Big January 2013 Stats and Photos

 

 Hammond’s Flycatcher Tubac, AZ 1-13-2013

 

Well, the sun has set on my Big January attempt and it has been my best year EVER! In spite of brutal cold weather and family crisis and the flu I still managed to get out to more places and see more birds than any other Big January Year. This is partly due to Chris Rohrer who pushed me to go birding more often and to more locations than ever before. I would say that we are both exhausted by now, but you can bet this weekend we will be out birding once again! While I would have liked to tell the stories as they were happening I am going to do things a bit backwards this time and post the stats, then tell the stories of how I got to this point.  So, for now, enjoy a few photos and look over the statistics if that interests you! The Year and month stats will be the same since this is the start of a new year. Next month that will change!

Northern Pintails at Whitewater Draw 1-3-2013

Life Totals 2013

Life List 2013	Life	Year/Month
Total Species	435	145
Total Checklists	4939	90

 

Ferruginous Hawk, Kansas Settlement Rd. January 3, 2013

Stats Broken Down by County:

County	Life	Year/Month
Pima	235	96
Santa Cruz	172	70
Cochise	159	46
Pinal	114	67

 Northern Flicker in Tubac, AZ 1-13-2013

  Long-billed Curlews at Lake Cochise, Wilcox, AZ 1-3-2013

 Western Spotted Towhee, Florida Canyon, AZ 1-4-13

 Hepatic Tanager Madera Canyon 1-4-2013

 Blue-gray Gnatcathcer, Tumacacori NHP 1-6-13

 White-Crowned Sparrow, Tubac, 1-13-13

 Rufous-winged Sparrow, Tumacacori NHP 1-13-13

 Orange-crowned Warbler, Tumacacori NHP 1-13-13

Big January by the Years

Year/State	2008/AZ	2009/AZ	2010/AZ	2011/MA	2012/MA	2013/AZ
Totals	89	107	113	55	68	145

 Chipping, Lark, and White-crowned Sparrow at Tumacacori NHP

Big January 2013 Bird List in order of species seen:

(Bold type denotes a new location and/or a new date)

1. Cooper’s Hawk-My Yard 1-1-2013
2. Rock Pigeon
3. Mourning Dove
4. Anna’s Hummingbird
5. Common Raven
6. Yellow-rumped Warbler 
7. House Finch
8. Lesser Goldfinch
9. House Sparrow
10. American Widgeon-Reid Park
11. Mallard
12. Canvasback
13. Redhead
14. Ring-necked duck
15. Common merganser
16. Pied-billed Grebe
17. Great Blue Heron
18. Great Egret
19. Snowy Egret
20. Black-crowned Night Heron
21. Red-tailed Hawk
22. American Coot
23. Gila Woodpecker 
24. Northern Flicker
25. Vermillion Flycatcher
26. Cassin’s Kingbird
27. Verdin
28. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
29. Western Bluebird
30. Curve-billed Thrasher
31. European Starling
32. White-crowned Sparrow
33. Great-tailed Grackle
34. Cactus Wren-Saguaro National Park Rincon Unit
35. Phainopepla
36. Black-throated Sparrow
37. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
38. American Kestrel-Lakeside Park 1-2-2013
39. Say’s Phoebe
40. Red-winged Blackbird
41. Brewer’s Blackbird
42. Bronzed Cowbird
43. Brown-headed Cowbird
44. Snow Goose-Whitewater Draw 1-3-2013
45. Gadwall
46. Cinnamon Teal
47. Northern Shoveler
48. Northern Pintail
49. Green-winged Teal
50. Northern Harrier
51. Sharp-shinned Hawk
52. Sandhill Crane 
53. Killdeer
54. Spotted Sandpiper
55. Greater yellowlegs
56. Long-billed Dowitcher
57. Barn Owl
58. Black Phoebe
59. Marsh Wren
60. Brewer’s Sparrow
61. Lark Bunting
62. Savannah Sparrow
63. Song Sparrow
64. Pyrrhuloxia
65. Yellow-headed Blackbird
66. Eurasian Collared-Dove
67. Greater Roadrunner
68. Loggerhead Shrike
69. Eastern Meadowlark
70. Western Meadowlark
71. Ferruginous Hawk-Kansas Settlement Road
72. Vesper sparrow
73. Ruddy Duck-Kansas Settlement Faria Dairy Pond
74. Long-billed Curlew**-Lake Cochise, Wilcox
75. Chihuahuan Raven-South Nogales Highway 1-4-2013
76. Northern Mockingbird-Whitehouse Canyon Road
77. Acorn Woodpecker-Florida Canyon (lower)
78. Ladder-backed Woodpecker
79. Mexican Jay
80. Rock Wren 
81. Bewick’s Wren
82. Hermit Thrush
83. Green-tailed Towhee
84. Spotted Towhee
85. Black-chinned Sparrow
86. Northern Cardinal
87. Bridled Titmouse-Madera Canyon, Santa Rita Lodge
88. White-breasted Nuthatch
89. Chipping Sparrow
90. Dark-eyed Junco
91. Yellow-eyed Junco
92. Hepatic Tanager
93. Pine Siskin
94. Magnificent Hummingbird-Madera Canyon Kubo B&B
95. Canada Goose-Kennedy Park, Tucson
96. Western Grebe
97. Hooded merganser-Sam Lena Park and KERP
98. Costa’s Hummingbird-My Yard 1-5-2013
99. Red-naped Sapsucker-Tumacacori NHP 1-6-2013
100. Gilded Flicker
101. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
102. Black Vulture-Rio Rico
103. Turkey Vulture
104. Gambel’s Quail-private backyard in Tucson 1-9-13
105. Broad-billed Hummingbird
106. Lesser scaup-Amado Wastewater Treatment Plant 1-13-2013
107. Hammond’s flycatcher-Ron Morris Park, Tubac
108. Gray Flycatcher
109. American Robin
110. Orange-crowned Warbler
111. Abert’s Towhee
112. Swamp Sparrow
113. Golden Eagle-Tumacacori NHP
114. Hutton’s Vireo
115. Rufous-winged sparrow
116. Lark Sparrow
117. Least Sandpiper-Rio Rico
118. Merlin
119. Pacific Loon*-Christopher Columbus Park, Tucson 1-19-2013
120. Neotropic Cormorant
121. Creasted Caracara-Red Rocks Feedlot
122. Horned Lark
123. Common Yellowthroat
124. Lincoln’s Sparrow
125. White-winged Dove-Santa Cruz Flats Travel Count
126. Common Ground Dove
127. Burrowing Owl
128. White-throated Swift
129. Prairie Falcon
130. Bendire’s Thrasher*
131. American Pipit
132. Chestnut Collared Longspur**
133. Sage Sparrow**
134. Eared Grebe-Arizona City Lake
135. Black-necked Stilt
136. Inca Dove
137. Great Horned Owl
138. Wood Duck-Roger Road WRF 1-24-2013
139. Harris Hawk
140. Bufflehead-Sweetwater Wetlands
141. Wilson’s Warbler
142. Wild Turkey-Madera Canyon 1-25-2013
143. Belted Kingfisher-Christopher Columbus Park 1-30-2013
144. Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
145. Tree Swallow

