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

I Found the Neighborhood Flicker

Vivian, an old friend that lives a few blocks away, told me there is a northern flicker in the neighborhood. Every time I talked to her it had just been there, but I never saw it.

Tall dead trees, or dead tops of trees (snags), are a boon to birds and birders. Apparently birds like to get up high and have a look around. When there are up there they are easy to see. I finally found the flicker in a eucalyptus snag on the east side of the neighborhood, two blocks from Vivian's house. I shouldn't have doubted.

Northern (red-shafted) flicker

I didn't get a great photo since it was far away. Northern flickers come in two types, ones with a reddish color in the shafts of the feathers (red-shafted) and ones with yellow in the shafts (yellow-shafted). Yellow-shafted northern flickers are very rare here; we have the red-shafted northern flicker. They can be found around town in the winter but head back north and up to the mountains to nest in the spring.

We also have gilded flickers, a whole different species mostly found in upland deserts where it makes holes in saguaros. It is superficially similar to the yellow-shafted northern flicker.

The merlin in my last post was on a different eucalyptus snag, but in the same part of the neighborhood.

There are still some wintering birds I expect to see in the neighborhood but haven't yet. Foremost among them is ruby-crowned kinglet. It's usually not hard to find in large trees in the winter. I thought there would be enough trees in the neighborhood that I would come across one.

As a consolation, there are a few wintering yellow-rumped warblers around. I found this one in a mesquite tree on Seneca near Catalina High School.

Yellow-rumped warbler

Let me know what birds you see around your, or our, neighborhood. Maybe it's one I haven't documented yet.

Meanwhile, "yay" for snags and mesquite trees!

A New Species Today in My Patch: Why Ever Leave?

The number of birds seen in my "patch" ticked upwards this morning. I was driving around the east side of the neighborhood looking for some alleged northern flickers (which I still haven't found) when I saw a small raptor high in a eucalyptus snag. This was on North Dodge next to Catalina High School. I assumed it was one of the local American kestrels but I figured I should check anyway. Instead of a kestrel, it was a merlin.

Merlin in the "hood"

Merlins are a kind of falcon, like kestrels, but a little bit bigger and less colorfully marked. They are grayish to brownish, heavily streaked on the underside and have only a slight vertical facial marking of the sort most falcons have. Merlins are seen around Tucson September through April, leaving to breed farther north. But even in the cool months they are rare.

That makes 31 species in the neighborhood since January 1. As I have noted, I keep track of bird sightings at eBird (www.ebird.org). EBird allows you to define one or more of your birding locations as your official "patch." I have defined my patch as consisting of both my neighborhood and my yard, which of course is in my neighborhood. I recommending using eBird to keep track of your sightings, whether you go birding a lot or just keep track of birds in your back yard.

I also continue to be amazed this morning about the number of well-wishers I meet. While I was photographing the merlin at the side of the road I heard a car pull up next to me. I tend to expect some level of hostility, or at least skepticism, from people that see me on a residential street with binoculars and a camera. But instead I heard the common birder phrase: "What da ya' got?" I said I had a merlin. He said, "Yeah, it looks a little bigger than a kestrel."

It turned out to be Greg, who works for WINGS Birding Tours (www.wingsbirds.com). We knew many people in common and spoke for quite a while until standing in the middle of the road became problematic. I gave him my card and I'm sure we'll meet again.

Later I drove over into the next neighborhood to the east, The Garden District. They have asked me to speak to the neighborhood association on March 18 and do a bird walk on April 5. I wanted to see what birds I could find over there. Stopping by the side of the street I pointed the camera up at a Eurasian collared-dove on a wire. A voice from a neighboring yard said, "Can I help you?" There was an initial level of suspicion!

I introduced myself and it turned out she was Melanie, a consultant trained in ecology. She had heard of me! She was also very interested in raising awareness of birds and ecology in the urban area and wanted to help by looking for useful project and grants. We had many common acquaintances. Two great connections made in one morning, only because I was out pointing the camera and binoculars at things. That's a good sign.

New Birds in the Neighborhood Patch

There are three new species to report in the Palo Verde Neighborhood for 2014! On Sunday I went on a bike ride, exploring some streets that I hadn't seen before. I had despaired of finding a cactus wren in the neighborhood, even though there seems to be plenty of little patches of cholla cactus for them to build their nests in. These patches seem all to be full of curve-billed thrashers.

However, on Sunday I located a pair of cactus wrens on North Chrysler Drive. Funny thing was that there was not a patch of vegetation there of the sort I associate with cactus wrens. I'm betting there's one nearby though. I didn't get a photo of them because I was shy about pointing the camera at a house whose owner I didn't know. But more about cactus wrens can be found here at AllAboutBirds.org.

Male house sparrow in front of a hole in a saguaro

On North Dodge Blvd., south of Seneca, I pulled into the parking lot north of the high school--near the pool--to look in some patches of vegetation. There was a saguaro there growing next to a tree. For a while I watched the house sparrows enter the holes in the saguaro--one female had nesting material in her bill at one point. In our urban areas often non-native house sparrows and starlings dominate the saguaro holes that might otherwise be used by native species.

