I woke up early today, September 2nd, and had a mission in front of me, a hardcore one. The root of the mission was to bird along Sycamore Creek via the Old Beeline Highway north of Sunflower. I had a strong urge in my gut to come here, and a strong urge to bird the surrounding area such as the juniper, chaparral, and pinyon-pine covered slopes, as well as Mt. Ord. A big reason is because there is interesting movement from Jays in the last week. Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays have been overly numerous, and Pinyon Jays are showing signs of irrupting into lower elevations this fall as well. A few days ago, Jake Thompson had a big flock of Pinyon Jays moving around in the town of Duncan. For today, I wanted to place myself in a position where I could possibly get them if they were to move through, as Pinyon Jay would be an incredible species to land in Maricopa County. Clark's Nutcrackers have been reported in a few areas too that are lower-than-usual for them. So today would be an approach that I like to call "combo birding". It's awesome, and it not only gives you a chance at a great diversity of species, but it also give you more of a chance to find unusual species at key times of the year during migration. My plan for today was to stand stationary at a few stops along the Old Beeline to listen for interesting species (alright, to listen for Pinyon Jays!) at dawn, bird along Sycamore Creek early, make a few stops in pinyon-pine and juniper after Sycamore Creek, and then go to Mt. Ord.
After turning onto the Old Beeline Highway west off of Highway 87 (signed off as "Sycamore Creek", adjacent to Mt. Ord, just north of mile marker 222", I pulled off at a few pull outs along the road that gave good views of the surrounding area and habitats. I made two stationary stops, starting just before 6 A.M. and lasting close to 6:25. I didn't have any Pinyon Jays, but there were many Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays, a Gray Flycatcher, and Gray Vireo still hanging around, and a good number (5) of Crissal Thrashers. As I made my way to Sycamore Creek I was surprised to see an Osprey perched on a snag along the side of the road.
I arrived at Sycamore Creek via the Old Beeline at 6:31, as the sun was coming out, and there was clear weather. As I had the vibe that it was going to be a productive morning with good numbers of birds, I slowly made my way south along the old paved road as it paralleled the creek (which is pretty dry right now). Birds were indeed numerous and it took my awhile to get to the old and abandoned Sunflower Workstation. As I was about to get there, I heard this rising and upslurred "wheeiiep" call that immediately struck me as being a Great Crested Flycatcher. I listened closely and heard the bird again. Wheep! I stilll thought the same thing. Even though I could hear the calls pretty well with my own ears, I knew that my phone wouldn't be able to record the calls from where I was, and I moved forward while listening carefully. The call continued to come, and I knew I had to record the bird. Great Crested Flycatcher is extremely rare in Arizona with 4 state records, and Maricopa County is without a record. The last record was also in the month of September, but it was back in 2010. Knowing this in the back of my mind made my heart beat pretty freaking fast, and luckily I got to a point where the bird was loud enough and close enough for my phone to pull off a recording. The bird called three times while I recorded and as it was much closer, I now wanted to get my eyes on the bird. It continued calling as I edged closer, and I got to a spot and expected to see it. I looked a few feet too high on the juniper slope it was no calling from, and at the last second I saw it sitting on a branch. It flew right when I was about to react by looking through my binoculars or trying to get off a pictures. What I did see though was important, I saw that it was a Myiarchus flycatcher. I stood on the road and played calls for Great Crested Flycatcher and it went completely quiet on me. For a few minutes I looked up on the juniper slope it was calling from, hoping to detect it again. All of a sudden it/a Myiarchus flycatcher flew out from the slope and past me and toward the riparian along Sycamore Creek before landing high in a tree. I did get the vibe of a bright yellow frontside on the bird that contrasted well with a dark upper body and face area as it flew by. When the bird landed, I had it in view from quite a distance and unfortunately, it had it's back to me. Pictures that I took were worthless. The bird dropped down into some thick riparian along Sycamore Creek. I investigated further by using playback of an owl mob. Lots of birds came in, and it was frustrating when an Ash-throated Flycatcher was one of those birds that came in. It was around 7:18 when I heard the Great Crested/Mystery Flycatcher, and I looked around the area for close to an hour without any further luck on it. I let the birding community know what had happened via the Group Me text messaging application in our group, "AZ Rare Birds. Limited service prevented me from being able to send my audio recording of the bird to Group Me, but I was able to send the audio through Messenger to Caleb Strand, Nolan Walker, and Kadynn Hatfield. All three of them, who are great birders, agreed taht it sound good for Great Crested Flycatcher. And sadly, I couldn't find or hear the bird again. What was important was I saw a Myiarchus giving the call, which matched Great Crested more than anything and it's one competitor would be even rarer in a Nutting's Flycatcher. I decided to put it on my list for the day and submit it as Great Crested Flycatcher, and if my recording wasn't good conclusive enough then I would chance my observation.
