i've been out to starr ranch twice this month as a volunteer bander for audubon, and both times were amazing. i've finally started to learn the finesse and patience needed to extract a severely entangled bird from a mist net. i'm just starting to feel i'm more of a help to the audubon people than a hindrance. i've also just begun to delve into the intricate, and confusing world of bird molts, molt limits, and aging by molt and plumage. it is really much more complicated than it sounds. the simplest part to learn is how the molt cycle itself works, but even that can be confusing when every book and article on it uses different (and usually non-intuitive) terminology to describe the same thing. after you get that down, you have to learn about every bird's individual molt strategy, e.g. how many phases, what feathers are molted in what order, etc... when aging by plumage it is also necessary to know the plumage characteristics and stages of each individual bird. crazy, but very interesting, stuff.
unfortunately, my bird watching has suffered a little, and just seeing the way a bird flies, or getting a short listen to its call, is not always enough for me to make an i.d. anymore. this i will actively work to remedy.
i took a step toward that today, when i completed my monthly tecolote bird count for may. all in all it was an awesome day. i got out at 8am, and birded until about 1030. i had two personal firsts for the canyon, and one probable returning migrant, the same individual likely, from last year - since he was on the same tree where i observed him many times last year (a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE).
on my way back to my car, at around 10am, i noticed a pair of RED-TAILED HAWKs hunting together in the canyon. i'm not sure if they were mated, or providing for young, or what. but, they were traveling along together and hunting. as i observed them, one hawk suddenly got into a stoop, zoomed by at high speed, and landed on some unlucky creature on the far side of the canyon from where i was standing. it sat momentarily with its wing stretched out above its prey, looking cautiously around, and began calling to its partner, who soon was perched atop a nearby bush. i pulled my binos away from my face to rest my eyes for just a sec, when out of nowhere swooped a bluish-grey raptor with long, fully extended, pointy wings, its tail tightly pointed for maximum aerodynamic benefit, banking at about sixty miles per hour along the canyon wall. one quick tuck and it torpedoed into a bush, bringing a quick end to someone's day.
PEREGRINE FALCON:
shortly thereafter i also ran into a BLUE GROSBEAK, a personal first for tecolote.
here is my complete list from today, 5/28 (X means too many to count):
2 BLACK PHEOBE
X HOUSE FINCH
8 SONG SPARROW
14 COMMON YELLOW-THROAT
1 BEWICK'S WREN
13 SCRUB JAY
8 BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK (lots of singing males, and one female with a brood patch)
X LESSER GOLDFINCH
9 RED-CROWNED PARROT
X CALIFORNIA TOWHEE
1 COOPER'S HAWK
17 CLIFF SWALLOW
6 WRENTIT
3 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT
2 COMMON RAVEN
30 BUSHTIT
9 PACIFIC SLOPE FLYCATCHER
18 ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD
4 WHITE-THROATED SWALLOW
4 NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER
2 ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER
1 HOUSE WREN
2 RED-TAILED HAWK
1 WESTER WOOD-PEWEE
6 MOURNING DOVE
2 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER
1 CASSIN'S KINGBIRD
1 BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD
3 HOODED ORIOLE
1 SPOTTED TOWHEE
1 PEREGRINE FALCON
1 BLUE GROSBEAK
that's 32 different species, bringing my year total to 49. only one warbler (not good), no vireos (also, not good), all expected flycatchers (nice), and my first BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD of the season (also, nice).
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