Disneyland With Thomas

This past Tuesday was my birthday, and as you probably know, you can get into Disneyland for free on your birthday. It's pretty clever of them, right? Because nobody goes to Disneyland by themselves. So, sure, you get in free on your birthday, but unless you have friends born on the same day, they're going to pay the entrance fee. Or unless they're under the age of three, in which case they're free any day of the year. That's the route I took. I brought my two-year-old nephew, Thomas, to keep me company at Disneyland. We both got in for free, and we had a lot of fun! You can see all my pictures from the day here.

Crazy Arizona Birding Weekend

Last Friday I got off of work, into the car Libby was driving, and went to Arizona with her. It was a fun intense two day weekend in southeastern Arizona. Leaving at 4:30 pm here in California, we drove through the night to arrive in Green Valley around 12:30, retired to our hot motel room for a short 5 hours before getting out of bed with the sun to see some birds.

Our goal was to enjoy a lot of neat birds, and to have a good time, two goals we were able to accomplish with alacrity. We did have a few specific target birds - Rufous-winged Sparrow, Cassin's Sparrow and Botteri's Sparrows in the dry grasslands and desert below Madera Canyon; Red-faced Warbler, Grace's Warbler and Olive Warbler (this last not really being a warbler at all) in the upper reaches of the canyon; and Black-capped Gnatcatcher, Berylline Hummingbird, Elf Owl and Sinaloa Wren to round everything off. We got most, but not all of our targets. However, the ones we were most interested in seeing, we did find. You'll have to read the whole post to find out which!

Anyway, we started the morning in the lower grasslands of Madera Canyon with a Rufous-winged Sparrow (tick!) directly across from the Continental School. We checked the very same school back in December for Rufous-winged Sparrows without any luck, but today it was the only species of sparrow we saw there.

A Rufous-winged Sparrow checking us out.

After we got our fill of the sparrow and a Black-tailed Gnatcatcher that also came in to Libby's pishing, we jumped back in the car and headed uphill to find some more open mesquite grassland to examine for Botteri's and Cassin's Sparrows. After a short detour to check out a dark morph Swainson's Hawk on a telephone pole, we pulled into a little turn between Florida Wash and Proctor Road to look for the sparrows.

We heard some sparrows singing in the distance a short way, but while scanning the other side of the road, a Meadowlark flew by. The form of Eastern Meadowlark resident in this part of Arizona is of the subspecies lilianae, which may be a full species. It's not exactly obviously different, but the amount of white in the tail is noticably more extensive and the yellow on the breast is noticably less extensive. Unfortunately, it was too far away to photograph.

As we were watching the bird, Libby's old roommate Bethany and her husband Wade drove up. We knew they were in the area, and had planned on crossing paths with them on Sunday before heading home, and so were pleasantly surprised to see them. We chatted a bit about what they had seen in Madera Canyon so far, how the weather had been (wet for them!), and then we went over and found a Botteri's Sparrow (lifer #2) with them where our cars were parked. Unfortunately, we couldn't hear or see any Cassin's Sparrows at this spot, so we parted ways with Bethany and Wade and headed uphill while they headed back down to make their way to Patagonia.

The next parking lot up is Proctor Road, where we pulled over to apply sunscreen, pay our fee, and check the mesquite around the parking area for a sometimes seen family of Black-capped Gnatcatchers. We didn't have any luck, but wandering further into the riparian area, we found a beautiful male Varied Bunting illuminated exquisitely by the sun, a charming little Verdin, a couple of male Northern Cardinals, and a whole bunch of Bell's Vireos. None of them cooperated for the camera, but we did capture some images of the charming little waterfall there.

Waterfall near Proctor Road.

By now it was getting warm low in the canyon, and, our goal including a long hike in the upper reaches of these Santa Rita Mountains, we re-entered our car and headed straight for the trailhead parking area. We found that easily enough, having visited it previously, but we did have a little trouble finding the head of our specific trail. While we wandered frustrated and confused, Dusky-capped Flycatchers chased each other from tree to tree, Bridled Titmouse and Black-throated Gray Warblers chortled and chipped, beautiful Painted Redstarts fluttered from tree to tree, and Sulfur-bellied Flycatchers squeaked.

