Time for White-crowned Sparrows

 

White-crowned Sparrow

Now that we are past summer her in AZ we are getting to see many of our old avian friends that winter in the desert lowlands, including the abundant White-crowned Sparrow. I’ve always enjoyed these birds, finding them unassuming in their understated colors and ease of access in brushy areas in parks and elsewhere.

 

White-crowned Sparrow

This bird popped up beside me at the Gilbert Water Ranch as I was trying for a shot of a Yellow-rumped Warbler that was faster than I was, so I took advantage of the opportunity and turned my camera to the sparrow on my left. I didn’t touch any of the camera settings, which were ISO 200 and f/5.6 and auto exposure in matrix meter mode. That gave me a shutter speed in the 1/90th-1/100th second range for this bird in the shade of the bush, and with focus on the bird I got off a few frames before it moved on about its business.

 

White-crowned Sparrow

I like all three of the poses presented here. Although these are essentially the same image it is interesting how the character of the overall image changes with the head position of the sparrow. Its a good example of why every photographer should keep shooting as long as the subject is available – I ended up with three different images that could have different appeal for different viewers.

What I like most about these shots is the soft look of the setting: the way the mesquite leaves go out of focus but still retain their identity; and the way the greens and soft yellows blend together.

The important parts of the sparrow are unobstructed; the mesquite leaves in front the wing give the image more depth and help show the bird in habitat.

Processing was minimal for these images: a shift in white balance in raw conversion to counteract the blueness of the shaded area; a tiny bump in contrast from spreading the histogram in raw conversion; about 5 points of saturation boost in photoshop. I wanted to retain the open airy soft feel so I avoided levels and curves to boost contrast excessively.

 

 

 

Meadowlark Identification Questions

Meadowlark 124

First things first – these photos aren’t my normal quality. They were taken for identification purposes only at a distance greater than I normally work and are essentially 1:1 crops from the image viewed at 100%. I didn’t process them at all beyond cropping and applying unsharp mask – no changes to white balance, levels, curves, saturation, exposure, or any other post processing manipulations. They were taken at the Water Ranch in Gilbert, AZ on October 25, 2009, in the dry bed of pond #6.

Meadowlark 126

I’ve never mastered visual identification of meadowlarks in Arizona. I learned Eastern Meadowlark song back in my New Jersey days and figured I’d be seeing nothing but Western Meadowlarks when I moved west to Arizona. I was surprised to find out that both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks can be seen here. What’s more there’s a sub-species of Eastern in AZ called Lillan’s that closely resembles the Western Meadowlark.

 

Meadowlark 128

I have most all the field guides but the illustrations in them for the meadowlarks don’t help me much. And the text in most guides talks about overall paleness but points out the gradient in Eastern Meadowlark from the pale Lillian’s to the darker birds in farther east.

 

Meadowlark 133

The best guide I’ve seen so far is Kevin Zimmer’s The Western Bird Watcher. Zimmer states

Southwestern birds [Lillian's)]do show one excellent mark that is consistently different from Westerns, and that is a cream-colored or white, unstreaked cheek patch.Westerns typically show a brown, streaked cheek patch. Although Westerns are somewhat variable in this respect, they are never as clean as the Easterns.

Based on that I’d say this bird is a Western Meadowlark. But I’d love to hear your views on the identity of this bird plus how you reached your ID and what references you rely on for it.

 

 

Rufous-backed Robin

Rufous-backed Robin

When I shamelessly promoted my birdwalk at Boyce Thompson Arboretum last week I mentioned we’d look for a Rufous-backed Robin (Turdus rufopalliatus). Well, four day’s after the birdwalk I found one there – in a Chinese Pistachio tree in the picnic area just off the lower parking lot.

I had been expecting one to show up there, since there are already two others being seen south of Tucson, AZ: you can see photos of those two birds and read the details by clicking the appropriate links on the photo documentation page at azfo.org. I consider Boyce Thompson Arboretum to be the best place in the continental United States to see this Mexican species as it seems there’s one or two found at Boyce more years than it is not found. Checking my records reveals that I’ve seen this species 11 years in the almost 16 that I’ve lived here in AZ, and 10 of those were at Boyce.

