It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

The Christmas song is wrong. The most wonderful time of the year is spring!

Janine McCabe took this photo of Brian Nicholas and me
near Gordon Hirabayashi Camp during our Birdathon

In southeast Arizona migration is wonderfully drawn out, with some migrants appearing very early in the year. Many of the other early migrants are in place looking for nesting opportunities by mid March. More continue to arrive in April, some arriving to nest and others just passing through. By the end of April we've reached one of the two points of the year with the most avian diversity.

I've neglected my blog posts. Work and birding take up a lot of time this time of year.

Pine siskin in Sumerhaven

On April 26 my Team did our Birdathon fundraiser for Tucson Audubon Society. In this fundraiser, sponsors pledge per bird species and teams try to see as many species as possible within 24 hours. The end of April is a nice time for it, not only because of the available bird diversity, but because the weather is usually very nice. In comparison to August, the other height of bird diversity, birds are more vocal in spring--singing to define their territory and attract a mate. This makes them easier to find.

We decided to limit the area where we could go birding to Tucson and its immediate vicinity. This would make it an opportunity to show people Tucson's avian riches. It would also mean that we

Black-crowned night-heron at Reid Park

would be driving less and birding more--more species per gallon of gas! We decided we would stay within a 20-mile radius of Reid Park. This still gave us a lot of latitude--the top of Mt. Lemmon, the east, south and west sides of Tucson, Catalina State Park were all inside the circle.

We met at 1 a.m. to look, or rather listen, for owls in northeast Tucson. We moved up the Mt. Lemmon highway to find higher elevation owls and other night birds like Mexican Whip-Poor-Wills. It got windy and it was hard to hear anything but dawn came and we birded for hours in the

Neotropic cormorants at Reid Park

mountains seeing many, though not all, of the species that can be seen up there.

We came down the mountain and visited an area along Tanque Verde Wash, getting lucky and finding the gray hawk that has been in that area. Other stops were Reid Park, University of Arizona Farm, Sweetwater Wetlands and Crossroads Park in Marana.

When all was said and done we had seen 134 species. We feel we've set the baseline for the number of species that can be seen in 24 hours in

Common yellowthroat at Sweetwater Wetlands

this area. We hope others will take us up on a big day competition in this circle.

What a glorious town! There are so many kinds of birds just a short drive away. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

More species--some of the late migrants--show up in our region in May. I'll be watching for those in the days to come.

White-winged doves at sundown, Crossroads Park

What's in Your Neighborhood? The Garden District Tries to Answer that Question

The Garden District, the next neighborhood east of mine, got wind of my effort to promote urban birds and birding. They asked me to do a bird walk. I agreed and Meg and Kris, from the neighborhood association, arranged for me to lead a walk yesterday (Saturday) morning at 7 a.m.

Let me know if this is something you would like to do in your neighborhood!

I went over about 6:45 a.m. and met about 10 residents. Our hostess, Lisa, set out a great spread of coffee cake, orange juice and strawberries. Lisa's partner Michael, a biologist, was quite knowledgeable about neighborhood birds--I could tell right away he'd be an asset as we walked around the neighborhood.

A big thank you to the Kris Yarter of the Garden District for supplying the next two photos.

Gathering at Lisa's house before the walk (Kris Yarter)

The group stops to watch white-winged doves and Gila woodpeckers (Kris Yarter)

We set out through the neighborhood seeing plenty of house finches, house sparrows, mourning doves, white-winged doves and lesser goldfinches. When we arrived at a large, corner lot with a lot of native vegetation, the first thing we spotted was not a bird but a swarm of bees that had spent the night in a blue palo verde along the street. We gave it a wide berth and learned later that it had moved on later in the day.

Honey bee swarm in a palo verde

Other finds were made here including an early-blooming saguaro that was attracting birds and bees.

Curve-billed thrasher among saguaro flowers, and a bee

Saguaros provide food and nesting opportunities to birds. It's not always the woodpecker holes that provide a place to nest. This rotten section of a saguaro arm made the perfect nesting spot for this dove.

Dove on a nest in a saguaro arm

I've also heard of Lucy's warblers nesting in tiny rot-holes and of course some large raptors like Harris's hawks and caracaras have been known to build their nests in saguaros.

Later we saw vermilion flycatchers in two different places. Both times we saw evidence of family life. I knew about one at the elementary school yard and on this occasion we found both the adult male (pictured below--an earlier photo of the same male) and an immature individual, apparently a fledged young-of-the-year. Also, in a back yard along an alley we found a male feeding a female that was sitting on a nest!

Here's a photo of the male vermilion flycatcher at the school yard I took a while back.