*Life Bird, (2 new species)

**Arizona Life Bird (5 species new to my AZ Life List)

Savannah Sparrow, Whitewater Draw 1-3-2013

• Big January (click here to read all posts related to this subject)
• Las Adventuras Big January
• Larry’s Brownstone Birding Blog Big January

Flying High, Flying Low

 Sandhill Cranes January 3, 2013 Whitewater Draw

January started out very busy for me with kids still here and me trying to do a Big January. For the first week I went out birding almost every day with Chris Rohrer because he was still on vacation. Once he went back to work so did I, trying to get caught up on housework and such and saying good-bye to my last child and his wife on January 8th. However, just when I thought I might start to get caught up with my blogging again we were plunged into the crisis of Gus’ vision loss. We spent a week waiting for him to have cataract surgery and worrying it that it would not work. Thankfully it did and Gus is now scheduled to get the next eye done. Vision is so precious!

However, in the way that life can just come at you so fast at times the same day Gus had his surgery my father-in-law was rushed to the hospital with a bleeding ulcer. After spending a week in the hospital I am happy to report that he is back home and on the mend. However, I came down with the flu on Saturday and have been dragging myself around the house ever since. I have been too tired to go out or count birds other than in my own backyard. During the last week we have had numerous rain storms and temperature fluctuations, but nothing like the brutal cold snap in the middle of the month!

In spite of all of this I did manage to get out and go birding at numerous places. I have the largest Big January count I have ever done, mostly thanks to Chris who pushed me to go, go, go! I have finally started processing the thousands of photos and hopefully I can use this time spent at home playing catch-up with my blogging!

So, in a month that has seen many highs and many lows, both emotionally and temperature-wise, I am starting to get my wings back and I hope to soon be flying high once again. Then maybe, just maybe, you will see a blog post here more than once a week!

P.S. Big January results will be seen here soon!

Vision

 Roosevelt Bridge Arizona 6-6-2010

Vision. Most of us take it for granted. We love to see colors. We love to see nature. And who doesn’t love to watch a sunset!

