Trogons (feat. three molossus)

All things winged.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
intermedius
Posts: 481
Joined: March 22nd, 2012, 7:19 pm

Trogons (feat. three molossus)

Post by intermedius »

Well I was originally going to do a second half of 2016 post of all the birding highlights from recent trips (Florida and Arizona). However, college and exams have overwhelmed my time so I will just post a few of the big highlights from the rest of the year and early 2017. I was able to boost up my ABA list to 395 and racked up 200+ species in my home county back in New Jersey, which I am very happy about. It's starting to get overwhelming memorizing both calls, morphology and behavior of both birds and herps.

Perhaps the highlight of the year was getting to visit southeast Arizona for the first time. It was something my dad and I wanted to do for a long time, so after a long time planning we decided on a week-long period in late July. We stayed around the Chiricahuas and the surrounding spots around Rodeo and Portal. Over 100 species were new for me there, and it was thrilling to finally see some species of birds that are extremely rare vagrants to the east coast. We missed a few: largely the owls, shorebirds, Costa's and Lucifer Hummingbird, and some of the mountain species. We also had some great unexpected birds too (Elegant Trogon, White-tailed Kite, Painted Bunting, Long-billed Curlew). Herping was also great. We didn't have too much species diversity, but managed to score a twenty-seven snake night in the San Bernardino Valley. We were able to score at least one montane rattlesnake. A pricei escaped into talus as soon as we spotted it, so no pictures.

Around three Elegant Trogons. made up for the lack of klauberi. We saw one pricei, but it slid into talus before I could snap a photograph. The males did not want their photos taken, but the female stayed long enough for me to snap a few shots. My 300th ABA bird was an unexpected White-tailed Kite, found close to the NM border. Apparently they are casual vagrants to this area. One of our last birds of the trip was Montezuma Quail, spotted on the way up the mountains from Portal.

Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JLzbvg]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JNZGYv]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JP15d4]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/JNZG2R]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KCuUep]Image


The three Molo's came on a single morning hike. We had walked up an Arroyo and spotted the first one basking in an open clearing close to some rock outcrops. We ended up taking our break right above her, and watched her move down lower into the arroyo for a few minutes until we finished. Then on our way down we spotted two more crossing the arroyo. Needless to say, a memorable experience.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/JP28eH]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/KA5o21]Image


Post-Arizona birding consists of stuff from Maryland and New Jersey. Lots of birding was done on my college campus, where a few wood lots acted as nice migrant traps for warblers and thrushes. Good birds on campus included Gray-cheeked Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Cape May Warbler. Lincoln's Sparrow and an extremely late Wilson's Warbler found on November 1st. Also constantly around were a breeding pair of Red-shouldered Hawks that perched right near my dorm hall.


The male even snagged a Brown Snake. He gobbled it before I could snap a photo. So far the only snake I've seen on campus.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/MATjVj]Image


Sometimes they allow me to get good shots


[url=https://flic.kr/p/Mo5bmf]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NsCTPW]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NJUjbh]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/M1uLBe]Image


My few excursions out into Maryland for herps have been profitable

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MiS7ck]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NgX8HY]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/MPs28N]Image


On Thanksgiving Day, I was back home for some R&R and went out for a hike to scout out some locations for birds. I went through some deer trails and ventured silently into a large cedar grove. Then I saw an imprint in the ground, which I thought some large mammal made. As soon as I went to the vicinity of the mark to investigate, I heard wings flapping and looked up to see two dark silhouettes in the surrounding trees. I realized I had stumbled across an owl roost and scanned my binocs to get the features. Indeed, they were Long-eared Owls, easily spooked and never to be seen. I haven't visited the roost again, since I flushed them by accident, but I was simply speechless.

Here's one of them:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NkZK8k]Image


Besides the owls, I scored three other new bird species during that break and broke 200 species for my home county. The 200th bird was a flyover American Pipit, a bird I recognized by its eponymous flight call. The resident Merlin from last year was back at it again.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/PpfMGv]Image



Also checked off during this trip were Long-billed Dowitchers, skillfully identified by my friend. Note the white spotting on the primaries, drabber tertials, and more subtle "wiggly' supercillium.


Image


It's also a new tradition for my Dad and I to try for Tiger Salamanders when it's cold out. Try we did, with success.


Image


No herps were seen during my annual florida trip, besides a few Iguanas and Anoles. A Coachwhip and Racer skidded off from a few trails I hiked, that was cool. I got many cool rarities and new birds. At one of the many Everglades Water Treatment Areas, I got my first Limpkin and plenty of Snail Kites. We also tried for a rare blackbird at a random rice plant in the Everglades. The plant was rather empty, as both a Red-tailed Hawk and a Merlin were scouting out some stragglers. Then a large flock of grackles and red-winged blackbirds flew in, and I began scanning with my spotting scope. Thirty minutes went by, no success. Then in the last area of the flock, I saw a small blackbird with a brown top, lack of red or yellow on the primaries, and orange-yellow breast. Bingo! Female Yellow-headed Blackbird!


