Ohio Countdown

check the drawings by

Well, well, well . .  fall migration has started. Time to get into birding mode. First come the sandpipers, so look for habitats that host low water. Then the warblers are coming back through the forest, so lets go walk in the woods some. Then maybe if we're lucky, some rarity . . . like a code 3 . . could make an appearance in Ohio. So be on the lookout and remember to get out and BIRD!

Below is my list of seen recently, and the remaining Ohio birds I can get thru December. Wish me luck

8/16--BlueGrosbeak #319, Orchard Oriole #320

Otto Armleader Park, Cinncy-OH

8/28--Baird's Sandpiper #321  Hoover Resivour

Small to medium-sized sandpiper

Long wings extend past end of tail

Mallards, Pectoral Sandpiper

Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Sedge Wren 2016--Lifer #553 seen on 8/6/14, same place

Nelson's Sparrow #329

 

Yellow-bellied empidx #327

Sanderling #326

Needs list:
Swamp sparrow #328 10/16 Ellis Wetlands Butler cty
Canada warbler
Blackpoll warbler
Grey-checked Thrush
Least Empidx
Forster's Tern
Common Tern
Black Tern
GBBG
LBBG
Franklins
Bonapartes
Wilson Snipe
Godwits
Semi-palm Plover #325 9/15 Hoover Resivour
A. Golden Plover
VA Rail
Glossy Ibis
Least Bittern
Brown Pelcan
Red Neck Grebe
Horned Grebe
RB Merganser
Common Merganser
Canvasback
Rough legged Hawk
Short earred owl
YBSS
Winter wren
Golden Crown Kinglet
Red Breasted Nuthatch #322 9/10 Ohio Blendon Woods
Mourning Warbler #323 9/13 Ohio Blendon Woods
Connecticut Warbler #324 9/13 Ohio Blendon Woods
Sanderling #326 Ohio Hoover Resivour 
Yellow-bellied Empidx #327 Ohio Kiwanis Park 
Nelson's Sparrow #329 Ellis Wetlands Butler cty

Next up: Ohio fall migration . . . Seattle, WA in late October

Summer birding, blogs & buds

It's been a long and hot summer here in Columbus. Since Memorial Day weekend, I've gotten a chance to bird Ohio more. Usually on Sunday mornings, I get out for 2-4 hours and I've picked up some Ohio birds I missed last year. So with a combination of a hot & humid summer and small FOY birding ticks, its been more of a reading summer. I want to share some of the birding bloggers I follow and resources I use for birding information.

http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/

The naked birder!! Mr. Olaf did an au naturel big year in 2013 and saw 594 birds. What ever that means. But this year, he decided to do a full blown big year, no expense. He has seen the most birds in the shortest amount of time. He got bird #400 Black-backed Woodpecker by January 31st. He hit #700 Rock Ptarmigan on the Alaskan island of Adak by May 29th. He is the man!!

http://www.birdingfordevils.com/

Late to game, but jumped right into first place! Australian big year birder Mr. John Weigel has made his mark this year with an all out blix. Funny story, we birded with John on March 15th at the King Ranch when I got Ferrugious Pygmy-Owl and Sprague's Pipit. Congratulations John on a truly great Big Year. Can he break 770??!!

John Wiegel, right

http://www.thebirdingproject.com/

I'd like you to meet the youngest birder to hit 700 ABA birds in one calendar year. Mr. Christian H. We've actually meet him twice this year. Back on April 30th at the thrasher spot outside Buckeye, AZ. And again two weeks later at the Biggest Week in American Birding at Magee Marsh, OH. Yes, he drove there. He actually interviewed me for his The Birding Project.
http://www.thebirdingproject.com/blog/2016/5/8/brad


http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/

Jim is our local Ohioan, a guy that has a love for the outdoors, a true naturalist. From bugs and birds to trees and history of all things, this is a great blog read to always learn MORE.

http://thespeckledhatchback.blogspot.com/

Dorian is the man!! I mean MAN, the guy did a BIGYEAR2014 all on his bike. From beginning to end, day to night, sleep to eat. He never rode in a car, flew in a plane or any gas powered vehicle. He bird in the morning, then bike to his next pit stop, slept and start over again in the morning. Oh and he saw a record 617 total species - - - on a bike!?!  This hatchback blog he has, is his 2015 updates with pictures, Costa Rica trip, and environmental topics. He's cool and a great birder.


