A day of "full-on" birding

Today we travelled to the famous "Thrasher Spot" which is at the end of Baseline Road to the west of Phoenix.  We left the house at 7:30 a.m.  We arrived at the Thrasher Spot at around 8:45.  Four other couples were already on location looking for the 4 species of Thrashers that can often be found at this spot.  It was sunny but cool when we arrived.  As soon as we got out of the truck we heard the beautiful melodic singing of a Bendire's Thrasher.  We found it not far from the parking lot.

The Thrasher Spot is actually an undefined piece of desert.  It is flat.  There is a lot of Creosote shrubs, Grease-wood and Brittle-bush covering the desert.  The birds can usually be found in the Mesquite trees that grow in the shallow washes.  If you drove by the area you would never think it was a famous birding hotspot.

We birded the area for about 2 1/2 hours.  At the end of our effort we had observed 4 of the 5 species we had come to see.  They were: Thrashers - Bendire's, Crissal and Sage; and Sagebrush Sparrow.

After a quick lunch in our gorgeous 2015 Toyota 4Runner Trail Edition (shameless brand promotion....), we headed east through the farmland towards our next birding location, Tres Rios Wetlands.  Of course the trip from A to B was not just travel as we birded the entire trip.  With frequent stops to observe birds it took us about 1 hour to cover 15 miles.  During this trip across the farmlands we observed about 15 species of birds.  Of this 6 were new for this year (Western Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, White-faced Ibis and Burrowing Owl).  The highlight of the trip across the farmland, and probably the entire day, was the sighting of the Burrowing Owl.  Dana, we call her "eagle-eyes", picked out this bird as we were traveling down one of the rural roads.  How she saw the bird I have no idea.  I didn't and I wasn't even driving!  I have included a photo of the Owl in this post.  What and amazing little bird.  It's body is only about 10" in length.  It is most seen standing on the ground.  This one was perched on a cement cistern.  It is possible that the cistern is it's winter home.

At the Tres Rios Wetlands, located on 91st Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road, we identified 29 species and added another 6 species to our yearly list.  New birds were: Yellow-headed Blackbird, Merlin, White Pelican, Marsh Wren, Least Bittern and Canvasback Duck.

We rolled into the resort around 4:15.  A full day of birding and 16 new species for our 2016 list.  Here are a couple of photos from the day.  Burrowing Owl and Bendire's Thrasher.

Happy birding everyone!

As a bonus I am including 2 photos that I took to Veteran's Oasis Park in Chandler.  We birded there yesterday.

Common Gallinule - Shaking all over..... 

Snowy Egret

6,000 views on Flickr.

I posted this photo of a Cactus Wren in my last post.  (By the way, the clarity of the photo in this blog does not seem to be as good as what it is on Flickr.)  On the same day I posted the photo to my Flickr site.  Little did I know at that time that this photo would become my all-time most popular photo on my Flickr site.  In the 72 hours since posting the photo I have had just over 6,000 views and 152 Fav's.  Dana and I keep looking at the photo to try and figure out why it has become so popular.  Maybe you can tell us......?

Let me explain what Flickr is.  Flickr is a photo sharing/storage site run by Yahoo.  Worldwide there are tens of thousands of registered Flickr members.  Whenever you post a photo to your page it automatically gets posted to the general Flickr site and can be seen by everyone viewing Flickr.  Within Flickr there are sub-sites created by individuals or groups.  Most of these sub-sites are for specific types of photography.   There are thousands of sub-sites.  When you view a photo you trigger a count for the number of views.  If you like the photo you can indicated so by clicking a "like" icon similar to some of the social networks.  This is Flickr 101.

Back to the Cactus Wren photo.  I posted the photo to my page and I also added it to 3 or 4 "Bird" sights.  Ones that I usually post to.  6,000 people from many countries around the world viewed the photo and of those 6,000, 152 "Fav'd" it.  One of the features of Flickr is that the Flickr program notifies you when someone "Fav's" a photo.  We had a lot of email over the weekend....

Here is an update on the origin of the Rosy-faced Lovebirds.  

