John Rakestraw

SE Arizona Lizards

John Rakestraw — Mon, 13 May 2013 05:08:40 +0000

I have always enjoyed studying herps, and my recent trip to SE Arizona provided a nice opportunity to enjoy some new species. I don’t have a reptile reference for that area, so I am using this post to practice letting go of my need to name things. I invite you to enjoy the pretty lizards. If you know their names, feel free to leave a comment.

Ramsey Canyon

Madera Canyon

Patagonia

Saguaro National Park

Ramsey Canyon

Shorebird Class

John Rakestraw — Sun, 12 May 2013 03:24:24 +0000

I took my shorebirds class to Seaside. At the Cove, we found Black Turnstones, Surfbirds, and these Black Oystercatchers.

Best bird of the day was this Red Knot at the Necanicum Estuary.

OK, not a shorebird, but this Western Gull was just standing there, waiting to be photographed. (and Western Gulls are about the only species around right now)

Ash Canyon, AZ

John Rakestraw — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:57:51 +0000

The Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast is one of the must-visit sites in southeastern Arizona. It is hardly hard-core birding, as you are sitting around in Mary Jo Ballator’s back yard watching the feeders, but the diversity of birds is great. I shared some of the hummingbird species in an earlier post. Here are a few other species seen in the yard.

One White-winged Dove is gorgeous and wonderful. Dozens and dozens of White-winged Doves are loud and obnoxious.

Scott’s Orioles were attracted to oranges and grape jelly.

Pyrrhuloxia

Mexican Jay

Lark Sparrow, with a Chipping Sparrow in the background

Chipping Sparrow

Gila Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker

Curve-billed Thrasher

Several rodents were enjoying the bounty along with the birds. This is a Rock Squirrel.

Arizona Gray Squirrels have huge tails, which they use as parasols in the hot sun.

The cutest critter of the trip was this Cotton Rat.

This Red-faced Warbler was seen in nearby Miller Canyon. Of course, before I got my camera out, he was on a low perch singing his little heart out. Once the camera came out, he felt the need to fly to this high back-lit perch.

Madera Canyon, AZ

John Rakestraw — Sun, 05 May 2013 15:53:59 +0000

I spent a few days in Madera Canyon, the famous birding hotspot in southeastern Arizona. Days consisted of long hikes, interspersed with relaxing periods sitting on the patio watching the bird feeders.

Moonrise over the Santa Rita Mountains

Like other “Sky Island” sites in Arizona, the bird life in Madera Canyon changes with the elevation. The lower canyon was home to this Northern Cardinal, a bird of my youth in Indiana.

A couple of miles up the canyon, Wild Turkeys were common visitors to bird feeding stations.

Painted Redstarts are flashy and conspicuous.

Acorn Woodpecker

Rufous-crowned Sparrow

Coues White-tailed Deer were a common sight.

One of the most sought-after birds in Madera Canyon is Elegant Trogon. They nest in the big sycamores along the creek in the upper canyon.

This is a view from the rim surrounding the canyon. It was a long climb to this point, to the land of Grace’s Warblers and Greater Pewees.

Yellow-eyed Junco was one of my favorite birds in the canyon, not as flashy as the warblers and trogons, but beautiful nonetheless.

Arizona Hummingbirds

John Rakestraw — Wed, 01 May 2013 16:16:22 +0000

One big draw of southeastern Arizona is the diversity of hummingbird species. The greatest diversity is usually found during the monsoon season of late summer, but even in mid-April I found eleven species. Here are some photos of the more cooperative ones.

Broad-billed Hummingbirds were the most frequently encountered species. This male was at Patagonia.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Madera Canyon

Black-chinned Hummingbirds actually have a lovely purple gorget, but the light has to hit them just right for it to show its colors.

Magnificent Hummingbirds look completely black most of the time. Like the Black-chinned, the light has to hit them just right to see their colors. This blurry shot was the only one from the trip that showed any color at all.

From one of the largest hummingbirds to one of the smallest; Calliope Hummingbird, Madera Canyon

The long tail and long curved bill are distinguishing marks of this Lucifer Hummingbird.

