About Me

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I am a birder, naturalist, wildlife biologist, and now an interpretive ranger currently working for Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department at the Hassayampa River Preserve near Wickenburg, Arizona. I spent the past several years following a career as a wildlife biologist and was a teaching assistant for a biology lab during grad school, with my education background consisting of an MS in Biology and BS in Forestry. I am an Arizona native and my past travels have taken me around most of the lower 48 United States, plus the state of Sonora in northwest Mexico. Before my current job I spent 1.5 years working as an environmental consultant in the Midwest based out of Kansas City (KS/MO), which gave me the opportunity to see a good portion of the Great Plains and Midwest region. My current travels are decidedly local, but I am hoping to travel abroad in the future when finances and work schedule allow. I am very content with my current career and happy to be doing a mix of environmental education and natural resource management at a wonderful desert oasis. I am looking forward to where this path takes me!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Great Western trip summary


From September 4th-17th, 2012, my Dad and I (and our dog Eva) did a ~4,530 mile roadtrip from Heber, Arizona up through Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, a sliver of Idaho (at night), Washington, Oregon, and California. On our way through northeastern Arizona at the beginning of the trip we stopped at the Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado, which I posted sighting details about in a previous post. On the way back into Arizona we only stopped briefly in the Williams area where we had typical forest birds. Most of the trip was sight-seeing interspersed with birding, so many potential birding areas were bypassed since we were really just trying to sample several areas we had never been to before on a two week trip and had lots of driving in between sites. However, I still managed a decent list of 152 bird species with two lifers on the trip, YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE and OAK TITMOUSE in California. I did have a jaeger species near Gold Coast, OR that went unidentified that would have been a lifer too (my first jaeger ever). Non-avian highlights from the trip included a family of MOOSE and a large herd of BISON at Grand Tetons, BISON and ELK at Yellowstone National Park, several MOUNTAIN GOATS and a BIGHORN SHEEP at Glacier National Park, an OLYMPIC MARMOT and BLACK-TAILED (MULE) DEER at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park, 1-2 GRAY WHALES at Boiler Bay State Wayside in Oregon, and HARBOR SEALS, STELLER’S SEA LIONS, CALIFORNIA SEA LIONS, NORTHERN ELEPHANT SEALS, GREEN SEA ANEMONES, PURPLE SEA URCHINS, a CHITON species, and OCHRE SEA STARS (starfish) at several locations along the Pacific Coast (Washington to California). Rather than write a long narrative about the trip, I’ve instead included below the general list of locations visited in each state followed by the entire list of birds on the trip with the state abbreviations in parentheses following each species (states/locations where each species was found) and additional notes for a few species. Email me if you want further details about birds, places, etc.

**Arizona (Ganado/Hubbell Trading Post, Williams)
**western Colorado (including Denny Lake Park in Cortez, Cayton Campground in the San Juan Mtns., between Montrose and Grand Junction, and between Loma and Rangely)
**northeastern Utah (including area between Jensen and Flaming Gorge Reservoir)
**western Wyoming (including Duck Creek Wildlife Area near Pinedale, the National Elk Refuge near Jackson, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks)
**western Montana (including Big Sky area, between Butte and Missoula, Polson-Flathead Lake area, and Glacier National Park)
**Washington (including rangeland west of Spokane, Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascades, Ocean Shores/Grays Harbor and Oyhut Wildlife Area, Quinault Rainforest/Kalaloch Beach/Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park, Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, and Seaview Beach)
**Oregon coastline (including Ecola State Park, D River Wayside, Boiler Bay State Wayside, Oregon Coast Aquarium/Newport area, Tahkenitch Campground south of Florence, Sunset Bay State Park, Simpson Reef overlook, Cape Arago overlook, beach near Gold Coast)
**northern half of California (including Redwoods National Park and Humboldt-Redwoods State Park, coastline north of Westport, a little bit of the central valley including rest area near Turlock, Sequoia National Monument and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks)

