Where the Birds Are

A few notes before you start to read this horribly long and boring trip report. My time in South Dakota was spent volunteering for the Forest Service at Buffalo Gap National Grasslands (next to Badlands NP), mostly doing bird surveys or helping with the ferret captures. Much of my time in South Dakota was spent with Brent Houstan, a biologist and tour guide who has been working on the ferret project since it began in the 1980s and was the one who hooked me up with the South Dakota work in the first place. After spending about a week and a half in South Dakota I headed off in the direction of Arizona, picking up my dad in Denver on the way down (who also wanted to see Arizona). Thats about it, I wrote most of this each evening after the day...so most of it really isn't in line with the rest of the days.

Enjoy and thanks to everyone who made this trip possible!

June 30^th-

We woke up early to a classic western sunrise over the badlands, of which we had an incredible view of from our off road camp site. We started out early hiking around a nearby butte in search of a possible GOLDEN EAGLE nest. A few frivolous hours of searching brought only one glimpse of a golden, no nests, and a too close for comfort Western Rattlesnake. Seeing as the day was already warming up we decided to head for the Black Hills for the afternoon. Despite short amounts of shade, the hills were still scorching hot, but we managed to find ourselves a few interesting birds nonetheless. In the Hell Canyon area we found 4 BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS, including an adult female feeding a young male. PLUMBEOUS VIREOS were fairly common and we had several DUSKY FLYCATCHERS, “WHITE-WINGED” JUNCOS, and some good sized WHITE-THROATED SWIFT flocks. A great break from the heat came from simply standing outside of an entrance to Jewel Cave, which provided air conditioning like cool air. After cruising by Mount Rushmore on our way out we headed back to our rock in the desert for the night (saw a PRAIRIE FALCON en route).

July 1^st-

Started early this morning by driving out to a small town called Scenic (not quite living up to its name) and driving down a two track that appeared to simply be a river bed. Several hours of cruising down the middle of nowhere through southern Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and the south unit of Badlands NP brought us a few interesting species. Most surprising was a pair of SAGE THRASHERS in a shrubby area along the route. A FERRUGINOUS HAWK put on a good show above us at one point and we located a family of BLUE-WINGED TEAL and some GREATED YELLOWLEGS in a tiny marsh. A few PRAIRIE FALCON and SWAINON’S HAWK later found us in the town of Interior where we would spend the night. First we headed out with a student from New Mexico (Ryan) to attempt to band some Burrowing Owls. Unfortunately a fairly good sized thunderstorm kept us from staying very long, but we managed to capture a young BURROWING OWL and band it. Dinner at the bar in town and off to sleep for now.

July 2nd

I woke up early this morning and toured a few parts of the Buffalo Gap NG and Badlands NP that I had not visited previously. Mostly I was attempting to photograph some of the local birds and enjoyed shooting some COMMON NIGHTHAWK who were up and about in the early hours of the morning. The back roads leading in to Wall were filled with GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, UPLAND SANDPIPERS, LARK BUNTINGS, and several other grassland species. After a brief meeting with the folks at the Forest Service building, Brent and I headed off to a seldom visited area of Badlands called Cedar Butte. The views and rock formations were simply incredible here, completely unmatched in other areas of the park. We took a few short naps before preparing for the night’s endeavor into the prairie dog towns to catch a few Black-footed Ferrets.

I was not sure what to expect for the upcoming ferret trapping events, but I was surprised to see another half dozen trucks like ours who also had spotlights attached to their roof (an obvious sign of a ferret catcher). We met with the other 15 or so people who were going to be trapping that night around 9pm and each went off to our assigned prairie dog colony (of which there were many spanning for miles). Our section bordered the west edge of the colony, where the prairie dog density was not the highest. It did not take long to learn how we would find the ferrets; Brent would drive while a passenger constantly scanned 180 degrees in front of the car. The passengers (myself and Ryan the owl bander at the time) would keep their eyes glued to the spotlight watching for the distinctive green eye shine of the ferrets (much like in a tennis match). Several other animals were out at night that also had green eye shine, including pronghorns, coyotes, and badgers. Our goal was to catch only the male ferrets (females had young at the time) and the first ferret we saw was just that. Once this ferret was spotted we drove up to it and watched as he considered a nearby, completely oblivious, rabbit. The moment this ferret went down into a hole we drove up with the car, placed a burrow trap on the hole (where they can climb into it but not out) and plugged the other nearby potentially connected holes with logs (not unlike how you might plug a bathtub). An hour or so later the ferret had been caught in the trap and was soon on his way to a new site in the Black Hills. The rest of the night went on fairly uneventfully, however we were able to watch a female ferret carry her young from one hole to another, an event that is not often witnessed by humans.

