the Texas field as I went, as spontaneous learning is usually how I learn best when birding.  April 27th came around very fast.  I had prepared everything I was going to take with me on the previous day, and I woke up and drove to Caleb's house to get the trip started.  We packed up both of our supplies and realized it would take up a lot of space, and Caleb said that David and Josh would have less than we would.  After getting groceries at the store, Caleb and I picked up Josh and David from the Phoenix area, and the trip was underway.  And the supplies would indeed cram up a lot of space and make it hard to move around in the vehicle..

We made our way toward our first stop of the trip, Willcox Lake and Golf Course in southeastern Arizona.  From the start our team already had a lot of energy and excitement for everything that was ahead.  It was great to see Josh again, as well as meet David in person.  Willcox wasn't too exciting other than a break to stop and bird along the way for awhile.  A singing Bendire's Thrasher was a highlight.

From Willcox we would head into New Mexico for the remainder of the day for several birding stops.  After eating burgers at Whataburger, we camped out along a road near Las Cruces, New Mexico for the night and when Sunday, April 28th arrived, we birded New Mexico for a few hours in the morning at a productive place called Mesilla Valley Bosque State Park.  We added a lot of birds to our New Mexico state lists during the stops in New Mexico on the afternoon of the 27th and morning of the 28th.  Caleb spied a Semipalmated Sandpiper at a wastewater treatment plant as one of the best birds.

Some New Mexico birds

Swainson's Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Bullock's Oriole

Cliff Swallow

Something that was awesome from the start of the trip was that Josh would keep track of almost everything we observed through eBird.  It gave us many ticks throughout the trip for the many counties we would pass through.  Josh was constantly busy keeping track of everything that was being seen, and it was impressive.  It got even more impressive as we got closer and closer to Texas after we birded New Mexico for awhile and made sure that each of us passed 100 species for the state.  After birding Mesilla Valley, we made our way to towards El Paso, Texas.  We couldn't wait to officially get into the giant state where we would bird in most, and as we approached that state line and crossed into it, this is how it went..

It was 10:22 A.M. when we got into El Paso, Texas.  Josh cranked up eBird and started to make one incidental checklist after the other.  Once we got into Texas, that's really when it seemed like the trip began for me.  Our first birds in Texas were none other than Eurasian Collared-Dove, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, and Northern Mockingbird.

The first spot in Texas that we got out and eBirded was a place called Ascarate Park, which featured a lake.  What drew our attention was that it had a lingering Snow Goose within the parks limits.  During our time spent of 1.5 hours, we didn't find the goose but did find a Canada Goose.  Caleb and Josh studied domestic ducks for quite a while, and David and I wanted to move on to the next spot as quickly as possible.  A few migrants were observed, such as a push of Wilson's Warblers and a Dusky Flycatcher.  Waterbirds on the lake included Blue-winged Teal, Mexican Duck, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, and Pied-billed Grebe.  There was also this domestic Muscovy Duck sitting alongside one of the shores.  I took this picture in case a chance of compare and contrast with a Wild Muscovy would come up.  We followed Ascarate Park with an awesome meal at a Mexican restaurant, which Texas has a lot of.

From El Paso, we took the Interstate 10 in the southeast direction for about an hour to our next stop, which was a lake in Hudspeth County called McNary Reservoir.  Birds started to fill our lists up such as Swainson's Hawks and several species of desert birds that included Gambel's Quail as we got close to the lake.  As we are used to seeing Gambel's Quail in Arizona in abundant numbers, the eastern range of their limit comes into this area in Texas.  Before the reservoir, a canal caught our attention that had reeds lining the water.  We got out to check, and looking up at the swallows above us gave me my first lifer of the trip, which was the Cave Swallow.  I predicted that this species or Scissor-tailed Flycatcher would be my first addition on my trip, and I was right.  There ended up being a few Cave Swallows in the flock, and some of them gave us very close views.

Cave Swallows look very similar to Cliff Swallows, but they have a cinnamon-colored forehead, a cinnamon colored throat that wraps around the neck, and relatively the same color of a rump.  They also give different calls than that of a Cliff Swallow.  As Cave Swallows have a history of wide vagrancy, they are most reliably found in parts of Texas and northern Mexico, which is their usual range.  Welcome to my life list, Cave Swallow!

McNary Reservoir had a share of waterbirds, such as Clark's Grebe, Blue-winged and Cinnamon Teals, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck, Pied-billed and Eared Grebes, Common Gallinule, Ring-billed Gull, Double-crested and Neotropic Cormorants, Great and Snowy Egrets, and White-faced Ibis.

Our next stop would be another lake called Balmorhea Lake.  From McNary it took us about two hours to get to Balmorhea.  Along the way we drove through a few more Texas counties, and Josh had his eBird continuously going with incidentals.  It was easy to see that Balmorhea Lake had a lot of potential as we pulled up to it.

Scanning the big lake, we turned up numbers of waterfowl that included Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeon.  Both Clark's and Western Grebes were on the lake.  Franklin's, Ring-billed, and a Herring Gull sat out on the lake as well as a flock of 26 Forster's Terns.  Caleb spied a Snowy Plover along the shore, and Scaled Quail could be seen and heard.  A friendly lady who lived along the lake was a birder and she told us about a pond that served as an inflow part of the lake.  The spot was good for shorebirds, and we added Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Phalarope, Spotted Sandpiper, and Willet to our young Texas lists.  A handful of songbirds were also present, as were a few Virginia Rails calling from reeds.