Painted Redstart along the Old Baldy Trail.

Anyway, someone lent us a trail map, we found a few signs, and we got started up the hill. The trail we took is known as the Old Baldy Trail, and it leads up to Mount Wrightson via Josephine Saddle. Our goal was to hike a 6 mile loop around the head of Madera Canyon in the 7,000' elevation range and come down to the same parking lot via another trail. In the upper elevation pine forest, we were hoping to see those warblers I mentioned earlier.

The hike was warm, though tolerable, as much of it was spent in trees and an occasional growing thunderhead would block the sun for a blissful minutes. We wound our way up through through oaks and junipers, passing occasional Ponderosa Pines while enjoying the wonders of nature - both small and large: the majestic edifice of Mount Wrightson pushing itself up to our left, and dozens of iridescent Yarrow's Spiny Lizards scurrying by underfoot.

Yarrow's Spiny Lizard

Once, a big mixed flock passed by foraging in the middle canopy next to the trail. We found Brown Creepers, White-breasted Nuthatches, a snappy Plumbeous Vireo, and some Hutton's Vireos there. Later, we found good numbers of Yellow-eyed Juncos filling the hillside with their songs, and sometimes hopping along in front of us on the trail. I got some decent pictures of one such bird.

Yellow-eyed Junco

There are a lot of varieties of Juncos in the United States, many of them well marked and easily distinguishable, others a little less marked, and areas where many forms interbreed. For some reason, when all of those groups of Juncos were lumped together as a single variable species known as the Dark-eyed Junco, this single form of Junco with the staring yellow eyes - at the very northern edge of its range in Southeastern Arizona - was kept as a separate species by the official taxonomists in the AOU. While this bird is very distinct from Oregon or Slate-colored forms of the Dark-eyed Junco, it's actually quite similar to the Red-backed and Gray-headed forms of Dark-eyed Juncos that breed in the southwestern United States.

Anyway, we travelled slowly with all the bird watching, and it was 11:15 by the time we arrived at Josephine Saddle, where we had a snack and a rest before pushing on up the Agua Caliente Trail. That didn't go super smoothly, as one washed out switchback turn with a well marked unofficial train coming off of it got us side-tracked. We had to turn around and come back the way we had come before we able to continue on our way. Up in this higher elevation woodland, we were hearing (and seeing) Greater Pewees regularly, seeing occasional Hepatic Tanagers, and the more familiar but still welcome sight of Steller's Jays hopping around in the trees.

But the best part came a little before we had gone half-way along the trail. In one pine growing off the trail below us and to our right, some small birds were foraging among the needles. Stopping to examine the first we could get our binoculars on, we were delighted to see it was an adult male Grace's Warbler (lifer # three!). We were able to enjoy its bright yellow breast and eyebrow at our leisure, before taking our binoculars away to realize the tree was full of small birds. Four or five of were a family of Painted Redstarts, including juveniles lacking their red-bellies, and further examination of most of the others found that we were watching a pair of Grace's Warblers with at least two fledglings, as well. Then a flash of orange in the further branches alerted us to the presence of a single Olive Warbler! (four!)

Invigorated, we continued on our hike, stopping again only briefly in a grove of aspen. This little grove was populated by a vigorous population of "Brown-throated" House Wrens, a distinctive popuulation of the widespread and familiar birds in backyards everywhere. They really are a more uniform dark brown, and their song is more musical and beautiful than our local wrens. They reminded me a bit of short-winded, long-tailed Winter Wrens as well as of our local House Wrens.

After the grove, we moved out onto a dryer north-facing slope toward the Vault Mine Trail. We got half-lucky at one point when I started a single male Montezuma Quail running down the hillside. I got half-looks at the fleeing bird, but Libby only saw its back for an instant, so we're not counting it until we both have decent views of the bird. Montezuma Quail are infamously hard to see, and people we talked to over the weekend generally expressed the opinion that it takes dumb luck to find one, so we'll just have to spend more time in their habitat.