Vermilion flycatcher on the elementary school fence, Garden District

In the same alley from which we saw the flycatcher nest we heard incessant singing of a Lucy's warbler. It turned out there was a pair of them acting as if on a nesting territory. I want to go back and track down whether there is a nest in that area. I thought it was rare for them to nest in residential areas, so I want to follow up. In the same alley--let's call it the "magic alley" since we saw so much there--we saw an Abert's towhee fly up to a fence, sit for a minute, and then disappear out of sight.

Back at Lisa's house after the walk, an Abert's towhee showed up at her seed feeder. Michael said that although they've come in the past, it had been some weeks since the last sighting. Today Lisa emailed that they are still coming to the feeder, and that she was attributing that to my influence! Perhaps I can take credit for heightening their vigilance in observing the feeder. In any case it was a successful morning of meeting new neighborhood birders and enjoying nature in a residential setting.

Here is the complete list of species seen during the walk:

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Domestic type))
White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica)
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri)
Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis)
Empidonax sp. (Empidonax sp.)--probably a migrating cordilleran or pacific-slope flycatcher
Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus)
Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps)
Cactus Wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus)
Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre)
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Lucy's Warbler (Oreothlypis luciae)
Abert's Towhee (Melozone aberti)
Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)
Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Just Passing Through, May Stick Around a Couple Days

Certain birds just pass through Tucson in spring migration. While spring migrants are expected in a general sense, they're always a  pleasant surprise in the moment you see them. Many only stay a day or two. The latest issue of Tucson Audubon's Vermilion Flycatcher (Vol. 59, No. 2) is about Wilson's warblers' migratory stopovers and what we can do to help them fatten up for their continued journey.

One of the most dramatic neighborhood migratory surprises came last Monday morning as I attempted to back out of the driveway. It was much bigger than a Wilson's warbler. Through the back window of the car I saw a hawk rise up out of the neighborhood to the south. The General Impression of Size and Shape, or "GISS" (yes, that's a term birders use) was of something larger than a Cooper's hawk but not as broad-winged as a red-tailed hawk.

I put the car in neutral and got out. The wings were a little pointy and swept forward; there was a brown hood; the leading edges of the wings were white. It was a Swainson's hawk! It circled once and headed northwest. This was my first sighting of this species in the neighborhood and I realized I had the camera in the car. So I got back in the car and took off after it!

Swainson's hawk, April 7, 2014, Palo Verde Neighorhood

I chased it west into the next neighborhood, driving by a coworker's house on the way. Part of me wanted to let her know this bird was in her neighborhood, but I knew if I stopped to knock on the door or call I would loose track of it.

Finally after another three blocks it stopped and circled on a thermal, trying to gain altitude. I got out with the camera and got a pretty decent photo. After appreciating the experience for a little while longer, I headed off to work.

In other raptor news, young Cooper's hawks have been out of the nest and flying around for at least a couple weeks now. Here's one from about a week ago. Notice the little hummingbird to the right that was hovering around up there too! I like to think it was saying "Bet you can't catch me!"

Immature Cooper's hawk, early April 2014

In my last blog I mentioned a Cassin's vireo that showed up in an acacia a half-block from the house while I was walking the dogs. On Wednesday morning, as I was leaving home to visit's the Patons' house in Patagonia, Arizona, I heard another vireo nearby. I saw it fly into the big mesquite in my back yard and, behold, it was a plumbeous vireo. This vireo is closely related to the Cassin's, once having been considered the same species (solitary vireo). Plumbeous, as the name suggests, is grayer while Cassin's is washed with yellow-green. See more about plumbeous vireo at AllAboutBirds.org.

Later at the Paton house in Patagonia I enjoyed views of a long list of birds including my "first of year" gray hawk, canyon towhee, western tanager, black-headed grosbeak, brown-headed cowbird and lazuli bunting. Hmm, somebody ought to start a urban birder blog for Patagonia!

What's Birds are Missing from Your Neighborhood?

Cassin's vireo was a surprise visitor to the neighborhood last week. I had not seen it in the neighborhood this year, or ever for that matter. I didn't get a photo of it because, again, I didn't take the camera. It was just a short walk around the block with the dogs! Cassin's vireos are migrating through our area on their way from Mexico to the Pacific Northwest and southwest Canada.You can learn more about Cassin's vireo here.

Northern mockingbird on a wire, Palo Verde Neighborhood

A friend wrote that when she saw her neighborhood mockingbird on a telephone pole she thought of me. It had appeared at just the time of day it always does. I hope that means she thinks of me as reliable. Maybe it's just that birds remind people of me. It's nice to have those reliable old friends in the neighborhood, as well as the surprise species.

