Pearl Jam & Birds!!

Thanks to Eddie Vedder and the gang, I was given another reason, to travel the country . . . and hear live music, hang with friends, and of course see LIFE BIRDS!!!!

It is early August in the Pacific Northwest 2018. This is my seventh year coming to Seattle to see my best friends and getting a chance to bird.  Since we won tickets to both nights for the Home Shows, there was no way I was not going. And since this will be my last annual trip to Washington, lets make it count!! Even thou this was a fun trip, I still managed causal birding at local hotspots, and managed to see many new First of Years(FOYs) and that included + 3 life birds.  So here we go.

Wednesday 8th morning, I hung out in Edmunds, visited all my local spots, the Edmunds Marsh & Pier, Marina Beach, Brackets Landing & Ferry dock. Since it was August all the waterbirds are still up in Canada, so no Scooters or Cormorants.

Smile!!

Pigeon Guillemot

FOYs
Heermanns' Gull--pier
Glaucous-winged Gull
Pigeon Guillemot
Rhino Auklet
Black-capped Chickadee--marsh




Then that night was Pearl Jam Show #1 Section 220 Club

Long Road, opening song

 

Center of the Universe

 After a day off Thursday for recovery, I wanted to make Friday 10th a great day. So with plans to catch the 6:20 am ferry over to Kingston, then 40 mins drive to Gardiner Beach on Discovery Bay. This is the place in lower 48 to see and count Northwestern Crow . . . and I did just that!!

Boats away

Northwestern Crows lifer #609

Look, Birds!!

 


 
A small crow of the northern Pacific Coast, the Northwestern Crow is becoming quite at home in urban areas as well as along the shore.

FOYs
Northwestern Crow #609
Western Sandpiper--marsh behind crow
Pelagic Cormorant--pier
Mew Gull--pier
Red-neck Phalarope--point no point
Brewer's blackbird--car trip back





Then that night was Pearl Jam Show #2 Section 241 Club

All the favorites, 34 songs last night

Saturday was another off day. Hanging out in Edmunds, lunch in town, then watching pre-season Seahawks football, nice Italian dinner of sausages & peppers, onions, pasta.

Then last day, Sunday 12th. I'm flying out at 8pm at night, so lets make today count!! Through my years visiting Seattle, and doing guided walks at Discovery park, I've make FB friends with local bird guides/fun people, you know. And whom else to see life birds with? Thanks Niel & Caroline👏 for all you do. I owe you one.

Vaux's Swift, Life Bird #610

2400 roosted that night/morning

A bird of the Pacific Northwest, Vaux's Swift spends almost all of daylight hours in the air foraging for insects.Vaux's Swift is the smallest swift in North America. Swifts roost communally, by the hundreds or sometimes the thousands, presumably to conserve heat.

California-scrub Jay, #611

 FOYs
Vaux's Swift #610--Monroe, WA; known roosting sight
California Scrub-Jay #611--Upper Queen Anne park, Juvi's
Bushtit--Magneson Park
Chestnut-backed Chickadee--Niel's house


The “blue jay” of dry lowlands along the Pacific seaboard, the California Scrub-Jay combines deep azure blue, clean white underparts, and soft gray-brown. It looks very similar to the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay (they were considered the same species until 2016), but is brighter and more contrasting, with a bold blue breast band.

I saw the Woodhouse SJ in Vegas in March, on the mountain at Lee Canyon, an FOY. 

With that, I came . . . I saw . . . I conquered!!!! 
Trip stats:
56 birds
15 FOYs
3   LifeBirds
2  Pearl Jam shows(11 lifers now)

Thank you and good night from Seattle, a little Pearl Jam "Yellow Ledbetter"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP0GRxrIcYk


 

Spring Break 2K18 part 2

All aboard . . . . second leg of Spring Break 2018 tour, next stop . . Las Vegas, NV!! During March, it is a great time to travel to Nevada. Certain birds spend the winter there, before traveling north. So, with Texas in the books, and no life birds added to 2018, let's spend 48hrs in Las Vegas and Gamble.

