SE Arizona (birds)

October 28 – Sarah and I flew into Phoenix, AZ on October 25 in the evening. The next morning we got up early and drove down to Tucson where we met our hosts/guides Sky and Anne Hilts. When we arrived at their house one of the first birds we saw in their backyard was a COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD (Life Bird) as well as many Phainopeplas and GILA WOODPECKERS (Life Bird) along the road and nice looks at a male Western Screech-Owl in their carport. The four of us got back in the car and drove down to Tumacacori to look for a reported Rufous-backed Robin. We stayed for about two hours with no luck but it was the middle of the afternoon and traffic was fairly heavy along the lane. I had brief looks at a probable Plumbeous Vireo, a possible Crissal Thrasher and a tentative Brewer's Sparrow but all of them were very difficult to see through the dense brush and I decided not to count them. A Townsend's Solitaire was a nice surprise though. Next we drove over to Patagonia to visit The Patton's yard and look for hummingbirds. We eventually found one male Anna's Hummingbird as well as a few Inca Doves, a beautiful male PYRRHULOXIA, a flock of GAMBLE'S QUAIL (Life Bird) and a BRIDLED TITMOUSE (Life Bird). There was also a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (Life Bird) in the area. At dusk we made another stop back at Santa Gertrudis in Tumacacori. We walked down to the Santa Cruz river and I noticed a small quail moving towards us. It was a female MONTEZUMA QUAIL (Life Bird)! The bird wasn't very shy; walked right up and crossed the road. Even got some decent photos. On our way out we saw and heard a second bird. What a sad sounding call. We all thought that was a fantastic end to our day. Up early again on October 27... had a VERDIN (Life Bird) and better looks at the Costa's Hummingbird in the Hilts backyard before heading off to Madera Canyon. Sarah and I hiked from Proctor Road up to the Santa Rita Lodge. We had lots of great birds along the way. Highlights were a very cooperative and totally stunning PAINTED REDSTART (Life Bird), many MEXICAN JAYS (Life Bird), Sarah's long-overdue first Acorn Woodpecker and flock of roughly eight more MONTEZUMA QUAIL! After a picnic lunch we stopped by Madera Kubo to watch the hummingbird feeders. Almost as soon as we got out of the car we saw our first MAGNIFICENT HUMMINGBIRD (Life Bird). We stayed for over an hour and saw many Mags, several female Anna's, a possible Blue-throated and at least one BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD (Life Bird) as well as lots of Bridled Titmice, a surprise CANYON WREN and a friendly ARIZONA WOODPECKER (Life Bird). We left Madera Canyon mid-afternoon and drove across the valley to Mount Lemmon. It was very windy and birding was a little slow but it was a beautiful night and we had a great time seeing all the different life zones. Pygmy Nuthatches and White-throated Swifts are always a blast and near the very top we finally found a couple YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS (Life Bird) mixed in with the red-backed Dark-eyed Juncos (which was a new subspecies for me as well). This morning we left Tucson and drove to Phoenix where we met up with Noah. Along the way we made a brief stop at Picachu Peak where we had a Rock Wren hoping around in the parking lot and at least one or two BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS (Life Bird) out in the desert. The trip's off to a great start! My year list is currently 443.

Montezuma Quailcheck out that back pattern!Painted RedstartCosta's HummingbirdMagnificent HummingbirdWestern Screech-Owl

Life Bird #500!!!!!

Yesterday Jay and I managed to find a single NELSON'S (SHARP-TAILED) SPARROW at Allan Treman State Marine Park in Ithaca. This was my 500th North American life bird and my 50th life bird this year! We chased the bird back and forth across the field for a while; eventually we got some pretty decent looks and Jay managed to snap this pic. It was a real treat to hit this milestone in New York. My year list is currently 424.

Ten albums I really like - Part I

Recently a friend asked me to recommend some good music. Kind of a weighty request and I've put it off for a while now. But I've finally decided to give it a try. First of all, a couple parameters... these are all more-or-less "modern" recordings (within the last 15-ish years I think) and all at least vaguely folk/trad/world music oriented (ieno Death Cab For Cutie, no DMB or Flaming Lips, no vintage swing or early bluegrass). I'm going to start with some of my favorite bands so great singer/songwriters (Gillian Welch, Mark Knopfler for example) and fantastic solo musicians (like Liz Carroll, Bela Fleck, Martin Taylor) are also excluded. What are your favorites?

