In the world of birding, one single bird-whether big or small in size, can lead to be a life changing event upon it's discovery in a matter of seconds. Like fireworks exploding on the Fourth of July, news of that bird will drive all birders from all directions to it's premises to witness the event of it's ignition. An ABA first Great Black-Hawk created that stir in 2018 as the country's most popular bird of the year. It was no doubt an epic occasion, one that will leave lasting memories for thousands of birders, as well as non-birders, for years to come. In the birding dictionary, "Mega" means mega rarity. This term is used for birds that show up for the first time in a major region, or has one or maybe two previous records over a long span of time. First time records for the ABA, state level, and even county levels obviously cause some of the best of stirs in the birding community. Call them all Megas. When it happens at the ABA and state levels especially, serious birders are bound to go absolutely crazy over the bird that is being seen. Some of these birds may be easy to see, while others may be extremely difficult and may require extensive stakeouts of hours or in some cases, even days. For the hundreds and thousands of birders that try, I can't help but compare it to two basketball teams relentlessly competing for a championship. No matter what, some of the people who suit up for the game are going to get lucky and win, and some are going to come up just short. While it's more as birders versus the bird (I guess in some cases it's birders versus birders), it has similar effects to the winning and losing aspects of a game. A dominating percentage of success can be quite simple and will boil down to standing in the right place at the right time. Luck can bounce in any direction given different circumstances. As a serious birder myself, I've been on both sides of the spectrum plenty of times. Despite the days when I've lost, my love and appreciation for birding never ceases to grow. Hearing and seeing the reactions of fellow birders who share the same passion with me during these pursuits will never grow old either. In Arizona's case, early into this year of 2019, a firework bird that showed up is the first White-throated Thrush for the state. And hundreds of birders have wanted to see it...
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| You never know what bird may be lurking nearby... |
In 2001, people throughout Arizona ran outside on a late November night celebrating in neighborhood and city streets while screaming and banging pans. Luis Gonzalez's base hit on feared closing pitcher, Mariano Rivera, won the Arizona Diamondbacks their first championship over the renowned New York Yankees franchise. Most of the victory in the win was that an Arizona professional sports team actually won something, and there's a strong chance it has been the first and last time that it will happen. In the birding world, Arizona is the exact opposite. Birders constantly have something to scream and cheer about each and every year. It's similar to running outside, screaming, and banging pans. Maybe some birders do do that at the avian newsflashes, but most will get in the car and drive as fast as they can when they can. On January 9th, at roughly 12:45 P.M., major details came into reporting sources of Arizona's birding networks via Facebook and the Arizona/New Mexico Listserv. It was Andrew Core, Arizona's Rare Bird Alert compiler, a guy who everyone appreciates and wants to hear from. His message was along these lines:
"I just received a picture of an apparent White-throated Thrush from Madera Canyon between Proctor Road and Whitehouse Picnic Area, the bird was found by Linda Grant. Details will continue to come".
A White-throated Thrush! Wow. If birders were to look over the official list of birds for Arizona after Andrew's postings, they would realize that this thrush, who is a denizen of Mexico, had never been recorded in Arizona. Tons of birders were instantly thinking of driving up for the thrush, thinking of how they could possibly see the thrush, or when the soonest was they could attempt at seeing the thrush. For some birders such reports come as second nature, and they were already on the road.
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| Everyone has their own, "mega-rare-bird-face". Here's mine! |
For Linda Grant, the day was one that had birding plans that would more-than-likely feature some of southeastern Arizona's more regularly occurring birds. She wasn't expecting to find a.............you know. I got lucky to talk with and ask Linda questions over an email about her discovery. Her day would go as she described to me:
"I live in Green Valley and it is only about 12 miles to Madera Canyon. I read where a couple of people had posted seeing Olive Warbler and I really wanted a better picture of one then I had. My husband and I loaded up and drove over to Madera. First stop we made I didn't see much. The next stop was the Madera picnic grounds where a bridge had been mentioned in a post. I started walking down the trail, crossed the first bridge, and went a little further. A Hermit Thrush caught my attention and I took a couple of pictures of him and a larger bird flew in...just for me :-) My first thought was a Towhee or Robin, but when I got him in my view finder at 400mm, I was like, 'What the heck is that?' From all my searching in the many bird ID books I have, I knew right away it was not a North American bird. I thought it was in the Thrush family though. There was a young man (Darwin) coming up the trail behind me and I stopped him and showed him the bird. It was in a tree, then it flew down stream. I asked him and showed him my pictures, and he had no idea but went downstream to see if he could relocate the bird and get a picture. I have iBird Pro on my phone and checked it. And it was in there. I stopped another couple of birders on the trail, showed them my pictures on my camera and on my iBird Pro app. 'But look at the range map', they said, 'It can't be'. My reply was, 'This is southern Arizona, we can see anything!'".
Linda wasn't exaggerating with her response by any means. It is southern Arizona, which has hosted first ABA records, plenty of first state records for Arizona, and lots of rarities annually. These birds are ones that have been found outside of their usual ranges, ranges that aren't illustrated inside of typical field guides and the more present-day birding phone applications. While looking at range maps can create closed minds of denial for some birders, the fun thing about birds is that they have open wings and can fly off of their usual course for miles. No one has ever seen a bird stop to read a sign. That Great Black-Hawk, a Mexican and South American raptor, ended up as far north as the northern United States to Maine last year. It was originally found in Texas, and it ventured further north as opposed to the homeward south!
