On our trip home we missed our connecting flight in Calgary, so the airline put us up in a hotel for the night. Disappointing, but hey, I had another day to go birding, and fortunately there was a wetlands habitat adjacent to our hotel.
With Canada’s long summer days, I was able to go birding both Friday night and Saturday morning and I saw twenty-five species. The one species that really thrilled me was seeing horned grebes in breeding plumage—what a striking bird.
It was interesting to me that most of the species I observed in Calgary (in June) are species we see here in Prescott either as a migrant passing through in the fall, or as a winter resident. For example, I saw a lot of waterfowl, including northern shovelers, gadwalls, American wigeons, lesser scaup, redhead and ruddy duck, which all winter at our local lakes.
Wrapping up our trip, I tallied my numbers and want to share. For the whole trip, which included time in Canada, Italy, England, Ireland, Scotland, and France, I saw 175 species, including 46 new life birds.
I also tallied some numbers generated on the health app on my cell phone. From the time we left Prescott, until the time we got back, I took 388,286 steps, which is the equivalent to 184 miles! That doesn’t sound like a vacation at all! I think I need a vacation from my vacation.
It was interesting to look at my steps by day. I had two different days where I took over 27,000 steps! The “at sea” days on the cruise ship were my lowest step days. For the trip, I averaged 16,179 steps per day which is just over seven and a half miles.
Now that I’m back home, I’ve noticed an increase in hummingbird activity, so I’ve put out two more feeders this week. On Tuesday morning of this week, I observed a female hummingbird gathering nesting material from a nesting ball we have hanging in our bird feeding area at the store.
Interestingly, the same day, a customer commented that she was seeing adult robins feeding juveniles, and other adult robins gathering nesting material. While we’re nearing the end of June, there is still a lot of breeding activity occurring with our summer resident bird species. It is not uncommon for many species to have two or three broods (or clutches) in one nesting season.
It is important to think of breeding season as a “season,” not a one-time event. Some birds might be finishing up with their first brood, while others may already be on their second or third brood. It is definitely a good idea to continue to provide nesting material from now into September.
We received wonderful monsoon storms on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Sunday evening, when I walked in Watson Woods Riparian Preserve, Granite Creek was bone dry. Tuesday evening it was flowing mightily.
Each year, after the monsoon rains start, we receive questions from customers on the same two issues: how does one keep the seed in bird feeders dry, and is there a type of bird seed that doesn’t germinate.
The style of feeder you use will have the greatest impact on whether the seed gets wet, or not. If you are experiencing problems with this, come by the store and we can make some recommendations.
The combination of warm temperatures and abundant summer rains results in bird seed germinating almost overnight. To avoid germination, try providing ingredients that have been either split, cracked, hulled or heat sterilized.
Feel free to come by the store for knowledgeable, professional help with bird feeding tips.
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.
