Fall migration is evident throughout the Arizona Central Highlands. Whether I’m birding in my yard, at Willow Lake, or at the top of Mingus Mountain, I am seeing a variety of species moving south from their summer breeding territories headed to their winter ranges.
In my mind, spring migration seems to be of a much shorter duration. It seems that bird species moving north in the spring are in a hurry to get to their final destination to establish their breeding territories and find a mate. In the fall, birds tend to linger longer, taking advantage of the rich bounty of summer’s plenty.
In the last week, I have seen a total of ten different warbler species and I am sure I’ll see several more over the next several weeks. I went to Mingus Lake on Mingus Mountain last week and saw six warbler species: Painted Redstart, Virginia’s Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Grace’s Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler and Wilson’s Warbler.
At Willow Lake reservoir, I recently saw five different warbler species: Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned Warbler, Lucy’s Warbler and Virginia’s Warbler. Ironically, we have granddaughters named Lucy and Virginia. And of course, our oldest son is named Jay. By all appearances, in our family, we like bird names for the names of our children!
When our son and daughter-in-law, who are the parents of Lucy and Virginia, had their third child, a boy, we teased them that they would have to give him a warbler name. That would be difficult, as there aren’t too many warbler names that would work for a boy. One possibility is MacGillivray’s, and they could have called him Mac for short.
But it was not to be. They named him Jethro Wolfgang Moore. The string of warbler bird names was broken—in a big way. I don’t know of any warblers named Jethro or Wolfgang!
This week, I will be leading a store-sponsored fee-based all-day bird walk to the Verde Valley. We will spend time at Page Springs Fish Hatchery, Bubbling Ponds, and Sedona Wetlands. It is fun to anticipate what we might see at each of these locations. With migration going on, we may have some really great finds! We shall see.
At Willow Lake this past week, I saw two Baird’s Sandpipers. What made this find particularly rewarding is that the two Baird’s Sandpipers were hanging out with two other sandpiper species: one western and four least sandpipers.
It was like a sandpiper workshop to have scope views of three different species in the same field of view at the same time! For many people (including myself), identifying sandpipers can be very challenging. Having a scope is almost a necessity. The field markings separating one species from another are subtle and can be something as simple as leg color or the length of the bill.
Next week, we will be hosting a special presentation at The Lookout on Monday, August 25th at 3:00 p.m., in our conference room. Former Jay’s Bird Barn employee and Prescott resident, Micah Riegner, will be presenting a free program titled “Birding in Mexico from North to South”.
Micah is a full-time international birding guide. For the past five years he has been living in Cuernavaca, Mexico. His presentation will take you on a journey from the Maroon-fronted Parrot nesting cliffs of Monterrey to the limestone sinkholes of San Luis Potosi where thousands of White-collared Swifts roost, to the cloud forests of El Triunfo, Chiapas, home of the mythical Horned Guan.
Attendance is limited to 40 individuals. Call the store at 928-443-5900 to sign up. It will be an excellent presentation!
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 55 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.
