A Satruday Birding Mystery

Then sun has changed its angle over the past month and it is finally slanting under our northeast facing covered patio. It’s warm enough to eat breakfast outside for the first time in two months. The last time I can remember eating out here was the morning after Thanksgiving. Now we sit once again in the light caress of sunshine with hummingbirds buzzing the nectar and finches, mourning doves, and Gila woodpeckers visiting feeders and suet. As long as we don’t move fast the birds don’t mind our presence.


We decide to try the Tucson Botanical Garden for a visit today, so we set out around noontime. It proved to be a bad choice as the good weather has brought out all manner of tourist and residents. The garden is very busy and we see few birds, except for this beautiful broad-billed hummingbird that Gus was able to get a shot of before more people came walking by and scared it off.

We decided to try Reid Park instead. Gus has never been there and I am hoping he will get to see and photograph the Lewis’s woodpecker. We decide to make a picnic of it and stop on the way to pick up subs and drinks. The park is more crowded than the last time I was here. Under one of the pavilions someone has a birthday party set up complete with one of those inflatable jumping contraptions in the shape of a princess’s castle. The abundance of people and pets has affected the birding. I don’t see many birds at all at first, other than the long-tailed grackles that whistle and call from the trees. I’m especially surprised the house sparrows aren’t around, as they came and started begging as soon as I sat down at a picnic table last time I was here. After awhile the female Vermilion flycatcher shows up, and soon after her we see the male.

As we are finishing our lunch I hear a strange call and see a dark shape like a flying cape dart into the trees to the west of us.
We walk over cautiously looking up. I swear they will have to bury me with my neck folded backwards for if I keep this up it will have a permanent kink! I scan the pines for bird life but the trees are strangely empty. Last time these trees were full of warblers and ruby-crowned kinglets. Now, silence. Is this caused by the presence of so many people and dogs? I do finally spot a few juncos and house finches farther away on a little knoll, and then we see the phantom clinging to the north side of one of the palm trees. He stays in the shadows but Gus is able to get closer than I did and capture these amazing pictures.

I spot some movement in the upper branches of one of the pines. This would not be so unusual, but this bird is moving like a nuthatch.

It is! And a red-breasted one at that! While I would see them all the time in the woods of Maine, it is much rarer to see them here. I so enjoy these busy little birds with their habit of walking upside down on the tree trunk.

We start the walk back to our car. We’ve been here almost 2 hours. I am still gazing upward into the tree branches when I see this particular fluffy projection on a branch. A quick view with my binocs reveals a Cooper’s hawk perched in the upper reaches of the tree. Now that it's been discovered, it takes wing. Now I know why I haven’t seen any warblers or sparrows. They’ve all fled for their lives! Mystery solved.

In Pursuit of Lewis's Woodpecker

Tuesday, January 29: 2:00 p.m.

After leaving Lakeside Park I decide to give Reid Park a try. I have never been here before but the Tucson Rare Bird Alert has reported a Lewis’s Woodpecker on the northwest side of the park. I drive through a string of parking lots past Hi Corbet Field and park near the baseball diamonds. Before I even get out of the car I spot a Say's phoebe on a branch over a picnic table. I grab my gear from the car along with the D80 and sit on the closest picnic table in the sun. The sun’s rays bathe my skin in warmth as I eat my Scottish oatmeal scone and drink the milk I brought with me. This is my “lunch” for the day.

While I am sitting at the table a small bird flies into the mesquite tree beside me. It has similar coloring and shape to the phoebe that was here moments ago, but it is much lighter in color and smaller in form. It takes me but a moment to realize that I am looking at a female Vermilion flycatcher. She looks at me with her sweet dark eyes and cocks he head coyly. It’s as if she is posing for me as she turns on the branches first one way, then another. “Did you get a good shot from that angle,” she says. “How about this one? Do I look good in profile? How do you like my tangerine petticoats?” I snap off so many pictures of her. Then she sees something to eat, I suppose, for she flies to the ground in a flash, gives a spin and zip! Back up to the branch she came from. If she got something she swallowed it before I could see what it was!




I hear a ruckus overhead and look up to see a Harris hawk chasing another small hawk far above the tree tops. In a space between the leafy canopy I see another Harris hawk perched high in a eucalyptus tree. These trees grow rapidly around here, up to 5 feet a year I’ve been told, and their tall forms tower over the landscapes in the older parts of town. They have interesting bark that sheds leaving a smooth, bare trunk of dove gray with bits of the old bark still clinging to it. Their leaves are pale gray-green and shaped like a feather, long and narrow but with a rather thick stem that attaches them to the tree. Here at this corner of Reid Park there seem to be quite a few of them, along with pines and sycamores. Around the picnic area are smaller mesquite, Palo verdes and acacias. Palm trees and bushes define the north boundary and separate it from a residential street beyond. Along this hedgerow I see house finches, mourning doves and a few white-crown sparrows feeding.

I walk about under the tall trees craning my neck upwards with binoculars poised and camera at the ready. Though a slight breeze ruffles my hair every now and then, I am quite comfortable in a short –sleeved shirt and long pants. I find yellow-rumped warblers twittering in the pines, along with ruby-crowned kinglets. A flash of red flies past and land on a pine branch-a male vermilion fly catcher! Then another! Before I am done I will have counted 5 vermillion fly catchers in this area of the park.

