#botteri's sparrow

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Botteri's Sparrow

Photo: Alan Schmierer

"Two kinds of plain, long-tailed sparrows live side by side in southwestern grasslands. While Cassin's is fairly widespread, Botteri's Sparrow is found only in a few areas of southern Texas and Arizona. Although it will perch up on a shrub or an ocotillo stalk to sing its series of accelerating chip notes, Botteri's Sparrow is quite secretive at other times, hiding in dense grass."

- Audubon Field Guide

[thelostcanyon]

Botteri’s Sparrow (Peucaea botterii), J-Six Ranch, Cochise County, Arizona.

[minmos]

Good evening, backyard birder. You have taken to mass sterilizing wild birds after reading a web page on how to do so. Before you, I have prepared 7 birds. 1 of them is the invasive house sparrow you so despise. 6 of them are native species, all legally protected by the MBTA. I would like you to identify, with 100% certainty, the one house sparrow from this lineup. If you choose the wrong bird, you will be subject to fines up to $250,000, and the bomb collar around your neck will go off.

You have 5 minutes. Good luck.

holy shit. sorry for getting into off-site bird drama but i cannot believe the things people say.

[datubooty]

im sorry the spanish for white-crowned sparrow is WHAT

(maybe i’m just an immature learner but chingolo absolutely sounds like a minced oath)

but okay, sibley (US) has three words used in translation of sparrow names (not counting java sparrow because it’s obviously not a sparrow). gorrión is for old world sparrows and chingolo is for most new world sparrows in the US. cerquero is only for the olive sparrow but seems to be used for other birds in genus Arremonops like cerquero de El Tocuyo / Tocuyo sparrow

gorrión - house, eurasian tree

chingolo - chipping, clay-colored, brewer’s, black-chinned, field, black-throated, five-striped, sagebrush, bell’s, lark, american tree, white-crowned, golden-crowned, harris’s, white-throated, fox, song, licoln’s, swamp, vesper, baird’s, grasshopper, henslow’s, leconte’s, nelson’s, saltmarsh, seaside, savannah, bachman’s, cassin’s, botteri’s, rufous-winged, rufous-crowned

cerquero - olive

[taxi-davis]

Botteri's Sparrow

[sagesolar]

Botteri's Sparrow by http://bit.ly/1M55bIK https://flic.kr/p/2hTaoD4

[mtindicators]

Botteris Sparrow Bird Song, Bird Call, Bird Sound, Bird Calling Chirps, ...

[easo-burrito]

Moving to Texas for the BCVI Jon was the furthest west I had been but for the birds we go further. Some of us took a trip out to rural SE Arizona (avoiding people) and did some camping among the amazing sky islands of Arizona moving through the various canyons and mountain ranges like the Chiricahua’s, Huachuca’s, and Santa Rita’s (making a special trip to visit the Saguaro National Park). Seeing tons of species (about 189 including 12 different species of hummingbirds)! There’s absolutely too much to do in Arizona for two weeks so I know for certain I’ll be back sooner rather than later. Avian highlights of the trip included; Rufous Capped Warbler, Plain-Capped Starthroat, White-eared Hummingbird, Five-Stripped Sparrow, Yellow-Green Vireo, Elegant Trogon, Botteri’s Sparrow, Thick-Billed Kingbird, and Phainopepla just to name a few! (at Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDH1FPIpD2s/?igshid=ed1rc9ognjcq

[darkalfar]

216 Botteri's Sparrow by William--King

[thearizonawinemonk]

Singing Botteri's Sparrow. (at Sonoita Vineyards) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1QsfrTHWDL/?igshid=1ssku9er95rdh

[rantsandaves]

Arizona & Rufous-capped Warbler: Part Two

I arrived at a rest stop outside Green Valley, Arizona late on August 29th after birding the Salton Sea in California. I stretched my legs. It was still hot, but not nearly as bad as Los Angeles. Signs around the rest stop warned of "poisonous" animals like snakes and scorpions. A relief: if they were venomous, I may have been concerned. Good thing I was in no mood for a snack.  

The next morning, I woke up early and drove to one of my favorite birding places: Madera Canyon. The shrubs and grasses on the way up were still green from the end of monsoon season, a noticeable contrast from the pale yellow that colored the vegetation when I was last there in early March.

