Fortunately the timing of one being in Corpus Christi coincided perfectly with my trip to Texas. I was primarily concentrating on Houston and the Upper Texas Coast (UTC) but Corpus was just a mere 4 hour drive south. I decided to team up with Bill and Bryan Tarbox and Ellen Baker of Houston and make the chase together.

Upon our arrival to Oso Bay, where it was being seen regularly for the past 10 days, we were astonished to see thousands of shorebirds grouped up together…essentially trying to find a needle in a haystack!

Oso Bay

On top of all this it was 97F and high humidity. We spent an hour in a half looking for the bird with no luck. My friends needed to get back up to Houston before sunset so they wished me luck and bid farewell. I spent another 30 or 40 minutes before I decided to move to another spot to try and get some photos of Wilson’s Plover. Not having much luck with that either I went back to the original spot.

As I approached the group of birds I noticed a slightly larger bird chasing all the Western Sandpipers around. I looked through my camera to get a better look and ‘lo and behold it was the Curlew SP! I took a bunch of photos and noticed a few moments later my friends had texted me asking if I had any luck. I replied, “YES! Got the Curlew Sandpiper!” They responded, “Be right there!” Apparently, they found a pizza place on the way back to the car and were eating lunch…letting me do all the hard work!

The CUSP stuck around for my friends and we all got great looks and photos of the bird. It was quite fascinating to watch how aggressive and territorial it was with the smaller Western Sandpipers. It didn’t seem to mind the Dowitchers or Stilt Sandpipers, however.

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper (Western SP on left)

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Salton Sea

I spent a lovely Saturday at the Salton Sea with temperatures barely peaking over 100F. I had anticipated much warmer temperatures and was surprised to find it not only being cooler than your typical mid-August day but the pleasant aroma of decaying fish seemed to be missing as well.

Salton Sea

I also noticed the water levels were a bit higher then usual contributing to less beach being exposed which significantly cut down the amount of flies that usually swarm your car whenever you roll down your window or open the door!

Salton Sea

I began the day at Unit 1 located at the extreme SW corner of the sea. Along the dirt road to Unit 1 there were many Burrowing Owls catching some early morning sun including several juvenile Owls as well.

Burrowing Owl

Burrowing Owl (juvenile)

At the ponds, there were many of the usual suspects including American Avocet, Black-necked Stilts, Western Sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher and a good number of Stilt Sandpipers!

Stilt Sandpiper

American Avocet

There were a lot of juvenile Black-necked Stilts around that didn’t seem to have learned to be weary of people yet!

Black-necked Stilt

Among the hundreds of Wilson’s Phalaropes I found a lone Red-necked Phalarope couple. The only two I saw all day at the Sea.

Red-necked Phalarope

After leaving Unit 1 I headed north/north east along the coast toward Obsidian Butte. I spotted an Osprey feeding on a fish up in a tree and an adult Peregrine Falcon perched just a couple yards from it not seeming to mind the presence of the Osprey at all.

Osprey

Continuing along the road, I spooked up a Wood Stork that was feeding in a ditch beside the road just South of Obsidian Butte. It flew off into the distance and just as I was losing hope it would come back it circled around and flew into a tree a little ways down the road.

Wood Stork

Wood Stork

See if you can spot the Wood Stork perched up in the trees in the photo below:

Salton Sea

Later on in the afternoon, I met up with some friends at the Red Hill Marina. We started scoping the sandpiper/gull flocks along the old boat ramps. After not finding anything interesting, three peeps flew right by us and landed just a few yards away in the water below. I quickly exclaimed it’s a Semipalmated Sandpiper and not just one, there’s three of them!

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

A quick stop at the north-end of Garst Road didn’t yield much although we did find at least two Large-billed Savannah Sparrows. They were being ultra secretive so I wasn’t able to get any photos of them. Instead I took a picture of the car!

Salton Sea

We decided to head back toward Unit 1 to double check all the areas I covered earlier in the day. We first stopped at the Wood Stork location and found him feeding along the ditch. He quickly spooked and flew back into the same trees I photographed him earlier in.

We continued South to the intersection of Lack/Lindsey Rd. to again scan the Gull and Tern flocks there. Just as we were about to leave I spotted a Common Tern sitting on an old piece of rusted pipe laying in the water.

Common Tern

Not much more that day. Although at the extreme West end of Young Rd. we found a group of about 19 Brant feeding along a irrigation drainage stream. There were also a couple of young birds in the group.

Brant

There were also lots of White-faced Ibis and Cattle Egrets feeding along all the agricultural fields that surround the southern end of the Salton Sea.

White-faced Ibis

Click the image below to see the GPS track logs of where I traveled:

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Green Heron

Since we were still missing a few key target shorebird specialties we hit Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach first thing Saturday morning. We immediately ticked off Least Tern, Black Skimmer, Forster’s Tern, Long-billed Curlew, Light-footed Clapper Rail and Osprey.

Light-footed Clapper Rail

Least Terns were in great quantity with adults still feeding the almost fully grown fledglings. I was actually surprised to see adults feeding young birds that had almost lost all juvenal plumage.

Least Tern

Least Tern

After Bolsa Chica we hit the LA River in Long Beach to look for migrating sandpipers. Bumped into Steve and Becky Turley upon our arrival who informed us of a Solitary Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper along with Chimney Swifts they had seen. It didn’t take long to spot two Chimney Swifts flying over us among all the Cliff Swallows and White-throated Swifts. Also scored a nice immature Cooper’s Hawk chasing a Green Heron around. A few minutes later I found the Solitary Sandpiper just below us on the east side of the river. Other new birds for the Aussie’s included Black-necked Stilt, Canada Goose, American Avocet, Hooded Oriole, Short-billed Dowitcher and Killdeer.

Long-billed Curlew

After a great morning we ended our day at Ken Malloy Harbor Park. Things were a little slow but Ken ticked his 2,000th bird – unfortunately it was a Brewer’s Blackbird! We also picked up Lesser Goldfinch and Black Phoebe. We dipped on any Vireos and Orange-crowned Warbler. However, we did find a pretty neat exotic Saffron Finch:

Saffron Finch

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Since I didn’t see either of the parents around, I peeked in the nest and was delighted to find 3 recently hatched chicks and an egg still not hatched. I snuck some video of the nest with my iPhone careful not to disturb the surroundings…especially considering the fact I’d have a hand full of pokers if I got too close! Although you can see one of the chicks jump up with it’s mouth open toward the end of the video as it must have heard me thinking I was it’s mother returning with food.

I decided to head up the trail a bit more and check the nest on the way back. There were lots of Hepatic Tanagers, Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo and Varied Buntings all along the creek. Never found the Black-capped Gnatcatchers that have been hanging out there.

On the way out I was happy to see the female Black-throated Sparrow was on the nest and just a few feet away the male perched on a branch holding a grub for one of the chicks.

Black-throated Sparrow

Black-throated Sparrow

I didn’t have much more time that afternoon since I had to get back into Tucson to catch my flight back home. I made a quick stop at the Madera Kubo lodge and got some photos of the Hooded Oriole nest above the road. The juveniles were very close to fledging and as you can see from the second photo, the young Hooded Oriole almost flew out of the nest!

Hooded Oriole

Hooded Oriole

I’ve been to SE Arizona over 30 times so far and it never grows dull. I had a great time despite getting over 50 chigger bites and 15+ mosquito bites but it was quite worth it. I’m already planning my next visit.

Click here to see full GPS track logs of my SE Arizona trip!

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Sycamore Canyon

As soon as we pulled into the Sycamore Canyon trailhead parking lot we heard a Thick-billed Kingbird calling from the top of one of the trees. We found it within a few moments as an Acorn Woodpecker was trying to chase it away from it’s perch.

Thick-billed Kingbird

Bell’s Vireos were calling everywhere around us and I finally got some decent shots of them! An Eastern Bluebird pair also made a nest out of an abandoned hole in one of the Sycamore trees just above the parking lot. The male and female were actively catching insects and taking them back to their nest.

Bell’s Vireo

Eastern Bluebird

We pretty much could have just stayed in the parking lot all day without getting bored with as much activity going on all around us. But we decided we better start hiking up the canyon before the mid-day heat became any more unbearable. We took care not to brush up against all of the Poison Ivy growing all along the creek.

Poison Ivy

Not even 75 yards down the trail, my friend yelled at me to not take another step and quickly grabbed my arm. As soon as she did, I heard the all to familiar sound of a Rattlesnake just a few feet away. I’m not sure how I didn’t hear it but I’m truly grateful for my friend’s quick reaction time in stopping me! I breathed a sigh of relief and realized this was a great opportunity to take video of the Rattlesnake!

Although the creek was relatively dry within the first half-mile that quickly changed farther down the Canyon. Pockets of water provided a home for the native fish, Sonoran Mud Turtles, Leopard Frogs and many different species of Dragonflies and Butterflies.

Playing with Leopard Frogs

Since there wasn’t much bird activity I took the opportunity to photograph our other winged friends that seemed to be begging for our attention.

Mexican Amberwing

One of the larger ponds held lots of native fish that I’m still trying to identify. While I was watching the fish swim about I took notice to a Sonoran Mud Turtle along the edge of the pond.

Sonoran Mud Turtle

Nick caught a Black-necked Garter Snake a little way down the trail and brought it back for all of us to look at and photograph. Not much later he came back with a gravid female Lesser Earless Lizard!

Black-necked Garter Snake

Lesser Earless Lizard

After a quick little break of playing with dragonflies and reptiles we hiked up the Canyon a bit more where we heard a Northern Pygmy-owl calling. It didn’t take very long for me to find him as he had lots of Bewick’s Wrens mobbing him certainly not appreciating him being so close to their nests. We all got spectacular views and I took one of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Northern Pygmy-owl

It was a beautiful day to be in Sycamore Canyon. Not a drop of rain and reasonable temperatures despite it being the middle of summer.

Sycamore Canyon

Since it was the middle of the day, we took a quick break back at the parking lot to eat lunch and I even fell asleep in my chair while I was waiting for the Eastern Bluebirds to return to their nest! It was close to 2PM before we decided to pack up and head over to California Gulch.

California Gulch

We took the long way around through Warsaw Canyon and Clayton Canyon. We were treated to a few Montezuma Quail with a juvenile along the way. While we were photographing and enjoying the scenery a US Customs and Border Protection helicopter circled around us for a few minutes. Clearly they were running all the license plates of our vehicles and to make sure we weren’t hustling drugs or illegal immigrants across the border. It was the first time I’ve ever seen a helicopter in that area let alone one that took such keen interest to what we were doing.

Sonoran Barrel Cactus

We drove past the southern entrance to California Gulch and I immediately noticed two individuals walking rapidly into the Gulch. I tried to grab my camera to get a photo and so I could get a closer look but they quickly disappeared around the mountain… There were no vehicles in sight and we never did see the two people again. Most likely they were Mexican immigrants trying to get into the U.S. but we’ll never know for sure.

We continued on our way to the north parking lot where everyone typically enters the Gulch. Just as we were pulling into the parking lot we spotted a male Lesser Earless Lizard sunbathing on one of the rocks.

Lesser Earless Lizard

Due to the steep mountains surrounding the Gulch, the sun was just going down as we hiked to the bottom so it did not provide the lighting conditions I had hoped for. Five-striped Sparrows were singing all around us and it didn’t take long to spot one up on the hillside.

Five-striped Sparrow

Also in the area were many Varied Bunting families of males, females and juveniles. We also had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo on the way back to the cars. I took a couple of photos at very distant range but nothing noteworthy enough to post here. We then headed about .2 down the road to the Oro Blanco Mine where the infamous Buff-collared Nightjar returns every summer. We met up with Melody Kehl and her tour group and thankfully we did as it provided many more eyes and ears to hopefully locate the Nightjar. With just a little bit of remaining light in the sky someone shouted out they heard the Nightjar. We all rushed over just quick enough to see it fly off into the wash. We tracked it down for a bit and got a couple of fleeting glimpses of it flying away as we followed it’s call. Unfortunately there were zero photo ops so I came back without any photos.

