Last Saturday, September 11, Barbara and I went to Southeast Arizona to look for the Plain-capped Starthroat (a hummingbird) that had been reported to be present regularly for the past several days at the Paton’s feeders in Patagonia.  We arrived about 4:00 p.m. and no one else was present.  Plenty of hummingbirds, including Black-chinned and Violet-crowned, were buzzing about, busily sipping at the dozen or so hummingbird feeders in the back yard. 

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Violet-crowned Hummingbird

Mike Marsden, who has assumed a caretaker role at the Paton home, came out to join us, and Al Hodges of Maine also came by.  Al was with me on a Wings trip a couple of years ago and it was a pleasant surprise to get together again.  As we were visiting, the Plain-capped Starthroat made a brief  appearance, and then disappeared for the rest of the evening.  Barbara was able to get a couple of quick shots showing the prominent white feathers which provide a reliable field mark for identification of the Starthroat. The Starthroat is quite rare in North America.  The American Birding Association rates it a 4 on its Checklist, just one shy of the really rare 5s.

Starthroat

I mentioned that one of my nemesis birds has been the Lucifer Hummingbird, (only a 2 on the ABA Difficulty Checklist) which I have searched for in Texas a couple of times in prior years, with no success.  Mike said it should be no problem finding them at Mary Jo’s.  Mary Jo is the host of Ash Canyon Bed & Breakfast south of Hereford, AZ.  We revised our plan for Sunday and drove to Sierra Vista to find a hotel for the evening.  Sunday  morning we drove south to Mary Jo’s where we arrived early in the morning to be greeted by a flock of very large and very tame wild turkeys strolling through her yard.  We watched the furious hummingbird activity at her feeders for a while.  Mary Jo came out and sat with us, and it was not long before both male and female Lucifer Hummingbirds appeared. 

Male Lucifer Hummingbird

Female Lucifer Hummingbird

Yeah!!! Two North American life birds (Nos. 688 and 689) for the trip when I had only expected one.  We saw perhaps a half-dozen of them during the morning.  She tells us that they have established a significant breeding territory in the easter Huachucas over the past 10 years and that there are about 150 pairs now in the area.

Broad-tailed, Magnificent and beautiful Broad-billed hummingbirds passed through the feeder setup, along with innumerable Anna’s.

Broad-billed Hummingbird

Mary Jo was leaving to spend the morning hummingbirding at a neighboring B&B, Beatty’s in Miller Canyon.  Beatty’s is a bit higher and has some species of hummingbirds that do not show up at Mary Jo’s.  After we had absorbed as much of the hummingbird activity as we cared for at Mary Jo’s (we were hoping for the appearance of a Calliope Hummingbird, which had been seen there once or twice on previous days but not this day), we followed her directions to Beatty’s and were  welcomed by the Beatty family.  We spent an hour or so in their lovely hummingbird garden  where we were able to view several Blue-throated Hummingbirds.   A highlight was a nest with 2 young Blue-throated Hummingbirds nearly ready to fledge. 

Blue-throated Hummingbirds

No Berryline Hummingbirds made their appearance, so I will have to wait for a future trip to add that one to my life list.  They had been regular at Beatty’s but it is late in the year and they seem to have moved south.  We did enjoy seeing several Rufous and Anna’s.

Rufous Hummingbird

Anna’s Hummingbird

That afternoon we drove to the San Pedro House east of Sierra Vista and hiked along the San Pedro River.  I think I was stung by a really potent insect during the walk and had some uncomfortable chest congestion for the remainder of the day.  We were able to spot a couple of good birds on that walk, including a Blue Grosbeak and a Vermillion Flycatcher.

The Rare Bird alerts were going wild last week with the reports of a very rare Cuban Pewee in the Florida Everglades.  There have been only 3 prior confirmed sightings of this species in North America.  We decided to go try to find it.  Our search for the Cuban Pewee would be supplemented by the possibility of a Western Spindalis, reported seen on September 6 and 7,  in the same general area where the Pewee was being seen. 

As soon as we arrived at the reported site, an excited birder motioned to us to come up a trail leading into the wooded area near Long Pine Key.  We followed instructions and were rewarded with an immediate view of the Cuban Pewee right above the trail.  The light wasn’t very good, but the view was sufficient.  However, we decided to try for a better look the next morning.  When we returned the next morning there were a dozen or so birders already on site.  Soon one came running up the road to report the Pewee was perched about a quarter of a mile down the road.  Everyone scurried to the location, slightly off the road, and we were all rewarded with terrific, close-up views of the Pewee, in good light.  Some of the photographers went annoyingly close to the bird, but he stayed throughout the commotion.  Barbara got some good shots from a distance.  Although we did not hear the Pewee give its distinctive call, the prominent half crescent behind the eyes,  the unusually large bill,  the wingbars and the absence of tail-flicking were determinative. 

Cuban Pewee

After looking at the Pewee for as long as we wished, we moved off to try to find the Spindalis, with no luck.  (The Western Spindalis is a relatively new name for what was previously called a Strip-headed Tanager).  No one else has reported seeing it after September 7.  The “locals” tell us that the Spindalis nested in the vicinity last year and fledged a couple of young.  It was kept quiet to avoid any unnecessary nest disturbance by over exuberant birders or photographers, a very good precaution, I might add. 

While looking for the Spindalis, another birder spotted a Chuck-will’s-widow, primarily a nocturnal bird,  perched on a horizontal branch not far from the road.  I have never seen this bird before in daylight.

Chuck-will’s-widow

A young couple from Indiana encouraged us to go look for the Plain-capped Starthroat which was being seen regularly in Arizona, so we have deceided to try that sometime.  They thought the Starthroat was a much nicer find than the Pewee, but I am sure others would dispute that. 