After wrapping around the canyon, there's a junction that takes you straight back down into it. The Vault Mine Trail (Very Steep Trail) lives up to its appelation. At one point, you descend more than 1,000' in .6 miles! Needless to say, our knees and feet were a little sore by the time we reached the canyon bottom. So, at the car, we had wonderfully refreshing ice cold Pepsis from our cooler and a snack of Goldfish Crackers before heading down canyon to go feeder watching.

We enjoyed seeing Nuthatches, Lesser Goldfinches, bright House Finches, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Broad-billed Hummingbirds, and Scott's Orioles at the various feeders. At one, an Arizona Woodpecker family was coming into the suet. At Madera Kubo, we waited in vain to see if a Berylline Hummingbird or the local Flame-colored Tanager would come and visit. We heard the Flame-colored Tanager that evening, but were unable to discover it in its dense retreats among the tree tops. It moved around a lot, too, and only sang sparingly, so we didn't have too good of a shot, anyway. Ah well, you win some and you lose some.

Wild Turkeys visited the Santa Rita Lodge feeders, too.

The last thing we did that day, as the light fell in the canyon, was to stand and watch for an Elf Owl to leave its daytime roost in a telephone pole next to the Santa Rita Lodge office. We waited and waited, and the light dimmed and dimmed. Bats fluttered over the assembled crowd of expectant birders and lodgers, but the owl never showed. Later Bethany and Wade told us that the front office explained the birds were finished nesting and were no longer using that pole for the year.

We spent that night in Nogales, about a mile from the Mexican border. In the morning, we were up early and on the road to Patagonia. Our first stop was the road to Kino Springs. We've visited that golf course before, where Tropical Kingbirds are quite easy to find, but this year we were more interested in another shot at Cassin's Sparrows and maybe at the Gray Hawks we had seen nesting in trees there two years ago. Once again, we had a Botteri's Sparrow right by the road, but we weren't able to find a Cassin's. The Gray Hawks weren't there, either, though there still were some big stick nests.

Our next stop was the Patagonia Roadside Rest, famous in birding circles because of the "Roadside Rest" effect named after it. Once upon a time, one rare bird found there led to a slew of other rare birds found by other visitors looking for the first bird. We didn't find anything rare, but we did hear a Yellow-billed Cuckoo (this is where we once saw our first), Thick-billed Kingbirds, and a first-spring Summer Tanager singing in a tree. We walked up and down the creek a little, and it was nice to see and hear Yellow Warblers and Yellow-breasted Chats.

Libby at the Roadside Rest.

Anyway, we got back in the road pretty quickly and pulled into Patagonia well before 8:00. Our plan was to spend a half hour or so looking for the Sinaloa Wren that's been reported there and then head over to the Paton's so that we could enjoy the regular Violet-crowned Hummingbirds that visit there.

The Sinaloa Wren we were looking for is the first documented record of that species north of the Mexican border. The bird has been building nests in the dense riparian vegetation along Sonoita Creek since this spring, and sings incessently and loudly, making it easy to hear. However, because of the dense brush, it can be very hard to see. We weren't very optimimstic about our chances of seeing it, but we felt like it was worth a short, anyway.

When we arrived at the spot, we found a tour group waiting there. They had seen it a couple of times, already, and we could hear it singing as we walked up. One of the guides pointed out where to find the actual nest, which was a big shaggy ball of grasses, and then there was nothing to do but to wait. And, so we did. As we waited, scanning the dense growth from time to time, listening to hear if the Sinaloa Wren song was getting louder, the other guide of the outfit struck up a conversation with us. It turns out it was Jon Dunn, a prominent North American birder - the lead editor of the National Geographic Field Guide, and author of numerous other guides and books. He lives in Bishop, so I asked him how to find Black-backed Woodpeckers in the Eastern Sierra and got a good tip for a location near June Lake. Pretty cool!

Even cooler, though, was that Libby found the Sinaloa Wren (lifer five!) while we were talking. And, thankfully, I got a short look at it, also. Libby saw it fairly well, but my looks were of it silhouetted in the shadows. I was able to see a little of the tail's color, and the proportions and size looked different than a Bewick's Wren, but I'd like to see it again some day. That's quite possible, as Sinaloa Wrens appear to be spreading northward through Sinaloa and it is not unlikely that they will one day be an established species in southeastern Arizona.

