Closure
Red-faced Warblers are thick on Mt. Lemmon
This past month has been full of life transitions. After one of the most difficult years of my life in teaching, I am leaving the school that I began for 20+ years and moving to a smaller middle school from the high school where I will be a Spanish teacher of one!
Very little of my own birding has happened because work had taken over my life. I have fixed it now and escaped the toxic goo that put me into a funk. There were a few highlights during the month of May which I could look forward to like our Wrenegades competition for Tucson Audubon. We went out and raised money for Southeastern Arizona. From left to right. In the pic above, we have Chris, who has his podcast, Looking At Birds, then it's me, the other Chris who captures pics of the birds and uses his magical hearing abilities to ID birds, Sara(middle) is our spirited energy that keeps us going. She does some of the driving and sees birds sneaking through areas silently. Matt is also one of our drivers and also has that uncanny ability to spot rare birds hiding behind grasses or deep inside of trees. Jennie is our team captain who brings a lot of knowledge and expertise to the planning. And finally team member Tim is the strategic planner. Every year it is fascinating to try out his number's game and plans. Together we create the Wrenegades. Every. Single. Team. Member. is top notch. It's a very talented crew and we come together each year to see how many birds we can find in one day.
A Yellow-breasted Chat is quite vocal
I'll be honest. I start off strong and by the end of the day, I just want to go into a corner and sleep. It ain't easy. The important part is to stay hydrated throughout the day. If one of us forgets, it's painful to watch our team member get headaches or super tired. So we cheer each other on and remind each other to eat and drink.
I thought this tree might start throwing apples at us!
By the end of the day, I start observing trees with faces. We visit almost every type of habitat possible.
It was our visit to the hot unfiltered sun over Willcox that tried to kill our spirit this year. It's a beautiful place but the heat saps all the energy out of the body. We scope the lake for birds and find many gems hidden amongst the hundreds of common ones.
Super rare and only found in Arizona in its northern most range, the chocolate tones of the gorgeous Five-striped Sparrow
I focused on sparrows during this birdathon to keep me actively interested. It's not that I'm NOT interested in what we are doing but I have to get pics of birds for my team member's reports. And I have a million photos of the same birds from over the years but somehow, those sparrows still get me excited. Southeastern Arizona has so many of them. Some people do books on raptors, warblers or ducks. I would do one on sparrows. A detailed photo of a sparrow is both elegant and eye popping. Take for example the chocolate tones of the Five-striped Sparrow above or the rufous splashes on the Rufous-winged Sparrow below.
another excellent sparrow, the endemic Rufous-winged Sparrow
It's lovely in the morning here during the months of May and June in southeastern Arizona. However, it quickly heats up. And that's when it isn't fun anymore.
Is that a Common ground dove or a nesting Greater Roadrunner we hear? It's the dove!
During our Big Day, we saw collectively 155 species of bird and I had 156. However, it only counts if we all collectively heard or spotted the bird as a group. OR if I got pics. I was coming back from the bathroom so unfortunately, there are always the one or two species that got away.
Over this past year, I have put on weight and feel my age. Last year I felt great. With the new changes this summer beginning, I already am feeling better. But it will take time. When I left that job, I felt a decade of weight lifted from my shoulders. Sometimes we realize we should have made the changes way earlier.
A Gould's Turkey figures out a way to make that feeder work in her favor
I began to feel things were starting to unwind at my work place. We had black mold in the beginning of the year that affected my ability to hear birds(terrible since I was guiding groups at that time!) and students. They said it was fine but it felt like a lie. Then there was no paper to make copies. And teachers around me started to feel worn down and not supported. It felt more like the end of the year instead of the beginning of the year. It started to eat at me and I knew I had to do something. Drugs were rampant on campus. Attendance, even unexcused, was excused. Some students had more than 40+ absences! Grades. Oh grades. Everyone was to be given half credit even when they didn't do the work! Students were not giving teachers their best and D's were suddenly okay. The aftermath of covid has eventually caught up. By the end, 18+ legacy admin, teachers and counselors left their jobs for other places. Many of us opened the school together and it was a bittersweet feeling. We were happy to be moving on but sad to leave our students behind. I was proud of the work I had done for two decades. But this year was too much. It was time to take my talents elsewhere.
Northern Cardinals make the world a better place
I had a lot of anger. Everything I had done over the decades was so easily thrown away and no one cared. I threw away years of work and experience into the trash bin. And there was no one to replace me! The teacher shortage across this country is real. I cleaned out my HUGE classroom and had things ready to move. I am fortunate to be working near a nature preserve now just minutes away from my school. I am also looking forward to ending my career working with middle school kids. I began my career with middle school and had a blast. However, academically, I wanted to teach AP and I did so for most of my career. Now it's time to teach kids how to be students again and prepare them for high school. It's a full circle. The worst part was that everything around my now old high school was being destroyed. Beautiful desert habitat was replaced with cookie cutter homes. And my birds were no longer there. "Follow the signs", they warned me.
