Birthday Birding at Biddeford Pool

 Snow Covered Rocks at Biddeford Pool 2-22-15

Ever since moving to Maine I have heard of Biddeford Pool on eBird and the Maine Birds Facebook page. It is a legendary birding hotspot and is well known as THE PLACE to go and see snowy owls in winter. I had been here for a year now and have never birded Biddeford Pool. So, when my birthday rolled around that was my birthday wish…to bird Biddeford Pool!

 This was my first look at the ocean from along Ocean Avenue in Biddeford Pool. Biddeford Pool appears to be a neighborhood of fancy homes along Maine’s rocky coast near Saco. The roads are narrow with no parking signs everywhere. The haze you see at the bottom of this photo if from me trying to shoot a photo over the very high snow banks that lined the road. Gus found a small parking spot and I got out of the car and walked down the road that was covered with rapidly melting snow. This was the first warm day in a very long time and the temperature went to the mid 30’s to 40 degrees! I had to dodge or wade through quite a few puddles.

 Common Eiders are indeed Common along the coast of Maine!

 

 I love the snow covered rocks!

 

 I first heard and then saw this small flock of waxwings.

 Cedar Waxwing in a fruit tree.

 On a bit of a rocky island or sandbar I spotted these great Cormorants.

Is that perhaps a seal on the right between 2 cormorants?

 More beautiful rocks!

 Rocks and Waves at Biddeford Pool 2-22-15

 Canada Geese between the rocks at Biddeford Pool.

 Finally we drove over to the actual pool of Biddeford Pool where I spotted this Horned Grebe.

 American Black Ducks napping on the ice at Biddeford Pool.

There is an inlet where water flows in and out of the pool and there is a public parking area here called Vine’s Landing where one can launch a small boat or kayak. Here the water is flowing swiftly and I spotted another horned grebe diving and fishing. I am not sure what it is that it came up with, but I captured this series of photos of the bird with food in its beak.

 

 

 

 

I never did find a snowy owl here, but now that I know my way, perhaps I will go back again. Biddeford pool is a little over an hour south of where I live and I hear there is an Audubon site there where one can hike out to a point along the ocean. A very rare Surf Bird has been spotted there lately, the first ever seen in Maine, but I have not had time to go see it for myself. Though, hopefully all this snow is melted by now!

Great Black-backed Gull with a White-winged Scoter in the background.

Gus took me out to breakfast in Westbrook on my birthday, then we went shopping at the Wildbirds Unlimited store in South Portland where I bought a new bird feeding platform to go with my feeder pole system. We finished the day at Biddeford Pool where I counted all these birds. The Great Cormorants and the Horned Grebes were my First of the Year for those species!

Below are just a couple of the numerous eBird Hotspots for Biddeford Pool:

• Biddeford Pool—an eBird Hotspot
• Biddeford Pool—East Point Sanctuary
• Biddeford Pool—Ocean Ave
• Biddeford Pool—Vine’s Landing

 

My birthday feeder platform with Common Redpolls 2-23-15

Birding in the Wasatch Mountains

 Mountain Green, Utah 9-12-13

When Gus and I took a recent trip back to Utah it was our first time being there since we moved to Tucson in 2007. I wondered how it would look, and how much I would remember, and how many birds I would see. You see, I was just a beginning birder when we lived in Utah. before that I would say that I was a bird watcher. While living in Utah I learned about the Great Backyard Bird Count and Project Feeder Watch. It was while living in Utah that I first started keeping bird lists and going out on purpose to find, identify and count birds. Little did I know then that I would also discover that an acquaintance from church would become my good friend and my first birding buddy!

I knew Kathryn for over six years before I discovered that we both liked birds. It was about a year before I moved to Utah that she and I started birding together and we made a few trips to areas around the Great Salt Lake like The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Farmington Bay Wildlife Refuge, and Antelope Island. Once my husband and I moved to Arizona Kathryn came to visit and we birded like crazy all over the southeast part of the state. When I moved to Massachusetts Kathryn came to visit me there and I showed her the birds of New England. Kathryn is a good friend and a good driver, so, when we decided to move back to Tucson and I needed someone to drive across the country with me and my pets, she was my first choice. We birded our way across America, and when we got to her hometown in Texas she was the one showing me around. Now, on this trip, one of the things I looked forward to the most was going birding with Kathryn!

