5MR Birding in Exponential Times

I have seen countless Anna's Hummingbirds in my life and I will admit I no longer look at each one with child-like wonder, or even its rare and highly diluted cousin, regular adult wonder. For example, the male Anna's in my backyard is highly territorial and essentially keeps all other hummingbirds out of there, no matter how many feeders I put up and juicy nectar-giving plants I put in the ground. Just today he chased out an interesting Selasphorus. It's in his nature of course, but still...what a dick! That said whenever the light catches a male the right way or one is doing its display flight nearby, it is still impossible to look away. Photographed at the Los Capitancillos Ponds.

Any birdpunx remember Cobra Skulls? I really dug that band. Imma kick off this post with a verse of theirs.

The golden age is never coming back

Getting out was not part of the plan

You are just a victim of an older time

Falling behind in exponential times

Grim eh? But very fitting. The notion that large numbers of us could be wiped out by an illness that also brings society to a grinding halt seemed outlandish and atavistic to many a mere couple months ago. The phrase "exponential growth" meant almost nothing to anybody except nerds. The phrase was safely in the weak grasp of dweebs. Now that idea has been bouncing around all over the place this spring, though clearly it has not made it's way into the brains of all ("It didn't go in. It just impacted on the surface."). These are exponential, weird times we live in. Things seemed weird...and not in a good way...before this fateful March, but of course our day to day life has been totally upended since then. The Groundhog Day effect, already familiar to so many, has intensified to peak Bill Murray levels. It's not just that each day is so similar to the last, or that days blur together, the other less obvious but still significant component of that headspace is that we don't know when any of this sad, stressful bizarreness will end. The light at the end of the tunnel is dim and ill-defined...and possibly because the light is being made by a fiery inferno, and we are all barreling toward it.

But chances are if you are reading this, no matter where you all, you know all too well of what I speak. It's my job as the #7 U.S. birder as identified by the infallible Global Birder Ranking System (universally recognized as an Essential Business) and one of birding's most prominent influencers to carry on and talk about birding in spite of the conditions in which we find ourselves.

Red-winged "Bicolored" Blackbirds arrive to breed at my house very early in winter and appear to set up territories before any other migrant songbird within my radius. Though you can find them without trouble year round in the county, these particular birds will likely all leave the area before the end of June. I have not grown numb to their presence and am happy to always have them in earshot and at my feeders while GERI BIRDING. This male was making some modest but pleasing display flights. Photographed at the Los Capitancillos Ponds.

The first thing that needs to be said is that birders, like people in general, are having all sorts of reactions to covid-19 and the shelter-in-place orders. I will be the first one to step up and admit that I did not see this pandemic coming and that we would be the world leader in number of cases and death toll (MAGA! USA!), but I am going to tell you that once it got rolling here I knew exactly how this would affect birders. It is all happening as I have foreseen. To w(h)it:

*A lot of birders would have sweet birding trips cancelled.

*Yard birding would take off.

*5MR birding would grow yet more in popularity.

*Some birders would stop birding away from their yard.

*Some birders would only bird locally.

*Some birders would still travel to bird (mostly to chase essential rarities, obvi) but not as much as they normally would.

*Some birders would bird the exact same way they did in February, as if nothing at all had changed. Lots of county listers/chasers with this attitude. 

I have seen countless White-crowned Sparrows in my life but their arrival and departure from California lowlands have always been very significant to me. Now, as a GERI BIRDER, I am particularly saddened when they and their Golden-crowned brethren pull out and head north. My yard will gain no new common birds in the meantime, as my very small suite of summer birds have already arrived. My last White-crown departed on April 24, and it seems my last Golden-crowned left on April 26, but luckily they will be back in less than five months. This is a pugetensis with the dull yellow bill and noticeable brown wash on the breast and underparts. Photographed at Rancho de Bastardos.

And here is a crisp gambelii for comparison, which was foraging a few feet away from the pugetensis above.

*All tour guides would be totally screwed.

*There would be a great deal of shelter-shaming (shaming people in public for chasing distant rarities or just doing any birding at all) in listservs and Facebook groups.

*The number of reported rarities will fall off as a result of birders travelling less and popular sites having reduced or no access, but may be compensated in part by birders by birding locations that previously enjoyed less coverage. The birding herd mentality so prevalent in many regions will be tamped down somewhat.

*Since almost everyone is even more stressed during this time, there will be some highly entertaining pitched battles between birders in public forums on all manner of topics.

