As an avid birder, I keep a record of when I see a new bird species for the first time in my life—something I have done for more than fifty years! As a young teenager, I was very involved in the Tucson Audubon Society Chapter. One time a couple, who also belonged to the chapter, invited me to their home just off of Oracle Road and Orange Grove to see an unusual visitor to their yard—a white-throated sparrow.
As we were sitting out on their patio, waiting for the rare bird to show up, the couple asked me how I kept track of the birds I observed. I explained that I had a small notebook where I wrote the date and location of each new species I saw.
About a week after my visit to their home, I received a gift from the couple, a copy of the Birder’s Life List and Diary. This book contained a list of all of the bird species in North America, organized in taxonomical order, with a place to record the date, location, and remarks about each bird observation.
It was a treasured gift for a fifteen-year-old boy obsessed with birds. In my sloppy handwriting, I recorded my observation of my first white-throated sparrow on November 12th, 1974. To this day, I still have the book.
White-throated sparrows are a common winter resident east of the Rockies. In summer, their breeding distribution includes a good portion of Canada, and some of the northern tier states such as Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. On rare occasions, they show up in Arizona as a winter visitor.
This past Friday morning, as I was hurrying to my car to leave for work, and at the precise moment when I opened the door to my car, I heard the unmistakable, sweet song of a white-throated sparrow. I paused, questioning, did I really just hear a white-throated sparrow? I hesitated briefly. Not hearing the call again, I jumped into the car and off to work I went.
On Monday night of this week, I was out in the yard and I heard the song again. I was convinced it was the song of a white-throated sparrow, but I only heard it once, again causing me to question if that was really what I was hearing. Then on Tuesday morning of this week, once again, as I was leaving for work, I heard the clear, sweet whistling song of a white-throated sparrow.
In spite of needing to get to work to open the store, I grabbed my binoculars and tracked it down. And yes, it was indeed a beautiful adult white-throated sparrow, in my birding feeding area! Almost fifty years later, I had a white-throated sparrow in my yard!
I was so excited I ran into the house and told my wife to come outside quickly. The bird was feeding, down on the ground, on white-proso millet, and she got to see it as well. I was so elated! In all my years of birding, I have never had a white-throated sparrow in my yard. I entered my observation into eBird, where it came up as a rare bird, requiring documentation, which I provided.
I was one happy birder as I drove to work!
This week is the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival at Dead Horse Ranch State Park from Wednesday through Sunday in Cottonwood, Arizona. I will be there as a vendor selling Swarovski and Vortex binoculars and spotting scopes. I hope to see many of you at the festival.
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 Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
