Palo Verde Neighborhood--New 2014 Birds Today

My mission to document neighborhood birds got a nice jolt this morning when I saw two species I had not seen yet this year. I reveal them below.

Vermilion flycatcher, Catalina High School

I had taken to the streets first by bicycle and then walking the dogs. While walking the dogs my camera and binoculars again drew attention. I man named Pete, also walking two small dogs, asked what I was seeing. I described some of the morning's finds. He seemed to accept that I was okay. Not one person has yet failed to believe my story that I'm documenting birds in the neighborhood (and not casing the area for homes that I could burglarize!). Again, the cuteness and friendliness of the dogs was working in my favor. And it probably helped that I could name some birds that I had seen.

Before all that I started with a ride over to the high school athletic field where, not unpredictably, I found the male vermilion flycatcher that I saw yesterday and reported in my last post. In the morning sun its red crown and underside was brilliant. Really they are almost always brilliant; probably the brightest natural color in our part of the world.

I also saw white-winged dove again today. I don't know if this was the same individual I saw before several blocks away or another. I know there is at least one in the neighborhood this winter. A Cooper's hawk perched alertly above one of the properties where I see a lot of birds--one of the two places in the neighborhood I regularly see quail. Eventually I'll get a photo of one of the quail. The hawk didn't try to catch anything while I was around.

American kestrel

Along the way I also saw the second American kestrel of the year in the Palo Verde Neighborhood. This bodes well for the experimental nest box program Tucson Audubon is running this spring. We will get boxes out for kestrels and some other birds to see if they will nest in them. The conventional wisdom is that boxes get too hot here for successful nesting. However, we have heard about enough successes with boxes that we are bucking the trend and giving it a try. If we can determine how to make them work here (choosing the right box design, putting them in the shade, insulating them) we can start a nest box promotion program that might interest many new Tucsonans in conservation and the Audubon movement.

Abert's towhee

Somewhat ironically, it was not until I got back home that I saw today's two new birds for the neighborhood. I had sat down in the back yard to enter sightings in eBird when two birds landed on the wall of the back yard--both Abert's towhees. This is is known as a bird of riparian forests and thickets. It is not found in great numbers in our region but it is found very reliably along remaining streams and along healthy washes. It does, however, turn up in Tucson neighborhoods--perhaps especially the older ones with more mature vegetation. I'd like to find out what it is they need to survive and reproduce in our neighborhood. Perhaps we can replicate that in other neighborhoods.

Eurasian collared-dove

The last new bird of the day alerted me to its presence with low, whistled too-TOOOO-to, too-TOOOO-to. Up on the telephone pole in the alley was a Eurasian collared-dove. Relatively new to Tucson, this species has been moving across the country from Florida where it first appeared in 1982. Read about its rapid colonization of North America here.

That's all the neighborhood bird news for today!