Linda continued to say,
"I said I was going to send pictures to Andrew Core with the Rare Bird Alert to confirm my ID, and the lady, I did not get her name, said to do it quick before someone else does. I put my camera on a rock, brought up 3 pictures, and took pictures of the screen on the back of my camera so I could text them to Andrew Core so he could confirm my ID, but I had no phone service. My husband and I drove out of the canyon just till I had service. I sent the message with pictures and got a reply back right away. We sent texts back and fourth and Andrew said it would take him an hour to get there. He sent a message to Laurens Halsey, who was in Florida Canyon, and they came over to Madera. The bird had returned and Darwin had finally gotten a picture and had shown the birders at the Santa Rita Lodge just up the road where he was staying. He was visiting from San Francisco. So all those folks came down to see the bird. I got the word to Andrew as fast as I could and he put it online and a lot of people got to see it that first day".
When 2012 came around, David Vander Pluym worked on a project and wrote up a post called "Arizona's Next Ten". In the post, he predicted what he thought would be the next ten birds to show up in Arizona for the first time. Within the birds, which were arranged in taxonomic order rather than a ranking, was White-throated Thrush. For David's reasoning with the thrush, he wrote in midst of nine other birds:
"White-throated Thrush – Similar range in west Mexico to Rufous-backed Robin (though not as far north) with known casual dispersal into Texas gives potential for wandering into Arizona as well. To be looked for anywhere robins occur".
It was interesting that David predicted the bird roughly seven years before Linda's discovery made this guess of his come true. Perhaps a considerable majority of Arizona birders didn't know much about this Mexican species, the White-throated Thrush, before Andrew's relayed reports hit the media. Other birders have known about this bird as a very rare stray to the United States, and as David wrote, when it shows up in Texas on rare occasion. It likes to feed on berries, and it's primary behavior results in a very shy, skulky bird. Texas records of the bird have been discovered in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Most records in Texas have come from January through February, and suggest that this is when the species will disperse from higher elevations in Mexico and further north into lower elevations. White-throated Thrushes live in montanious forests of both coniferous and deciduous woodlands in their range of Mexico to the north and Ecuador to the south. Two main groups make up
Turdus assimilis (White-throated Thrush) of up to ten subspecies total between the two: the nominate Assimilis group and the Leucauchen group. The latter subspecies mentioned ranges all the way to the south, is a lot darker overall at slate gray, has bright yellow legs, eye-rings, and bill to sharply stand out, and is more contrasty than the former subspecies. The assimilis group is a paler brown and white overall, has a grayish bill, yellow eye-ring, and has a striking throat and collar pattern of a white base with thick, black streaks running across the throat. Both subspecies share the throat and collar pattern, and both equal out to being a well-named, handsome-looking bird. Arizona's bird is clearly of the Assimilis group. The northwestern part of the usual range for the White-throated Thrush lies at the southern end of Sonora, Mexico, which is fairly close to Arizona and isn't too far for a vagrant bird to travel.
As Linda said in her quoted text, a lot of people did get to see the White-throated Thrush on it's opening day, January 9th, as birders flocked to Madera Canyon. The Santa Rita Mountains host Madera Canyon, which is one of the top birding destinations in the United States. Driving the road to Madera Canyon and up into Madera Canyon takes birders through a diverse habitat selection starting in semi-arid grassland and it eventually climbs up into conifer and oak forests. Most of southeastern Arizona's specialties can be seen within this area, which causes thousands of birders to crowd to this recreation site within the Coronado National Forest annually. Madera has been graced with the presence of other Mexican rarities over the years that have included Eared Quetzal, Flame-colored Tanager, Beryline Hummingbird, Aztec Thrush, Crescent-chested Warbler, and Fan-tailed Warbler. Nearby Florida and Montosa Canyons are neighboring jewels that are commonly shared on time with Madera Canyon on birding trips, and they also have their share of notable bird life.
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| The Santa Ritas, always gaudy.... |
The haunts of Arizona's newest addition would focus in an area that is roughly a half mile apart and is bound by the Proctor Road parking and picnic area to the north and the Whitehouse Picnic area to the south. These parking areas lie in the beginning stretch of when drivers reach Madera Canyon after driving in on Whitehouse Canyon Road. The White-throated Thrush's whereabouts is somewhere in the middle of the two parking areas, and birders would hike up or down canyon to begin their searches. I'm just kidding on the whereabouts comment, the Thrush is most often seen feeding on hackberry berries and juniper berries near a bridge that crosses Madera Creek, the first bridge if coming south from the Proctor parking lot. Access to this area is met by paved trails. Birders would walk a rather short distance further south from this first bridge to a second bridge, also crossing Madera Creek. The bird would be seen from the vicinity of this second bridge at times too, but it more-often-than-not would stick with the first. The paved trail system through this area, one that features a few small loop hikes with a notable split of paved paths where the bird has also been seen at a lot, is an ideal walk for all birders. This lower part of Madera Canyon is a scenic place to bird and is surrounded by tall hillsides and the views of the highest peaks of the Santa Rita Mountains when looking south. The trail is paralleled by the sycamore-lined stream for much of it's length in this stretch, creating a memorable place to bird within juniper, hackberry, and oak woodlands.