July 3^rd-

Today was pretty uneventful, because we spent most of it sleeping after staying up all night earlier. Tonight we chased ferrets around again, but were unable to find any males and only succeeded in finding females and a few young ferrets.

July 4^th-

Today was again spent sleeping in due to the nights activities, but both Brent and I were up in the morning to go our separate ways. Brent headed home but I had plans to drive up into northern South Dakota to attempt to find Baird’s Sparrows. My plan was to arrive in the early evening to actively search a few fields in Grand River National Grasslands for the sparrow. I found the area easily as it was a incredible grassland full of short grass and rolling hills. Birds that were common here included CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS, LARK BUNTING, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW, and both kingbirds. Unfortunately I as unable to locate any Baird’s Sparrows, but still enjoyed the fantastic scenery and the ridiculously common Chestnut-collared Longspurs. I arrived back in Wall to late for the fireworks show and fell asleep outside a Super 8 motel.

July 5^th-

An early rise found me meeting up with a grad student from Nebraska (Phil) to start a bird survey in a nearby area of Buffalo Gap. We hoped to find some of the park’s sensitive species and determine what sort of birds were residing in the habitat there. The survey area consisted of a large valley ridden with low thick pines and surrounded by grassland. For the most part the bird diversity was fairly small, with SPOTTED TOWHEES, LARK SPARROWS, and FIELD SPARROWS dominating the acoustics here. GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS sang from the edges and BLUE GROSBEAK was a fairly common sight around the shrubs. Our first day yielded mostly edge species and few true woodland birds, with BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE being the only representative of that group. It is important to keep in mind that this is the only major woodland of its kind for miles around, as grassland and badlands surround the valley.

Tonight I returned to Interior for another round of Burrowing Owl banding with Ryan and the weather looked much more promising. Our survey area was a different one then before and consisted of nests that had only recently been found in Canata Basin, so most of the owls had not yet been banded. After setting a few traps around the already known nests we went searching for other nests in the area and were able to discover one a little farther east. The evening passed fairly uneventfully at first (aside from a big Western Rattlesnake), but soon picked up once we set burrow traps for the chicks. Many of the chicks here were larger then had previously been seen and some seemed to be taking their first flights. When all was said and done we had captured around ten owl chicks and two adults, the latter of which are often more difficult to catch (the chicks all pile into one hole and manage to all get caught in one trap at the same time). We arrived back late and I stayed in Interior for my last night on the plains.

July 6^th-

Phil and I again returned to our survey site to finish the western half of the route. Many of the same birds were encountered, but we had a few surprises in some of the denser parts of the forest. In just one corner of the north unit we located a RED-EYED VIREO, OVENBIRD, and a singing YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT all of which seemed somewhat odd for being such a restricted forest surrounded completely by grassland. As the heat of the day set in and we finished covering the survey area we bid our farewells and headed off to our respected destinations.

I was to meet up with my father the next morning in Denver where he had flown in to join me in an extended trip to south-eastern Arizona. En route I decided I would give one last shot at Lewis’s Woodpecker in the Black Hills, seeing as I would be driving right through it. With due thanks to South Dakotan birder Doug Chapman I was able to locate three LEWIS’S in a burn area atop a lookout known as Elk Mountain. These strange birds acted exactly as they were described to me, completely un-woodpecker like and more like a crow sized empid flying out from exposed perches and catching bugs. Some other interesting birds I found in the Black Hills today (keep in mind south-western South Dakota) included RED CROSSBILL, CASSIN’S FINCH, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, and NORTHERN GOSHAWK. I drove through Wyoming to Colorado where I spent the night at Brent’s apartment in northern Colorado.