Almost as soon as I got down to Proctor Road, I was able to find the year's first Varied Bunting and a handful of Botteri's Sparrows. I spent the morning working my way up to the mountains. Up Old Baldy trail, I ran into a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. Their call is described as rubber-ducky-esque, and it is a fairly accurate description. 

The next day, I drove to nearby Box Canyon and managed to score a Five-Striped Sparrow after only an hour and a half of patient pacing back and forth. I met a couple of other birders who had tried two times previous and dipped on it. Third time's the charm!

I decided that it was maybe my lucky day too, so I drove down to Florida Canyon to see if I could find that Rufous-capped Warbler that I missed in March. (If you missed it, you can read about it here)  Instead of furiously running around Florida Canyon without service trying to figure out the right place to be from shoddily-remembered verbal directions, I got smart and downloaded a map from Tucson Audubon that told me exactly where to go this time. It's amazing what a little foresight can do. I realized that there was indeed another section that went the opposite way I had gone before. The trail led to an oak grove where the Rufous-capped Warbler seemed to be just waiting for me. The bird hopped around and sang for a bit and I stood in awe. Below is unfortunately the best picture I could get before the warbler decided the fat lady sang and it was time to close the curtains. Show's over, pal! 

I ended up spending a couple of nights near Madera, one on Proctor Road and another at Bog Springs Campground. I have some great night-birding stories that maybe are best told in person. (Buy me a beer and say code word 'night birding' for more details.) 

I visited some places that I (now very regretfully) missed back in March: Ramsey Canyon, Carr Canyon, Patagonia-Sonoita Preserve and Ash Canyon B&B. All were successful in terms of producing new birds for my year list and absolutely gorgeous places all around. I saw a female Blue-throated Hummingbird at Ramsey Canyon, which is operated and maintained by the Nature Conservancy and further up by the US Forest Service. I stayed the night at Carr Canyon to find the long-staying Tufted Flycatcher (code 5!) thanks to John Battiste and his crew. John then pointed me in the direction of Ash Canyon B&B to find a Lucifer's Hummingbird- a gorgeous creature that I was lucky to get an image of. 

I took a trip to Chiricahua National Monument just to see the sights. I managed to make a complete fool of myself and totally butchered the name "Chiricahua" to a Border Patrol officer. The look on his face as he tried to make coherent sense of what I had said is an image I will never forget. I spent sometime in the Chiricahua Mountains and managed to pick up a Mexican Chickadee and Montezuma Quail, as well as a thick layer of dust that I may never be able to clean out of the bed of my truck. 

I spent sometime bouncing between Tucson and Flagstaff for numerous birds. I got stuck in a hail storm and covered in mud while looking for Gray Vireo and Red-faced Warbler on Mount Lemmon outside Tucson (and dipped on both.) I got lucky enough to briefly catch the Common Crane that had been hanging out at Mormon Lake--terrible, almost heartbreaking looks from a maxed out scope, but a look nonetheless. I managed to get a Bendire's Thrasher fairly easily at Papago Park (only two attempts) while battling the common cold in 106 degree weather.  I visited Red Rock State Park one day and Montezuma Castle the next hoping for a residual Common Black Hawk and managed to find one hollerin' at nearby Montezuma Well!

On my way out of the state, I stopped to try to see at least one of the two Rose-throated Becard that had been hanging out at Tumacacori. I now deeply regret not going much sooner, as there was no reason other than pure absentmindedness. About two hours and twenty mosquito bites later, I left with no Becard, but still had plenty of beautiful memories of an amazing Arizona adventure. I may not be back this year, but I'll be back for you again one day, SE AZ! 

[viarexpeditionsguatemala-blog]

Birds Expeditions in Petén

This adventure is to know the different ecosystems we have in the Petén Region, where 60% of the bird species we have in the country are found

DAY ONE

07:10 | Pick you up at the airport to transfer you to Paso Caballos.  

11:00 | We take a boat to Estación Biológica Las Guacamayas. On the way to Paso Caballos we will bird watch all the way until we get to the Estación Biológica Las Guacamayas.

13:00 | We will have lunch at The Hotel Las Guacamayas.

15:00 | Bird watching around the Hotel.