But 10 days ago a great darkness fell on us as Gus suddenly lost his vision. We went from one doctor to another. The diagnosis was cataracts. Surgery was scheduled for this Monday, but…would it work? The fear that it wouldn’t made me sick to my stomach. Gus couldn’t even see well enough to drive! This would change our whole lives. This would rock our world if he went blind. All of the pictures in this post were taken by Gus. He hasn’t done much photography lately because his vision has gotten so bad. It is no longer fun for him. This makes me sad. He is a good photographer! I like the big picture, but he is a detail man. He sees things that I don’t.

Like these blades of grass poking up through the snow and sand at Salisbury Beach in Massachusetts, or…

these golden flower petals…

or Coot Toes!

 

Back in January of 2010 Gus saw this black and white warbler in Phoenix along the Salt River while I was hurrying ahead to count birds. He took its picture. I never saw it so I never got to add it to my Arizona Life List! He tried to draw my attention to it, but I thought he was just seeing another yellow-rumped warbler! I guess I should have listened to the detail man!

Gus was thrilled to get this photo of a Peregrine Falcon eating a freshly killed dove on a utility pole in Sycamore Canyon in 2010 when we lived here before.

And Gus has always loved sunsets.

Now I wondered, would he ever get to see one again?

Below are just a few of the things his eyes have seen and photographed.

Sunset at Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts 2011

 

Snow Shadows

 

Winter Beach

 

Snowscape at Salisbury Beach 2011

 

Footprints

 

A Sky Full of Gulls

 

Salisbury Beach Sunset 1-22-2011 Massachusetts

 

Gus took this photo of the Morenci Mine in Greenlee County, AZ in August of 2010. This was right before we moved to Massachusetts. He later sold it to a publishing company! They had seen it on my Sycamore Canyon blog! Now we are back in Arizona. Now we had to wait. The fear stood before us like a mountain.

Then…

• On Monday Gus had surgery on one eye.
• On Tuesday morning he went for his post-op check-up.
• On Tuesday afternoon he could see clearly enough to drive to work!

Finally the light has dawned,

 

Things have started to calm down…

Lake Cochise, Wilcox, AZ 8-1-2010

…and Color has returned to our world.

Gus can’t wait to get the next eye done! I can’t wait until he picks up a camera again! (Maybe now I can finally get caught up with my blogging?)

Note: All photos in this post were taken by Gus Brown and are copyrighted by him! Please do not use without his permission!

Cattle Call Park

 Cattle Call Park 11-24-12 Brawley, CA

On the morning of November 24 last Thanksgiving Gus and I checked out of our hotel in the Imperial Valley of California and prepared to leave town. But before we left we made one last stop at the town park. I saw it was an eBird Hotspot on the eBird map of that location. We arrived just before 7 a.m. and I was so glad that I came. It turned out that this was the only location where I spotted Gambel’s Quail and Gila Woodpeckers! They were the last 2 species I added to my California Life List!

Most of the Gila Woodpeckers and some of the Northern Mockingbirds were hanging out in these palm trees that lined the park.

 

I found a mockingbird and a house sparrow in some thick bushes near the edge of the park.

Northern Mockingbirds were everywhere!

  A small Flock of Gambel’s Quail were in the same corner of the park.

They actually came leaping down out of the palm trees!

On top of a tree an American Kestrel perched.

Hiding in the same bushes behind the mockingbird was a White-Crowned Sparrow!

And far off in the distance a Red-tailed Hawk surveyed the world.

 

I counted 12 Northern Mockingbirds in all.

 

These are the birds I saw at Cattle Call Park on 11-24-12:

1. Gambel’s Quail 12
2. Red-tailed Hawk 1
3. Rock Pigeon, 12
4. Gila Woodpecker, 2
5. American kestrel, 4
6. Black Phoebe, 3
7. Verdin, 1
8. Northern Mockingbird, 12
9. European Starling, 36
10. Yellow-rumped Warbler, 6
11. Abert’s Towhee, 2
12. White-crowned sparrow, 4
13. Great-tailed Grackle, 6
14. House Sparrow, 12
15. gull species, 12

We drove away from the Imperial Valley after this and with the addition of the Gila Woodpecker and the Gambel’s Quail it brought my California Life List up to 74 species! Not bad for a 48 hour trip! I am sure it could have been much higher if I could have identified all the shore birds and gulls I was seeing!

• The Salton Sea Stories (click this link to read all the posts)

Note: Things are finally starting to get back to normal around here. I will post an update tomorrow. Suffice it to say that it was a stressful week and I still went out birding on Sunday with Chris Rohrer and Rich Hoyer in the Santa Cruz Flats! They reminded me of the Salton Sea area without the sea! Lots of agricultural fields and flatland surrounded by mountains. We even saw abandoned and decrepit buildings, though not in the same quantity as the Salton Sea area. We did see a lot of bird species and my Big January List soared! I also added 3 species to my life list! There is so much to tell and barring any more crises I should be able to get caught up this week!