RUFOUS AND SAGE - WINTER COMES TO ARIZONA

I didn't think to check the forecast before flying to Arizona yesterday. It's always hot there, right? Wrong! Driving highway 17 north towards Flagstaff, the mercury dipped below freezing. I'd be needing my hat and gloves for this bird - a renowned skulker that could take hours of standing around and waiting. In the cold. Yes, my gloves - I did bring them, right?

Word came in on Tuesday of a pair of Rufous-backed Robins at the Cameron Trading Post in northern Arizona. Not only was the number unusual (they're usually singles) but also the location - while they're rare in southeast Arizona, they're extremely rare this far north. Rufuous-backed Robins live in Mexico, and annually cross the border into the US - in very small numbers. This was a bird I was hoping for (one of the more expected winter rarities) but one that's often so secretive and shy, that it's hard to successfully chase.

And so my recovery from driving the many miles of Canada at the weekend lasted only 2 nights. Not risking any delay, I flew out to Arizona the morning after the report and pulled into the Trading Post mid-afternoon, less than 24 hours after the birds were first seen.

Cameron Trading Post, AZ. Cold and overcast.

There were no birders in sight - just straggles of tourists, here to buy Native American arts and presumably to warm up.

The birds had been in a small flock with American Robins - in the east side of a courtyard. It didn't take long to locate the courtyard...

or the Robins...

American Robin - what a beauty! 

(Technically a Thrush, not a Robin, but probably too late to change that now...)

And as I was settling in for the long wait (which, with only 2 hours to sunset, wouldn't be that long) I saw movement in the Russian olive against the perimeter wall. It was a thrush - with a rufous back!

 Rufous-backed Robin (also technically a Thrush!)

And then, remarkably, the bird hopped down onto the lawn and into the open. I had amazing views of a normally very reclusive bird...

Rufous-backed Robin. Lacks the white eye-arcs of the American Robin, 

has more streaking under the chin, and an obvious rufous back.

I watched this bird for 5 minutes. It was nervous and cautious and I felt privileged that it trusted me while it went about its important business (tossing leaves aside.) A really stunning bird! I hardly noticed the cold (and no - I didn't bring my gloves!)

I drove to Phoenix last night after seeing the Robins, ahead of a threatening snow storm. I was up early today, ready to track down my last code 1 bird of the year - Sagebrush Sparrow. The ABA assigns each North American bird a code based on how populous they are. Code 1s are the most common; code 5 the least. (Well - code 6 is technically even less common: that code is reserved for extinct or locally extirpated birds.) 

I arrived at the "Thrasher Spot" as the sun was rising. An hour southwest of Phoenix, in Buckeye, the sage and creosote habitat is a popular place to find desert birds. 

The "Thrasher Spot" - Buckeye, AZ.

In fact - I was here in January this year, and undoubtedly saw Sagebrush Sparrow then. But that was before Sage Sparrow was split into Bell's and Sagebrush - and since both species winter here (Bell's are vastly outnumbered by Sagebrush) I had to come back to make sure I saw the right one. (I saw Bell's in San Diego back in October.)

The desert - sage and (distant) creosote.

This is such a beautiful area to wander around (and hopefully not get lost.) Despite the arid conditions, the place is full of life. It wasn't long before I saw a thrasher run across the sandy desert floor, from one sage bush to another. A Bendire's Thrasher...

Bendire's Thrasher - pale undertail coverts, orange eye and short curved bill.

...as well as a stunningly pale Le Conte's Thrasher - that was too fast for me to (photographically) catch.

And then the sparrows started appearing - running around like little thrashers. Occasionally I'd see one dart across the ground out of the corner of my eye. And then they'd call - a thin, high-pitched "tseet" from some impenetrable sage bush. And even more rarely, they'd sit atop the sage and survey the surroundings. Apart from one Bell's Sparrow (the Mojave subspecies - canescens), which a thick dark malar stripe, these guys were all Sagebrush Sparrows...

Sagebrush Sparrow. Thin, pale malar stripe, and extensive streaking on the back.

Compare to the nominate race of Bell's Sparrow.

Nibbling on the sage. Not the strongly streaked back.

And after successfully finding my way back to the road, I headed to the airport. I was on my way home after a very successful trip to Arizona: two new birds!  

 Say's Phoebe - always a fun bird to see in AZ

+ + +

BIG YEAR LIST: 736 + 2 provisional (Rufous-necked Wood-rail, Common Redstart)

NEW YEAR BIRDS (2): Rufous-backed Robin, Sagebrush Sparrow

BELL'S, BOOBIES AND PIPITS - FUN BIRDING IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

I have a couple of days free this week after the San Diego pelagics and the Bodega Bay trip on Friday. So - rather than catch up on my blog and actually update my readers (both of them) on what I've been doing, I decided to head out instead and do some "fun" birding. Wait - hasn't all this birding been fun? Well, yes, that's kind of the point of the year - but it's a lot more relaxing if I don't have important year targets to chase (and potentially miss.) Yeah, Big Year birding can get pretty stressful.

One of the birds I wanted to spend more time with was Bell's Sparrow - and San Diego is a great place to find them. Bell's Sparrow is a product of the recent (2013) split of Sage Sparrow into two (new) species - Bell's Sparrow (breeding in coastal and inland California) and Sagebrush Sparrow (breeding in the Great Basin - Nevada, Utah etc.)

Splits are great for birders - it's an opportunity to get an extra life bird on your list. And, even better, if you've already seen the subspecies that are now elevated to the species level, you can get an "armchair tick" - a new life bird without even having to leave home (or your proverbial, or actual, armchair.) [The opposite is the dreaded "lump", when birds you've already seen are combined into a single species, resulting in a diminution of your life list, and spending time in your actual armchair with a stiff drink.]

But for many birders the split of Sage Sparrow has been a head scratcher. The old Sage Sparrow had 3 main subspecies in the US:

(i)   belli - a very dark-headed bird with no streaks on the back
(ii)  canescens - a pale bird with little or no streaks on the back
(ii)  nevadensis - a pale bird with some streaks on the back

The belli subspecies is extremely obvious because of the dark head, while the latter two are either (at best) very difficult to tell apart visually, or impossible to tell apart! So, it was rather surprising to most birders that Sage Sparrow was split into 2 species as follows:

(a) Bell's Sparrow - belli and canescens
(b) Sagebrush Sparrow - nevadensis

And while the summer breeding ranges are quite distinct, canescens and nevadensis do overlap in the winter, with the former ranging as far east as Phoenix. So - my pre-split winter "Sage Sparrows" at Buckeye Road, Phoenix, could have been either of the new species. So - I've taken that off my list, and added the canescens I saw in Kern County, CA this summer as the new Bell's. I'll have to track down Sagebrush this winter, but I'd also like to get a solid Bell's Sparrow - the distinctive dark-headed belli form - while I'm in San Diego.

Dan King, whom I met on one of the San Diego boats, suggested I try the Otay Lakes, just east of the city (this is the same Dan King who told me of Whitney Portal the fantastic Sooty Grouse location - thanks again Dan!) The Bell's Sparrow spot is a fairly easy place to find - just look for the giant graffiti-covered dam:

Giant graffiti-covered dam - 

Otay Lakes, San Diego

And after climbing up the dry sage- and laurel sumac-covered slopes I was rewarded with some great views of the tiny Bell's Sparrow:

 Bell's Sparrow - the subspecies belli.

Dark head, strong malar stripe and unstreaked back.

Now I just need to track down the Sagebrush Sparrow - probably in eastern AZ this winter (they range much further east than canescens Bell's.) Or try the Buckeye spot again - and try to separate the canescens from the nevadensis. David Vander Pluym posted an excellent article discussing field marks (especially malar stripe) that could be useful in separating the two. This is supported by photos by Tommy DeBardeleben of sparrows at the Buckeye location (he found and photographed both species there, with Sagebrush by far the more common, as expected.)

Anyway - back to California and the "fun birding." Another bird I really wanted to see while I was out here was Red-throated Pipit. In southern California they can be found on sod farms strutting around in full view - i.e. not like the shy, skulking birds I saw in Alaska this fall, where I'd only see them flying away after flushing them.

So, on my way back north I stopped at Arnold Road, Oxnard - the same place where I saw Tricolored Blackbird this summer. 

Arnold Road, Oxnard - a magnet for migrating and hungry pipits

It wasn't long before I located the pipit flock - with some great views of American Pipits

American Pipit (subspecies rubescens)

Unstreaked back and dark legs

While I'm sorting through the pipits, birds of prey would continually parade through the fields, hoping for an easy meal. 

 American Kestrel (female)

White-tailed Kite (adult)

And with each passing raptor, the flock would lift off, circle round calling, and then eventually resettle, reshuffled into new positions. And among the American Pipits I found two odd-looking birds with striped backs and bright pale legs - Red-throated Pipits:

Red-throated Pipit (in summer they really do have red throats!)

A breeder of the Russian Far East and western Alaska

It would be slightly ridiculous leaving California without trying to see at least one of the (many) Blue-footed Boobies that have invaded the state this year in unprecedented numbers. So - on the way to Los Angeles airport I stopped off at Playa del Rey to check out the breakwater, which has been hosting 3 Boobies this fall.

The Playa del Rey breakwater is popular with people fishing, walking and biking. And even the birds seem to like it.

Black Oystercatcher

Willet (Western)

And at the very end - I find the Boobies, hanging out...

Blue-footed Boobies (juveniles) - less than 5 miles from LAX! 

Two of 3 birds currently roosting here.

OK - that's it for the fun birds. Back to the hard core grind that is the Big Year. Friday I'm on a pelagic out of Bodega Bay, and then either I'm going home or off to Texas for the recently-found, and very rare, Golden-crowned Warbler. 

+ + +

BIG YEAR LIST: 724 + 2 provisional (Rufous-necked Wood-rail, Common Redstart)

NEW YEAR BIRDS (0):