Ok, the one thing I did not predict was people hoping eBird would remove alerts and start hiding data to discourage birders from...birding. This seems not only unrealistic, but also really bizarre. Oh I also know that a very well known birder...also, unfortunately, an eBird reviewer...thinks that law enforcement agencies are planning to use eBird data to cite violators of shelter in place measures?

How embarrassing, to put it mildly.

For the number of Merlins I've seen, its notable that these slick birds seem to so rarely remain on perches close enough to say that you got great looks at them. This one, presumably the last one I'll see until fall, was brave enough to buck the trend. Photographed at the Santa Clara Valley Water District HQ.

As for me? I have not left the county since sheltering started (and here, we have the Santa Clara County measures on top of the California ones) and mostly, but not entirely, remain in my 5MR when birding. Santa Clara County's shelter order directs us to remain within the county unless performing an essential activity, so by that measure I guess I have been COMPLIANT...and perhaps you think I am a coward for doing so. That's ok, because I'm sure some of you other readers probably think I am a plague vendor doling out pestilence and death each and every time I go birding away from my yard. Where does The Truth lie? Who is in possession of The Answer?

Many have found The Answer...to everything...lies somewhere within their own FIVE MILE RADIUS. Interestingly, the San Mateo County (which is the county north of here) shelter in place order restricts residents to...you guessed it, a 5MR from their homes! Sad to be sure, but from a purely birding standpoint, convenient and hilarious. Upon learning this, one unenlightened local birder posted to the local listserv about how depressing birding will be if he was going to be confined to locations within five miles of his house. I can only imagine his surprise (and disgust) when he learned of the legions of birders who volunteer to do this very thing!

Some of the plantings at the Santa Clara Valley Water District have turned out to great for migrant hummingbirds, most of which are comprised of zesty Rufous Hummingbirds. I've ended up seeing a lot more Rufous Hummingbirds since moving here from Alameda County and their comparative abundance has been refreshing. And no, I'm not 100% sure that female is not an Allen's, but Allen's are greatly outnumbered in my 5MR by Rufous for some reason.

One of my post-Costa Rica birding highlights this year was finding this Calliope Hummingbird, also at the water district. Unlike many of my experiences with this species, it was very close and gave excellent looks. They are annual in the county but are typically only reported from one or two locations per year. This wee little crippler is easily one of my favorite western migrants. Fortunately, it's been a very good spring for finding them in lowlands in the state, and I'm sure a large number of them have passed through the saddle at Loma Prieta undetected.

Here is my first new radius bird of 2020 - a much-anticipated Purple Martin. Though not quite a rarity, this is another very hard bird to find in the county away from Loma Prieta, where they breed. Photographed at the Chynoweth Pond in San Jose.

I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but if there was ever a time to be redundant on the topic of radius birding, it is now. I know most of you reading this fall into the following categories: (1) you are Flycatcher Jen (who started radius birding), (2) you are already a 5MR birder, (3) you are sympathetic to 5MR birding but haven't embarked on your radial journey, (4) you think 5MR birding is dumb and entirely unappealing, or (5) you live someplace where it doesn't work so well (those exist - you get a free pass). If 3 or 4 resonate with you...now is the time to step out of the darkness and into the radial light. Do you have someplace to be? No. Something better to do? Definitely not. Come join us! I'm not at all saying we should give ourselves the self-imposed San Mateo treatment, but really there could be no better time to be doing a lot of birding close to home. 

I should mention that all birds in today's post were seen in my 5MR, including Rancho de Bastardos, a Geri Birding haven for me in these difficult times. I've recorded 95 species here since sheltering began here in mid-March, including a banner day where I managed a whopping (to me) 61 species, almost entirely after 12PM. I believe that's my highest single day species total here so far. Geri to the rescue!

Similar to the situation with Red-winged Blackbirds, Band-tailed Pigeons can be found in the county throughout the year but they disappear from my yard in fall and winter. I wonder how far "our" birds migrate, after all they are found from Alaska to Argentina (!) and have a nice pattern of vagrancy in the eastern half of the continent, so some birds are certainly moving significant distances. At any rare, it's good to have these humongous floppy goofs back and available for Geri Birding duties. Photographed at Rancho de Bastardos.

I'm happy to have Hooded Oriole as a common visitor to the yard, I'm pretty sure they nest on both sides of my house along my street. For whatever reason adult males are way more skittish than females and juveniles, so I'll take a powerline shot. This is far and away the flashiest bird that visits the yard on the reg, what would I do without them? Photographed at Rancho de Bastardos.

