I mentioned in my column last Thursday to be on the lookout for baby quail. The day after my column ran in the paper, I had three people reach out to me reporting baby quail sightings, and I’ve had several more reports since then.
It has been an interesting week birding-wise. On Saturday I went birding at Willow Lake and saw a lone female bufflehead. When I entered this into eBird, it required documentation as it was considered a rare bird sighting for this time of year. On Sunday I still had two Cassin’s finches in my yard! When I entered this into eBird, I had to enter additional documentation as they are also considered rare for this time of year.
Last week I attended the Northern Arizona Audubon Society chapter meeting in Sedona. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation—given by one of our customers. She recently participated in a birding photography tour to Peru where she saw fifty-four (yes, 54!) species of hummingbirds.
On my way home that evening, I had the thought to stop by Dead Horse Ranch State Park to look for the western screech owl that countless people have seen and reported in eBird. While attending the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival back in April, I tried several times to find the owl, to no avail.
I arrived at the park after sunset and walked to the general area when the owl has been seen. I waited, and waited. I kept hearing a great-horned owl calling in the distance, which eventually flew directly over me. No screech owl.
However, after a while, I started hearing some vocalizing with which I wasn’t familiar. I stalked the sound. To my delight, I found a screech owl about eye level, perched in a desert willow only twenty feet away! My success in finding the owl made the drive home much more bearable.
That same evening, while at Dead Horse, I attempted to see two other nocturnal species—lesser nighthawk and common poorwill. Again, back in April, when I was attending the festival, I tried on several occasions to see these two species—without any success.
There are ballfields at the entrance to the park with lights similar to what you would find at a high school football field. The lights at night attract thousands of flying insects, which in turn attracts lesser nighthawks.
Nighthawks are the nocturnal equivalent to a swallow, which means their foraging technique is aerial gleaning. They are not related to swallows, but their feeding behavior is similar. In sustained, continuous flight, nighthawks catch flying insects right out of the air.
Historically, I’ve been able to see nighthawks at this location with virtually no effort. I typically park along the edge of the road, exit the car with my binoculars, and within a minute I’ve got my eye trained on my target bird. I struck out this past week (as I did in April), which makes me wonder where the nighthawks are.
I didn’t have any better luck with poorwills. I usually drive to the northern area of the park where the surrounding habitat is desert scrub. In the past I have had good luck finding poorwills here—frequently sitting on the road as they look for flying insects.
Poorwills are the nocturnal equivalent to flycatchers—their foraging technique is referred to as “hawking”. They take short flights in pursuit of flying insects before landing again to search the air for another unsuspecting insect. I struck out (again) on seeing any poorwills, but I did hear some vocalizing in the distance. Overall, I had a good birding week.
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.
