When I submitted my column to the Courier last week, my title was “Did you know that Arizona is the hummingbird capital of the U.S?” The title was edited to “Arizona is the hummingbird capital of the U.S.?” This change turned the title from a question to a statement, but the question mark did not get removed.
For clarification, the change to the title was totally correct with the exception of the question mark—Arizona is the hummingbird capital of the United States, although Texas would be more than happy to argue that point.
I am in Sierra Vista right now, attending the Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival. While attending festivals is a lot of work, it is also kind of a working vacation. The vendor area is open from 9-5 each day, so we go birding every morning and evening when we’re not working.
If you are a hard-core birder—and I am—it doesn’t make sense to not take advantage of the opportunity to bird in one of the best birding hot spots in North America. People come from all over the United States (and from all over the world) to see the rare birds that occur in southern Arizona.
Having grown up in southern Arizona, I started visiting some of these birding hot spots as early as 1973—fifty years ago! I still have my hand-written records of the various field trips in which I participated to places like the Nature Conservancy property in Patagonia, and Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains.
I also have my hand-written account of birding in the Chiricahua Mountains from July 7th-14th, 1973, when I was thirteen years old. I was a Boy Scout, and our troop hiked the 50-mile Chiricahua Crest Trail. Species observed on that particular trip included band-tailed pigeon, wild turkey, blue-throated hummingbird (which has since been renamed the blue-throated mountain gem), hairy woodpecker, and western scrub-jay (which has been renamed Woodhouse’s scrub-jay).
The hike was a back-packing trip, and we had to carry all of our supplies for the duration of the hike. Well, in addition to my interest in birds, I have always been fascinated with geology. Our hike took us through several areas where geodes were quite common. Being a typical boy, I started collecting geodes and putting them in my backpack. By the end of the hike, my backpack weighed a lot more than it did when I started the hike!
On another week-long scout camp, in the Galiuro Mountains, east of Tucson, I collected insulators, another one of my interests as a young boy. I started collecting telephone insulators years earlier along the railroad tracks that paralleled I-10 between Orange Grove Road north towards Marana. To this day, I still have my collection of clear, blue, green and brown telephone insulators of all shapes and sizes.
But I digress; back to birds! Now that we are in August, what should you be on “the lookout” for? You should definitely notice a continual, gradual increase in hummingbird numbers. August is peak hummingbird season. If you don’t already have rufous hummingbirds at your feeder, they will arrive any day. They will terrorize the hummingbirds in your yard and lay claim to every feeder.
This is the time of year when you should consider putting out more feeders, especially with the rufous hummingbirds making it difficult for the other hummers to feed. In my little yard, I have nine hummingbird feeders out! Other possible hummingbird migrants are broad-tailed hummingbirds, as well as the rare Calliope hummingbird.
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.