July 7^th-

I rose early this morning in hopes of tracking down a few interesting birds in Pawnee National Grasslands before picked up my dad in Denver. Without a map or any information whatsoever I drove some back roads in Pawnee and managed to kick up some interesting birds. BREWER’S SPARROW was common in some areas and MC’COWN’S and CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPURS were apparent in their respected proper habitats. The biggest surprise was managing to locate a pair of MOUNTAIN PLOVER, who I stumbled upon right as I was about to leave (and consequently almost made me late to the airport). After picking up my dad in Denver we headed off and drove to Lordsburg, New Mexico where we would spend the night.

July 8^th-

Today was our first morning in Arizona and we spent it birding up in Cave Creek Canyon in the South Fork area. It was great to be back in this fantastic area and the birds and scenery were exactly as I remember them from four years ago; unmatched anywhere else in this country. PAINTED REDSTARTS, BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS, DUSKY-CAPPED, BROWN-CRESTED, and SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS, BRIDLED TITMICE, and many others greeted us as we arrived. We spent much of this morning attempting to track down an ELEGANT TROGON, but succeeded only in hearing a few frustrating elusive birds.

After a brief lunch in Portal we decided to head up towards Rustler/Barfoot parks to escape the heat. We hoped to possibly catch the Short-tailed Hawk up there in the late afternoon/evening. We took a short hike leading up to Barfoot Lookout, where after only a few minutes of scanning we were blown off by a vicious lightning full hail storm (3/4 mile from our car!). Searched for Montezuma Quails unsuccessfully on the way down, but arrived in Portal at dusk to watch the ELF OWLS above the post office. A large thunderstorm kept us from owling that night, slept in Portal.

July 9^th-

Another early morning up Cave Creek, mostly looking for Motezuma Quail but also giving another shot at Elegant Trogon, neither of which were seen. We took some time and walked around Portal and checked our Dave Jasper’s feeders, where we met him as he headed out for this year’s Camp Chiricahua.

Today we headed back up to Rustler and Barfoot parks to sit out and wait on the resident Short-tailed Hawks. However, we first talked around the crossroad area and called in some BUSHTIT/MEXICAN CHICKADEE flocks to attempt to find some of the high elevation specialties here. After some patient waiting we managed to locate singles of both OLIVE AND RED-FACED WARBLERS both who put in brief close appearances. Once the day had warmed up a little we hiked back up to Barfoot Lookout and began watching for the hawk. We were almost immediately awarded as a single striking adult decided to fly up and pass right above the lookout, providing exceedingly good looks. As an icing on the cake we were able to locate one of the SHORT-TAILED HAWKS perched low on the side of Barfoot itself. A short hike up a nearby hill gave us some excellent scope views of this Mexican beauty.

Having unexpectedly found most of the high elevation species we were looking for, we started down the west side of the Chiricahuas in the direction of the Huachucas (forgive me for any butchered spelling). We made a stop on the way at the Cochise Lake in Wilcox in search of shorebirds. The typical array of WILSON’S PHALAROPES, LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, BLACK-NECKED STILTS, and AMERICAN AVOCETS greeted us here and a pair of FRANKLIN’S GULLS was a pleasant surprise. We spent the last hours of daylight at Beatty’s Guest Ranch in Miller Canyon looking for hummingbirds. The usual bunch was around and we were pleased to locate a COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRD and the local male WHITE-EARED HUMMINGBIRD.

July 10^th-

We spent the early hours of this morning in Fort Huachuca, mostly in the Garden Canyon area. We had hoped to have one last shot at Elegant Trogon and we had heard they had been hanging around near the third picnic area. Sure enough we soon located a calling male ELEGANT TROGON in addition to his mate and an immature bird. Several families of birds seemed to be around right now, including an especially loud young PLUMBEOUS VIREO who chased an adult around calling constantly. The road leading to the canyon yielded GRAY HAWK, a recently fledged COOPER’S HAWK, BOTTERI’S SPARROW, and our first VERMILLION FLYCATCHERS of the trip.