After seeing the bird, we pulled up stakes and drove over to the Paton's, where the Violet-crowneds put on a good show. By then, it was getting hot, so we appreciated the opportunity to sit in the shade and enjoy some birds for awhile. Broad-billed Hummingbirds were common, as were Black-chinned. Meanwhile, Inca Doves were singing in the background, Gray Hawks called in the distance, and Blue Grosbeaks were visiting the seed feeders behind us. It was pretty awesome.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird at the Paton's

Nevertheless, we needed to get a move on. We were planning on meeting up with Wade and Bethany at the Beatty's Bed and Breakfast feeders in the Huachuca Mountains, a not-insignificant drive from where we were, and if we got there early enough, we had an opportunity to go for a hike up the hills to look for Red-faced Warblers.

We got there before 11:00, so we elected to head up the trail. The first bit is a dry route around the private property of the Beatty's, but then the trail gently trends uphill through shadowy forest that's a mixture of oak, juniper, sycamore, elder and pine. It's quite lovely.

Upper Miller canyon riparian forest

Anyway, we traveled a good distance, and had used up a good portion of our allotted time, when we started hearing a Red-faced Warbler off the trail. Imitations didn't draw the bird in, though it appeared to be responsive, and so we had to consider whether or not to go off trail to find it. We headed a little bit uphill and ran into some birders coming down. We asked if they had had Red-faced Warblers, and they pointed out the bird were were listening to, and let us know it was quite a distance up the hill before they had run into any more. Furthermore, it turned out there was another trail paralleling ours in the direction of that bird.

We decided to look for the bird we were hearing, and come back down the parallel trail, so we stepped off and into the trees. Only a minute or two later, we found a beautiful Red-faced Warbler (lifer six!) quietly singing and foraging in some trees right above our heads. We were able to wait and watch it for many minutes while it roamed around above us. Even without binoculars, we could see the brilliant scarlet of its head glowing in the canopy.

We felt pretty lucky at this point, so we headed back down the trail toward the parking lot. We got there, and rested our feet while we were waiting for Wade and Bethany. While we were waiting, I saw a branch fall out of a distant tree, writhing. I cocked my head. That's a snake, I thought. Sure enough, it was. It was what appears to be a Sonoran Whipsnake, and we were able to watch it slither its way through the trees a few feet above us. Libby commented that it had a bit of a sinister Edenic feel.

The serpent

Right about then, Wade and Bethany pulled up. As they did, a mixed flock came into the trees near my head and I saw what appeared very much like a Mountain Chickadee, which would have been way out of range. Libby and Bethany checked our respective guides, and found that they may be unrecorded in the Huachucas in the summer, casting doubt on my identification. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but after I got the camera I couldn't find the bird again, and there were more interesting birds awaiting us up at the feeders, which is where we headed next.

The hummingbird feeders at Beatty's are my favorite in Arizona, which is saying quite a lot. They're always crowded with hummingbirds of a dazzling array of species. Last Sunday, we saw eight species of hummingbirds at the feeders: Broad-tailed, Broad-billed, Anna's, Magnificent, Blue-throated, Black-chinned, White-eared and Berylline (ding! that's # seven!).

The Berylline was what I was most hoping to see, and it didn't disappoint, coming regularly the feeders, especially the one only about 6' feet to my left, and even gathering wool at a station set up for that purpose. It's apparently preparing a nest somewhere nearby, which is exciting, as this is really quite a rare bird in the U.S.

The female Berryline Hummer feeding just feet away from me.

We stayed at the feeders a good period of time, watching the hummingbirds chase each other around the feeders as thunder growled in the distance. One of the White-eareds (also very rare) sang from a perch, which was fun to hear. But, time flowed on, and we had a long drive home ahead of us, so we said our goodbyes to the Williams and got in our car to head back home.