Of course we counted birds in her yard and in her neighborhood, but finally the day arrived for us to go out birding together for the whole day! We both abandoned our husbands, packed the car with food and water and set off. We had discussed several times where we should go on this Friday, our last day there. With Gus and I taking our trip to Yellowstone right in the middle of the week it limited the number of free days for birding. Tomorrow we would be leaving for Tucson once again, but today, September 13th, was all ours! While we could have gone back to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge or any of our former birding haunts, we decided to head east and bird in Morgan, Henefer, and along the I-80 corridor until we reached Evanston, Wyoming and Bear River State Park.

Clouds and fog blanketed the mountains and a light rain had started as we headed east. Our first stop was in the town of Morgan and by the time we pulled into the parking lot of the Morgan Town Park a steady rain was falling. Not wanting to damage my camera, I left it in the car as we walked around the park and counted birds. The rain lightened up and stopped for awhile and we found a few warblers along the Weber River but by the time we headed back to the car a steady rain was falling once again. We headed further down the road and stopped at a different location along the Weber River with such steady rain we saw few birds, but a stop at the Henefer Ponds proved much more successful.

At first we didn’t see much in the flat gray light. A green film covered the ponds like a silk blanket. But then we spotted a few dark spots in the corner of the green, so we got out and while Kathryn set up her spotting scope, I scanned the water with my binoculars. first I spotted a few mallards and a coot, and then I found the grebes! A small flock of Horned Grebes clustered in the corner and swimming with them I found a Wilson's Phalarope!

Can you see the tiny pale gray and white bird in the center of the photo?

Here’s a close-up of the phalarope with two of the grebes!

While the weather was not perfect for birding, I found the coolness and the grayness almost a relief after the heat of our desert sun in Arizona.

From our location on the south side of the valley I looked across to the north rim where houses lined the benches and cars rushed by on the highway oblivious to the birds and the spectacle of migration that was happening all around them. It turned out to be advantageous that Kathryn and I continued to head east. As we did the skies cleared and we had a wonderful time birding at Bear River State Park. Kathryn had never been there and I had never officially eBirded there, having only submitted a couple of Incidental Observations of birds I had seen there before. I was looking forward to submitting an effort-based bird count. I was looking forward to seeing this wonderful park once again. That story is coming up soon.

After birding for over 3 hours in Wyoming Kathryn and I came over Monte Cristo pass and Trappers Ridge back towards her home in Mountain Green. On our way we made one last stop and drove up the road to Snow Basin to see what we could see. At first there wasn’t much but clouds and trees, and few barn swallows swooping around the buildings near the parking lot, but then, as we were heading back down the road we saw some activity alongside and pulled off to park. Though we did a travelling count of 3 miles, most of the birds were seen in this one little area just east of the parking lot.

American Robin on the road to Snow Basin 9-13-13

 

Here we found a Dark-eyed Junco, a single American Robin, 3 Downy Woodpeckers,  2 Northern Flickers and then, we found a Hairy Woodpecker! Mixed in with all of these birds were both Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches and 10 chipping Sparrows! All in all we counted 10 species of birds on the road to Snow Basin! I stayed up late into the night submitting all my bird counts to eBird and woke up crabby in the morning. I was so tired and so sad to leave my friend and Utah, but it was time to go. The week flew by and I knew we would have a long drive back to Tucson. With Highway 89 washed out between Page, AZ and Flagstaff, Gus and I decided to drive home through Las Vegas instead since it would be highway all the way. After my morning coffee and something to eat I was in much better spirits as we headed south. Of course, with Gus driving, I kept my eyes open and counted birds all along the way! Below you will find a list of the birds seen in the Wasatch Mountains.

Birds seen in Kathryn’s Mountain Green yard:

1. Eurasian Collared-Dove
2. Rufous Hummingbird
3. Downy woodpecker
4. Northern Flicker
5. Western Scrub Jay
6. Black Capped Chickadee
7. Spotted Towhee
8. Black-capped Chickadee
9. House Finch

Birds seen in Kathryn’s Mountain Green neighborhood:

1. California Quail
2. Eurasian Collared-dove
3. Mourning Dove
4. Rufous Hummingbird
5. Northern Flicker
6. Western Wood Pewee
7. Western Scrub Jay
8. Black-capped chickadee
9. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
10. American Robin
11. European Starling
12. Cedar Waxwing
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler
14. Spotted Towhee
15. Chipping Sparrow
16. House Finch
17. American Goldfinch

Note: One of the most surprising things to me about birding in the Wasatch Mountains was the presence of Eurasian Collared-doves. I saw them every day in Kathryn's yard and neighborhood and in other areas around Utah. This species of bird was not here when I lived here before but has moved into the area since I moved away in 2007!

