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!"

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the hard-working mothers out there..I hope you enjoyed your day. May you have the honor and respect that you so deserve.

For more interesting stories and photographs please check out:

Gone With the Wind (Part V of our Florida Trip, Apr. 7, 2009)

Gone with the wind, just like a leaf that has blown away.

We had very high hopes of getting a good number of lifers when we left Orlando Tuesday, Apr. 7. Our destinations were Joe Overstreet Landing at Kenansville and Orlando Wetlands Park at Christmas (that’s the name of the town).

The fenceposts along Joe Overstreet Road were populated by Loggerhead Shrikes and Eastern Meadowlarks.




A single (and skittish) Eastern Kingbird even joined them.
However, the closer we got to the lake, the stronger the winds became. At the lake shore, we had to stay inside the car because the winds have now reached almost gale-like conditions. We could spot Bald Eagles and Northern Harriers flying off in the distance while a flock of Chipping Sparrows huddled on the lee side of a big tree.

After about an hour we gave up in desperation and hoped that we would have better luck at the Orlando Wetlands. We didn’t. Although the winds were not as strong there, it was still gusty nonetheless. Except for a Little Blue Heron and some Purple Martins flying over, we didn’t see much. Once again we had to cut short our visit.


It was still early and we were quite in a dilemma. Shall we keep on birding despite the wind or call it day? We decided to return to Orlando and when we were almost home, Cynthia suggested that we go to Moss Park again, inasmuch as it was not that far away. Thanks to her boundless optimism, Moss Park turned out to be less windy (the tall trees acted as barrier) and was even quite birdy. Aside from the now familiar Sandhill Cranes – one pair even had a baby tagging along – we saw a Red-shouldered Hawk, which was quite a surprise.


Another surprise was a Summer Tanager whose bright red color cheered up a rather blustery afternoon.


Soon Palm Warblers and Chipping Sparrows filled the tree tops.


As we were about to leave, a Great-crested Flycatcher finally showed up for a fitting farewell to our Florida birding.

Close To You (Part III of our Florida Trip, apr. 5, 2009)

Why do cranes suddenly appear..
Just like me, they long to be close to you..

Wherever we are we always make it a point to attend church services on Sundays. Normally we go to Calvary Chapel, our home church, and there is usually one in almost every major city in the United States. This time however, we will be going to World Outreach Center in Orlando because our host, Joel Magpantay, is the Pastor of the Children’s Ministry there.

The World Outreach Center has a predominantly African-American congregation and it was a welcome change for us to be a part of such a dynamic and lively Palm Sunday service. We were blessed and felt close to the Lord.

The Magpantays would be busy the whole day involving church activities so Cynthia and I enjoyed a quiet lunch at a nearby Vietnamese Restaurant Pho 88.

Earlier, Joel recommended that we visit Moss Park, which was not far from their house. Sandhill Cranes are quite tame there he assured us. At first I took that statement with a certain amount of skepticism. After all we had to travel close to 200 miles from Pasadena to Salton Sea to look for these tall birds. And even then they were always too far and skittish for us to have a good look at, much more photograph them. But then I reasoned out, Joel is a Pastor so why would he even try to embellish something just for our benefit.

Of course he was telling the truth! We found that out almost as soon as we parked the car at Moss Park. Although the place was filled with picnickers and beachcombers, Sandhill Cranes were walking amongst the throng of people, completely unperturbed by the noise and human activities! They would wander so close that we could almost touch them.
Moss Park abuts Lake Mary Jane. About a third of a mile offshore is a tiny island inhabited by a myriad of birds. Occasionally these birds would fly over the park and it was here that we got some relatively good shots of the Wood Stork and the Anhinga.


We then ventured a bit inland where tall trees abound. Here we witnessed a Downy Woodpecker battle a bigger Red-bellied Woodpecker for prime nesting territory.

A Great-crested Flycatcher even showed up, as we were about to leave.
We retired early to rest our weary bodies from the long drive from Jacksonville and from the excitement of experiencing our close encounters of the bird kind.

"I love the smell of Snow Geese in the morning!" *

"I love the smell of snow geese in the morning!"

These were the words I spoke to my wife as we were standing at the edge of a ditch at the Unit 1 area of the Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge on a cold wintry morning. Before us thousands of Snow Geese were beginning to stir as the light of dawn slowly brightened up the cloudless skies. A little to our left about two dozen Sandhill Cranes were already busy feeding among the tall grass.

On New year's Day we decided to leave the hustle and bustle of the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the peace and quiet of birding at the Salton Sea. We have not visited this place during winter and we were hoping that we could begin the year by adding some new species to our lifelist. We were not disappointed. We saw our first flock of Snow Geese minutes after we arrived at the Sonny Bono Wildlife Refuge headquarters at around 10:30 am. A covey of Gambel's Quails were noisily availing of the seeds that fell from the feeder, while Abert's Towhees and White-crowned Sparrows were battling for prime space on the feeders. Common Ground Doves were mingling with the quails below. Here we met fellow birder Tom Wurster who gave excellent directions on where we could find the best birding areas.

After checking in at the Calipatria Inn, we headed to Keystone Road south of the city of Brawley. Along the way we encountered a huge flock of Cattle Egrets next to the highway. The fields east of the sugar factory at Keystone were pretty quiet so we drove farther until we got to the intersection of Dogwood. It was here that Cynthia pointed to a group of tall birds. "Sandhill Cranes!" I exclaimed as both of us jumped out of the Jeep and tried getting some pictures of the distant birds. Eventually the cranes flew off. We tried to follow the flock but they landed in a field where access was prohibited. Through dogged persistence, we were able to find a place to park and I walked towards where the cranes were now feeding. I borrowed Cynthia's lighter camera gear and after about a quarter mile, I located the tall birds and took some shots. After a while, the cranes once again flew off this time towards the horizon.

On my way back to the Jeep (my wife remained there) I was startled when a Burrowing Owl flushed and flew by me. I chased it down but then it flew back until it settled between Cynthia and myself. Through intricate hand signals, my wife finally understood what I was trying to convey and she grabbed my camera with the 500mm lens attached to it. Handholding that camera set-up she took a burst of shots at the owl while I slowly approached from the other side and tried to take some pictures as well, despite my subject being backlit and all.

           my shot:

    Cynthia's shot:

The following morning we were at Unit 1 and we were so overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of birds around us. Wave upon wave of Snow Geese were flying overhead while Sandhill Cranes were bugling and rattling below. We had not seen this kind of avian spectacle ever before and we stood there entranced by the beauty of it all.

Reluctantly, we left this awesome pageant. We had to be at the fields next to the Calipatria State Prison for the pipits and the longspurs. The only pipit we saw were Americans and not the longed for Sprague's. Savannah Sparrows darted back and forth across the road and we hoped that there would be some longspurs among them but we dipped on those as well. The birders that we met here were all talking about the Bendire's Thrasher that was seen within the premises of a residential area in Calipatria. Tom also mentioned it yesterday. Since it would be a lifer for us, we decided to join the group in searching for the uncommon thrasher. We were soon rewarded by a glimpse of the shy, skulking, nondescript bird. The thrasher had a habit of showing up briefly on the branches of a dead tree and then diving to the ground and out of sight.

While we were all waiting for the bird to reappear, I saw a flash of red overhead. It was a Vermillion Flycatcher grabbing a moth in mid-air. It landed on an electrical wire where it consumed its prey.

With the owner of the place where the thrasher hangs out getting a little antsy, we thought it prudent to take an early exit.

After lunch we returned to Keystone road where we once again saw a flock of Sandhill Cranes. Along the sea were more Snow Geese, countless Northern Pintails and Gulls of various kinds.

We wanted to be home before it got really dark so we left around 3 pm. Burned into our memories were the sights of thousands of geese darkening the blue skies as they flew overhead and the raucous calls of the Sandhill Cranes as they danced in celebration of a new year. Racking up three lifers is indeed a glorious way to start our birding year.