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| Poor shot of the bird |
Aside from the Great Crested Flycatcher madness, this area was spectacular for birding. I detected a diverse 65 different species, and there were several other highlights that were very fun. Close to my starting time, a Golden Eagle flew pretty low overhead, and I reacted late to blow my chance at getting a photograph. 2 Common Black-Hawks were present, and I got great views of a juvenile (which I think are cool-looking), and 2 Zone-tailed Hawks were also present. A Great Horned Owl flushed from a wash I walk down while I followed the creek. UP to 3 Gray Vireos were still present here, as all of them sand from the hillsides. At least 20 Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays were along the route, probably many more (and I still did listen for those longshot Pinyon Jays!). 3 White-breasted Nuthatches seemed like a solid count for the elevation and with it being this early into gall. Migrant warblers and vireos were pretty numerous, and I managed to find a Black-and-white Warbler foraging with a mixed feeding flock. From where I parked, I walked south for over a mile, and ended not far north of the barricade to the Sunflower community. Aside from birds were a few herds of Javelina. When I walked back north, I took my time as I walked through the area where I had the Flycatcher. No more extended luck, and it was a little discouraging. It was getting hot out toward the end, and after about 5 hours, I called it a birding day. I almost went to Mt. Ord, but I decided not to as I was getting tired. As I have work tomorrow, this Flycatcher may have to be in the hands of other birders who might chase. Almost definitely so...
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| juvenile Common Black-Hawk |
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| Zone-tailed Hawk |
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| Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay |
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| Bushtits |
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| Virginia's Warbler |
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| Wilson's Warbler |
September 3rd, 2022: The Best "Vicarious" Birding Of My Life
After the field yesterday, things got interesting for me. All I thought abot was the Great Crested Flycatcher. My recordings were ertainly intriguing to others. Dave Stesjkal, a great birder, said of my recordings, "that they sounded like Great Crested to him over the next closest candidate for him, the Nutting's Flycatcher. Caleb, a great birder, said too that I should partially consider a certain call from Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush. While that would be a thousand times more rare, I still wouldn't put an Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush as impossible for Maricopa County and there's a chance that species could show up anywhere in Arizona. The calls he referred to are similar, but would come across differently than a Great Crested Flycatcher in the field. Plus I saw a Myiarchus giving the calls. I was a bit discouraged, and hoped that people would go out and look for the bird. After all, it seems to me like a bird with 4 Arizona records would attract a bit of a birding crowd.
Early today, things got really interesting when Chris Benesh, a great birder, put the recordings from my bird (via eBird checklist upload) and compared it's sonogram with actual sonogram of the calls of Great Crested Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and Nutting's Flycatcher. He made it into a table, and mine matched almost perfectly with Great Crested Flycatcher! The other ones weren't really even close at all. Chris posted this before it was light out, and I knew that at least three birders in Ronnie Reed, Dara Vazquez, and Benjamin Guo, were going out to look for the bird. During all of this time, I was at work, and was checking my phone regularly. At 7:23, a great message came into Group Me from Dara: Tommy's GCFL continues this morning. It gave it's distinctive loud rising weep call. Ben Guo recorded further audio. Got good views of bolder plumage color than ATFL or BCFL with bright lemon belly rising high on chest. Relocated initially in oak grove on west side of research station, then flew to sycamore and chaparral ridge on east side of canyon".
"Hell yes", I replied to the message. I was stoked, I wanted to do backflips in front of all the hospital staff I was working with and patients who I was serving food to. In the field, Dara and Ben located the bir barely south of where I originally found it, and Ronnie rolled up just in time to hear the bird too. (We call him "Roll Up Ronnie" for a reason!) Ronnie texted me not long after that Ben obtained diagnostic photographs of the bird too.
