Let it Snow

Call us weird. Or perhaps birding fanatics. Why else would we drive for almost 12 hours to Southern Arizona from Los Angeles, go birding the following day, and then drive back on the third day. Big thanks to my son who did all the driving.

There were two places that we visited in Southern Arizona: one was the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and the other was the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area.

There were a lot of birds just around the office at the San Pedro Riparian. Three species of Towhees were represented:

The Canyon Towhee...

and Abert's Towhee

Can you tell the difference between the two?

The third was the Green-tailed Towhee. This species is usually very skittish. So much so that we never got a good photo of it in our previous visits to Arizona. This time we were lucky to get good enough shots.

The Pyrrhuloxia, although not as brightly colored as its cousin, the Northern Cardinal, was still a beauty to behold.

The highlight, though, was the desert dwelling Gila Woodpecker.

While we were buying some souvenirs at the store, the lady asked us if we've been to the Whitewater Draw. We replied in the negative. There are thousands of Sandhill Cranes there she said as an incentive for us. We asked for directions and soon we were on our way.

About an hour later we arrived at the site. Indeed there were lots of Sandhill Cranes, maybe not in the thousands but still quite a number. Unfortunately, they were far off - way beyond our camera range. The person in charge of the park assured us that the cranes would come nearer around noon. While waiting for that to happen we explored the surroundings. That's when we saw a Wilson's Snipe quite close to the path.

Killdeers were also unafraid of human beings and allowed us to come near.

I saw an Eastern Meadowlark near a bush but it was the opposite of the Killdeers, being very skittish. That was until we chanced upon it while it was it the middle of the road. Hiding behind a tree, my wife and I were able to get some shots. Of course, Cynthia had the better one.

Noonish. We went to the area where the cranes were and as predicted by the Park Manager, the tall, long-legged birds were now closer than before. 

Earlier in the day

Moving closer around noontime

Close enough

The morning after as we prepared for the long drive home, we were greeted by a flurry of snowflakes. It snows in Arizona? we couldn't believe that it was really happening! Anyway, we were already leaving, so "let it snow!"

Ok, Frank, what have you got?

And as it turned out....a lot!!


Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas has been (and continues to be) one of my favorite birding spots in Southern California. So on our second day here I managed to cajole my son, Kurt, to drive me here where we can both enjoy our respective hobbies: birding for me, of course, and mountain biking for him. Cynthia, once again, decided to go shopping and do some personal errands.


As it was in several spring mornings in the past, the very first bird to greet me at Bonelli Park was an American Robin. There it was it's bright orange breast gleaming in the morning sun chasing some tiny insects from the dewy grass. 

As expected, as if I am watching a replay of my past birding adventures here,  after the Robin comes the Western Bluebirds showing up with the males in their sparkling bright blue plumage.

Another thing I love about Bonelli Regional Park is the wide diversity of species found here. Aside from the usual park birds like the Robins and the Bluebirds, there are also some shorebirds like the Spotted Sandpiper, Killdeer and Snowy Egret. Waterbirds like the Canada Goose, Lesser Scaups and Northern Shovelers are also present.

Northern Shoveler pair

Spotted Sandpiper

Killdeer

I was even rewarded by a fly-by of an immature Bald Eagle!

Spring wouldn't be spring without the loud and incessant love songs of the Great-tailed Grackle and Red-winged Blackbirds.

Great-tailed Grackle

Red-winged Blackbird

I wasn't even aware that several hours had already slipped by until Kurt came gliding in in his bike. As we were packing our gears, I was smiling because I was happy I visited Frank again. And boy, he did not disappoint!

A Quick Peck

Our first full day in California is a day of errands. Or should I say, of shopping. My wife, Cynthia, wanted  to get that over and done with as soon as possible so that we can enjoy the rest of our stay here relatively free of obligations.


First, we visited my daughter's home in Arcadia to get some documents we needed to determine if we needed to pay taxes. Inasmuch as her place was very near one of my favorite birding haunts, I insisted that we make a quick birding foray there.


Peck Road Water Conservation Area (aka Peck Pit to local birders) still harbored some nice birds that lovely spring morning. There weren't that many in terms of species but those that were there were surprisingly friendly. The very first bird we saw was a totally unexpected Mountain Chickadee. As its name implies these are birds found in higher elevations. Peck's Pit by any stretch of the imagination can never be considered a mountain or even a hill for that matter.