Back in the day, the Phoenix Suns hosted their fans and games at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which is on McDowell Road in Phoenix. It was a small arena for an NBA team, but it was a loud and scary place for opposing teams to come and play. And it quickly became known as the Madhouse on McDowell. After January 9th's excitement, the fun for the birding community would only increase from there. Birders by the hundreds made the trip to Madera Canyon, and the stretch between Proctor and Whitehouse Canyon parking areas became the Madhouse at Madera. There's no doubt non-birders were curious, and little kid non-birders, had to have said to their parents, "Mom and Dad, can we play Pokemon Go too?". Birding is really a true-to-life version of Pokemon Go. Mr. White-throated Thrush, we want a quick, "Peek-At-You".
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| Can you find the White-throated Thrush in this picture? |
Over the days, the White-throated Thrush would give it's seekers a variety of appearances. At times it would grace some birders with it's presence by foraging on the open ground at close distances. For more, it would give good looks as it would feed in the open but higher up in juniper and hackberry trees. Tons of people would get to see it tucked in midst of a dense tree, well submerged by branches, sticks, and foliage. While plenty of folks got to see the Thrush, there were plenty of folks who didn't. Some people had one try to attempt a make-or-miss, while others would have to make multiple attempts to see the bird. On some days the bird was easy for people, and on some days, it didn't show up at all. I heard stories of a tour group trying for two days straight without a sighting, and the thrush was seen by folks on the day before the people tried. And once the people left, it would be seen the day after. Due to it's mega presence, the masses of people would often crowd the bird. During the first days after the bird was found, hundreds of eager folks wanted to see the bird at once. Getting looks and photographs was extremely difficult for some. As birders went seeking and searching, they would find that the thrush would be near other thrushes quite often-such as American Robin and Hermit Thrush.
While walking through the stakeout area during this time, it was very common at first to see huge groups of people. Sometimes there would be more than one hundred, as well as scattered groups of 20 to 30 people. Outside of weekends, 20 to 30 birders became more of the regular search parties. If each individual person was talked to, it would be fun to listen to because each person would have a slightly different take on seeing the White-throated Thrush. Each group of 20 to 30 birders were made up of 20 to 30 birders who weren't identical to one another, although one key bird was being looked for. It represents the fun of a birding community. In each group your going to have birders ecstatic about adding a new species to their ABA, state, or county list. Or all three! There's also birders who simply want to see a new life bird, birders who want to see the bird just so they can say they saw it's fame, the photographers who love to capture birds to the best of their abilities, traveling birders, birders who have made multiple attempts for the bird, the birder who's on their first ever mega-rare-bird chase and is very fun to be around, some who are along for the ride, and birders who don't know about the rarity and are simply birding but jump in due to the excitement. For the next part of this post, I talked to 26 birders, many of whom are fellow Arizona birders with me, who have chased and seen the bird and they have been awesome to participate on this blog post with me. Each one has a different story. Some stories slightly differ from the other while more stories are sheer opposites of other stories. The basic question I asked them was how long it took them to find the Thrush and to give a description of their encounter and time with it. In no particular order, their "Thrush Stories" were fun to receive and add to this post!
Thrush Stories
"Well I had just put the word out on Facebook and the AZNM list, so I was surprised to see 20-25 people milling around. I quickly found some people I knew and asked if they'd had any luck yet - "oh yes, it's right here! Maybe 12 feet in front of us". The words a birder wants to hear... except no one was seeing it right then, and no one could point it out. I walked around a bit (maybe 2 minutes) and from the corner of my eye saw a larger dark bird flying away, and thought I heard it call-that's gotta be it, I thought. I followed it about 75 yards downhill and found it perched up in a tree. I got a very nice look and glanced around-I had it all to myself! Everyone else was still up at the parking area...I called out and people started to flow down the hill toward me. I was able to watch it for about an hour and show it to many people just arriving, which is always fun". -Andrew Core
"We were lucky: we went on the first day...walked right up to someone on the trail who pointed it out on the adjacent hillside. Well less than 5 minutes from parking the car to making the tick! We stayed around and pointed it out to a bunch of others. The two people in the parking lot who with serious faces jokingly told us it had flown away may have lost some karma points". -Mark Stevenson
"When Lyndie and I arrived in Madera Canyon on January 10th at dawn we found a good sized crowd already there all focused on a big pyracantha bush making it easy to learn where the White-thoated Thrush was lurking. The trick was to find a decent spot to see it from. A gentleman birder named Steve Nord invited me to get in front of him so I could sit on the ground and get good luck at the star attraction. I got a good look at it moving around in front of a brush pile. Beautiful lifer!!!" -Susan Fishburn
"It was the second day after the first report, first thing in the morning. We were only 20 birders at the time and we waited for about 25 minutes before the bird came out at the Madera Picnic area. More and more birders began to flood the area and by the time I left it was a major shit show. I tried getting pics but kept hitting people in the head with my camera. Every time I'd say, here's the bird and try to get the pic, I'd whack a lady in the head because everyone would crowd around me while trying to get an ID shot, I'd forget that there were people in my space :) I left shortly afterwards :) It was crazy". -Chris Rohrer
