As an avid birder, I am signed up for rare bird alert emails from eBird. Whenever anyone reports a rare bird sighting, I receive an email within the hour of the reported sighting. This is super helpful, because sometimes rare birds don’t stick around too long.
For example, last week a birder reported seeing a northern waterthrush (a type of warbler) at the small pond in Watson Woods Riparian Preserve. When I got off work, I headed right over and sure enough, it was there!
Another rare bird alert that caught my attention this past week was a report of a Lewis’s Woodpecker in Cottonwood. This was definitely a bird I wanted to see, but I had to balance the odds of it still being there and the time it would take to travel there and back.
I chose to wait a day or two, and when additional birders continued to report the same bird at the same location, I felt it wouldn’t be a waste of my time to drive over to the Verde Valley to see it, as the odds of it still being there were pretty good.
Early one morning last week a fellow birder and I drove over, and we had immediate success in finding not one, but two Lewis’s woodpeckers in the spot where they had been reported. I was very happy to add this species to my 2025 County List.
Ironically, just in the last few days there have been reports of Lewis’s woodpecker sightings at Camp Yavapines, Granite Basin and Fain Park. If I had just waited a few days, I could have seen one in the Prescott area without having to drive over to Cottonwood, but there was no way to know that.
Last week, while leading a bird walk at Watson Woods Riparian Preserve for the OLLI program at Yavapai College, I received a call from some customers. They had a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak in their yard, at their feeders! Since I was tied up at the moment, I didn’t make it over to their house for several hours. By the time I got there, the grosbeak was gone. Darn it!
As a reminder, the submission period for the 17th Annual Wild Bird Photography Contest hosted by our store is open right now. The contest is free, and open to the public. You have until Tuesday, September 30th, to submit up to three pictures. For more information on the photo contest, please visit our website (www.thelookoutaz.com) or come by the store to pick up a flyer. I hope you will consider participating.
Next week, Tuesday, September 16th, at 7:00 p.m., I will be speaking at the Prescott Audubon Society’s monthly membership meeting. I will share pictures and tell stories about my birding trip to Cuba earlier this year. The meeting takes place at the Natural History Institute at 126 N. Marina Street. It is free and open to the public.
Also, next week, on Thursday, September 18th, from 5:30-8:00 p.m., the Central Arizona Land Trust (CALT) will be hosting its Wide Open Spaces Celebration at The Federal on Goodwin Street. CALT is launching its “Birds of a Feather” campaign to raise funds to place a conservation easement on 640 acres on the historic Date Creek Ranch. One of the events that evening will be a presentation on the birds of Date Creek Ranch by none other than me. This is a fundraiser, and includes appetizers, a cash bar and a silent auction. For registration and more information, visit the website at www.centralazlandtrust.org.
Be on the lookout for unusual birds passing through the Prescott area. If you see anything rare, please give me a call at the store to report it.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark department, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 60 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
I have been doing a lot of digiscoping on this trip—using my Swarovski spotting scope and my iPhone to take both still shots and video. After I get home I will get some these loaded onto The Lookout Facebook page so you can see what I saw!
This past weekend was the winter solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. While I personally do not like the cold, I do love the winter night sky. Each morning when I go outside to retrieve the newspaper, I like to just pause, and look at the heavens and take in the wonder of the night sky.
Maybe like you, unfortunately I live in a neighborhood where some of my neighbors leave their outside lights on all night long. Why? I have no idea. To me it is annoying, and a poor use of precious resources. We live in a time when we need to be so mindful of how we use energy.
One may think it is a little thing, a 100 watt bulb left on all night, but multiply that by hundreds and thousands of lights left on all night and what a huge impact this has on energy use.
There is a dark sky ordinance in some communities. I personally like living in a community where people value dark skies. I like living in a neighborhood where there aren’t any street lights.
Another issue to consider is the impact of lights on wild birds, especially when they are migrating. Lights at night disorient while birds, resulting in window strikes, resulting in an untimely death.
Several months ago the Courier ran an article about outdoor lights at night, and the impact on wild birds. I concur.