The chickadees turned out to be only the first among other surprises that morning. A Great Egret seemed out of place hunting among the tall grass hundreds of feet away from the nearest body of water.

Another oddity was a pair of Killdeers, which is a type of plover, doing their quaint stop-and-go antics on a grassy patch.

Cassin's Kingbirds, although a regular winter visitor were so unmindful of human beings that one of them flew from a nearby perch to the ground just a few feet in front of me!

Even the usually skittish Mourning Doves were quite accommodating too.

Despite just having a quick peek at Peck's Pit, I was happy to once again see my favorite birds here in Southern California.

Out of the Pit

Peck Pit is an unfortunate name given to one of the better birding spots in Southern California. Its real name is Peck Road Park Lake and yes, it has a lake that is good for fishing. It was termed "the pit" by local birders because there was a time when quite a few homeless people made the park their "home". Consequently, there were some trash strewn on the grounds. Lately though, frequent visits by the El Monte Police and daily maintenance by the Park Administrators made the park safer and more birdable.

The name stuck, though.

Tuesday, I visited "the pit" with hopes that maybe there would be some early migrants checking in. Well, there weren't. As a matter of fact, there weren't too many birds at all. The usual coots and mallards were at the lake together with a sprinkling of Ruddy Ducks and a few Lesser Scaups. Cormorants were on the other side, most of them molting into breeding plumage. I saw a total of one Great Egret, one Great Blue Heron and one Black Phoebe. Which was interesting because normally there are lots of these species. Even the ubiquituous Yellow-rumps had dwindled in numbers quite significantly.

However, "the pit" did not disappoint. First, I saw the Red-whiskered Bulbul reported two days ago. Red-whiskereds, a non-native exotic species, normally stay within the confines of the Arboretum which is about 3 1/2 miles away as the Corvus brachyrhynchos flies. This particular bird probably got blown by the winds last week and never found the way back home.

Then there were the Killdeers. I have not seen these shorebirds here before and now there were two of them. One, I'm assuming was the male, was showing off the bright rust color of its rump.

Perhaps that was the Killdeer's way of attracting the opposite sex, one of which was standing across the field looking totally unimpressed.

Finally, as I was about to leave, I came across a Western Kingbird perched on the top of a leafless tree. I was stalking it slowly and trying to get a better camera angle when all of a sudden, it flew with a speed like it was fleeing for dear life. When I took my eyes of the viewfinder to look at what was going on, I was surprised to see a Merlin fly in, made a quick u-turn and landed on a nearby tree. I was able to squeeze in a few hurried shots before it flew off presumably in search of an unwary kingbird.

Snowy Summer

July 7, 2007 aka 777. Weddings everywhere just because of the uniqueness of the date. The perfect number they say. Would it give us luck? We tried to find out by heading to Bolsa Chica to look for the Red Knots. Unlike the past days, this morning was gray and overcast. We should have taken that as an omen of things that will unfold for the rest of the day.

We dipped on the Knots. I guess we looked at the wrong part of the lagoon. Because somebody saw them at the time we were there! I found out about this when reading the Yahoo listserv for Orange County birding later that night. We just missed adding a lifer to our still short list!

We hiked the length of the mesa and between the two of us took a total of one photograph. One! A backlit shot of a Great Blue Heron and that was it! At least at the boardwalk we were able to get some flight shots of the Black Skimmer and the various Terns that flew by. A few yards from the fence that protects the nesting colonies we got some prety good shots of the Snowy Plover and its chick. It wasn't a lifer but the photos we got were far better than the previous one we had. That at least saved the day for us. Because...

We drew a blank again at Upper Newport Bay. The Peregrine Falcons that we saw last week were a no-show, as all the other birds one would normally see there, except for a few of them Mallards.

San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary after lunch was hot. The Wilson's Phalaropes were too far for a decent shot. However, interestingly enough, a female Killdeer decided to lay her eggs just a couple of feet away from the trail. There she was, mouth agape in the heat of the day refusing to budge despite the passing by of birders and hikers. We were so worried about its safety knowing there was a Bobcat family in the vicinity. And even as were voicing our concerns, a Peregrine flew by, spooking the Peeps in the lagoon. We were so startled that we, of course, failed to take pictures of the sought after falcon.

But, we were able to get pictures of an Osprey in flight.

777 may be the perfect number for some people. For us, it could have been better.