That reminded me of when I lived in central Mexico and a visiting ornithologist commented that the habitat there should be good for mockingbirds. But there were few to be found. He speculated that mockingbirds hatchlings were easy to capture and sell in the cage-bird trade. In fact, I saw many mockingbirds in cages. They are good singers and they livened up courtyards all around the city.

Cactus wren in a cholla, Palo Verde Neighborhood

Thinking of that made me wonder what birds aren't here that should be. I have noticed that cactus wrens are not as common as I expected. Just today I found a cactus wren for only the second time. They are curious and unafraid, experimental and canny. You'd think these would be great traits for adapting to urban areas, and that they'd be common. When I worked at the VA Medical Center in an old, two-story wooden building, sometimes birds wandered in to the screened porch area--or were scared in by passing cars. Mourning doves and Gila woodpeckers came in pretty often and had a devil of a time finding their way out. Cactus wrens came in on purpose, though holes in the screens or the broken door. They foraged for food or nesting materials, and then went out the way they got it--which they apparently remembered. I never had to rescue them. Why are these adaptable birds almost absent from my neighborhood?

Rachael McCaffrey, in her doctoral studies at the University of Arizona, found that if her urban study plots had cholla cacti, she would more frequently find cactus wrens. They like to nest in the cacti. The presence of a place to nest seemed all that was really necessary. Chollas are not a very common landscaping choice around here, so maybe that explains it. However, there are some places that have them. Interestingly, where they do occur many of them have thrasher nests. Few have cactus wrens. I wonder what's going on. They are known to compete with thrashers for nesting space.

Maybe it's less of a surprise to find a Cassin's vireo than I thought.

Early or Late, Urban or Rural... Take the Camera!

It's Sunday. This morning I was awake with no plans to get out of bed. It was early, but I didn't have to be anywhere for a while. Unfortunately my alarm makes a distinct click at the set time, even if the alarm is turned off. I heard the click. That always sends a pulse of adrenalin through me, as if I were one of Pavlov's dogs. I stayed in bed for a while on principle and then got up. The click meant it was 5:30 a.m., the time I got up the day before.

There was no photo of the roadrunner in this story, but this
one was seen on 3/21/2014 at Atturbury Wash. I also saw
my first black-chinned hummingbird of the year that morning.

On Saturday mornings I usually either work or I go birding--at least a little. But Sunday mornings are almost always kept free. It's a half-day when neither my wife nor I work or leave the house alone. But this morning I had to open up the Audubon library for a class given by the Sonoran Permaculture Guild, and see that it got off to a good start.

I decided to get there 15 minutes early and walk around the small, one block-square park that's just north of the office. It would be a brief stop at a postage stamp-sized park, just to say I had done some urban birding that day. And it would be pretty late in the morning; almost three hours after sunrise. I didn't take the camera, since there would be only house finches, grackles, pigeons and starlings.

From a half-block away I could see pigeons and starlings. But one of the fist birds I saw as I stepped into the park was a northern flicker (red-shafted variety). It was on the ground along the edge of the park, using its bill to flick up the dirt along the edge of the sidewalk; looking for insects like a thrasher. It was very close to me.

Then I saw a greater roadrunner on the sidewalk across the street. It was facing away from the sun with the feathers on its back parted to let sunlight warm its skin. Now I really wished I had the camera. You don't see a lot of roadrunners in midtown.

Continuing around the park I saw a hummingbird fly over and a male vermilion flycatcher in a tree (there really is one in every park!). Two Eurasian collared-doves chased each other around the park. A northern mockingbird sang and then a cardinal sang. Or was it just a northern mockingbird?

To top it off a coyote trotted along the sidewalk across the street. Surprisingly it wasn't chasing the roadrunner!

Early Spring Brings Early Spring Birds

In conservation change is usually bad. Habitats change, climates change, bird populations change. Usually they go down.

In birding, change is good. Like when the seasons change. New birds show up.

It's mid March and the Sonoran Desert winter is giving way to Sonoran Desert spring. Gardeners know there is generally no frost after March 15. With this change come the early spring birds. A good two months before the big rush of migrants through the Midwest and East, we start our migrant excitement.

This morning I heard and saw my first Lucy's warbler of the season. It was right in my own neighborhood. No photos--it moved fast and was out of sight before I could squeeze the trigger.

Sonoran Desert spring is a pleasant season bird-wise. Wintering birds linger, many stay all the way into May. You see them side by side with the incoming nesters and the migrants that are just passing through. Many are signing their hearts out. It is a noisy time.

