Learning a Golden Lesson

Lots of adventurers and spelunkers and entrepreneurs struck out west in the mid and late 1800s in search of gold. This past week I made some trips northwest for a Golden-crowned Sparrow, a bird which I briefly saw on Monday, and then failed to relocate and photograph on Tuesday or Friday. In that sense, it was a good ol' fashion gold bust. It was great to see the bird in the first place but what a lamentable thing it is to have no photos at all. To those of you thinking, "Why not just go back once more?" I can only say this: you know not the great horror of driving into Sun City on Grand Avenue during rush hour. YOU KNOW NOT! Traffic on that scale, for that long, is something the human soul can only stand once or twice a month. Even the incorrigible Mockingbird balks at the prospect and repeated trips up and down Grand Ave.

"..Balk!"

While I couldn't strike gold again, I did enjoy plenty of other pretty, if also common birds around the Desert Springs as I ambled and ogled. Say's Phoebes had all the good perches and patches under surveillance, be they decapitated bushes or golf carts.

Realizing that searching in solitude was not fruitful, I enlisted a few young White-crowned Sparrows, like the fellow below, to help me find the longer, rarer Golden-crowned that was supposed to be hanging out with them. They were great sports about it, calling and feeding in as gregarious a manner as possible so as to attract any lonely vagrants in the area.

They even jumped up into the bushes to call out anybody that was hiding out below. It failed to produce a rarity, but did flush out a handsome Lincoln's Sparrow, 16th Sparrow of the United States.



As far as golf course ponds go, Desert Springs does pretty well. It had the predictable hordes of Coots and Wigeon, but also a half dozen Bufflehead and some Common Mergansers, which give a certain extra aesthetic and vindication to any artificial property that satisfies their needs.

Even over Sun City, in fact, especially over Sun City (which is a large retirement community), the sun still sets. As the glowing orb drooped in the sky and my Golden-crowned prospects similarly dropped towards zero, I was graced with a first-of-the-year White-winged Dove. Coming on February 26th, this was my earliest personal record for these birds, so at least there was something new to list.

Well, the Golden-crowned didn't get to see or photograph me again either, so he loses too! Right?...right?...right?

Early Birds

Here are some of the Arizona backyard desert scrub essentials, photographed din early morning light. These birds are part of the staple base for good desert birding. The boost daily birding lists and provide the foundation for less frequent but more exciting findings. They're the staples that hold everything together, and even though staples are, let's be honest, one of the less-fun office supplies both to shop for an to use, these staple birds are still pretty important. And they still look pretty good too.

Gamble's Quail are about as handsome as they come, and their chicks are some of the cutest too. They nest in oleander hedges and other concentrations of vegetation all around town, and their anxious clucking fills the evening air.

 Northern Mockingbirds need no introduction. They're sharp birds, both in their aesthetic and in their attitude. They're pretty big jerks actually, and seem to prefer making enemies to making friends or allies, but hey they're successful, so much so that they're the official state bird for Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas.

I probably post too many Verdin photos here, if that's possible, but they're basically the only little pretty desert Warbler-esque (they're not actually Warblers of course) birds that are found year round and are pretty cooperative photo subjects. Interestingly enough, the name 'Verdin' translates to 'yellowhammer' in french. The Yellowhammer is also another (antiquated) name for the Northern Flicker here in the U.S., and there's a whole different species of bird called Yellowhammer in Europe. Curious.

Curve-billed Thrashers are expected anywhere around Phoenix except, oddly enough, at the famous 'Thrasher Spot' west of the valley which is the only place to see Le Conte's, Bendire's, and Crissal Thrashers--all the rare ones. Though they reside the less wild/more boring areas of the state, they're big fans of dramatic posing, so it evens out in the end.

Mourning Doves are common everywhere, and I do get sick of seeing them or flushing them from a bush when trying to track some other less usual species. They're pretty in their own right though, and sometimes they can be downright delightful, which I guess goes for just about anything in the natural world. Hope y'all saw some good birds this weekend!

Mock-YEAH Ing-YEAH

Bird-Yeah. This guy was hanging outside my classroom window after school. I like the afternoon light, even if it's the early morning light that is ideal. There's quite a lot of brown in this picture.

There's not enough of the eye visible, but I like all of the texture in the shot. It was a nice concatenation of lighting and placement. This lower photo of another mimid, the Catbird, was taken at about the same time of day in Pennsylvania (in late spring). There's a pretty noticeable difference in the color of evening light along the United States.

Northern Mockingbird

The common mimid of North America, the Mockingbird has a wide geographical range only exceeded by its vocal range. A healthy Mocker is a fine looking bird, with their well-defined grays, blacks, and white making them look very business/professional, even though their behavior is anything but. In addition to their audibility, these birds will fearlessly chase cats, hawks, dogs, and whatever else comes too near their nests or territory.