I had gone back to Boyce this morning so I could spend some time trying to photograph a few of the birds we’d seen on the birdwalk, plus try to find the thrasher we’d heard calling from the scrub that might have been an unlikely LeConte’s Thrasher. I didn’t do well with the morning photos, and I didn’t find the LeConte’s. I was on my way back to my car and thought I’d take one last look at the bird activity in the pistachio tree only to find this Rufous-backed Robin feeding in front of my totally in the open. I shot instantly without touching any cameara settings, so this was taken with my Nikon D200, 300/2.8 and 2x,  at ISO 400, 1/640th at f/5.6. It is full frame minus a 10% off the right edge to balance the composition.

This is a close relative of the well known favorite American Robin (Turdus migratorius) that just spills over into the U.S> from Texas to California. The rusty back and wing coverts that give the bird its name are the most obvious difference, but also note the heavy streaking on the throat and the lack of eye crescents.

American Robin at Gilbert Water Ranch

Boyce Birdwalk Birdlist

Hermit Thrush

In spite of the record heat (it reached 102 in Phoenix), there was a good turnout for the birdwalk at Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday. And we saw more birds than I expected for the day with good views of many of them.

We followed the route I described here earlier in the week, going clockwise around the main trail so we’d get out of the hottest open areas above Ayer Lake as soon as possible. This area produced our first unexpected bird: an out-of-place Osprey flying east up the canyon over the bone dry creek, viewed against the mass of Picket Post Mountain. Very different from the first views I had of these fishing specialists along the New Jersey shore.

The group enjoyed watching Northern (red-shafted) Flickers eating in masse on the fruit of a Chinese Pistache tree in the main canyon just east of the Herb Garden. This large woodpecker was easy to compare with the somewhat smaller but noisier Gila Woodpeckers enjoying the same bounty of food.

We also enjoyed good views of a Brown Creeper in typical behavior on a tree trunk while a Canyon Wren fed in a tangle of roots just a few feet away – all while we watched from the cool vantage of the footbridge over bone dry Silver King Wash.

At the picnic area by the lower parking lot we spent time watching an unusual for Boyce Crissal Thrasher being chased by the resident Curve-billed Thrasher as it tried to feed low in the shrubs. This is a great opportunity to study the differences between these relatd birds.

In the Demonstration Garden we had another surprise – a meadowlark! Both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks occur in god numbers in many grasslands in Arizona, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen one in such an untypical habitat. I was unable to determine if it was an Eastern or Western before it departed with a large dragonfly in its beak.

One bird from the walk remains a bit of a mystery. As we approached the Chinese Pistache tree where all the feeding activity was we heard an unfamiliar musical song that I suspected was a thrasher. My friend Brendon was able to get a brief view of the bird from the other side of the thicket as he tried to get photos and was able to confirm it was a thrasher. We wrote it off at the time as a Crissal, but only later after independently listening to thrasher recordings did we decide that it was a LeConte’s Thrasher. Brendon also saw that the bird had a dark eye during his brief view which further supports this identification.

Here’s the complete list for the day, in the order encountered. Brendon and I started birding a half hour before the main gates opened as we waited by our cars outside the entrance:

Gila Woodpecker, Curve-billed Thrasher, House Finch, Pyrrhuloxia, Cedar Waxwing, Cactus Wren, Pine Siskin, House Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Black-throated Sparrow, Inca Dove, Phainopepla, Common Raven, Lesser Goldfinch, Hermit Thrush, Abert’s Towhee, Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, Northern (red-shafted) Flicker, Canyon Wren, Cooper’s Hawk, Dark-eyed Junco, Verdin, Red-naped Sapsucker, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallow, Osprey, European Starling, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Gambel’s Quail, Brown Creeper, Spotted Towhee, meadowlark species, Crissal Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, possible LeConte’s Thrasher.

I don’t carry my camera gear while leading these birdwalks – its just too much of a burden and my duties are to find birds for the participants instead of photograph them for myself. But after the walk had ended I got my gear for a few photos around the picnic area. This Hermit Thrush was taken with my Nikon D200, 300/2.8 lens with 2x converter, ISO 400, 1/400th second at f/5.6 just before noon in a shaded area.

Birdwalk Self Promotion

Costa's Hummingbird

Just another reminder to locals who follow this blog that I will be leading the birdkwalk tomorrow morning, Saturday October 16, at Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior, AZ.

The arboretum opens at 8:00 am; the birdwalk departs from the Visitor Center at 8:30 am and should last 2-3 hours depending on what we see and how hot it is.

This Costa’s Hummingbird was photographed at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in the Demonstration Garden on May 15, 2008. Exposure was 1/30th second at f/8, ISO 320, with a small amount of fill flash.