The drive home was very hot. When we passed through Phoenix, a roadside sign flashed the temperature as 121 - ridiculous - and the radio put it as tying the old record of 115. Not only that, but the 10 West was closed in Phoenix! With that and heavy road construction near Palm Spring reducing the freeway to only one lane, it took 10 hours to get home.

Lots of pictures, of more hummingbirds, mountains, flowers, bugs, and Libby, are at our Flickr account: Weekend Arizona trip. I recommend checking them out.

List:

1. Turkey Vulture (common everywhere)
2. Cooper's Hawk (Madera Canyon)
3. Gray Hawk (along Hwy 83 north of Patagonia Rest Stop)
4. Red-tailed Hawk (power lines below Madera Canyon)
5. Swainson's Hawk (power lines below Madera Canyon)
6. Wild Turkey (Madera Canyon)
7. Gambel's Quail (Patagonia)
8. Band-tailed Pigeon (heard in Madera Canyon)
9. Eurasian Collared-Dove (roadsides)
10. Rock Pigeon (roadside)
11. White-winged Dove (common)
12. Mourning Dove (common)
13. Inca Dove (Paton's)
14. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (heard at Patagonia Roadstop Rest)
15. Greater Roadrunner (Patagonia area)
16. Lesser Nighthawk (California, actually - I-10 near Blythe)
17. Violet-crowned Hummingbird (Paton's)
18. Berylline Hummingbird (Beatty's)
19. Broad-billed Hummingbird (Common)
20. White-eared Hummingbird (Beatty's)
21. Blue-throated Hummingbird (Beatty's)
22. Magnificent Hummingbird (Madera and Beatty's)
23. Black-chinned Hummingbird (Common)
24. Anna's Hummingbird (Madera and Beatty's)
25. Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Beatty's)
26. Elegant Trogon (Heard in Madera Canyon)
27. Acorn Woodpecker (Madera Canyon and Patagonia)
28. Gila Woodpecker (Common in lower elevations)
29. Northern Flicker (upper Madera)
30. Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Patagonia)
31. Arizona Woodpecker (Madera and Miller Canyons)
32. Greater Pewee (Upper Madera)
33. Western Wood-Pewee (Madera Canyon)
34. Cordilleran Flycatcher (Madera)
35. Vermilion Flycatcher (Patagonia)
36. Brown-crested Flycatcher (Lower Madera - Proctor Road area)
37. Ash-throated Flycatcher (Dry area in lower Miller Canyon)
38. Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Common)
39. Cassin's Kingbird (Patagonia)
40. Western Kingbird (Patagonia)
41. Thick-billed Kingbird (Patagonia)
42. Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher (Madera)
43. Bell's Vireo (Madera and Kino Springs)
44. Hutton's Vireo (Madera and Miller Canyons)
45. Plumbeous Vireo (upper Madera Canyon)
46. Steller's Jay (upper Madera Canyon)
47. Mexican Jay (Madera and Miller Canyons)
48. Barn Swallow (Common)
49. Bridled Titmouse (Madera and Miller Canyons)
50. Mountain Chickadee? (Miller Canyon)
51. Verdin (Proctor Rd)
52. Bushtits (Madera and Miller Canyons)
53. Brown Creeper (Madera Canyon)
54. White-breasted Nuthatch (Madera Canyon)
55. House Wren (Brown Throated) (Madera Canyon)
56. Bewick's Wren (Patagonia)
57. Cactus Wren (Santa Rita experimental range)
58. Sinaloa Wren (Patagonia)
59. Black-tailed Gnatcatcher (Continental School)
60. Hermit Thrush (Madera Canyon)
61. Northern Mockingbird (lower elevations)
62. Bendire's Thrasher (Kino Springs)
63. Phainopepla (Patagonia)
64. Lucy's Warbler (Patagonia)
65. Black-throated Gray Warbler (Madera and Miller Canyons)
66. Grace's Warbler (upper Madera)
67. Yellow Warbler (Patagonia)
68. Common Yellowthroat (Patagonia)
69. Yellow-breasted Chat (Patagonia)
70. Painted Redstart (Madera and Miller Canyons)
71. Red-faced Warbler (Miller Canyon)
72. Olive Warbler (upper Madera)
73. Summer Tanager (Patagonia)
74. Hepatic Tanager (upper Madera)
75. Flame-colored Tanager (heard at Madera Kubo)
76. Canyon Towhee (Patagonia)
77. Spotted Towhee (upper Madera)
78. Botteri's Sparrow (Kino and below Madera Canyon)
79. Rufous-winged Sparrow (Continental School)
80. Yellow-eyed Junco (upper Madera)
81. Black-headed Grosbeak (Madera)
82. Northern Cardinal (below Madera and Patagonia)
83. Blue Grosbeak (Patagonia and Madera)
84. Varied Bunting (Proctor Rd)
85. Eastern (Lilian's) Meadowlark (below Madera)
86. Great-tailed Grackle (common)
87. Bronzed Cowbird (Patagonia)
88. Hooded Oriole (Madera)
89. Scott's Oriole (Madera)
90. House Finch (Madera)
91. Lesser Goldfinch (common)
92. House Sparrow (hiss)

