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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Chris's 2014 list. (1 Viewer)

29-04-14. Patagonia, AZ, USA

Patons Yard

461 Violet-crowned Hummingbird - lifer. My first was actually hovering right in front of my face before I'd even gone in! Now that's the way to get a life tick. :t:
462 Broad-tailed Hummingbird - lifer
463 Costas Hummingbird
464 Yellow-breasted Chat
465 Lazuli Bunting
466 Green-tailed Towhee
467 Warbling Vireo
468 Evening Grosbeak

] Patagonia Roadside Rest Area

469 Wild Turkey
470 Willow Flycatcher
471 Brown-crested Flycatcher - lifer
472 Bells Vireo
473 Canyon Wren
474 Lucy's Warbler - lifer
475 Blue Grosbeak

Patagonia Lake State Park - Sonita Creek Natural Area

476 Black-bellied Whistling-duck
477 Montezuma Quail - lifer
478 Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet -lifer. Sorry to say it but, the name is better than the bird.
479 Western Wood-Pewee
480 Gray Flycatcher - lifer
481 Chihuahua Raven
482 Indigo Bunting
483 Aberts Towhee - lifer
484 Rufous-crowned Sparrow
485 Bullocks Oriole

Although all the places I've been too, so far, have been fantastic for birds they've also been rather 'sanitized', 'dude', in UK parlance.Nothing wrong with that, whatsoever, but I like a bit of 'wild' wilderness now and again. After asking around, and hearing stories of how I "need to get a guide", "The road is terribly dangerous. It's gravel all the way and lots of dangerous bends", "The trail is extremely arduous" etc. I thought I'd give California Gulch ( brilliant name :t: ) a go tomorrow.
 
30-04-14. California Gulch, AZ, USA

488 Acorn Woodpecker
489 Crissal Thrasher - lifer
490 Five-striped Sparrow - lifer.
491 Black-chinned Sparrow

I'd counted Phainopepla twice, so the total goes down by one. Senior moment, brains boiled by too much sun, daft old bugger? You choose. ;)
After the "horror stories" about getting here, and what the trail was 'supposed' to be like, I set off really early - only to find a reasonable gravel road with some 'average bends ( I've driven over far worse tracks in a Fiat Panda, never mind the 4x4 Jeep I've hired here :eek!: ) and the only problem with the trail was, by the time it got to mid-day the heat had cranked up well beyond 11. To anyone thinking of doing it I'd recommend taking more than 2 litres of water. The Sparrows were 'commonest' about 3 miles from the car park, and I finally saw 4 birds. Super smart looking birds, and well worth the effort. :t:

Arizona total to date - 132
 
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01-05-14. Patagonia, AZ, USA

Roadside Rest

493 Dusky Flycatcher
494 Townsends Solitaire ( this was a bit of a shock )
495 Hermit Thrush

Empire Ranch

496 Prairie Falcon
497 Crested Caracara
498 Says Phoebe
499 Loggerhead Shrike
500 Bendires Thrasher
501 Cassins Sparrow
502 Lark Bunting
503 Eastern Meadowlark

Arizona total to date - 144
 
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02-05-14. Patagonia > Sierra Vista, AZ, USA

504 Harris Hawk
505 American Barn Owl
506 Townsends Warbler

Arizona total to date - 149
 
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03-05-14. Sierra Vista, AZ , USA

Environmental Operations Park aka the local sewage farm.

507 Tree Swallow
508 Vesper Sparrow
509 Savannah Sparrow
510 Yellow-headed Blackbird

Ramsey Canyon

511 Blue-throated Hummingbird - lifer
512 Magnificent Hummingbird - lifer
513 Greater Pewee - lifer
514 Dusky-capped Flycatcher - lifer
515 Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
516 Black-throated Gray Warbler
517 Painted Whitestart - lifer

I also heard a very distant Elegant Trogon in the Canyon but I'll try and see one before I log it. The Environmental Operations Park was a bit of an eye opener, as its more of a wildlife facility than a sewage works and composting station. c60 acres of viewable settling ponds and wetlands and areas of native prairie restoration plus Sierra Vista's city tree nursery.