Feeling a bit defeated we headed back into town. About 40 miles outside of Nogales, along Ruby Road, we saw a HUGE Black-tailed Rattlesnake just spread across the middle of the road. At first I thought it had been run over but as soon as we all jumped out of the car it started moving off the road perfectly fine. I didn’t get any photos since my camera was already packed away so I grabbed my iPhone to take video.

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Botteri’s Sparrow

Botteri’s Sparrow

We continued up the mountain into Sawmill Canyon where we were immediately greeted with calling Elegant Trogons although we were never able to find them! Buff-breasted Flycatchers were in good numbers – calling and flycatching up and down the trails.

Buff-breasted Flycatcher

We also caught a Grace’s Warbler pair a little ways down the trail just before it started raining pretty heavily.

Grace’s Warbler

We took shelter under some pine trees and only had to wait about 15 minutes before the rain finally subsided. We hurried back to our cars before it started raining again. On the way out a bolt of lightning shot out of the sky directly above us leading to the loudest crack of thunder I’ve ever heard. Thankfully it didn’t hit any of us!

We continued on our way to Patagonia, AZ to look for the Sinaloa Wren. We spent an hour looking to no avail before it started pouring rain again. We decided to head into town and relax at the coffee shop while we waited for the storm cell to pass through. Unfortunately it wasted about an hour of precious daylight. As soon as the rain stopped we headed back to the Sinaloa Wren spot and searched until dusk. It wasn’t entirely boring as there were many Yellow-breasted Chats playfully calling to
each other above us.

Yellow-breasted Chat

Other than that all we managed to get was lots of Chigger bites!! I did take a photo of the Sinaloa Wren’s nest so I didn’t feel like I left completely empty handed.

Sinaloa Wren Nest

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Ramsey Canyon

Despite us getting a relatively late start on the morning, the canyon was still quite active with Acorn Woodpeckers, Hutton’s Vireos and Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers all attending their respective nests.

Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher

There were many young Hermit Thrushes along with Black-headed Grosbeaks and Hepatic Tanagers consuming the over abundant supply of Wilcox Barberries located throughout the Canyon.

Hermit Thrush

I managed to get a cute photo of an Acorn Woodpecker parent feeding a young fledgling in a nest hole. I even caught the inquisitive youngster trying to sneak a peek at what was going outside his humble abode.

Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker (chick)

Assuming most knew the purpose of starting off in Ramsey Canyon that day…for those do not, it was all for a single bird – a Brown-backed Solitaire, native to Mexico. There has only been one other record in the U.S. – over 10 years prior and was not accepted as a “wild” bird. There is still a lot of discussion surrounding whether the current Solitaire in Ramsey Canyon arrived on it’s own free will or if it was “assisted”. The Brown-backed Solitaire is widely valued as a popular cage bird due to it’s incredibly beautiful song so there is much desire to illegally transport them to the U.S. from Mexico.

Have a listen to it’s amazing call.

Around 10:45AM the 40 or so of us in the Canyon were greeted with that exact call. It sounded as if the bird was just 30 or 40 feet off the trail but as much we tried we could not locate the bird. We patiently listened to the call every few minutes and hoped it would eventually show itself. And show itself it did. Just after 11:00AM it flew into one of the Wilcox Barberry bushes to feed on the berries. It sat there feeding for a couple minutes before flying up into the canyon.

Brown-backed Solitaire

After we all had great looks at the Solitaire we decided to head over to the Beatty Guest Ranch located within Miller Canyon. This was where the Solitaire was originally found before moving into Ramsey Canyon just a few miles away.

Miller Canyon

We were immediately greeted by Tom Beatty, Jr. who showed us a Sonoran Whipsnake that was feeding along the edge of their pond.

Sonoran Whipsnake

After enjoying a few minutes of observing the Whipsnake we hiked up to the hummingbird observation area where several Berylline and White-eared Hummingbirds have been treating guests to views just a few feet away!