I visited the Rillito Weed Patch last Monday and there were northern rough-winged swallows feeding. Flying in no particular direction, this way and that, a little higher a little lower, they were catching bugs on the wing. Underneath them on the ground were wintering vesper sparrows and a couple of rufous-winged sparrows.

The Rillito Weed Patch demonstrates another difference between conservation and birding, and another instance of "change is good." If you drive north on North Columbus Blvd it dead ends at the Rillito (the "Little River"--now a large dry wash). Walking north from the end of the road you look to the left and see a weedy area, full of invasive species. This is the "Weed Patch." To your right is an area that is beautifully restored with diverse native plants, sinuous re-engineered drainages and lots of habitat for native bird species. Birders have no name for that area. Nothin'. On the eBird map it's just a blank. (Pima County calls it the Rillito River Ecosystem Restoration Area.)

The restoration area has lots of birds but they are the typical Sonoran Desert species, black-tailed gnatcatchers, verdins, curve-billed thrashers. In contrast, some rare species have shown up at the Weed Patch, constituting a change from the ordinary. Dickcissel, sage thrasher, gray vireo, indigo bunting, Cassin's sparrow, yellow-breasted chat and others have appeared. The normal background desert birds are wonderful--they deserve to be counted too!

If birders ever got into landscaping on a large scale who knows what might happen! Weeds, weeds everywhere!

Rillito Weed Patch and Rillito River Ecosystem Restoration Area

Unpredictable Results, Good Finds

There was an article in the paper this morning about scientists planning unmanned missions to Europa, a moon of Jupiter. Some suspect that oceans exist under a thick layer of ice, and a recent study suggests that layer might be about 7 kilometers thick. There could be life in those oceans. There are real unknowns up there that a mission could answer.

Vermilion flycatcher at Wright Elementary in the Garden District

That's how I feel every time I go birding. I have an idea what I might find, but it's impossible to be sure and there might be surprises. Nobody can know.

I suppose this is behind a lot of hobbies. What's the next unusual stamp a stamp collector will find? What's the next rare coin? What novel chess move will your opponent make? Will you find a nugget while panning for gold? What heirloom garden plant will you try next?

This morning I took a brief spin through the Garden District Neighborhood, where I will speak to the neighborhood association on March 18. Not any surprises but 14 species was not bad for a residential area with just homes and a schoolyard.

Variant American wigeon at Ft. Lowell Park

It was interesting to see both vermilion flycatcher and Say's phoebe at the school, the same as at the schoolyard in my neighborhood. I have come to expect a vermilion flycatcher at such places but I am a little more surprised at the regularity of Say's phoebe. I guess I need to visit other schoolyards and test whether vermilion flycatcher is really more reliably found than Say's phoebe.

Then I headed to Fort Lowell Park. This proved to be a visit with 25 well-known bird friends and Sheila, overseer of the Friends of Fort Lowell Park. She was setting up for a gathering of volunteers. They were to do some maintenance at the pond where they have worked with the parks department to fence an area by the pond for ducks and other birds, and plant native plants.

Ring-necked duck at Ft. Lowell Park

Sheila pointed out the unusual American wigeon that's been there all winter--one of about 40 wigeons on the pond. A while back when I passed on Sheila's report of this bird to Mark Stevenson (the real king of Tucson urban birding!). He said he'd seen this "all-creamy-white-except-for-the-green-swirl" bird. A normal variant, he said. American wigeons usually have gray on the side of the head below the "green swirl," with bright white only on the forehead and the top of the head.

There was an impressive male ring-necked duck as well. There were no big hints of spring--I'd hoped to pick up one of the early migrants that birders are starting to report via the birding listserv (choose "Arizona and New Mexico" and hit go), but no luck there. Still it was pleasing to find a red-tailed hawk building a nest in the same tree as last year, and two Cooper's hawks cruising around together looking like fighter jets looking for a dogfight.

Inca dove along Tanque Verde Loop Road

I went on to Tanque Verde Loop Road, where it crosses the Tanque Verde Wash. I don't get why they call it "loop," since it just goes in a straight line, but this is a great birding spot. A bit dangerous walking on the shoulder of the road with cars whizzing by. But who would have predicted I would see two male and two female vermilion flycatchers chasing after each other almost continuously through the trees, or 16 common ravens soaring in big circles joined by a red-tailed hawk (which, for once, they didn't chase off).

Who would have predicted I would find that this is still one of the last strongholds in Tucson of the Inca dove. Once common around town it has almost disappeared, but I heard one behind a thick hedge and then another one came out and perched nicely for me.

Perhaps the only best harbinger of spring the whole day wasn't a bird, but a