Ale Moller Band - BodjalNickel Creek - Why Should The Fire Die?Solas - SolasHedningarna - TraBerroguetto - 10.0Tin Hat Trio - The Rodeo ErodedThe Freight Hoppers - Waiting On The Gravy TrainLunasa - The Merry Sisters Of FateThe Red Stick Ramblers - Right Key, Wrong KeyholeVasen - Gront

22

It's been a busy week! I turned twenty-two on Monday. That's old. Not like really old obviously but still, it's as old as I've ever been! Things are good. I'm pretty happy with how the whole 18-21 years went overall. Looking forward to whatever this next phase is. It was a great year for birthday presents. Various forms of chocolate and iTunes gift cards... my favorites! I've got some great new music now. Yo La Tengo, Iron & Wine, Rilo Kiley. Sarah got me the brand new Mark Knopfler album and Mom picked me up a four disc Delmore Brothers box set! Also spent some time with our good friends Gabi and Peter who were visiting from Austria. They headed home this morning. Noah and I spent the day in the studio overdubbing solos and stuff. The rough mixes are sounding pretty good. Pete's got some tasty piano licks, Kevin's groovin on the bass, Kailyn sounds great. Of course Noah's frickin' unbelievable. So yeah, I'm getting totally psyched about this album! Working at Wilburland is always fun too. And tomorrow I get to go out birding with Jay for a while. It'd be nice to see some shorebirds. Still missing White-rumped Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, a few other common-ish species. Okay, I think I'll got to bed now. Have a great day tomorrow everyone!

Rowsdower!

From MST3K's Final Sacrifice. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube. A timeless classic...

Special thanks to Mike Fabrizo!

Yearning for Yurts & Yaks

We're beginning to settle back into life off the road but I wanted to get in one more Alaska post. We got to be really good friends with the Dean family while visiting Homer. They are amazingly talented and creative folks and it was so much fun hanging with them! M'fanwy and her mom with Pinky the Evil OneOne of their Yurts (how cool is that?)JebarriTehbenM'fanwyThe Harrison / Dean clan (or some of them anyway)I wanted to say thanks once more to all the folks who hosted us during the trip: Linda & Brian, Rashmika & David, Lynn & Charley, Simon & Jenna, Catriona, Willy, Scotty & Kate, all the Deans and Julia. We all had such a great time!

Ah... Alaska: Part III (birds)

September 4 – We arrived in Anchorage, AK yesterday afternoon. The weather was exceptionally beautiful and we enjoyed a stunning sunset on Cook Inlet. We stayed with friends near Westchester Lagoon and Sarah and I were able to pick up our first 12 birds of the trip including two expected year birds: Red-necked Grebe and Black-billed Magpie. Today we drove up to Fairbanks through some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever experienced. Fall colors are out; lots of red, gold, green and blue sky. We stopped at a scenic overlook on the south side of Denali and had two Boreal Chickadees near the path. My year list is currently 408.

September 11 – On September 8 we left Fairbanks and headed back south to Denali National Park. Not far from the park entrance we had a single NORTHERN HAWK OWL hunting near the road. We pulled over and watched the bird fly from tree top to tree top for a couple minutes before it was out of sight. Also saw a probable Harlan's Hawk. Along the Park Road we had quite a few GOLDEN EAGLES, as well as Dall Sheep, three Grizzly Bears, five Caribou and amazing scenery. On September 9 Dave, Noah, Sarah and I did a big hike up Gravel Mountain. On the bus ride out we had several Spruce Grouse in the road and at the first stream crossing of the hike we found a small group of WILLOW PTARMIGAN (Life Bird). At least one male I saw still had a lot of beautiful red-brown coloration. The rest of the hike was pretty quite although we did have some more nice looks at a juvenile Golden Eagle. After we got back to the camp mom said she'd seen a Three-toed Woodpecker right near our cabin! We left Denali yesterday afternoon and saw more Dall Sheep, more Caribou, two bull Moose and a great look at a fairly close Grizzly Bear. Near Polychrome Pass we pulled over to scope a large raptor sitting on a cliff edge. It turned out to be another Golden Eagle but the amazing thing was that there was a beautiful and very large adult Red Fox IN THE SAME FIELD OF VIEW! Not sure what the interaction was between Eagle and Fox but the Eagle flew off before I could get a pic. My year list is 410.

September 16 – Today is our last day in Alaska. It's been a fantastic trip; good friends, good food, good music and only one drizzly day in two weeks! On September 12 we drove down to Homer, AK. At Anchor Point we stopped to walk the beach and look for some shorebirds that had been reported. I was thrilled to find a small flock of PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVERS (Life Bird). Several of them had astoundingly bright gold plumage and all of them looked too bright for American. There were other shorebirds in the area including both turnstones, good looks at Mew Gulls and Black-legged Kittiwakes, Marbled Murrelets and HARLEQUIN DUCKS out on the water. On September 13 Sarah and I were able to get out on Katchemak Bay with our friend Willy Dunne. He took us over to Gull Island where we had nice looks at several lingering RED-FACED CORMORANTS and TUFTED PUFFINS (as well as a dark and menacing Song Sparrow subspecies). I eventually picked out a couple odd looking murrelets near Glacier spit. As we approached it became clear that it was a pair of ANCIENT MURRLETS (Life Bird)! This is not a very common species in the bay. Very unique looking birds. They put on a great show; nice close looks with the sun at our backs and calm waters. We left Homer yesterday afternoon and decided to stop at Anchor Point again for one more shot at some more shorebirds. We again found the Golden-Plovers and this time managed some decent photos. After a little bit of searching we also turned up a pair of ROCK SANDPIPERS (Life Bird #499). These were the larger, paler Aleutian subspecies. It's not very likely that I'll get another lifer on this trip or at home so #500 will probably be my first lifer in Arizona next month. My year list is currently 421.

Black-legged KittiwakeTufted PuffinAncient Murrelet