Skywatch Friday: Mountain Blue, Pumpkin Orange

Mountain Bluebird, Pumpkin Sky 10-31-09

We took a ride to Three points, Arizona last Saturday to visit Buckelew Farms Pumpkin Patch. After my 18 month old grandson picked out his first pumpkin and after petting the animals in the petting zoo we headed back to the car to head home. While Xavier's parents were changing his diaper and buckling him into the car seat I was distracted by a flash of blue in the dirt field where were were parked. To my utter amazement I discovered a small flock of Mountain bluebirds! A male and 3 females fluttered about landing on the orange cones and fencing or hovering in the air hunting insects. They showed no fear of us and actually came quite close. It was my first time seeing this species here in Arizona and only the 4th or 5th time I have seen them in my life! I have not seen one at all since moving here 2 1/2 years ago. Then, when I went to submit this count to eBird, I discovered they are not even expected to be here. Yet here they are and I have pictures to prove it!

Buckelew Farm Pumpkin Patch 10-31-09

Female Mountain Bluebird 10-31-09


Male Mountain bluebird 10-31-09

Bluebird in a Blue Sky 10-31-09

(click on any photo to enlarge it)

Go visit!

My World: Lakeside Park

Lakeside Park, Tucson, AZ 10-30-09

click to enlarge

It’s been a busy day this last Thursday of October and I have come to town late in the afternoon to do a couple of quick errands. Nearby to the store I have stopped at is a Subway sandwich shop. Since my stomach is growling and it’s long past lunchtime, I stop in and pick up a 6” turkey sub and a bag of Barbeque Baked Lays. Not wanting to sit and eat on the corner of a crowded and busy parking lot I jump back in my vehicle and head down the street. Now, where can I eat and watch birds at the same time? Ah, Lakeside Park is not far away. I head south on Kolb, then turn right on Stella. I drive east to Lakeside Park and pull into the parking lot there on the east side overlooking the lake. I want to get out and eat my sandwich at one of the many picnic tables, but a chill wind has blown in from the north and it is gusting to over 25 miles an hour. Thus is without surprise that I notice a couple walking down the street in fleece jackets in this 54 degree weather. I almost laugh at them all bundled up as I sit inside my warm car with sunlight streaming through the windows to warm me until I step outside myself.

From my vantage point here on the east side of this manmade lake I see ducks and coots paddling in the water below me. Swallows swoop low over the lake catching insects and getting drinks. As I finish my sandwich I realize that this is not the best position to view the birds, since the sun is setting in the west and is in my eyes. So, I turn the car back on and drive around to the Northwest parking lot and get out of the car. Immediately that cold wind slices through me like ice. I grab my tattered birding jacket and put it on over my long-sleeved shirt. It’s getting late and I just want a quick look at the birds, a quick count to put into eBird. Besides, I am not dressed for tromping around. I have on my high-heeled boots, but at least I did bring my bins. I never leave home without my bins. But I did leave my camera behind. Too bad I did.

Osprey 10-30-09 Lakeside Park

As I walk down the steep slope towards the lake I notice a large raptor soaring above me. I look up to see an osprey hunting the waters below. It flaps its long wings rapidly, hovering over the water searching the depths for prey. Below the osprey a flock of mallards, domestic waterfowl and a few widgeons vie with the coots for pieces of bread tossed out by a child. Over the water the violet-green swallows swoop and dive and I follow their erratic flight with my binoculars. Then, I am distracted by a bird at the far end of the lake. I see a white pelican floating like a medical ship in the water and then, could it be? A western grebe! This is my first sighting of a western grebe here in Arizona. I look carefully at the head trying to be sure that it is a western, which has the black cap extended below the eye, and not a Clark’s, which limits the black cap to above the eye. This one has the black below and so it is a western. Suddenly I hear something, I am not sure if it is the sound of the osprey breaking the water or the exclamations of the boys fishing at the south end of the lake, but I look up to see the osprey rising from the water with a bright orange fish help tightly in its talons! It re-adjusts the fish so its head and tail are aligned with the bird’s body and then it flies straight at me and over my head! OH! If I only had my camera! I follow the bird’s flight off to the north over the bank and the treetops until it is out of sight.

I can still feel the rush of adrenalin as I turn to walk back towards my car. With the sun sinking lower the wind is getting even colder and I am ready to leave. I have only been here a half hour and already I have seen such drama, but as I turn to drive out of the parking lot I notice another flock of birds on the other side of the baseball field fence. Though I have already counted about 50 great-tailed grackles, this seems like it might be some Brewer’s blackbirds, which I have not seen or counted in awhile. So, I drive over to the Westside parking lot and I use my car as a blind. Because I do not get out, the birds actually let me get quite close and I can see and count them easily. A flock of 25 house finches is feeding near the curbing in the grass. Next to them a flock of Brewer’s blackbirds feeds. Something startles the birds and they fly off a bit, then quickly return to feed again. This time some other blackbirds join the flock and as I am busily sorting out the red-eyed bronzed cowbirds from the winter-speckled starlings and plain Brewers Blackbirds there is a sudden explosion of feathers and wings and my mouth drops. Some other raptor has just hit this flock of birds so fast that none of us saw it coming. I watch whatever raptor this is lift off with a dead bird in its grasp. Though I can see the feathered carcass dangling below the raptor, the predator is flying into the setting sun making ID impossible for me. Oh for my camera! Though I am not sure I would have been quick enough to get this shot. I am stunned; gape mouthed and stupid. If I were a ground squirrel I would be dinner.