Arizona total to date - 166
 
03/04-05-14. Sierra Vista area 'Owling', AZ, USA

518 Whiskered Screech Owl - lifer
519 Mountain Pygmy Owl - lifer
520 Mexican Whip-poor-will - lifer

04-05-14. Sierra Vista 'twitching', AZ, USA

Hunter Canyon

520 Plumbeous Vireo - lifer
521 Woodhouses Scrub Jay - lifer
522 Hermit Warbler
523 Rufous-capped Warbler -lifer

Miller Canyon

524 Brown Thrasher

Whitewater Draw

525 Snowy Plover
526 Least Sandpiper
527 Ruddy Ground Dove
528 Brewer's Sparrow

After a good nights 'owling' last night I checked to see if any of the local rarities were still around and shot off for them. I could have spent a lot more time in the canyons but I wasn't quite sure how to get to Whitewater Draw, and didn't know how easy it would be to find the Ground Doves. As it turned out the directions to the site, and the bird were spot on. :t:

Arizona total to date - 169
 
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05-05-14. Huachuca canyons, Sierra Vista, AZ, USA

Carrs Canyon

529 Buff-breasted Flycatcher - lifer
530 Cassins Vireo
531 Red-faced Warbler - lifer

Miller Canyon

532 Zone-tailed Hawk
534 Eastern Bluebird
535 Olive Warbler - lifer ( and another monotypic family ticked off :t: )

Ramsey Canyon

536 Mountain Chickadee

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area

537 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
538 Rufous Hummingbird
539 Ash-throated Flycatcher
540 Thick-billed Kingbird - lifer
 
06-05-14. Miller Canyon, AZ, USA

541 Golden Eagle
542 White-eared Hummingbird -lifer. A single female.
543 Stellers Jay
( Mexican Chickadee - lifer )
544 Brown Creeper
545 Brown-throated Wren - lifer

Arizona list so far - 191

edit. 'Mexican' Chickadee turned out to be a dark Mountain. :C
 
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07-05-14. Tombstone / Route 66

546 Burrowing Owl
547 LeConte's Thrasher - lifer
548 Botteri's Sparrow - lifer

Not exactly a birding day as I fulfilled a long held ambition when I rented a Harley ( even though it was only a 'half-size' ) and rode "The Mother Road". I only did the Tombstone to Oatman stretch as I didn't want to go outside Arizona. I just had enough time to get to Salome Hwy. for the Thrasher and Sparrow. Both of which are infuriating buggers, as you'd catch a ( sub-second ) glimpse of what may have been one or the other, only to have it vanish, often before I could get my bins on it.
 
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08-05-14. Sierra Vista > Green Valley, AZ, USA

549 Scott's Oriole
550 Red-shouldered Hawk ( Tanque Verde Wash )

As the trip starts coming to a close its getting harder, as usual, to get new species. Still, I've got the rest of today in Madera Canyon and then a belt across state to the South Rim before heading back to the UK.

Arizona list to date - 196 ( 200 should be possible now. )
 
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09-05-14. Madera Canyon, AZ, USA

551 Common Black Hawk
552 Elegant Trogon - lifer
553 House Wren

10-05-14. Green Valley > Grand Canyon, AZ, USA

554 Elf Owl
555 Mountain Bluebird
556 Nashville Warbler

11-05-14. Grand Canyon, AZ, USA

557 California Condor - lifer
558 Gray Vireo
559 Juniper Titmouse - lifer
560 Cassins Finch

Final trip total :- 211 :t:
 
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14-06-14. Magadan, Russia

571 Gyr Falcon
572 Far Eastern Curlew
573 Lanceolated Warbler
574 Yellow-browed Warbler
575 Arctic Warbler s.s.
576 Bluethroat
577 Stejnegers Stonechat
578 Common Rosefinch
579 Pacific Swift

I'm here for a conference on the fauna of the Sea of Okhotsk but I've managed to blag a couple of days on either side "for research". ;) Magadan, itself, is a dying city. The three reasons for its existence, the gulag, the Kolyma gold mines and fishing have either gone, are slowly becoming exhausted and thriving ( albeit with a woeful lack of investment ) which has led to almost half the population leaving in the last 10 - 15 years, or so. A look at Google Earth, before I came out, showed an area to the east of the city where a small estuary was backed by meanders, oxbows, pools, marshes, carr and woodland so I was just going to have a quick look at the south side today. The "quick look" turned into the best part of a day. :t: Although the majority of the species present were already on my year list things like Stellers Sea Eagle and Pacific Golden Plover, on their breeding grounds, are never to be sniffed at.
 
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