I think we are pretty much caught up on things now. Oh, I need to mention that I got one more new radius bird recently, which was also a new addition to the yard list (first since last year) - I stepped out into my backyard briefly the other night and almost keeled over when I heard a strident PILL-WILL-WILLET! proclaimed not once, but twice, with strength and vigor. Shorebirds are so hard to come by in my radius that I was totally taken aback by this northbound Willet giving nocturnal flight calls. Migration is a hell of a thing.

A Summer Dispatch from Rancho de Bastardos and the Five Mile Radius

I lied. The newest BB&B post will not be about Texas...how about we change it up? What about the local birding? What is the good word? How are things going at Rancho de Bastardos? What of the Five Mile Radius (5MR)? As everyone knows, you can't be a birding darling without birding locally!

Well we renewed our lease of Rancho de Bastardos, so will be holding it down at least until next spring. The current Rancho list stands at 122, with 6 new species so far this year: Lesser Scaup (expected), Phainopepla (very unexpected), Purple Finch (expected), Red-breasted Merganser (quite unexpected), Rufous Hummingbird (not necessarily expected), and Orange-crowned Warbler (long expected). A hoped-for-but-unsurprising Snow Goose showed up right at the end of 2017, found by my dad who was visiting from out of town (above).

Getting new yard birds this year has been a major pain, and I suspect I won't be getting another until August or September...the potential for new birds before then is really low, especially if the ponds behind the house remain too full to be attractive to shorebirds...but if shorebird habitat was actually allowed to develop, there are a whole bunch of new birds that could potentially drop in. Same old story...the impossibilities are truly endless. A crippling drake Wood Duck hung out right behind our back fence for a morning earlier in the month, which was a life-affirming (if not life-changing) summer surprise and a new one for the 2018 Rancho list. Speaking of which, the 2018 Rancho list is at a solid 104, and with a little luck I think 120 can be reached by the end of the year.

This seemed like a good spring for migrant hummingbirds in the county (namely Rufous and Calliope), and multiple Selasphorus made visits to the feeders at Rancho de Bastardos in the spring. All the males seen well enough to ID were Rufous (above), though several females and an immature male or two could not be identified to species. I'll be on the lookout for Allen's Hummingbird next spring, a prime candidate for the yard list.

The putative White-throated x White-crowned Sparrow hybrid ended up hanging out for several weeks in April. Here is a head-on shot that shows the crown pattern pretty well, which is a closer match to White-throated but doesn't perfectly match either species.

Compare it to this White-crowned (presumably pugetensis). All of the Rancho's Zonotrichia migrated north while I was in Texas in late April, not a single bird remained by the time I got home. I guess they had an exit plan.

In other bastard news, Annabelle can now identify Mallards ("duck"), Canada geese ("gee"), Mourning Doves ("duhv") and California ground-squirrels ("wheeo"). She even made a rudimentary song about the squirrels...it goes "Whee-oh, Whee-oh, Whee-oh, Whee-oh." Fully legit. She also peed on my binocular strap and on my camera case the other day, which is not a problem I've dealt with previously.

My 5MR list has matured nicely this year as well, and has climbed to a modest 156, surpassing my previous 5MR based in Albany. Many (most?) of you have higher 5MR lists, but I am pleased with how mine is progressing, nay burgeoning...I've already added 19 species to it in 2018. Let's hear it for local birding! This is about 65% of my entire Santa Clara County list, which I think is a nice ratio and reflective of what the 5MR has to offer relative of the general area.

If only eBird could whip up a quick target list for my 5MR...

They are an abundant bird in the bay area and they are in my yard every day, but since I grew up in a chickadee-depauperate part of the state they still hold some novelty for me. This Chestnut-backed Chickadee was photographed on the Los Alamitos Creek trail in San Jose, in the 5MR of course.

On the same trail on another day, I came across a Turkey Vulture feeding on a deer carcass (note the ribcage in the upper right). This generally isn't blogworthy, especially considering the rubbish quality of the photo, but this section of trail wasn't next to a road (it's actually separated from area roads by a tall fence) and the trail was saturated with warnings of mountain lion sightings. I think this deer wasn't taken down by a Jaguar, but by a mountain lion, know what I'm saying? Eh? Eh?

The southern half of my 5MR is absolutely brimming with Acorn Woodpeckers. It is the cradle of Acorn Woodpecker civilization as far as I know. This is the sort of bird that you want around in great abundance, especially when they aren't wary of people. Photographed at Guadalupe Oaks County Park.