[url=https://flic.kr/p/PoEufX]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QyTbSu]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QGnbft]Image


We headed south to Miami on the latter half of our trip in Florida. We spent the morning in the suburbs surrounding the city, waiting for some exotics to show up. Some of them did (Mitred Parakeets, Yellow-cheveroned Parakeet, Egyptian Goose, Muscovy Duck). By then, it was the afternoon and all the songbirds were under cover. So we ended up going south even more, and staked out more birds. The first - Buff-bellied Hummingbird, was a success. There were three of them, representing the second records of the bird in Florida. The second rarity, Groove-billed Ani, was not. We spent awhile sitting on a lone bench waiting for the hummers to show up and feast. After awhile, I got photographs that I was happy with.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/QBCLZQ]Image


On the way back up from Florida, we stopped in Savannah, Georgia.Two more new birds resulted from the trip. A Vesper Sparrow and a Sedge Wren, a relative of the much more common Marsh Wren. Like their Marsh cousins, they're small and a pain in the ass to photograph. But they're charismatic birds, crawling through grasses and marsh habitat the same way a vole or mole would. The second bird(s) were Western Kingbirds, a bird I saw too many times out west, but is a casual vagrant in the east coast. I also saw the most amount of Meadowlarks in my life.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/PxHSx2]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Qdbw4G]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QybYj9]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Pv17bS]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QHUBYA]Image


Back in New Jersey, I spent the rest of the month chasing rarities before second semester began. I woke up one day and went on a hike. Afterwards I checked the local text alert system and heard news. A Barnacle Goose was spotted just twenty minutes away.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/Qrkd2i]Image

Some other local rare queries included these below. I'm especially happy with the Short-eared Owls. There were four of them just a few minutes away, and I would often brave the cold winds to watch them hunt rodents in fields.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/R5Z4Xf]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QdixTm]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QS9ucC]Image

A bunch of other rarities were spotted in NJ when I was in Florida. The biggest was a Rock Wren, only the second ever record for New Jersey. Some birder serendipitously found it at a construction site while out searching for some MIA Sandhill Cranes. The others were Ross's Goose, a bird almost impossible to find when in the similar Snow Goose flocks. The last one was a Pink-footed Goose, hanging close to the Ross's Goose. There were actually two or three of these geese in scattered locations around the state.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/QN1mSh]Image


Image


The Ross's and Pink-footed were literally a 'wild goose chase' . There were several sites where both had been seen, so they could literally be anywhere. One would just have to scan the endless flocks of Canadas until it sticks out. I spotted the Ross's after an hour in a small field off the side of a road. I alerted several other birders via text, and they came flying in with their telephoto lenses and spotting scopes.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/QF4eTP]Image

The Pink-footed was difficult and never showed up around the Ross's. At that point, it was raining hard and my Dad was getting discouraged. I managed to convince him to drive another half hour to a location where another Pink-footed was located. The endless scanning of geese repeated, until I saw a small bit of the flock fly up and land further back, as I studied them, I noticed one of them was noticeably smaller. It had a banded tail, and appeared lighter gray and brown in comparison to the others. Maybe that was the Pink-footed?

I carefully walked to where the flock landed and got the scope out once again. The Pink-footed was there, completing a "rarity three-peat".

[url=https://flic.kr/p/Pz7vos]Image


I saw a few other rarities during my New Jersey break. Here they are.


[url=https://flic.kr/p/QZSCfm]Image

[url=https://flic.kr/p/QS9jNS]Image


I also found another Barnacle Goose


[url=https://flic.kr/p/RcNXQo]Image


And that's about it. Thanks for taking a look.
Best,

- Justin
User avatar
chrish
Posts: 3295
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:14 pm
Location: San Antonio, TX
Contact:

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by chrish »

That's a great year.

To those of us not near the east coast, the idea of seeing a Pink-footed Goose is a bizarre concept!
User avatar
intermedius
Posts: 481
Joined: March 22nd, 2012, 7:19 pm

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by intermedius »

Thanks Chris,

Actually, we're getting pretty spoiled with them. We get at least one every year now that people know what to look for. If not, at least one Barnacle. I suppose it's a bit like those Tropical vagrants you folks have down in the southwest

– Justin
User avatar
Brian Hubbs
Posts: 4735
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:41 am
Location: "Buy My Books"-land

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by Brian Hubbs »

intermedius wrote:Thanks Chris,

Actually, we're getting pretty spoiled with them. We get at least one every year now that people know what to look for. If not, at least one Barnacle. I suppose it's a bit like those Tropical vagrants you folks have down in the southwest ;)

– Justin
Damn, I hate those vagrants...they stand on the freeway off ramps holding signs and asking for money...Oh...wait...you meant birds...nevermind... :lol:
NACairns
Posts: 372
Joined: December 30th, 2013, 7:27 am

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by NACairns »

Great post, I love the Chiri's and it's nice to see the critters. Montezuma quail are always great to see. Hope the chem exam went well.
Thanks for sharing,
Best,
Nick
User avatar
Brian Hubbs
Posts: 4735
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:41 am
Location: "Buy My Books"-land

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I'm jealous of his Trogon and Montezuma quail...I still haven't seen those, and I live in AZ... :lol:
User avatar
intermedius
Posts: 481
Joined: March 22nd, 2012, 7:19 pm

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by intermedius »

Thanks guys! It was certainly a privilege spending time in the Chiris.

– Justin
NACairns
Posts: 372
Joined: December 30th, 2013, 7:27 am

Re: Trogons and Code 4's (feat. three molossus)

Post by NACairns »

Well good luck with those classes, the Chiri's are a heck of a nice place to tack a break alright.
Best,
Nick
Post Reply