Here’s a better look at the gorget on the Lucifer Hummingbird.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird, seen at the world-famous Patton yard in Patagonia

Spotted Owl

John Rakestraw — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:31:38 +0000

On my recent trip to Arizona, I had the pleasure of watching this Mexican Spotted Owl preening and snoozing near his nest cavity. Spotted Owl has been a nemesis species for me since moving to Oregon twelve years ago. The subspecies that breeds in Oregon, Northern Spotted Owl, has been in steady decline for decades, as its old-growth forest habitat continues to be harvested for lumber, and its close relatives, Barred Owls, continue to expand their range, eating or interbreeding with the Spotteds as they go. As a result, the locations of Northern Spotted Owls in Oregon tend to be kept secret, to protect the birds from unemployed lumberjacks with shotguns or overzealous birders.

The culture surrounding Spotted Owls in Arizona is very different. Email lists describe the exact location of roosting owls, making it easy for birders from around the country, and around the world, to have a look. The habitat of the Mexican Spotted Owl is not as commercially valuable as the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest. The money brought in to southeast Arizona by visiting birders probably far exceeds the value of any timber harvest in this area. So the Mexican Spotted Owl, while still rare, seems to be doing OK while being admired by adoring throngs of birders.

Weekend at the Coast

John Rakestraw — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:12:16 +0000

I led trips for the Birding and Blues Festival in Pacific City, OR, last weekend. The weather was cool with scattered showers, so photo ops were not abundant.

The Three Capes Tour on Friday was actually very good for mammals, with charismatic mega-fauna such as Gray Whale, Steller’s Sea Lion and Roosevelt Elk. Only slightly less charismatic was this California Ground Squirrel.

This Peregrine Falcon posed nicely on the cliff at Cape Meares. The rich colors of the rocks and plants, compared the overexposed image of the falcon show that I have obviously still not mastered my new camera.

There is a large flock of Eurasian Collared Doves in Pacific City. Ten years ago, this species would have been a huge deal, but they are very well established now. Despite their abundance, this flock was very shy.

The avian stars of Pacific City are these Aleutian Cackling Geese. This particular population breeds on the Semidi Islands and winters at Pacific City, spending the nights on Haystack Rock offshore and days in this cow pasture at the north end of town.

Ferruginous at the Beach

John Rakestraw — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:51:05 +0000

While scouting for the upcoming Birding and Blues Festival, I found this Ferruginous Hawk soaring over the Clay Myers State Natural Area (aka Whalen Island). This appears to be the first record of the species in Tillamook County. Ferruginous Hawks are normally found in the sage steppe east of the Cascades, and are rare visitors to the Willamette Valley in winter.

The bird was loosely associated with a kettle of Turkey Vultures, and serves as a valuable reminder to check every bird in the flock for something different.

Little Brown Birds

John Rakestraw — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:48:49 +0000

I took my Little Brown Birds class to Sauvie Island. The sparrow flock along Rentenaar Road is thinning out, but all the expected species are still there. For the third year in a row, the star of the day was a Harris’s Sparrow. There is a White-throated and a Golden-crowned Sparrow in the background.

Harris’s Sparrow with Golden-crowned Sparrows

Fox Sparrow

A sparrow mix of White-crowned, Golden-crowned, and Song Sparrow, along with a Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird, surrounded by Golden-crowned Sparrows and a White-crowned in the background

One of four White-throated Sparrows that came to our seed slick

Spotted Towhee

Early Spring

John Rakestraw — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:48:00 +0000

This is that long awkward time of year between winter and spring. The big winter flocks have broken up, but the spring migrants haven’t returned yet. As I have said before, there is always something to see, but we have to find simple pleasures until the full decadence of spring migration commences in a month or so.

On a recent sunny day, this Varied Thrush perched outside the living room window. I don’t often see this species in sunlight. They are usually muted by the gloom of a rainy day or the shadows of the forest.

Pine Siskin at the nyjer feeder

For some reason, songbirds just look weird when viewed from the front.

Lesser Goldfinch

The male American Goldfinches are starting to get their summer color.

Golden-crowned Sparrow, Vanport Wetlands

This fairly large tree has been felled by Beavers at Smith and Bybee Wetlands. None of the branches appear to have been eaten, so I don’t know why the Beavers felled it, perhaps because it was there.

Northwestern Garter Snake, Tualatin Hills Nature Park. I am making the identification based on the small head, although I am not completely comfortable differentiating Northwestern Garter from Common Garter.