While we are on the hot topic of 5MRs and the perpetually hot eBird, I have a proposal to make. Those of you who have an ear open for you at eBird Central Command (or are a part of Central Command) should tell them to embrace the 5MR. I know almost half of you who read this are eBird reviewers, so we have a nice, potentially powerful little lobby here. The 5MR encourages local birding, it encourages birding lightly-covered (or uncovered) areas (a major goal for eBird), and it encourages eBird use (an even greater goal for eBird). If a 5MR tool is added to patch lists, 5MRs will become the shining jewel of that feature. So eBird, go ahead and do a quick interview with everyone's favorite famous post-Oregon birder Flycatcher Jen, add a 5MR feature, and let it rip! Many birders will chill back on their excessive checking of Top 100 state and county lists, and be all about comparing the Top 100 5MRs in their states and counties instead. This will really level the playing field for those who are interested in comparing patch lists, considering that many users (including reviewers...wtf) have bullshit patches that are hundreds of square miles.  Anyhow, do us all a favor and let eBird know...if they actually had some interest in this idea, things may never be the same.

I'll close this post out with series of Great Egret vs. gopher shots from the Los Alamitos Creek Trail, part of my 5MR I've been birding on the reg. It's a nice zone and has some Vague (not vague) potential, unfortunately it starts getting real crowded by mid-morning...but when you live in a city with over a million people, what do you expect? Gross...

Surprisingly, the gopher ate the egret in the end.

Jk the egret won, gopher-egret matches are always fixed. I'm glad I don't have to worry about being impaled by giant birds, just stuff like cholesterol. More from Texas in the next post, for reals.

Word is bond.

Sweet, Delicious, Nectar-filled Migrants

Ah, sweet, sweet Galileo Hill. The place was oozing with migrants when we were there. Aside from Pacific-slope Flycatchers (which were oddly abundant for so late into spring), the most common empid was Dusky Flycatcher. Here is one doing it's best impression of a Hammond's Flycatcher, trying to make it's primaries look hella long and showing off its black lower mandible.

But another angle shows us the slightly longer bill we are accustomed to in Dusky Flycatcher, and suddenly the primaries look a bit shorter.

This is a better angle to judge primary extenstion from (different bird though). These things were everywhere, even foraging from the ground!

Black-headed Grosbeak was another common migrant that day. Small flocks of them were foraging on the ground like goddamn sparrows...only the magic of the desert could render such a thing possible. Believe it or not, this is the species' first appearance on BB&B.

One of two Rufous Hummingbirds we had that day. This bird fiercely defended a large creosote bush for a long time, despite many other flowering creosotes in the area. Despite the oasis that is Galileo Hill (many migrants must think it's a mirage at first), the birds will not hesitate to leave their green goodness and hop right back into the creosote.

Birds love creosote so much, they will surf it.

A blazing sunbow appeared over Galileo Hill for several minutes, beckoning birds. No big deal, just another day birding Kern County.

White-throated Swifts, as you can probably guess, are not built to be photographed...they are built to be blurry and undocumented. This is my best grab yet...alas, there is still work to do. They are very classy birds though...if you have not yet seen one, I can put your fears to rest and assure you that you are missing out.

Nomnomnomnom...nomnom. Chipping Sparrow. When I come off island next week, can you guess where I'm going to go birding?

After Officer Searcy and I finished with Galileo, we lurked over to California City, which was also pretty birdy but failed to produce anything more bizarre than a Bank Swallow, late Bufflehead, and resident Snow Goose and Cackling Goose. The Piute Ponds and Dipper Dan were next on the agenda, where these White-faced Ibis showed off their white faces.

Spotted Sandpipers don't get much attention (except when getting misidentified for Wandering Tattlers in winter), but I reckon they are a charismatic bird. A good bird. I don't get too see them all spotted up very often.

I can't really claim this is a "crush", but I feel like I at least put a dent in this sandpiper. I really dig the underwing pattern of this bird, this is not something I've really registered seeing before. I wonder if there's any difference with Common Sandpiper? Who knows how many of those things have gone undetected on the west coast...

By now you have wondered how we could go do a full day of birding in May and not find a Vague Runt. Well, we didn't manage to photograph one (fail), but I managed to capture the soul of this bird, a real Vague Runt!  Stilt Sandpiper (here with Black-necked Stilt, for pointless comparison) is a rare bird in California (aside from one infamous, stinky locale), and even rarer in spring. EBird only lists one other spring record for Stilt Sandpiper in LA County, although I don't doubt there are more.

BB&B Plans a Birdcation

A late male Rufous Hummingbird defends his favorite creosote of the day. This creosote has been documented and is continuing at its current location; eCreosote.org will soon serve as a repository for all creosote sightings, and will most likely leave eBird in the cyberdust as far as fashionable citizen science is concerned (botanists, rejoice!). Galileo Hill, Kern County, CA.