Common Loon (WY, CA)
Pacific Loon (WA, OR, CA)
Red-throated Loon (OR, CA; 80+ birds at coastal overlook n. of Westport, CA)
Sooty Shearwater (WA, OR; thousands migrating by coast in morning at several spots)
Trumpeter Swan (WY: National Elk Refuge near Jackson)
Canada Goose (CO, WY, MT, WA, OR)
Mallard (CO, WY, MT, WA)
Northern Pintail (WA)
American Wigeon (WY)
Green-winged Teal (WA)
Ring-necked Duck (WY)
Harlequin Duck (OR)
Surf Scoter (WA, OR)
White-winged Scoter (OR)
Hooded Merganser (WA)
Common Merganser (CO, WY, MT, WA)
American White Pelican (UT)
Brown Pelican (WA, OR, CA)
Double-crested Cormorant (CO, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Pelagic Cormorant (WA, OR, CA)
Brandt's Cormorant (OR, CA)
Great Blue Heron (CO, MT, WA, OR)
Great Egret (CA)
Cattle Egret (CA)
Red-necked Grebe (OR, CA)
Pied-billed Grebe (CO)
Western Grebe (WA, CA)
Turkey Vulture (AZ, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Northern Harrier (WY, MT, WA)
White-tailed Kite (CA)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (MT, WA)
Cooper's Hawk (CA)
Red-shouldered Hawk (OR, CA; WA: Lake Quinault--Sibely’s shows them rare that far north)
Swainson's Hawk (WY, WA)
Red-tailed Hawk (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
Golden Eagle (CO, UT, WY, MT)
Bald Eagle (WY, WA)
Osprey (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
American Kestrel (AZ, CO, WY, MT, CA)
Prairie Falcon (MT, WA)
Peregrine Falcon (WY, WA, OR)
Dusky Grouse (WY)
Wild Turkey (UT)
Sandhill Crane (WY)
Semipalmated Plover (WA)
Killdeer (WA)
Black Oystercatcher (OR, CA)
Greater Yellowlegs (WA)
Whimbrel (WA)
Black Turnstone (WA, OR)
Sanderling (WA)
Pectoral Sandpiper (WA)
Baird's Sandpiper (WA)
Western Sandpiper (WA)
Long-billed Dowitcher (WA)
Short-billed Dowitcher (WA)
Ring-billed Gull (WA)
California Gull (WA)
Glaucous-winged Gull (WA, OR)
Western Gull (WA, OR, CA)
Heermann's Gull (WA, OR, CA)
Common Murre (WA, OR, CA)
Pigeon Guillemot (WA, OR, CA)
Mourning Dove (CO, WY, WA, CA)
Eurasian Collared-Dove (AZ, CO, MT, CA)
Rock Pigeon (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Band-tailed Pigeon (WA, CA)
Great Horned Owl (CO)
Vaux's Swift (CA)
White-throated Swift (CA)
Black-chinned Hummingbird (AZ, CO)
Rufous Hummingbird (UT)
Belted Kingfisher (CO, WY, OR)
Acorn Woodpecker (CA)
Williamson's Sapsucker (MT)
Hairy Woodpecker (WY)
White-headed Woodpecker (CA)
Northern Flicker (CO, WY, WA, OR, CA)
Pileated Woodpecker (WA)
Western Wood-Pewee (AZ)
Willow Flycatcher (AZ)
Black Phoebe (CA)
Loggerhead Shrike (MT)
Warbling Vireo (AZ)
Steller's Jay (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Western Scrub-Jay (CA)
Gray Jay (CO, WY, WA)
Pinyon Jay (AZ, CO)
Clark's Nutcracker (CO, WY)
Black-billed Magpie (CO, WY, MT, WA)
Yellow-billed Magpie (CA)
Common Raven (AZ, CO, UT, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
American Crow (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Northwestern Crow (WA)
Horned Lark (WY)
Violet-green Swallow (CO)
Barn Swallow (CO, UT, WY, WA, CA)
Bushtit (CA)
Oak Titmouse (CA)
Black-capped Chickadee (UT, WY, MT, OR)
Mountain Chickadee (AZ, CO, WY, MT, CA)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (WA, OR, CA)
Red-breasted Nuthatch (WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Pygmy Nuthatch (AZ, MT)
Brown Creeper (CO, OR, CA)
Bewick's Wren (AZ, WA, CA)
House Wren (AZ)
Pacific Wren (WA, OR, CA)
Rock Wren (CO)
American Dipper (WY)
Wrentit (OR)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (CO, WY)
Mountain Bluebird (CO, WY)
Varied Thrush (WA)
American Robin (CO, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)
European Starling (CO, MT, WA, OR, CA)
Cedar Waxwing (WY, MT, WA, OR)
Orange-crowned Warbler (AZ)
Yellow Warbler (AZ, WY)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
MacGillivray's Warbler (AZ)
Common Yellowthroat (CO, WY)
Wilson's Warbler (CO, WY, MT)
Yellow-breasted Chat (AZ)
Western Tanager (AZ, CO)
Spotted Towhee (WA, CA)
Green-tailed Towhee (AZ, WY)
Brewer’s Sparrow (AZ, WY)
Chipping Sparrow (AZ, WY)
Savannah Sparrow (WY, WA)
Vesper Sparrow (WY)
White-crowned Sparrow (CO, WA, OR)
Song Sparrow (WY, WA, OR, CA)
Lincoln's Sparrow (WA, CA)
Dark-eyed Junco (CO, WY, MT, WA, CA)
Blue Grosbeak (AZ, CO)
Lazuli Bunting (AZ)
Western Meadowlark (CA)
Brown-headed Cowbird (WA)
Yellow-headed Blackbird (WY, WA)
Red-winged Blackbird (CO, WA)
Brewer's Blackbird (CO, WY, WA, OR, CA)
Evening Grosbeak (WA)
Purple Finch (WA, CA)
Cassin's Finch (WY)
House Finch (AZ, CO)
Red Crossbill (AZ, WA, OR
Pine Siskin (CO, WY, WA, OR
Lesser Goldfinch (AZ, CA)
American Goldfinch (WY, WA, OR, CA; ~200 birds n. of Westport, CA)
House Sparrow (AZ, CO, UT, WY, MT, WA, OR, CA)

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