"For me it was easy, walked up and there was a mass of birders already on it. I honestly didn't feel like being part of the crowd so I continued down the trail. Once I came back no one was on the bird so I walked down to the creek's edge and it was right there. Shortly after some guy chased it up a hill and it took hours before Brogie relocated it on the other end of the canyon (Proctor Rd). -Caleb Strand
"It was a very unexpected opportunity, but I was excited to have the chance to search for the White-throated Thrush. I was in communication with my friend Bert Filemyr from Philadelphia, who saw the thrush the day before I arrived. He offered to pick me up at the airport in Tucson on Saturday 1/26 and we spent the rest of the day looking for the thrush without success. It was wonderful to be birding in Arizona again, but call me thrushless, I feared that I was a day too late as I was with the Dusky Thrush in British Columbia the previous days. Luckily when we arrived early the following morning, a birder we met the day before stopped us on the trail with the good news that he had just seen the bird. We rushed up to the spot and I had a brief view of it fly on two occasions, but not well enough to count. Shortly after it flew into a tree into good view for photos! What a beautiful bird. Several more people arrived and the thrush remained for others to enjoy!" -Laura Keene
"It took me 30 minutes to see it, considering a hold up when we arrived, watching Gnatcatchers and HUVI, and waiting about 8 minutes to see it. I observed the bird for about 3 minutes, spending the first 2 enjoying the bird. This made the last minute frantic for pics, therefore I ended up with a mere doc, unfocused as well". -Jared Conaway
"I have learned over the years that sometimes it is just better to chase a sighting like this ASAP. With 38 miles between me and this personal lifer, I got there 3 hours after it was reported. Andrew Core, Chris McCreedy, Mark and Molly were on the bird as I arrived. I also went with my parents, snowbirding from MN, and we waited above Proctor Road for 1 hour with 80 other people when the Thrush popped out of the brush into a hackberry tree. Success". -Janine McCabe
"The White-throated Thrush was one of those too-rare-these-days examples of being in the right place at the right time. I had been working long hours on a difficult project and was working at a coffee shop on my computer while my wife worked next to me. I saw Andrew's post. I asked him if it was legit and he sent me Linda's back of camera shot. I said to my wife 'well I have to chase that and will work late'. Luckily we each had driven to the coffee shop. I grabbed my camera and drove to Madera. I got there, walked 120 feet and Andrew and Mark and Molly were on the bird. It was one of those situations where it was never going to give us a good shot, so I had to eventually leave and go back to work". -Chris McCreedy
"My friend Holly and I decided to chase the White-throated Thrush on the morning after it's discovery. I timed our arrival to correspond to the time that sunlight would be hitting the canyon bottom (though the clouds fouled that up). As we drove up to the Madera Picnic Area parking, 20 or so birders were looking intently at something that I figured was the thrush. We walked over there and had the thrush in sight in under a minute! For us finding a parking spot was more challenging than finding the thrush!" -Chris Benesh
"My first encounter with the thrush was on the day I returned from Argentina-I flew all night and got into Tucson about 11:00 A.M. - dropped my bags at my house and headed to Madera - it then took me about 45 minutes to see it around 1:00 P.M. My second encounter was with Dave Stejskal- and it took us less than 30 minutes to find it first thing in the morning-before the crowds arrived :)" -Gary Rosenberg
"It took about 30 minutes. There were several people looking in the area where it had been reported when Mark Ochs ran down and told us it was spotted further up the trail. We had nice looks of the bird as it was perched up on a branch just below eye level". -Muriel Neddermeyer
"Took me a total of about 5 1/2 hours to finally see the WTTH. First 4+ hours took place on the first trip which was a waste of time due to too many birders encroaching too close in the habitat and not giving the bird some space. Second trip consisted of walking the trails, like most others and someone had spotted it and came to let others know it had been spotted. Once I arrived at the spot, I got some good looks and a few photos and then moved out of the way for new arrivals and helped to get them on it as well. Probably had about 30 people viewing it at the time. Great ABA and Arizona bird but not a lifer". -Gordon Karre
"This is from 1/9/19. So I get to the Madera Picnic Area parking lot that is just off the main road and immediately got out of the car and it was last seen 5 minutes before I got there so I thought I missed it for good. After waiting with many birders for about an hour, me and 2 birders spotted a strange Thrush with a Hermit Thrush just north of the pyracantha bush and it looked larger and similar to photos of the White-throated Thrush I saw earlier and I said I think that's our bird. After that we all got to see it nearby the stream after it took a bath as it was preening and drying off. I wasn't expecting this Thrush to be basically a robin sized Thrush and especially wasn't expecting to hear it calling as well." -Max Leibowitz
"I have had four encounters with the White-throated Thrush so far. The first three observations were with groups of birders that had gathered just to see and photograph the thrush. My fourth encounter was personally my favorite, I got to spend some quality time studying and photographing the White-throated Thrush and then was able to show it to others. I was walking alone when I encountered the White-throated Thrush and several American Robins ground-foraging. After about twenty minutes a couple hiking came by and the birds flushed into nearby trees, then several birders showed up and I was able to get them onto the thrush. It was a special moment". -Laurens Halsey
"It took me two trips to find it. It took me about 7 hours total to see it. The first time I tried I had afternoon plans back in Phoenix so I could only stay for two hours. I arrived before sunrise but no one had seen the bird when I had to leave leave two hours later. The next weekend I tried again, and committed a full day to the effort. It took a while, but after about five hours of looking I heard that it had just reappeared in the same hackberry where it had been several times over the previous days. We got great looks at it, mostly obscured but it lingered within the shrub for nearly an hour before I decided to head back to Phoenix again, and the report of a Canada Warbler in the Phoenix area kept me from lingering any longer!". -Ryan O'Donnell