Birds seen in Morgan Town Center 9-13-13:

1. Osprey-1
2. Killdeer-1
3. Eurasian Collared-dove-8
4. American Kestrel-2
5. Western Wood Pewee-1
6. Black-billed Magpie-1
7. American Crow-8
8. Barn Swallow-4
9. Black-capped Chickadee-1
10. European Starling-6
11. Cedar Waxwing-4
12. Orange-crowned Warbler-2
13. Brewer’s Blackbird-18
14. House Finch-2
15. American Goldfinch-2

Birds seen at the Henefer Ponds on 9-13-13:

1. Mallard-6
2. Cinnamon Teal-8
3. Ring-necked Duck-1
4. Eared Grebe-15
5. Great Blue heron-1
6. Killdeer-3
7. Wilson’s Phalarope-1
8. Black-billed Magpie-1
9. European Starling-50

Do you see the Hairy Woodpecker Hiding?

The Last and Best of All, Least Grebe

San Cayetano Mountains, Rio Rico, AZ 7-7-13

Rio Rico, AZ, July 7, 2013: I left the humidity of the east coast to return to a furnace blast here in Tucson. After being gone for a month it was great to return home to my husband, my pets, and my own bed. I was barely in the door before I started filling bird feeders. There was no sign of the quail chick in the yard upon my return and I have not seen it since. I can only speculate that nature took its course, whatever that was. Though it took me a few days to readjust to being here in the desert, it didn’t take me long to start counting birds again. I submitted my first list to eBird on July 4^th and haven’t missed a day since. When we had a monsoon storm on Friday, July 5^th Gus and I went out to observe the flooding in the Pantano Wash. The next morning I drove to Michael Perry Park to see if there was still water in the wash but it had all subsided. Of course I brought my binoculars and camera and I ended up counting birds for an hour submitting a checklist of 21 species to eBird.

Being back in Tucson after a month I needed to rest and adjust to being back and I needed to spend time with my husband. Finally on Sunday, July 7^th we decided to take a drive to Rio Rico to visit our land. We have a dream of building a house there one day, but who knows if it will ever happen. Still, it is fun to dream. The heat and humidity continued to build as we drove south. Usually it is cooler in Rio Rico even though it is farther south since it is higher in elevation and farther away from the heat dome of the city, but it can also be more humid since it is closer to Mexico and the gulf moisture. As we drove up the dirt road I could feel the sun blazing down on us. We only stayed a few minutes on the side of the mountain as the temperature rose to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I counted birds on the land and on the ride back down the road.

I counted birds on Pendleton Drive where a Gray Hawk flew overhead and a Summer Tanager flew across the street in a red blur.

We stopped at the Rio Rico Pond where I counted even more birds. There were birds everywhere and it seemed as if every SE Arizona specialty was revealing itself to me. Little did I know that there would be even more to see as we drove to Pena Blanca Lake southwest of Rio Rico.

Storm clouds were gathering as we drove the winding road towards the mountains. Inside our car I watched the temperature drop to 84F. Sunlight broke through in patches illuminating first one peak and then another. The scenery around me was outstanding as we rounded each bend with view after view.

Finally we reached Pena Blanca Lake State Park. We drove the paved road up to the upper parking lot where the reservoir opened before us. With water that lay like polished onyx between the golden hills I got out with bins and camera and started counting. A few swallows swooped over the calm water and a Western Kingbird called from a nearby tree.

Behind me the thunderclouds rumbled. Off to the west I saw the lightening strike. Yet I could hear the birds calling me.

My desire to explore led me farther along the trail until I came to purple-red rocky outcropping. While there were not any birds or ducks on the water, I did see a cormorant fly up and land in a distant tree. Turkey vultures flew along the ridge on dark and silent wings, naked red heads searching the slopes for something to dine on. A Gila woodpecker flew laughing over the desert scrub. I could hear birds that I could not see or identify by voice, but there were birds everywhere.

With the threat of the storm I decided I’d better not go any farther down the trail. I turned and headed back to the car. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see the slow, ponderous flight of a Great Blue Heron as it flew low over the water.

