In January I rolled out the Jay’s Bird Barn 2023 Birding Challenge to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of our business. Since it is now June, I thought it would be a good idea to do an update on the Birding Challenge.
One obvious update is that the name is outdated! When we moved to our new store location in April we rebranded and have renamed our business The Lookout. All of the promotional material for the Birding Challenge is under our old business name, but the challenge remains unchanged.
The challenge includes a list of tasks you can to do to earn points. There are five-, ten-, twenty-five-, and fifty-point challenges. The easiest way to earn points is to go bird watching! For each species you identify that is included in our two folding bird identification guides, you can earn five points! With 145 species, you can earn 725 points!
The purpose of the challenge is to encourage individuals to strengthen their connection to nature through bird watching, and by becoming involved in one or more of the many nature-oriented non-profits in the Prescott area. Another way to earn points is by joining (or renewing a membership) in organizations such as the Citizen’s Water Advisory Group, Prescott Creeks, or the Granite Dells Preservation Foundation.
Individuals can also earn points by attending a monthly membership meeting or a field trip hosted by organizations such as The Lookout, The Highlands Center for Natural History, Prescott Audubon Society or The Natural History Institute, to name a few.
Now that we’re about half-way through the challenge (it ends on October 18th), how are you doing? I hope you are engaged and enjoying the varied elements included in the challenge. Personally, I’ve done a lot of birding (no surprise there), and I’ve attended some meetings and activities hosted by some of the organizations included in the challenge.
Since the challenge started on January 19th, I have seen 135 of the 145 species listed in the birding checklist. I’m a little surprised by the list of species I have yet to find. For example, I’m still on “The Lookout” for white-throated swifts, a rufous hummingbird, American Avocet, long-billed dowitcher, California gull and both peregrine and prairie falcons. Considering how much time I spend outdoors, I’m kind of surprised that I haven’t bumped into a peregrine yet!
The other bird species I’ve yet to see are horned lark, Scott’s oriole and painted redstart. This past week I purposely chose to go birding on Mingus Mountain to try and pick up a few of the species I didn’t have on my list—such as painted restart. I had a successful morning, adding several species: red-faced warbler, hepatic tanager, plumbeous and Hutton’s vireo, but as luck would have it, no painted redstart.
However, I did have a really good find—I saw a Rivoli’s hummingbird. This is a species of hummingbird more frequently found in the Sky Islands of southeastern Arizona, such as in the Santa Rita, Huachuca and Chiricahua Mountains. I had never seen a Rivoli’s hummingbird in Yavapai Country prior to last week. Needless-to-say, I was pretty excited by this find.
I also saw a number of species that aren’t included in the Birding Challenge Checklist such as red crossbills, brown creeper, Virginia’s and Grace’s warbler, and Cordilleran flycatcher. While they aren’t on the checklist, I can count these sightings towards one of the 50-point challenges—seeing 200 species in Yavapai County during the challenge period. I’m well on my way. So far, I’ve seen 175 species in Yavapai County since the challenge started.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Vortex and Swarovski optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
