Eurasian Wigeon | Common Ground Dove | Pacific Golden-Plover | Sabine’s Gull | Lesser Black-backed Gull | Broad-winged Hawk | Short-eared Owl | Tropical Kingbird | Pacific Wren | Gray Catbird | Varied Thrush | Lapland Longspur | Clay-colored Sparrow | FIELD SPARROW | Dark-eyed “Gray-headed” Junco | Dark-eyed “Pink-sided” Junco | White-throated Sparrow | Green-tailed Towhee | Baltimore Oriole | Northern Waterthrush | Prothonotary Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | American Redstart | Cape May Warbler | Blackburnian Warbler | Palm Warbler | Grace’s Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Painted Redstart | Summer Tanager | Painted Bunting | Dickcissel
Greater Roadrunner | Pacific Golden-Plover | Broad-winged Hawk | Tropical Kingbird | GREATER PEWEE | Gray Catbird | Clay-colored Sparrow |Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Baltimore Oriole | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | American Redstart | Blackburnian Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Palm Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting
Pacific Golden-Plover | Dunlin | Red Knot | Common Tern | Sabine’s Gull | Short-tailed Shearwater | Red-footed Booby | Williamson’s Sapsucker | Tropical Kingbird | Least Flycatcher | Bell’s Vireo | Chestnut-collared Longspur | Lark Bunting | Clay-colored Sparrow | Baltimore Oriole | Green-tailed Towhee | Bobolink | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Lucy’s Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Palm Warbler | American Redstart | Blackburnian Warbler | Chestnut-sided Warbler | Blackpoll Warbler | Grace’s Warbler | Black-throated Green Warbler | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting | Painted Bunting | Dickcissel
As usual, June weather was mild. Surprisingly July was also blessed with relatively cool temperatures, though the deserts were plenty warm. Despite below average rainfall last winter, most habitat was in decent shape, and many streams held sufficient water.
Pacific Golden-Plover | Red Knot | Dunlin | Common Tern | Lesser Black-backed Gull | American Bittern | White-headed Woodpecker | Tropical Kingbird | Eastern Phoebe | Green-tailed Towhee | Ovenbird | Northern Waterthrush | Black-and-white Warbler | Tennessee Warbler | Summer Tanager | Rose-breasted Grosbeak | Indigo Bunting
Being visited by wild birds while working in my outdoor office is an invigorating momentary distraction from my labors. Every morning before I plug in on the patio table, I open my rodent-proof bird food container and scoop out seeds. nyjer for the goldfinches, corn for the sparrows, black sunflower seeds for the mockingbirds, suet for whatever bird comes to call, plus sugar-water for the hummingbirds.
Not exotica that you would grab your bins, rev-up your SUV and drive across three states to observe, beaming with pride as you record its sighting and count on eBird. Rather the robin is a friendly bird, more like a next-door neighbor.
You won’t have to trek to the Amazon or Patagonia to see a robin, though once-in-a-lifetime trips like those are inked on many a bucket list. No. You will spy the robin in Ponderosa pine forests, urban landscapes and grassy lawns pecking the ground for earthworms. Her nest is made of mud, her eggs an eponymous and beautiful blue that you just might decide is the perfect color for your kitchen.
One evening in mid-May, two friends and I were sitting on our front porch (with masks and social distancing) after an evening hike. Their musicians’ ears heard owls! The next day I started looking for them at dawn and dusk. Then, in the middle of the following day I saw a head sticking out of the old nesting box I had built for an acorn woodpecker which my husband, Marc, and I rescued from a downed tree six years ago.
The grayish brownish thing I discovered underneath the salvia in the backyard garden made me hold my breath for weeks.
I discovered this hidden thing about four years ago around the end of April. A jerky movement at the top terrace caught my eye. Squatting down sumo-style, I gingerly lifted the leaves. All right, what are you? I was face-to-beak with a baby bird. The bird froze and I immediately let go of the leaves.
Oh great. Just great.
By any standard, this spring has been an unexpected and unprecedented one. It would seem impossible to write this column without mention of the coronavirus pandemic. While birders have been fortunate to be able to continue their pursuits less affected than many others, this birding season has been overshadowed by world events.
Any serious birder has certainly heard of Attu Island and dreamed of the exotic vagrant and expected birds found on the westernmost islands in the Aleutian chain of Alaska—i.e. North America. Unfortunately, few have had the opportunity to visit that isolated land to experience its unique avian presence. I was able to book a week's trip there in January 2–10, 1990.
I visited the Mexican state of Oaxaca for a birding trip from January 11th to January 17th, 2019. Oaxaca is located southeast of Mexico City, and is the 5th largest Mexican state. It is bisected by the Sierra Madre Mountain range, which creates a continental divide between the Atlantic Slope to the north and the Pacific Slope to the south.
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