We had driven in over a couple of currently dry washes. If that rain ever let lose it would not take them long to fill with water, trapping us until the water subsided. So, I jumped in the car and we started to drive out of the park, but then I saw a vermillion flycatcher on the side of the road. I jumped out to take its pictures as Gus pulled off to wait. At the top of a nearby bush I saw a red-shafted Northern Flicker. I decided to walk down the hill so I could count birds. Gus picked me up at the bottom and we drove to what is known as the Upper Thumb picnic area. I figured I could just take a quick look around and then we could leave. As soon as I opened the car door that idea flew the coop! There were birds, birds and more birds! I didn’t know where to look first!

Vermillion flycatchers flitted from branch to branch. Bewicks Wrens scolded from the brush. A Rufous-crowned sparrow jumped up on a low branch, then disappeared before I could get my camera focused.

A thrasher sat in a treetop. In the cove below I saw coots paddling around. Then, in another tree a male Vermillion flycatcher was joined by a male hooded oriole! I whirled and twirled trying to see all the birds, but in my mind there was one bird I was in search of. It was the object of my desire and the main reason I wanted to take this drive. I had little hope of actually finding it, but I had to try.

The Upper Thumb picnic area is on a ridge that projects into the reservoir with a cove on either side. From my lofty perch I had already examined the cove on my right as I faced the lake. Now I walked over to the left side to scan the cove below near the Lower Thumb picnic area. As I glanced down through the trees I could see little patches of the cove where on the opposite shore I saw some people walking along a trail. Then, suddenly, in the middle of the cove I saw something different.

I looked between the leafy green of tree branches to the open water where a small, dark bird paddled in the water. The head was a different shape from a coot and the body smaller. The overall appearance was dark charcoal gray and there was no white beak.

A quick look through my binoculars revealed a small grebe’s body, but this one was not a pied-billed grebe, it was a Least Grebe! The least grebe would be the last grebe I needed to have all the North American grebes on my Life List. I raised my camera to my shoulder and snapped away as the bird slowly paddled out of view. Quickly I ran to the car calling Gus to hurry up. We needed to drive back down to the Lower Thumb Picnic Area. I needed to get a better view and a better shot of this bird!

I no longer cared about the rain or the flash flooding. While the thunder continued to rumble I jumped from the car and hurried down the path. A few rain drops spattered my face as I continued down the trail. A blue grosbeak fluttered up on a reed as I hurried by. I stopped to snap a quick picture. Then a whole flock of buntings and finches fluttered out of the reeds. I took a quick look but made myself turn away and continue down the path.

Finally the cove was in view, but there was no little charcoal gray bird. I scanned the shoreline, but only found a Black Phoebe. I scanned the reeds. I scanned the middle of the cove and the floating log where I saw it last. No bird. I thought maybe it paddled out of this cove and headed for open water, so I followed the path along the curve of the ridge above me where just a few moments before I had been looking down. Nothing. Finally I my conscience kicked in and I started to feel guilty for leaving Gus standing at the edge of the first cove. I turned around and headed back.

As I rounded the corner and the Lower Thumb cove came into view there it was! I have no idea where it was hiding, but there was my bird! I snapped, snapped, snapped away.

 

 

In-between shots I just gazed through my bins looking at this sweet little bird. “Life Bird!” I kept saying to myself, “I have all the grebes!” I was so excited! I wanted to share this excitement with someone who “got it.” “Gus, do you realize how exciting this is?” I asked him as he gazed down at his smart phone. “Yup,” he said, still looking down. Oh well. Inside I was jumping for joy. All the grebes! I do not think I have any other family group completed. I was thrilled. And it was time to go.

I caught up with Gus and we walked back to the car. On the way we passed the reedy patch at the end of the cove with all the buntings and finches. This time I did stop to identify the Lesser Goldfinches and Varied Buntings that clung to reeds and grasses. Varied Buntings?

I thought to myself! Wow, that is just the icing on the cake. I couldn’t ask for more. I decided then and there, that I am in love with Pena Blanca Lake. It is both beautiful and birdy and it gave me my last, but certainly not least, Least Grebe!

Notes from my nest: Yes, I am home and I have over a thousand photos to go through. I hope to show you birds and tell you stories from the Northeast as well as keep up with all that is going on here in Tucson. Chris Rohrer came over to visit on Monday and we just sat inside and chatted. The heat is so intense right now that it makes it hard to get out, but, it will not stop us from chasing more birds! We have plans for later this week. I will let you know how THAT turns out! Meanwhile the monsoon has started and the storms keep rolling in! See you all soon!