"On 13 January, Tom Lewis and I arrived at the Proctor Rd. parking lot around 0845 when it was raining and we were on the trail just before 0900. We were walking on the paved loop trail in periodic light rain when we heard others had found the thrush just up stream of the upper bridge. We quickly joined 20 or so birders and first observed the thrush about 0925 based on my notes. The crowd steadily increased and started to get too close and work around the bird. As Tom and I left about 20 or so minutes later to find Chrissy, Eric, and others who we thought were supposed to arrive soon after us, I quickly mentioned to the crowd that you needed to give it more space or it will flee. By the time we found them and walked back to the thrush site, it had already been flushed by the masses. We searched until about noon to try to relocate it before we headed on. I understand it took Chrissy and the others until 2:30 pm to relocate the thrush that afternoon". -Troy Corman
"I've never been on birding "stakeout", or a big chase, that is, until Chrissy Kondrat-Smith texted me a few weeks ago and invited me to go with her and Eric Hough to see the White-throated Thrush. How exciting! We left early in the morning on a Sunday (first mistake perhaps going on a weekend). We got off to a little later start then planned and Chrissy let Troy Corman know we were going to be right behind them. While we were on the road we were making plans on what we were going to do after we saw the thrush (second mistake, I was assuming that we were going to see him in short order). It was a very foggy morning and at times we could barely see the freeway in front of us, a bit of a stressful drive for Eric, I'm sure, but he did a great job and we arrived in one piece. As we arrived Troy told us to hurry, that it was being pushed and flushed by some eager folks. I was behind a bit, and Chrissy got there just in time to see a figure of the bird soar up and over the hill and disappear. Then I turned the corner and was a bit taken back by the sheer number of people there! You really could easily hit someone just by swinging your camera or binoculars around. After that the group split into two different camps, the first was the group that had seen the bird. They were now talking and laughing, sharing their story and socializing with friends and catching up. The second group, (that I was in), were just starting our search, not too interested in the chit chat yet. Kind of wishing the mob that had seen the bird might take the party down the road. Yes, I was jealous LOL!! It took a little over 6 hours for us to "find" the bird. It was really Mark Brogie who (with his golden ears) heard the subtle "eenk". I was wandering around by myself when Caleb Strand came running down the path looking for me and excitedly told me that the bird had been found! HURRAY!!! I got there about 10 minutes later, after the group had gotten good pictures. The thrush was now foraging around in the brush, I could see the plants moving...moving...oh, the anticipation!!! Eric waived me forward and let me take his spot to see it! Then up it flew into the other side of the tree where I was standing. I could see him, but I wanted a picture. There were so many people that I would have had to move around, and I didn't want to spook the bird back down. So I decided to leave my camera alone, and just enjoy watching this creature eat to his heart's content, while he just ignored all of us. He eventually flew back into the brush, just barely coming forward, then darting back. I never really got much of a look after that, he really is a little Turdus Assimillis! The day ended well. Chrissy had just been snail hunting, while Eric and I enjoyed watching the feeders at the B&B down the road. We were walking back to the vehicles and it was getting dark. Then, we all heard it. It was the White-throated Thrush! He darted right out from under us and into a conifer. We had found his roosting spot. It was a good end to the day, and a day I will not soon forget". -Mary McSparen
"I was at the very spot it was discovered, the day before it was found! And didn't see it. Rats! The next day, I couldn't go, so I went back a couple of days later, sat by the bridge below Madera Picnic Area for well over an hour. There were always lots of other birders, wherever I went, looking as well. I got good pictures of the Trogon and the Robin that had chased the Thrush away, and a few Hermit Thrushes, but that was all. I also made several attempts hiking from Proctor Road parking lot. In all, I made six attempts over the span of two weeks. My final attempt was made in the morning (for the first time) after I managed to get to sleep significantly earlier than usual. From the Proctor Road parking lot, I hiked up past the hackberry grove, stopping to observe frequently, and still, nothing. I asked every birder I met if he had been seen, and no, they hadn't seen him. I was sitting and photographing other birds just across the trail when one of the people I asked about it pointed north and said it had been seen there, so I followed him closely enough to see he took the east branch of the Proctor Loop, so I followed and got to the bottom and saw the collection of birders at the trees just past the fork on the west branch. So I joined them, and some helped me locate him in the trees. I took numerous pictures, and none of them came out as well as I had hoped, but were not too shabby. He was resting in a tree mostly facing away from us most of the time, but became more active, so I got some better pictures in another tree. I left about 11 AM, praising God I finally got to see him. I would never have found him without the help of other birders, which is one reason I persisted right away instead of recuperating between attempts". -Pat Goltz
"We were at Madera less than an hour when someone else located the thrush, so we just followed the birders as they ran to get a look. It was kind of strange being there with more birders than birds. All that fuss over such a plain looking bird". -Jeff Ritz
"I first heard about AZ’s first state record of the White-throated Thrush when my friend Jeff Ritz sent me this message on January 10th: “I take back what I said yesterday, you should go to Madera [Canyon]and take me with you. White-throated Thrush!!!!” He was referencing plans I had made with some co-workers to take them for their first birding experience on my friend Caleb’s bird walk the next day. Looking back at our correspondence, I now laugh at my response: “I don’t think I could take my co-workers on a trip like that, if things fall through though, we'll see.” Being somewhat new, and having a lot more to learn in birding, I sometimes don’t realize when a out-of-this-world mega meteor rarity of a bird lands in AZ… until I do a little more research. After a little research, it was an easy decision to make. If my co-workers want to be friends, they are either going to have to come with me on trips to chase birds or just simply understand the importance of ABA code-4 rarities. Some opportunities are too good to pass up. When Jeff and I arrived at the Proctor road parking lot around 8:30am we joked at how lucky us birders were to avoid the National Park fees from the recent government shutdown (to be honest I rather our parks be fully funded than shutdown at any time). To our benefit there were a lot of people who saved on parking fees that day, within about 30 mins of our arrival one of the many scavengers of Linda Grant’s great AZ find had already relocated it. The crowd rushed in, including Jeff and I, as if we were about to witness the Pope Francis Assisi himself. Like some monk-type representative, plain and simple, it sat in a dignified calm, revealing the peacefulness of nature. Unlike the Hermit Thrushes, who are common to the area and often secretive, this guy was perched high out in the open, not at all shy, but instead welcomingly receptive to the attention and awe of the masses that came to visit it that morning. It’s bright yellow orbital ring was striking and my favorite moment was when it flicked a hackberry down it’s throat with its matching yellow tongue. That was pretty cool. Being my first experience with a 1st state record, it was really exciting to be there in that moment, and even more special that the excitement was shared between so many people. It was fun seeing so many familiar faces all in one place at one time. AZ is home to some pretty awesome birders, people of all types of backgrounds and I sure feel lucky living here for both the birds and the people… and heck Saint Francis of Assisi has always been my favorite saint." -Dara Vazquez
"Neat bird. I was lucky and was able to walk right up and see Muriel there with a large group waiting as the thrush ate and would then jump up. I did, however, have a very frustrating day. Birders and photographers really were on their worst behavior chasing it versus just waiting for it to come so everyone could see it. Then I get back later and see posts about people mad at photographers for using flash and calling out photographers when I watched a guy with only binoculars chase the bird the opposite way going under the bridge we were all waiting on and pushing the bird upstream. I rarely get irritated. I was a little bothered that it was blamed on photographers when in my case that day it was birders just as well. I just don't get it-the bird is moving a direction slowly and you jump in front of it when there are other people there and interrupt it's movements. I get that photographers try to get a shot but what the heck was the birder doing chasing it, lol. Some birder harassed me because I had a flash on my camera (I had it off and wouldn't personally risk spooking a bird when there are others trying to see it but that is just me). I located ten feet from me an Elegant Trogon and could have easily moved and gotten an amazing shot but instead I was courteous and helped people who had never seen one. Then some dude comes flying in with a tripod and literally chased it a mile away. The way I normally work in large crowds is I watch which way the crowd is pushing the bird, and then I go way down and wait for the bird to come to me. I took zero photographs of the White-throated Thrush". -Brendon Grice
"On 01/12/19 I finally was able to try for the White-throated Thrush. I started at 7:22 in the morning and after an hour or searching, two birders suddenly took off down canyon. "Does somebody have it?" I said and one of them said "Yes". Every birder in the area now trotted down the trail and we came upon a mass of people with binoculars, cameras and scopes pointed in one direction. Maybe 100 of us got to see the thrush teed up maybe 20 feet off the ground in a hackberry. Cue the hugs, high fives and fist pumps". -Brian Johnson
"It took a "flock" of birders to find the White-throated Thrush. On my first attempt I missed it by 10 minutes at it's known location. After many of us searched up and down the canyon for hours, I had to leave. Of course, the thrush was relocated 5 minutes after I left. My second attempt was a repeat except with a happy ending. After missing the bird, searching for hours, a birder found it and alerted us. We all saw the White-throated Thrush sitting on a bare branch affording us views from all angles". -Barb Meding
"The first trek with Gordon Karre for the White-throated Thrush involved almost four hours of looking without any luck. It had been seen earlier in the day, but no luck that afternoon. The second trek with John Ray was first thing in the morning, and we were able to see it within 90 minutes, but it took some effort. I think the 30 or so persons looking for it were rewarded with good looks. It was perched in a tree when I first saw a couple of birders looking at it, but they were not 100 percent sure it was the bird. I pulled up the binoculars and immediately said that it was it, and ran off to tell others. I had seen this bird in Texas". -Mark Ochs
"I saw the thrush on my first try (1/12) after an hour and 45 minutes. I started at the Whitehouse Picnic area and made my way towards Proctor Rd. I was searching around there for awhile and started to head back up canyon and bumped into Gordon Karre. He told me it was being seen just up ahead. I got on the bird after less than a minute of looking for it and trying to get a vantage point with all the birders there". -Jeremy Medina
"All I want to do is fly, crap, eat berries, and call from time-to-time. Wherever I go, there are crowds of people everywhere, and they are larger than any flock of birds I've ever seen. They point long objects at me and look at me with other objects. Call me used to it by now, as long as there's berries. Plus, I like this canyon place I've gone to". -White-throated Thrush
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| Birders lining the ridge of a slope in search of the Thrush. Photograph by Chris Rohrer. |
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Jared Conaway loved seeing the White-throated Thrush and he made a drawing out of it. Jared is a talented artist and he draws birds quite often. White-throated Thrush illustration by Jared Conaway.
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| Max Leibowitz took this awesome photograph of the White-throated Thrush. I really like the lighting on the picture. It is also the picture of what Jared used for his sketch! -Photo by Max Leibowitz |
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| Birders looking for the Thrush from the main road. This is an example of scattered groups. Photograph by Gordon Karre. |
Thanks Janine, Chris, Jared, Max, and Gordon for allowing me to feature your photographs!
Those Southeastern Arizona Rarities..
For up to 21 days after Linda's phenomenal discovery, all I could really do was watch reports on eBird, Facebook, and the AZ/NM birding listserv from the sideline. I wanted to see the White-throated Thrush for myself, but life kept getting in the way. This was one that I thought was going to get away from me, just like several other standout Mexican vagrants have gotten away in my southeastern Arizona past.
In 2012, my buddy Jim Kopitzke and I joined a crowd of birders for about three hours as we staked out an Aztec Thrush in upper Madera Canyon. The bird hadn't been seen in about two days, and Jim and I left our stakeout at 12:30 P.M. after a decent sit and thinking the bird was likely gone. When we got back into Phoenix later in the day, we found out the Aztec Thrush came in at 12:35, meaning we missed it by five minutes. It was funny, but then it wasn't so funny. In 2013, Mark Ochs, Laurence Butler, a huge birding crowd, and I, chased the song given by the rare Crescent-chested Warbler as we climbed up into Miller Canyon. The bird was just in front of us, but was slightly faster than we were. Turns out the song the Crescent-chested gave was it's Miller Canyon swan song, and it wasn't seen or heard again by anyone. I've also missed Yellow-green Vireo three times: one by a few minutes, one by seeing only a fraction of movement while three others in my party had identifiable views and were standing right beside me, and one by a day.
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| After missing Crescent-chested Warbler, we enjoyed a Spotted Owl. Photo by Laurence Butler |
I've also landed plenty of Mexican rarities in southeastern Arizona. It's the good part of the fun. There will always be awesome victories and some bummed-out misses. To name a few, I have gotten Fan-tailed Warbler, Slate-throated Redstart, Pine Flycatcher, and Tufted Flycatcher. With the White-throated Thrush showing up, I wondered immediately how it would fare with my makes and misses among southeastern Arizona's few-and-far-betweens. I wasn't counting on seeing this new addition to Arizona until I finally got to chase it. Reading the different expressions among fellow birders who chased the bird before me was entertaining to witness vicariously until I got out there, and went looking for that White-throated Thrush myself.
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| Tufted Flycatcher, Huachuca Mountains |
My Chase and Search: January 30th
January 30th finally became the day where I'd make an attempt for my first ever White-throated Thrush. I left for Madera Canyon early, well before any sort of light. An Amaranthe discography kept things fun as I drove southbound, which equals five albums of massive addictive metal. After arriving at Madera Canyon nearly three hours after leaving home, I parked at the Proctor Road picnic and trail head area, and started to make my way to the south and towards the area where the Thrush is most often seen. I came to the landmark of the paved split path that would go in a loop, which is near the well-mentioned 1st bridge. After I decided to walk the left/east fork of the paved split towards the second bridge and would then loop back around, I ran into my first birders of the day. I remember these birders being from out-of-state, both from California if I remember right, and they both had quality optics with them and seemed to be skilled birders. We touched base and exchanged the promise of the wanted shout out every birder wants to hear if the bird is relocated. As I continued, it didn't take long to hear the many voices of birders start to fill the area. I got to the second bridge, and continued back towards the first bridge and paved loop split. When I approached the split, I saw about fifteen birders standing close together. The body language of the group gave me the impression that they were thrilled and were on something good by the way they were standing and looking. I walked a lot faster at that point...
The two birders from out of state were there, and I asked if they had the bird. One of the birders, one I know for sure was from California, said, "take a look in the scope". Looking through his scope gave me a fist-pumping result, a thrush with a bold yellow eye-ring and a white throat with black streaks across it. The White-throated Thrush chase was already a quick success as the bird was feeding in a hackberry tree, and it had been no more than twenty minutes into my search. It was located by those out-of-state birders (one who was for sure from California), ones who generously put many birders on the thrush through their scopes as the crowd grew larger. The bird sat out in the open for a few minutes, feeding on berries, and would also sit practically motionless and well-covered in juniper trees. It would fly short distances at times after reaching it's desired limit at certain spots and would give a quiet and interesting-to-learn flight call. Earlier cloudy skies made me turn my camera ISO up a lot of the time. At one point, the thrush came down to ground level to drink from a small pool of water. It was submerged by a tall grass as people gathered around before it flew further down the trail. After giving the crowd about twenty minutes of action that was comfortable and basically trail-side, it took awhile for the thrush to be relocated again.
American Robins, Hermit Thrushes, Townsend's Solitaires, and Western Bluebirds were other thrushes that filled birder's lists up. More often than not, that rarest one of them all was found in midst of the others, mainly with American Robins and Hermit Thrushes. I went back to the Proctor parking lot and went south for a short distance to approach the area from the Whitehouse Canyon Parking area to hike towards the "second" well known bridge. This was a location where the thrush was seen more infrequently from. From there, I would work that section of the trail system back towards the Proctor trails where I had first started. Birders were everywhere here too, most looking for that coveted rarity and others casually birding. Conversations of birders stopping to ask for information was a common sound. As I continued from Whitehouse towards Proctor heading west, fellow Maricopa County birder Darrel Wilder told me that the Thrush had been relocated again, and from what Darrel told me, it was near the immediate area where I saw it earlier. I made my way there, told a few others it had been found again, and it didn't take long to find the crowd.