Berylline Hummingbird

White-eared Hummingbird

Although not as infrequent as the Berylline or White-eared Hummingbird, several Broad-tailed’s fed amongst the hundreds of other hummers. It’s always a treat to hear the buzzing sound the Broad-tailed Hummingbird’s wings make.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

I even captured some video with my iPhone to show how close to all the hummingbirds we were. I was literally holding my phone just a foot away from the feeder!

It was now getting late in the day so had just enough time to stop off at the Ash Canyon B&B just down the road. Beautiful female and male Lucifer Hummingbirds had been coming to the feeders there regularly.

Ash Canyon

Since the Lucifer Hummingbird didn’t show itself immediately I took some photos of a Costa’s Hummingbird and a Pipevine Swallowtail happily feeding on the plentiful supply of nectar, natural and artificial.

Costa’s Hummingbird

Pipevine Swallowtail

I didn’t have to wait long before the male Lucifer Hummingbird finally showed itself. Definitely one of my favorite Hummingbirds!

Lucifer Hummingbird

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Ballona Creek (Black Oystercatchers in foreground)

I took a stroll up Ballona Cr. yesterday afternoon to look for any migrating Red Knots… Didn’t find any but saw a couple Semipalmated Plovers which I see very irregularly along the Creek. As I was coming to the second locked gate on the south end of the Creek I noticed a Western Grebe that was propped against a rock… I expected it to flush back into the water as I approached it but it didn’t move at all.

Western Grebe

It just watched me cautiously as I drew closer and closer. I realized it must be injured or sick so I decided to take a few photos and call Roy Van de Hoek with the Ballona Institute to see if he could come take the bird to a rehab facility. He recommended I phone the IBRRC bird rescue in San Pedro. I did so and only received a recording so I left a message. I decided to continue down the creek so I didn’t waste all the time in my 2 hour parking meter.

About 30 minutes later the IBRRC called me back and said that they were not able to come take the bird so they recommended I try to get it into a box myself and deliver it to the West LA animal shelter in the morning so that they could deliver it to them in San Pedro. Since I did not have a box or blanket to throw over the bird with me I phoned a friend who was able to bring me the items necessary to capture the Grebe.

While I waited for her, a curious Heermann’s Gull came close to see what was going on…

Heermann’s Gull

When my friend arrived with the blanket, I was able to easily toss it over the bird to pick it up gently and place it in the box. It certainly wasn’t happy about the situation but it seemed to have lots of energy, despite it looking under nourished, which was promising. Now the difficult part was figuring out how to keep it safe/warm at my house overnight!

Western Grebe

Roy recommended I try to get it over to Peter Wallerstein with the Marine Animal Rescue group in Playa del Rey. I was finally able to get ahold of him that evening and delivered the bird safely to him. He said the keel bone was sticking out so it hadn’t eaten in sometime but otherwise the bird felt and acted in good health. He told me the shorebird rehab clinic would pick up the bird in the morning so hopefully the little guy pulls through!

Oh and before I forget, the male Hooded Oriole has been visiting the feeder in my backyard regularly for the past week now. When I got home from Ballona I heard him calling across the street as soon as I opened my door. It appeared the male and female were either building a nest or already had one in the fan palms in my neighbor’s yard. Note, this was the same yard a pair (same pair?) nested in last year but their nest was cut down by the gardener… Hopefully the same outcome does not result again this year. Here’s the video I took of the male Hooded Oriole visiting my feeder this afternoon.

And I leave you all with a photo of my new Owling flashlight for Arizona this weekend!

My new flashlight

(Just kidding – I didn’t actually buy it, although I was tempted!)

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Catalina Island

If you can believe it, I didn’t take a camera or binoculars to Catalina! Having been there many times already I knew it would just be a burden and obviously a distraction from what the purpose of the trip was for. I wasn’t completely out of pocket as I still had my iPhone 3GS with me which takes AMAZING photos and video footage – as such, the following photos and videos were all taken with my iPhone.

Catalina Island

We took the Skyline Drive Tour which is approx 2 hours long and takes you up to the Catalina Airport. I’ve probably done this tour at least 3 or 4 other times and have only seen 1 or 2 buffalo at a very far distance. This time, however, we saw at 60+ Bison at VERY close range including a pack that ran alongside our tour bus for several minutes! I took some video footage with my phone (you will have to turn your head a bit during the video as it did not rotate automatically when I turned the camera horizontally).