My friend Bud came through once again and put me straight on the origin of these feral birds.  They did not arrive in Florida after all.  Here is an excerpt from the "Arizona Field Ornithologists" website:

"As a consequence of their popularity and ease of captive breeding, local escapees and illegal releases from breeders and owners are likely the initial source of a widespread and conspicuous feral lovebird population now found in the greater Phoenix area. The Rosy-faced Lovebird population in Phoenix is the only known feral population in the United States.  ...  The Rosy-faced Lovebird was first reported as breeding in the greater Phoenix area in a residential neighborhood in the East Valley near the Apache Junction and Mesa city border in 1987."

And that, as they say in the biz, it that!

Life is Good.....

It has taken me awhile to sit down and write a new post.  My apologies.  I have just been too busy.  This is the point where Angelique would say to me, "I want your life".  Well my friend, you too can have a life like this, but not mine.  I am having too much fun with this one to give it up.  Ha!

So, did you read the latest Trump report today?  Sounds like the opening line of a joke, right?  Well, it kind of is....  In an interview he told a reporter that he could "shoot someone and not loose any supporters".  A quick survey confirmed that he was right.  That's nothing.  Trump got an endorsement from Sarah "I can see Russia from my doorstep" Palin this week.  Palin makes Trump look like a moderate liberal.  What a wacko.  Maybe The Donald was thinking of Sarah when he said he could shoot someone.  Whoa.....too many guns.  Too much violence.  Not enough common sense or compassion.  Odd to see "common sense" and "compassion" in the same sentence.  Certainly wouldn't see it in print or hear the words down here.  It is easy to think that all Americans think the same.  You would be wrong.  We were at a social occasion recently where several of our American friends offered to share their political views.  Everyone was nervous, not wanting to offend anyone.  (Maybe they were actually Canadians....).  One of them said something that I think illustrates the political discord in this country.  He was half joking when he said it but I think he really meant it.   On the reason not to discuss politics he said, "How many times have you entered into a discussion on politics and had someone say, I heard what you said and you know what, I think I agree with you".  To me this illustrates the divide that exists between those in the middle, those on the far right and those few on the left.  No one is prepared to move off their positions.  Perhaps it is only my bias but I think this applies more to those on the far right than those on the left or in the middle.  I am going to stop my political editorial right here.  There is so much more I could say as the amount of great material is coming fast and furious.  Ah, what a great time it is for political commentary.

On the lighter side......  Dana and I have been "givin' 'er, eh".  We got in 3 quality rides this week.  It was great to finally get to ride with Steve and Joanne.  We look forward to more of that.  Friday's ride was awesome for it's intensity and effort.  Dana and I set out on our normal 50k route.  While we more often than not have a bit of a head wind, that day it was brutal.  For 27k we battled a stiff head wind.  It was so bad that it was a relief to finally turn the corner and start the Category 3, 5km Usery Pass hill.  While we had a nice tailwind up the hill we set a new record for this winter.  We completed the 5km hill climb in 17 minutes, 10 seconds at an average speed of 20.1km/h.  Not a personal best for either of us but a season best none the less.  We crested the hill and hit the downhill at speeds exceeding 50km/h.  Making the turn for home we kicked it up and averaged 36km/h over the remaining 20kms.  We made it home and more or less melted into our trailer.  It took the rest of the day to recover.  We both agreed that it was a great day on the bike.

When not riding we are finally getting some social time with our friends on the street.  One of our favourite activities is to drag chairs out onto the street and offer coffee, muffins or whatever is handy to friends, neighbours or anyone passing by. We got to do this a couple of times this week.  One of the great things about the people here is that most everyone likes to stop and visit.  It might just be a friendly hello or it could morph into a lengthy conversation on travel, sport or the price of groceries or gas.  Never politics unless you are with someone you know very, very well....

I should bring everyone up to date on our Bocce Ball league.  We played Tuesday afternoon and lost....badly.  We are now at .500.  Next week we will practice on Monday.  The more we play the more we are learning that our team is one of the few that play only one day a week.  Many teams play on multiple days.  Some people play 5 times a week.  Clearly to rely only on our talent may not be enough to succeed.  On second thought, if we only had some talent we might have some success.  Of course, I am only speaking for myself, or is that "of myself"?