Daylight at Corn Creek

Monday AM: Desert Wildlife NWR
Virginia Rail, Verdin, Townsend's Solitaire, Phainopeopla, Cassin's Finch, Common Raven

The park now has 2 resident Coopers Hawks, nesting pair. So birding is light to say the least. After a quick loop and hearing 2 Virginia Rails calling in the reeds, we headed back out of the park, down the long road to the highway.  While driving, we saw sparrow type birds fly down in the shrubs, we pulled over to look. Then a lady in a first generation Honda CRV SE, stopped and asked if we where birding. Well, YES!!

 She pointed us down towards the "town" rd. Said to park there, and walk north on the dirt road/north tract, and the desert birds will be calling.  And sure enough, once we got out of the car, we could hear the distinct call of a thrasher.

LeConte's Thrasher, lifer #607

SageBrush Sparrow, lifer #606

While tracking down and getting close to the thrasher, several sparrows where popping up and running on the ground.  These are the recently split "Sage Sparrow" into two species now. The inland California/Nevada birds are call "SageBrush Sparrow"(lifer #606) and the coastal California birds are now called "Bell's Sparrow". Which I still need now. So Bam!! Another good luck of fortune, thank you CRV lady.  --Note**Honda CRV & Subaru vehicles are good signs they are BIRDERS.

Now, with 2 new lifer birds under the belt, it's time to race to the mountain!!! Going from the dessert of 3200 ft elelvation straight up to over 8000 ft, follow that road.

It's Cold up here

Western Bluebird

Mountain Chickadee, note the black bib

Clark's NutCracker, 2nd time only!!

Monday Noon: Lee Canyon, Camp pulloff, Deer Creek
Stellar's Jay, Western Shrub Jay(Woodhouse now), Clark's Nutcracker, Mountain Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch

Mt. Charleston

Monday 3pm: Floyd Lamb City Park
Say's Phoebe, Ross Goose, Rudy Duck, Gambel's Quail, California Gull, Anna's Hummingbird 







Day 2 Tues AM: Spring Mountain Ranch/SR59 North 2nd pulloff on left
Red-naped Sapscker, Violet Grn Swallow, Juniper Titmouse, Catus Wren(h), Rock Wren, Bewicks Wren, Amerian Pipit, Spotted Towhee, Sage Thrasher

Tuesday morning, while waiting for the 8am open to Spring Mountain Ranch park, we birded the two pull offs north, off SR59. West side toward the Rainbow Mountains. Saw and heard Shrub Jay, White-crown sparrows, but at the second one, this thrush like bird was running along the ground.

Sage Thrasher, #608

runs stealthily through the brush

BAM!! Sage Thrasher. Lifer!! Just the bird I was looking for.  This smallest of the thrashers is a widespread denizen of the West’s vast sagebrush steppe. Sage Thrashers are furtive creatures that hunt for insects beneath a protective sagebrush canopy.

Ash Tree forest, Spring Mt. Ranch

Spotted Towhee

Rock Wren, duh!?!

Tues 10am: Henderson Birding Preserve 
Eared Grebe, Bufflehead, Costa's Hmbrd, Black-tailed Gnatcher

Henderson BP parking lot

Costa's Hummingbird

Vegas Baby!!

I finished my 48 hrs in Las Vegas with 76 total birds, with +3 Lifers!! So yes it was worth it. I'd like to thank my birding pal JK, MGM hotels for comps, Kia Optima for a good rental, Inn N Out burger for yummy cheap lunch and SouthWest Airlines for making Spring Break 2K18 a success.
  

 

KIA Blue

Next up: Spring time in Ohio, warblers, vireos, flycatchers, sandpipers . . oh MY!! 

Blue Bunting Code 4, rare

Well, . . . this is it!!! Another rare bird from Mexico, that sporadically comes up across the border, and into the Lower Rio Grand Valley of Texas. Thankfully, this one has been seen at Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen for almost 30 days. It was coming into the feeders at the station, once all the Red-Wing Blackbirds would leave.

 The blue bunting (Cyanocompsa parellina) is a species of passerine bird found in Central America. Like most buntings, the blue bunting is sexually dimorphic. The male has a dark blue body, with brighter blue highlights on the supercilium, forecrown, malar region, rump and lesser wing coverts. The female is an unstreaked warm brown, slightly paler below.

8am, waiting at the station w others

Take a watch at my sweet video of this bird and experience.  Loving my Canon SX60 camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzoJ7Jx6gGo


In 2018, this was the 3rd time I've seen a Blue Bunting.  My first time(lifer) was back on April 4,1988 at Bentsen SP when I visited during spring break that year. I was 11.  So I don't really remember it, but I'm sure it was a big deal, and probably the brown female bird.  Then, lucky in 2016, another male Blue Bunting was reported at Frontera park in Weslaco, Tx.  Luckly, while waiting on a trail for 20 minutes, we saw leaves moving on the ground, and we looked, then BAMM . . . see below.

2016 bird at Frontera

Notice the full dark color

Gambill Life bird history:
 my father Buddy--1/13/1985 Bentsen SP, LRGV Texas; then again 12/28/84 in Acapulco, Mexico
 my grandparents Red&Louise--first saw one 1/3/85 at Bensten SP, again in 1986, 87', 88'

Spring Break 2K18

Well, it's that time of year. A long, cold, dark winter in Ohio, can only lead to one thing!! A trip to the Lower Rio Grand Valley in south Texas. This year we decided to do a double trip, so after LRGV, I flew to LasVegas for a try at life birds in Vegas that usually appear in March. This post will be about both places, birds seen, and fun had!!

HRL airport

 Guess what? No life birds this trip! Second year in a row. But I did get good pictures of rare birds, and got to experience them again, and with friends.

 Lifers missed:

• Mountain Plover, code 2, dipped again, third year in a row. No reports this winter in the valley like before. See ya next year?? 4th try
• Tamaulipas Crow, code 4, This was the winter. 4-6 birds reported all winter at the Brownsville Dump. But we did not try, none reported since 2/25. And guess what, after we left, reported back at the dump. So, see ya next winter crows?

Out of the 137 species that I saw/heard, 23 where Code 2 or higher. That's 16.7%!! So one out of 6 birds were a birding highlight reel. Here's some good ones . . .

Day 1:
Butterfly Museum--Grey Hawk, Audubon's Oriole, White-tipped Dove
South Padre Island--Harris Hawk, Tri-Color, Little Blue, Reddish Egrets, Willets

Build that WALL

Plain Chachalaca

Boardwalk at SPI

Convention center Shorebirds

Mr. 748 birds in 1998 Big Year

Day 2:
Quinta Mazatlan--Blue Bunting(code4), Louisiana WaterThrush
Estero Llano Grande SP--Long-billed Thrasher, Ruby-crown Kinglet, Common Pauraque, White-faced Ibis, White-tailed Kite, Green Kingfisher
Hildago--Monk Parakeet
McAllen--Green Parakeets

Common Pauraque

Green Kingfisher

Green Parakeets

Monk Parakeets

LRGV Birding

White-tailed Kite

Day 3: 
Salineo river front--Red-billed Pigeons, White-collared Seedeater(code3), Cassins Sparrow
David Win trailer--Olive Sparrow

Salineo Dump road--Lark Bunting, Lark Sparrow
Edinburg Park--Lesser Goldfinch

Birding the Rio Grande

White-collared Seedeater 3rd time ever for me

 

Male, WC Seedeater

Eating lunch in the Valley

 Day 4:
Bentsen SP--Eastern Screech Owl, Neotropic Cormorant
Progresso Fields--Yellow-headed Blackbird
HRL airport--Whimbrel

YHBB

Code 4:Casual
Species not recorded annually in the ABA Checklist Area, but with six or more total records—including three or more in the past 30 years—reflecting some pattern of occurrence.

Code 3: Rare
Species that occur in very low numbers, but annually, in the ABA Checklist Area. This includes visitors and rare breeding residents.

Total seen/heard:  137
Code 2s:                  21    
Code 3s:                    1  White-collared Seedeater
Code 4:                      1  Blue Bunting

Code 2: species have a restricted North American range, are more widespread, but occur in lower densities, or are quite secretive making their detection often difficult. We readily acknowledge that some Code-2 species are harder to find than some species that have higher codes.


Now Sunday night, flight off to Las Vegas, NV!! 2nd leg of the tour