Birders asked if anyone had gotten pictures. I took awhile, but Ben put 6 decent photographs and a sound recordinga much better than mine that showed the spectogram very clearly. And Ben's photos, I practically had a heart attack when I saw them. They were good documentation shots and they clearly showed a bright yellow belly-underparts extending up to upper breast, dark gray upper breast and lower face, extensive orange base to otherwise larger, sturdy black bill, brown on top of heard, and tons of rufous in the tail. "Dang, a Great Crested Flycatcher, wow!", I thought. And then I reminded myself I found the freaking thing 24 hours earlier.
I was obvious to everyone my bird is a Great Crested Flycatcher, Arizona's 5th and Maricopa County's 1st. It is my 485th bird for Arizona and 409th for Maricopa County. For Maricopa County overall, I think it's the 463rd bird. Funny thing is, Tyler Loomis found my Maricopa nemesis-a Downy Woodpecker-while chasing the Great Crested Flycatcher. Hopefully it sticks around!
After the field yesterday, things got interesting for me. All I thought abot was the Great Crested Flycatcher. My recordings were ertainly intriguing to others. Dave Stesjkal, a great birder, said of my recordings, "that they sounded like Great Crested to him over the next closest candidate for him, the Nutting's Flycatcher. Caleb, a great birder, said too that I should partially consider a certain call from Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush. While that would be a thousand times more rare, I still wouldn't put an Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush as impossible for Maricopa County and there's a chance that species could show up anywhere in Arizona. The calls he referred to are similar, but would come across differently than a Great Crested Flycatcher in the field. Plus I saw a Myiarchus giving the calls. I was a bit discouraged, and hoped that people would go out and look for the bird. After all, it seems to me like a bird with 4 Arizona records would attract a bit of a birding crowd.
Early today, things got really interesting when Chris Benesh, a great birder, put the recordings from my bird (via eBird checklist upload) and compared it's sonogram with actual sonogram of the calls of Great Crested Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Brown-crested Flycatcher, and Nutting's Flycatcher. He made it into a table, and mine matched almost perfectly with Great Crested Flycatcher! The other ones weren't really even close at all. Chris posted this before it was light out, and I knew that at least three birders in Ronnie Reed, Dara Vazquez, and Benjamin Guo, were going out to look for the bird. During all of this time, I was at work, and was checking my phone regularly. At 7:23, a great message came into Group Me from Dara: Tommy's GCFL continues this morning. It gave it's distinctive loud rising weep call. Ben Guo recorded further audio. Got good views of bolder plumage color than ATFL or BCFL with bright lemon belly rising high on chest. Relocated initially in oak grove on west side of research station, then flew to sycamore and chaparral ridge on east side of canyon".
"Hell yes", I replied to the message. I was stoked, I wanted to do backflips in front of all the hospital staff I was working with and patients who I was serving food to. In the field, Dara and Ben located the bir barely south of where I originally found it, and Ronnie rolled up just in time to hear the bird too. (We call him "Roll Up Ronnie" for a reason!) Ronnie texted me not long after that Ben obtained diagnostic photographs of the bird too.
Birders asked if anyone had gotten pictures. I took awhile, but Ben put 6 decent photographs and a sound recordinga much better than mine that showed the spectogram very clearly. And Ben's photos, I practically had a heart attack when I saw them. They were good documentation shots and they clearly showed a bright yellow belly-underparts extending up to upper breast, dark gray upper breast and lower face, extensive orange base to otherwise larger, sturdy black bill, brown on top of heard, and tons of rufous in the tail. "Dang, a Great Crested Flycatcher, wow!", I thought. And then I reminded myself I found the freaking thing 24 hours earlier.
I was obvious to everyone my bird is a Great Crested Flycatcher, Arizona's 5th and Maricopa County's 1st. It is my 485th bird for Arizona and 409th for Maricopa County. For Maricopa County overall, I think it's the 463rd bird. Funny thing is, Tyler Loomis found my Maricopa nemesis-a Downy Woodpecker-while chasing the Great Crested Flycatcher. Hopefully it sticks around!
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