Monkey Business (mostly about birding)

Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Death Valley birds - Scotty's Castle

Scotty's Castle was a little disappointing. We stopped for lunch to only find available bottles of water, crisps and expensive cold sandwiches. With little choice we stumped up the cash for sarnies and sat in the picnic area. Many White Crowned Sparrows picked crumbs from the picnic tables, and a few Yellow Rumped Warblers and American Goldfinches flitted around the trees. I had a brief view of a small dark wren, which I believe was a House Wren, then I discovered this beauty!

Say's Pheobe

A very smart individual

Death Valley birds - Furnace Creek

Death Valley itself was a birdless wilderness. The temperature rose steadily throughout the morning reaching 96f by 11am. By 11.30am I was pleased to reach Furnace Creek, a lush green oasis in the desert, surely jam packed with birds? Well yes and no. It was too early for lunch and with a good 4 hrs still to drive to our overnight stop, we couldn't spare too much time on site. I left my wife and kids enjoying the shade and a cold drink while I braved the midday sun for about 30 minutes birding. As well as the below I found a large flycatcher, which I did not manage to photograph but I think was a Western Wood Pewee.

Chipping Sparrow - a small flighty group

There was a small group of Brown Headed Cowbirds feeding on the ground, nearby was this darker bird. I think it is a Brown Headed, going by the shape of the head, but there was no colour differential on the head at all, unlike the other birds present, so I am not 100% convinced it is not a Bronzed Cowbird. It would be very unusual to find this species in Death Valley though. I only ever saw it on it's own in this tree, so I had no direct size comparison with the distinctive male Brown Headed Cowbirds. Comments please.

Juv type Yellow Rumped Warbler

Las Vegas birding

Trying to compare the Grand Canyon to our next destination, Las Vegas, was like comparing chalk and cheese. I was blown away by the Grand Canyon, yet, if I'm honest I couldn't wait to move on from Las Vegas. It wasn't my cup of tea at all. The only birds of note (other than the ladies of the night!) was a pair of Northern Mockingbirds. I suppose I am glad to say I have been to Vegas but I doubt I'll be going back. That said, at the time I hoped I was there just 5 days after we left as my all time favourite band, Madness, we playing a one night gig, in the hotel we were staying in!

Anyway, we set off early to spend the day travelling through Death Valley to arrive at Bishop, for an overnight stop before what we thought would be a short hop to Yosemite National Park, the following day. On the outskirts of Las Vegas we stopped at a gas station, and while filling up I noticed at the adjacent truck stop I noticed a truck driver throwing bread to birds on nearby wasteland. After filling up we went to investigate. Fully expecting to find a load of feral pigeons, I was pleasantly surprised to find these.......

Gambel's Quail

There were about 20+ individuals present

Mourning Dove - surprisingly few of these seen all trip

Ok folks, I need some help here. Mixed in with much larger White Crowned Sparrows, were a number of these smaller birds. I am thinking they are Brewer's Sparrows, but am very happy to be corrected if I am wrong. Unfortunately, they always remained distant not allowing better shots.

Tuesday, 17 April 2012

More birds from the Grand Canyon

Western Scrub Jay - relatively common

Juniper Titmouse - only one seen all trip

Rock Wrenn

Mountain Chikadee

Northern Flicker

Crap pic of the only Spotted Towhee seen all trip

California Condor - Grand Canyon

After two days of searching for California Condors in the Grand Canyon I had just about given up. On our last evening we headed to the canyon (Mather Point) to see the sunset. The temperature had plummuted to not far above zero so the last thing I expected was this!

Leaning over to get a better view, Jamie (my 12 year old son) said "Dad's what's that?" pointing almost directly down the floor of the canyon. Looking over, it was obviously a condor, not just because it was wing tagged, but it was massive. I'll do some research to find out more about this bird, but needless to say, I was a very happy chappy that evening. Showing a Ranger the picture, they commented on how lucky we were as the condors are often not seen for days, or even weeks on end.

Grand Canyon birds

The following birds were seen in and around the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was amazing in itself and fully lived up to our expectations. The birds were an added bonus.

(Gray Headed) Dark Eyed Junco - I expected these birds to be much greyer in colour but you can see they are blue

Western Bluebird - common - but wow!

White Breasted Nuthatch - common

Meep.....meep.... one of only two Roadrunners seen. This one around Havasu City hung about to allow a few shots, the other ran across the road and away on route from Havasu and the Grand Canyon.

California birds April 2012

Here are some pictures of some of the birds seen during our recent trip to the west coast of the United States. All the birds below were seen in the ground of the hotel we stayed at, in Palm Springs.