November 12th, 2011   Tags: , , ,

Fun Birding Workshop Rarity Chase

Glaucous-winged-Gull-Glendale-Recharge-Basins-11-1112-01There were a few contenders in the days leading up, but we settled for heading north and going to see a GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL discovered by Tommy DeBardeleben at Glendale Recharge Basins in western Phoenix. My second new gull in Arizona this week! [...]

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November 7th, 2011   Tags: ,

Black-legged Kittiwake

Black-legged-Kittiwake-Casa-Grande-11-1107-14News of a rare bird here in Arizona always gets my attention, but sometimes it leaves me with a dilemma. This was one such occasion. The rare bird in question was a Black-legged Kittiwake, a genuine seabird with no business being inland at all. But, whilst extremely rare in Arizona, it’s a fairly common bird around Britain’s coastline and I’ve seen thousands in places like the Shetland Isles. [...]

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November 3rd, 2011   Tags: , , , , , , ,

Pena Blanca Lake, Paton’s, Amado Pond

Least-Grebe-Pena-Blanca-Lake-11-1103-04We watched this area of brush piles and shoreline for a long time, with different birds coming in throughout. It was a veritable sparrow fest! As well as the GOLDEN-CROWNED we had brief views of a smart BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW, as well as LARK, LINCOLN’S, SAVANNAH, VESPER, BREWER’S, RUFOUS-CROWNED, WHITE-CROWNED and CHIPPING SPARROWS, making it ten species in one spot. [...]

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October 29th, 2011   Tags: , , ,

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned-Sparrow-Pena-Blanca-Lake-11-1029-03Whilst birding at Pena Blanca Lake with Jean and Sterling Weaver and Sue and Dave Schwardt of New York, I was pleased to pick out a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW among White-crowned Sparrows and other birds coming in to drink and bathe. I managed to get some distant record shots of this rare visitor from the West Coast. [...]

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October 23rd, 2011   Tags: , , , ,

Rufous-backed Robin

Rufous-backed-Robin-Santa-Cruz-Flats-11-1022-10Whilst birding with Peter and Marianne Hosford in the Santa Cruz Flats south of Eloy, Arizona, I was lucky enough to find a RUFOUS-BACKED ROBIN, a rare visitor to the U.S.A. from Mexico. They are usually found at fruiting trees in riparian or other lush areas, but surprisingly this one was feeding on the ground in a small pecan grove in an area of cotton fields, sod farms and hostile, sparse desert. [...]

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