I golfed on Thursday.  Except for putting my approach shot on 17 into the water I had a good day.  I still lack consistency, especially with my putter, irons and woods, but I love to be out in the fresh air with my fellow golfers.

In my attempt to find balance in my life and activity (don't take this statement too literal), we have not been out birding much this week.  I did get to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve on Tuesday.  Today I went solo to a small unofficial park not far from our resort.  The park is called the "Electric Park".  I may have written about it before but it deserves mention here.   There is a 1 or maybe 2 mile section of the power transmission lines in Mesa that has been turned in a pedestrian park.  Local residents have planted native plants in the transmission right away creating the feeling of a "green space".  Because of the desert plantings, birds are plentiful and well fed either by humans or what they can find in the green space.  Today I had a target bird in mind when I walked a small portion of Electric Park.  The bird I was looking for is the Rosy-faced Lovebird.  I have posted a couple of pictures of the Lovebirds.  These birds are actually considered and invasive species.  A number of years ago a few were imported from Europe and released in Florida (Bud will correct me if I am wrong on this....).  The population has increased and they, like many humans, have moved west.  They are fun to observe, for awhile.  They are very noisy.  Today I was surprised to find a small flock of about 24 birds.  This is not common as they are more likely to be seen in much smaller numbers.  Lucky me, I guess.  Finding this bird pushed my species count for the year to 90.

I have posted a few birds that I photographed this week.  I hope you enjoy them.

That is all for this week.  NFL playoff games tomorrow.  My prediction is that Carolina and Denver will win tomorrow and play in Super Bowl 50.  I hope I did not just jinx those two teams.

Bye for now.....

Verdin at Electric Park.

Rosy-faced Lovebirds, sometime called Peach-faced Lovebirds.

Cactus Wren.

Rosy-faced Lovebird having lunch.

"Electric Park" plantings which has turned this space into a small riparian area.

"Electric Park" Mesa, Az.  Some creative use of an often dead space in any city or town.

 

Settling into desert life

Recovery from my bout with flu and cold has been slow.  Very slow.  I am now feeling about 90% so no more putting off riding, birding and of course - Bocce Ball.  Dana and I got in a couple of good rides this past week.  Today we had planned to ride but made a sudden change of plans when we got a call from a fellow birder who wanted help finding a rare bird that we had seen last week.  We met our friend at Coon Bluff Recreation Area this morning and walked him out to the location we had seen the bird (Rusty Blackbird).  We got to the spot to find another birder sitting on a stool watching the bird in question.  Easy!  Mission accomplished.

January 13 and our bird count stands at 82 species.  Last year at this time we had counted 91 species.  We are 9 down on last year but I think last year we birded every day compared to the handful of days we have made it out this year.  Still time to make up the difference.  I have included photos of some of the birds we have seen in the last 2 days.  Other than the American Redstart the rest are a few of the more common birds one can see here in the desert.  The American Redstart is rare here as its normal range does not include Arizona.

We played our first of 7 league Bocce Ball games yesterday.  All 4 of us made some timely shots and we came away with a win.  We are off to a good start.  Best of all, we had fun and met some great folks.

Tomorrow I am golfing for the first time this year.  I went to the driving range this afternoon and confirmed, once again, that golf is a very simple game.   I mean really, you get to select your club given the distance you want the ball to go, the ball is stationary and you get time to make that perfect swing.  How hard could this really be?  Yeah right.....   I'll try to remind myself of this tomorrow....

Well, that's about it for now.  For the last few days Dana has got up, looked outside and declared it to be "another sunny day".  After the start we had to the month, the change in weather is very welcomed.

I hope you like the photos.  Remember, if you want them enlarged, click on one and your browser should do the rest of the work.

"Star of the week".  Rare bird in the desert.  American Redstart, this one a female.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Granite Reef on the Salt River.

Curve-billed Thrasher perched on Cholla Cactus 

Northern Cardinal

And finally, a few birds.....