The birds have fled for good. The sun is sinking low. I have a half hour ride home, so I put the car in gear and turn around. I have only been here for 45 minutes in a city park that is well populated but I have seen more “nature” than I ever expected. In that space of time I counted 18 species of birds and added another species to my Arizona Life List. What a great way to spend my late lunch break! Glad I thought of it! Come to think of it, so did the raptors! I must admit, I’m glad I didn’t have to hunt and kill my meal though.

Lakeside Park is located at 8300 E. Stella Road at the corner of Sarnoff in Tucson, Az. The lake itself is 14 acres when at full capacity. There is a one mile walking path around the lake. It has baseball and soccer fields and a playground for the children. There are also picnic tables and ramadas. The lake is stocked with fish by the fish and game and fishing is allowed. There is a boat launch at the west end of the lake for canoes and rowboats. The park is a well known spot for bird watching and many errant species have been documented here. I know it as a reliable place to see spotted sandpipers in winter and both brown and white pelicans have been seen here. This was my first time seeing an osprey here and Lakeside Park is also one of the places I have seen vermillion flycatchers.

On Friday night, October 30, Gus and I stopped by the park again, this time WITH my camera, so I could get a shot of the lake for this post. Unfortunately the western grebe was gone, but as I was taking shots of the trees and the water, Gus told me to look up in the large eucalyptus tree I had photographed only moments earlier bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. The fingers of gold had left the tree but in their place the osprey now perched large and dark and beautiful. I started snapping right away, trying to control my excited shaking. Even vibration reduction cannot overcome this! I slowly calmed myself and slowly inched my way forward as far as I dared. I did not want to scare the bird off. I finally felt I had a shot decent enough to post, and so we left. What a magnificent bird. One look at that beak and those talons tells you why this bird is known as a fish eagle.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Burrowing Owl

(by Kathiesbirds 10-26-09

Acrylic on Bristolboard)

Burrowing owls live in underground burrows. While they can be seen during the day, they do most of their hunting at night. They have long legs and big eyes and make a barking sound. You will often find them standing in front of their burrows on one leg with their eyes half closed. Their spotted feathers are perfect camouflage for the mounds of soil they live in. Burrowing owls will often take over abandoned prairie dog dens and can sometimes be found in the middle of prairie dog towns.

I have to say that this is my favorite of all the paintings I did for this series. I love the way the owl came out and the birghtness and simplicity of the design. It has been a long time since I have painted and I had fun doing it.

A Pumpkin A Day

Lesser Long-nosed Bat

by Kathiesbirds 10-26-09

Lesser long-nosed bats are an endangered species. As one of the few nectar eating bats they migrate from Mexico every year following the saguaro blooms north and the agave blooms south on their long migration. They breed here in Arizona and return to Mexico for the winter. Lesser Long-nosed bats will often visit your hummingbird feeders in the fall when they are migrating south. It is quite a spectacle to see.

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A Pumpkin A Day

Gambel’s Quail

(by Kathiesbirds 10-26-09)

Gambel’s quail are chicken-like birds that live in the desert southwest. They travel in flocks called coveys. You can often see them walking along the top of a fence or scratching beneath your bird feeders for fallen seed. In the spring when the chicks hatch the family of quail will often travel together with the tiny chicks following the parents in a straight line. While they all have the feathered top-knots, only the male’s curves into a question mark shape and only the male has the cinnamon cap and black face mask.

Hummingbird Morning

Costa's and Anna's Hummingbirds 10-29-09

It was 38 degrees here in Sycamore Canyon when I awoke this morning. As soon as the sun rose the birds started to appear. The temperature dropped sharply yesterday driving the birds into my feeders. There was a feeding frenzy last night just before the last few rays faded from the sky. When the morning sun touched the earth once again the hummingbirds were back to refuel. Hummingbirds usually don't like to share the feeder, but when it is this cold and there are so many, they seem to give up and focus their energy on feeding instead of fighting. Most of these are Costa's hummingbirds, but the one hovering to the right with a central throat patch is actually a female Anna's Hummingbird. How great is it to live someplace where you get hummingbirds in autumn and winter?

Immature male Anna's Hummingbird 10-29-09

Don't mess with me!

This immature male Anna's isn't about ready to share his stash with anyone! He sits here on the hand of my ballerina sculpture and chases all the other hummingbirds away! Sometimes when he is busy chasing off one small intruder another slips in and gets a drink!

A Pumpkin A Day

Phainopepla by Kathiesbirds

(acrylic on Bristolboard)

Phainopeplas are insect and berry eating birds found in the Sonoran Desert. The males are black and the females are gray. Both have red eyes. They fly out from a perch to snag insects from the air, or they eat mistletoe berries from the parasitic plants that hang off of other trees. When the phainopeplas go to the bathroom, they excrete mistletoe seeds in their sticky waste onto the branches where they perch. In this way the mistletoe then takes hold and starts to grow on a new tree sending its roots into the new host and sharing the same sap and nutrients. Phainopeplas make a call that sounds like a soft “whoop, whoop.” They are in a family called the silky flycatchers.