This is my new classroom and I have a little bit of work to do:) For many, this probably looks fine but it's a typical and traditional way to set up a classroom. First off, the teacher's desk should never be in the front of the room. It should be in the back where one can watch for cheating and shenanigins:) Plus, it's not about the teacher; it's about the students. The secret to creating a new family is to have learning centers. These are places that the students will feel comfortable and safe while learning together in different places around the classroom.
I can't wait to get my hands on the design once everything arrives from my old school. These new students and school are in for a treat. I'm not bragging because it's a job. It's what I was trained to do and I take my job with my students very seriously. I SHOULD know what to do. The older a teacher is; the easier the job can be. Sadly, I don't see that anymore with many new hires. A happy job climate means I get to do more birding! When I found out that I'd be working for one of the best middle schools in the area, my spark came back. I cannot wait to watch these young kids get excited about learning Spanish. Every age group has a special approach. But the bigger sign? When I first arrived on the campus, there were SO many birds singing everywhere as if to welcome me to my new work home.
Anyone who says sparrows are not their thing, I beg them to look at this Grasshopper Sparrow
My personal goal is to get my groove back again. I have enjoyed Arizona birds for many years. There isn't really any more mystery to finding them. Now when I go out, it's with people to help them KNOW our Arizona birds so that they can pass that information on to other birders. My true life's work is outside of this country now.
Arizona Woodpecker early morning at the Santa Rita Lodge in Madera Canyon
I want that spark again to come back for me in birding as well. Watching others find their lifers here is contagious and helps me keep going.
To understand a bird is to know a bird. I remember when I first began birding that I thought sparrows were impossible to ID. I thought I'd never be able to tell the difference between a Botteri's or Cassin's Sparrow let alone find my own. Today, I can communicate with any one of them and get close observations. But it has taken years of experience and study to get to this point in my life. It's not impossible, but you have to really love birds and not just look at them and move on. It is known that the longer one birds, the more s/he notices the details. The two things that I love now as a birder are seeing unique behaviors/hearing new vocalizations and playing detective. Chasing birds is a rare thing for me to do. Gas is expensive and my home is a sanctuary for some amazing birds. No need to leave as much anymore on my free time.
The Wrenegades were telling me to hurry up, but I was communing with this Botteri's Sparrow.
When I say that anyone's yard can be "THE PLACE" to bird, I am not joking. Every day it surprises me. Even in my urban world of midtown Tucson, I get 20+ species in my yard every day. I sleep with the windows open at night so I can hear all the night birds as well as the early birds coming to my feeders. Everything is run on solar including the night lights and bird bath. All I have to do is clean out the bird bath and keep those feeders full:)
It can be so hot during the day that many birders climb to the higher elevations for cooler temps. The vampire society comes out at night and hides in their homes during the hot summer days.
We, Tucson birders, also take trips to far away places to escape the heat. I will be leaving for winter soon. I have some house and classroom projects that need to get done in June. Then in July, I leave for winter. I am tired and have earned this trip. Currently, I am enjoying the time at home with my hubby and cats. I am exhausted and just want to stay inside my place reading articles, watching TV, painting, planning and cleaning our home.
The grace and beauty of a Red-faced Warbler
This summer marks a change in my life as one chapter ends and another begins. Retirement is knocking at my door and I love it but I'm also a bit scared! My days are getting closer to wearing that Park Ranger hat. The last stretch will fly by quickly. I am working with people who really care about kids again. It has always been about the kids. They are the ones that carry our message out into this great big world. They are my legacy. I just need a supported and safe place with people who care about our kids to do my work. I had many interviews with principals and had been offered positions, but during those interviews, I was also listening to the principal to see if they cared about the kids. When I found the right person, I accepted the spot. Then I found out he was a former student of the original principal who I served for 7 years at my old school as Department Chair. I saw yet another sign. I loved working with him. Sam, my former high school principal, passed away last year from a long illness. We said our final good-byes and it was difficult. Never had I thought it would come full circle. It was as if Sam was telling me it was okay to move on. I see in this new principal the same dedication and care that Sam had when we opened the school together.
My new younger audience will hear the stories of the great adventures ahead searching for the planet's birds while also learning about birds, cats and of course everything they've ever wanted to know about Spanish and more. They'll hear about the people involved in our treks while also learning about how to work together as a team and a family. I smile at the work that is to come. My high school students loved it and I think the younger ones will as well. In fact, I have some former students who are now teachers at that school! It is weird. When did they become SO old?!
With every sighting of a Red-faced Warbler, Botteri's Sparrow or Short-tailed Hawk, I am brought back into perfect balance. The toxic goo of this past year washes away along with that ugly black mold. And they are still having to do more clean up yet! No longer my issue. I did suffer some hearing loss from that whole disaster. I had to see specialists to get my hearing back. The good news is that I can still hear Flammulated Owls from a mile away.
A Botta's Pocket Gopher gives me a wink
All around me, the White-winged Doves sing reminding me that life goes on. Each of us celebrating our own small victories. Each of us fighting our own personal battles. Each of us wanting a better tomorrow. Nature is restorative. It is also healing. 
Comments
Post a Comment