Despite the weather and being under the weather, we have been out birding for a few hours in each of the previous 3 days.  We did a quick walk through the Gilbert Riparian Preserve one afternoon and the other 2 days we birded a few spots along the Salt River.  At some point the small birds are going to appreciate all this rain.  Right now a lot of them look to be on the verge of surrendering.  On the other hand the water birds are having a blast.  Bird photographers, ahem...moi, are of two minds when it comes to the current weather - colour or black & white.  Glass half empty, or just give me another glass of whine.  Yes, it is hard to see some of my favourite birds and not be able to photograph them for lack of sunshine.

It hasn't been all bad and I did manage to get a few photographs of some of the 64 bird species that we have seen so far.  Here are a few.

Greater Roadrunner.  Last year we saw a record number of Roadrunners.
 This year we have already seen 4.  Will this be another record year for this iconic desert bird?

Say's Phoebe.  This is one of two Phoebes common to this area.
  The other one is the Black Phoebe.

Hey Mike.  What's this bird?  If you said Cactus Wren, you would be right!

Inca Dove.  This little ground dove is common here.

Tales From The Road

It is my 4th day of suffering with a flu virus.  Dana would add that it is her 4th day of suffering too....  Has anyone seen that TV commercial where the husband is sick with a virus and is dressed to look like a small child?  Well, you get the idea....

As I am on the mend, actually feeling pretty good tonight, I thought I would do a blog post on a couple of oddities from our trip to Arizona.  As you may already know this year we choose, well I guess it was my recommendation, to avoid California and head east, then southeast to Az.  We decided that rather than going south through Nevada, a route we know well, but in reverse, we would go further east to Utah and catch the Interstate south.

Utah is an interesting State.  Outside of the major urban centres of Salt Lake City and Orem (these two cities run together like Vancouver and Burnaby maybe not quite as big) there are very few "coffee shops".  About an hour or so after we left Orem heading south on Interstate 15 I asked Gracie, she's our navigation voice, for a list of coffee shops "near here".  After a long pause she gave one of her unhappy tones and said "I'm sorry.....".  Fine, then I asked here for coffee shops along our route thinking this would expand her reach.  I think she showed us one coming up in about 278 miles....    Finally, and now desperate for a coffee, I take the next exit and stop at a restaurant.  I run inside and am met by a young, blond, clean cut, well dressed fellow (I know what your thinking but I refuse to stereotype).  I asked for a cup of coffee to go.  He said, "sure I'll be right back".  Moments later he comes back with a large Styrofoam drink cup filled with coffee.   He offers cream and sugar.  He also gives me a lid.  It has a hole for a straw.  He apologizes for the lid and told me that they don't have "fancy" coffee lids.  I tell him that coffee seems to be very rare in Utah.  He chuckled and said it is and that most people don't drink it.  Whoa....  Did I just hear that?  Coming from the West Coast where not only a lot of people drink coffee but we have a coffee culture, I'm thinking right way that this is just wrong, at the very least weird.  I take the coffee thinking that it will get poured out rather than drank and I head for the parking lot.  I have to say, the coffee was good, even if the lid was useless.  The young "ute" was very kind and he helped me out in a way he probably didn't fully comprehend.  Can't ask for more than that.