19:00 | Dinner at the Hotel.                                                                                    

DAY TWO

We ask for breakfast to go and have breakfast while we are riding the boat, we will visit the Archeological site El Peru, we be able to watch birds of the season like Scarlet Macaws, Ornate Hawk Eagle, Common Black Hawk, Yucatan Woodpecker. By night we will go for a night adventure by the River Sacluc to watch Owls and Night creatures like Moreletti Crocodile.

DAY THREE

Hotel Las Guacamayas/ Jungle Lodge in Tikal                                        

07:00 | We take breakfast.

08:00 | Tour in the river for the water birds around the creeks near La Estación Biológica to observe: Heron, Egrets, Kingfishers, Sungrebe.  

13:00 | Transfer from Hotel Las Guacamayas to Tikal.  

18:30 | Arrival to Jungle Lodge in Tikal.                              .                                                    

DAY FOUR

04:00 | We meet at the Lobby of Jungle lodge to start walking for the Sunrise Tour, we walk to Temple IV and wait for the sunrise, after sunrise we take breakfast on the resting house in Temple IV.                                                

After breakfast we take a combined tour of Bird watching and archeology, we walk to the principal Plaza, we may watch the Orange Breasted Falcon, Crested Guan, Great Curassow, Black Faced Antthrush, Oropendula Montezuma.                                                                                                  

11:30 | We walk back to the Hotel, free time to relax and enjoy the Hotel.    

15:30 We walk to the south side of Tikal.

19:00 Dinner at the Hotel. (optional)                                                                                                    

DAY FIVE

06:30 | Breakfast

07:15 | Bird Watching tour on the old airstrip at Tikal, we might see Ocelated Turkey, Grey Throated Chat, Rose-Throated Tanager.  

12:00 | Departure to Santa Ana, lunch in the way El Remate (optional).          

14:00 | Arrival to Hotel Campestre Santa Ana, free time for you to relax.        

15:30 | Bird watching by the savannah in Santa Ana Petén, we might see, Black Cat Bird, Rose- Breasted Grosbeak, Botteris Sparrow, Vermilion Flycatcher, Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher.

18:00 | Dinner in Flores (optional).                                                                                                                                                                                  

DAY SIX

06:30 | Breakfast.    

07:30 | Bird watching in Ixpanpajul, Caves at La Cobanerita, we might see, Hook Billed Kite, Lessons Motmot, King Vulture, Lesser Yellow-Headed Vulture, Barn Owl.

13:00 | Lunch in Flores (optional).

15:30 | Birding in San Miguel, we might see Yucatan Jay, Yucatan Flycatcher, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Brown Jay.  

17:00 | Transfer to the Airport.                    

[thelostcanyon]

Botteri’s Sparrow (Peucaea botterii), J-Six Ranch, Cochise County, Arizona.

[sarkos]

"You've got Nuttall's woodpecker, and Cassin's vireo, Cassin's auklet, and then there's Botteri's sparrow, and Bachman's sparrow," he says. Kaufman, like many birders, hadn't paid much attention to the people behind the bird names. That is, until last year when he learned more about that last guy on his list. "John Bachman was a Lutheran minister in South Carolina," Kaufman says. "He also fancied himself to be a scientist," says Kaufman, "and part of what he wrote about was suggesting that whites were just naturally superior to members of other races." He says Bachman's theories supported efforts to justify slavery. "Once you start realizing that kind of thing about these historical characters," says Kaufman, "the bird names take on a more sinister tone." It's a tone that birding activists are trying to change.

Bird-Watching And Black People: 'Decolonize The Experience' : NPR

[ourtravelingtales]

Exploring the Grasslands

Cassin’s Sparrow was the only thing on my needs list, so we decided to check out Las Cienega where they had been previously been reported and then headed into the San Rafael Grasslands, mostly to take photos.

It was an overcast day, that lead to intermittent times of sprinkling rain. I guess the sparrows dig that weather because they were out and about. Grasshopper, Lark, Botteri’s but where…

[alonglistofbirds]

[1615/10977] Botteri's sparrow - Peucaea botterii

Order: Passeriformes Suborder: Passeri Superfamily: Emberizoidea Family: Passerellidae (new world sparrows)

Photo credit: Carlos Echeverría via Macaulay Library