Short-eared Owl
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Author Archives: Josh
Coming up Short?
On the day before Christmas Eve I stayed home to watch the kids who started their Christmas break one day before me. But stay home we didn’t. We went on an epic loop road trip to the eastern border of the state to try for some really cool birds. For the kids, this was an opportunity to watch more Star Wars in anticipation of finally seeing the new movie over the break. For me, it was a chance to try for three major birding targets.
The first stop was for a Northern Saw-whet Owl which would have been an epic lifer. Well, all I saw was the white-washed roost site and a couple of cute kids posing in front of Wisconsin.
The next stop was for Milt Blomberg’s Varied Thrush at Oakland Cemetery in Marine on St. Croix. It was also a no show. I did not spend more than a few minutes looking for this bird which would merely be a year bird; there was bigger game at stake. We needed to get down to Afton State Park in time for the evening show of some Short-eared Owls. This would be a much hoped-for lifer. We made it by my target time of 4:00, but barely. As you can see, the heavy snow in the first picture had transformed the eastern portion of the state into Hoth. The kids were prepared.
The kids and I walked around the border of this entire prairie area, hoping to spot a Short-eared Owl flying at any moment. I should say that I was hoping to spot an Owl; they were happy to be out of the car and frolicking in the snow. Despair–for me–was sinking in as it looked like this would be strike three for the day’s agenda. But then on the walk back toward the car, a voice boomed from the other side of the prairie, “Hey! Short-eared Owl!” God? No, it was Pete Nichols, moderator of the MN Birding Facebook Group. This was his turf, and he had come to check up on the Owls and give us an assist. Thanks, Pete!
Binocular views were great, but the low-light conditions and falling snow made photography impossible. I am a birder before a photographer, so finally seeing Short-eared Owls in action in a snowstorm was awesome. At one point I had two in my binocular vision. Some day I am sure I will see a lovely bird perched in good light, but for now this was a pretty good place holder.
1 for 3 isn’t bad especially when that one is an Owl lifer. More important, though, was that I had a good day out of the house with the kids seeing a beautiful part of the state and exploring some great state parks together. The lack of birds may have even been a good thing as it forced me to pay more attention to the kids, to photograph them. After all, the Owls aren’t changing and will always be there.
Rosy-faced Lovebird
Brown Pelican
The Great Arizona Encore: The Final Lifer Dance–Tempe Two-Step Style
This has been, by far, the most dragged-out birding series. My apologies. It’s time to finally put this AZ trip in the bag so we can talk about a couple recent MN adventures. So here goes…
Since this was now my third trip to AZ as a birder and it being October, there really wasn’t a lot of new stuff left for me in central AZ. Despite the odds, I managed to make a short list of potential lifers for the Phoenix area, Brown Pelican and Rosy-faced Lovebird. Not only were they lifers, but they would be easy lifers. I even crafted a tidy little plan where I would swoop them up in record time on the way from the airport to my parents’ house in Maricopa. Getting a lifer on the board right away is like scoring the first run/goal/etc in a game–momentum is everything. Well, as any experienced birder can tell you, there’s no such thing as a gimme, especially if an airline interferes with your game plan.
The flight was supposed to arrive around 12:30 PM. Due to mechanical problems, our flight was delayed FIVE HOURS so they could fly an empty plane up from PHX to pick up us mopey, crabby passengers. I did the math over and over in my head, somehow hoping against the odds that we would beat the setting sun to salvage at least the Brown Pelican at Tempe Town Lake. A faster than expected flight offered a glimmer of hope–the sun was still above the horizon when we touched down. Despite that, everything seemed to move in slow motion, except the sun. We tried, though, and met up with Gordon Karre at Tempe Town Lake in the twilight. No Pelican silhouette. Nothing. Just pain.
As you know, we went on and had great success with other AZ birds, but these two species gnawed at me because they were supposed to be easy. So on our last day of vacation, the fam and I took a quick trip to Tempe to right a wrong. The first stop was Kiwanis Park for the Rosy-faced Lovebird. The Lovebird is native to Africa and was/is a pet bird in the U.S. Starting in the 1980s, people started noticing feral flocks of released birds in the Phoenix area. Now 25 years later, they are thriving with a population of 5,000+ and are an ABA countable bird. To help us–finally–count this bird, Gordon met up with us once again. He got us on the birds right away. Not only did he find us the typical specimen like the one on the left, but he also managed to find us this cool, rare blue-morph on the right.
The Lovebirds have adapted well to the oases of the water-filled landscaping in the greater Phoenix area. They especially like palms which have proven useful for nesting.
These birds are truly cute. Melissa agrees.
Here’s an important public service announcement for those of you not acquainted with the Lovebird. It is safe to say that despite this being an “easy” bird, I don’t think I would have found them without Gordon’s help. Here’s why: my sense of this bird’s scale was way off. Since all you ever see on blogs are impressive close-ups of this crushable bird, I was looking for something that I thought was Pigeon-sized. I guess I was wrong. 
It’s hard to stop taking pictures of such a cute bird, but that’s mostly because Kiwanis didn’t offer up much more than Neotropic Cormorants and Pigeons. A pair of Gilded Flickers at our feet was a nice bonus.
With the Lovebird lifer out of the way, we made the short trek up to Tempe Town Lake. The Brown Pelican was a bird I’d like to think I could have found on my own. Gordon wasn’t taking any chances. He led the way and spotted it out in marsh section of Tempe Town Lake.
It’s pretty cool, I think, to have nabbed this lifer in the middle of a land-locked state. Even though this is a bird more befitting of a coastal state, a pair of them had been seen on the lake for several weeks. A much more common bird for central AZ, but still a year bird for me was the Snowy Egret.
Once everyone got good looks at the Pelican, Gordon and I headed across the McClintock Bridge to see what we could see on the big water of Tempe Town Lake. Almost immediately we spotted Brown Pelican #2 gliding in from the west.
Finally the Pelican/Lovebird anxiety was no more. After saying our goodbyes to Gordon, we had much of the day to do whatever, like check out the impressive collections of potted cacti and caged Macaws at Leaf&Feather in Maricopa. I had no idea so many species of Macaws existed. Might have to put Brazil on the bucket list.
We also spent time playing in one of the most impressive rain storms I have seen, in Arizona no less.
Some children were not as enthused about the deluge and were downright grumpy.
Another AZ trip is on record, full of many new birds and great memories. It’s time get back to MN though with some good winter owling. Stick around, these posts will be coming out fast.
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Barn Owl
The Great Arizona Encore: The Patagonia Picnic Table Effect Reversal
It’s a busy time of year right now with all the decorating, gift-buying, and holiday food prep–it’s a good thing my wife’s got all that covered so I can finally bring you some AZ stories. Actually, writing the annual Christmas letter is about my only task this time of year, and much to my wife’s chagrin, this remains a grossly unfinished task. Please don’t tell my wife I’m blogging right now.
So where were we with AZ? Oh yes, our family had departed Green Valley after a two-day stay and were about to go on a loop tour around the Santa Ritas, heading down to Nogales and back up through Patagonia and Sonoita. There were only a couple birds on the agenda for the day. The first (and also most exciting prospect) was checking on a Barn Owl day roost–somewhere in southern Arizona. 🙂 For some reason, Evan has latched on to this species and was one he really wanted to see. He’ll refer to it by its scientific name, Tyto alba, and he’s been known to play its blood-curdling scream on his iPod in our house.
Once we got to the Owl’s roost, I walked up to this tower of sorts and looked up into the rafters. Immediately I locked eyes with my Barn Owl lifer, tucked way up in the shadows! Just as I started to point it out to Evan and my dad, the Barn Owl flushed out of the opening right toward us! Of course I wasn’t ready with the camera, but our looks at this Owl were hard to beat. Evan, bug-eyed, said in an astonished voice, “Whoa, Tyto alba just flew right by me!”
With no photo, the sighting was bittersweet for me. But a Barn Owl seen is way better than no Barn Owl, so off to Patagonia we went. In this city (and southern AZ in general), birders are the norm and not the nerd-freaks that people think of us in other places:
Patagonia is hallowed birding ground where all kinds of birding myths and legends originate. In fact, a famous birding phenomenon known as the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect was coined from something remarkable that happened here that has also played out numerous times in many other locations. Here’s the PPTE in a nutshell: some birders in the 1970s stopping for lunch in Patagonia discovered a rare bird which brought in more birders who discovered more rare birds in that location. Whenever I find a rarity, I always hope it’s the beginning of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect. Needless to say, Patagonia is a place I have longed to visit after reading about it in books.
Despite the fact that the PPTE is based on multiple rarities and despite the fact that we were actually in Patagonia, I was after one bird at one very famous location:
The famous Paton House–hard to believe I was actually here.
No, we didn’t come for the common White-winged Doves, though they were dapper and only the second time we’d seen one.
Nor did we come for the WWDO’s cousin, the much less abiding Inca Dove.
It was nice to see a Black-headed Grosbeak even if it was a bit scruffy looking, but that’s still not why we came.
I very much enjoyed up-close looks at my first MALE Gila Woodpecker–still not why we came though.
We came for the Hummingbirds. But not for the Broad-billed.
Sorry, this teasing is annoying, especially since you knew from the first photo that the main attraction is the Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Like so many birders before us, we made our pilgrimage to Patons’ just to add this key lifer. Good thing we saw one.
Ain’t it a beaut?
It knows it too. Like Orcas or Dolphins, it pandered to its gawking audience.
So that was that. Tommy DeBardeleben and Gordon Karre had told me about a much rarer Hummer, the Plain-capped Starthroat, that had been seen regularly somewhere in Patagonia. Not knowing exactly where to go for it and not feeling I could make yet another birding stop with the non-birding family, I didn’t even bother to check into it.
Instead, my family and I ate lunch at a park in Patagonia after a successful trip to Patons’. It wasn’t until we were somewhere past Sonoita that it dawned on me–we ate lunch at a real life Patagonia picnic table. And ironically, I don’t recall seeing/hearing a single bird in that park while we ate. Back to that Plain-capped Starthroat, I also didn’t realize until we got home that we had driven within a block of that ultra-rare Mexican bird. I probably could have stopped to watch a feeder for a bit and not wrecked the family’s travel schedule. I am sure this will haunt me for years, possibly decades.
Moving on, we finally made it back to Maricopa. Before we got to my parents’ house, though, we had to check up on a couple of old friends in my parents’ neighborhood. Love this guy (or gal–there’s one of each).
Scanning a residential pond in the low light of the evening, I was excited to see the brilliant pop of color of the male Vermilion Flycatcher in my binoculars. They never get old.
We also saw a Jackrabbit of some sort which was a cool experience.
The Arizona fun isn’t over. Next up is the final post and arguably the ugliest and cutest birds you will see.