My second story is also about coffee, plus tea, and something a bit more serious.  We were approaching Mesquite, Nevada.  Golfers might know this town for being home to the annual World Long Drive Competition.  It was mid-afternoon and we were in need of caffeine.  Gracie, you remember her, told us to take Exit whatever and we did.  Now out of Utah, Starbucks seem to be everywhere, no doubt to feed the caffeine deprived travellers from the north.  We get off the Interstate and I see the familiar green beacon beckoning us to the Starbucks somewhere in a large building.  I whip into the parking lot, find rock star parking and we jump out of the 4Runner and head to the front doors.  We push open the doors and find ourselves in a Casino!  Rather than leave I ask someone at the "bank" desk where the Starbucks is located.  You guessed.  At the far end of the Casino.  We marched to the far end.  I am sure Dana was holding her breath all the time muttering that her clothes are going to stink.  We get our coffee and tea.  I was relieved to see some exit doors nearby thinking that Dana would at least be able to make a quick escape and save me from any future ridicule over this, my latest "good idea".  I asked the server if we could exit through those doors.  She looked at me as if to say "why would you want to do that"?  She said "no, those are emergency doors and if you open them an alarm will sound".  I made a quick assessment of the pros and cons of the matter and elected to recommend we walk the full length of the building back to the door we came in.  I'll face the music later.....  Once back on the road we shared thoughts on what we saw in the Casino.  I'm afraid what we recalled was the sad faces at the slot and video terminals.  Dana recalled on older man sleeping at his terminal.  Don't get me wrong.  I have been to Casinos.  I can honestly say that I have enjoyed my experience.  Would have enjoyed it more if I had won....  However, it is impossible to deny the addictive nature of gambling.  I don't think that Casinos are bad.  I think there are elements (private business and governments)  involved in the business that are motivated by greed and profit and are not at all concerned about the addiction side.  Some may say that people need to exercise more judgement and control.  To these folks I say, you may be able to spell addiction, but you don't understand the very nature of addiction.  

Well, to be honest I did not start writing to get into addiction.  I just write where my mind takes me and sometimes that journey is a bit of an adventure.  Hope you enjoyed the stories.  By the way, the people we met in Utah were all fantastic, even if they didn't all offer coffee.  Maybe I have a coffee addiction to deal with......Nah....

Bye for now!

Happy New Year from Mesa Arizona

We arrived in Mesa, Az. on December 31st after a short drive in from Blythe, California.  It was great to have a short (3 1/2 hours) day on the road after our marathon the day before when we drove from Orem, Ut. to Blythe, CA - 591 miles (950 km).  Most of our trip from Orem to Blythe was on Interstates where the speed limit was between 75 mph and 80 mph - 120 - 130 kpm.   The new 4Runner handled and ran beautifully.

We finally left the snow somewhere around St. Georges, Utah.  When we got in the 4Runner in Orem in the morning  it was snowing lightly with a bit more than an inch of fresh snow.  The temperature has been a pretty constant 21F or -6C.  When we got into Nevada the temperature went up to around 50F or 12C.  Nice to get into some warmer, drier climate.

When we arrived in Mesa yesterday our first stop was T-Mobile.  We signed up for a pay as you go monthly plan that will give us North America text and calling and 2G of data for $50/month.  When I told the sales rep that I was paying more in Canada for less he said he hears that all the time from Canadians here for the winter.  He told us that we could use the plan when we went back to Canada with no additional fees.  I can't see our big 3 telecommunications companies allowing that to happen.  It's not like there is a Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the USA.  Oops, wait a minute, I guess there is and it is called NAFTA.  I think telecommunications are one of the **10,000 products and services excluded from NAFTA.  Why do we have NAFTA any way?  Someone will have to enlighten me on that.  But, I digress....

Daytime temps seem to be normal for this time of year.  You wouldn't know that by all the negative comments from residents here at the park who are complaining about the cold weather.  The first thing we did when we got here was put on shorts and t's and get rid of the gortex hikers.  We got up this morning, had a good breakfast and went for our New Year's Day ride.  The wind was cool but the sun was warm and temperature was near 60F, 15C  The ride was a bit shorter than we would normally have done because I seem to be coming down with cold, or something.....  (some congestion, temperature is up, I'm tired)  Dang!  I hope to rebound quickly.  

Our new trailer house is terrific!  Very clean and the layout is perfect.  A second bathroom would be great but, nothing we can do about that.  We have met most of the folks on the street.  It was great to be reconnecting with friends.  Dana left to walk over to the store and it took her about 2 hours as as she walked down the street folks wanted to visit and know how we are.  Very nice feeling and reminds us of our good friends back home on Dawe Road - you know who you are ;-)  Quite a few folks are still away but every day more are returning from being "home" for Christmas.

Here is a photo of Dana after our ride.  Still smiling.....  Happy, Happy.......

**Number exaggerated for affect.  Known as editorial licence.  Also known as Barry Facts, copied from Carly Facts.  Never let the truth get in the way of a good story ;-)  I will do this from time to time if my extensive research (Google and Wikipedia) fail me.