And that's that... 92 birds and 7 lifers.

New York Day 4

Well, time keeps marching on, and we keep falling further behind in our New York posts. Never mind that it's been a month by now, we'll still stay the course!

That Tuesday, Becca had to go back to work, and to the doctor in the morning. That made it a good time to check out Bill's local "patch" -- a birding term for the park you most commonly survey. For me, it's Creek Park. For Bill, it's Whipple Woods and the Lehigh Swamp.

It was fun to walk around in the woods, which are a wet assemblage of various aged second growth deciduous forest. American Redstarts and Yellow Warblers were the most common birds in the woods, though we also saw Brown Creepers, Hairy Woodpeckers and other forest birds. It was nice to hear the haunting song of Wood Thrushes, but we never saw the cryptic things. The woods were a great place to get out and enjoy a northeastern birding experience. It's completely unlike anything we have out here!

After Becca got back from the doctor, where she learned she didn't have a broken wrist(!), we took the car for a spin out to Owl Woods. This was another really neat place where Yellow Warblers were thick as flies, and though we missed some interesting birds that had been seen there recently, it was fun to check out the migrant trap. The rest of the day we spent checking out the local shoreline.

Lake Ontario is huge, and we went up and down a small section of the shore, staring off into the distant horizon, unable to catch a glimpse of Canada at all. That was an incredible amount of fresh water. At one stop, we found our first Bank Swallows, which was pretty awesome, and we also saw several Mute Swans. These beautiful birds are an introduced pest, but our first American individuals of that European species.

In the evening, we meandered over to the Braddock Bay spit to look for a recently reported Black-billed Cuckoo. We didn't find the bird, but we did find a beautiful sunset!

Libby in the sunset light.

Pictures have been uploaded: New York Day 4.

Lost Creek Trail

Last Friday Libby and I headed up to the local mountains for a bit of a tune up hike before our upcoming backpack trip. We did something similar last year, hiking to Dollar Lake and back through a torrential thunder storm while wearing full packs, but this year we were determined to have a better experience.

In order to achieve that goal, we didn't bring full packs. Neither did we try to go as high or as far, our hike was only supposed to be about 11 miles round trip instead of 12+, and we weren't intending to get above 9,000'. Unfortunately, all of our preparation went for naught, as Libby developed a stomach complaint that turned us back before we had gone more than a couple of miles.

Still, it was nice to get out of the city for a day. The air was cool, pine-scented and clean. The trail we chose is unpopular, so we didn't see any other people the whole time we were on it. It's nice to get into higher altitudes at this time of year, too, as time is turned back a little closer to spring. We saw a wide collection of wild flowers, heard and saw many singing birds, and saw quite a few juvenile Juncos.

The birds were a bit of a condolence. We had good looks of a wide range of montane breeders, representing both pine and oak forests. Some, like Brown Creepers, Mountain Chickadees, Western Wood Pewees, Purple Finches, Western Tanagers, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Mountain Quail, are birds we only see when we visit the mountains or on migration. Others, like Western Bluebirds, Spotted Towhees, Ash-throated Flycatchers, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black Phoebe, Acorn Woodpecker and Northern Flicker breed in Orange and lower Los Angeles counties, but were nice to see in this different setting. I even got brief looks at a Townsend's Solitaire and heard a Dusky Flycatcher, though I never got to see it.

