A Birder's Kaleidoscope
When I reflect on my year so far, I think of all the things I've accomplished and all that is yet to come. For many years, I was bird focused. I'm not so crazy as I was like in previous years. I notice it in my behaviors these days. Part of it has to do with the heat but the other half is that my birding style has changed to incorporate more things than just bird. I see my birder friends and they are still chasing the same birds in the same places searching for that rarity. Kudos to them for doing so! But I've lost that drive. Instead I'm focused on what's flying around me, saving gas, money, time and not putting so many miles on my car.
I think with the gas prices higher than normal, I've been more conservative with my treks. I've also decided to save that 200 dollar splurge a weekend and save it for far away travel. I've been enjoying weekends around home working on house projects, gardening and local birding. I wish I could teach people 24/7 about birds but I am needed in the teaching sector right now. My work has doubled since last year as many quit this profession. Little by little, I find myself not birding as much or not having the energy to bird.
My specific work with people on these tours is to help them ID the sparrows. It's nice to have someone point them out, but I hope that they feel better about sparrow ID after our morning sessions. I specifically work on Botteri's, Cassin's, Grasshopper and Lark Sparrow ID. Our secondary goal into the grasslands is to find Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Chihuahuan Meadowlarks and Ravens and Yellow-breasted Chats along with pronghorn and snakes. But what I've found is that it's the breathtaking landscapes that sweep people off their feet. I love the grasslands so very much and I hope that people on the tour fall in love with them after our trek out to the Ciénegas.
Cassin's Sparrows were playing tricky this year but a few came out for great views as they skylarked high into the air.
So on my weekends, I've needed some respite alone. It's how I deal with things when it gets crazy. Nature is healing and on one particular day, I braved the heat to observe this beautiful Berylline Hummingbird in Madera Canyon. It's a rare Mexican migrant that visits Arizona throughout the year. I've seen it several times this year on birding treks to Mexico but I wanted to just "be" with the bird at the feeders for some one-on-one time.
In my garden, I've watched my Broad-billed Hummingbird nest and lay 2 eggs. This will most likely be her final nest in our garden for the year. Broad-billed Hummingbirds begin nesting around the middle of March and will continue nesting until the beginning of October. The first nest was on our oak tree in the courtyard. She was successful and raised 2 lovely hummers.
I have both the male and female here. The male is always more colorful. During the nesting, he stays far away from the female as to not attract attention to the nest. If he gets too close, the female chases him away.
The months of August and September are great to come to Southeastern Arizona. While our local Broad-billed Hummingbirds stay around all year in Tucson, there is a larger population that heads back down to Mexico. I find that to be a curiosity among their populations.
New birds to the state list are difficult to come by these days as there aren't many. A rare Blue-winged Warbler was hanging out at the Gilbert Water Ranch and I was in the mood to chase. It has been months since I had done one so I was up for the fun. It's the one "rare" time I see all my chasing birder friends. There are always some new members to the group. More and more, I don't recognize the faces anymore as there are so many new birders out there. As of today, I have seen 490 bird species in Arizona. I'm getting closer to that 500 mark. I've only added 4 new birds this year, but they were definitely good ones which also surprisingly includes, the related Golden-winged Warbler! Both are extremely RARE to AZ!
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