We spent the remainder of the morning fruitlessly searching for the Berylline Hummingbird in Ramsey Canyon, but were able to see our first RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD of the trip.

Today we finally figured out why we had been early for everything we did; our clocks were set one hour to late. As it turns out Arizona doesn’t like daylight savings time and bans it from all of their clocks, confusing careless tourists like ourselves. Fortunately were still able to meet our guild Melody Kehl for our trip to California Gulch. The California Gulch is notorious for having the worst road in the world leading to it and we had been told by several sources to not even think about taking our van through it. A guide was our only option and ended up being a great idea due to our target bird’s habits of not singing when you were looking for them. The drive in gave us a few nice views of BOTTERI’S SPARROW, GRAY HAWK (on a nest), and VARIED BUNTING. Our first stop lead us into the gulch itself where we worked on locating a Five-striped Sparrow. Despite a large group of eyes looking it took us a lot of time to locate this quite secretive sparrow. Fortunately one of the FIVE-STRIPED SPARROWS decided to hop up on a perch only 15 feet from us and give us excellent looks. Once we were satisfied with the views we headed out towards a nearby area known as Oro Blanco Mine. Before the sun set we split up and walked lines through the shrub in search of MONTEZUMA QUAIL, however only brief views of these birds we had as they flushed ahead of us. As dusk ensued we sat quietly in anticipation for the Buff-collared Nightjars who would hopefully soon be calling. Incredibly one BUFF-COLLARED NIGHTJAR began hunting on the ground in front of us before it was even fully dark! Once the dark truly set in the nightjars began to call and we managed another nice look in the spotlight before heading out.

July 11^th-

Despite our arriving late the night before, we still managed to wake early in anticipation for finding some of the Madera canyon specialties. Our first stop was near Madera Kubo where we could hear the FLAME-COLORED TANAGER (new for ABA) before even stepping out of our car, which was a ways down the road. After chasing the tanager through the trees for awhile we managed some great looks as he visited the feeder and drank from the river. We hoped to have another chance to see Montezuma Quail this morning, so we headed out of the canyon in the direction of Box Canyon. On the way we made a spur of the moment stop at Proctor Rd, where Black-capped Gnatcatchers had been seen earlier in the year before a wildfire hit the area. Seeing as there had not been any reports recently, we were quite surprised when we discovered the family of 5 BLACK-CAPPED GNATCATCHERS (below, male) feeding on the edge of the burn, completely un-phased by the destruction that had wrecked their home. We ended up spending a good hour watching these birds, as they had a habit of feeding only a few inches from our face…our best views of any bird on this trip and it was my most hoped for bird! Our search for the quail ended up being to late in the morning, but we managed to find some interesting birds up Box Canyon nonetheless.

We spent the afternoon in Saguaro National Park (west), where we had hoped to find a few desert birds. Unsurprisingly the weather turned out to be hotter then the oven, but we still managed to see some interesting birds. GILA WOODPECKER, BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, and especially WHITE-WINGED DOVE seemed to be the prominent species here, but we were able to find GREAT-HORNED OWLS, SCOTT’S ORIOLE, HARRIS’S HAWK, and our main target GILDED FLICKER among the saguaros here.

July 12^th-

Today would be our last day in Arizona and we decided to spend it exploring the Patagonia area. The hikes were interesting and cow pie full, but we saw a few new species such as LUCY’S WARLER and NEOTROPIC CORMORANT. We made a quick visit to Paton’s feeders and watched the local VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRDS for awhile. Much of this afternoon was spent in the Ash Canyon B&B yard watching their feeders. Despite a intense rain/hail storm we were able to see some interesting species including two CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, and eventually a stunning male LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD. One last shot at Berylline Hummingbird came up empty.

July 13^th-

Started our drive home via New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma early this morning, but have few interesting birds to report.