I was especially excited to get a picture (though not great) of a female Black-throated Gray Warbler.

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Anyway, we didn't have a lot of fun, but we did see some pretty country. It gets me excited for Mammoth in a few weeks!

New York Day 3

OK, back to New York!

Our second day in New York would have been notable no matter what we did during the day because we had pie for breakfast. Yum.

Thankfully, we went out and filled it with other activities, so there will be more to read. If that really is a reason to give thanks.

Our main destination that Monday was Letchworth State Park - renowned both as the Grand Canyon of the East and as home to one of the most diverse assemblages of breeding wood warbler species in North America.

We started the day in the southeastern portion of the park -- and old Civil War regimental parade grounds. This spot is the best area for warblers in the park, and we were not disappointed -- only a minutes after arriving one of us spotted a male Blackburnian Warbler foraging in some tall trees directly above us. Although our brief looks were almost neck-breaking, we were still able to appreciate its breathtaking flame-colored neck.

Not long afterward, we were distracted by a very uncooperative Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. These proved to be quite common in the area, but we spent a long time trying to get a clear look at this secretive individual as it hid in the highest boughs of a cluster of pines. Giving up before we were satisfied due to the restraints of time, we took a short walk around the Parade Grounds themselves to see if we could find any warblers. Nothing much doing there, but soon afterward we found a cooperative male Hooded Warbler. These were pretty common in some of the woods in that area.

After a short walk into the woods, we headed off to the Mary Jemison Trail, which was also supposed to be a fair area for warblers. As we pulled into the parking lot, we were talking about a singing bird, when Becca mentioned casually, "It's that Scarlet Tanager." There it was! That was the bird I probably most wanted to see in New York, and it completely fulfilled all of my expectations. After a brief lunch, we headed off on the trail.

Hiking in New York was a lot of fun. We enjoyed the forest, the dark earth of the trail, trickling streams, and, of course, birds. One highlight was a pair of Winter Wrens that Becca found. We were even privileged to hear them sing! The song was beautiful; it tinkled on for ages, with a more musical and beautiful quality to it than the western Winter Wrens we heard singing in Oregon last year. We also found a pair of Pine Warblers a little bit later in a plantation further down the trail, which were new to us. We didn't see them extremely well, as they were high above us, so that's a bird we'll hopefully be able to see again some day.

After returning to the car, we headed off to check out the park proper. It was spectacular, with yawning vistas and thundering waterfalls. Here's what it looked like:

Upper Falls

Middle Falls

Libby and Middle Falls



Upper and Middle Falls



Lower Falls

You can see why this is worth visiting. It was beautiful.

One last highlight from Letchworth proper was stopping at a Wolf Creek parking lot and finding a fledgling Eastern Screech-Owl perched on a tree trunk nearly on the ground. We've never seen anything like that! The poor little bird was being mobbed by a pair of persistent Robins, and it gazed sleepily up at them with little jerks when they'd swoop in over its head. We were concerned that it might get knocked off into the water below it (doubly so since the creek was rushing directly off a waterfall), but our worries evaporated when it took off and landed in another tree on the far bank a few moments later. Thanks goes to the stranger who found it and tipped us off to its presence.

By the time we'd done all that, it was getting pretty late in the day, so we headed back to Rochester. Of course, we found a way to squeeze a little more birding in, too, via Nations Road. This agricultural area hosts breeding populations of a lot of grassland birds, including Henslow's Sparrows, Grasshopper's Sparrows, and Vesper's Sparrows. We didn't find any of those, though we did see more Bobolinks, Meadowlarks and Savannah Sparrows. The real highlight was when we stopped by a private wood by the road, where we found a Brown Thrasher, our first ever Eastern Towhee, and Bill and Becca's first ever Yellow-billed Cuckoo. The Cuckoo was especially exciting.

And that's about it - I just need to get this posted! There are more pictures of Letchworth and some pictures of birds on our Flickr for that day: New York Day 3.