Resources:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org

http://birding.aba.org/maillist/OH

http://www.aba.org/

For Fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaX7i1Q7-Rw
Things Birders Say

Ohio birds ticked
5/30-Cerulean, Worm-eating, Veery, Louis. water-thrush, Broad-winged hawk, Willow empidx, King Rail
6/8 -Mute swan
6/12-Hooded, Rose-breasted, Summer Tanager
6/26-Blue-winged, Common Loon
7/15-Great crested empidx, Sedge Wren
7/17-Bank, Semiplam sp, Silt, Pectoral 

@318 for the year, four states OH, TX, NV, AZ


Next up:  Trip to Cincinnati for birthday, beers, and birds

BWIAB +1 Lifer

It's time for another annual trip up to Magee Marsh, or Crane Creek is what it was called in the 80's. This year marked the fourth year in a row I got to bird there. During spring migration, the northwest shores of Lake Erie is a hot spot for warblers, cuckoos, orioles, bluejays, etc. Birders from all over the U.S. and, internationals birders come to see the wood warblers diversity of the east.

This year, we did it a little different. It was going to be a true day of #24hoursofbirding. Sun up to sun down--same day. We left Delaware at 5am for the two hour drive up to the boardwalk.

Beautiful rocky beach at sunrise

The plan stayed the same, start at the West entrance at 7am and bird that and the Estuary trail by 10am, then head over to Ottawa NWR for the auto tour. Note to self, don't do the auto tour any more. The water was too high, so no ducks or peeps to see, just a lot of slow driving, and you can waste an hour. Next year I think we are going to hit up Maumee SP boadrwalk first, then Magee Boardwalk around 10ish.

Where's Brad??

#Brambleon

This is what happens when you are on the boardwalk, and someone says "Black-billed Cuckoo" . . . birders mass in together to get best looks. All looking up a the trees. It can get crazy when specialties show up.




So what happens next is crazy.  We are on the auto tour, stuck, driving slowly, not seeing any birds but Yellow Warblers. We are getting ready to head to Metzger Marsh when we can exit this mess. I start to check twitter #biggestweek, and a tweet comes out, "Curlew Sandpiper" with a picture of the bird from a camera screenshot, from a reliable birder and a Google GPS coordinate. Then, we get a text from Sammy, who's at work, but following reports online. Curlew Sandpiper? I thought this was a joke. I look again, another positive report. I check the directions on the app, only 50 miles west of here. What do we do??


Time to chase an ABA Code 3 rarity lifer that has no business being in Ohio. I mean, there is one being reported at the same time in New Jersey, so migration is a real thing for these birds, but interior states is not included. We hustle over there by 2pm and sure enough, when you see a lot of cars and a lot of birders, you know something big is going on.

What are we looking at?

ABA lifer #586

Curlew Sandpiper

Dunlin on left

The curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) is a small wader that breeds on the tundra of Arctic Siberia. It is strongly migratory, wintering mainly in Africa, but also in south and southeast Asia and in Australasia. It is a vagrant to North America.







The breeding adult has patterned dark grey upperparts and brick-red underparts.

So, with that, another day of birding and another day of adding an unexpected LifeBird. Boy, we needed that. Its days like this that make it worth while. After this, we dediced to head back south to home. We stopped at Big Island wildlife refuge and picked up Bobolink, Common Gallinule, Black-bellied Plover, Red-headed woodpecker. 

Big Day numbers:
88 total species
26 FOYs
15 wood warblers
  1 life bird

History Big Day birding:
2013--94 species
2014--120
2015--111
2016--88

Curlew Sandpiper:
Red&Louise--saw it as bird #655 in 1983, then again in 1985, 89', 94'
Buddy--saw this bird, but I don't have a date or location. Probably Alaska.


