Every once in a while, when birders are out in the field bird watching, they are fortunate enough to stumble across a rare bird. By definition, a rare bird sighting would be a species that is either 1) outside of its normal range, or 2) it is present during the wrong time of year. Or both.
For example, in December 2004, I discovered a rare bird at Granite Basin—a male black-throated blue warbler. It was rare based on both definitions. It was definitely outside of its normal range. In summer, this species occurs in northeastern United States and Canada. In winter it can be found in the West Indies.
In December, it should have been soaking up the sun on some remote island dotted with palm trees in the Caribbean. It is hard to know why and how birds get so off course and show up in unexpected locations. The fact is, it just happens. And when it happens, it creates quite a stir among serious birders who like to keep a tally of their bird observations.
Such was the case this past week, and ironically, it happened to be in Granite Basin! An experienced local birder discovered a bird that shouldn’t be in Arizona—a red-eyed vireo. The discovery was reported on eBird, making the information available to all birders who use the Rare Bird Alert feature in eBird.
I went out early one morning last week to see if I could locate the vireo, and ran into a birder from Phoenix who was already on site. He must have gotten up very early that morning! Fortunately, this particular species is very vocal—it tends to sing a repetitive song, over and over and over again—making it easier to find.
Not that finding a vireo in a deciduous tree is ever easy. This is a species that seems to prefer cottonwoods and willows, and frequently buries itself deep in the canopy or crown of the tree, completely out of view. You can hear it, but seeing it is another story. This behavior is pretty typical of vireos in general. Very vocal, but also somewhat secretive.
This bird was on the move, too. He’d sing in one place for a few minutes, then slip out the back of the tree. A minute or two later, we’d start hearing it vocalizing again, sometimes hundreds of yards away. Fortunately, because it was vocalizing, I was able to track down the bird, and I got great looks at it.
While I have seen red-eyed vireos before, this was a new bird for my state and county list, which doesn’t happen very often. I am grateful when people share their unusual bird sightings so others can have the same delightful experience.
This past week I heard from a resident of Groom Creek that he had some unusual hummingbirds at his place. Needless-to-say, I went out to his place to check it out. He has an incredible number of hummingbirds; so many it is hard to fathom how they don’t have mid-air collisions with one another.
He currently has six different species coming to his feeders: Anna’s, black-chinned, rufous, broad-tailed, broad-billed, and Costa’s. I may have seen a male Calliope hummingbird, too, but my look was brief, I didn’t count it.
Speaking of hummingbirds, next week is the annual Hummingbird Festival in Sedona, from Friday, July 26th through Sunday, July 28th. I hope you will consider attending. For more information, log onto www.sedonahummingbirdfestival.org. Also, as a reminder, the following week is the Southwest Wings Birding and Nature Festival in Sierra Vista. I’ll be there. You should go!
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.