After a very successful nonbirding trip (yes, I take those) to the bay area, I came back to Santa Cruz Island to find everything falling apart. Our running water did not run, our 1973 Land Cruiser can no longer cruise land, and most importantly for you....our internet did not internet. That said, everything seems to be coming back to life, so you will get a quick post out of me before I return to being thrown around by burly wind gusts on the crumbly cliff tops.

I did manage one solid day of quality birding last week...I got to bird some desert sites with Officer Searcy, a Bird Policeman, and the indefatigable Dipper Dan...we cruised to 115 species without much effort, and keep in mind this is without an ocean or any montane sites. Not bad! Posts to come in the near future.

Of course, the big news is that I am going on BIRDCATION next August. It will be a short one, and the lifers will not number in the double digits (unless I find a newborn to sacrifice to the bird gods), but it is something that must be done, at least once, by any serious U.S. birder...that's right, Number 7 will be doing pelagic trips off Hatteras, North Carolina! This will surly help fill the gaping hole in my life list where Atlantic seabirds should be. Stoked! I drool at the thought of exotic tubenosedry, and tremble at the images of Bridled Terns winging though my daydreams.

Well, I see the weekend is upon us. Go forth and rage, be it in the bar or the vagrant trap...Monday will be at your throat before you know it.

Crazy-looking Mexican

You know you're in San Diego when some crazy-looking Mexican thing pops up in front of you and you go brain-dead for about 10 seconds because you cannot reconcile where you are with what you are looking at. That's what happened when I "slung glass" at this White-collared Seedeater. Needless to say, it is a "plastic" bird,  and you'd have to be a real "stringer" to "tick" it. Dairy Mart Ponds, Tijuana River Valley, CA.

I'm really not used to this business of working in places that actually have people and culture. It's an alien concept to me. I'm even going to a punk show this week....the last time I did that outside of northern California was in San Antonio, Texas, in 2009 (Dead To Me/Banner Pilot!). Of course, living on the east side of the city, I'm awfully close to El Cajon, Lakeside, and several other towns whose denizens make you question what humanity really has to offer...right "bro"? Sick. But I know some good people who crawled their way out of there, so I can only talk so much shit.

I've been birding a lot and working almost as much since I've arrived here. The year birds have been coming at a steady rate, although I've been hampered by being a little stale with my ear-birding. Spring has certainly sprung for a lot of species already, but the vast bulk of migrants will be arriving and moving through over the course of this month. The one bird I really have my eye on is Gray Vireo, who nest about an hour away. This would be life bird....

By the way, is there any lingo out there synonomous with "life bird"? I mean, that's one of the most significant things in birding...is that all the slang there is? Referring to something as "new" or a "first" doesn't count, its just a basic boring description. We need to get creative, people.

Look at this thing! What a stubby bill. I can't believe it's called a "seedeater", what a bloody nondescript name. If you ever bird down here, be warned that a few do lurk in the area.

Meet my first Great-tailed Grackle of the year. Many more will follow...I even ran into a pair on the beach today, pretending they were Snowy Plovers. Kumeyaay Lake, CA.

White-throated Swifts are not hard to come by in much of southern California, but even a passing picture is reason to rejoice. Apologies for the "noise" by the way, I think some settings in my camera got reset after it went for a swim....damn you high ISO!

And here is one of my first Rufous Hummingbirds of the year. Not a diagnostic picture, I know, you'll just have to take my word for it. Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, CA.

For most of the state, Anna's Hummingbird is the only hummingbird species that hangs out year-round. I've never heard anyone spouting accolades about their vocal abilities, but Anna's are one of the few North American hummingbirds who actually sing.

Here you go, the first Phainopepla I have ever photographed. Hopefully the next one will be on a more photogenic perch, in better light, and substantially closer. Mission Trails Park, CA.

Whenever you are having a bad day, just be grateful you do not suffer from some terrible face disease that causes one of your eyes to swell shut. Then you would be easy pickins (pickens?) for a Sharp-shinned Hawk. This not-stoked House Finch and his concerned/repulsed lady-friend were at Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, CA...and yes, we have orange House Finches.

I'm not sure where this fits in with the "Bourbon, Bastards and Birds" theme, but when I was a little kid I was STOKED to find lizards, whether they were common Western Fence Lizards like this one, or rarer stuff like leopard lizards and desert iguanas. An interest in herpetology more often than not is just another avenue to becoming a birdwatcher (how embarrassing), I can assure you.

Song Sparrow. The zoo, without a doubt, has the tamest Song Sparrows I've ever seen. They are so happy to be there, they actually sneak into cages. San Diego Zoo (wild bird).