Next up:  Where do I go from here?

55 hours in da ZONA'

Good morning . . welcome to the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport!!!  The local time is 9:10am, west coast time. Well, we're here . . . in Arizona, first time birding here since 1985. I was with my grandparents back then, at an ABA convention I think. I was 8. I remember the vendor booths and seeing 11 life hummingbirds, including the rare Code 4 Plain-capped Starthroat. We visited Cave Creek, Mile High and White Wing Canyons.
Now to 2016. This trip was about making the run with friends, several first of years(FOYs), and targeting LIFE birds.  I was only going to be there for 2 1/2 days, so I had to make it count, and I did just that with 6 lifers (previous post). This post I wanted to share other birds I saw, places visited, and how we did it!

Out of the 115 species that I saw, 18 where Code 2. That's 15.6%!! So one out of 15 birds were a birding highlight reel. Here's some good ones . . .

After we got the rent-a-van and breakfast at Jack in the Box, yumm!!! All day breakfast. We where off to the first place

12noon Friday:  Encanto Park--11 miles from airport

Rosy-faced Lovebird
Gila Woodpecker
Wilson warbler
Yellow warbler

1pm:  Glendale Recharge ponds--the only place with water in the dessert, good place to bird

Redhead duck, N Shoveler, Ruddy duck
Eared grebe
Wilson's Phalarope
Sora
Western Wood Pe-wee

WIPH Breeding plumage

3pm: Thrasher spot, outside Buckeye--met Christian, BigYear2016 birder. http://www.thebirdingproject.com/

Crissal Thrasher
Abert's Towhee

6pm: Chipotle's, University of Arizona--chicken bowls to go, bring your own food into the canyon

7pm: Drive into Madera Canyon, at sunset

7:30pm: Check-in to Kubo

8pm:  Santa Rita Lodge

Elf owl

Bam!! Nesting pair

Draws a crowd

9pm: Mt. Wrightson Picnic area--bring a flashlight, it's dark

Northern Pygmy-Owl, heard
Mexican Whip-poor-will, heard 15ft away

Bedtime

5am Saturday: daylight steep hike up Carrie Nation trail, & parking area

Elegant Trogon, heard
Painted-redstart
Bridled-Titmouse
Mexican-Jay
Cassin's Vireo
Black-headed Grosbeak 

Mexican Jay

Painted-redstart

 









10am: back at Kubo for check-out, birding on front porch

Broad-billed Hummingbird
Magnificent hummer
Cassin's Finch
Hepatic Tanager
Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Madera Kubo B&B

Quaint and Quite

#Bramblon

Cottage #2

Broad-billed hummer

3pm: drove to Sierra Vista mtns, to Fort Huchaura army base

looked for Sinola Wren, but no luck
Townsend Warbler
Black-throated Gray warbler
Spotted Towhee

Ran a background check

7pm: check into the Ramada Inn at Tucson, dinner at Denny's next door. Great hamburgers

Sunday, 6am: Sibino Canyon

Gilded Flicker
Curve-billed Thrasher
 Lucy's Warbler

Curved-billed Thrasher

8am: Mount Lemmon, Molino Campground, mm 3

Hooded Oriole

10am: Mount Lemmon, Incinerator Ridge, mm 19 1/2

Red-faced Warbler
Olive Warbler
Grace Warbler
Yellow-eyed Junco
Stellar's Jay
Hermit Thrush
Pygmy Nuthatch 

Here we are MM 19 1/2

8500 ft elevation

Top of Ridge, looking over backside of mountain

 

12noon: Pull off way back down Mt. Lemmon, at Windy Point

Zone-tailed Hawk

4pm: Phoenix south mountain park, near airport

Hermit warbler
Brewer's sparrow

Where's Sam??

