On September 10th, Keith Kamper was birding at the Lake Havasu area. When he got to the Windsor Beach site on the lake, he found an odd gull that turned out to be a mega rarity for Arizona, a Yellow-footed Gull. Contrary to the bird's name, the legs and feet of this bird change with maturity. Keith's bird was an immature, and it had pink legs and feet. A heavy bulbous bill on any gull in Arizona like Yellow-footed Gulls have indicate a rarity and also eliminate other rarities. Similar cousins are Western Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull. A Western also has a big bill, but not as big as Yellow-footed. While Lesser Black-backed is similar plumage-wise, it's bill is much smaller. A whitish belly and pale rump observed pointed to Yellow-footed Gull, and the birding community made plans to make the trek to Lake Havasu to try and see Keith's outstanding discovery. Keith has had quite the lineup of great finds, and this one added more to the lineup. For Arizona, this was the 2nd record of Yellow-footed Gull, and the first was an adult near Page in April, 1999. For days, the Yellow-footed Gull was seen following Keith's discovery. Windsor Beach was it's usual haunt, and it would be present for hours at a time, it would be hit-or-miss, or birders would have to wait for hours at a time for it to fly in. It often sat on buoys. Most of the birders who made the chase got to see the bird. I wanted to see it too, but I wasn't able to chase it at first and I hoped it would stay put long enough for me to get a chance.
My pelagic birding trip was much more important to me, and I prioritized that. Luckily, the gull stayed put as many birders went and reports came in daily. On September 23rd, Ronnie Reed and I decided to chase the bird. It would Ronnie's second time of going Lake Havasu, as he saw the Yellow-footed Gull in the earlier days after it was first discovered. Ronnie really wanted to do some migrant birding for passerines, which I wanted to do too after what we would look for the Yellow-footed Gull. We hoped it would be present and wouldn't give a stakeout. After leaving Phoenix before 4 A.M., we arrived at Windsor Beach early. There were gulls on the beach, and out on Havasu. Luckily for us, it only took a few minutes. Ronnie looked out and spied the gull. We got to watch it for about an hour, and it gave us a variety of different views. It also acted like a typical gull in the parking lot. A fun bird to get for Arizona, thanks to Keith!
We then ran into Keith the rarity finder himself, Jeff Ritz, and Dara Vazquez at Windsor as we were about to go to Rotary Park in Lake Havasu City to search for migrants, and they joined us. Rotary Park was awesome, and it had a cast of migrants. We were always busy looking at something. Dara found a surprise in a Townsend's Solitaire, and Keith found another rarity in a Clay-colored Sparrow. Those were 2 of 5 Mohave County lifers I got at Rotary Park. Over the years, Rotary Park has hosted an incredible array of species.
After leaving Lake Havasu City, we stopped at the Vicksburg Road Farms on the way back, one of my favorite locations in La Paz County. An assortment of shorebirds were present at a slop pond, including a few La Paz lifers in Stilt and Pectoral Sandpipers. Shorbs are always fun.
Another awesome birding day down in the books. It was great to get back into Mohave and La Paz Counties a little bit after focusing on them a lot earlier this year. Thanks Ronnie for the trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment