Win a Few, Lose a Few

Hey there!

I'm still working on the wrap-up of our Big Year... we decided that removing a year's worth of cobwebs, putting away months of laundry, and starting to get our life back to normal was probably a bit more important than cranking out an update!

But, over the last few weeks, our list has undergone a few modifications, despite 2015 being long gone:

• The Birding Police are pretty sure that the Brown Shrike we saw early in the year near Arcata is probably a hybrid, and thus doesn't count. The bird hung around for several weeks and thanks (or no thanks) to photographers, we have documentation of how the bird developed from juvenile plumage into adult. Its feather patterns apparently don't look like any one kind of shrike, hence the declaration of it as hybrid and therefore not countable (because which would you count it as?). So -1 from the list. Damn you, Birding Police! [sad face]
  
• A couple weeks ago, I received a random text. It turned out to be from a person we met in Texas when we attempted to find the Golden-crowned Warbler near Corpus Christi. Her message was, "I've been doing a lot of listening, and the bird we heard was indeed the warbler." !!!! So we dug out the iPhone recording we had made and studied it more carefully. And indeed, the call we recorded does match the warbler in question! We had been literally carrying around the recording for over a month, and didn't bother to ever study it. Bad birders! But, +1 to the list [happy face], and a big thanks to the gal from San Antonio! Maybe we'll actually get to SEE the bird next time!

So, we're still at 692 for the year, but with these kinds of changes still possible, we'll wait a few more weeks before declaring the number final.

Stay tuned for that wrap-up!

Nice Try, Mr. Owl

Feliz Año Nuevo!

The message was delivered. The message was heard. And he tried to hide, but to no avail.

So there we were: exiting our last flight of the year on Tuesday afternoon, We had just returned from Phoenix, and before that Akron, on our last trip of our Big Year. But we had some unfinished business.

We were off in search of a Short-eared Owl. A very particular Short-eared Owl, whom we were determined to find before the year was over. Of course, we could have gone after other owls, but since we had tried and failed several times--and we don't take failure lightly--this one was personal.

Now, I may have suggested to this Owl in a recent blog post that we would be displeased if he evaded us. Displeased enough, I believe I said, to send a fleet of giant mowers to cut down all his grass. Or something like that. I forget.

This Owl, though, he's a clever one. Resourceful. With his own connections. And he only had a little more than two days to stay out of sight.

So, he recruited a friend to help keep us away. His partner in crime? A 900-pound Elephant Seal, who did her best to block the highway that runs in front of Owl's field for most of Monday and Tuesday. Her name? Bathsheba de Tolay, apparently. (follow the link, the event is pretty entertaining!)

Her escapades resulted in miles and miles of traffic jam, and we were sorely tempted to turn around. And she might have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids from the Marine Mammal Center! Also, once we got stuck in the traffic, we literally had nowhere to turn around, so we had no choice but to crawl past her.

Managing to keep our sanity long enough to finally get to the turn-off, he put one more hurdle between us.

We walked nearly a mile along Skaggs Island Road, to where the "Area Closed", "No Trespassing", and "Cameras In Use" signs are posted at the base of the old bridge. For nearly an hour, we respected the signs and scanned the fields from that point, as before finding plenty of raptors of various kinds, but nary an owl. Finally, with the sun and desperation setting in, we decided to ignore those signs and follow the road to the apex of the bridge.

From there, in less than five minutes, we found him! He had been hiding far in the distance, in an area where our view was blocked by the bridge. Only by slightly ignoring those signs (rationalized by thinking that as long as we didn't go off the pavement we were fine, and if they really wanted us out they would have put a gate there), were we able to locate him. Phew!

And that about does it for our Big Year! Unless something crazy shows up this afternoon, our final tally will stand at 692, far beyond what we originally set out to do.

Check back next week, as I'll let you know if we get one more bird, and then wrap up the year.

For now, I hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve! And, once the fireworks settle down just past midnight, keep your ears open...you might find your first bird of 2016 even before you go to sleep!

Happy New Year,
Me

You Da Man in Yuma

How do you like the new tourist slogan I've created for Yuma? Hey Yuma, this one is free, but the next one will cost ya! You're welcome!

Yesterday's excursion to Yuma did not yield merely yawns. We yearned for a new bird for the year, and we were not disappointed!

Just before noon, we drove into Riverside Park, located on the Colorado River just a mile or so away from California, and at the base of the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, where the 3:10 to Yuma stopped. 

Previous reports said that a Streak-backed Oriole, a rare visitor from Mexico, had recently been reported in the palm trees right in front of the parking lot. Given that the last time we tried to find one of these, we flew into Lubbock and drove for five hours, having the opportunity to find one a mere three hours away with no extra plane flights was an offer we couldn't pass up.

As with the Robin the other day, multiple reports had been filed saying that the bird tended to show up during the noon hour. So, with calm, sunny weather beckoning him to return to his favorite tree, The Wife arrayed herself upon the hood of our black car to soak up as much heat as possible as we awaited his return.

12:15 passed, and then 12:30, and we were starting to get nervous. A couple other groups of birders who had been looking since earlier in the morning gave up and departed. In an attempt at reverse psychology, The Wife began to chat with the remaining birders about other failed attempts to locate this kind of oriole, while I pulled up Yelp on my phone to find a good place nearby for lunch.

But at 12:45, a yell went up from the other side of the palms! Somebody had seen a yellow bird fly in! Everybody scrambled from their positions for a look, and sure enough, there he was!

We watched him for nearly 30 minutes before he decided that he'd had enough palm berries, and then flew off toward the river. Yay!

Today, we're taking a day off in Scottsdale, since there's nothing else for us to find in Arizona, and American wants $400 to move our flight by a day. Tomorrow we fly home, and then take one more shot at the nefarious Short-eared Owl.

Only four days to go!