Scaled Quail

Snowy Plover

The birdy spot gave us about 60 species, but the one that grabbed me the most came out of the blue.  Two long-tailed flycatchers with split scissor-tails flew over and Caleb immediately called out, "Scissor-tailed Flycatcher!".  The pair landed close by to us and gave good views.  For me, it was finally the time to enjoy this bird for the first time in my 19 years of birding..

This bird is named for the obvious, as it often opens and closes it's tail like a pair of scissors.  These birds are unmistakable and distinctive among all others in North America, and they are most often seen over grasslands and other open areas while commonly perching on wires and fence lines.  They are commonly seen while driving, and they hunt from low perches to pursue insects on the ground.  The flights performed by the Scissor-tailed Flycather are often very acrobatic.  While the others in my party continued to bird on past the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, I went aside to observe them for the time that they sat there.

Here's a video of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Here's our crew:  David, Caleb, Josh, Me

After our birding at Balmorhea Lake concluded, we would continue to head further southeast into Texas's Davis Mountains.  Our first half day of Texas resulted in over 80 species, two of which were lifers for me.  Stay tuned for many more posts to come from this trip and this new blog series of mine:  Texas Times.

In The Gila: The Rare Chase

Vermilion Flycatchers are always cool.  And so are rare bird chases in Gila County.

Wait, what?  A rare bird chase in Gila County.  It's something that is as awesome as it is because it rarely happens.

Gila County, as we know (you all may be bored reading of by now cause I've said it so many times), has limited coverage.  Coverage is pretty lame, but I love lame coverage.  It gives more room for finding awesome species and data of your own.  To date I have chased four birds in Gila County:  Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Surf Scoter, Short-tailed Hawk, and the most recent, Harris's Sparrow.  I'll get to the sparrow shortly..

Birding Gila County usually involves waking up at 3:30 A.M. in the morning and leaving town around 4.  Surviving the morning drive is usually met by blasting music, stopping at a boosting gas station, thinking about what to do throughout the day if one plan fails, thinking about what to do throughout the day if one plan succeeds, and drinking a sugar loaded Starbucks frappuccino.  Once it's time to bird, that tiredness fades and the day all of a sudden becomes the fun awakening.  

Someone reported a Harris's Sparrow on eBird earlier in March at the northern base of the Pinal Mountains in Globe.  Caleb, Jared, and I looked for it without luck.  However, Dave Pearson and a large group of birders birded the community, the Miami Gardens, where the Harris's Sparrow was found.  Luckily, they relocated the bird and Mary McSparen got some documentation photographs.  Caleb Strand and I decided to chase the Harris's Sparrow on April 4th, and Mary was very kind to make these awesome maps of the bird's location for us.  Thank you Mary, you are awesome!  Caleb and I got to the Miami Gardens right at sunrise to begin searching for the sparrow.  Northern Cardinal to start the day anyone?

I wanted the Harris's Sparrow to start the day, but really, what fun would that be.  Caleb and I got to Miami Gardens, where one side of the road we birded along had the community's western line of houses, and the other side had desert habitat.  The desert was an interesting one to bird and had a lot of hilly terrain to walk up and down besides the flat stretches.  Flocks of noisy White-crowned Sparrows were easy to locate by ear, but they were hard to get good looks at at times and were quite skittish.  The area we were covering wasn't too big, but one sparrow in midst of thick habitat and lots of other sparrows was some work to be cut out of it all.  After starting at about 6:30, we found ourselves being majorly threatened by two Chihuahuas extending their rage to us behind the convenience of a closed fence.  It was hard to tune out that sound, just like that obnoxious co-worker we all know at work.  Walking away from the yard and back down the road and closer to where Mary had marked the spot where she saw the Harris's Sparrow, Caleb was standing down there and he said, "Tommy, here it is".  And there it was!  It was foraging in a mesquite and came down to the ground to feed on some seed that had been placed by birders.  The chase was successful after an hour's worth of looking, and I had myself a new Gila County life bird.  Thanks to Caleb to locating it!

Harris's Sparrow is the largest sparrow in the United States, and it is one of my favorite sparrows.  They are rare but annual in Arizona, and are the rarest out of the zonotricia genus that have other rare members in Arizona that are White-throated and Golden-crowned Sparrows aside from the abundant White-crowned Sparrow.  Gila County joined Pima and Maricopa Counties for other Arizona counties that I have seen Harris's Sparrow in.  This bird was really fun to see, not just because it was a Gila lifer but because it is one I have seen very few times.  

From the Harris's Sparrow at the northern base of the Pinals, Caleb and I climbed up into the highest elevations of the Pinals.  We found a closed road block once up there, and we decided to go on a long round hike of about 8 miles.  I really wanted to get a mountain birding rep in.  We didn't find anything crazy up in the heights, but it was well worth it!

To conclude the second half of the day, we searched the Gila River north and at Winkleman for a variety of birds such as raptors and migrants.  It was cool to see the Gila River very active with bird life for it being the afternoon, and highlighted by Common Black-Hawk, Gray Hawk, Western Screech-Owl calling in the day, and of course those cool Vermilion Flycatchers.