After a relaxing tour to Catalina Airport we grabbed some lunch and headed over to the docks to catch the Submarine Tour. Again, I’ve done this tour a couple of times before but I don’t remember seeing this many fish including the protected Garabaldi! I took some more video with my iPhone and was really happy with the quality of it.

Despite not bringing any “pro” camera gear I had a fun day with the company and it still allowed me to capture some of the beauty of Catalina Island!

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I’ve gotten out a few times in the past week but I haven’t had any time to post blog updates… I monitored the Least Tern population on Venice Beach last Friday – however, I didn’t see a single Least Tern! Strange… I know there’s a large population down in Huntington Beach still actively feeding young… There wasn’t much else. I counted 15 American Crows in the general area. Lots of Heermann’s Gulls – mostly 2nd/3rd year birds, a few adults and a few 1st year.

Heermann’s Gull

On the way home I encountered a Cooper’s Hawk that flew right in front of me as I was about to pull into my driveway. It swooped into a Yucca type tree about 20′ off the ground. I grabbed my camera and immediately noticed what appeared to be a medium sized nest of sticks and twigs hastily thrown together. At first I thought it might be the Cooper’s nest until I realized what it was doing…in a split second it grabbed all the chicks from the nest and flew off. It all happened too quick for me to focus so I only got one shot of him looking at me moments before he grabbed lunch.

Cooper’s Hawk

For the past two weeks a baby Mockingbird has been waking us up every morning with it’s annoying little squeaking sound that it does… As if the adult singing all night long isn’t enough! It almost drives you mad until you see how cute the young birds are. Here’s a juvenile I photographed that finally made it out of the nest onto an open bush.

Northern Mockingbird

On Saturday I met up with some birders from Mira Loma to help scout the area out for friends that will be visiting from Australia in a couple of weeks. Needless to say, they have quite a few target birds in mind…Black Oystercatcher, Pelagic and Brandt’s Cormorant, Allen’s Hummingbird, Belding’s Savannah Sparrow and the extremely cooperative Little Blue Heron that has been occupying the Del Rey Lagoon and the Ballona Wetlands area for the past two months. We were able to get within 20′ of him!

Little Blue Heron

I went back out yesterday and hiked about 2 miles from Playa del Rey up Ballona Creek in search of Red Knots or any other interesting early fall migrants that might be passing through. Although I only encountered HUNDREDS of Willets, Whimbrels and dozens of Marbled Godwits and Short-billed Dowitchers, 3 Ruddy Turnstones and a large group of Elegant Terns with mixed Caspians. I also came upon two Black Oystercatchers one of which that appeared injured and could not fly. It had worked itself back against the concrete tidal dam so I was able to get quite close to him. After taking a few photos I slowly retreated so as not to agitate him anymore than I already had.

Black Oystercatcher

I continued walking but didn’t really encounter anything else noteworthy… I did find a BCNH hunting in a small green patch of vegetation. The sun was probably 1-2 hrs from setting so it created beautiful lighting and I couldn’t resist trying to capture the Night Heron’s last hunt of the day. I waited around 30 minutes hoping he’d catch something that I could photograph but he must not have been that hungry!

Black-crowned Night-Heron

And I end this posting with a note of disgust… As I walked back to the car I noticed 3 Mexican fisherman. One in a boat using a large net to scoop up fish from Ballona Cr. and the two others just walking along the shore (scaring all the shorebirds up). I noticed they were approaching the Black Oystercatcher that I had photographed earlier. I stopped and waited to see what they would do… The one bird that could fly waited as long as possible as if trying to protect the other bird but finally gave in and flew up and behind them and me. As they got closer they realized the Oystercatcher would not fly..so what did they do? They picked up rocks and started throwing it at the bird. I shouted at them but they clearly understood no English. So I started to walk toward them…they eventually got the hint and continued walking down the creek. Fortunately it didn’t appear the Oystercatcher was injured in any way. The other bird quickly joined him as the fishermen moved on. It’s really sad there’s people like that in this world!

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