Encouraged by attacking mosquitoes, we left the Everglades Park and  drove down an old road just outside the Park. Among the sightings there was a nice close-up of a Red-shouldered Hawk.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Having exhausted our “must see” list for the Everglades and vicinity, we headed to Miami to try for White-winged Parakeets.  No luck on the White-winged Parakeets, but the Baptist Hospital grounds in Kendall were loaded with colorful, noisy Mitred Parakeets.

I went to Elko, Nevada, on July 29th, 2010, determined to see a Himalayan Snowcock, which hopefully would be # 684 on my list of North American birds.  Upon our arrival late afternoon on the 29th my wife and I hiked the well-marked trail from the parking lot at the end of Lamoille Canyon to the near side of Island Lake.  This was not a good idea. 

Because it was late in the day, from the lakeside, there was neither sight nor sound of a Himalayan Snowcock.  The scenery, however, was breathtaking.  This is one of the nicest, most scenic mountain hiking trails I have ever trod.  The mountains, waterfalls, streams, mountain flowers, birds and little four-footed creatures were all lovely in their own special ways.  The sunset view descending the canyon was stunning.

The next morning, July 30th,  my wife and I hiked the trail again, but more slowly than the evening before.  It took us about an hour and a half from the parking lot to Island Lake.  Initially we experienced the same results as the evening before: no Snowcocks.   We began to wonder if we had arrived too late in the day, again.  It was then about 8:00 a.m. 

We decided to go up higher by hiking around the right side of the lake.  As we were doing this we met a returning birder who told us that he had seen and heard the Snowcocks that morning, high on the cirque above the lake.  We continued onward and upward, scrambling breathlessly over a couple of  ridges without trails, until we arrived at the edge of what we later learned from a couple of young local hikers is called the “Hanging Garden”.  We stopped at the edge of that “bog”, because it was too wet to cross.  We could at this point clearly hear Snowcocks calling high up on the cirque, in what seemed to be several different locations. 

We began the painstaking process of scanning my telescope across the upper reaches of the cirque from whence we believed the calls were concentrated.  Soon, to my great excitement,  a Snowcock came into view in my scope, and both I and my wife were able to observe it very well for several minutes as it slowly pecked its way along the thin and sparse line of vegetation on the steep slope above the blackish part of the vertical wall of the cirque.   My wife, the photographer, was able to see the Snowcock in the scope but she was not able to find it through her camera lens, so we did not get a picture.  We did spot a Mountain Goat, and she was barely able to photograph it.

I was informed that Black Rosy-finches (which would be a life bird) were nesting in the heights above Island Lake, but I was not fortunate enough to find any.  Nor did I spot a Calliope Hummingbird, the other potential life bird that has been seen occasionally in the Canyon.

We enjoyed our banana, cheese and bagel repaste back in the shade at the edge of the lake, birded the area a bit, and then hiked (slowly) back down to the parking area.  We were very happy to have seen our primary target, which can be found nowhere in North America but in the Ruby Mountains.  The Black Rosy-finches and Calliope Hummingbirds will wait for another day in another place. 

A word about the hike:  it is not terribly steep, but if you aren’t in good shape, take it slow.  We are (well, ok, I am) not very physically fit for a trek like this, but we managed to do it twice in two days with no permanent adverse consequences.  The hike to the lake is about 2 miles, and the extension that we took the second day is probably another half mile or so.  At about 10,000 feet, the air is noticeably thin and we needed to pause for breath every now and then on the way up.

     This week the bird hot-lines were hotter than usual all over the country.  A South Dakota birder working on the South Dakota Breeding Bird Atlas Survey was parked by a stream running through Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota. As he worked on his survey he heard a bird song that he knew was different from the South Dakota birds whose songs he readily recognized.   He began a search for the reclusive singer, got good views and adequate photos, and ultimately determined that it was an Orange-billed Nightingale Thrush.  He published his finding on the internet, and the Black Hills Bird Rush began. 

     Without the photos, I don’t suppose the birding powers that be would have believed him, notwithstanding his solid birding reputation.  This Thrush is a South and Central American bird which has, to the best of my knowledge, only been identified twice before in North America.  Both of the prior sightings were several years ago, near the Rio Grande.  When he posted his finding, members of the birding community “flocked” to Spearfish from all over the country to try to add this real rarity to their North American Life Lists. 

     When I arrived in mid-afternoon at the well described site, there was no one else there so I sat by the stream, ears tuned, to try to hear the bird.  Shortly after I arrived, Jennifer Fowler pulled into the parking area. Jennifer is a local birder, a South Dakota Bird Atlassing field worker, and a science teacher.  She had undertaken the role of keeping track of the bird and the visiting birders, and helping out all the birders who had and were continuing to come to find it.  Her list of birders was at least 150 names long, including some of the nation’s best recognized, and she was certain that she had missed some.  The list included a good representation of local birders, as well as many from far away places, such as California, Arizona and Florida.   

     Soon after she arrived she cocked her ear toward up-stream, and summoned me to follow her, which I readily did.  We continued to hear, but not see, the bird, as it moved about quickly in the heavy understory of leaves in the trees along the stream.  Several more searchers arrived, and as the evening approached we were all thrilled to get good views of the long-singing Thrush.  ( I suppose the name “Nightingale” may be a clue as to its proclivity to proclaim).  Many thanks to Jennifer.

     The next morning I returned to the site and was rewarded with an excellent scope view of the bird as it sunned itself briefly on an open branch.  I should add that I saw several Orange-billed Nightingale Thrushes in Costa Rica when I was birding there in 2002.  Mission accomplished, however; it is now on my North American Life List as # 682.