Screech Owl Stake Out

Before I move on to other subjects, I have one more note to add about our drippy ash tree:
I had gotten used to scanning that buggy tree every few minutes to see what new birds I might find dining there. Then on May 21 the birds were suddenly scarce. I thought I had found the cause when I saw perched on a high limb a gray cat. What was a cat doing up there so high? I grabbed the binocs and was flabbergasted to see that it wasn’t a cat at all, but a little Western Screech Owl! He (just guessing on that) stayed there all day posing for photographs, and then in the early evening he flew off.

Ash Trees, Aphids, and Songbirds

In May when the weather turns cold, wet, and gray, and the big ash tree in the backyard starts to drip sap and aphids – the migrating songbirds arrive. What a feat of planning the seasons are – to have even the tiniest bugs ready for the thousands of nest- building birds to feast on – to have the nectar-rich flowers beginning to bloom just as the hummingbirds arrive from their wintering in Peru. I thank God and his various committees for this beautiful earth they have provided for us.

Here are the birds we have in our yard this very day:

MacGillivray’s Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Western Tanager
Lazuli Bunting
Black-headed Grosbeak
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Black chinned Hummingbird
Gray flycatcher
Mourning Dove
House sparrow
House Finch
Robin
Mallard Duck

#8 THE SALT RIVER

It was drizzling rain on the day we had set aside for a drive along the Salt River near Saguaro Lake. The desert was puddling up and water was beginning to fill in the run-off dips in the road. I lamented that we couldn’t be there two weeks from then to see the desert awash with brilliant flowers. But this day couldn’t be complained about – the desert was radiant green and so beautiful. We stopped at a picnic area on the banks of the Salt River and stepped into a birder’s paradise. Here’s what we saw: Common Moorhen
Coots
Scaup
Common Goldeneye
Double-crested Cormorant
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Black Phoebe
Yellow Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Great-tailed Grackle
House Sparrow
White Crowned Sparrow
Vermillion Flycatcher

#7 Birding Doug's Yard

The Phoenix weather was absolutely perfect. Each morning we sat on Doug’s front porch which overlooks the desert and watched birds. I hung a hummingbird feeder in a mesquite tree and within 30 minutes Anna’s and Costa’s hummingbirds were vying for the syrup. Soon a Gila woodpecker discovered the free food and performed an intricate balancing act to get at the tiny holes that dispensed the sweet stuff. A covey of Gambel’s quail foraged around in the cover of a brush pile; and every morning at 9:15 a beautiful male cardinal flew to the top of a nearby tree to soak up the sunshine and show off his regal splendor.

Here are the birds we saw in Doug’s yard:
Black-throated sparrow
Ferruginous hawk
Red-tailed hawk
Gambel’s Quail
Anna’s Hummingbird
Costa’s Hummingbird
Mourning Dove
Starling
Cactus Wren
Gila Woodpecker
Curve-billed Thrasher
Bendire’s Thrasher
Abert’s Towhee
Great-tailed Grackle
Verdin
Townsend’s Warbler
Mockingbird
House Sparrow
Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Northern Cardinal
White-crowned sparrow
House Finch