July 14^th-

We had spent the night in Oklahoma and formed up some plans for birding this morning. Neither of us had been to this state before so we really had no idea what to expect or what to do at all. Some Internet sites gave us a National Wildlife Refuge and a rock to search for an elusive vireo, but we lacked any good specifics to start from. We spent most of the morning in Wichita Mountains NWR, where we scouted areas that looked like appropriate habitat for the Black-capped Vireo. We were continuously coming up empty handed, but enjoyed the fantastic birds of the area nonetheless. PAINTED BUNTINGS were a common sight around scrubs and SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHERS seemed to line every fence post we came across. A few airborne MISSISSIPPI KITES put on some great aerial shows above us and we picked up our 13^th hummingbird of the trip (Ruby-throated). As a sort of last ditch effort we asked a parks person at the visitor center for some information and they were able to provide a few sites worth checking, however they had apparently shut down a lot since the recent Oklahoma flooding. More and more it was becoming apparent to us that the park was not usually as lush as it was then, according to locals the forest was usually mostly dry and not nearly as green as it was this year. Lakes that had shrunk to barely a pond now flourished and sent the previously small rivers roaring through the canyons. So despite the lack of vireos we enjoyed our hike around the Lost Lake, which held some other interesting birds including WHITE-EYED VIREO and a huge array of butterflies. We were on the verge of turning around when I noticed a good patch of scrub oaks ahead of us, so we agreed to turn around after checking those. Amazingly we walked up and phished up a very angry BLACK-CAPPED VIREO only a few feet away. As it turned out this was yet another family group and a young vireo chased the mom and dad around relentlessly as they fed only a few feet from the ground. Extremely pleased, we left these curious birds to themselves and headed on our own way back towards Michigan.

July 15^th-

Drove to Michigan, home again! Drat.

Lifers (and ABA birds) in italics

 

Common Name

Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Neotropic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Cattle Egret
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Gadwall
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Ruddy Duck
Mississippi Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Northern Goshawk
Gray Hawk
Harris's Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Ring-necked Pheasant
Wild Turkey
Scaled Quail
Gambel's Quail
Northern Bobwhite
Montezuma Quail
American Coot
Killdeer
Mountain Plover
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Upland Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Western Sandpiper
Wilson's Phalarope
Franklin's Gull
California Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Greater Roadrunner
Great Horned Owl
Elf Owl
Burrowing Owl
Lesser Nighthawk
Common Nighthawk
Common Poorwill
Buff-collared Nightjar
Chimney Swift
Broad-billed Hummingbird
White-eared Hummingbird
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Blue-throated Hummingbird
Magnificent Hummingbird
Lucifer Hummingbird
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Costa's Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Elegant Trogon
Belted Kingfisher
Lewis's Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
Gila Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Arizona Woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Gilded Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Dusky Flycatcher
Cordilleran Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Eastern Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Dusky-capped Flycatcher
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Brown-crested Flycatcher
Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher
Cassin's Kingbird
Western Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Bell's Vireo
Black-capped Vireo
Plumbeous Vireo
Hutton's Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Steller's Jay
Western Scrub-Jay
Mexican Jay
Black-billed Magpie
American Crow
Chihuahuan Raven
Common Raven
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Mexican Chickadee
Bridled Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse
Verdin
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
Pygmy Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Cactus Wren
Rock Wren
Canyon Wren
Bewick's Wren
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Black-capped Gnatcatcher
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Sage Thrasher
Brown Thrasher
Curve-billed Thrasher
European Starling
Phainopepla
Olive Warbler
Lucy's Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Grace's Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Ovenbird
MacGillivray's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Red-faced Warbler
Painted Redstart
Yellow-breasted Chat
Hepatic Tanager
Summer Tanager
Western Tanager
Flame-colored Tanager
Spotted Towhee
Canyon Towhee
Botteri's Sparrow
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Five-striped Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Brewer's Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Lark Sparrow
Black-throated Sparrow
Lark Bunting
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Yellow-eyed Junco
McCown's Longspur
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Northern Cardinal
Pyrrhuloxia
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Varied Bunting
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Western Meadowlark
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Common Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Hooded Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
Scott's Oriole
Cassin's Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow