Kathie's Birds: Birding CA

Showing posts with label Birding CA. Show all posts

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Gus

December 7, 2014: Today is Gus’ birthday. I’ve been married to this man for 37 years and I have never appreciated him more. He doesn’t like birthday cards and I can’t bake him a cake or buy him a present this year, because Thursday night as I was walking across the yard I heard my knee pop and my leg gave out. I managed to walk into the house just fine but as the night wore on my knee got worse and by morning I could not walk. Gus took me to the emergency room at 5:30 AM where they x-rayed my knee and told me I have arthritis. The doctor thinks I may have torn a ligament and I am currently hobbling around on crutches while we wait for my next doctor’s appointment. This means I cannot fill my bird feeders. But, my husband has graciously taken up the task, even though I know it is more work than he wants to do. I have about 8 feeders in my yard, not counting suet feeders. One of them holds meal worms, which the chickadees just love. Of course, the woodpeckers love the suet and I am getting Downys, Hairys, and a single female Red-headed Woodpecker now.

I am sure that after today he thinks I am nuts, but he knows that if he doesn’t do it, I will be out in the snow with my crutches trying to do it myself! Still, one of my feeders really had him stumped, but he finally figured it out!

We are quite the pair, the two of us. And we have had lots of adventures together. Because of Gus, I have had the opportunity to travel all over the United States. This has allowed me to see so many birds in so many different places. Gus is not into birds like I am, but he does love nature and he does love adventure and he does love me. Gus use to love photography as well, and so, while I was photographing birds, he use to photograph whatever interested him. But a few years ago his vision started to deteriorate and he can no longer see the fine details enough to make photography fun for him. So, today’s post is a tribute to my husband and his patience with me and my birds. It is my way of thinking him. It is my online birthday card for him. Almost all the following photographs were taken by him when he could see better. It is his view of the world and of me. And yes, there are birds!

Phoenix January 2010

In January of 2010 Gus and I drove into Phoenix to see a performance of Riverdance, which was a Christmas Gift from my son and his wife. After the matinee we drove to the Rio Saludo Project just a few miles south where Gus and I took a walk and counted and photographed birds. I just realized I never posted these photos as my computer crashed at that time. These are Gus’ pictures from that day.

Me on the trail at the Rio Saludo Project along the Salt River

Coot Toes

Trail along the river

Tree trunks and grasses

Verdin

Black and White Warbler

This is the one that got away from me. Gus kept telling me he saw a different warbler, but I ignored him, thinking it was yet another yellow-rumped warbler. It wasn’t until we offloaded his photos that I saw the bird he was talking about. By then it was too late and I missed my opportunity to see and record a Back and White Warbler in Maricopa County!

Double-crested Cormorants

The Salt River

Oklahoma, March 2010

Harris Sparrow

Bosque del Apache, NM March 2010

Great Blue Heron

Western Bluebird

Greater Roadrunner

Great Blue Heron

Roosevelt Lake, AZ June 2010

Looking through the bridge

Bridge over Roosevelt Lake

Cochise County, Arizona, August 2010

Texas Canyon

Lake Cochise sunset

Lake Cochise

Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, January 2011

The Salton Sea, November 2012

In November of 2012 Gus surprised me by planning a trip to the Salton Sea for Thanksgiving. We had just moved back to Tucson and I was looking forward to spending the holiday with our oldest son, but who could pass up a trip to the Salton Sea? Neither one of us knew what to expect, except we envisioned something a little more sophisticated. The Salton Sea is actually very remote and rural in a very depressed part of California. But oh, the BIRDS! There were so many and we had one of the best adventures of our lives! While I have posted my pictures and photos of this trip before, I just recently offloaded Gus’ pictures. All of these are his.

Me trying out my new spotting scope at the Salton Sea

Too many birds to count!

Happy Birthday Gus!

He’s a wonderful grandpa!

…and an old Maine-iac!

He loves his old dog, Blossom.

And, we still have so many roads to travel…

…before we sail off into the sunset!

Pelicans at the Salton Sea, November 23, 2012

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

At the End of the Day in Willcox

Lake Cochise in Willcox, AZ 1-3-2013

The clouds continued to roll in and the wind continued to pick up as Chris and I headed north through the Sulphur Springs Valley and Kansas Settlement. Flat grassy fields spread in all directions as we kept our eyes open for raptors on utility poles and longspurs or pipits in the grass.

A quick stop at the Faria Dairy Pond along Kansas settlement Road gave us a few more species, including our first Common Mergansers for Cochise County, though we had seen this species on the first day of January at Reid Park.

Just a bit farther up the road we spotted our first Ferruginous Hawk!

The Flatlands of Kansas Settlement soon gave way to low rolling hills as we neared Willcox. Our destination was Lake Cochise, a place Chris had never been before. It’s an odd place, kind of out of the way, and it doesn’t look like you will find much there as you drive down the gravel road past a chain link fenced Border Patrol Station and abandoned farms and then Twin Lakes Golf Course. As you pass through a brick and stucco monument you usually start to see sparrows and meadowlarks alongside the road. But not today. It was just too windy! Then, as you drive up a little rise you can finally see the lake with the mountains beyond and you realize that you have entered another world.

The silver water of Lake Cochise was being whipped into whitecaps on this blustery day in January. By now it was 3:45 PM and so cold! The wind was gusting so hard that it made it difficult to stand up and hold your camera steady. Wind whipped tears into our eyes and froze our cheeks. I put on every last bit of clothing I could find. I zipped up my coat over all my shirts and sweaters, put on my headband, pulled up my hood, and donned my gloves! Oh My goodness! What was I doing here, I asked myself! But then we turned the corner and I saw these birds…

What were they? Surely they weren’t geese or ducks or herons. My brain was racing to put a name to the birds I was seeing, and then it dawned on me…I have seen these before!

I saw them just last month in California near the Salton Sea, but I have never seen this species in Arizona. Were my tired eyes playing tricks on me? NO! These are Long-billed curlews!

As the wind beat and battered us Chris and I tried to get closer for better shots.

The Curlews were gathered in a flock of about 120 birds along a sandbar that stretched out into the middle of the lake. Many of them had their long bills tucked into their feathers to keep warm, but now and then a few did poke their heads out and we got a good look at those magnificent bills!

Beyond the lake Sandhill Cranes flew over the open range.

As the sun sank lower and lower it painted our surroundings with light.

Off to the east the Dos Cabezas Mountains were splashed with pink.

Here you can see the two heads for which Dos Cabezas is named!

As the sun sank lower and the curlews hunkered down, we knew our birding day was over. I shook my head as I realized this was only Day Three of our Big January and I just knew that today’s excursion was going to add big numbers to our big list! Now it was time for a warm place with warm food. Then we needed to get home and go to bed because we already had plans to get up again the next morning and go birding at Florida and Madera Canyons!