White-crowned sparrow

There aren't a lot of white-crowned sparrows in our neighborhood this winter but there are a few, and I found one feeding on the ground near the same saguaro. I had to photograph it through the chainlink fence since there didn't seem to be any way to enter the area from the parking lot.

Then I heard a whistle. I immediately knew it wasn't something I'd seen before in the neighborhood. It was a Say's phoebe. This is a phoebe found from Alaska to Mexico but restricted to western states in the U.S. It was too far in to get a good photo through the fence, but again go here for a photo and more information.

Say's phoebe likes open spaces--much like the vermilion flycatcher that's also found around the athletic fields north of the high school. Schoolyards and parks with lots of open grass and trees or fences to perch on seem to work well for both of these species, with both also tolerating somewhat drier areas as long as there are bugs to eat. These two species are closely related flycatchers.

Black phoebe on a wire over a neighbor's yard, visible from my yard

A third flycatcher closely related to vermilion flycatcher and Say's phoebe is the black phoebe. It is not usually found in schoolyards and parks in Tucson because--of the three--black phoebe likes the wettest environments. It's usually found around streams and ponds where there is actually surface water, and the kinds of bugs that are associated with wet areas.

Black phoebe, poorly lit but clearly showing the upside-down
V where the black breast and white belly meet

Imagine my surprise then when, sitting in my back yard last this afternoon, I heard and then saw a black phoebe. It was over the wall of the yard hunting and perching on wires and branches in the back yards of two neighbors. How did it find its way here? I'll be watching for it to see if it sticks around or moves on in search of happier hunting grounds.

List of 30 bird species in the neighborhood so far in 2014:

Gambel's Quail
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove 
White-winged Dove 
Mourning Dove 
Great Horned Owl
Anna's Hummingbird 
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Gila Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Common Raven
Verdin
Cactus Wren
Curve-billed Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird 
European Starling 
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Abert's Towhee 
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal 
Pyrrhuloxia 
Great-tailed Grackle
House Finch 
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Near-urban Birding in the Santa Catalina Mountains

We should delight in the pockets of wildness in our urban areas.

But once in a while you have to escape. Brian Nicholas and I recently birded an urban-adjacent resource--the Santa Catalina Mountains. They are much bigger than a "pocket," but most parts of these mountains are within a 20-mile radius of central Tucson--an informal limit I've put on birding defined as in or near Tucson. Brian and I, and Janine McCabe, form a Tucson Audubon Birdathon team that may use that "limit" to designate the area in which we will do our Birdathon fundraiser in April. Stand by to support OUR TEAM!

Loggerhead shrike

From Brian's neighborhood on the east side of Tucson we drove five miles up the gently-rising alluvial fan. We passed through diverse, high desert vegetation dominated by mesquites and saguaros till we reached the base of the mountains, and then continued up through more rugged cactus-filled low mountain slopes.

Bridled titmouse

At Molino Basin you are arriving in a high grassland environment with a smattering of oaks. You don't necessarily think of the side of a mountain as loggerhead shrike habitat, but if there are open grasslands with perches from which to hunt, I guess the topography doesn't matter so much.

Black-chinned sparrow

The Arizona Trail east from the Molino Basin parking lot takes you into the oaks. I hadn't gone been in there much in the winter so I didn't know what to expect. But scrub jays were a pleasant find, and I realized that I hadn't seen a bridled titmouse for quite some time. Three wrens (rock, canyon and Bewick's) were around, with the canyon wren always winning for best singer with its downward cascading whistles.

Brian sussed out what he thought was a black-chinned sparrow. There are not a lot of these around the Tucson area and the grasslands around Molino Basin are one of the possible places to find them.

We stalked it for quite a while trying to get a good look at it--and a good photo. The photo to the right was the best I could do.

Pipevine swallowtail

There were a remarkable number of pipevine swallowtails, and some other butterflies, flitting around. We chased one of them as well for a while, trying to get a photo. What a brilliant thing to see on a winter day.

Of course it hasn't been a typical winter. We've had weeks upon weeks of temperatures significantly above normal. It makes me wonder if seeing that many of any butterfly is normal for February. One can't help think that the weather has had something to do with it.

Yellow-eyed junco

In fact Brian was in shorts! (See the last photo below.) There are certainly some winters when a trip that eventually takes you to nearly 9,000 feet elevation would force even Brian into long pants. But this wasn't one of those days and this isn't one of those winters.

Red-breasted nuthatch

At Bear Canyon, straight out of the car, there was a yellow-eyed junco on the ground. Brian noticed that it had been banded with metal and colored plastic leg bands. This one had two green bands on its left leg and a silver metal band over a red band on its right leg. Bird banders use combinations of bands like this so that people with binoculars, like us, can see a combination of bands that distinctly identifies an individual.

Further on at the ski area near Summerhaven we watched some more birds on the ground. I don't think I had ever seen a red-breasted nuthatch on the ground, so I got a photo of that! There was also a mountain chickadee foraging nearby.

It's wonderful to have resources like the Santa Catalina Mountains so close to Tucson. Within a 20-mile radius of Tucson one wonders at the avian diversity that can be seen.

Brian Nicholas, shorts, snow!