Winter Birds in Sycamore Canyon

Bewick's Wren climbs the block wall searching for insects 12-5-09

Ever since discovering Sycamore Canyon almost 3 years ago I have been counting birds. Even before we moved in I started my Sycamore Canyon Bird List, which you can see in the side bar. Since that time I have kept constant track of all the bird species seen in this area. In 2 1/2 years I have seen 90 species of birds right here in Sycamore Canyon. Many of them I have seen right from my own yard! Our yard was nothing but bare dirt in the back while small scrubby trees and bushes grew in the front. In less than a month after we moved in we bought and planted a native velvet mesquite tree in the backyard. By the following spring we added a Desert Museum Palo Verde and a patio with sitting walls. This year we added more plants and an irrigation system to the backyard. Meanwhile, the front yard trees have grown taller, the bushes have filled out, and the manmade wash beside my house has filled in with pioneering species like creosote bush and brittle bush. And, as mine and other neighbor's landscaping matures I have recently noticed an increase in the bird population in my yard!

A verdin at my window hummingbird feeder 12-5-09

Suddenly I am getting Bewick's Wrens and verdins. The verdins even come to my nectar feeders, something I have never observed before, but I have this sweet pair hanging out in my yard on an almost daily basis. While typically insect eaters, I guess these little gray birds know a sweet thing when they find it! I have no complaints. I love their merry chatter and cute little faces. Though hardly much bigger than the hummingbirds, they are quite gregarious. Still, the hummingbirds have no trouble taunting them or chasing them away. With cactus wrens and Gila woodpeckers all vying for nectar, it is all out war in my backyard right now!

Here is a list of MY 2009 December Yard Birds:

1. Gambel's Quail
2. Sharp-shinned hawk
3. Cooper's hawk
4. White-winged dove
5. Mourning dove
6. Greater Roadrunner
7. Anna's Hummingbird
8. Costa's Hummingbird
9. Gila woodpecker
10. Gilded Flicker
11. Say's Phoebe
12. Loggerhead shrike
13. Common raven
14. Verdin
15. Cactus Wren
16. Bewick's Wren
17. Rock Wren
18. Curve-billed thrasher
19. Canyon towhee
20. Black-throated sparrow
21. White-crowned sparrow
22. Northern Cardinal
23. Pyrrhuloxia
24. House finch
25. Lesser-goldfinch
26. House sparrow

Have a Very Birdy Christmas!

and that's...

MY Christmas World Tuesday