Dodge Caravan

Just broke the 7's

 Trip Stats:
55 hours in Arizona
703 miles driven in a van down by the river
23.5 MPG
115 total species
47  FOYs--Notables above
  6 LIFERS, now at ABA#585


 Next up:  Biggest week in American Birding . . . home state OHIO

I HEART Arizona +6 Lifers

Holy crap, we made!! There and back in one piece. Lots seen, lots driven and not an hour to waste. It was a chance to bird some really special places with friends, add some specialties to my year list and hopefully add some much needed #LifeBirds. And guess what? I did just that, with +6 lifers,

This first blog is a recap of my Arizona hit list birds needed to add to my ABA area life list. The next entry will be more about places birded, FOY's, and a stop at Chipotle at the University of Arizona for take out.


Lifers seen: Arizona

• Rosy-faced Lovebird, code 2

ABA #580

It’s official. The iconic Rosy-faced Lovebird has been admitted to the ABA Checklist. The lovebird counts! You can put it on your ABA Checklist as of 2012. Several spots over Phoenix has lovebird colonies. We stopped at Encanto park and saw & heard several in this tree.

Blue morph

Rosy-faced Lovebird

Lovebirds sleep by sitting next to their mate with their faces turned in towards each other.

• Gila Woodpecker, code 1, common

ABA #581

 A conspicuous resident in the deserts of the Southwest and Mexico, the Gila Woodpecker is a characteristic bird of the saguaro cactus forests.
Back barred black-and-white. Male with red cap.
We saw several of these birds during the trip. Pretty common. This picture was at Sabino Canyon park in NE Tuscon.

• Mexican Whip-poorwill, code 1

ABA #582

The Mexican whip-poor-will, is a nightjar from the southwestern United States and Mexico. The whip-poor-will is more often heard within its range, but less often seen. It is named onomatopoeically after its song. This bird used to be lumped with the eastern whip-poor-will. Each type has a different range and vocalizaton, the eggs have different coloration, and DNA sequencing shows enough differentiation, so it was determined enough evidence was available to separate the two types into different species.

This picture is from when we heard the Whip-poor-will. It was 8-9pm in Madera Canyon, at the Mt. Wrightson Picnic Area. We also heard Northern Pgymy-owl calling up the canyon. Wow!! What a neat place, even at night.

• Cassin's Vireo, code 1, Madera Canyon and Mt. Lemmon

ABA# 583

A common bird of the far western forests, the Cassin's Vireo is conspicuous for its constant singing. Formerly lumped as a "Solitary Vireo" with the Plumbeous and Blue-headed vireos, it is now considered a separate species. Two whitish wingbars. Belly white, flanks yellowish.

• Gilded Flicker, code 2, ABA #584

 Saw this guy at Sabino Canyon Park on Sunday morning. I was having real camera problems by now. Sorry no pics.

• Red-faced Warbler, code 2, Mt. Lemmon park

ABA #585

The Red-faced Warbler is a colorful bird of the Mexican mountains. In the United States it is found only in the high elevation forests of Arizona and New Mexico. Face and upper breast bright red. Body gray. Black patch on top of head and down face. Ya, so we had to get high to see this bird . . . . like 8000 ft elevation high, then bam. Several singing up in large pines at Incinerator ridge rd.

Lifers missed:

• Bendire's Thrasher, code 2, got to the thrasher spot at 2pm Friday. Too windy and middle of the day. Did see a Crissal Thrasher, and big year Birder Christian
• LeConte's Thrasher, code 2,ditto
• Rufous-winged Sparrow , code 2, thought I saw some sparrows, turned out to be Brewer's.
• Black-capped Gnatcatcher, code 3, got to Florida lower canyon at 10am Saturday. Bird was on nest, but no one could find it.
• Sinola Wren, code 5, had to go on an Army base, what?? but no wren seen, still an adventure
• Whiskered Screech-Owl, code 2, Madera canyon, didn't hear any
• Western Screech-Owl, code 1, 
• Montezuma Quail, code 2, Sierra Vista Mtns., skipped Ramsey Canyon for Mt. Lemmon in Tuscon
• other rarities or common new ones + + +

Next up:  Birding in Southeastern Arizona . . . .  !!!