The crowd was slightly off of the trail, and despite all of the eager people, they still found a way to fit comfortably underneath a few juniper trees. I could hear cameras snapping away and see binoculars raised as I walked up one more time. Like a quiet hermit completely isolated by wilderness, the White-throated Thrush sat in the shadows, eerily quiet and motionless. It didn't seem to give two cents about it's many pursuers. Despite descriptions of it's placement given by birders, it took me awhile to see the bird. Once I did lay eyes on it, wow, there it was.
The morning light had become better for photographs while decreasing cloud cover increased the sun's production. Birders came in quickly for this sighting too, and at times, I found myself pointing the bird out to others. Two of those times I pointed towards were first ever looks for two different birders, and I got a thrill out of it. The two crowds I had been a part of in both observations of the thrush were fun to be a part of. Everyone was considerate of each other, everyone cooperated and took turns at being the ones closer to the bird, and everyone appreciated what was in front of them. And that White-throated Thrush, well he couldn't have cared any less as he still sat still and interspersed his sit with eating berries off of the juniper. When he finally moved, he went to more hackberry trees to feed and he would toggle back-and-fourth between feeding spots, putting on a show for his paparazzi.
While this crowd got their fulfilling views for the time being, they quickly thinned out and most headed back to the Proctor Road lot or the Whitehouse Canyon lot. After lingering for a few minutes, the remaining birders other than me left too. I looked up to see that the White-throated Thrush was still above me. For a rare few minutes, I had the bird all to myself, and it's something I'll remember. My time with the thrush had been epic, and after a few minutes, I left it at that. One more binocular look was how I concluded my observation. With the thrush being directly above me as he was facing straight and looking in the direction of his exact level, the main view was looking up at his defining white throat, streaked in black.
Another King
After I spent time with the White-throated Thrush along with dozens of other birders, I went up into Madera Canyon a little further. A road jam of birders could be seen from a distance as I approached. I wondered what it could be. "Could the thrush have flown up to this point" I asked myself. I walked up after parking and looked in the direction of where the birders were looking.
For fun, I tried to find what they were looking at before I asked one of them. I failed. Can you find what it is in these two pictures? There is something in there, I promise.
When I finally asked one of the birders, he said, "Elegant Trogon". And descriptions gave me a better idea of where it was sitting. Once I saw it, it was simple: there's the Trogon!
It amazes me the number of birders that a Trogon never ceases to bring in regardless of what other birds may be around.
Still To This Day
It's always thrilling to hear about how people start their birding "career". Each birder has a plethora of highlights when they take up this hobby and the time that follows. For Linda Grant taking up birding, she said,
"I had been a backyard birdwatcher for several years but evolved into a birder in 2013 when I really got obsessed with birding for myself. One of my friends and I decided to do a 'Big Year" between the two of us, only we had to have photos. I spent a lot of my time in my bird ID books, looking up birds. In doing this I was also learning bird ID. We had a fun and great year competing against each other".
As the Arizona state list keeps getting better-and-better, additions to the state list become harder to find and are an increasingly big deal when they are found. Linda found not only an incredible bird for Arizona, but a great ABA rarity. Hundreds of birders have her to thank for having this Arizona-first White-throated Thrush.
Still to this day, the White-throated Thrush remains to be sought out at Madera Canyon, and by looking at eBird reports, the last report came today, February 15th, 2019. As of now, about 500 observations of the bird have been entered into eBird. Some observations are duplicate birders and reps that they have taken. While the number is impressive alone, it doesn't include the birders who don't use eBird or the amount of people who have come along with birders to see what they wanted to see. There are probably just as many people who don't use eBird as opposed to those who do use eBird, likely even more. I'll bet that well over a thousand birders have seen this bird.
The last question I asked Linda was, "What's it like to not only have found a remarkable rarity for the United States, but a first state record for Arizona?". She replied,
"Since January 9th, hundreds of people have seen the bird, it has to be the most photographed bird in America right now. It is so exciting to be the birder to have spotted and ID'd it first, plus gotten the first pictures. It seems everyone has gotten much better pictures than mine. I'm not a good photographer, but mine were first! ;-) I have read so many book stories and articles about birders and how they imagine or dream of being the first to spot a rarity never thinking 'it would happen to me one day'. I'm not that good of a birder. It was just my lucky day!"
Thanks Linda, for the awesome White-throated Thrush. Congratulations too! I'm sure I'll have everyone else agree with me on what I'll say next. For someone who got obsessed with birding and started to pursue it in 2013, spent a lot of time learning and in field guides, and who found a state record and recognized it immediately as something exotic and different.....sounds like a good birder to me ;)
Big thanks to everyone who participated with me on this blog post and provided their awesome stories, you all rock. And we all know what to say about a mega!
A few links I'll include:
The White-throated Thrush documentation page on Arizona Field Ornithologists website (includes photographs by Linda Grant and more, plus more facts about the bird)
Arizona's Next Ten (David Vander Pluym's write up and prediction on his next ten to Arizona, an interesting read and good to study for when the time comes for these other birds to show up in Arizona who haven't yet)