I see and hear Gila woodpeckers as they flit about from tree to tree. In the nearby ball fields teams are playing but they are silent to me. All I hear are birds and rustling leaves. I am subconsciously aware of city workers grinding up branches in a wood chipper at the far west border of the park, but they are not part of my world which I dive into even deeper as I see a dark flash swoop overhead. It has the characteristic shape and flight of a woodpecker, but this one is very dark on its back with a white collar, a pink belly and a red face! I drop my jar and swing my camera up to try to catch a photo of the prize I have been waiting for, a Lewis’s Woodpecker! He flies to the top bare branches of a eucalyptus tree. He is so far up there that even though I zoom in far I know I will have to greatly enlarge the picture and he will still be a small green dot, but I am hopeful and try anyways. Apparently he is shy, for he flies off to the north side of a palm tree and hides stealthily in the shadows. We play a game of cat and mouse till finally I decide I’ve got enough pictures. I lean against a pine tree and just watch this elusive creature. I discover that he clings to the palm tree differently than a Gila would. His toes are long and dark. He arches them up and clings with his long toenails. When seen in silhouette like I am seeing it now, it gives the impression of a lacy filigree against the light gray trunk. A Gila woodpecker would have a more flat-footed stance. The Lewis’s appears to be up on its toes, like some feathered ballerina in an exotic production. I suppose that description fits with its red face, pink belly and dark green feathered back that looks like a cape. It reminds me of the Phantom of the Opera during the masquerade scene. He certainly has the red mask and to me he is a phantom bird!


When I finally decide it’s time to leave this section of the park the female vermillion fly catcher flies in for one more photo session. I gratefully oblige her before getting into my car. As I drive down the west side parking lot I am surprised to discover a whole other section on the south side of the ball fields with two ponds, a rose garden and a play area, sculptures and fountains. I can’t resist exploring here also and come away with more birds to add to my list, including a small flock of Inca doves. It has been a really good day of birding.

Big January: 79. Lewis' Woodpecker, 80. Red-naped sapsucker, 81. Redhead, 82. Inca Dove

Finding Birds

In my quest to add to my Big January list I have gone out birding every day for the past three days. On Tuesday it was the Green Valley Waste Water Treatment Plant where I added the Ross’s Goose to my life list. Wednesday I tried Aqua Caliente Park again. I went there in pursuit of a Lewis’s Woodpecker which has been reportedly seen there on the Tucson Audubon’s Rare Bird list. I have never seen one, but what a treat that would be. An incongruous mix of colors, the Lewis’ has “oily green feathers” as Kaufman describes in his bird guide, with a red face, a pink belly and a gray collar! It was reported sighted in the palm trees but I searched everyone to no avail. No Lewis’ woodpecker today, which would be a life bird for me.

It was afternoon when I arrived under stormy skies. As I got out of my car I saw a Great Egret lifting off on silent wings to fly gracefully away over a distant ridge. Seeing the egret gave me hope that this would be a good day for birding. This time there are few people in the park and I walk around peacefully. The gray light of overcast skies softens the appearance of everything. A light wind rustles the palm fronds with a stronger gust every now and then. Mallards are in abundance, but so are Ring-necked Ducks and American Widgeons. In my grandfather’s old birding book the widgeons are called Bald Pates. I like that name better for it more readily describes that broad white stripe that stretches from their forehead over the top to the back of their necks. It truly looks like the bald head of an old man. In my mind now I think of them as Bald Pates, but I record them by their new names.

The widgeons make this squeaking sound that carries over the water “Wheet whew! Wheet whew!” which is high pitched and pervasive. The sound follows you everywhere. Mixed with that is the quacking of the mallards and the squeaking laugh-like call of Gila woodpeckers. In short, the park can be a pretty noisy place! I spotted a couple of green-winged teals in the bunch and to my amazement, a Canvasback. Because of the palm trees, Gila woodpeckers are everywhere. I counted 19 before I left, though at times there are far more than that. Northern flickers were well represented with a total count of 6 of the red-shafted variety.

At the north end of the park the trail leads past the lake to the mesquite bosque. Here a more traditional woods like habitat takes over. Tall eucalyptus trees mix with mesquite and cottonwoods. A thick undergrowth of prevails before the mesquite bosque takes over. It’s like three habitats in one area. One only has to stand quietly at this juncture to see Bewick’s wrens, Verdin, curved-billed thrashers, Abert’s towhees, white-crowned sparrows, northern flickers, Gila woodpeckers, mocking birds, and warblers. On a previous visit I have spotted a hermit thrush in this area, along with Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Hutton’s Vireos. Today to my surprise I see a bird I never expected to see in Arizona.

I am watching a flock of white-crowned sparrows in a thick tangle of brush near a big dead tree trunk. The trunk has to be at least three feet around with deep shaggy gray bark. I notice a small bird the color of the bark with a curved bill creeping up the tree trunk. It flies to the bottom, and then starts up the trunk again probing in the crevices for insects. It is a Brown Creeper, of course, but I have only seen them in Maine. I had two there that visited my yard regularly in the winter, so I know what this is as soon as I see it, but I am taken aback. I never expected to see one here!

All the while I am standing here looking at birds the wind has picked up, the temperature has dropped and a brief shower passed by. I am cold and damp but the air smells so fresh and the world feels so alive. Is it possible to have a peaceful wildness? That’s how it feels to me. I could stay for hours if I had a warmer jacket, but the day is waning. Soon it will be dark. I have a 45 minute drive to get home, so I walk back to my car and drive away, but not before stopping at the gate for one last count of Brewer’s Blackbirds and Great–tailed Grackles lined up in hoards on the utility wires. I don’t know why they like to do that in the evening, but they do. I counted 64 Brewer’s Blackbirds and estimated around 75 grackles before I drive off to end my count for the day. I counted 30 species in all, with 6 new ones to add to my January total. I will sleep well tonight.

Big January: 61. Canvasback, 62. Bewick’s Wren, 63. Brown Creeper, 64. Great Egret, 65. Northern Flicker, 66. Starling,.